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EN
The main purpose of the present paper is to describe some chosen metaphors which are used in the field of genetics. In my analysis I use the cognitive definition of a metaphor, which is described in most general way as understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain. I concentrate on the following lexemes: DNA (acronym for deoxyribonucleic acid), gene, genetic, genome. Another problem described in the article is how a particular way of thinking about the DNA and its metaphors affects the understanding of other concepts, which are connected with it directly or indirectly, and therefore also affects the definitions of corresponding lexical items. In the present article I focus on the analysis of the concept of ‘man’.
EN
According to the author, amendments to the Act on Microorganisms and Genetically Modified Organisms are compliant with the European Union law. However, he claims that a deepen analysis would be necessary in the course of further legislative works. The analysis should be focused on the matter of the principle of proportionality, a possible violation of the principle of freedom of establishment and potentially excessive severity of suggested sanctions.
EN
In the “Implementing Effective Learning Designs” project a framework and design guidelines were created to provide a comprehensive scaffold to assist academics in the development of inspiring learning design examples and supportive activities. Learning design templates were developed that can be used by academic staff to tailor exemplary examples to meet particular requirements, whilst providing them with the underlying pedagogical principals involved in the learning design. The implementation of learning designs was also explored and barriers identified to their widespread adoption and ways of overcoming these. This paper outlines the theoretical underpinnings that supported the project.
EN
This overview presents the history of implementation of DNA testing into Polish forensic practice, possibilities of contemporary methods of identification of biological trace evidence, dead bodies and human remains as well as prospects related to the development of identification of offenders. In 2015, 25 years passed since the implementation of molecular biology techniques into Polish forensic practice. These novel methods and technologies have added an unprecedented dimension to human identification, wherein a unique DNA profile can be nowadays determined from samples containing as little as 2ng /2x10-9g/ DNA. In 1985, Alec Jeffreys, a geneticist from the University of Leicester reported that the human genome contains simple oligonucleotide repeats with identical sequence, yet different patterns in terms of the number of repeats and frequencies among individuals. Since an infinite number of such patterns is possible, a unique characteristics can be conferred on every single individual in a population. This discovery, along with the development of novel molecular biology tools, have opened the way for the introduction of DNA testing into forensic medicine (settling the cases of disputed paternity and kinship) and forensic proceedings (individual identification of offenders based on analysis of biological traces). The so-called DNA fingerprinting method enabled individual identification, which constituted a major breakthrough in quality of biological trace analysis. In Poland, the above method was introduced by Prof. R. Słomski from the Institute of Human Genetics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. On 15 May 1989, Prof. Słomski presented the Court with a forensic expertise containing unquestionable conclusions, based on the results of analysis conducted in accordance with the novel method. In the same year, the team led by Prof. Słomski was granted the State Award of the 1st Class for implementing molecular biology methods into Polish forensic practice. The years 1992-94 saw the introduction into forensic analyses of a molecular biology technique referred to as the Polymerase Chain Reaction, developed by K. Mullis, which constitutes a quantitative breakthrough in that it allows to analyze biological trace evidence containing as little as 2ng /2x10-9g/ DNA. In Poland, the DNA amplification reaction was pioneered by Prof. R. Słomski in August 1989, whereas in December 1992 the DNA from biological trace evidence was for the first time amplified by Dr. A. Tucholska-Lenart in the laboratory of the Internal Security Agency. The introduction of highly polymorphic repetitive sequences (STRs) and the development of advanced molecular technologies and techniques at the end of the nineties led to automation of DNA analyses and adoption of European standards, which facilitated international cooperation and comparability of laboratory results. Such endeavors are increasingly coordinated by Interpol, as well as by the ENFSI DNA Working Group. Presently, STR analysis is routinely used both in forensics (identification of biological traces and offenders) and in forensic medicine (settling the cases of disputed paternity and identification of dead bodies and human remains). Nowadays, the eyes of scientists and practitioners are on laser microdissection technology, which allows to recover single cells from biological trace evidence and can be subsequently used in molecular analyses aimed at determining an offender’s DNA profile. The implementation of this technique in Poland was concluded in the year 2011 by the team led by Dr. R. Wierzchoslawski at the Forensic Laboratory of the Internal Security Agency, as part of research and development of the project „AriaDNA 2010” No. 0R00002712, funded by the National Centre for Research and Development.
