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Tematem artykułu jest przegląd i ocena trzech modeli teoretycznych metafory wizualnej: modeli analizy Forceville’a (1996) i Schilperoorda (2018), oraz modelu identyfikacji metafory wizualnej VISMIP (Šorm i Steen 2018). Omawiane modele nie są szerzej znane na gruncie polskiej lingwistyki. Z uwagi na rosnące zainteresowanie naukowe komunikacją niewerbalną w kontekście „kultury wizualnej” postuluję rozwój i systematyzację badań w tej dziedzinie, w tym dotyczących metafor wizualnych. W artykule proponuję także polskie tłumaczenia terminologii oraz wskazuję możliwe kierunki prac. Models of visual metaphor analysis and identification Abstract The article presents an overview and critical evaluation of three theoretical models of visual metaphors: Forceville’s (1996) and Schilperoord’s (2018) models of the analysis of visual metaphors, and the VISMIP model of the identification of visual metaphors (Šorm and Steen 2018). The models discussed are not widely known in Polish linguistics. In light of the growing academic interest in non-verbal com- munication in the context of “visual culture”, I argue for the development and systematization of research in this field, which should include studies of visual metaphors. In the article, I also propose Polish trans- lations of terminology and indicate possible directions of future research.

Artykuł podejmuje temat stosunku Słowackiego do Francji i Paryża. Autorzy posiłkują się kontekstami biograficznymi, twórczością literacką poety, a także innymi dokumentami, zawierającymi ślady jego poglądów na temat bardzo szeroko rozumianej francuskości (listy, dzienniki). By pokazać, jak poglądy te zmieniały się w czasie, autorzy zaprezentowali je w porządku diachronicznym. Przy rekonstrukcji poglądów Słowackiego we wczesnym okresie twórczości szczególna uwaga została poświęcona wierszom Paryż i Le Cimetière du Père-Lachaise jako dwóm wariantom prezentacji, a zarazem oceny miasta i związanych z nim wartości. Z kolei w rozważaniach na temat postaw Słowackiego wobec Francji po jego powrocie do Paryża w 1839 r. autorzy skupili się zwłaszcza na jego pismach politycznych. Artykuł omawia złożone przyczyny postaw poety, szczególnie w kontekście doświadczenia emigracji, a także prezentuje ten nurt w jego twórczości, który przynosi inny obraz Francji – obecny między innymi w jego tekstach po francusku, pisanych z myślą o innym niż polski odbiorcy, a także generalnie w tekstach o bardziej intymnym, a mniej publicznym charakterze.

The paper presents the results of an empirical study on proximization approached as a dialogue between journalists and readers of Internet media texts and online comments. In this way the paper shows a practical application of the research programme, whose tenets I presented elsewhere (Kowalski 2018), in relation to Polish and Romanian reciprocal media coverage on the winter 2016/2017 protests in the two countries, and follow-up online comments. The analysis shows that participants used proximization for different communicative purposes (descriptive or evaluative), for which they employed different reportoires of proximization strategies (categorization, domestication, construing hybrid IDC/ODC worlds, historical analogies, and references to cultural stereotypes). As a result, there was no consensus on a shared Discourse Space, and alternative Discourse Spaces were negotiated in the online dialogue.

Introduction Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is commonly performed in patients with end-stage osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis of the knee to reduce joint pain, increase mobility and improve quality of life. However, TKA is associated with moderate to severe postoperative pain, which remains a significant clinical challenge. Surgeon-administered PAI and anesthesiologist-administered iPACK have proven viable alternatives to conventional peripheral nerve blocks. This review aims to discuss which IPACK block or periarticular injection, combined or not with different peripheral nerve blocks, has better effects on postoperative rehabilitation, patient satisfaction, and overall outcome. Material and Method The literature was reviewed through four electronic databases: PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and Embase. Results The initial search yielded 494 articles. Fifty-eight relevant articles were selected based on relevance, recentness, search quality, and citations. Six studies compared PAI to peripheral nerve block (PNB), and eight studies checked the effectiveness of adding PNB to PAI. Three studies compared iPACK to PNB, and ten studies checked the effectiveness of adding PNB to iPACK. Conclusions The best analgesic effect is obtained by combining PAI or iPACK with a peripheral nerve block, particularly with ACB, due to its analgesic and motor-sparing effect, and satisfactory analgesia

The SOLARIS synchrotron located in Krakow, Poland, is a third-generation light source operating at medium electron energy. The first synchrotron light was observed in 2015, and the consequent development of infrastructure lead to the first users’ experiments at soft X-ray energies in 2018. Presently, SOLARIS expands its operation towards hard X-rays with continuous developments of the beamlines and concurrent infrastructure. In the following, we will summarize the SOLARIS synchrotron design, and describe the beamlines and research infrastructure together with the main performance parameters, upgrade, and development plans.

