We talk to Prof. Bożena Kamińska-Kaczmarek from the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology about treating cancer, obvious and impossible discoveries, and academic courage and strength.

“People generally associate my name with the first ever heart transplant in Poland. But I know that if I hadn’t tried to do it, then four, maybe five years later someone else would have. What I am sure of, however, is that no one else in Poland would have started working on developing an artificial heart. Had I not fought to create this device, a few hundred people would not be alive today because we wouldn’t have had ventricular assist devices which saved their lives and wellbeing.”

– Zbigniew Religa,

famous Polish cardiac surgeon

Prof. Anetta Undas from the Jagiellonian University Medical College discusses the sinister force of diseases, the commandments of scientific editing, and the patriotism of scientists.

Prof. Anna Członkowska from the 2nd Department of Neurology at the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, a corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, discusses the definition of a stroke, new ways to help post-stroke patients recover, and reasons why time is of the essence.

The Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Technical Sciences (Bull.Pol. Ac.: Tech.) is published bimonthly by the Division IV Engineering Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, since the beginning of the existence of the PAS in 1952. The journal is peer‐reviewed and is published both in printed and electronic form. It is established for the publication of original high quality papers from multidisciplinary Engineering sciences with the following topics preferred: Artificial and Computational Intelligence, Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, Civil Engineering, Control, Informatics and Robotics, Electronics, Telecommunication and Optoelectronics, Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Thermodynamics, Material Science and Nanotechnology, Power Systems and Power Electronics.

Journal Metrics: JCR Impact Factor 2018: 1.361, 5 Year Impact Factor: 1.323, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) 2017: 0.319, Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) 2017: 1.005, CiteScore 2017: 1.27, The Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education 2017: 25 points.

Abbreviations/Acronym: Journal citation: Bull. Pol. Ac.: Tech., ISO: Bull. Pol. Acad. Sci.-Tech. Sci., JCR Abbrev: B POL ACAD SCI-TECH Acronym in the Editorial System: BPASTS.

We talk to Dr. Emilia Rejmak-Kozicka from the PAS Institute of Experimental Biology about how our bodies respond to chronic stress.

Prof. Monika Kaczmarek from the PAS Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research discusses the impact of nutrition and environment on human and animal development.

Designer drugs cause irreversible changes in the brain and put those who take them at an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. They can also affect one’s genetic material, says Prof. Krystyna Gołembiowska from the PAS Institute of Pharmacology.

We talk to Dr. Ewa Duszczyk from the Polish Society of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases about diseases lurking just out of sight and about how vaccines save lives and protect communities.

Dr. Magdalena Winiarska from the Warsaw Medical University discusses what we know and don’t know about cancer, the importance of exchanging ideas in science and the meaning of success.

The experimental pharmacologist Prof. Stanisław Jerzy Czuczwar, Vice President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, tells us about how he got into medical research, about the search for new epilepsy treatments, and how pharmaceuticals are in a way akin to cell phone towers.

Dr. Artur Binda, a bariatric surgeon from the Orłowski Independent Public Teaching Hospital in Warsaw, discusses bariatric surgery procedures, frequently the only treatment for patients with life-threatening obesity.

The right to freedom and the ethics of preventive vaccinations.

How does breathing polluted air affect us? What broader impact does it have on our health?

Prof. Katarzyna Biernacka from the Warsaw Institute of Cardiology explains sudden cardiac arrest and how to protect against it.

We talk about the importance of psychoeducation for heart patients with Anna Mierzyńska and Karolina Jurczak of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński Institute of Cardiology in Anin.

Food additives, especially E numbers, are widely perceived by consumers as artificial and harmful. However, the fact is that they are an essential ingredient in numerous products, many have “natural” origins and none of them pose a risk to health.

Prof. Mirosław Wielgoś, MD, Rector at the Medical University of Warsaw, talks about why women of all ages should undergo prenatal testing and where they can turn for help.

The paper presents the results or the integrated assessment or environmental and human health impacts or emissions released from different sectors in Poland. The analysis was performed with the use or the curelian emissions transport model POLAIR 31) and the Regional Air Pollution Information and Simulation model RAINS. The models arc briefly described. At present, this hybrid system can operate in a simulation mode and enables estimation or the emission and concentration/deposition levels or main air pollutants, emission control costs, environmental impacts and external costs associated with different energy scenarios. Emission levels or main air pollutants in 2005, 20 I O and 2020 arc presented lor the selected energy scenario. Associated external costs and impacts on acidification have been estimated.

Scientists are increasingly specializing in narrower fields, and communication is often difficult between physicists researching elementary particles and those studying semiconductors, not to mention between physicists and biologists or doctors. This makes interdisciplinary work difficult. And yet sometimes they succeed. One thread of work underway at the PAS Institute of High Pressure Physics offers a good example.

Professor Agnieszka Chacińska from the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology talks about her research on mitochondrial proteins and their association with neurodegenerative diseases and metabolic disorders.

Prof. Zbigniew Kundzewicz from the PAS Institute of Agricultural and Forest Environment in Poznań talks about the negative impact of climate change on our lives and what we can do to save ourselves.

This study explains water quality in terms of seven heavy metals in the Upstream Citarum River and analyses human health risk (non-carcinogenic risk) for adults and children. Water samples were collected from five sampling locations along the Upstream Citarum River, i.e. from Majalaya Sub-District to Dayeuhkolot Sub-District. The contents of heavy metals were analysed by the Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS) variant 240 FS. The results of the analysis showed that the pollution index value, which was categorised as slightly polluted from the highest to the lowest value, was as follows: location 4 (4.220) > location 1 (3.764) > location 2 (3.219) > location 5 (2.967) > location 3 (2.800). Values of the hazard index ( HI) for adults and children were as follows: Pb > Cr > Cd > Zn > Ni > Co > Cu. Pb and Cr have HI values greater than 1. This indicates that these metals can have a negative impact on public health. The HI in the ingestion pathway was greater than that of the dermal pathway, and the HI value for children was greater than that for adults. Further research is needed regarding the health risks from groundwater around the area which is used directly by the community because river water and groundwater systems are interconnected through streambeds.