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The aim of the article is to clarify the controversies surrounding the relationship between inflation and unemployment in the three most economically significant countries in the world (apart from China), namely the United States, Japan, and Germany, during the coronavirus pandemic (from January 2020 to February 2022). The pandemic has had various adverse effects worldwide, including a severe economic crisis lasting from the first quarter of 2020 to the end of the first quarter of 2021. The primary causes of this crisis include declines in aggregate supply due to lockdowns in many sectors of the economy, particularly the service sector. A decrease in aggregate supply should cause not only an increase in unemployment but also an increase in inflation. The article, therefore, hypothesises that the relationships between unemployment and inflation in the countries studied during the above period were unidirectional. To verify this hypothesis, two basic research methods were used: analysis of correlation coefficients between the variables mentioned above and the shape of Phillips curves. Ultimately, the hypothesis was rejected because inflation during this period showed a decreasing tendency (mainly due to a significant drop in commodity prices). The article extends research presented in the literature before 2020, offering additional value by examining the period of the pandemic which precipitated an economic crisis. Future analysis should be expanded to include more variables (including the output gap) in line with the New Keynesian Phillips Curve.

Celem artykułu jest ocena polityki pieniężnej NBP w czasie pandemii koronawirusa w kontekście prawidłowej reakcji na zmiany stóp inflacji i wzrostu gospodarczego. W opracowaniu postawiono hipotezę, zgodnie z którą reakcje NBP w postaci zmian stóp procentowych w czasie pandemii były zbyt późne, wywołując wysoką galopującą inflację w pierwszych miesiącach 2022 r. Do jej weryfikacji przyjęto analizy porównawcze rzeczywistych stóp inflacji CPI i bazowej z celem inflacyjnym, a także stopy referencyjnej NBP z obliczonymi hipotetycznymi stopami procentowymi na podstawie zmodyfikowanej dla Polski reguły Taylora. Na podstawie przeprowadzonej analizy postawioną hipotezę przyjęto.

The evolution in the past decade of recommendations for prostate cancer (PCa) management, from screening to surgical treatment, may have affected the radical prostatectomy (RP) landscape. However, comprehensive data at a national level remain scarce. We extracted 5-yr data for RP patients in France from the central database of the national health care system. The primary endpoints were surgical approach (open [ORP], laparoscopic [LRP], and robot-assisted RP [RARP]), length of stay (LOS), and complication and readmission rates. The annual number of RPs was stable during the study period. The proportion of RARPs increased from 39.8% in 2015 to 52.6% in 2019, whereas the proportion of ORPs decreased from 34.4% to 24.5%. LOS continuously decreased over time irrespective of the surgical approach. The proportion of centres in the highest quartile of hospital volume increased from 22.0% to 28.3% (p = 0.006). LOS and complication and readmission rates were significantly lower (p

There are no countrywide data regarding the utilization of same-day-discharge (SDD) surgery for robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP). We aimed to evaluate the annual number of SDD RARP procedures in France and to compare postoperative outcomes in SDD versus non-SDD centers. Data for all 9651 patients undergoing RARP in France in 2020 were extracted from the central database of the national healthcare system. Endpoints were length of hospital stay, patient age, center volume, lymph node dissection, and the hospital readmission rate. Overall, 184 SDD cases (1.9%) were reported in 14.2% of RARP centers. The annual RARP and SDD RARP caseload ranged from 41 to 485, and from one to 47, respectively, in SDD centers. SDD was significantly associated with higher-volume centers (p < 0.001). No difference in readmission rate (7.9% vs 5.1%; p = 0.141) was observed for SDD versus non-SDD centers. Direct stay costs were estimated at €1457 in SDD centers compared to €2021 in non-SDD centers. The main limitation is the lack of detailed patient characteristics and readmission causes. This annual nationwide analysis suggests that SDD RARP remains infrequently used in routine practice in France despite being associated with comparable short-term outcomes after RARP and potential cost benefits. Patient summary: We evaluated the use of robot-assisted removal of the prostate (RARP) with same-day hospital discharge in France for men with prostate cancer. In 2020, only 1.9% of the 9651 RARP procedures involved same-day discharge, even though the data show that this approach has lower costs and comparable safety.

