Introduction and objectivesNo comparisons have been published yet regarding the newest iteration of balloon- and self-expandable transcatheter heart valves for the treatment of bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) stenosis. MethodsMulticenter registry of consecutive patients with severe BAV stenosis treated with balloon-expandable transcatheter heart valves (Myval and SAPIEN 3 Ultra, S3U) or self-expanding Evolut PRO+(EP+). TriMatch analysis was carried out to minimize the impact of baseline differences. The primary endpoint of the study was 30-day device success, and the secondary endpoints were the composite and individual components of early safety at 30 days. ResultsA total of 360 patients (age 76.6±7.6 years, 71.9% males) were included: 122 Myval (33.9%), 129 S3U (35.8%), and 109 EP+(30.3%). The mean STS score was 3.6±1.9%. There were no cases of coronary artery occlusion, annulus rupture, aortic dissection, or procedural death. The primary endpoint of device success at 30 days was significantly higher in the Myval group (Myval: 100%; S3U: 87.5%; and EP+: 81.3%), mainly due to higher residual aortic gradients with S3U and greater≥moderate aortic regurgitation (AR) with EP+. No significant differences were found in the unadjusted rate of pacemaker implantation. ConclusionsIn patients with BAV stenosis deemed unsuitable for surgery, Myval, S3U and EP+showed similar safety but balloon-expandable Myval had better gradients than S3U, and both balloon-expandable devices had lower residual AR than EP+, suggesting that, taking into consideration the patient-specific risks, any of these devices can be selected with optimal outcomes.Full English text available from:www.revespcardiol.org/en

The article analyzes the image of Buenos Aires in the narrative of Ana María Shua, an Argentine writer of Polish Jewish descent. Urban space plays an important role in her prose described often as apocalyptic or dystopian. Through a historiographical metafiction, the author rewrites the memory of the ancestors in El libro de los recuerdos (2007), a novel that presents the life of Jewish immigrants in the capital of Argentina, divided into neighborhoods marked by their ethnicity. Eroticism and the use of the female body are, on the other hand, the topics that dominate in the author’s collection of micro-stories titled Casa de geishas (2009), where the brothel is described as a singular ghetto, rooted in the city panorama. Finally, the novel La muerte como efecto secundario offers a dystopic description of a future of a ghettoized city, where compulsory geriatric ghettos become a reality. The article, based on the analysis of the aforementioned works, presents a critical look at the use of the concept of “ghetto” or “urban island” in the construction of the narrative structure and space in Ana María Shua’s fiction.

This paper analyses urban spaces of crisis in Isaac Rosa’s novels La mano invisible (2011), La habitación oscura (2013), and the graphic novel Aquí vivió. Historia de un desahucio (2016) by Cristina Bueno and Isaac Rosa. It explores the dystopian and realistic elements in Rosa’s fiction and proposes to read his works through the lens of Michel Foucault’s essay on other spaces. The article argues that the unusual, quasi-dystopian spaces are of a double nature, typical for heterotopias, and play a significant role in the manner in which Rosa depicts the consequences of the economic crisis in Spain at the beginning of the 21st century.aper analyses urban spaces of crisis in Isaac Rosa’s novels La mano invisible (2011), La habitación oscura (2013), and the graphic novel Aquí vivió. Historia de un desahucio (2016) by Cristina Bueno and Isaac Rosa. It explores the dystopian and realistic elements in Rosa’s fiction and proposes to read his works through the lens of Michel Foucault’s essay on other spaces. The article argues that the unusual, quasi-dystopian spaces are of a double nature, typical for heterotopias, and play a significant role in the manner in which Rosa depicts the consequences of the economic crisis in Spain at the beginning of the 21st century.

In this work, group 13 metal aryloxides [Al(MesalO)3] (1), [Me2Ga(MesalO)]2 (2), [AlLi3(MesalO)6] (3) and [Me2GaLi(MesalO)2(THF)] (4) were obtained by the reaction of methyl salicylate (MesalOH) with group-13 alkyls MMe3 (for M = Al, Ga) or their combination with BuLi in a THF/alcohol solution. The direct reaction of MMe3 (for M = Al, Ga) and MesalOH (1 : 3) led to compound 1 or 2, respectively. When the same reactions were carried out with additional BuLi, the heterometallic compound 3 or the mixture of 4 and [Li6(MesalO)6] (5) was obtained. Compounds 1-5 were used for the chemical conversion of glycerol to α-hydroxy acid glyceryl esters by alcoholysis of L-lactide (L-LA), glycolide (GA), and ε-caprolactone (ε-CL). Compounds 1-5 were also efficient initiators for the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of L-LA, GA, and ε-CL using glycerol as a branching agent to synthesize 3-arm polyesters. Heterometallic compounds 3 and 4 were attractive molecular precursors for the preparation of group 13-lithium ceramics, i.e. γ-LiAlO2 and β-LiGaO2.

The article warns readers interested in the specialised communication against an uncritical adoption of the term professional language, which is often used in the extensive literature on the subject without care for terminological precision. The lack of awareness of the meaning of the term professional language leads to negative consequences in linguistic argumentation, such as the neglect of the current state of research in general linguistics, the contamination of the scientific term by its naive understanding in everyday communication between laypersons, or the identification of language and its use, which is a serious methodological deficiency. The reader of the specialised literature might therefore, without sufficient linguistic knowledge, mistakenly take the contents presented in the reading as self-evident and corresponding to the current state of knowledge. In the first part of the article, the aforementioned sources of interpretative dangers in reading are pointed out, using the history of research as an example. Subsequently, the reader is offered some constant points of reference fur further interpretation, which allow to recognise a stylistic-functional variety of ethnic language in the concept of professional language, including phenomena that go beyond the reduction of professional language to mere terminology. The author also pointed out the forms of acquisition and existence of the so-called professional languages, as well as the distributional features that distinguish them from other functional-stylistic varieties of the ethnic language. In conclusion, their peculiarity was highlighted, arising from the need for precise naming of phenomena and processes in the field of human activity, which is concluded by the specificity of the field; from the fact that people in the said field communicate at the expert level, and the related need for such a selection of linguistic means from the ethnic language in which communication takes place that its users communicate efficiently in the field of professional communication. The knowledge of these conditions will enable the reader to approach the relationship between language and the so-called professional language with greater understanding.

