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The prohibition of commercialisation of the human body and its parts is not applied consistently and suffers from many exceptions in the human biological material (HBM) market. Examples include the possibility of patenting certain HBM-derived products and their commercial marketing or payments for blood donations. Thus, the current practice of marketing HBM-derived products makes the altruistic donor most vulnerable to exploitation while being deprived of benefits. There seem to be two ways to improve this state of affairs. The first is to apply consistently the prohibition of commercialisation of the body and its parts to commercially marketed tissue and cell products as well. This would require limiting the possibility of financial gain associated with the processing, distribution and sale of HBM-based products. Such a solution, however, does not seem to gain wide acceptance or have a chance of implementation in the near future. Therefore, introducing more transparent rules and greater donor empowerment seems more reasonable by exempting HBM from the ban on commercialisation under certain conditions and with clear limitations.

This review aimed to aggregate and describe the available data about clinical nutrition in lung cancer and the role of the dietitian in multidisciplinary patient care. Scientific literature was searched in order to summarize key aspects related to clinical nutrition in lung cancer. This information can be used to arrange a proper nutritional therapy that can enhance patient treatment responses, prevent side-effects, shorten recovery time, improve prognosis and increase quality of life. An anti-inflammatory diet rich in antioxidants, immunomodulatory compounds, dietary fibre and an appropriate intake of protein can reduce the risk of initiation and progression of lung cancer, support the regeneration of tissues (also after surgery) and improve the nutritional status during the disease and after remission. A correct intake of nutrients is significant prior to disease occurrence and at every stage of treatment and recovery.

Breast cancer is one of the leading forms of cancers in women worldwide. In Poland, it accounts for approx. 20% of all cancers diagnosed, with approximately 11,000 new cases and 5000 deaths from this disease annually. To prevent unfavourable statistics, Poland introduced free breast cancer screening programmes, available to women aged 50–69. Over a million women take advantage of this programme each year. The aim of the research was to assess the quality of consent women give prior to mammography screening and address the question of whether this quality is sufficient to make an informed choice. The study was conducted on a representative group of 600 Polish women over 50 years old (475 of them had undergone mammography screening), who agreed to take part in the study. Using the computer-assisted interview technology (CATI) method, all women were asked about their perception of breast cancer and screening and those who had undergone mammography were quizzed about the consent process. They will form the focus of this research. The validated tool contained items on both the benefits and risks of screening. The results indicate that the quality of informed consent was insufficient. A discrepancy was observed in the awareness between the benefits and risks of mammography screening. The main motivations to undergo screening were: prophylactic purposes and the free-of-charge nature of this health service. Population-based screening programmes for breast cancer should be reconsidered in terms of information policy, and the quality of informed consent should be increased.

Background: The dynamic character of the COVID-19 pandemic and its social consequences caused several medical and societal issues and dilemmas. The aim of our qualitative research was to capture and analyze attitudes and beliefs of convalescents who experienced mild symptoms of COVID-19 in the first wave of the pandemic and decided to donate their plasma for therapeutic purposes. Material and Methods: The article presents results of qualitative research conducted on the basis of grounded theory (GT) methodology. Empirical material includes 10 in-depth interviews conducted with respondents who had mild or asymptomatic disease and, after recovery, voluntarily donated their plasma to the Regional Centre for Blood Donation and Blood Treatment (RCKiK). Data were collected in May and June 2020 in Poland. Qualitative analysis was focused on the experience of convalescents who entered the social role of a sick person in individual, social, and organizational dimensions. Results: The social role of the patient in the narratives of convalescents was related to three stages: (1) initiation to the role, (2) staying in the COVID-19 patient role, and (3) leaving the role. Research results enabled the distinction of three basic descriptive categories (“ontological uncertainty”, “the global and individual dimension”, and “being sick in the disease-infected environment”), which became epistemological framework for a detailed description of the roles played by an individual COVID-19 patient during the pandemic. Conclusions: The disease, despite its mild course, generated a number of non-medical issues, and the entire process of being ill was burdened with institutional and emotional struggles. The experience of mild COVID-19 is significantly modified by disease institutionalization. These results may contribute to a better understanding of the psychosocial dimension of COVID-19 and convalescents’ motivations for plasma donation.