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are materials that can exhibit intriguing optical properties like a change of the bandgap from indirect to direct when being thinned down to a monolayer. Well-resolved narrow excitonic resonances can be observed for such monolayers although only for materials of sufficient crystalline quality and so far mostly available in the form of micrometer-sized flakes. A further significant improvement of optical and electrical properties can be achieved by transferring the TMD on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). To exploit the full potential of TMDs in future applications, epitaxial techniques have to be developed that not only allow the growth of large-scale, high-quality TMD monolayers but also allow the growth to be performed directly on large-scale epitaxial hBN. In this work, we address this problem and demonstrate that MoSe2 of high optical quality can be directly grown on epitaxial hBN on an entire 2 in. wafer. We developed a combined growth theme for which hBN is first synthesized at high temperature by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) and as a second step MoSe2 is deposited on top by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) at much lower temperatures. We show that this structure exhibits excellent optical properties, manifested by narrow excitonic lines in the photoluminescence spectra. Moreover, the material is homogeneous on the area of the whole 2 in. wafer with only ±0.14 meV deviation of excitonic energy. Our mixed growth technique may guide the way for future large-scale production of high quality TMD/hBN heterostructures.

Currently, job duties are massively transferred from in-person to remote working. Existing knowledge on remote working is mainly based on employees’ assessment. However, the manager’s perspective is crucial in organizations that turned into remote work for the first time facing sudden circumstances, i.e., SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The main aim of our study was to analyze remote work effectiveness perceived by managers (N = 141) referring to three crucial aspects, i.e., manager, team, and external cooperation. We assumed the perceived benefits, limitations, and online working frequency as predictors of remote work effectiveness. Further, we analyzed the possible differences in remote work perception referring to different management levels (i.e., middle-level and lower-level). Our findings revealed a significant relationship between the benefits and effectiveness of managers and external cooperation, specifically among lower-level managers. Limitations, particularly technical and communication issues, predicted team and external cooperation effectiveness. The results showed remote work assessment as being socially diverse at the management level.

The aim of this study was to assess the analgesic efficacy of sufentanil in dressings after surgical treatment of burn wounds.Twenty adult patients, who underwent surgical treatment of third-degree burn wounds under general anesthesia, were included. Two of the patients underwent surgery twice. During surgery, patients received 50-100 μg fentanyl every 20-30 min and, after surgery, patients received 100 mg ketoprofen twice daily. Additionally, ten patients (group 1) received 50 μg sufentanil added to the burn wound dressings soaked in octenidine and phenoxyethanol while 10 patients (group 2) received 25 μg sufentanil added to the same dressings. The rescue analgesic, which was administered when pain intensified, was 5 mg subcutaneous morphine. Plasma sufentanil concentrations were assayed at 1, 2, 3, and 6 h after surgery completion and when pain was reported, along with pain intensity evaluation.Sufentanil was not detected in the serum of any patients. Rescue morphine was given during the postoperative period (24 h) in one patient in group 1 (who underwent surgery twice) and three patients in group 2. The mean sufentanil concentration in dressings was higher in group 1 (0.13 ± 0.03) than group 2 (0.06 ± 0.03 μg/mL; p0.001). The group 1 patient who received rescue morphine had a sufentanil concentration of 0.10 μg/mL, which was the lowest concentration in group 1. Group 2 patients who received rescue morphine had sufentanil concentrations of at least two-fold lower (0.03-0.05 μg/mL). No adverse effects were observed.Sufentanil in dressings after burn wound surgery provides effective and safe analgesia and the sufentanil concentration in dressings should be ≥0.10 μg/mL in a solution of octenidine and phenoxyethanol.

Solaris is a third generation light source operating since 2015 in Krakow, Poland. Between 2015 and 2018 the synchrotron as well as two beamlines were commissioned. During the commissioning phases the good performance of Solaris storage ring was reached. The beam optics was brought close to the design one. Since October 2018 the Solaris storage ring is in the user operation mode. Moreover, two other beamlines (PHELIX and XMCD) with elliptically polarized undulators used as source have been installed, currently under commissioning. In 2019 the total beam availability of 91.9 % was reached with the average circulating current of 280 mA and the total lifetime of 25 h. Over the last year few improvements of the storage ring were done in order to optimize the storage ring performance. The Landau cavities were tuned to improve the Touschek lifetime and to suppress the instabilities. Two diagnostic beamlines were set up and commissioned, allowing for the beam size and the emittance measurements. The storage ring optics was fine-tuned to increase the dynamic aperture.