Simple SummaryResin acids are antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory compounds derived from spruce and pine trees. In a previous study, in which a mixture of resin acids and fatty acids from pine and spruce trees was added to the feeds of broiler chickens, they grew heavier, and their footpads stayed in better condition. Here, three separate trials were conducted to study whether dietary resin acids without the fatty acids have the same effects on broiler chickens. Broiler chicken diets were amended with different dosages of a resin acid concentrate product. Bird weight gain increased, and the efficiency of broiler production was improved when the resin acid concentrate was added to the diet at 125–250 g/ton. The litter material of pens stayed drier in resin acid concentrate groups, which may indicate better intestinal condition of the birds. However, the footpad condition was unaffected by the experimental diets. The results suggest that the resin acid concentrate improves bird weight gain and the efficiency of broiler production. Therefore, the resin acid concentrate may be a promising feed additive for broiler chickens.Dietary coniferous resin acids have previously been suggested to support the intestinal integrity of broiler chickens by reducing mucosal collagen degradation. The present study examined the effects of resin acid concentrate (RAC) on broiler performance and litter quality. In trial 1, RAC was added to diets at 0, 125, 250, or 1250 g/ton, while in trials 2 and 3, RAC dosing was 0 or 175 g/ton. Bird weight, feed consumption, mortality, feed conversion ratio (FCR), European Efficiency Index (EEI), litter moisture, and footpad dermatitis (FPD) lesions were measured. In trial 1, RAC at 125 and 250 g/ton improved weight gain and EEI, while RAC at 1250 g/ton group did not differ from control. Feed consumption, FCR, FPD scores and mortality were similar in all treatments, but litter quality was improved by all doses of RAC. In trials 2 and 3, RAC increased the final weight of birds, improved FCR, EEI, and litter quality, but had no effects in other parameters. In summary, RAC at 125–250 g/ton improved bird performance and thus shows promise as a feed additive. The dryer litter in RAC treatments may suggest improved intestinal condition as a response to in-feed resin acids.

High-resolution melting (HRM) is a post-PCR method that allows to discriminate genotypes based on fluorescence changes during the melting phase. HRM is used to detect mutations or polymorphisms (e.g. microsatellites, SNPs, indels). Here, the (TTTAT)3-5 microsatellite polymorphism within intron 6 of the LDHA gene in pigeons was analysed using the HRM method. Individuals (123 homing pigeons) were genotyped using conventional PCR. Birds were classified into groups based on genotype type and the results were tested by qPCR-HRM and verified using sequencing. Based on the evaluated protocol, five genotypes were identified that vary in the number of TTTAT repeat units (3/3, 4/4, 3/4, 4/5, and 5/5). Sequencing have confirmed the results obtained with qPCR-HRM and verified that HRM is a suitable method for identification of three-allele microsatellite polymorphisms. It can be concluded that the high-resolution melting (HRM) method can be effectively used for rapid (one-step) discrimination of the (TTTAT)3-5 microsatellite polymorphism in the pigeon’s LDHA gene.

Written expression is one of the most important skills in philological studies. Subjected to a constant formative and summative evaluation, it plays a distinctive role and shows both the achievements and the shortcomings of the student’s linguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic skills. In this analysis, we would like to focus on this last component of communicative competence, but also on the strategies of the learners connected with their practice of various forms of writing in the academic and private sphere. The paper summarizes the results of a survey completed by Spanish philology students from the Department of Romance Philology at the University of Wroclaw during the summer term of 2018/2019 academic year. One of the objectives of the survey was to find out to what extent the PNJH Pisanie program correspondsto the needs and expectations of current students in Poland.

Three statistical methods: Bayesian, randomized data binning and Maximum Entropy Method (MEM) are described and applied in the analysis of US radon data taken from the US registry. Two confounding factors—elevation of inhabited dwellings, and UVB (ultra-violet B) radiation exposure—were considered to be most correlated with the frequency of lung cancer occurrence. MEM was found to be particularly useful in extracting meaningful results from epidemiology data containing such confounding factors. In model testing, MEM proved to be more effective than the least-squares method (even via Bayesian analysis) or multi-parameter analysis, routinely applied in epidemiology. Our analysis of the available residential radon epidemiology data consistently demonstrates that the relative number of lung cancers decreases with increasing radon concentrations up to about 200 Bq/m3, also decreasing with increasing altitude at which inhabitants live. Correlation between UVB intensity and lung cancer has also been demonstrated.

A sketch of life of an outstanding, but a little forgotten, artist Bolesław Jarosław Cybis, who lived in years 1895– 1957, is presented in the article, but the author discusses only period till 1939. On the basis of an analyses of materials five stages in his biography have been separated: Crimean-Petersburg (1895–1912), Kharkov (1912–1919), Istanbul (1920–1923), Varsovian (1923–1939) and American (1939–1957). The article has been based on sources that have been unknown so far. The materials are stored in the Archive of Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and they are connected with studies, employment, and the artist’s private life. Special attention has been paid to Kharkov time which became the time of choosing an occupation and also time of avant-garde, a dominating arts movement at that time, which became also his style of creating.