All persons have their own set of values, beliefs, and convictions. Whole-person and culturally sensitive health care, particularly at the end of life, should respect patients’ spiritual needs. In the early 1990s, the inclusion of palliative care (PC) within Poland’s public health care system was preceded by a voluntary hospice movement initiated by Catholic church. Spiritual care, as an important component of the holistic approach, has since been deeply grounded in PC. Spiritual support for seriously ill patients is provided as pastoral care as well as support ensured by different members of an interprofessional team, with an important role for psychologists and volunteers. In recent years, a pioneering spiritual care program for medical students was introduced, and some research projects regarding spirituality in medicine have been initiated. In 2015, the Polish Association for Spiritual Care in Medicine was established to promote implementing spiritual care into practice, education, and research.

Over the past few decades, there has been a dynamic development of biobanks collecting human biological material and data. Advances in biomedical research based on biobanks, however, are highly dependent on the successful enrolment and participation of human subjects. Therefore, it is crucial to recognise those factors affecting the willingness of individuals to participate in biomedical research. There are very few studies pointing to the role of trust, preferred values and specific psychological factors. The aim of our study was the analysis of the most significant relationships between selected moral and psychological variables (i.e., preferred values, types of trust and personality) and willingness to donate biological material to biobanks. The research was carried out on a Polish representative national sample of 1100 people over 18 years of age. Statistical methods with regression models were used during the analyses. The willingness to donate samples to a biobank was associated with different types of trust and specific values. Based on regression analysis, the most important factors related to the willingness to donate material to biobanks seemed to be (1) trust towards scientists and doctors and (2) selected preferred values such as knowledge, self-development and tradition. Other values or personality traits did not seem to be as important in this context. The obtained results can be useful in building the social responsibility of biobankers and scientists, issuing more appropriate opinions by research ethics committees and planning better communication strategies between participants and biobanks.

Background: The dynamic character of the COVID-19 pandemic and its social consequences caused several medical and societal issues and dilemmas. The aim of our qualitative research was to capture and analyze attitudes and beliefs of convalescents who experienced mild symptoms of COVID-19 in the first wave of the pandemic and decided to donate their plasma for therapeutic purposes. Material and Methods: The article presents results of qualitative research conducted on the basis of grounded theory (GT) methodology. Empirical material includes 10 in-depth interviews conducted with respondents who had mild or asymptomatic disease and, after recovery, voluntarily donated their plasma to the Regional Centre for Blood Donation and Blood Treatment (RCKiK). Data were collected in May and June 2020 in Poland. Qualitative analysis was focused on the experience of convalescents who entered the social role of a sick person in individual, social, and organizational dimensions. Results: The social role of the patient in the narratives of convalescents was related to three stages: (1) initiation to the role, (2) staying in the COVID-19 patient role, and (3) leaving the role. Research results enabled the distinction of three basic descriptive categories (“ontological uncertainty”, “the global and individual dimension”, and “being sick in the disease-infected environment”), which became epistemological framework for a detailed description of the roles played by an individual COVID-19 patient during the pandemic. Conclusions: The disease, despite its mild course, generated a number of non-medical issues, and the entire process of being ill was burdened with institutional and emotional struggles. The experience of mild COVID-19 is significantly modified by disease institutionalization. These results may contribute to a better understanding of the psychosocial dimension of COVID-19 and convalescents’ motivations for plasma donation.

Breast milk banks are specialized hospital-located laboratories. Their role is to provide breast milk to newborns and infants who, for various reasons, cannot be fed with their mother’s milk. They are an inseparable part of intensive neonatal care units and an element of the mother and child care system. They are financed by hospitals in which they operate. Milk is obtained from donors, thoroughly examined, pasteurized and passed directly to children in need. Food recipients are mainly premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit. As proven by numerous scientific studies, breast milk is the most appropriate food for newborns and infants. Breast milk is also recommended by Polish, foreign and international organizations and institutions involved in nutritional problems of children. There are 226 Breast Milk Banks in Europe (first organized in 1909 in Vienna) and the organization of additional 16 is planned. In Poland there are only 9 banks and two more are in the organizational phase. Breast milk banks in Poland operate on the basis of in-hospital regulations. The European Association of Milk Banks strives to unify the procedures of conduct in all units, including Poland.

