Assessment of health behaviour of school-age youth

I n t r o d u c t i o n. Adolescence is a very important period for young people as it is the time when the patterns of health behaviour stabilize and in such form may be adopted for the rest of one’s life. This age group is also most prone to behaviour posing a risk to health and lacking behaviour good for health. The period of education is the most suitable to make teenagers aware of how much depends on themselves. Adolescence is often the time of rebellion and independent decision making which influence both the diet, way of spending fee time, personal and mental hygiene as well as abusing dangerous substance. The aim of the study was to assess the health behaviour of lower secondary school attendees in the scope of diet and physical activity by means of a questionnaire. The materials were based on research regarding health behaviour. The study group consisted of 90 students (60% male, 40% female). A questionnaire was chosen as the study method. The study was performed in 2012, from May until September. The results were comparable with HBSC results from 2006 in which 64.4% of the adolescents did not achieve the recommended physical activity minimum. The research has shown that adolescents prefer passive ways of spending their free time. Studies which monitor the state of behaviour linked with the health of the youth are carried out both internationally, nationally and locally. Poland achieves poor results in comparison to other countries when it comes to level of physical activity and amount of time spent on passive leisure.Okres dorastania jest bardzo ważny dla młodzieży, ponieważ stabilizują się wzory zachowań zdrowotnych, które w utrwalonej formie mogą towarzyszyć człowiekowi przez całe życie. Dorastająca młodzież jest najbardziej narażoną grupą społeczeństwa na występowanie zachowań ryzykownych dla zdrowia i niedostatki w zakresie zachowań dla zdrowia korzystnych. Etap edukacji to najlepszy moment na uświadomienie nastolatkom, jak wiele zależy od nich samych. Młodzież w okresie dojrzewania przeżywa często czas buntu i podejmowania samodzielnych decyzji, ma wpływ na samodzielny sposób odżywiania się, spędzania wolnego czasu, higienę osobistą, higienę umysłowa, czy decydując sięganiu po różnego rodzaju używki. Niekorzystne dla zdrowia zachowania prowadzić mogą do wielu chorób somatycznych w tym np. chorób układu sercowo-naczyniowego czy nowotworowych będących najczęstszymi przyczynami umieralności. Kształtowanie prozdrowotnych zachowań młodzieży jest więc niezwykle istotne dla budowania potencjału zdrowotnego przyszłych pokoleń. Dlatego też realizacja treści prozdrowotnych ma pomóc w przekazaniu zasobu wiedzy teoretycznej o zdrowiu, pozwala ukształtować postawę człowieka zainteresowanego własnym zdrowiem i dbającego o nie

Ocena zachowań zdrowotnych młodzieży szkolnej

I n t r o d u c t i o n . Adolescence is a very important period for young people as it is the time when the patterns of health behaviour stabilize and in such form may be adopted for the rest of one’s life. This age group is also most prone to behaviour posing a risk to health and lacking behaviour good for health. The period of education is the most suitable to make teenagers aware of how much depends on themselves. Adolescence is often the time of rebellion and independent decision making which influence both the diet, way of spending fee time, personal and mental hygiene as well as abusing dangerous substance. The aim of the study was to assess the health behaviour of lower secondary school attendees in the scope of diet and physical activity by means of a questionnaire. The materials were based on research regarding health behaviour. The study group consisted of 90 students (60% male, 40% female). A questionnaire was chosen as the study method. The study was performed in 2012, from May until September. The results were comparable with HBSC results from 2006 in which 64.4% of the adolescents did not achieve the recommended physical activity minimum. The research has shown that adolescents prefer passive ways of spending their free time. Studies which monitor the state of behaviour linked with the health of the youth are carried out both internationally, nationally and locally. Poland achieves poor results in comparison to other countries when it comes to level of physical activity and amount of time spent on passive leisure.Okres dorastania jest bardzo ważny dla młodzieży, ponieważ stabilizują się wzory zachowań zdrowotnych, które w utrwalonej formie mogą towarzyszyć człowiekowi przez całe życie. Dorastająca młodzież jest najbardziej narażoną grupą społeczeństwa na występowanie zachowań ryzykownych dla zdrowia i niedostatki w zakresie zachowań dla zdrowia korzystnych. Etap edukacji to najlepszy moment na uświadomienie nastolatkom, jak wiele zależy od nich samych. Młodzież w okresie dojrzewania przeżywa często czas buntu i podejmowania samodzielnych decyzji, ma wpływ na samodzielny sposób odżywiania się, spędzania wolnego czasu, higienę osobistą, higienę umysłowa, czy decydując sięganiu po różnego rodzaju używki. Niekorzystne dla zdrowia zachowania prowadzić mogą do wielu chorób somatycznych w tym np. chorób układu sercowo-naczyniowego czy nowotworowych będących najczęstszymi przyczynami umieralności. Kształtowanie prozdrowotnych zachowań młodzieży jest więc niezwykle istotne dla budowania potencjału zdrowotnego przyszłych pokoleń. Dlatego też realizacja treści prozdrowotnych ma pomóc w przekazaniu zasobu wiedzy teoretycznej o zdrowiu, pozwala ukształtować postawę człowieka zainteresowanego własnym zdrowiem i dbającego o nie

