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Glaucoma, a blinding neurodegenerative disease, whose risk factors include elevated intraocular pressure (IOP), age, and genetics, is characterized by accelerated and progressive retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death. Despite decades of research, the mechanism of RGC death in glaucoma is still unknown. Here, we demonstrate that the genetic effect of the SIX6 risk variant (rs33912345, His141Asn) is enhanced by another major POAG risk gene, p16INK4a (cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A, isoform INK4a). We further show that the upregulation of homozygous SIX6 risk alleles (CC) leads to an increase in p16INK4a expression, with subsequent cellular senescence, as evidenced in a mouse model of elevated IOP and in human POAG eyes. Our data indicate that SIX6 and/or IOP promotes POAG by directly increasing p16INK4a expression, leading to RGC senescence in adult human retinas. Our study provides important insights linking genetic susceptibility to the underlying mechanism of RGC death and provides a unified theory of glaucoma pathogenesis. Zhang et al. report p16INK4a as a downstream integrator of diverse signals, such as inherited genetic risk, age, and intraocular pressure, in the pathogenesis of glaucoma. They demonstrate that upregulation of SIX6 upon stress directly increases p16INK4a, leading to retinal ganglion cell senescence and death.

The development of the post-industrial society requires the acceleration of the integration of the national economy into the globalized economic space. This stage is characterized by active informatization of all spheres of life in society, which requires information security and cyber protection for high-quality information provision of the country’s population, intellectualization of economic processes and prevention of destructive informational influence on the social status of the individual. It is also necessary to consider that for Ukraine the specified stage is complicated by the hybrid war with Russia, which requires strengthening the protection of information from cyber-attacks and the formation of new approaches in preserving the quality of information on social networks. Therefore, the purpose of this article is the development of scientific and methodological approaches in information security management, strengthening its social significance. This requires solving a certain range of tasks of identifying and preventing socially dangerous information based on the use of economic and mathematical methods and models. The article highlights the main directions of socialization of modern technological development and theoretically substantiates its significant impact on human consciousness and behavior, puts a person in front of serious challenges and, under conditions of hybrid warfare, requires strengthening of information security in social networks. In the work, the components of information security are supplemented, its impact on social aspects of society’s life is highlighted. As a result of the research, the authors proposed a scientific and methodical approach to the construction of a system for countering the spread of socially dangerous information in social networks. Besides, its functional elements are highlighted. A method of combating the spread of harmful information in social networks has been developed, which solves the problem of information support of the decision-making process and includes providing the chosen and alternative options to the person making the decision, with the justification of the choice. This creates prerequisites for information support for making a well-founded management decision.

The foundation of the social communication system of the Polish police is the press officers of district and city departments, who maintain regular contact with journalists of local and regional media, and incidentally also with national or international mass media. The aim of the 2022 survey was to determine the media relations activities, techniques and tools used by officers. All press officers in the police garrison in the Silesian Voivodeship participated in the research project. 100% of press officers took part in the survey. Responding to the expectations of journalists police officers prefer direct contact with journalists, including 52% by phone. Although press officers consider social media to be a good method of contacting the public (30%), they do not use it themselves in contacts with journalists. They prefer to use the official police website (28%). Police spokesmen, due to the information they have, gain the attention of the mass media and do not have to use modern communication techniques to attract journalists. Maintaining constant contact with journalists, press officers also assessed the level of their professionalism. According to the respondents, TV journalists are characterized by the highest professionalism (41%). In second place are press and radio journalists with a similar number of indications (27% and 24%). The professionalism of Internet editorial staff was rated the worst (8%).

Solar collectors are devices that enable the use of solar radiation, e.g., for hot water preparation or space heating. They are playing an increasingly important role in Europe and around the world, mainly due to the easy availability of the sun, as an energy source. The advisability of their use depends on a number of factors, of which climatic conditions are an extremely important one. This paper presents the results of energy simulations of a solar collector-based domestic hot water system for the capitals of five selected Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC): Riga, Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava, and Zagreb. Using TRNSYS software, a theoretical model of the system was developed and dynamic simulations were carried out for the entire year. The amount of useful energy generated by the flat-plate collectors, their efficiency, as well as the auxiliary energy requirements and the amount of energy needed to meet the load were estimated and compared. The extent to which changing the area of solar collector affects the operation and efficiency of the system for different locations was also analysed. The results showed that in terms of efficiency, the use of solar collectors is most favourable in placed southernmost Croatia and in Slovakia, where it was also achieved the lowest annual auxiliary energy demand. The least favourable location turned out to be Riga. It is also worth noting that regardless of location, the area of solar collector has a significant impact on the efficiency of the entire system.

Surveys performed among the residents of Zabrze indicate that in 2021 the majority of respondents (67%), wishing to use public services provided by the local government, still preferred to visit the office in person. Residents noticed negative aspects of direct service, such as queues of people waiting for the case to be completed (26%), excessive bureaucracy (24%) or lack of parking spaces (18%). However, they counted on help in completing the necessary formalities by officials who should be: professional (20%), communicative (18%) and kind (17%). The use of the digital platform (ePUAP) dedicated to customer service was reported by 32% of respondents. At the same time, as much as 40% of the respondents, in order to save time and to simplify procedures, declared their will to use innovative methods of remote contact with public administration (e.g. via social media). The COVID-19 pandemic showed that it was possible to increase (even by 250%) the number of cases handled remotely, which with over 90% of households in Poland with access to a computer network creates opportunities for integrated development as part of the Smart City idea. The aim of the paper was to identify the residents’ expectations related to the provision of public services by local administration. Precise determination of the ways of perception of both direct and remote customer service has not only an application value. It also allows for further research study on the management of local government, including the organization of management control, as well as social communication of local governments.

