Poland In Years Research Articles

Tick-borne encephalitis in Poland in years 1993-2008 - epidemiology and clinical presentation. A retrospective study of 687 patients

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is an emerging disease in Europe as in Poland, especially in north-eastern part of the country. The aim of the study was to characterize the epidemiology and clinical features of TBE in this region. Clinical and epidemiological data of 687 patients hospitalized between 1993 and 2008 at the Department of Infectious Diseases and Neuroinfections with the diagnosis of TBE were analysed. In the case of 59 patients (9.5%), the disease was job related (forestry workers, farmers). In the examined group, TBE presented with meningitis in 282 cases (41%), with meningoencephalitis in 353 cases (51.3%) and with meningoencephalomyelitis in 52 cases (7.6%). The most common neurological abnormalities were ataxia in 88 cases (14.17%) and pareses in 53 cases (8.53%). Four patients (0.6%) died, 144 patients (23.2%) were discharged with neurological sequelae of TBE. Two hundred and seventy-two patients (43.8%) required further psychiatric treatment. At least 38 patients (6.1%) developed long-term sequelae and required further hospitalizations. Dexamethasone in the dosage of 6-32 mg was administered in 407 patients for 1-64 days. The diagnosis of TBE sometimes is difficult as the disease symptoms may be non-characteristic. Therefore, a detailed anamnesis is very important in the process of TBE diagnosis and may alone justify lumbar puncture conduction. Despite usually mild course of the disease, patients may develop neurological and psychiatrical sequelae.

Influenza vaccine coverage among children under the age of 5 years in Poland during 2004-2008

IntroductionInfluenza is a considerable health problem all over the world. The most important group for influenza vaccination are children: the highest attack rate during community out-breaks of influenza can be found among school-aged children or their family members; children bear a considerable risk for complications due to influenza, leading to an increased need for healthcare resources (including hospitalization). The high level of vaccine coverage among school children could provide protection against influenza among households and could reduce mortality rates among older individuals.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to estimate the influenza vaccine coverage among children younger than 5 years and to find any trends in influenza vaccine coverage in 2004-2008 in Poland.Material and methodsOfficial data (number of administrated vaccines and the age of vaccinated individuals) collected by the National Institute of Hygiene, the National Institute of Public Health, and the Central Statistical Office in Poland were analyzed. This data are reported by physicians and collected from reports prepared annually by the Sanitary-Epidemiological Stations at a local level. The vaccine coverage rate was calculated as a percentage of vaccinated individuals among all children under the age of 5 years.ResultsThe influenza vaccine coverage among children younger than 5 years varied from 1% (2007 and 2008) to 1.9% (2005). The proportion of vaccinated children aged less than 5 compared with the total number of flu shots administrated irrespective of age also varied from 1.4% (2007) to 2% (2005).ConclusionsThe influenza vaccination coverage among Polish children aged less than 5 years is low and has persisted at the same level. More educational activities directed both to patients (parents) and healthcare workers would be needed to improve a general knowledge about influenza vaccination benefits among young children.

