Reproduction places severe demands on the energy metabolism in human females. When physical work entails higher energy expenditure, not enough energy will be left for the support of the reproductive processes and temporal suppression of the reproductive function is expected. While energy needed for reproduction may be obtained by increases in energy intake, utilization of fat reserves, or reallocation of energy from basal metabolism, several environmental or physiological constraints render such solutions unlikely. For human ancestors increases in energy intake were (...) limited by availability of food, by labor of food preparation and by metabolic ceilings to energy assimilation. Energy stored as fat may support only a fraction of the requirements for reproduction (especially lactation). Effects of intense physical activity on basal metabolism may also interfere with fat accumulation during pregnancy. Finally, the female physiology may experience demands on increasing the basal metabolism as a consequence of physical activity and, at the same time, on decreasing the basal metabolism, when energy to support the ongoing pregnancy or lactation is inadequate. The resulting metabolic dilemmas could constitute a plausible cause for the occurrence of reproductive suppression in response to physical activity. It is, therefore, likely that allocating enough energy to the reproductive processes during periods when energy expenditure rises may be difficult due to physiological and bioenergetic constraints. Females attempting pregnancy in such conditions may compromise their lifetime reproductive output. A reproductive suppression occurring in low energy availability situations may thus represent an adaptive rather then a pathological response. (shrink)

The emotion of disgust is suggested to be an adaptation that evolved to keep us away from sources of infection. Therefore, individuals from populations with greater pathogen stress should have a greater disgust sensitivity. However, current evidence for a positive relationship between disgust sensitivity and the intensity of infectious diseases in the environment is limited. We tested whether disgust and contamination sensitivity changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Disgust was assessed in 984 women in 2017 and 633 women in (...) 2020 by a set of photographs depicting sources of infection and Pathogen and Moral of Three-Domain Disgust Scale. Further, contamination sensitivity among participants in two waves was measured by Contamination Obsessions and Washing Compulsions Subscale of Padua Inventory. State anxiety was measured with the Polish adaptation of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory only during the second wave of data collection. Women from the COVID-19 pandemic group assessed the photographs depicting sources of infection as more disgusting, scoring higher on Padua Inventory, but lower on Moral Disgust Domain as compared to women from before the pandemic. In addition, anxiety levels during pandemic positively correlated with scores from Pathogen Disgust Domain, Padua Inventory, and the ratings of the photographs. The participants of the study scored higher in state anxiety than the norms determined for the Polish population. Summarizing, we present evidence for differences in individual levels of disgust sensitivity in relation to pathogen stress, supporting the idea that disgust evolved to serve as protection from pathogens. (shrink)

Anna Kamieńska (1920-1986) rückte in den Band Quellen (1962) ein Gedicht Begrüßung der Adria ein. Dieser Artikel ist ein Versuch der Werksinterpretation unter besonderer Beachtung seines literarischen Umfeldes. Er verdeutlicht die Bedeutung des Schaffens der unterschätzen Dichterin, die sich auf die Suche der Lösungen der menschlichen Existenzfragen machte. Der Artikel ist eine Auseinandersetzung mit Miłosz, der Anna Kamieńska den Namen hervorragende Dichterin absprach.

The aim of the study was to explore the experiences of homosexual men connected with the formation of their sexual orientation in adolescence. A comparative study of 27 young adult homosexual men and 28 heterosexual men of similar age used a categorised interview questionnaire consisting of two parts: the first with questions regarding sexual dreams, fantasies and erotic encounters; the second with questions on family and social circumstances. The study yielded an abundance of interesting data on the psychological circumstances of (...) homosexual men during the formation of sexual orientation and its awareness as well as differences and similarities in that area between homosexual and heterosexual men. For instance, it revealed experience patterns concerning the formation of sexual identity and personal attitudes toward one’s sexual orientation characteristic of homosexual persons. The study verified the main hypothesis that mental-internal experiences precede behavioural-external ones both in homosexual and heterosexual persons. (shrink)

The subject of the article is social responsibility of business and the role of social responsibility in the daily activity of companies as reliable partners in business.The paper consists of two parts: the theoretical one and the empirical one. In the theoretical part the author describes the areas of social responsibility and the examples of socially responsible actions. In the empirical part the author presents the research study carried out in the following groups of respondents: managerial staff and employees of (...) Polish and French medium—sized companies.The results of the study show that both in Poland and in France there is awareness of the importance and the rank of the phenomenon in question. In Poland, however, socially irresponsible actions are usually ignored as “natural”. (shrink)