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to a worldwide suspension of bariatric and metabolic surgery (BMS) services. The current study analyses data on patterns of service delivery, recovery of practices, and protective measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic by bariatric teams. Materials and Methods The current study is a subset analysis of the GENEVA study which was an international cohort study between 01/05/2020 and 31/10/2020. Data were specifically analysed regarding the timing of BMS suspension, patterns of service recovery, and precautionary measures deployed. Results A total of 527 surgeons from 439 hospitals in 64 countries submitted data regarding their practices and handling of the pandemic. Smaller hospitals (with less than 200 beds) were able to restart BMS programmes more rapidly (time to BMS restart 60.8 ± 38.9 days) than larger institutions (over 2000 beds) (81.3 ± 30.5 days) (p = 0.032). There was a significant difference in the time interval between cessation/reduction and restart of bariatric services between government-funded practices (97.1 ± 76.2 days), combination practices (84.4 ± 47.9 days), and private practices (58.5 ± 38.3 days) (p Precautionary measures adopted included patient segregation, utilisation of personal protective equipment, and preoperative testing. Following service recovery, 40% of the surgeons operated with a reduced capacity. Twenty-two percent gave priority to long waiters, 15.4% gave priority to uncontrolled diabetics, and 7.6% prioritised patients requiring organ transplantation. Conclusion This study provides global, real-world data regarding the recovery of BMS services following the COVID-19 pandemic. Graphical abstract

Introduction: It is difficult to differentiate benign and malignant lesions just by histopathological evaluation due to lack of clear criteria of diagnosis. Moreover, the group of benign pathologies of parathyroids is not homogenous, and recurrence of symptoms of hyperparathyroidism after surgical management was also noted in this group. This complication is not always due to inappropriate surgical technique. The goal of this work was to find the relationship between cellular ploidy and proliferative activity of adenomas and hyperplasia of parathyroids and preoperative levels of calcium and parathormone in the serum of patients surgically treated for primary hyperparathyroidism. Material and methods: A total of 98 parathyroid glands were tested, of which 81 (82.7%) were from female patients and 17 (17.3%) from male; the age of the patients was from 22 to 82 years, with an average of 58 years. Results: In resected glands pathological evaluation showed the following results: in 53 (54.1%) adenoma was present, and in 45 (45.9%) there was hyperplasia. Sixty-seven of the samples (68.4%) were characterised as diploid and 31 (31.6%) as aneuploid. There is important positive correlation (r = 0.34595; p = 0.011) between the percentage of S-phase cells (% SPF) and calcium levels measured prior to surgical resection of adenoma. The further analysis of patients with adenoma characterised by aneuploidy proved a statistically valid, positive correlation between %SPF and ionised calcium levels in blood serum of patients both before (r = 0.7189; p = 0.003) and after the surgical treatment (r = 0.6313; p = 0.012). Conclusions: 1. Benign lesions of parathyroid with ploidy indicates their heterogeneity. 2. In aneuploid benign adenomas of parathyroid glands an increased percentage of cells in S phase (% SPF) correlates with a high level of calcium in serum pre- and post-parathyroidectomy.

The substrate is one of the key components that determines the quality of the epitaxial layers. However, the implications of growing two-dimensional layers on three-dimensional bulk substrates have not yet been fully understood, and these implications need to be studied for different combinations of materials and substrates. Here, we present a study that addresses the influence of the sapphire substrate off-cut angle on the final growth of two-dimensional layers of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). A two-step wafer-scale process was used in one epitaxial MOVPE procedure. The main process starts with a self-limiting continuous growth of a BN buffer followed by flow-modulated epitaxy in the second step, and is used to study substrates with different off-cuts angles, pre-growth nitridation steps, and post-growth annealing. An initial nitridation step at the growth temperature allowed for the growth of an AlN sublayer. This layer is shown to smooth out the underlying sapphire and establishes an ‘effective’ sapphire/AlN substrate. This step is also responsible for enforcing a specific growth of the BN layer in a crystallographic orientation, which is shown to strongly deviate from the substrate for off-cut angles larger than 0.3°. A substrate with off-cut angle of 1° clearly yields the highest quality of h-BN layers as evidenced by the lowest amount of debris on the surface, most intense x-ray diffraction signal, minimal Raman phonon line width and thinnest amorphous BN (a-BN) at the interface with the effective substrate. Our study shows that the off-cut angles of sapphire substrates strongly influence the final epitaxial h-BN, clearly indicating the importance of optimal substrate preparation for the growth of two-dimensional BN layers. Post-growth annealing in N2 atmosphere at 800 °C improves the top surface morphology of the final stack, as well as suppresses further the presence of a-BN.