The Solidarity Days: A short reminiscence

With the retrospect of two decades, the denouement of the Solidarity saga and the revolutionary tide that swept across the face of Central Europe now seem dusted by a deceptive sheen of inevitability. But for those plunged in the hurtling cascade of events that made up 1989, the memory is rather different. The participants, the witnesses and the manipulators behind the scenes did not know where history was going, or how the river flow of events would spill across the terrain of social life, until the landscape reached, at last, a new conformation of stability. How hard it is, in the early years of the twenty-first century, with our present knowledge of the vast consequences born of the slight shifts in the political balance at the outset of 1989, to recall the specific tone and quality of those days. They were uncertain, they were drenched in uncertainty; in the cities of the Warsaw Pact, mantled by their constant coat of brown coal fumes and industrial smog, slender hopes and fine ideals were all that kept the heart alive. What did we who were visitors from outside the system see? Can we recapture our feelings and convictions then? We did not know what was going to happen, or how, or how far things would go; but there was a sense in the air, at the outset of the year of transformations, that history, after a long slumber, was starting up again. This resumption had been prepared by the preceding decade: the Solidarity years in Poland, above all, which was a period of moral rebirth. My own experience of Poland in the late 1980s left me greatly changed; I had a sense, for the first time in my life, of the power of ideas and the reality of national convictions. I also had a new sense of the way different factors, even conflicting factors, fit together in the march of history, and produce, by their clash and by the negotiation of their various intertwining influences, outcomes quite distinct from those intended by the principals in the drama. If we glance back now at a thematic x-ray of 1989, it is plain that four central figures helped shape the climate. First was Ronald Reagan, a president with very clear-cut ideas about communism; his actions while in office brought the Soviet Union to the negotiating table; his military build-up precipitated the Moscow regime's financial crisis. Reagan's Vice-President and successor, the cautious, quietist George Bush, then through masterful inaction allowed the cavalcade of change in Europe's heart to rush ahead in its natural rhythm. The second key actor onstage was the Polish Pope, John Paul II, whose insistent message to his people, and to the people of all the shadowed half of Europe, led them to lift up their eyes and to preserve a small flame of hope in their hearts. Lech Walcsa, who by this stage had come to incarnate Poland's demands for profound reform, was the natural counter to the Warsaw government. But by sublime paradox, the worst enemy of the European status quo was the leader of the Eastern Bloc, Mikhail Gorbachev, who, at every key turn in the course of 1989, was on hand, insisting that the time for force and constraint to hold the Soviet satellite empire intact was gone. All of these actors were necessary figures in the transformation. None of them expected the year of revolutions to end as it did; all of them, in their respective ways, exerted their will to break the system. Each one of the four was a man on a grander scale than the times; their mutual interaction in the course of the whole decade leading up to 1989 did much to ensure that confrontation found release, and that a dark interval of stagnation in European history came to a startling end. It is this quality of surprise that seems most worth dwelling on today. Not one correspondent predicted in serious fashion the outcome of the chain of events we all witnessed. Not one politician knew the script. Not one commentator or pundit, with the exception, oddly, of Polish emigre Zbigniew Brzezinski, dared envision the collapse in that year of the Berlin Wall. …

Holocaust Memorials: The Emergence of a Genre

AHR Forum Holocaust Memorials: The Emergence of a Genre HAROLD MARCUSE in: American Historical Review, 115(Feb. 2010), 53-89 T HE EVENT WE NOW KNOW as the Holocaust has been widely represented in a variety of media, from autobiographical and scholarly books; to literature, photography, and film; to art, music, and museums. 1 There has even been an extensive discussion about whether it can be represented at all: Saul Friedlander has described it as being “at the limits of representation.” 2 Even before the event itself was defined, however, it was being commemorated in monuments and memorials. Today there are many thousands of memorials marking sites of Nazi persecution and mass murder, and dozens more in cities around the world, with additional monuments being erected each year. 3 In order to investigate how the Holocaust has been memorialized, we must first delimit what we mean by the term. Not until the 1970s did “Holocaust” become the most widely used word to denote the Nazi program to systematically exterminate all Jews; since the 1990s, it has expanded to include Nazi programs to decimate or eradicate other groups as well. 4 In fact, an awareness of Nazi genocide as a program 1 The works of Lawrence Langer on Holocaust literature and testimony are standard-setting: Langer, The Holocaust and the Literary Imagination (New Haven, Conn., 1975); Langer, Holocaust Tes- timonies: The Ruins of Memory (New Haven, Conn., 1991). See also James E. Young, Writing and Re- writing the Holocaust: Narrative and the Consequences of Interpretation (Bloomington, Ind., 1988). For art, music, and museums, see, for example, Philip Rosen and Nina Apfelbaum, Bearing Witness: A Re- source Guide to Literature, Poetry, Art, Music, and Videos by Holocaust Survivors (Westport, Conn., 2002). 2 Saul Friedlander, ed., Probing the Limits of Representation: Nazism and the “Final Solution” (Cam- bridge, Mass., 1992), 3. Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel has been one of the most outspoken proponents of the view that the Holocaust cannot be adequately portrayed. 3 See Ulrike Puvogel, Gedenksta ¨tten fu ¨ r die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus: Eine Dokumentation, 2 vols. (Bonn, 1995). Puvogel’s location indexes list more than 3,000 sites for Germany alone. The equiv- alent publication for Poland, Council for the Preservation of Monuments to Resistance and Martyrdom, Scenes of Fighting and Martyrdom Guide: War Years in Poland, 1939–1945 (Warsaw, 1966), lists more than 1,200 sites. Similar books have been compiled for Austria and the Netherlands: Erich Fein, Die Steine Reden: Gedenksta ¨tten des o ¨sterreichischen Freiheitskampfes, Mahnmale fu ¨ r die Opfer des Faschismus, eine Dokumentation (Vienna, 1975); Wim Ramaker, Sta een Ogenblik Stil . . . : Monumentenboek, 1940–1945 (Kampen, 1980). A front-page New York Times article from January 29, 2008, “Germany Confronts Holocaust Legacy Anew,” lists seven major projects in progress for Germany alone. I do not distinguish rigidly between “monuments” and “memorials,” although the choice of terms can be used to reflect objects that may be more heroic versus those that are more contemplative, as in the Washington Monument versus the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. 4 See Jon Petrie, “The Secular Word ‘Holocaust’: Scholarly Myths, History, and 20th Century Mean- ings,” Journal of Genocide Research 2, no. 1 (2000): 31–63. See also David Engel, “What Is The Ho- locaust?” in Gordon Martel, ed., A Companion to Europe, 1900–1945 (Malden, Mass., 2006), 472– 486. Peter Novick discusses the emergence of an awareness of the Holocaust in the United States in The Holocaust in American Life (Boston, 1999), 133–134.

