- Ukraineʼs economy lost €400 mn due to the Polish border blockade. Some military cargo also blocked, including 1000s of tourniquets Euromaidan Press
- Ukraine and Poland open crossing to ease blockade as tensions mount • FRANCE 24 English FRANCE 24 English
- Russia-Ukraine war live: Poland will demand EU restores permits for Ukrainian truckers as first vehicles cross border The Guardian
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Tag Archives: Polish
In A Single Failed Assault, The Ukrainians Lost Three Of Their New Polish Fighting Vehicles – Forbes
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Polish diplomat’s BMW advert was turned into lure by Russian hackers – Financial Times
- Polish diplomat’s BMW advert was turned into lure by Russian hackers Financial Times
- Belarus-linked hacks on Ukraine, Poland began at least a year ago, report says The Record from Recorded Future News
- Crowdsourced Cyber Warfare: Russia and Ukraine Launch Fresh DDoS Offensives Center for European Policy Analysis
- EXCLUSIVE-Russian hackers lured embassy workers in Ukraine with an ad for a cheap BMW Reuters
- Russian hackers targeted diplomats at nearly 2 dozen embassies in Ukraine with ad for a cheap BMW: report Fox Business
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Tom Sandoval loses his mind after being trolled for ‘ruining’ nail polish: Tag ‘me if you’re gonna talk s–t’ – Page Six
- Tom Sandoval loses his mind after being trolled for ‘ruining’ nail polish: Tag ‘me if you’re gonna talk s–t’ Page Six
- Tom Sandoval Attacks Female Journalist for Daring To Have an Opinion Yahoo Entertainment
- Tom Sandoval Goes Wild Over Backlash About His White Nail Polish: Details Us Weekly
- Vanderpump Rules’ Tom Sandoval Doesn’t Want to Hear the Criticism—About His White Nail Polish E! NEWS
- Vanderpump Rules’ disgraced Tom Sandoval mocked for his ‘failed’ clapback at fans who hate his signature na… The US Sun
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Scientists Warn That UV-Emitting Nail Polish Dryers Damage Human DNA and Cause Mutations
Researchers at UC San Diego studied the UV light-emitting devices used to cure gel manicures, and found that the chronic use of these nail polish drying machines is damaging to human cells. Credit: David Baillot/ UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering
The ultraviolet nail polish drying devices used to cure gel manicures may pose more of a public health concern than previously thought. Researchers at the University of California San Diego studied these ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting devices, and found that their use leads to cell death and cancer-causing mutations in human cells.
The devices are a common fixture in nail salons, and generally use a particular spectrum of UV light (340-395nm) to cure the chemicals used in gel manicures. While tanning beds use a different spectrum of UV light (280-400nm) that studies have conclusively proven to be carcinogenic, the spectrum used in the nail dryers has not been well studied.
“If you look at the way these devices are presented, they are marketed as safe, with nothing to be concerned about,” said Ludmil Alexandrov, a professor of bioengineering as well as cellular and molecular medicine at UC San Diego, and corresponding author of the study published on January 17 in the journal 
Maria Zhivagui, a postdoctoral scholar in the Alexandrov Lab and first author of the study, prepares human cells in Petri dishes for exposure to the manicure curing device. Credit: David Baillot/ UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering
Exposure to the UV light also caused mitochondrial and
“When I was doing my PhD, I started hearing about gel manicures, which last longer than normal polish. I was interested in trying out gel nail polish, particularly in the setting of working in an experimental lab where I frequently put gloves on and off, to maintain a presentable appearance,” said Zhivagui. “So I started using gel manicures periodically for several years. Once I saw the effect of radiation emitted by the gel polish drying device on cell death and that it actually mutates cells even after just one 20-minute session, I was surprised. I found this to be very alarming, and decided to stop using it.”
Studying their effect on human cells
The idea to study these particular devices came to Alexandrov in a dentist’s office, of all places. As he waited to be seen, he read a magazine article about a young beauty pageant contestant who was diagnosed with a rare form of skin cancer on her finger.