In December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia cases was reported in Wuhan, China. The new virus, SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2) ̶ a highly pathogenic strain of coronaviruses ̶ was isolated on 7 January 2020 and identified as the cause of the outbreak. The SARS-CoV-2 virus rapidly spread across China and many other countries and lead to an unprecedented public health crisis worldwide. While 80% of infected individuals remain asymptomatic or develop only mild symptoms, the remaining 20% experience a rapid progression of the disease and severe/critical clinical condition. In patients with severe/critical stage of COVID-19, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been shown to disrupt the normal immune response, leading to dysregulation of the immune system function and development of uncontrolled hyperinflammatory processes. Several studies highlight relevant changes occurring both in innate and adaptive immune system. Recent data indicate that a hyperinflammatory syndrome induced by SARS-CoV-2 contributes to the disease severity and mortality. It was demonstrated that patients with severe/critical phase of COVID-19 exhibit lymphopenia, a decrease in number of NK cells, eosinophils and basophils, an increase in inflammatory monocytes and neutrophils, an impaired interferon-α production and activity, no detectable circulating interferon-β, and massive production of proinflammatory cytokines, commonly known as cytokine storm. Many reports suggest that acute respiratory depression syndrome, cardiac dysfunction, hepatic impairment, acute kidney injury, coagulopathies, and multi-organ failure, that are characteristic of severe/critical COVID-19, are not due to direct effects of SARS -CoV-2, but result from the exaggerated cytokine release in response to viral infection. A better understanding of the pathophysiology and immune system dysregulation associated with cytokine storm and acute respiratory distress syndrome in severe COVID-19 is imperative to identify novel drug targets and to develop effective vaccines and drugs. In addition, the knowledge on the processes induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection opens a door for development and introduction of predictive diagnostic tests that enable the prognosis of the course and severity of the disease.

Abstract Background Multi-gene expression assays are an attractive tool in revealing complex regulatory mechanisms in living organisms. Normalization is an indispensable step of data analysis in all those studies, since it removes unwanted, non-biological variability from data. In targeted qPCR assays it is typically performed with respect to prespecified reference genes, but the lack of robust strategy of their selection is reported in literature, especially in studies concerning circulating microRNAs (miRNA). Unfortunately, this problem impedes translation of scientific discoveries on miRNA biomarkers into widely available laboratory assays. Previous studies concluded that averaged expressions of multi-miRNA combinations are more stable references than single genes. However, due to the number of such combinations the computational load is considerable and may be hindering for objective reference selection in large datasets. Existing implementations of normalization algorithms (geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper) have poor performance and may require days to compute stability values for all potential reference as the evaluation is performed sequentially. Results We designed NormiRazor - an integrative tool which implements those methods in a parallel manner on a graphics processing unit (GPU) using CUDA platform. We tested our approach on publicly available miRNA expression datasets. As a result, the times of executions on 8 datasets containing from 50 to 400 miRNAs (subsets of GSE68314) decreased 18.7 ±0.6 (mean ±SD), 104.7 ±4.2 and 76.5 ±2.2 times for geNorm, BestKeeper and NormFinder with respect to previous Python implementation. To allow for easy access to normalization pipeline for biomedical researchers we implemented NormiRazor as an online platform where a user could normalize their datasets based on the automatically selected references. It is available at norm.btm.umed.pl, together with instruction manual and exemplary datasets. Conclusions NormiRazor allows for an easy, informed choice of reference genes for qPCR transcriptomic studies. As such it can improve comparability and repeatability of experiments and in longer perspective help translate newly discovered biomarkers into readily available assays.