Introduction. Pre- and post-graduate education, provided for many years, has quite significantly changed the perception of the role of opioids in the treatment of patients with pain, mainly chronic pain. However, research on the knowledge of students on opioids has not been conducted, which makes it difficult to implement desired changes in educational programmes. The aim of the paper was to evaluate the knowledge of medical students on selected opioid drugs: tramadol, buprenorphine and oxycodone, based on a survey filled in after one-week classes in palliative medicine and pain management. Respondents and methods. The study included 140 fourth-year students of medicine at the University of Medical Sciences in Poznan who completed one-week classes in palliative medicine and pain management. Their knowledge on opioid analgesics was checked using an anonymous survey that included 7 statements. Results. Students demonstrated better knowledge in statements regarding theoretical aspects of the use of specific opioids and their mechanisms of action. The percentage of correct answers in the group of statements concerning the availability of specific opioid analgesics was much lower, which confirms that they have less knowledge in this area. Conclusions. Paying attention to the characteristics of specific opioids should improve the individual selection, effectiveness and safety of treatment. Better knowledge on pain management among students, doctors and the general public may dispel their concerns about using opioid analgesics as well as increase the effectiveness of pain management and improve the quality of life of patients with cancer and chronic pain in palliative care.

Introduction: The objective of the work was to evaluate the effectiveness of surgical treatment in patients with a high risk of hypercalcaemic crisis due to primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) and to determine the best time to undergo surgery. Material and methods and Results: Between 2010 and 2019, 627 patients underwent surgery due to PHPT. Sixty-two patients (9.9%) (47 women and 15 men, aged 28–79 years, average 53.7 years) faced the threat of a parathyroid crisis. In these patients, the average parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels were 774.02 pg/mL (95% CI: 203–1246 pg/mL) and ionised calcium (iCa2+) 1.91 mmol/L (95% CI: 1.70–2.2 mmol/L). The PTH postoperative concentration averaged at 37.86 pg/mL (95% CI: 9.91–42.7 pg/mL) and iCa2 + 1.11 mmol/L (95% CI: 1.07–1.21 mmol/L). Bilateral neck exploration was performed in all patients with the removal of the affected parathyroid gland and biopsies of other parts. Histopathological examination revealed adenoma in 42 cases (67.7%), hyperplasia in 16 (25.7%), and parathyroid cancer in four of the patients (6.6%). Comparison of tests before and after surgery showed a statistically significant decrease in PTH (p < 0.001) and iCa (p < 0.001) in blood serum. Conclusions: A developing hypercalcaemic crisis in the course of hyperparathyroidism is an indication for preoperative intensive medical therapy, along with urgent surgical intervention and removal of diseased parathyroid glands. This type of surgery should be performed as soon as possible, even if there are no imaging tests, only based on an assessment of the general condition of the patient and their serum calcium levels.

The growing number of primary bariatric operations has led to an increase in demand for revision surgeries. Higher numbers of revisional operations are also observed in Poland, yet their safety and efficacy remain controversial because of a lack of current recommendations and guidelines.To review risk factors influencing perioperative morbidity.A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the results of surgical treatment among 12 Polish bariatric centers. Inclusion criteria were laparoscopic revisional bariatric surgeries and patients ≥18 years of age. The study included 795 patients, of whom 621 were female; the mean age was 47 years (range: 40-55 years).Perioperative morbidity occurred in 92 patients (11.6%) enrolled in the study, including 76 women (82.6%). The median age was 45 years (range: 39-54 years). Statistically significant risk factors in univariate logistic regression models for perioperative complications were the duration of obesity, revisional surgery after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) or adjustable gastric band (AGB), difference in body mass index before revisional surgery and the lowest achieved after primary surgery, and postoperative morbidity of the primary surgery as the cause for revisional bariatric surgery. These factors were included in the multivariate regression model. Revisional surgery after AGB (odds ratio [OR] = 2.18; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.28-3.69; P = .004), revisional surgery performed after RYGB (OR = 6.52; 95% CI: 1.98-21.49; P = .002), and revisions due to complication of the primary surgery (OR = 1.89; 95% CI: 1.06-3.34; P = .030) remained independent risk factors for perioperative morbidity.Revisional operations after RYGB or AGB and those performed because of postoperative morbidity after primary surgery as the main cause for revisional surgery were associated with a significantly increased risk of postoperative morbidity.