“I thought that was odd, so we began looking into it, and noticed a number of reports in medical journals saying that people who get gel manicures very frequently– like pageant contestants and estheticians– are reporting cases of very rare cancers in the fingers, suggesting that this may be something that causes this type of cancer,” said Alexandrov. “And what we saw was that there was zero molecular understanding of what these devices were doing to human cells.”
Three cell types were exposed to two different conditions: acute exposure and chronic exposure to the UV light device, pictured here. Credit: David Baillot/ UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering
To conduct the study, Zhivagui exposed the three cell types to two different conditions: acute exposure and chronic exposure to the UV light device. Under acute exposure, Petri dishes containing one of the cell types were placed in one of these UV curing machines for a 20-minute session. They were then taken out for an hour to repair or return to their steady state, and then given one more 20-minute exposure. Under chronic exposure, the cells were placed under the machine for 20 minutes a day for three days.
Cell death, damage and DNA mutations were seen under both conditions, with an elevation of reactive oxygen species molecules– known to cause DNA damage and mutations– and mitochondrial dysfunction in the cells. Genomic profiling revealed higher levels of somatic mutations in the irradiated cells, with patterns of mutations ubiquitously present in melanoma patients.
Is the risk worth the reward?
This data in human cells, coupled with a number of prior reports of cancers in people who get gel manicures very frequently, paint a picture of a purely cosmetic procedure that is riskier than previously believed. But is getting a gel manicure once a year really cause for concern, or should only those who get this done on a very regular basis be worried? Further studies are needed to quantify any increased risk of cancer and at what frequency of use, but with plenty of alternatives to this cosmetic procedure, the risk may not be worth it to some consumers.
“Our experimental results and the prior evidence strongly suggest that radiation emitted by UV-nail polish dryers may cause cancers of the hand and that UV-nail polish dryers, similar to tanning beds, may increase the risk of early-onset skin cancer,” they write. “Nevertheless, future large-scale epidemiological studies are warranted to accurately quantify the risk for skin cancer of the hand in people regularly using UV-nail polish dryers. It is likely that such studies will take at least a decade to complete and to subsequently inform the general public. ”
Though other consumer products use UV light in the same spectrum– including the tool used to cure dental fillings and some hair removal treatments– the researchers note that the regularity of use, plus the entirely cosmetic nature of nail dryers, sets them apart.
Reference: “DNA damage and somatic mutations in mammalian cells after irradiation with a nail polish dryer” by Maria Zhivagui, Areebah Hoda, Noelia Valenzuela, Yi-Yu Yeh, Jason Dai, Yudou He, Shuvro P. Nandi, Burcak Otlu, Bennett Van Houten and Ludmil B. Alexandrov, 17 January 2023, Nature Communications.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-35876-8
Mystery divers rescued near Polish energy sites in the middle of the night offer dubious explanation, and vanish
Coast guards rescued three divers off the northern coast of Poland over the weekend whose dubious explanation of their night-time dive near critical energy infrastructure, along with their mysterious identities, has reportedly sparked a cross-agency investigation. The three men, who told authorities they were Spanish nationals, were rescued near the Polish coastal city of Gdansk on Saturday night after their small motorboat broke down and they couldn’t return to shore.
Since then, doubts over their intentions have mounted. They were rescued not far from the Naftoport facility at the Port of Gdansk, which receives tanker shipments of oil and other and petroleum products. They were also found near an area where there are plans to build a new floating natural gas terminal.
Pomeranian Police
The Maritime Search and Rescue Service SAR told CBS News the rescue operation involved police officers, firefighters, and medical workers. SAR spokesman Rafal Goeck described the rescue operation — at just before 2 a.m. local time — as “rather unnatural.”
“We received a signal from the fire brigade about a vessel in trouble,” Goeck told CBS News, adding that conditions at the time were rough, with strong winds and high seas. The air temperature was only about 43 degrees Fahrenheit, and the water was closer to 37.
“In my 12-year career at the Maritime Search and Rescue Service, I have not experienced anything like that,” he said. “It is a rather unnatural thing to be diving under these conditions.”
Michal Fludra/NurPhoto/Getty
The red, 13-foot pleasure boat broke down about three nautical miles north of Gdansk. The vessel’s crew said they’d been struggling for six hours to get it running again. There was no explanation as to why they might have waited so long, in the dark and cold on a rough sea, to call for help.