Colorectal cancer management in Poland: current improvements and future challenges

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most commonly identified malignant neoplasm diagnosed in men (12% of total cancers) and women (11%) in Poland, while CRC mortality is second in men (10.1%) and third in women (11.2%). The main reasons for increasing incidence and mortality are an aging population and an increase in environmental and lifestyle factors which may lead to cancer. In Poland there is a lack of historical (regularly published and accessible) data on cancer morbidity and survival rates. The Oncology Centre published cancer data for the first time in February 2009 the 2006, which, also for the first time, embraced the entire country. Oncology data collection in Poland is based on a network of 16 Regional Cancer Registries reporting to the Polish National Cancer Registry in Warsaw. An additional source of oncology data is the National Health Fund and the Central Statistical Office. The National Cancer Programme (2005) provides funding at ca 780 million euro, which includes amongst others the Early CRC Detection Programme to promote a free screening colonoscopy. Oncology services in Poland are funded almost entirely by public resources--the national budget as sustained by tax revenues (Ministry of Health) and the National Health Fund as sustained by the obligatory public health insurance contribution. Oncology expenditure covered by the national budget (Ministry of Health) and the National Cancer Programme in 2006 amounted to 44.8 million euro and 105.2 million euro, respectively. All these preventive, curative and organizational efforts have significantly improved access to efficient therapies (including radiotherapy) and diagnostic procedures in recent years in Poland, although, clearly, a lot remains to be done.

Influenza Vaccine Coverage in Aged-related Risk Groups in Poland, 2004-2007

Routine vaccination of certain groups of persons, including children and the elderly might provide additional protection to persons at risk for influenza complications and reduce the overall influenza burden. The aim of the paper was to estimate the influenza vaccine coverage in persons aged 0-4 years and > 65 years in Poland in 2004-2007. Official data collected by National Institute of Hygiene, National Institute of Public Health and Central Statistical Office were analyzed. Among vaccinations performed in all persons, the percentage of vaccinations performed in children aged 0-4 years varied from 1.6% to 2.0%. The estimated vaccination coverage in this age group of population was < 2%. Among persons aged > 65 years the influenza vaccine coverage increased from 7% in 2004 to 14% in 2007. Subjects aged > 65 years represented 25-36% of all vaccinated individuals. The influenza vaccination rates among age-related risk groups in Poland remain low. No or very low increase in a total vaccination coverage rates, as demonstrated in our paper, indicates that meeting the WHO targets concerning influenza vaccination coverage will be very difficult, if no further action is taken concerning vaccine uptake.