Background Previous studies of relationship between religiosity, health behaviors and well-being have showed mainly positive relationships, however, are very often limited to results of associative nature and subject to unmeasured confounding. This study focused on evaluating evidence for a positive association between religious service attendance (RSA), health behaviors and well-being in a longitudinal setting and robustness of these associations to unmeasured confounding. Methods Three waves (2009, 2011 and 2015) of the biennial longitudinal Polish household panel study with response from 6400 respondents were analyzed. Evidence for a positive and robust association between RSA and outcome variables was evaluated using outcome-wide regression analysis with control of all variables temporally prior to the exposure and sensitivity measures (E-values) to give information on the extent to which an unmeasured confounder would need to be associated with both the exposure and the outcomes. Results RSA is associated with reduced risk of unhealthy behaviors (smoking, alcohol use) and higher emotional well-being. These relationships are robust to substantial unmeasured confounding and difficult to explain by reference to other, unknown, variables. Evidence for a positive relationship between RSA and other well-being variables (social, physical) was less clear. Conclusions Religiosity may play an important role in public health, particularly in prevention of non-communicable diseases. The strong and robust associations between RSA and some health behaviors (i.e. tobacco use, alcohol abuse) and emotional well-being should arguably be taken into account in health education, health promotion programs, health prevention policy and psychotherapeutic approaches, particularly in more religious populations.

Background: There is a lack of research on social image, prestige, and the position of the paramedic profession in the social structure. The main objective of the study was to determine the place of the paramedic profession in the hierarchy of prestige of professions as viewed by the public. In operationalizing the term ‘prestige’, we deemed the word ‘respect’ to best fit the sense of the subjective evaluation of prestige with regard to a profession. Material and methods: The data comes from cross-sectional survey-based research. The research was carried out on a group of 600 people over 18 years of age. The sample was of a random nature, and the selection of respondents was calculated on the basis of them being representative of the Polish population. Results: The median of respect declared for the paramedic profession, on a scale of 1 to 5, was 4.49, which placed the profession in fourth place in the ranking. The assessment of respect for paramedics among other medical professions placed them in third place, directly after doctors and midwifes. Conclusions: The profession of paramedic is characterized by high social prestige, locating it at the forefront of the medical profession and other examined professions, but its social position, expressed by objective measures (earnings, structural possibilities, social power), is significantly lower.

This chapter seeks to provide an insight into how the regulatory discretion the GDPR has left to the Member States has been used. It reviews the biobank regulatory environment; whether and how derogations under Article 89(2) GDPR are enabled; the legal basis for scientifc research and role of consent in biobanking post-GDPR; the balance between individual rights and public interest in national law; and fnally, the GDPR’s impact and future possibilities for biobanking. While in exercising their national self-determination the Member States have some possibility to tailor data protection requirements corresponding to their values and aspirations, it risks coming with implications, jeopardizing collaborative research. At this point, it could be argued that Research Ethics Committees (RECs) may have a considerable role to play in navigating the gap between the legal and ethical requirements in both a national as well as a cross-border context.

Background The COVID-19 epidemic has affected every area of life. The greatest challenge has been to adapt the functioning of the health service to prevent the spread of the epidemic and to help infected patients. This has required the involvement of not only doctors and nurses, but also pharmacists. In the face of this pandemic, governments in many countries have granted pharmacists greater authority. Objectives The purpose of this paper is to review the legal extension of the role of pharmacists in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The review considers recent changes in European countries, Canada, and the United States. Methods A literature review was performed to summarise knowledge about the extension of the role of pharmacists during the pandemic period. Key articles were retrieved mainly from PubMed and Google Scholar, using the terms “COVID‐19”, “2019‐nCoV”, “coronavirus”, and “pandemic” in combination with “pharmacist” as keywords for our search. We included scientific publications from February 1, 2019 to May 15, 2020. Results Pharmacists have been given numerous opportunities so that they can actively join in the fight against the virus. Some of the novel legal extensions aimed at aiding overloaded healthcare systems are as follows: authorisation to prepare hand and surface disinfectants, eligibility to renew chronic treatment prescriptions, as well as filling pro auctore and pro familia prescriptions by pharmacists, performing COVID-19, influenza, and Group A Streptococcus screening tests, and vaccine administration. Moreover, many countries have facilitated Internet services, such as virtual medical consultations, e-prescriptions, and home drug delivery – to promote social distancing among patients. To mitigate drug shortages, the following strategies have been implemented: alternative sourcing, strength, generic, or therapeutic substitution, and preparing compounded formulations at the pharmacy. Conclusions Novel legal extensions have allowed exploitation of the full potential ofpharmacists worldwide, aiding the limited resources of overloaded healthcare systems.