EN
Article 2.27 of Trans-Pacific Partnership (PTP) agreement, concerning the trade of products of modern biotechnology, cannot be interpreted in a way which would impose upon any of the Parties an obligation to adopt or amendment of laws, regulations or policies for the control of such products within its territory. This provision defines the behavior in the event of detection of occurrence, in a shipment of plants or plant products, of “low-level presence” of rDNA plant material. It does not apply, however, to a plant or plant products that is a medicine or medical products. This provision do not also apply to animals and products of animal origin.
EN
Due to its complex and microscopic nature, genetics is a difficult subject for many learners to conceptually grasp. Graphics, animation and video material can be extremely helpful to their understanding. A wealth of educational online content about genetics has been created over the past decade in the wake of the human genome being sequenced. However, these digital resources are distributed across disparate sites and it requires a high level of content and pedagogical knowledge to orchestrate the progression and choice of material available to the learner, as well as technical expertise to bundle the resources in a meaningful and accessible format. A contextualised learning sequence, called ‘Gene Medicine’, has been designed in LAMS by the author, a student teacher who has a doctorate in human genetics, and who has undertaken a career change to teach science to secondary students. This paper reflects an ongoing professional learning experience as the author integrates her high-content expertise and developing pedagogical knowledge within the LAMS digital environment.
PL
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was identified 140 years ago by a Swiss physician Friedrich Miescher. His discovery was fundamental for the development of biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology. Contemporary biology, biotechnology and medicine largely depends on our ability to analyze, synthesize and manipulate DNA. We present highlights of the history of DNA research from the very beginning to the sequencing of human genome.
EN
The purpose of this study was to describe processes and methods suggested by science teachers for changing alternative conceptions about genetics. The study focused on a group of 17 (8 male and 9 female) science teachers who were graduate level students or completed a graduate program. Hence, the group was the case of this study. Qualitative data of the study was collected by detailed lesson plans prepared by the participants for overcoming two alternative conceptions about genetics (chromosome is an organelle and DNA is found as a whole set in the body) and follow-up interviews. The data was analyzed by descriptive analysis. The findings showed that the case group of this study represented fragmented processes to overcome the alternative conceptions. At the same time, they did not provide methods or processes in line with conceptual change models. These findings mean that science and technology teachers who have completed a graduate program or are currently graduate students of science education are not able to plan coherent teaching on alternative conceptions or are not aware of conceptual change processes and methods.
Organon
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2017
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vol. 49
39-56
EN
Piotr Slonimski (1922–2009), the main founder of mitochondrial genetics, is one of the most original yeast geneticists of the second part of the last century. In his later years he was involved in genomics. Recipient of several international awards, he received the CNRS Gold medal (1985) and was elected member of the French Academy of Sciences. His general culture and scientific passion stimulated many of his students to find their own way in life. A Polish–born French citizen, he never forgot Poland and was of help and support in restoring democracy in his native country.
EN
This paper is a review of recent publications dealing with the consequences of the release of genetically modified (GM) crops into the environment. The summary of arguments and for and against is an attempt to summarize the debate in the media. This highly publicized issue, although only one aspect of the conflict between the biotech lobby, environmentalists and consumers. The controversy arises from the fact that neither the benefits nor the risks of GM crops are clearly defined. The study contains a summary of claims that there is a serious potential risk to the environment of positive cultivation of GM crops, with uncertain effects, and that basic manipulation of heredity could have tragic consequences. European scepticism about GM crops increases from year to year. This paper coincides with the Polish government’s introduction of a ban on the cultivation of genetically modified maize and potatoes on Polish territory. In conclusion, while a move away from GM crops is likely, the author argues that ultimately there is no turning back.