Celem pracy będzie zbadanie historii kościoła św. Walentego w Bieruniu na Górnym Śląsku oraz określenie warstw znaczeniowych i symbolicznych, które w istotny sposób współdecydują o wyjątkowości oraz pięknie sanktuarium. Omawiany drewniany kościół należy do parafii św. Bartłomieja Apostoła, a pierwsza historyczna wzmianka o jego istnieniu pochodzi z 1628 r. Świątynia, w której znajdują się relikwie św. Walentego, przyciąga każdego roku rzesze pielgrzymów. W pracy przyjęto metodę badawczą polegającą na połączeniu analizy pojęć z zakresu sztuki sakralnej z lokalnym kontekstem historycznym oraz (...) szerszą perspektywą kulturową. Celem badania jest wyodrębnienie symboli i znaków współdecydujących o wyjątkowości i pięknie sanktuarium. (shrink)

The article offers an analysis of the perfective aspect within the approach of communicational grammar. The author provided an overview of selected verbs with a communication-based analysis of those which consist of recreating predicate-argument systems and their combinations to indicate the impact of aspect on the resulting configuration of meaning. The text also includes examples of the analysis of metaphorical expressions.

Postpartum depression is more prevalent in mothers and fathers of preterm infants compared to parents of full-term infants and may have long-term detrimental consequences for parental mental health and child development. The temperamental profile of an infant has been postulated as one of the important factors associated with parental depressiveness in the first months postpartum. This study aimed to examine the longitudinal relationship between depressive symptoms and perceived infant temperament at 3 months corrected age, and depressive symptoms at 6 months (...) corrected age among mothers and fathers of infants born preterm. We assessed 59 families with infants born before the 34th gestational week using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised. We found that mothers’ scores on EPDS and infants’ Orienting/regulation at 3 months corrected age predicted mothers’ EPDS scores at 6 months corrected age. In particular, higher depressive scores were related to higher depressive symptoms at 6 months corrected age, whereas higher infant Orienting/regulation was related to lower depressive symptoms at 6 months corrected age. Due to the low internal consistency of EPDS at 6 months for fathers, we were unable to conduct similar analyses for fathers. Our results point to the importance of considering both early indices of maternal mood as well as mother-reported measures of preterm infant temperament in the attempts to predict levels of maternal depressiveness in later months of an infant’s life. Further studies are urgently needed in order to better understand the associations between depressiveness and infant temperament in fathers, and with more consideration for the severity of the effects of infant prematurity. (shrink)

The subject of the article is the concept of a man formed by a Polish philosopher and sociologist Erazm Majewski. A special attention was paid the premises, which as defined by Majewski, enabled a man to cross the borders of the animal world. Anthropological studies conducted by Majewski contributed to a deeper understanding of an exceptional being, i.e. man. Majewski made an attempt to solve the riddle of man from the perspective of both natural history and sociology.

Jan Karol Kochanowski, polski filozof i historyk, żyjący na przełomie XIX i XX wieku, został już niemal zapomniany. Tylko dwie jego prace, tj. Tłum i jego przewódcy wydane w 1906 roku i Echa prawieku i błyskawice praw dziejowych na tle teraŸniejszooeci1, odbiły się większym echem zarówno w kraju jak i zagranicą. W filozofii polskiej jest jednym z autorów wzmiankowanych co najwyżej przez historyków dyscypliny. Należy do myślicieli niemal zupełnie zapomnianych, a autorzy, którzy interesowali się jego poglądami przyznają, że istniejące informacje (...) biograficzne są „zarazem zbyt skąpe”. Stąd w przedstawionej pracy starałam się przybliżyć postać Kochanowskiego, którego poglądy zasługuj ą na uwagę jako fakt historyczny, bez którego dzieje polskiej filozofii i socjologii nie są kompletne. Myśl Kochanowskiego wykazuje wiele wspólnych cech z założeniami psychologizmu i socjologizmu, choć ten pierwszy na pewno był mu bliższy. Można spotkać u tego myśliciela wątki, dla których inspiracją była refleksja nad tłumem Gustava Le Bona, teoria podboju Lestera F. Warda, psychologizm historyczny Karla Lamprechta, naturalizm Ludwika Gumplowicza, teoria resentymentu Fryderyka Nietzschego. Niniejszy artykuł stanowi próbę rekonstrukcji i analizy wybranych poglądów Kochanowskiego odnoszących się do filozofii dziejów i psychologii narodów. (shrink)

