On one hand, the development of medicine allows to prolong the life of patients who previously had no chance for survive, on the other hand, though, it condemns some of them and their loved ones to extreme suffering. Fear of suffering is the main reason for a possible wish for euthanasia. The research aimed at measuring the attitude towards euthanasia among doctors and nurses who come in professional contact with terminally ill patients or patients versus the medical personnel who do not come in such contact. The research included: age, profession and workplace as well as personal experience in providing care to the seriously ill. The Attitudes Towards Euthanasia Questionnaire by Głębocka and Gawor was used during the research. The method consists of three scales: Informational Support, Liberal Approach and Conservative Approach. Medical stuff taking care of terminally ill patients were less conservative in their opinions than the participants from the comparative group. The intergroup differences in terms of Liberal Approach towards Euthanasia Scale were not obtained. It turned out that the age fostered the conservative approach, and working at the intensive care units or taking care of an ill relative fostered the reduction of such approach. All the respondents approve the idea of providing the patients and their families with informational support. Working in intensive care units or taking care of terminally ill relatives seems to reduce conservative attitudes towards euthanasia because persons with such experience have personally faced the multifaceted emotional and physical costs of suffering.
Understanding the influence of iron impurity on the formation of the structure and the properties of hypereutectic aluminum-silicon alloys are important for achieving the required quality of castings, especially those obtained from secondary materials. In the present work, the influence of different iron contents (0.3, 1.1, and 2.0 wt.%) on the crystallization process, microstructure and mechanical properties of the Al-15% Si alloy was studied. It is shown that the presence of iron impurity in the Al-15% Si alloy leads to increasing the eutectic crystallization time from 6.2 to 7.6 s at increasing the iron content from 0.3 wt.% to 1.1 wt.%, changing the structure of the alloy eutectic in the solid state. The primary silicon and β-Al5SiFe phase coexist in the structure of the Al-15% Si alloys at a temperature below 575 °C in the range of iron concentrations from 0 to 2 wt.% in equilibrium conditions. In the experimental alloys structure, the primary crystals of the β-phase were metallographically detected only in the alloys containing 1.1 and 2 wt.% of iron impurity. Increase of the iron content up to 2 wt.% significantly reduces the mechanical properties of the Al-15% Si alloy due to the formation of large platelet-like inclusions of β-Al5SiFe phase.
European beaver (Castor fiber), the largest rodent species inhabiting a wide area of Eurasia, feeds mainly on dry parts of plants, bark or wood. Such kind of nourishment needs to be properly digested in each part of the gastrointestinal tract. The time of stomach digestion, which directly influences all the following steps of the digestion process, is precisely controlled by the pylorus and its innervation. However, virtually no data is available on the organization of the enteric nervous system in most of the wild animal species, including beavers. On the other hand, a pecu- liar diet consumed by beavers, suggests that the arrangement of their stomach intramural nerve elements can be atypical. Therefore, the present study investigated the distribution and chemical coding of neurons and nerve fibers in the pylorus of the European beaver.
The experiment was performed on stomachs obtained from a group of 6 beavers caught in Northeastern region of Poland (due to beaver overpopulation). Pyloric wall tissue cryosections were double immunostained with a mixture of antibodies against pan-neuronal marker PGP 9.5 (to visualize enteric neurons) and ChAT (cholinergic marker), nNOS (nitrergic marker), SP, CGRP, Gal (peptidergic markers).
Confocal microscopy analysis revealed that the majority of enteric nerve cells were clustered forming submucosal and myenteric ganglia and all the studied substances were expressed (in various amounts) in these neurons.
We conclude, that the anatomical arrangement and chemical coding of intramural nerve elements in the beaver pylorus resemble those found in other mammalian species.
The durability of roads is dependent on the proper screening of the variations in subsurface geological characteristics and conditions through geo-engineering investigations and good construction practices. In this study, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) technique was used to investigate the subsurface defects and potential failures along the substrate of Etioro-Akoko highway, Ondo State, southwestern Nigeria. Results of the inverse model resistivity sections generated for the two investigated traverses showed four distinct subsurface layers. The shallow clayey topsoil, weathered layer, and partially weathered/fractured bedrock have resistivity values ranging from 4–150 ohm-m, 10–325 ohm-m, and 205–800 ohm-m, with thickness values of 0–2 m, 0.5–12.5 m, and less than few meters to > 24 m, respectively. The fresh bedrock is characterised by resistivity generally in excess of 1000 ohm-m. The bedrock mirrored gently to rapidly oscillating bedrock troughs and relatively inclined deep penetrating multiple fractures: F1–F’1, F2–F’2 and F3–F’3, with floater in-between the first two fractures. These delineated subsurface characteristic features were envisaged as potential threats to the pavement of the highway. Pavement failures in the area could be attributed to the incompetent clayey sub-base/substrate materials and the imposed stresses on the low load-bearing fractured bedrock and deep weathered troughs by heavy traffics. Anticipatory construction designs that included the use of competent sub-base materials and bridges for the failed segments and fractured zones along the highway, respectively, were recommended.