Polish Academy of Sciences

Nowhere is American author Shirley Jackson’s (1916-1965) social and political criticism is so intense than it is in her seminal fictional masterpiece “The Lottery”. Jackson severely denounces injustice through her emphasis on a bizarre social custom in a small American town, in which the winner of the lottery, untraditionally, receives a fatal prize. The readers are left puzzled at the end of the story as Tessie Hutchinson, the unfortunate female winner, is stoned to death by the members of her community, and even by her family. This study aims at investigating the author’s social and political implications that lie behind the story, taking into account the historical era in which the story was published (the aftermath of th

The application of physiological oxygen (physoxia) concentrations is becoming increasingly commonplace within a mammalian stem cell culture. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) attract widespread interest for clinical application due to their unique immunomodulatory, multi-lineage potential, and regenerative capacities. Descriptions of the impact of physoxia on global DNA methylation patterns in hMSCs and the activity of enzymatic machinery responsible for its regulation remain limited. Human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-hMSCs, passage 1) isolated in reduced oxygen conditions displayed an upregulation of SOX2 in reduced oxygen conditions vs. air oxygen (21% O2, AO), while no change was noted for either OCT-4 or NA

The present work folds two qualitative objectives; the first focuses on investigating the multiplicity of motivation-based human needs in Little Bee. The second objective involves examining the linguistic forms adopted to disclose such needs. Consequently, the researchers are to adapt eclectically Alderfer's Existence, Relatedness, and Growth Theory (1969) and Langacker’s theory of Domains (1987) together with his Active Zone Operation (1991). Such a study helps to embody the connectivity between the social and psychological aspects, and the way these two aspects are disclosed using particular linguistic The study has concluded that Bee needed Alderfer’s basic human needs: existence, relatedness, and growth. Besides, satisfying

Cholesteryl ester transfer protein gene contains some single nucleotide polymorphisms, which have been associated with serum high-density lipoprotein concentration and other lipoproteins. This study is done for determining of cholesteryl ester transfer protein polymorphism and evaluate its effect on serum lipid profile concentrations in some hyperlipidemic patients compared with healthy subjects in Salah Al-din governorate-Iraq. Blood samples were taken from (90) patients suffering from hyperlipidemia, and (70) samples that were apparently healthy controls.  Serum lipid concentrations were measured by enzymatic assays. The polymorphism was genotyped using polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis.&n

Communicative-based textbooks are developed and disseminated throughout the country.
However, it is difficult for teachers who themselves have learnt English through the traditional
approaches to suddenly be familiar with CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) principles
and teach communicatively. Therefore, many teachers remain somewhat confused about what
exactly CLT is and others familiar with CLT but unable to achieve communicative classroom
teaching. Consequently, those teachers need to be introduced to the CLT principles and they need
training in how to put CLT principles into practice. Accordingly, this study aims to find out the
effect of combining video lectures and Kolb experiential learning on EFL student-t

Background: Arylesterase activity of Paraoxonase-1 (ARE-PON-1) exhibits an antioxidant role which protects lipoprotein from oxidation. It is known that ARE-PON-1 antioxidant activity associated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) reduces the oxidative damage mediated by low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). The present study was aimed to examine the level of serum ARE-PON1 in Iraqi patients with β-thalassemia minor and its relationship with lipid profile (total cholesterol (TC), HDL-C, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL-C), and LDL-C) and hematologic changes as a part of antioxidant system action. Methods: In the present study, the ARE-PON-1 activity was investigated in serum of patients with β-thalassemia minor. Resu

In this study, a factorial experiment was conducted using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates to investigate the effects of silicon at four concentrations: 0, 2, 4, and 6 ml/L, designated as S0, S1, S2, and S3, respectively and a calcium-boron combination at three concentrations: 0, (0.5 g/L Ca-EDTA, + 10 mg/L B), and (1 g/L Ca-EDTA, + 20 mg/L B), designated as C0, C1, and C2, respectively. on the activity of antioxidant enzymes and some qualitative traits of fruits. The results indicated that the studied traits were significantly influenced by the factors. Silicon application notably increased enzyme activity, treatment S3 showed the highest activity levels for peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) rea