Abstract Background The consensus on how to choose a reference gene for serum or plasma miRNA expression qPCR studies has not been reached and none of the potential candidates have yet been convincingly validated. We proposed a new in silico approach of finding a suitable reference for human, circulating miRNAs and identified a new set of endogenous reference miRNA based on miRNA profiling experiments from Gene Expression Omnibus. We used 3 known normalization algorithms (NormFinder, BestKeeper, GeNorm) to calculate a new normalization score. We searched for a universal set of endogenous miRNAs and validated our findings on 2 new datasets using our approach. Results We discovered and validated a set of 13 miRNAs (miR-222, miR-92a, miR-27a, miR-17, miR-24, miR-320a, miR-25, miR-126, miR-19b, miR-199a-3p, miR-30b, miR-30c, miR-374a) that can be used to create a reliable reference combination of 3 miRNAs. We showed that on average the mean of 3 miRNAs (p = 0.0002) and 2 miRNAs (p = 0.0031) were a better reference than single miRNA. The arithmetic means of 3 miRNAs: miR-24, miR-222 and miR-27a was shown to be the most stable combination of 3 miRNAs in validation sets. Conclusions No single miRNA was suitable as a universal reference in serum miRNA qPCR profiling, but it was possible to designate a set of miRNAs, which consistently contributed to most stable combinations.

The aim of the article was to investigate the impact of the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic on the course of inflation and interest rate policy in Poland. The empirical analysis reveals that prices ceased to be procyclical during the pandemic, and thus the resulting economic crisis contributed to a drop in inflation just in the first months of the pandemic. The main factor behind the subsequent rise in inflation was the decline in aggregate supply brought about by the lockdown. That was also accompanied by other reflationary factors, including the increase in some taxes and administered prices, as well as expansionary fiscal and monetary policy. In the case of the latter, the measures taken by the NBP led to almost zero interest rates in Poland. Consequently, the instrument has ceased to be a basic tool for influencing the economy in the future, at least during the crisis, when those rates should be further reduced (the so-called zero lower bound).(original abstract)

Mercury (Hg) is a fairly common environmental pollutant. Chronic exposure to this element may cause, inter alia, kidney damage, and disturbances in the functioning of the nervous system. Literature data indicate that food, including dietary supplements (DS), may sometimes be contaminated with Hg. Therefore, the aim of the study was to assess Hg content in DS containing ingredients of plant origin. The study covered 200 DS available for sale in Poland. Hg content was determined by using the AAS method with the amalgamation technique using the AMA-254 analyzer. The highest average Hg content was found in preparations used as adjuncts for lowering glucose levels (23.97 ± 38.56 μg/kg). The highest percentage of PTWI (1.143%) was found in DS aimed at improving vitality. Due to the fact that DS are commonly used, their quality should be constantly monitored.

Nuts used as a snack and meal accompaniment supply plant protein and fatty acids that are beneficial for human health; however, they can also provide minerals. The aim of this study was to determine the content of selected elements that are often deficient in the diet (calcium, potassium, magnesium, selenium, and zinc) in nuts and determine whether they can be used to supplement deficiencies in the diet. In this study, we analyzed 10 types of nuts (n = 120 samples) that are consumed and available for sale in Poland. The content of calcium, magnesium, selenium, and zinc was determined by the atomic absorption spectrometry method, and flame atomic emission spectrometry was used for determination of potassium contents. The highest median calcium content was found in almonds (2825.8 mg/kg), the highest potassium content in pistachio nuts (15,730.5 mg/kg), the highest magnesium and selenium contents in Brazil nuts (10,509.2 mg/kg and 4348.7 μg/kg, respectively), and the highest zinc content in pine nuts (72.4 mg/kg). All the tested nuts are a source of magnesium, eight types of tested nuts are a source of potassium, six nut types are a source of zinc, and four nut types are a source of selenium; however, among the tested nuts, only almonds can be considered a source of calcium. Moreover, we found that selected chemometric methods can be useful in the classification of nuts. The studied nuts are valuable products that can be used to supplement the diet with selected minerals and can therefore be labelled as functional products crucial for disease prevention.

Copyright of Comparative Economic Research is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego 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.)