Hydrogen is an important building block in global strategies towards a future green energy system. To make this transition possible, intense scientific efforts are needed, also in the field of materials science. Two-dimensional crystals, such as hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), are very promising in this regard, as it was demonstrated that micrometer-sized exfoliated flakes are excellent barriers to molecular hydrogen. However, it remains an open question whether large-area layers fabricated by industrially relevant methods preserve such promising properties. In this work we show that electron beam-induced splitting of water creates hBN bubbles that effectively store molecular hydrogen for weeks and under extreme mechanical deformation. We demonstrate that epitaxial hBN allows direct visualization and monitoring of the process of hydrogen generation by radiolysis of interfacial water. Our findings show that hBN is not only a potential candidate for hydrogen storage, but also holds promise for the development of unconventional hydrogen production schemes.

The aim of the work was to evaluate the usefulness of intraoperative determination of parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentration in the fluid of fine-needle biopsy lesions of pathologically parathyroid glands for their identification and evaluation of the effectiveness of surgical treatment of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHP).The study group comprised 75 patients: 65 women and 10 men, aged 33-78 years (mean 57.5), operated in the years 2019-2020 due to PHP. Seventy-nine biopsies of fine-needle aspiration lesions were assessed intraoperatively as pathological parathyroid glands were collected, and the concentration of PTH was determined in their lavage fluid. The results were compared with a control group of 20 patients operated at that time for various forms of goitre, without concomitant parathyroid disease.In 79 biopsies, the presence of the parathyroid gland was confirmed 72 times. The concentration of PTH in the biopsy fluid exceeded the value of 5000 pg/mL 70 times, 1 was 3733 pg/mL, and 1 was 1985 pg/mL. Seven times (8.9%), the biopsy was for a colloidal nodule instead of the parathyroid gland. The concentration of PTH in the fluids of these biopsies was low and ranged from 5.3 to 500 pg/mL. In the control group, the concentration of PTH in postoperative thyroid biopsies was low and did not exceed the reference value range of up to 64 pg/mL. Comparison of the results of the study group with the control group shows significantly higher PTH values in parathyroid biopsies compared to biopsies of thyroid specimens (p = 0.017), with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of nearly 93%.Intraoperative determination of PTH concentration in the fluid of fine-needle biopsy lesions with diseased parathyroid glands allows for their identification and evaluation of the effectiveness of surgical treatment of PHP. Testing the concentration of PTH in the biopsy fluid of dissected parathyroid glands is characterized by high sensitivity and specificity of the method. The value of PTH concentration in fluid from parathyroid biopsies does not depend on the cause of PHP.

BACKGROUND Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is caused by benign and malignant conditions. Most commonly by typical adenoma/single gland disease (PA) - this is 80-85% cases of PHPT. Parathyroid hyperplasia or multiple gland disease accounts for 10-15% of cases of PHPT. Atypical parathyroid adenoma (APA) and carcinoma (PC) - very rare conditions - are both responsible for PHPT in approximately 0,5 - 1,5% of cases. OBJECTIVES To estimate occurrence of atypical parathyroid adenoma, parathyroid carcinoma and parathyroid hyperplasia along with characterize them based on their etiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis and treatment METHODS We performed a retrospective study and enrolled 1,019 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism undergoing parathyroidectomy at academic Department of General and Endocrine Surgery between 1983 and 2018. RESULTS Out of 1,019 cases of primary hyperparathyroidism, 850 (83.4%) cases were due to typical parathyroid adenoma (PA), 135 (13.2%) cases were due to parathyroid hyperplasia, 29 (2.8%) cases were due to parathyroid carcinoma (PC), and 5 (0.5%) cases were due to atypical parathyroid adenoma (APA).