This study investigated the relationships between selected emotional aspects of mental ill-health and mental well-health experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The theoretical model of the study was based on Martin Seligman’s positive psychology and PERMA theory and Paul Wong’s Existential Positive Psychology 2.0 Theory, which postulates that negative experiences contribute to well-being and personal growth. The static approach was complemented by exploring the mediating role of psychological flexibility in the relationship between negative emotions and well-being. The data were collected during (...) the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic from 277 participants, aged M = 33.83, SD = 12.77. The results confirmed that negative emotions correlated negatively with various domains of well-being, except for accomplishment. Moreover, negative emotions were related to the general well-being through psychological flexibility in that higher depression, anxiety, and stress were associated with lower psychological flexibility, which decreased general well-being. Finally, negative emotions were shown to be beneficial, having an adaptive effect that allows individuals to maintain their ability to cope with the situation, reach goals, and fulfill daily duties and responsibilities despite critical, stressful situation that limit their psychological flexibility. This observation confirmed the positive potential of negative aspects of life postulated within Existential Positive Psychology. (shrink)

Zamieszanie wokół problem prawdy ma dwa źródła. Zagadnienie to jest zwykle rozpatrywane w dwu perspektywach: [1] albo w perspektywie poznawczej albo [2] ontologicznej, w kontekście rzeczywistości uteoretyzowanej. Problem w tym, że obydwie są usytuowane na tym samym artykułowanym poziomie. Obydwie nie uwzględniają tego, co najważniejsze: ontycznego wymiaru rzeczywistości, ontycznego zakorzenienia, bez którego nie sposób mówić ani o poznaniu, ani o ontologii, ani o prawdzie. Kłopot w tym, że wymiar ontyczny został wyparty z filozofii i w tym należy upatrywać kryzysu współczesnej (...) filozofii. Rzeczywistość Ontyczna to Żywioł Przedpoznawczy. Prawda ma dwa wymiary: ontyczny i ontyczno-epistemologiczny. Pierwszy może być rekonstruowany tylko pośrednio, poprzez praktykę, którą nazywam metafizyką radykalną. Drugi jest rozwijany zgodnie z akceptowanymi normami praktyk artykułowanych. Podczas gdy przeciwieństwem prawdy onto-epistemologicznej jest tylko fałsz, przeciwieństwem prawdy ontycznej może być tylko prawda. Stosownie do powyższego mamy dwa rodzaje realizmu: realizm radykalny oraz wiele modeli realizmów ontoepistemologicznych. Prawda ma podwójną naturę: ontyczną i lekkość energii, tzn. siłę przekraczania aktualnych granic. Aby zmieniać otaczający świat, filozofia winna uwalniać energię uwięzioną w aktualnie obowiązujących teoriach. Mając to na uwadze, zamieniłam tradycyjny realizm na realizm transcendujący, przekraczający istniejące granice naszych aktualnych punktów widzenia i możliwości kognitywnych. (shrink)

The greatest challenge with which the Readers of my book had to cope with was the problem of ontological presence. In Srzednicki’s conception ontological presence has two dimensions: a logical and an onto-factual one.Every cognitive perspective is always contingent but this contingency must be limited somehow. Srzednicki restores the ontological dimension of cognition (crossed out by traditional epistemology and philosophy), but avoids ontological fundamentalism. His conception gives rise to a new model of metaphysics understood not as the most general theory (...) of being or a general theory of cognition but as the non-epistemic closure of all epistemological projects and theoretical discourses.The main parameters of the epistemic closure can only be reconstructed theoretically in the logical space of the observer. This non-epistemic closure is marked by three categorical constraints: ontological, formative and normative.Srzednicki overcomes Wittgenstein’s skepticism by understanding transcendentalism much more deeply. (shrink)