EN
Lysenkoism was a political campaign against genetics and science-based agriculture conducted by Trofim Lysenko, his followers and Soviet authorities. Many books on this theme were forbidden in Russia and published abroad. Novel The White Robes by Dudintsev is a fictionalized version of the devastation, which Lysenko wreaked on Soviet genetic study. Novels Nikolai Nikolaevich by Aleshkovsky and The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin by Voinovich describe the topic in  a satirical style. The actuality of the theme is confirmed by its presence in Russian mass media in the form of materials aimed at justifying Lysenko's activity in the recent years.  
RU
Lysenkoism was a political campaign against genetics and science-based agriculture conducted by Trofim Lysenko, his followers and Soviet authorities. Many books on this theme were forbidden in Russia and published abroad. Novel The White Robes by Dudintsev is a fictionalized version of the devastation, which Lysenko wreaked on Soviet genetic study. Novels Nikolai Nikolaevich by Aleshkovsky and The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin by Voinovich describe the topic in  a satirical style. The actuality of the theme is confirmed by its presence in Russian mass media in the form of materials aimed at justifying Lysenko's activity in the recent years.  
Ethics in Progress
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2019
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vol. 10
|
issue 1
129-141
EN
In this paper I propose to demonstrate how the anthropological view can highlight the effects of the relationship between ethnic nationalism and global processes. Showing the results of an ethnographical research conducted in 2015, I focus on the representation of social identity in the contemporary Basque Country. I emphasize the central role played by the new technologies for the identification of the Basque communities’ boundaries. The creation of „the eighth province“ (or province of the diaspora) shows how, in this context, Internet could transform the “imagined community” into a virtual reality. The ethnographical view proves to be useful to understand how local practices and discourses can interact with global phenomena: particularly significant is the spreading of archaeogenetic investigations in Euskal Herria, in order to verify the hypothesis of a reproductive isolation of Basque people. Moreover, a big part of local population is using genetic tests proposed online by DNA consulting agencies. It is important to identify how these genetic narratives are absorbed and reused by local populations and if they can reshape the past of a mnemonic community, influencing the representation of its future.
EN
Although the past few decades have been marked by a rapid development of biotechnologies, it significantly precedes the social understanding of genetic phenomena. At the same time, as biotechnologies have become an object of public interest, popular culture, particularly movies, plays an increasingly important role in shaping the public attitudes towards biotechnologies. Thus, by stressing the impact of popular culture on the social understanding of science, this paper aims to describe the dominant genetic tropes portrayed in the cinema. By analysing 175 movies that relate to biotechnologies produced between 1953 and 2018, it analyses seven main themes: 1) the general image of genetics, 2) genetic procedures 3) mutations, 4) DNA, 5) genetic essentialism, 6) the nature versus nurture debate, and 7) biofears generated in the movies.
PL
Niepełnosprawność intelektualna, dotycząca 2-3% populacji ogólnej krajów Europy Zachodniej, jest istotnym problemem medycznym i społecznym. Praca przedstawia historię badań nad niepełnosprawnością intelektualną: XIX-wieczne teorie, oparte na obserwacji klinicznej, konsekwencje ruchu eugenicznego pierwszej połowy XX wieku i dynamiczny rozwój genetyki, umożliwiający obecnie prowadzenie badań podłoża upośledzenia umysłowego na poziomie cząsteczki DNA.
EN
Mental retardation, concerning 2-3% of the general population in Western countries, is a serious medical and social problem. The paper presents the history of studies concerning mental retardation: the early theories based on clinical observations, the consequences of eugenic t ideology and a dynamic progress in medical genetics that provided tools for investigating the causes of mental retardation at the level of DNA molecule.