Heat pumps are increasingly popular in individual buildings and could help to meet expectations of ambitious energy-environmental European goals until 2050. This paper presents the results of energy simulations conducted in TRNSYS for a single-family building depending on its location in selected European cities. For each city, air source heat pump (ASHP) was considered as an energy source for heating and cooling the building, and then an economic analysis was carried out including investment costs of air source heat pump and a comparison of operating costs of ASHP with other alternatives (i.e. gas boiler, oil boiler, or air conditioners). The results of the simulations showed that with the current energy prices the use of air source heat pumps is the most beneficial in temperate warm transitional climate (Krakow). It was also indicated that the implementation of special tariffs (reduced prices) for electricity that supplies renewable energy devices would make heat pumps unmatched as a source of heating and cooling in the residential sector.

A city based on the sustainable development priorities, friendly to its residents, combines human activity, technology challenges, and environmental requirements. The implementation of the idea of smart city should be discussed with regard to specific areas of activity. In order to identify the way of perceiving the activity conducted under this concept, a survey was carried out among employees of the City Office in Zabrze. The cognitive, competence and informational scope was verified. It was found that the overwhelming majority of officials (79%) are convinced that smart city principles are being implemented. The survey participants also provided specific examples of smart-city initiatives undertaken in the city, and a significant part of the respondents (64%) assigned their professional tasks to them. Moreover, three out of four surveyed officials in Zabrze declared that they know the tools supporting the smart urban development. The results presented in the article constitute pilot studies aimed at understanding the extent to which the Smart City idea is known by local government administration employees. In addition, these results serve as a tool for the authorities of Zabrze to disseminate knowledge about smart city among employees of the city hall.

The publication presents a design solution for circular multi-pipe thermal insulation and an example of an existing heating installation consisting of six individual heating pipes in the building of the Bialystok University of Technology. In the paper, the arrangement of six heating system pipes in circular thermal insulation was designed in such a way that one heating pipe is centrally located in the circular thermal insulation, the other five heating pipes are located at the vertices of a regular pentagon inside the circular thermal insulation. Heat loss calculations were made using the Boundary Elements Method (BEM) with the actual boundary conditions in the room where the existing heating installation is located. Additionally, the ecological effect was determined in the form of reduction of pollutants emitted into the atmosphere resulting from heat losses for the developed multi-pipe thermal insulation. The calculation results showed a significant reduction in heat losses as a result of the use of multi-pipe thermal insulation in relation to the existing single heating installation. The use of multi-pipe insulation undoubtedly follows the trend of energy-saving heat transport and is an alternative to the commonly used single pipes.

Becoming the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050 is currently the most ambitious European goal. Heat pumps are the example of the key technology, which could help to achieve the aim by heating, cooling and domestic hot water (DHW) preparation in an ecological and energy-efficient way. This article characterized a heat pump market in Europe between 2009 and 2020 with a special regard to France, Spain, Poland and Lithuania, for which a more detailed study was presented. The analysis was performed primarily on the grounds of statistics data provided by the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA), which determined the number of heat pumps sold based on standard questionnaires from national heat pump associations, statistical offices and research institutes. The highest number of heat pump sold in analysed period of time was recorded in France, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Germany and Spain. Poland was in the middle of the list, while Lithuania was one of the last countries. Considering the number of heat pumps sold per 1000 households, Norway was the clear leader, followed by Estonia, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Lithuania was placed 12th, while Poland was only 18th. In terms of the type of lower and upper heat source, air-to-water and air-to-air heat pumps were the most popular choices, while ground source heat pumps were the least popular. The development of the heat pump market has been influenced by social, environmental, economic and technological factors.

The annual entrainment of early life history stages of fishes (ELH) into the cooling system of the largest power plant in the Vistula River basin was assessed using passive capture techniques and DNA metabarcoding. Hydrological and thermal conditions during the 2022 breeding season were also analyzed. A total of 5,011 ELH individuals identified to four families and 23 species were recorded. ELH densities upstream of the power plant were an order of magnitude higher than they were downstream. Along with the phenology of occurrence and species composition of drift, this indicated very high (probably close to 100%) ELH mortality during passage through the cooling system. Taking into account low water discharge at constantly high water intake during the season, the absolute estimate of ELH individuals entrained into the cooling system was > 103 × 106. The power plant entrains a notable proportion of one-quarter to one-half of the total ELH drifting by, especially during low-flow periods. Together with the very high abundance of two invasive Ponto-Caspian gobies, the magnitude of the entrainment of ELH into the Kozienice Power Plant presents a truly alarming picture.

Dental anxiety is a very important factor affecting the efficacy of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of dental diseases, both in patients in the developmental age and in young adults. Anxiety is considered an emotional state with negative connotations. The aim of the study was to determine the level of dental anxiety in first year university students, the intent being to help to develop an individual treatment plan in this group of patients. The study involved 280 students including 230 females and 50 males. Of these, 122 patients were from the Medical University of Lublin, 79 from University of Life Sciences and 79 from University of Maria Curie-Skłodowska. The mean age of the study subjects was 21 years and 8 months ± 3,9 months. No differences in the level of dental anxiety between women and men were observed. The highest level of dental anxiety was observed among students of University of Life Sciences, while the lowest level was observed among students of the Medical University