The aim of the article is to present the influence of the euro adoption by Slovakia on the basic macroeconomic indicators. The study period was assumed to be 2001–2017, with additional division into sub-periods 2001–2008 and 2009–2017, hence before and after the euro adoption by Slovakia. An attempt to verify the following hypotheses was made: 1) the decision on the adoption of the euro by Slovakia was favourable in terms of the main macroeconomic indicators (economic growth, unemployment and growth rates); 2) in the case of Slovakia the theory of endogeneity of the optimal currency area criteria has been confi rmed. In order to verify the hypotheses, a comparative analysis was conducted with the Czech Republic – the country neighbouring Slovakia and, until recently, constituting one common state with it. On the basis of the conducted analysis, it was found that these hypotheses should not be verified neither positively nor negatively

In a kindergarten classroom, exclamations like "Oh no!" may be causes for concern. However, when the students in Mrs. Grabia's classroom shouted "Oh no!" and "Uh oh!" during an engineering-infused 5E lesson, it meant that a persistent little robot had pushed its way out of the fences they had created. It also meant that students had an opportunity to learn by discussing the problem, recreating their fence, and gaining a deeper understanding of big ideas in kindergarten physics. In this article, the authors describe this engineering-infused lesson for kindergarten learners that follows a 5E format (Bybee 1997). The 70-minute lesson, which was aligned with the science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas within the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013), consisted of a read-aloud engagement, a student-centered physics investigation, an engineering design extension (Lottero-Perdue et al. 2015), and multiple evaluation measures. Prior to this lesson, students had learned how different strengths of pushes affect the motion of objects; for example, a stronger push on a hockey puck made it slide further. They also observed how the direction of an object can change when it collides with something else.

Young barley seems to be a promising material for use as nutricosmetic due to the presence of many biologically active compounds. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Hordeum vulgare L. extracts on human skin fibroblasts exposed to ultraviolet radiation B (UVB) radiation. Analysis of the chemical composition showed a predominance of 9,12,15-octadecatrienoic acid. The quality assessment showed that young barley preparations have high total polyphenolic content (TPC) and favourable total antioxidant status (TAS). They also contain antioxidant elements such as zinc, copper, and selenium. Furthermore, the analyzed products were found to be safe in terms of toxic elements (lead, cadmium and mercury) and lack of cytotoxic effect of young barley extracts on cells. In vitro bioactivity assays showed that young barley extract increased the survival rate and accelerated the migration of fibroblasts in research models with UVB radiation. The application of both extracts caused an increase in DNA biosynthesis, and in the number of cells arrested in S phase. Moreover, an inhibitory effect of the tested extracts on the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) was observed. The results indicate that young barley extracts, due to protective as well as restorative effect, could potentially be used in the production of nutricosmetics and skin care products.

The aim of this study was to estimate the consumption of selected dietary components with antioxidant properties, undertake body composition analysis, assess skin hydration and lubrication, and establish the relationships between the above parameters. The study was carried out on 172 young women. The consumption of ingredients (vitamins A, C, D and E, and Cu, Mn, Zn) was assessed using the Diet 6.0 program, body composition was assessed using electrical bioimpedance and skin hydration and lubrication were assessed using the corneometric and sebumetric methods, respectively. About one-third of students showed insufficient consumption of vitamin C, vitamin E and zinc, while about 99% showed insufficient vitamin D levels. The highest degree of hydration was observed in the areas of the eyelids, neckline and chin. The greatest amount of sebum was found in the area of the nose and forehead. Low positive correlations between hydration or lubrication and Cu, vitamin A and vitamin E were observed. In conclusion, to properly moisturize and lubricate the skin, young women should eat products that are rich in ingredients with antioxidant properties, in particular fat-soluble vitamins A and E, but also copper.

This article aims to identify the factors differentiating public debt ratios among EU countries with different levels of development. The study period from 2000 to 2018 was adopted. The analysis was extended to the period of 1990-1996, for inflation only. In order to achieve the aim, a time-series analysis and correlation coefficients between selected categories were examined. Based on the above, the analysis indicates that differences in the public debt ratios in EU countries stemmed also from reasons that do not result from Keynesian and non- -Keynesian effects, such as: (i) varying economic growth rates (according to the theory of real convergence); (ii) varying inflation rates; (iii) different conditions relating to the stabilization of debt ratios in the context of primary balance volumes.