15
75%
EN
Obesity affecting more than 30% of adult population has been recognized as a major public health problem. Overweight and obesity generally are caused by unhealthy eating patterns and a lack of physical activity. Managing of obesity and overweight is of paramount importance because of well established relations between excess body mass and different diseases such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and some types of cancer. Guidelines for reducing the risk of obesity and obesity-related disorders by dietary changes, increased physical activity and other lifestyle practices have been prepared by healthcare professionalists. WHO prepared the draft of global strategy on diet, physical activity and health, which should be adopted and developed at regional and national levels. Appropriate public knowledge on relationship between diet, physical activity, obesity and health provides a base for prevention of obesity and obesity related disorders.
EN
Nutrition is a factor of major importance for health and also for development of diet related disorders. Nowadays there is no doubts that interaction between genes and nutrition plays a key role in health risk prediction and disease prevention. Individual nutritional status is determined not only by food availability but also by genes that control food intake, nutrient absorption and metabolism. On the other hand nutrients can significantly influence different genes expression and metabolic processes. Knowledge of genetic susceptibility to disease will help identify people at enhance risk and their response to diet. The prevalence of the types of genes of interest may differ between populations. The same genotype does not confer the same risk in all populations because of differences in environmental factors and nutritional habits. Therefore, populations should not simply copy each other’s dietary recommendations. Based on genetic and nutritional studies the best way for expression of healthier phenotypes should be found and used to promote health and prevent different diseases development.
EN
The author considers the way contemporary genetics employs the notion of the gene. She studies its history and contemporary senses, being especially interested in how genetics defines sex. She presents the history of seeking for genetically defined masculinity pointing out how it has established oversimplified model of the phenomenon of biological sex. She underlines the role of feminist critiques in developing less narrow-minded views of sex in biology. The author shows that biology and especially genetics has promised to resolve doubts concerning human nature and the nature of sexes. Making this kind of promises can be interpreted as a special way of dealing with human fears which have appeared together with development of contemporary science and modern technologies and its impact on the world. It concerns especially fears of the interventions in natural environment and applications of the results of the research in genetics to medicine, both of which change the society and its values. When genetics has promised to find causal correlations between given genes and organisms’ properties, it was supposed to explain the source of diseases or even human personalities or specific social relations. Unequivocal explanations were needed to calm us down, to reduce fears, to allow us to state that this is how we are „by nature” made. As it turned out genetics was not able to fulfilled these promises for as the author is going to show, its objects of studies are more complex and complicated than the genetics have assumed.
EN
The term “race” was introduced to the scientific vocabulary in the mid-eighteenth century by the French philosopher, scientist and mathematician Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. In anthropology, this concept settled primarily through the German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. From the outset, the concept has aroused controversy among scholars. Even Charles Darwin himself expressed clear skepticism towards using the concept of race in reference to people. Clear doubts about the scientific basis of racial typology were reported in the early twentieth century by the American anthropologist Franz Boas, and later, in the 1940s, by the British-American anthropologist Ashley Montagu. In the 1960s, the American anthropologist and geneticist Frank Livingstone, on the basis of genetic evidence, sought to undermine the concept of human races. At the same time, a prominent American geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky expressed a similar opinion, claiming that there were no races which would be “discrete units”. In the 1970s, the American geneticist Richard Lewontin, on the basis of his own research, proved that there is no possibility of isolating races based on genetic criteria.In this article, we refer to the achievements of modern biology, especially genetics, to find out whether it is appropriate to use the “anthropological” concept of race. For a fuller picture of the issues of interest, we refer also to the historical sources, recalling the arguments put forward by various authors over the centuries against the concept of race in relation to human beings.
