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The article presents the results of research on speech therapy terminology. The analysis covered 33 terms, the frequency of which was assessed as low. The main research questions were: "Are the selected speech therapy terms familiar to: a. speech therapy students, b. speech therapistsprac titioners?". "Have a. students, b. therapists been acquainted with dictionary defi nitions of selected speech therapy terms?". To answer the research questions, a survey was conducted. It included questions about the knowledge and understanding of the terms. The results suggest the need for a more detailed description of speech therapy terminology due to not only the varying levels of its familiarity, but also its timeliness and pervasiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article regards written autobiographical narratives of people who stutter. The collected material was analysed using both the quantitative and the qualitative method. The aim of the research was to determine whether the issue of stuttering is touched upon in autobiographical narratives of people who stutter. If so, what portion of the narrative is dedicated to the theme of non-fluency of speech. The conducted analyses permitted the verification of the hypotheses posed. It was concluded that the ones including the theme of stuttering were predominant among the narratives collected. Stuttering is present both as a separate thread and as part of other thematic threads. Threads where the issue of non-fluency of speech was taken up most frequently can be distinguished in the analysed narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economic & Political Thought / Myśl Ekonomiczna & Polityczna is the property of Lazarski University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Owing to their health-promoting values, products obtained from sheep are the center of attention among consumers. The chemical composition of sheep's milk is largely conditioned by seasonal dietary variables, which contribute to its pro-health qualities. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of a production season on parameters of milk and rennet cheese produced from milk obtained from Frisian sheep during winter and summer feeding. Milk from the winter season contained more lactose, less vitamin A and less than half the vitamin E content than milk obtained in summer. Cheese from the winter season was characterized by a higher content of dry matter, proteins and minerals but less than half vitamin A content than cheese from the summer period. In cheese from the winter season, the concentration of tyramine was over fourfold higher while the concentration of histamine, while putrescine, and cadaverine were over twice as low as in cheese of the summer feeding period. The content of total biogenic amines did not vary seasonally. Milk fat from milk obtained in winter contained more medium-chained saturated fatty acids (SFA), but less long-chained SFA and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in comparison with the summer period. Fat from cheese produced in winter had a higher content of medium-chained SFA, whereas cheese from the summer feeding season contained more long-chained SFA, monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA), and PUFA. Milk and cheese from the summer feeding period had higher ratios of PUFA to SFA and n-6 to n-3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hospital-Based Health Technology Assessment (HB-HTA) aims to support local decision-making on investing in new health technologies limited to the hospital level. The goal of this study was to prepare and present the strategic functional model of HB-HTA in Poland with coordinating role of an organization labelled as the independent external organization (NOZ). The stakeholders of the HB-HTA process were identified, together with their interests and relations among them, as well as the goals and consequences of health policy in area of implementation of HB-HTA in Poland. The conduct of HB-HTA process was presented, the tasks foreseen for NOZ, its possible organizational forms, barriers, and possibilities of development; as well as the overall capacity of this organization in area of HB-HTA. It is foreseen that the development of HB-HTA in Poland based on NOZ should take place within a positively inclined environment, having a generally positive impact on the health care system, positive prognoses, and opportunities for implementation of HB-HTAh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared selected parameters of milk and rennet cheese produced from milk obtained from alpine goats during winter and summer feeding under climatic conditions of the Warmia and Mazury region. Milk from the winter season contained more protein, less vitamin A and over seven times less vitamin E than milk obtained in summer. In cheese from the winter season, the content of dry matter, fat, protein and vitamin A was lower when compared with cheese from the summer period. The content of total biogenic amines in cheese was almost twice as high in winter than in summer (1056.4 vs 567.6 mg/kg). Winter cheese contained more cadaverines and histamine than summer cheese. The content of tyramine and putrescine was comparable in cheese from both seasons and was higher than the level of histamine. Milk fat from milk obtained in winter contained more long-chained SFA and MUFA in comparison with the summer period. Fat from cheese produced in summer had a higher content of SFA, CLA and ALA, whereas cheese from the period of winter feeding contained more C16:0izo and C18:1. The content of hyper-and hypocholesterolemnic acids was comparable in milk and in cheese with a slightly smaller proportion of hyper-acids and a slightly higher proportion of hypocholesterolemnic acids during summer feeding of goats. In conclusion, it was found that the feeding season had a minor impact on the chemical composition of milk, although it significantly differentiated the chemical composition of rennet cheese produced from that milk and the health quality parameters of both products. Milk from winter feeding had a higher content of protein, whereas the chemical composition of cheese was more beneficial in winter as the content of dry matter, fat and protein was higher. The health properties of both products were more beneficial in summer, which was determined by the profile of fatty acids and the content of vitamin A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present experiment was carried out to determine the effect of dietary supplementation with butyric acid and sodium butyrate on selected egg production parameters, egg quality and intestinal morphology and function in laying hens. A total of 432 Lohmann Brown laying hens at 48 weeks of age were randomly assigned to three dietary treatments (9 replicates of 16 birds each). The hens were housed in three-tier battery cages for 24 weeks. All birds were fed on iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric diets in mash form, and had free access to water. Control group (T1) hens were fed on a basal diet, group T2 received the basal diet supplemented with an encapsulated source of butyric acid (at 500 g/t feed) and group T3 received the basal diet supplemented with protected sodium butyrate (at 700 g/t feed). The number and weight of eggs laid, feed intake, feed conversion, egg quality, bone mineralisation parameters, histomorphological parameters of the small intestine and gastrointestinal tract parameters of hens were determined throughout the