Jan Srzednicki’s metaphysical conception of epistemology lies in radical opposition to the whole epistemological tradition. The main problem of his new epistemology is to find a non-linguistic (non-cognitive) idea of reference to an ontological presence.Srzednicki finds the prototype of such a completely new, non-linguistic perspective in Brentano’s Doppelurteile. Brentano’s idea cannot be mechanically adopted, however, because on the whole it still remains within the traditional theory. To avoid the problemsrevealed by Wittgenstein we need a more sophisticated strategy. Srzednicki achieves this (...) goal by scripting the epistemological scenario for two dimensions: theoretical and pre-theoretical. The first one represents the logical space of observer, the second one, the theoretically discernible logical requirements of cognition (called cognitive potential, pre-Ego or arche of the possibility of cognition).Srzednicki’s idea was born in the space of three theoretical challenges: Brentano’s, Kant’s and Wittgenstein’s. He begins where each of these three theorists broke off, which is to say, entangling his endeavors at he end in dilemmas which cannot be resolved by means available from his perspectives. (shrink)

Considerable progress has been made toward understanding the involvement of recoverin in a cancer-associated retinopathy (CAR) that results in blindness. We describe the expression of recoverin in tumors of individuals afflicted with CAR, characterize the immunological response towards recoverin in these patients, and demonstrate how the disease can be induced in rodents using recoverin as an immunogen.

For many women and girls sexist and misogynistic language is an everyday experience. Some instances of this speech can be categorized as ‘sexist hate speech’, as not only having an insulting or degrading character towards the individuals to whom the speech is addressed, but also resonating with the entire group, contributing to its silencing, marginalization and exclusion. The aim of this article is to examine how sexist hate speech is handled in international human rights law. The argument derives from the (...) claim than that legal discourse should distinguish between ‘sexist speech’ and ‘sexist hate speech’, and that the later may be qualified as a form of violence against women. Then it analyses the approaches of two human rights protection systems—the United Nations and the Council of Europe system—towards the phenomenon of sexist hate speech, by taking their position towards hate speech in general as a point of reference. In both systems, sexist hate speech is being addressed more eagerly under the gender equality framework, including counteracting violence against women, than in their interpretation of hate speech under general human rights law. The article argues the importance of recognizing and addressing sexist hate speech both within the framework of gender equality instruments and anti-hate speech framework established by international human rights bodies. (shrink)

The role of Hospital Ethics Committees is to support patients and their relatives as well as medical staff in solving ethical issues that arise in relation to the implementation of medical care. In Poland there are no clearly formulated legal regulations concerning the establishment and functioning of hospital ethics committees. Hospitals applying for accreditation are obliged to present solutions defining the way of solving ethical issues in a given institution, some of them appoint HECs for this purpose. The aim of (...) this study was to analyze information concerning the functioning of hospital ethics committees in Poland on the basis of publicly available data published on the websites of accredited hospitals. Very few accredited hospitals make public information about functioning in their ethics consulting facilities through hospital ethics committees. In most cases, the information provided on the functioning of HECs is general, both in terms of the committees’ functioning, type of cases under consideration and the composition of personnel. (shrink)

In this paper I present Jan Nepomucen Miller’s universalism, i.e. his own conception of literature, which pursues the right to compete with its Romantic model. Universalism, whose elaboration of the philosophical premises took place in the years 1923-1925, never received a complete and finite form; it only indicated a certain option for which the whole, universality and universum was more important than a part. Although this conception proved to be a Utopian project, without its driving force, being too far from (...) the reality to support the spiritual values of the Polish culture, it constitutes (especially in our interwar thought) one of unique attempts to create a culture based on a non-Romantic canon of values. (shrink)