The problem of dietary deficiency of several essential elements among different stages of life is still observed. The consumption of whole grains (among others unprocessed rice) is recommended as a part of a healthy diet. This research aimed to determine the content of selected macro- and microelements in rice and rice products to verify whether the tested products could be regarded as a source of selected minerals in the diet of the adult European population. Methods: A total of 99 samples from 12 groups of rice products (basmati, black, brown, parboiled, red, wild, white rice and expanded rice, rice flakes, flour, pasta, and waffles) were obtained. The atomic absorption spectrometry method (AAS) was used to determine the content of Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Se and Zn in the study material. Results: The average measured contents of Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Se and Zn were as follows: 226.3 ± 160.6 mg/kg, 3.6 ± 2.8 mg/kg, 9.4 ± 7.0 mg/kg, 618.0 ± 498.4 mg/kg, 16.7 ± 10.0 mg/kg, 242.9 ± 140.4 µg/kg and 19.5 ± 15.0 mg/kg, respectively. Statistical analyses confirmed the differences in the levels of the studied elements between the subgroups of processed and unprocessed products. Considering the tolerable upper intake level of studied elements, the tested products could be regarded as safe to consume. Conclusion: All tested products can be recommended as a source of Cu, Mn, and Se, while a majority of studied products can be considered a source of Mg and Zn in the diet of the adult European population.

Background: Rice is one of the most commonly consumed grains. It could be a good source of nutrients in a diet, but its consumption could also contribute to exposure to toxic elements. All rice products available on the Polish market are imported, which may pose a particular concern as to the safety of their consumption. The aim of our study was to estimate the content of As, Cd, Pb, and Hg in rice products and to assess the health risk indicators related to exposure to toxic elements consumed with rice products among the adult population in Poland. Methods: A total of 99 samples from 12 groups of rice products (basmati, black, brown, parboiled, red, wild, white rice and expanded rice, rice flakes, flour, pasta, and waffles) available in the Polish market were obtained. The content of Hg was determined using the atomic absorption spectrometry method (AAS). To measure As, Cd, and Pb, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used. The health risk was assessed by calculating several indicators. Results: The average As, Cd, Pb, and Hg contents in all studied products were 123.5 ± 77.1 μg/kg, 25.7 ± 26.5 μg/kg, 37.5 ± 29.3 μg/kg, and 2.8 ± 2.6 μg/kg, respectively. Exceedance of the limit established by the Polish National Food Safety Standard was observed in one sample as regards the As content and exceedance of the European Commission standard in two samples for Hg. The samples of foods imported from European markets (n = 27) had statistically higher As content (p < 0.05) than those imported from Asian countries (n = 53). The values of health risk indicators did not show an increased risk for the Polish adult population. However, the daily intake of 55 g of rice corresponds to the benchmark dose lower confidence limit (BMDL) for Pb. Conclusion: The studied rice products could be regarded as safe for consumption by the Polish population as far as the content of As, Cd, Pb, and Hg is concerned.

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The aim of this article is to present and evaluate interest rate policies of three selected central banks in Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary) from 2001 to 2013. The study consists of an introduction (Section 1) and three main parts. The introduction contains a theoretical description of the role of interest rate policy, the dilemmas connected with it, as well as an analysis of the strategies and goals of monetary policies of the National Bank of Poland (NBP), the Czech National Bank (CzNB), and the National Bank of Hungary (NBH) in the context of existing legal and institutional conditions. In turn, the first empirical part (Section 2) examines how the analysed central banks responded to changes in inflation, unemployment, and economic growth rates. The tools of the analysis are the nominal and real interest rates of those banks. The subsequent research part (Section 3) attempts to evaluate the degree of the contractionary nature of interest rate policies in specific countries in the context of the Taylor rule. The text ends with a summary (Section 4) encompassing concise conclusions drawn from the earlier analyses.