experiment. Dietary supplementation with butyric acid and sodium butyrate contributed to a significant increase in eggshell thickness, eggshell weight as a percentage of total egg weight, higher activity of bacterial enzymes in the caecum and higher concentrations of butyric acid in the caecal contents. Hens supplemented with butyric acid protected with the MicroPEARL technology were characterised by higher calcium concentrations in bones and lower ammonia concentrations in the caecum. It can be concluded that both butyric acid sources had a beneficial influence on eggshell quality, tibia parameters and selected gastrointestinal tract parameters. The type of protection (MicroPEARL encapsulation technology) influenced the dose of the product required to achieve the same effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Poultry Science / Archiv für Geflügelkunde is the property of Verlag Eugen Ulmer and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Hsp100 chaperones cooperate with the Hsp70 chaperone system to disaggregate and reactivate heat-denatured aggregated proteins to promote cell survival after heat stress. The homology models of Hsp100 disaggregases suggest the presence of a conserved network of ionic interactions between the first nucleotide binding domain (NBD1) and the coiled-coil middle subdomain, the signature domain of disaggregating chaperones. Mutations intended to disrupt the putative ionic interactions in yeast Hsp104 and bacterial ClpB disaggregases resulted in remarkable changes of their biochemical properties. These included an increase in ATPase activity, a significant increase in the rate of in vitro substrate renaturation, and partial independence from the Hsp70 chaperone in disaggregation. Paradoxically, the increased activities resulted in serious growth impediments in yeast and bacterial cells instead of improvement of their thermotolerance. Our results suggest that this toxic activity is due to the ability of the mutated disaggregases to unfold independently from Hsp70, native folded proteins. Complementary changes that restore particular salt bridges within the suggested network suppressed the toxic effects. We propose a novel structural aspect of Hsp100 chaperones crucial for specificity and efficiency of the disaggregation reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most effective management systems is the so-called lean management (LM) aimed at loss minimization of institutions' activities while maximizing value and satisfaction to the clients. The system implementation comprises not only typical business areas but also health care sectors. The aim of the article is to present the concept and opportunity of improving the management of occupational health units. Due to its multi-profile nature of tasks and diverse relations with the environment occupational health could be a good institutional example of LM implementation. Operational perspective consists of five guidelines: describing values expected by final clients, setting value flow eliminating needless elements, creating the integrated, coherent and smooth sequence of valuable activities, offering the values to clients, and aiming at continuing improvement. LM could be implemented in occupational health units in the following areas: timing and tasks coordination, leaning some tasks and expanding others in order to maximize clients' value, cost rationalizing, improving the quality of services by eliminating mistakes, avoiding repetition of activities.

Since the successful transition to a freely elected parliament and a market economy after 1989, Poland is now a stable democracy and is well represented within political and economic organizations in Europe and worldwide. The strongly centralized health system based on the Semashko model was replaced with a decentralized system of mandatory health insurance, complemented with financing from state and territorial self-government budgets. There is a clear separation of health care financing and provision: the National Health Fund (NFZ) the sole payer in the system is in charge of health care financing and contracts with public and non-public health care providers. The Ministry of Health is the key policy-maker and regulator in the system and is supported by a number of advisory bodies, some of them recently established. Health insurance contributions, borne entirely by employees, are collected by intermediary institutions and are pooled by the NFZ and distributed between the 16 regional NFZ branches. In 2009, Poland spent 7.4% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health. Around 70% of health expenditure came from public sources and over 83.5% of this expenditure can be attributed to the (near) universal health insurance. The relatively high share of private expenditure is mostly represented by out-of-pocket (OOP) payments, mainly in the form of co-payments and informal payments. Voluntary health insurance (VHI) does not play an important role and is largely limited to medical subscription packages offered by employers. Compulsory health insurance covers 98% of the population and guarantees access to a broad range of health services. However, the limited financial resources of the NFZ mean that broad entitlements guaranteed on paper are not always available. Health care financing is overall at most proportional: while financing from health care contributions is proportional and budgetary subsidies to system funding are progressive, high OOP expenditures, particularly in areas such as pharmaceuticals, are highly regressive. The health status of the Polish population has improved substantially, with average life expectancy at birth reaching 80.2 years for women and 71.6 years for men in 2009. However, there is still a vast gap in life expectancy between Poland and the western European Union (EU) countries and between life expectancy overall and the expected number of years without illness or disability. Given its modest financial, human and material health care resources and the corresponding outcomes, the overall financial efficiency of the Polish system is satisfactory. Both allocative and technical efficiency leave room for improvement. Several measures, such as prioritizing primary care and adopting new payment mechanisms such as diagnosis-related groups (DRGs), have been introduced in recent years but need to be expanded to other areas and intensified. Additionally, numerous initiatives to enhance quality control and build the required expertise and evidence base for the system are also in place. These could improve general satisfaction with the system, which is not particularly high. Limited resources, a general aversion to cost-sharing stemming from a long experience with broad public coverage and shortages in health workforce need to be addressed before better outcomes can be achieved by the system. Increased cooperation between various bodies within the health and social care sectors would also contribute in this direction. The HiT profiles are country-based reports that provide a detailed description of a health system and of policy initiatives in progress or under development. HiTs examine different approaches to the organization, financing and delivery of health services, and the role of the main actors in health systems; they describe the institutional framework, process, content and implementation of health and health care policies; and highlight challenges and areas that require more in-depth analysis., (World Health Organization 2011, on behalf of the European Observatory on health systems and Policies.)