Monozygotic Twins Display Different Minor Histocompatibility Antigens.

Abstract 4324 IntroductionAlbeit it is generally presumed that monozygotic twins are genetically identical and that phenotypic differences between twins are mainly due to environmental factors, large-scale variation in copy number of DNA segments recently evidenced by Bruder et al. (AJHG, 2008) showed presence of genotypic diversity in monozygotic twins. The rationale of this study was to test whether monozygotic twins display disparities of minor Histocompatibility antigens (mHags) which may play role in syngenic HCT. We and others have previously shown that mHags constitute an important immunogenetic factor influencing immune responses following transplantation from HLA-matched allogeneic donors. Patients and MethodsmHags HA-1, HA-2, HA-3, HA-8, HB-1, ACC-1, ACC-2, HwA-9, HwA-10, UGT2B17, HY genotypes were defined with use of Dynal AllSet kits by PCR-SSP method in secured DNA samples from 3 monozygotic twins pairs aged 34, 24 and 28, who underwent syngenic allo-HCTs due to different hematological malignancies (NHL, CML, AML) in the Department of Hematology and BMT in Katowice, Poland in years 2000-2004. ResultsIn 2 out of 3 syngenic pairs we have found differences in genes encoding mHags: different allele of EB-1 was present in one pair (NHL) (recipient HH, donor HY), and two different alleles of HwA-9 (RR, RG) and HwA-10 (**, R*) were present in second pair (CML). No differences in mHags were observed in the third pair (AML). ConclusionsOur results question the long-standing belief that monozygotic twins are genetically identical and open up a possibility to further study the role of disparate mHags in disease and transplantation. Disclosures:No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Reprodukcja ludności Polski w latach 1950–2007

Population reproduction, connected with the natural movement (births and deaths), decides in the long period on the survival or the death of the society. Indirectly, the reproduction level shows a society potential, its vitality and perspectives. Basic data on the population reproduction level in Poland in years 1950–2007 are presented in the article. In this period a decrease in the reproduction was generally observed up to very low size. The death reduction compensated considerably the decrease of the deciding factor of changes – the fertility.

On the mechanisms of achieving fiscal (un)sustainability: the case of Poland

Aim of this paper is to assess empirically the sustainability of budgetary policy in Poland in years 1992-2006. Our results show that structural surplus did respond to fiscal shocks in a way that stabilizes debt. However, the debt-stabilizing mechanism relied entirely on the revenue side, while the expenditures moved independently from debt and in a way that is close to non-stationarity. Given numerous bounds on increasing fiscal revenues, such an asymmetric mechanism of ensuring sustainability of Polish public finances is likely to fail if pressure on increasing public expenditures remains high over prolonged periods.

HIV infections in deceased organ donors in Poland in years 1998–2008

Summary First incidences of HIV or AIDS disease in Poland were reported in 1985. Up to the end of 2008 0,03% of polish population had been infected of HIV virus. The aim of this document was determination of HIV occurrence in Polish organ donor population in 1998–2008, determination of percentage of withdrawal in case of HIV infection, determination of HIV positive organ donor profile and comparison of frequency of HIV infection in deceased organ donors and general population in Poland. In 1998–2008 5954 possible deceased organ donors had been reported to Polish Transplant Coordinating Center Poltransplant, organ recovery took place in 4875 (82%) cases In 1079 cases (18 %) organs were not recovered because of medical reasons (46%) and family or prosecutor objections (54%). HIV antibodies had been tested in 90% possible organ donors. Positive HIV antibodies were reported in 0,3% cases. The occurrence of HIV infection in deceased organ donors in Poland in the years 1998–2008 was 10 times higher than in general Polish population. In general population HIV infections occur mainly in young people, in possible organ donor population infections occurred mostly between older one. HIV infection in donor is rare but significant reason of withdrawal.

