Kienböck’s disease is a rare disease described as progressive avascular osteonecrosis of the lunate. The typical manifestations include a unilateral reduction in wrist motion with accompanying pain and swelling. Besides recent advances in treatment options, the etiology and pathophysiology of the disease remain poorly understood. Common risk factors include anatomical features including ulnar variance, differences in blood supply, increased intraosseous pressure along with direct trauma, and environmental influence. The staging of Kienböck’s disease depends mainly on radiographic characteristics assessed according to the modified Lichtman scale. The selection of treatment options is often challenging, as radiographic features may not correspond directly to initial clinical symptoms and differ among age groups. At the earliest stages of Kienböck disease, the nonoperative, unloading management is generally preferred. Patients with negative ulnar variance are usually treated with radial shortening osteotomy. For patients with positive or neutral ulnar variance, a capitate shortening osteotomy is a recommended option. One of the most recent surgical techniques used in Stage III Kienböck cases is vascularized bone grafting. One of the most promising procedures is a vascularized, pedicled, scaphoid graft combined with partial radioscaphoid arthrodesis. This technique provides excellent pain management and prevents carpal collapse. In stage IV, salvage procedures including total wrist fusion or total wrist arthroplasty are often required.

Infl uence of meteorological conditions on the yield of winter oilseed rape in Lower Silesia. This work uses the results of Post-registration Cultivar and Agricultural Experimentation conducted in 1999-2011 in Lower Silesia, on soils of very good and good wheat complex. The rape vegetation season was divided into fi ve periods that approximately corresponded to the phenological phases of the plant, namely: September-November (from sowing to stemming the growing season in the autumn), December-March (stunted vegetation -renewal of vegetation), April (renewal of vegetation -the beginning of fl owering), May (fl owering), June (end of fl owering -technical maturity). In the constructed regression model the following factors were included: the average air temperature and total precipitation in the periods, the content of phosphorus, potassium and pH of soil and fertilization with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Comparing the impact of meteorological conditions in different growing periods of winter rape, it was found that the weakest impact on the yield had temperature and precipitation from September to November. During this period, the optimum for yield are the following conditions: average temperature 10.4°C and precipitation total 145 mm. The winter period (December-March) has the strongest impact on the yield of rape. The yield is conspicuously higher with lower average air temperatures. Optimal for yield is precipitation of 171 mm (highest tested) and a relatively low average air temperature (-0.9°C). In April, the decisive factor is rainfall. Its lower values (12 mm) favour higher yield. The optimum weather in this period is 12 mm precipitation and average temperature of 9.1°C. Rape yield increases with increasing average air temperature in May and is highest when its value is 15°C and rainfall in this month is above average (73 mm). The weather in June has less impact on rape crop than in the three previous periods. The optimal layout is: 27 mm precipitation and temperature 16°C, these values being the smallest tested.

Analyzing the content of bioelements and toxic metals in honeys of various botanical origin is important for the consumers' health. In addition, many authors notice that results of such analyses can help to identify the botanical and geographical origin of honey and to use the product as a bioindicator of the overall contamination of the environment. The content of As, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Mn, Ni, Mg, Fe, Cr was determined in samples of nectar honey (acacia, linden, goldenrod, multifloral, buckwheat, oilseed rape) originating from some areas in the Province of Lower Silesia unexposed to industrial and traffic emissions. In order to demonstrate differences in concentrations of the metals in particular honey samples, one-factor analysis of variance or the Kruskal-Wallis test was applied, and the correlation between levels of individual metals in the honeys was investigated. Similarities between the honeys with regard to the metal content were determined using Ward's method of cluster analysis. Among the analyzed nectar honeys from Lower Silesia, the content of zinc was the highest in linden flower honey (13.41 mg kg-1), copper and manganese-in buckwheat (1.50 mg kg-1 and 9.40 mg kg-1 , respectively), nickel-in multifloral (1.03 mg kg-1) and buckwheat (1.25 mg kg-1), magnesium-in goldenrod (29.6 mg kg-1) and iron-in linden flower (2.11 mg kg-1) and goldenrod (2.00 mg kg-1) honeys. The content of arsenic, cadmium and lead did not exceed the permissible values, i.e. 0.20, 0.03 and 0.30 mg kg-1. The correlation analysis performed on the concentrations of the metals in the honeys demonstrated that manganese was positively correlated with copper and nickel, while iron correlated with zinc. Najwiêksze podobieñstwo, jeoeli chodzi o kumulacjê metali, wykaza³y miody rzepakowy i akacjowy oraz wielokwiatowy i naw³ociowy. Wykorzystuj¹c ten fakt do bioindykacji ska¿enia oerodowiska, nale¿a³oby zweryfikowaae go na materiale pochodz¹cym z obszarów, gdzie wy-st¹pi³yby ró¿nice w zawartooeci metali szczególnie niebezpiecznych, zw³aszcza kadmu i o³owiu.

Contemporary grades of structural steels are produced using a very advanced thermo-mechanical treatment processes, so their properties strongly depend on the obtained structure. Corrosion-resistant austenitic steels have a high hot cracking tendency. Therefore, it is advantageous to use welding technologies, such as laser welding, that limit the size of the joint and its heat-affected zones and thus the deformations caused by the welding process. Laser welding is also characterized by small amount of heat transferred into the material  during the process which limits the hot cracking tendency. During the tests, 8 samples made of S960QL steel and S304 steel, were prepared using a Trumpf TruDisk 3302 laser welding device. The produced samples were subjected to macro- and microscopy metallographic tests. Static tensile test and bend test were also performed as well as a hardness  Vickers test under a load of 100N. Good quality joints were obtained, characterized by a small number of welding imperfections, small size of the weld and heat affected zone, as well as satisfactory mechanical properties.

The dissertation attempts to determine the applicability of one of the newest assessment methods of the landscape capacity as a tool supporting the assessment of the investments' impact on the landscape. For the purpose of the research a Wind farm (PROMET-PLAST S.C.) was chosen, which is located in the Gaj Oławski village on a hill, at the Provincial Road No. 396, on the Oława-Strzelin route, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Oława County. In the process of the assessment of the wind farm's impact on the landscape, the photographic documentation was used of the panoramas from 16 observation points designated in places where the visibility zone circle and the communication route cross. The Krajewski's method of the assessment of the landscape capacity was used (2012), which constituted the starting point for the studies. The following criteria for this assessment were adopted: the terrain construction, the land cover and visibility. The landscape capacity arising from the historical value (the higher the historical value, the lesser the landscape capacity), visual values (related to the topographic conditions) and the exposure (active and passive one) was examined. The method applied did not fully allow to determine the overall landscape capacity. However, its use during the phase of the investment preparation (the choice of location in the field), through the appropriate location depending on the type of landscape, topography, spatial relationships, can minimize the potential negative impact.