Ultrafiltration rate and diabetes as useful indicators of cardiovascular-related death in hemodialysis patients below 60 years of age

Background: The survival rate of elderly hemodialyzed (HD) patients is commonly thought to be poor. In a prospective, single center, non-interventional, observational study, the cause of all-cause and cardiovascular (CV) and heart failure (HF) mortality in this patient group were examined and compared with a younger cohort (below 60 years). Material/Methods: The study included 223 patients (90 women and 133 men) with age ranging from 34.5 to 75.0 years treated with HD. Median duration of HD was 70.0 months (24.0-120.0). Mortality data was collected over a period of six years. We divided patients into groups: <60 (n=123), ≥60 years (n=100), and with (n=33) and without DM type 2 (n=190). Results: During a six-year follow-up, 100 patients (44.8%) died, including 83 (37.2%) patients who died due to CV reasons. Median follow-up was 2015.0 days (946.0-2463.0) with the median time to death of 1166.0 days (654.5-1631.0). The factors negatively affecting patients’ survival in univariate Cox regression analysis included for all-cause mortality were: inter-dialytic weight gain (IDWG) (hazard ratio [HR]=1.60; p=0.01), ultrafiltration (UF) rate (HR=3.63; p=0.012) for group <60 years; for CV death: UF rate (HR=4.20; p=0.03), DM (HR=5.11; p=0.002) for group <60 years; for HF death: mellitus type 2 (DM) (HR=2.93; p=0.027) for group ≥60 years). In a multivariate Cox regression analysis for patients <60 years, the UF rate was the only independent predictor of all-cause mortality (HR 3.63 (1.34-9.67); p=0.011). Both DM (HR 4.91 (1.71-14.10); p=0.003) and UF rate (HR 3.62 (1.04-12.61); p=0.044) were independent predictors of CV-related mortality in patients <60 years. Conclusions: The UF rate can be a simple, useful indicator of higher long-term all-cause and CV mortality in HD patients <60 years of age. Also, DM may be a predictor of CV–related mortality in younger HD patients

Functional reorganization of the reading network in the course of foreign language acquisition

During foreign language acquisition neural representations of native language and foreign language assimilate. In the reading network, this assimilation leads to a shift from effortful processing to automated reading. Longitudinal studies can track this transition and reveal dynamics that might not become apparent in behavior. Here, we report results from a longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, which tracked functional changes in the reading network of beginning learners of Greek over one year. We deliberately chose Greek as foreign language that would have similar orthographic transparency but a different alphabet than the native language (Polish). fMRI scans with lexical and semantic decision tasks were performed at five different time points (every similar to 3 months). Classical language areas (the left inferior frontal gyrus, the left precentral gyrus, and the bilateral supplementary motor cortex), and cognitive control areas (left inferior parietal lobe and bilateral anterior cingulate cortex) showed stronger activation after the first months of instruction as compared to the activation before instruction. This pattern occured in both tasks. Task-related activity in the reading network remained constant throughout the remaining 6 months of learning and was also present in a follow-up scan 3 months after the end of the course. A similar pattern was demonstrated by the analysis of convergence between foreign and native languages occurring within the first months of learning. Additionally, in the lexical task, the extent of spatial overlap, between foreign and native language in Broca's area increased constantly from the beginning till the end of training. Our findings support the notion that reorganization of language networks is achieved after a relatively short time of foreign language instruction. We also demonstrate that cognitive control areas are recruited in foreign language reading at low proficiency levels. No apparent changes in the foreign or native reading network occur after the initial 3 months of learning. This suggests that task demand might be more important than proficiency in regulating the resources needed for efficient foreign language reading