Laktancjusz i Euzebiusz z Cezarei opisali wizję, którą miał Konstantyn Wielki przed decydującą bitwą z Maksencjuszem na Moście Mulwijskim: we śnie objawił mu się krzyż cały w świetle i pod nim napis: „Pod tym znakiem zwyciężaj”. Konstantyn zabrał krzyż na bitwę i to zapewniło mu zwycięstwo. Od czasów Konstantyna krzyż stał się nie tylko najważniejszym symbolem chrześcijaństwa, ale także symbolem chrześcijańskiego władcy, bronią jego zwycięstwa. W literaturze krzyż odnoszący się do władzy ziemskiej określany jest jako krzyż Konstantyna. Celem artykułu jest (...) przeanalizowanie funkcjonowania krzyża Konstantyna u Słowian południowych i na Rusi. Podjęto próbę udowodnienia tezy, że znaczenie krzyża Konstantyna u Bułgarów i Serbów było duże i bliskie bizantyńskiemu, natomiast na Rusi, pomimo podejmowanych prób upowszechnienia, krzyż nie odgrywał większej roli. Przyczyną były uwarunkowania polityczno-religijne, a przede wszystkim głęboki kult ikon maryjnych, który nie miał odpowiednika w żadnym innym państwie ekumeny wschodniochrześcijańskiej. To ikony maryjne w powszechnej świadomości Rusinów ingerowały w losy kraju i pojedynczego człowieka, one decydowały o zwycięstwach, przyczyniały się do ustanawiania ziemskiego porządku. Pełniły zatem taką rolę jaką u Słowian południowych krzyż Konstantyna. (shrink)

We aimed to analyze personality-related determinants of physical activity among Polish and Spanish physical education students. The study was conducted among 219 Polish and 280 Spanish PE students, using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and the NEO-FFI Personality Inventory. Compared with Spanish PE students, their Polish counterparts are characterized by a higher level of extraversion and conscientiousness and a lower level of neuroticism. The level of total physical activity for all students was 8,697.21 METs, and this value was higher among (...) Polish students. Among Polish and Spanish PE students, the level of total, vigorous, and moderate physical activity increased along with the increase in extraversion, while a decrease occurred along with the increase in neuroticism. The level of each domain of physical activity also increased in line with the intensification of student conscientiousness. In moderation analyses, it was shown that the home country of students may be considered a moderator of the relationship between conscientiousness and total exercise in such a way that the physical activity increased along with the increase in conscientiousness only among the Polish students. In addition, the country is a moderator of the correlation between moderate physical activity and neuroticism, openness, and conscientiousness, with moderate activity only decreasing among Polish students and increasing along with the increase in openness and conscientiousness. Positive correlations among physical activity, extraversion, and conscientiousness, as well as negative ones with neuroticism, were demonstrated among Polish and Spanish students, and also the moderating impact of the country on the correlation between personality-related dimensions and physical activity. (shrink)

Although developmental dyslexia is frequently diagnosed in Poland, little knowledge of effective treatment for this disorder is available in Polish society. Remedial teachers for many years have applied traditional methods aimed at correction and compensation for affected cognitive functions and academic skills. Otherwise, although western therapies are regularly advertised in the media, their effectiveness has rarely been subject to scientific investigation. Since the assumptions underlying some approaches are not consistent with current understanding of cognitive function, they may attract negative expert (...) appraisal. Unfortunately, it seems that fashion in dyslexia therapy is resistant to rare expressions of criticism from the scientific community. The purpose of this article is to promote awareness about effective treatment for specific reading disorders. Teachers’ greater understanding in this area should help Polish dyslexic children and their parents, who may be confused by offers of misguided therapy and sharp business practise. It is hoped that this article will clarify the situation. In this review of modern English journal articles, focus is on remedial teaching of reading, and more specifically, support for dyslexic students experiencing difficulties in decoding. Here we are concerned only with therapy in alphabetic languages in which individual speech sounds correspond to letters. Analysis of articles from the last six years leads to the conclusion that the most effective therapy for the reading disorder is training in phonological awareness and consolidation of letter-sound knowledge. However, these skills should be practised in the context of reading. (shrink)

Despite the progress achieved over the last decade after the birth of the first cloned mammal, the efficiency of reproductive cloning remains invariably low. However, research aiming at the use of nuclear transfer for the production of patient‐tailored stem cells for cell/tissue therapy is progressing rapidly. Yet, reproductive cloning has many potential implications for animal breeding, transgenic research and the conservation of endangered species. In this article we suggest that the changes in the epi‐/genotype observed in cloned embryos arise from (...) unbalanced nuclear reprogramming between parental chromosomes. It is probable that the oocyte reprogramming machinery, devised for resident chromosomes, cannot target the paternal alleles of somatic cells. We, therefore, suggest that a reasonable approach to balance this asymmetry in nuclear reprogramming might involve the transient expression in donor cells of chromatin remodelling proteins, which are physiologically expressed during spermatogenesis, in order to induce a male‐specific chromatin organisation in the somatic cells before nuclear transfer. BioEssays 30:66–74, 2008. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)