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the analgesic efficacy and safety of 1 mg and 0.5 mg oxycodone administration in a spinal block procedure for a total hip arthroplasty (THA). Patients and Methods: Forty-two THA patients aged 59-81 with American Society Anesthesiology (ASA) II-III were included. All patients received anesthesia using spinal blockade, with bupivacaine 0.5% spinal heavy 2.5 ml, with 0.5 ml oxycodone hydrochloride 1.0 mg (group A; n = 28) or 0.5 mg (group B; n = 14). During surgery, each patient was sedated with 2-4 mg/kg/h intravenous propofol infusion. They received 100 mg intravenous ketoprofen at the end of the surgery at 8 pm and 8 am, with recommended doses every 12 h thereafter. Subcutaneous morphine 5 mg was used as a rescue analgesic, and the time to morphine use was recorded. After surgery, pain intensity (at the moment of patient report) was assessed using an 11-point numerical rating scale (NRS). The incidence of adverse effects was monitored. Blood samples were taken for assays of serum oxycodone, noroxycodone and bupivacaine levels. Results: The time to rescue analgesia was 9.6 ± 5.6 h in group A and 7.3 ± 1.9 h in group B, and it did not differ between patient groups (P = 0.179). The mean NRS pain score was 4.5 in group A and 4.2 in group B. Three group A patients had detectable oxycodone levels: two < 7.1 ng/ml and in 1 spinal block induced anesthesia was unsuccessful and so he/she underwent general anesthesia (this patient was excluded from the analysis). Four group B patients had single values < 5 ng/ml. Noroxycodone levels were in all patients undetectable, and bupivacaine levels were 70-300 ng/ml. Regarding adverse effects, one patient had hypotension, one had bradycardia, and one had pruritus. Conclusion: Oxycodone in spinal block prolongs analgesia period, does not cause serious adverse effects and seems to be safe and effective opioid for patients undergoing THA.

Poly(itaconic acid) (PIA) was synthesized by persulfate initiated free-radical polymerization of ternary Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) containing equimolar amounts of itaconic acid (IA) as hydrogen-bond donor, quaternary ammonium salt, namely choline chloride (CC) or tetraethylammonium chloride (TEAC) as hydrogen-bonds acceptors, and water as the initiator solvent. The syntheses were carried out at 65 °C for 2 h, and polymers produced were purified by dialysis and by treatment on strong cation exchange resin. The microstructures of the polymers were analysed using 1H, 13C and 1H–13C HSQC NMR spectroscopy. The unexpected methylene and methine groups resulting from decarboxylation and/or branching as well as choline ester moieties were detected as irregular structures in PIA synthesised in IA-TEAC and IA-CC DES, respectively.

Male breast cancer (MBC) is a rare neoplasm and diagnosed in less than 1% of all malignant tumors [1]. It also accounts for less than 1% of all breast cancers. It has been estimated that it affects around 1/100000 men per year [2]. However, the frequency of diagnosed MBC has been steadily increasing over past few decades [3]. The risk of developing breast cancer in men within a population is about 125 lower when compared to breast cancer in women [4]. The male breast cancer may also appear bilaterally, although it is extremely rare (0,5-2,5% of all MBC) [5]. There is a lack of research based on large groups of patients of prospective studies due to the rare occurrence of male breast cancer, hence each study seems to increase the knowledge on this subject matter. The two cases of patients described by us are part of the discussion.

In this paper, the authors discuss the results of research on the preparation and properties of superabsorbent hydrogels based on carboxymethylated high-amylose corn starches. They were obtained by graft copolymerisation (in an aqueous environment) of acrylic acid and its sodium salt onto modified starches (with various substitution degrees DS = 0.2 and 0.8), using potassium persulfate as an initiator and N,N&rsquo, methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a cross-linker. Modified starches, with various DS, were used to synthesise two series of hydrogels with varying molar ratios of cross-linkers to monomers. The swelling behaviour of hydrogels was studied and their properties were estimated using the kinetic equation. The occurrence of starch&ndash, polyacrylic acid covalent interactions was demonstrated by FTIR analysis. Nonlinear rheological methods have proved to be very effective in assessing the mechanical properties of hydrogels. LAOS (large -amplitude oscillatory shear) analysis allowed the determination of the durability of the gel structure as a function of the amount of absorbed water.

This paper presents a rapid, sensitive and precise method developed and validated for the quantification of sufentanil in biological samples using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with QqQ-MS-MS. Plasma samples were extracted with simple and fast liquid-liquid extraction (ethyl acetate, pH 9). Calibration curve showed linearity in the concentration range of 0.005–30 µg/L. The lower limit of quantification was 0.010 µg/L. The most important method features are low lower limit of quantification value, simple plasma extraction and small sample volume. This method is suitable not only for evaluation of the pharmacokinetics, toxicology, bioavailability and clinical pharmacology of sufentanil but also for the detection and identification of this compound in human plasma samples for forensic purposes.