Phytophagous Entomofauna Occurring on Onion Plantations in Poland in Years 1919-2007

Phytophagous Entomofauna Occurring on Onion Plantations in Poland in Years 1919-2007 In years 1919-2007 on domestic onion plantations 37 phytophagous species taxons belonging to 7 insect orders: Thysanoptera, Homoptera, Heteroptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera and Orthoptera were noted. Among these groups 22 species were stated as phytophagous, additional taxons were indentified to 5 genus (Thrips, Mamestra, Polia, Agrotis, Agriotes) and 3 families: fungus gnats (Sciaridae), march flies (Bibionidae), crane flies (Tipulidae). Furthermore 7 species of saprophagous Diptera were collected from damaged onions during harvest. The most common dominant species occurring in all regions of onion production were: onion fly (Delia antiqua Meig.), onion thrips (Thrips tabaci Lind.), onion weevil (Ceutorhynchus suturalis Fabr.), leek moth (Acrolepiospis assectella Zell.) and cutworms (Noctuidae). The population density of: onion beetle (Lilioceris merdigera L.), garlic fly (Suillia lurida Meig.) and leek miner fly (Napomyza gymnostoma Loew) were only a seasonal danger, especially in southern regions of Poland. On wet and rich in organic matter soils some soil dwelling insects such as larvae of Melolontha species (Scarabaeidae), larvae of Agriotes (Elateridae), flies (Diptera) from Tipulidae and Bibionidae families were also occurring periodically. The species and population changes of above mentioned pests allowed to elaborate effective pest control methods of onion plantations. The pest control was performed after field monitoring on the basis of constantly updated short - and long-term forecasting.

Monetary policy of the National Bank of Poland in period 1999–September 2008

At present, the basic and the most important final aim for central banking is to achieve and maintain stable, low inflation. During the last several years BCI conception gained considerable popularity, which is reflected in the growth of number of central banks leading monetary policy according to that strategy. The aim of this paper is to review the realization of the monetary policy in Poland in years 1999–2008 as well as in long-term perspective. The reason of non-achieving the inflationary aims are situated in supply factors (such as changes of controlled process, fluctuation of food process or changes of raw materials prices), fluctuation of economic situation in world economy, dynamics of internal and external demand and expansive fiscal policy.

Chosen aspects of structures analyses of bankrupcy enterprises in Poland in year 2007

In the article there have been presented partial results of research concerning on polish bankruptcy enterprises in 2007 year. In this time bankrupted 447 firms. There are described in geographic structure by location quotient (LQ). Author also pointed 13 categories of the most dangerous sectors. All of these firms are also grouped on form of theirs organization.

Indications for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells derived from bone marrow or peripheral blood has been used as a therapeutic procedure since the mid-seventies. In recent years, the number of transplants reported annually to the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) Registry is approximately 23,500 including 38% of allogeneic and 62% of autologous procedures. In most developed countries, the incidence of hematopoietic cell transplantations reaches 400/10 million inhabitants per year and 220/10 million per year in Poland. Further advances require both increased funding and improved public health system as a whole. To recommend transplantation, it is necessary to compare the risk associated with the disease itself versus that of the transplantation procedure which depends on the stage of the disease, patient's age, time interval from diagnosis to transplantation, donor type (siblings or unrelated subjects), sex of the donor and individual features. According to the EBMT recommendations, the following categories of indications have been used: "standard procedure" category--S, "clinical option"--CO, indication of "developmental" character--D and "generally not recommended"--NR. The tabular presentation of indications is an approximation since approach to each patient should be individualized. Generally, the most-common indications for auto-transplant treatment are myeloma, malignant lymphoma and acute myeloblastic leukemia while the main indication for bone marrow allotransplantation is acute myeloblastic leukemia (33% of all allotransplantations), lymphoblastic leukemia, dysmyelopoietic syndrome, chronic myeloblastic leukemia refractory to tyrosine kinase inhibitors, then lymphoid malignancies and non-malignant disorders (bone marrow aplasia, severe immunodeficiencies, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, etc.).

Colorectal cancer as a health care problem: evaluation of the current diagnostic options

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most frequent malignancies in Western countries. The lifetime risk of developing CRC is estimated at 5-6%. Available data indicate that the epidemiologic situation in Poland leaves a lot to be desired. Approximately 8000 patients die of CRC each year in Poland and outcomes of the disease treatment expressed as the 5-year survival rate are among the worst in Europe, not exceeding 25%. Colorectal cancer is a disease which requires activities promoting early diagnostics and wide-scale prevention due to the fact that it meets the pathologic criteria suitable for the population screening tests. Different screening tests are used in routine medical practice and their use depends on their availability to a patient, according to the principle of superiority of any screening over no screening. This article reviews different screening methods according to their practical value assessed on the basis of the best available evidence.