Vaccinations cause controversies for numerous reasons: medical, religious, and even personal. The following paper focuses on one more, underestimated conflict between individual autonomy and public health in regard to obligatory childhood vaccinations. Every medical intervention should be preceded by informed consent; however, informed consent in the case of obligatory vaccinations cannot be voluntary and valid. Moreover, asking parents to sign an informed consent form is paradoxical in a situation where not signing it will lead to legal consequences. Our paper tries to accentuate the issue of involuntariness and invalidity of informed consent in the case of obligatory vaccination and tries to propose a solution that acknowledges requirements for vaccinations and makes parents feel safer coming in and out of a vaccination visit.

Night and Holiday Patient Care is a place providing health services, necessary for securing patients’ medical needs in efficient way and round-the-clock. Units providing such care are located in selected hospitals chosen in connection with the introduction of the hospital network since October 1, 2017. The main aim of the study was comparison of changes that occurred in the area of location and access to Night and Holiday Patient Care after and before establishing hospital network. The analysis was based on a review of the relevant legal acts available on the ISAP website, scientific articles selected from the medical databases, as well as information published on the official websites of governmental agencies and entities offering night and holiday medical services. The introduction of the hospital network has changed the number, localization and availability of places providing Nights and Holiday Patient Care. These changes resulted in, on the one side, faster access to more specialized medical care, on the other, a reduction in the number of places in some cities. These changes require monitoring in terms of access and quality of basic care services during nights and holidays, so that in the long-term it can be determined whether the applied changes were beneficial from the perspective of the patient and the health care system.

Embedding technologies for heterogeneous integration of active and passive components are a promising approach for functional modules on the printed circuit board level. Modularity and embedding related miniaturization are key enablers for some upcoming trends in a Circular Economy: Better serviceability and reparability of devices, reduced material consumption, lower printed circuit board production impacts due to “outsourcing” of complex functionality to smaller modules, resilience of the product platform against component obsolescence for longer product life cycles, potentially increased reliability of embedded components. For a broader framing of the modularity discussion, this paper also gives an outlook on other modular approaches in the field of mobile devices and smartphones in particular. The embedding technology with its miniaturization potential might reduce the total environmental impacts of manufacturing printed circuit board assemblies, supporting Circular Economy strategies. The additional environmental footprint of modularising a smartphone in a way done by Fairphone increases the manufacturing-related greenhouse gas emissions by 4,6%. Embedding – targeting at a better serviceability, but not necessarily simplifying do-it- yourself repairs – only slightly increases the carbon footprint in absolute terms. In case of a digital voice recorder this additional carbon footprint is 0,66 kg CO 2 -eq. compared to an add-on of 1,64 kg CO 2 -eq. for Fairphone ’s modularization approach.

Background: During the past few decades there has been a growing interest on the part of many governments in the creation of biobanks. Nevertheless, this would be impossible without participation of many donors who offer samples of their biological material for scientific research. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the existing research on social attitudes towards biobanking. Material and Methods: A literature search was conducted in the database of MEDLINE (PubMed). 61 papers were included in the analysis. The retrieved articles were assessed using a thematic analysis. Results: Eight main themes were identified: (1) public knowledge about biobanks, (2) public views on biobanking, (3) willingness to donate, (4) donors’ motivations, (5) perceived benefits and risks of biobanking, (6) preferred type of consent, (7) trust toward biobanks, and (8) demographic characteristics of potential donors. Conclusions: Although the public lacks knowledge about biobanking, many individuals declare willingness to donate. Their will is influenced by: their knowledge about biobanking, the type of donated tissue, research purpose, concerns over the safety of the data, preferred type of consent, and trust towards biobanks.

From ancient times, light has played a significant role in the treatment of diseases. The modern discoveries (eg, ultraviolet radiation) and modern inventions (eg, the electric generator or the electric lightbulb), as well as balneologic experiences of the treatment with sunlight, contributed to the transition from heliotherapy to artificial light phototherapy at the end of the 19th century. Nils Ryberg Finsen (1860-1904) was the founder of modern phototherapy. He is famous for applying an electric carbon arc torch in treating patients with lupus vulgaris using ultraviolet radiation. Subsequently, phototherapy using artificial light sources gained importance in the treatment of skin diseases with a noninfectious etiology. William Henry Goeckerman (1884-1954) chose an ultraviolet B light to treat psoriasis. Improvement in the effectiveness of dermatologic phototherapy occurred in 1947, when methoxypsoralen was isolated. During the 20th century, phototherapy was applied to new therapeutic areas, such as neonatology, psychiatry, and ophthalmology.