Dr Wacław Mayzel Medical Laurels Awarded

The Polish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Dr Wacław Mayzel Medical Laurels. The honorary distinction of the 5th Faculty of Medical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences for students working scientifically for a highly evaluated published work carried out before obtaining a university diploma went to Anna Helena Mazurek and Piotr Krawczyk - representatives of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Faculty of Medicine of the Medical University of Warsaw.

Anna Helena Mazurek from the Faculty of Pharmacy was recognised for a series of four papers devoted to studying the phenomenon of polymorphism of medicinal substances through computer simulations, the so-called molecular modelling. Polymorphic transformations occur under external conditions, such as pressure, temperature, and the type of solvents used in the tablet manufacturing process. Different polymorphic forms of the same chemical have other physical and chemical properties, e.g. solubility. This affects the release of the active substance from a solid record of the drug, e.g. a tablet, and consequently the pharmacological effects of the treatment: how and whether it will work, whether there will be adverse effects, etc. The use of molecular modelling allows us to predict the conditions of polymorphic transitions faster and cheaper than experimental studies, and select the most likely physical and chemical parameters from hundreds of possibilities. Experimental studies confirm the results of such simulations. The papers have been published in journals with both the Impact factor and the Ministry of Education and Science scoring. The total is: Impact factor: 22.976 points. Ministry of Education and Science: 480 points.

This year's graduate of the Faculty of Medicine, Piotr Krawczyk, was awarded the laurel for his paper "Long-Term Effects of Pedicle Clamping during Major Hepatectomy for Colorectal Liver Metastases". This paper reports on the impact of the Pringle Maneuver on the long-term survival outcomes of patients undergoing extensive oncologic radical liver resection for colorectal metastases. The study included 179 patients with colorectal liver metastases from two liver centres in Leeds and Warsaw. The paper was published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.