Multidimensional Comparative Analysis of Demographic Growth of Voivodeships in Poland

Multidimensional Comparative Analysis of Demographic Growth of Voivodeships in Poland The article presents results of a multidimensional comparative analysis of the level of demographic development of voivodeships in Poland in years 1999-2006. Hellwig's synthetic measure of a development pattern was applied and on its basis the classification of voivodeships into homogenous typological groups was carried out with regard to demographic development.The results of the research have pointed to a significant influence of socio-economic factors on the extent of advancement of given voivodeships in reaching a modern type of population reproduction.

Impact of agricultural development on economic and financial situation of cooperative banks in Poland

The paper examines the impact of development of agricultural sector on performance of the cooperative banks in Poland in years 1997-2004. The levels of the agricultural development and the economic/financial situation of the banks were assessed by using country-level and regional-level aggregate indicators based on the factor analysis. The research results show that the type of region (i.e. voivodeship and macro-region) has a statistically significant impact both on the aggregate indicator of agricultural development and the aggregate indicator of banks’ performance. As for the relationship between the agricultural development level and the economic/financial situation of banks, statistically significant correlations were found only for four out of sixteen voivodeships.

Econometric Models of Propensities

Econometric Models of Propensities Human being is one of the most important sources of causative forces of events that assemble economical processes. Working out the effective tools that enable measurement of the impact of people on socio-economic processes is necessary in analyzing, troubleshooting and forecasting. In the article the issues of calculating propensities by means of properly specified econometrics models were presented. The definition of propensity was introduced. Questions connected with topic of propensities were presented in context of concepts promoted by Szczecin school of econometrics (pentagon of sources of causative forces, types of relationships in economics, geometric interpretation of personality, broom of events). Econometric models, useful in analyzing propensities, were classified on primary models, econometrics models of average propensities and econometrics models of marginal propensities. Connections between the models were described. Settlement of analytical shapes of characterized models was mentioned. In an empirical example the presented methods were used to analyze average and marginal propensity to consumption of alcoholic beverages and tobacco in the households of employees in manual labour positions in Poland in years 1993-2005.

Frequency Distribution of Radiocarbon Dates as a Tool for Reconstructing Environmental Changes

Large sets of radiocarbon dates of 1019 peat, 155 speleothem, and 100 tufa samples, as well as dates of 330 fluvial samples, were investigated in order to estimate environmental variability during the last 16,000 calendar years in Poland. All 14C dating was carried out in the Gliwice Radiocarbon Laboratory, and results are stored in the RoS database. Probability density functions (PDFs) were created by summing up (on the calendar timescale) individual age probability distributions of all dates for different types of material and for different regions of Poland. We used an updated version of the Gliwice Radiocarbon Laboratory calibration program GdCALIB. The 14C dates were calibrated using the IntCal04 calibration curve (Reimer et al. 2004), and results were compared with other paleoenvironmental records. The authors conclude that analyzing PDFs of different types of sediments can be helpful in the qualitative reconstruction of the past environment. The PDF for peat samples primarily reflects paleohydrological conditions; the PDFs for speleothem and tufa samples reflect changes in temperature and humidity, while analysis of the PDF created for fluvial data is in a general agreement with the PDFs constructed for peat samples.

INSTITUTIONS AND EFFECTIVENESS OF FARMING IN AGRICULTURE SECTOR

Good organized system of institutions is a very important factor influencing normal functioning the agricultural sector in Poland. Institutionalization had particular importance in last years in Poland, i.e. during the transition period. It was the stage of preparation of our country for accession with European Union. This has required building or modernization of institutions (law, markets, organizations), with regulate Polish economic activity in domestic market or international market, especially in agricultural sector. The aim of this process was to increase of effectiveness and competitiveness of Polish agricultural sector and to improve of its absorption’s ability in the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy. Good developed institutions strengthen the economic position of UE members at international stage.