Septic state and ileus as the late complications of non-occlusive mesenteric ischemia — case report

Ostre niedokrwienie jelit jest schorzeniem względnie rzadkim, ale o bardzo poważnym rokowaniu. Może być ono spowodowane niedrożnością tętnic trzewnych, ich skurczem lub zmniejszeniem ciśnienia perfuzyjnego (tzw. NOMI, niedokrwienie nieokluzyjne) albo zakrzepicą żył trzewnych. W pracy przedstawiono przypadek pacjenta, u którego w przebiegu wstrząsu septycznego wikłającego zapalenie płuc najprawdopodobniej doszło do NOMI. Następstwem tego powikłania były nawracające stany septyczne spowodowane przez Enterococcus fecalis oraz szybko postępujące, wieloodcinkowe zwężenia jelita cienkiego prowadzące do niedrożności przewodu pokarmowego. Z jej powodu dokonano resekcji jelita cienkiego i wyłonienia ileostomii, w następstwie czego chory wymagał całkowitego, a potem częściowego żywienia pozajelitowego. W omawianym przypadku, mimo wczesnego podejrzenia klinicznego, że powodem zaburzeń pasażu jelitowego oraz nawracających stanów septycznych powodowanych paciorkowcami „jelitowymi” jest niedokrwienne uszkodzenie jelita powstałe w przebiegu wstrząsu septycznego, nie udało się udokumentować tego powikłania na tyle, by wdrożyć leczenie chirurgiczne zanim doszło do rozsiewu ognisk zakażenia. Stały się one najbardziej prawdopodobnym źródłem późniejszego zakażenia cewnika do żywienia pozajelitowego i posocznicy, które wraz z udarem przyczyniły się ostatecznie do zgonu chorego.Acute bowel ischemia is a relatively rare condition, but with a very serious prognosis. It may be caused by obstruction of the visceral artery, arterial spasm or reduction in visceral perfusion (NOMI, non-occlusive ischemia), or visceral venous thrombosis. In this paper we present a case of a male patient, in whom during septic shock in the course of pneumonia, probably NOMI occurred. The consequence of this complication were recurrent febrile states and rapidly progressing, multisegmental narrowing of the small bowel resulting in the ileus within four months. It required small bowel resection, ileostomia and parenteral nutrition. We failed to sufficiently document the source of these late NOMI complications and introduce the surgery before dissemination of infection of faecal streptococci. These infection focuses were likely the source of nutritional catheter contagion and recurrent septic conditions, which together with stroke, finally caused patient’s death

Evaluating the relationship of GDF-15 with clinical characteristics, cardinal features, and survival in multiple myeloma

Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15), a member of the transforming growth factor-β superfamily, participates in processes associated with myeloma development and its end-organ complications. It plays a significant role in both physiological and abnormal erythropoiesis and regulates iron homeostasis through modulation of hepcidin. It is abnormally secreted in marrow stromal cells of patients with multiple myeloma (MM), which may reflect the tumor microenvironment. We analyzed the associations of serum GDF-15 with clinical characteristics of 73 MM patients (including asymptomatic MM) and the laboratory indices of renal function, anemia, and inflammation. Baseline serum GDF-15 was studied as the predictor of two-year survival. We defined five clinically relevant subgroups of patients (symptomatic MM only, patients with and without remission, patients on chemotherapy, and without treatment). Increased GDF-15 concentrations were associated with more advanced MM stage, anemia, renal impairment (lower glomerular filtration and higher markers of tubular injury), and inflammation. Most of the results were confirmed in the subgroup analysis. Serum cystatin C and urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin were associated with GDF-15 independently of other variables. In the studied MM patients, GDF-15 did not significantly predict survival (p=0.06). Our results suggest that serum GDF-15 reflects myeloma burden and shares a relationship with several markers of prognostic significance, as well as major manifestations