The opinion by Prof. Grzegorz Janczewski, M.D., Ph.D.

The opinion concerning confirmation of the resolution to confer the degree of habilitated doctor in otolaryngology on Dr. Jerzy NAKIELA, M.D., Ph.D. The opinion was prepared as per the request by the Central Commission for Scientific Degrees and Titles expressed in the letter No. BCK-IV-H-105-91 as of 16 October 1991.

Jerzy NAKIELA, born on 26 September, 1945 works as a deputy ward head in the Health Care Institution (ZOZ) in Tomaszów Mazowiecki. He obtained the degree of Doctor of Medical Science in the Military Medical Academy in Lodz as of 21 March 1978 after the presentation of his thesis entitled "Research into the usefulness of the modified Unterberger test in defining of the efficiency of the sense of equilibrium". On 22 May 1990 the Medical Faculty Council of the Military Medical Academy in Lodz initiated the habilitation degree conferral procedure based on his presented scientific achievements and his clinical study entitled "Research into the efficiency of the equilibrium system after destruction of the cerebellar hemisphere". On 20 September 1990 the same Faculty Board, after hearing the colloquium of the candidate, his lecture and the opinion by the reviewers, in voting by a secret ballot decided to confer the degree of habilitated doctor of medical scence in otolaryngology on Dr. Janusz Nakiela, M.D., Ph.D.. From among the authorized 88 council members of the Faculty 48 persons participated in the ballotage. The results of the voting were as follows: 42 persons voted for graning the degree, 3 persons were against, 3 persons abstained from voting.

The reviewers of the habilitation thesis and the achievements of Jerzy Nakiela, M.D., Ph.D. were:

a) Prof. Janusza Kubiczkowa, M.D., Ph.D., the Head of the Otolaryngologic Clinic in the Aerospace Medical Institute in Warsaw, b) Prof. Stanisław Betlejewski, M.D., Ph.D., the Head of the Otolaryngologic Clinic of Medical Academy in Bydgoszcz and c) Assistant Prof. Andrzej Radek, M.D., Ph.D., the Head of the Neurosurgery Clinic of the Military Medical Academy (WAM) in Lodz. The reviewers' opinions on the candidate's the scientific achievements are more formal than their opinions about his habilitation thesis. The reviewers' opinions on the scientific achievements of Dr. Nakiela are a recital of topics of his publications rather than an attempt of assessment of their value. In their assessments of the habilitation thesis the reviewers were quite tentative in pointing out rather essential shortcomings of the thesis, and especially its assumptions, the methodology and the interpretations of the results yet they reached a conclusion that the high degree of difficulty of resolution put forward by the author, who, practically speaking, did not have skills and tools for resolving it, justifies their conclusion to honor the candidate's efforts and trouble by conferring the degree of habilitated doctor of medical science on him.

The level and the course of the very extensive discussion on otoneurology which was held at the Faculty Board during the colloquium does not raise any reservations regarding the level of the asked questions and the given answers. There are no reservations as regards the fact of the habilitation degree conferral procedure on this subject matter in the Military Medical Academy in Lodz. The condition of publication of the habilitation thesis was fulfilled.

The habilitation thesis by Dr. Jerzy Nakiela, M.D., Ph.D., entitled "Research into the efficiency of the equilibrium system after destruction of the cerebellar hemispheres" is, as underlined by the author himself, a further stage of his doctoral thesis. As a matter of fact it concerns "the assessment of spontaneous vestibulo-cerebellospinal reflexes in persons with injuries of the cerebellar hemispheres". For this assessment the candidate used tests well-known for many years, such as e.g. variants of the Romberg tests, the deviation test and the pass-pointing test, the adiadochokinesis test or, and maybe above all, the classical and the modified Unterberger marking time test ("Tret-versuch"). They are all clinical tests, although still valuable and useful for assessment of the basic cerebello-vestibulo-spinal reflexes, i.e. statokinetic reflexes, useful especially for indicatory studier, but by using them in the years 1991-1992 it is not possible to contribute to the scientific development of the pathology of the equilibrium organ and its unusually complex relations with other parts of the nervous system as a whole. It must also be stressed that even the statokinesiometric test performed with the use of the posturograph does not explain fully the relationship between the labyrinth system and the cerebellum. The posturograph, unfortunately hardly available in Poland, makes the analysis of the displacement of the gravity center of the body of the subject, which is dynamically analyzed by computing technology in order to obtain the so-called stabilogram. Measurable parameters obtained in this way allow a thorough and, what is more, repeatable assessment of subsequent findings of studies carried out at different times, e.g. in the period of recovering. So, "discovering" today such tests as the Romberg test or the Unterberger test and making from the correlation of their qualitative results with the quantitative results of auditory tests or recording spontaneous or induced vestibulo-ophthalmic reflexes recorded by means of electronystagmography (ENG), correlating on the basis of "comparing everything with everything", is not very sensible.