Police officials determined that the men were not authorized to operate the boat and had not obtained permission to dive. According to Polish media reports, only one of the men had a Spanish passport, while the others offered only verbal identification.
Another wrinkle was their explanation: The men claimed to have been searching for amber. While the Baltic Sea is famous for its vast deposits of amber, searching for it in the dark is unlikely to be a successful strategy.
Gdansk Maritime Assistance Service (SAR)
Seasoned amber hunters interviewed by Polish media said one more thing didn’t add up: The men had an underwater scooter, used to drag divers swiftly through the water — something that wouldn’t help in a hunt for small objects on the seafloor, especially as such a device’s propeller lifts debris from the bottom, decreasing visibility.
Officers apparently saw nothing suspicious at first in the fact that the men were diving near critical infrastructure at night with no permit and atypical amber-hunting equipment, and the local police did not pursue the matter, releasing the men without further questioning.
They have all reportedly left Poland.
Cezary Przepiorka, deputy captain of the Port of Gdansk, told Polish media that only one of the men had formal identification, and the phone numbers offered by the divers were either incorrect or non-functional.
Police and the Polish Internal Security Agency have begun investigating the matter. Various reports say Poland’s Central Investigation Bureau of Police, a unit that deals with organized crime, is the lead agency. The bureau declined CBS News’ request to comment on the case.
The incident has raised serious concerns about the protection of vital national energy infrastructure as Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine continues to keep energy prices sky-high. A thorough investigation can be expected, especially so soon after the sabotage attack on the undersea Nordstream 1 gas pipeline just weeks ago.
European and U.S. officials have strongly suggested that Russia was behind the attack on the pipeline.
Poland’s port of Gdansk, which is vital to the country’s energy supplies, sits only about 20 miles from Russia’s far-flung, equally strategic western territory of Kaliningrad.
Researchers find UV nail polish dryers can cause DNA damage and mutations
Since arriving on the market around 2010, gel manicures have become a staple in nail salons across the US and many parts of the world, and it’s easy to see why. Compared to traditional nail polish, gel variants are more resilient to damage and smudging, and they retain their shine until you remove the polish from your fingernails. Best of all, if you’re the impatient sort, you don’t need to wait an hour or more for a gel manicure to dry. Those benefits all come courtesy of the way the polish cures. Instead of waiting for a gel polish to dry naturally, you place your hands under a UV light, which activates the chemicals inside the gel, causing it to harden.
While the dangers of UV light — particularly in tanning settings — are well-known, before this week scientists had not studied how the ultraviolet lights used to cure gel polishes might affect human skin. You might think what we know about tanning beds applies here, but the devices used by nail salons emit a different spectrum of ultraviolet light. A group of researchers from the decided to study the devices after reading an article about a beauty pageant contestant who was diagnosed with a rare form of skin cancer.
Using different combinations of human and mouse cells, the researchers found a single 20-minute session with an ultraviolet nail polish dryer led to as many as 30 percent of the cells in a petri dish dying. Three consecutive 20-minute sessions saw 65 to 70 percent of the exposed cells dying off. Among the remaining cells, the researchers saw evidence of mitochondrial and DNA damage, in addition to mutations that have been seen in skin cancer patients.
“Our experimental results and the prior evidence strongly suggest that radiation emitted by UV-nail polish dryers may cause cancers of the hand and that UV-nail polish dryers, similar to tanning beds, may increase the risk of early-onset skin cancer,” the researchers write in a study published in the journal on Tuesday. They warn that a longer epidemiological study is needed before they can conclusively say the use of UV drying devices leads to an increased risk of skin cancer, adding “it is likely that such studies will take at least a decade to complete and to subsequently inform the general public.”
You might think the advice here is to avoid UV dryers, but it’s not so simple. Gel manicures have become an industry standard for a reason. For many people, regular nail polish starts to chip off after a day or so, making a traditional manicure often not worth the time, money or effort.
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Study finds that UV-emitting nail polish dryers damage DNA and cause mutations in cells
The ultraviolet nail polish drying devices used to cure gel manicures may pose more of a public health concern than previously thought. Researchers at the University of California San Diego have studied these ultraviolet (UV) light emitting devices, and found that their use leads to cell death and cancer-causing mutations in human cells.