PL
Pojęcie „rasy” wprowadził do słownictwa naukowego w połowie XVIII wieku francuski filozofa i matematyk Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. W antropologii koncepcja ta zadomowiła się głównie dzięki pracom niemieckiego naukowca Johanna Friedricha Blumenbacha. Od początku koncepcja „rasy” wzbudzała kontrowersje wśród badaczy. Nawet sam Karol Darwin wyrażał sceptycyzm wobec używania pojęcia rasy w odniesieniu do ludzi. Wątpliwości co do naukowych podstaw typologii rasowej wyraził na początku XX wieku amerykański antropolog Franz Boas. W 1940 roku podobne wątpliwości przedstawił amerykańsko-brytyjski antropolog Ashley Montagu. W 1960 roku amerykański antropolog i genetyk Frank Livingstone na podstawie badań genetycznych poddał krytyce koncepcję ras ludzkich. Takie samo stanowisko wyrażał wybitny amerykański genetyk Teodozjusz Dobzhansky. Dobzhansky twierdził, że nie ma ras, które byłyby “odrębnymi jednostkami”. W 1970 roku, amerykański genetyk Richard Lewontin na podstawie własnych badań wykazywał, że nie ma możliwości wyizolowania odrębnych ras w oparciu o kryteria genetyczne.Artykuł odnosi się do osiągnięć współczesnej biologii, zwłaszcza genetyki, aby odpowiedzieć na pytanie, czy właściwe jest dzisiaj używanie „antropologicznej” koncepcji rasy. Dla pełniejszej ilustracji problemu artykuł odnosi się do źródeł historycznych, przywołując argumenty przedstawiane przez różnych autorów na przestrzeni wieków przeciwko stosowaniu koncepcji rasy w stosunku do ludzi.
19
Content available remote

O problematyce konceptualizacji pojęcia genu

75%
PL
W tym artykule prowadzona jest wstępna analiza historyczno-problemowa dotycząca konceptualizacji pojęcia genu na gruncie genetyki molekularnej. Punktem wyjścia jest historyczny zarys relacji genetyki klasycznej oraz genetyki molekularnej; wskażę, w jaki sposób bagaż konceptualny genetyki klasycznej wpływał na rozwój pojęcia genu stosowanego w ramach genetyki molekularnej. Następnie zaprezentuję kilka prób uchwycenia w ramach filozofii nauki różnych podejść do zagadnienia pojęcia genu, m. in. sceptycyzmu względem genów oraz koncepcji genu nominalnego. Na bazie tych tropów nakreślę intuicję mówiącą, że koncepcja genu funkcjonująca w ramach genetyki molekularnej powinna być rozpatrywana z punktu widzenia eksperymentalizmu oraz pragmatyzmu. Wydaje się, iż należy pojęcie genu na gruncie genetyki molekularnej konceptualizować możliwie szeroko i w odniesieniu do materiału genetycznego, aby mogło pozostać funkcjonalne.
EN
This article provides an initial analysis, from a historical standpoint, of the problematic nature of conceptualizations of the notion of gene in molecular genetics. The starting point is an historical outline of the relation between classical genetics and molecular genetics; it is indicated how the conceptual baggage of classical genetics influenced the development of the concepts of gene used later in molecular biology. I also reveal two problems of genes in the philosophy of science, i.e., skepticism concerning genes and the concept of nominal gene. I conclude that concept of gene functioning within the framework of molecular genetics should be considered from the point of view of experimentalism and pragmatism. It seems that the concept of gene on the molecular level should be conceptualized—in order to remain functional—as broadly as possible and in relation to genetic material.
EN
Introduction and aim. Inguinal hernias are one of the major disorders in the field of general and visceral surgery and can be viewed as multifactorial diseases. Although the molecular mechanism that led to predistortion to inguinal herniation still remain unclear, is well known that defects leading to improper closure of the inguinal canal during fetal development and mechanisms contributing to weaker muscles of the abdominal wall can greatly increase the risk of developing the latter disease. Material and methods. A literature search was performed in all major electronic databases using keywords and Boolean operators to retrieve all available literature related to the topic. Due to the narrative nature of the review, there were no specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. Analysis of the literature. Genetic factors, undoubtedly, can interfere with these mechanisms and therefore play major role in developing hernias. To this end, the present narrative review provides an overview of genes with altered expression and genetic polymorphisms associated with inguinal herniation. Moreover, the results of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) exploring susceptible genetic loci associated with the disease have been reported. Conclusion. Nevertheless, more case-control studies and GWAS need to be conducted in different ethnic populations so as to provide better insights into the topic.
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