The habilitation thesis by Dr. Jerzy Nakiela is in fact a recapitulation both of his doctoral thesis as and most of his publications, which were devoted to the issues of otoneurology, and basically two issues: the utilization of the modified Unterberger test and the influence of the destruction of the cerebellum on findings of research into the labyrinth. The whole of the candidate's achievements published before the habilitation qualification comprises 27 papers, including 24 papers devoted to otoneurology. Some of these 24 papers is a repetition of his papers published elsewhere, under another title - in a nutshell, they are repetitive papers in many cases. A substantial majority of his achievements does not have any original character but is rather monographic articles which do not contribute any essential new elements to the recognition or solution of the problem.

To sum up, I truly regret to state that neither the scientific achievements nor the habilitation thesis, submitted for my  assessment, by Dr. Jerzy Nakiela, M.D., Ph.D., entitled "Research into the efficiency of the equilibrium system after destruction of the cerebellar hemispheres" do not meet, in my opinion, the requirements for the scientific achievements  of a candidate for the degree of the habilitated doctor of science.

(the end of the opinion)

The opinion is identical with the original.

After reading this review it can be clearly noticed that this opinion does not concern the substance but it is a written document prepared in a cunning manner so as to cleverly deceive the members of the Central Commission who have no knowledge on these difficult problems. In order to understand the conduct of Prof. Janczewski we must return to the pasts. As a graduate of Military Medical Academy, a doctor, an officer, I did not belong neither to the Polish United Workmen's Party (PZPR) nor to any other political party. In 1980 I became strongly involved in the "Solidarity" social movement. The moment the martial law was introduced I was the head of the Independent Trade Union NSZZ "Solidarność" in the Health Care Institution (ZOZ) in Tomaszów Maz. Because if this I was repeatedly interrogated by the security service, intimidated, humiliated, dismissed from the Laryngological Ward. There was no week in which I would not be harrassed by the Security Service. My distinct problems started when I decided to publish my papers under the aegis of my Electronystagmographic Laboratory in the Health Care Institution (ZOZ) in Tomaszów Maz, under my name. It seemed rather strange that all my papers sent to the periodical called "Polish Otolaryngology" were reviewed only by Prof. G. Janczewski, the Head of the Laryngological Clinic of the Medical Academy in Warsaw. Prof. Janczewski was the chief editor of the textbook (a joint publication) entitled "Clinical otoneurology". Prof. Janczewski assessed all my papers negatively and clearly wanted to discourage me from writing scientific papers and theses. In his reviews Prof. Janczewski used such wording as: "the paper is unambitious, it does not meet the expectations; the paper does not contain any original scientific results; the paper should be rejected; the paper represents lowered standards", etc. Thanks to my mature content-oriented discussion with editorial offices of scientific periodicals, all my papers were accepted and published in Poland and abroad. Prof. Janczewski lost all scientific duels with me. I guessed that I was piloted in my scientific activity by Prof. Janczewski on behalf of the security services. Therefore, I had to apply a suitable tactics in order to my scientific to protect my discoveries against the Medical Faculty Council of the Military Medical Academy. I had proved earlier that information contained in the textbook "Clinical Otoneurology" was out-of-date and false. I presented a thorough description of my scientific conflict with Prof. Janczewski in my appeal to the Central Commission for Scientific Degrees as of 10 February 1992. I will present this appeal as a whole further in this website. Prof. Janczewski could not have written the content-related review because he does not possess any rudimentary knowledge in the physiology and the pathology of labyrinths and the cerebellum. Therefore, he edited his opinion based on falsehood and lie. I truly admit that I do not understand the sentence appearing on the front page of the opinion - quotation: "The reviewers' opinions on the candidate's the scientific achievements are more formal than their opinions about his habilitation thesis". However, I must definitely prove Prof. Janczewski's lie included in the next sentences - quotation: “In their assessments of the habilitation thesis the reviewers were quite tentative in pointing out rather essential shortcomings of the thesis, and especially its assumptions, the methodology and the interpretations of the results yet they reached a conclusion that the high degree of difficulty of resolution put forward by the author, who, practically speaking, did not have skills and tools for resolving it, justifies their conclusion to honor the candidate's efforts and trouble by conferring the degree of habilitated doctor of medical science on him." The skills and tools had been presented in detail earlier. I can reply in short that I performed all the tests which were essential for me to solve the scientific problems of the highest weight, which means also those which were not performed in Poland. I want to stress clearly that these 24 papers in otoneurology (or contributions, as proposed by Prof. Janczewski) which I published are all just as many as it is necessary to write in order to recognize exactly and thoroughly oculomotor reflexes, vestibulo-cerebello-ophthalmic reflexes and vestibulo-cerebellospinal reflexes in ill persons with peripheral injuries of the vestibular organ and in ill persons with injuries of the cerebellar hemispheres. There was simply no such knowledge in scientific articles or in textbooks on otoneurology or physiology. And this knowledge, which I had accumulated, finally allowed me to make this type of scientific discovery. Here is the final reply to Prof. Janczewski that the designed strategy of my research was correct so the assumptions of the thesis, the methodology of performance and the interpretation of results were also correct. Prof. Janczewski must understand that the most important thing in scientific discoveries is what one has in one's head. Prof. Janczewski tried to put into the mouths of the reviewers' of my thesis words which they had never said. They sais something completely different. For example I will present now the entire review by Prof. Andrzej Radek,M.D., Ph.D., the Head of the Neurosurgical Clinic of the Military Medical Academy in Lodz