The devices are a common fixture in nail salons, and generally use a particular spectrum of UV light (340-395nm) to cure the chemicals used in gel manicures. While tanning beds use a different spectrum of UV light (280-400nm) that studies have conclusively proven to be carcinogenic, the spectrum used in the nail dryers has not been well studied.
“If you look at the way these devices are presented, they are marketed as safe, with nothing to be concerned about,” said Ludmil Alexandrov, a professor of bioengineering as well as cellular and molecular medicine at UC San Diego, and corresponding author of the study published in Nature Communications. “But to the best of our knowledge, no one has actually studied these devices and how they affect human cells at the molecular and cellular levels until now.”
Using three different cell lines—adult human skin keratinocytes, human foreskin fibroblasts, and mouse embryonic fibroblasts—the researchers found that the use of these UV emitting devices for just one 20-minute session led to between 20 and 30 percent cell death, while three consecutive 20-minute exposures caused between 65 and 70 percent of the exposed cells to die.
Exposure to the UV light also caused mitochondrial and DNA damage in the remaining cells and resulted in mutations with patterns that can be observed in skin cancer in humans.
“We saw multiple things: first, we saw that DNA gets damaged,” said Alexandrov. “We also saw that some of the DNA damage does not get repaired over time, and it does lead to mutations after every exposure with a UV-nail polish dryer. Lastly, we saw that exposure may cause mitochondrial dysfunction, which may also result in additional mutations. We looked at patients with skin cancers, and we see the exact same patterns of mutations in these patients that were seen in the irradiated cells.”
The researchers caution that while the results show the harmful effects of the repeated use of these devices on human cells, a long-term epidemiological study would be required before stating conclusively that using these machines leads to an increased risk of skin cancers. However, the results of the study were clear: The chronic use of these nail polish drying machines is damaging to human cells.
Maria Zhivagui, a postdoctoral scholar in the Alexandrov Lab and first author of the study, used to be a fan of gel manicures herself, but has sworn off the technique after seeing the results.
“When I was doing my Ph.D., I started hearing about gel manicures, which last longer than normal polish. I was interested in trying out gel nail polish, particularly in the setting of working in an experimental lab where I frequently put gloves on and off, to maintain a presentable appearance,” said Zhivagui. “So I started using gel manicures periodically for several years. Once I saw the effect of radiation emitted by the gel polish drying device on cell death and that it actually mutates cells even after just one 20-minute session, I was surprised. I found this to be very alarming, and decided to stop using it.”
Studying their effect on human cells
The idea to study these particular devices came to Alexandrov in a dentist’s office, of all places. As he waited to be seen, he read a magazine article about a young beauty pageant contestant who was diagnosed with a rare form of skin cancer on her finger.
“I thought that was odd, so we began looking into it, and noticed a number of reports in medical journals saying that people who get gel manicures very frequently—like pageant contestants and estheticians—are reporting cases of very rare cancers in the fingers, suggesting that this may be something that causes this type of cancer,” said Alexandrov. “And what we saw was that there was zero molecular understanding of what these devices were doing to human cells.”
To conduct the study, Zhivagui exposed the three cell types to two different conditions: acute exposure and chronic exposure to the UV light device. Under acute exposure, Petri dishes containing one of the cell types were placed in one of these UV curing machines for a 20-minute session. They were then taken out for an hour to repair or return to their steady state, and then given one more 20-minute exposure. Under chronic exposure, the cells were placed under the machine for 20 minutes a day for three days.
Cell death, damage and DNA mutations were seen under both conditions, with an elevation of reactive oxygen species molecules—known to cause DNA damage and mutations—and mitochondrial dysfunction in the cells. Genomic profiling revealed higher levels of somatic mutations in the irradiated cells, with patterns of mutations ubiquitously present in melanoma patients.
Is the risk worth the reward?
This data in human cells, coupled with a number of prior reports of cancers in people who get gel manicures very frequently, paint a picture of a purely cosmetic procedure that is riskier than previously believed. But is getting a gel manicure once a year really cause for concern, or should only those who get this done on a very regular basis be worried? Further studies are needed to quantify any increased risk of cancer and at what frequency of use, but with plenty of alternatives to this cosmetic procedure, the risk may not be worth it to some consumers.
“Our experimental results and the prior evidence strongly suggest that radiation emitted by UV-nail polish dryers may cause cancers of the hand and that UV-nail polish dryers, similar to tanning beds, may increase the risk of early-onset skin cancer,” they write. “Nevertheless, future large-scale epidemiological studies are warranted to accurately quantify the risk for skin cancer of the hand in people regularly using UV-nail polish dryers. It is likely that such studies will take at least a decade to complete and to subsequently inform the general public.”
Though other consumer products use UV light in the same spectrum—including the tool used to cure dental fillings and some hair removal treatments—the researchers note that the regularity of use, plus the entirely cosmetic nature of nail dryers, sets them apart.
More information:
Maria Zhivagui et al, DNA damage and somatic mutations in mammalian cells after irradiation with a nail polish dryer, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-35876-8
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Study finds that UV-emitting nail polish dryers damage DNA and cause mutations in cells (2023, January 17)
retrieved 18 January 2023
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Grenade launcher gifted by Ukraine wounds Polish police chief | Russia-Ukraine war News
Polish police chief says the explosion that wounded him last week was caused by grenade launcher – a gift from Ukraine.
Poland’s police chief has said the explosion that left him hospitalised last week was caused by a grenade launcher he had received as a gift from Ukraine.
Jaroslaw Szymczyk’s comments to a local radio station on Saturday are the first to reveal details about the explosion that took place at his office in Warsaw on Wednesday.
Poland’s interior ministry, which announced the incident last week, had not confirmed media reports that the explosion had been caused by a grenade launcher.
Szymczyk told Poland’s RMF FM radio station he had received two used grenade launchers as gifts during a visit to Ukraine and that one of them had been turned into a loudspeaker.
“When I was moving the used grenade launchers, which were gifts from the Ukrainians, there was an explosion,” Szymczyk told the private broadcaster.
He said he was moving the launchers into an upright position at the time when the blast occurred.
“The blast was intense. The force of the shot punctured the floor and damaged the ceiling,” he said.
RMF cited a source from the Polish delegation that visited Ukraine as saying the police chief had received the two launchers from officials as presents during visits to the Ukrainian police and emergency services on December 11 and 12.
Ukrainian officials had assured the Polish delegation the launchers were not loaded, the source told RMF.
The Polish delegation took them back to Warsaw by car before leaving them in the back room of Szymczyk’s office, RMF reported.
The explosion left Szymczyk hospitalised with minor injuries but he has since been discharged.
A civilian employee of the Polish police also suffered minor injuries that did not require hospitalisation.
There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian police or the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
Polish authorities are now investigating the incident.
Exploding grenade launcher a gift from Ukraine, Polish police chief says
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s top policeman said that an explosion in his office was caused by a grenade launcher, telling private broadcaster RMF FM that he had received two of the weapons as a gift from Ukraine.
Poland’s interior ministry and prosecutor’s office had not previously confirmed media reports that the explosion on Wednesday, at police headquarters in Warsaw, was caused by a grenade launcher.
Prosecutors said they were investigating the blast, which resulted in Police Commander in Chief Jaroslaw Szymczyk being taken to hospital.
“When I was moving the used grenade launchers, which were gifts from the Ukrainians, there was an explosion,” Szymczyk told RMF FM.
He said he was moving the launchers into an upright position at the time.
RMF cited a source from a Polish delegation that visited Ukraine as saying Szymczyk had received two launchers from officials as presents during visits to the police and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
The officials had assured the Polish delegation that the launchers were not loaded, and the delegation took them back to Warsaw by car before leaving them in the back room of Szymczyk’s office, the source told RMF.
Reuters was unable to independently confirm this version of events. Ukrainian police and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Polish police spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Szymczyk has been criticised over the incident, with commentators with backgrounds in the security services cited by Polish media as saying that military equipment should not have been taken into Poland from outside the European Union or taken into an office.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Dan Peleschuk in Kyiv; Editing by Nick Macfie)