Everyday Physical Education: Functional and Dysfunctional Consequences in Hungarian Public Education

In Participation in physical education is considered to be a fundamental right of pupils all over the world. In Hungary, where the rich elite sports traditions of the country are paralleled by the population’s moderate physical activity, the challenge posed by non-communicable diseases and growing obesity figures among youth was addressed by the introduction of daily P.E. in public education starting in the 2012/13 academic year. The objective of the present paper is to discuss, based on empirical research, the intended and unintended consequences of this measure in an educational and social context using the qualitative analysis of the views of key stakeholders and the quantitative analysis of statistical data on the infrastructural and personal conditions of P.E. The results indicate that neither before nor after the enforcement of the Act on Public Education were the infrastructural and personal conditions of daily P.E. created and, in addition to the intended consequences, a number of unintended consequences have also been encountered by various stakeholders. The study can also be regarded as an attempt to reveal these dysfunctions in order to contribute to positive changes in the area

Multi-modal magnetic resonance imaging in the acute and sub-acute phase of mild traumatic brain injury: can we see the difference?

Advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods were shown to be able to detect the subtle structural consequences of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The objective of this study was to investigate the acute structural alterations and recovery after mTBI, using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to reveal axonal pathology, volumetric analysis, and susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) to detect microhemorrhage. Fourteen patients with mTBI who had computed tomography with negative results underwent MRI within 3 days and 1 month after injury. High resolution T1-weighted imaging, DTI, and SWI, were performed at both time points. A control group of 14 matched volunteers were also examined following the same imaging protocol and time interval. Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) were performed on DTI data to reveal group differences. T1-weighted images were fed into Freesurfer volumetric analysis. TBSS showed fractional anisotropy (FA) to be significantly (corrected p<0.05) lower, and mean diffusivity (MD) to be higher in the mTBI group in several white matter tracts (FA=40,737; MD=39,078 voxels) compared with controls at 72 hours after injury and still 1month later for FA. Longitudinal analysis revealed significant change (i.e., normalization) of FA and MD over 1 month dominantly in the left hemisphere (FA=3408; MD=7450 voxels). A significant (p<0.05) decrease in cortical volumes (mean 1%) and increase in ventricular volumes (mean 3.4%) appeared at 1 month after injury in the mTBI group. SWI did not reveal microhemorrhage in our patients. Our findings present dynamic micro- and macrostructural changes occurring in the acute to sub-acute phase in mTBI, in very mildly injured patients lacking microhemorrhage detectable by SWI. These results underscore the importance of strictly defined image acquisition time points when performing MRI studies on patients with mTBI

Validation of an automated morphological MRI-based 123I-FP-CIT SPECT evaluation method

INTRODUCTION Dopamine transporter imaging with (123)I-FP-CIT single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is helpful for the differential diagnosis between Parkinsonian syndrome (PS) and essential tremor (ET). Although visual assessment and time-consuming manual evaluation techniques are readily available, a fully objective and automated dopamine transporter quantification technique is always preferable, at least in research and follow-up investigations. Our aim was to develop a novel automated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based evaluation technique of dopamine transporter SPECT images and to compare its diagnostic accuracy with those of the gold-standard visual grading and manual dopamine transporter binding quantification methods. METHODS (123)I-FP-CIT SPECT and MRI sessions were conducted in 33 patients with PS (15 men; mean age: 60.3 ± 9.7 years) and 15 patients with ET (8 men; mean age: 54.7 ± 16.3 years). Striatal dopamine transporter binding was visually classified by 2 independent experts as normal or abnormal grade I, II and III. Caudal and putaminal specific uptake ratios were calculated by both automated MRI-based and manual evaluation techniques. RESULTS We found almost perfect agreement (κ = 0.829) between the visual scores by the 2 observers. The automated method showed strong correlation with the visual and manual evaluation techniques and its diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity = 97.0%; specificity = 93.3%) was also comparable to these methods. The automatically determined uptake parameters showed negative correlation with the clinical severity of parkinsonism. Based on ordinal regression modelling, the automated MRI-based method could reliably determine the visual grading scores. CONCLUSION The novel MRI-based evaluation of (123)I-FP-CIT SPECT images is useful for the differentiation of PS from ET

The Relation between Olympians and Employees of the Media in Hungary: Motivations, Attitudes, Rejection

In the present study, we examine the relation between Olympians and employees of the media in Hungary through the following terms: motivations, attitudes, and rejection. The empirical research presented in this paper focused on the following research questions: 1.What motivates Olympians and employees of the media in their cooperation? 2. What kind of attitudes characterise them in their relation? 3. Why and how often do employees of the media get rejected by elite athletes? In the framework of the research, a survey was carried out among the Hungarian Olympic athletes participating at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (N=104) and on the total population of media workers accredited to the Olympics (N=28). The data were collected by two questionnaires. The first one contained 31 questions for the Olympians, and the second one had 26 questions for the media workers. The two versions included overlapping sections as well, which made it possible to explore the respondents’ views on the same topic and get comparable outcomes in some cases. The analysis aims to present and contrast the viewpoints of Olympians and employees of the media with each other. The results show that over half of elite athletes do not like to participate in the media, but they are aware that it is necessary; that is the reason why many of them mostly accept sport related interview requests. Parallel with this, media workers assume that the majority of elite athletes like to appear in front of the public. In general terms, the main goals for elite athletes are to train well, to qualify for major international meets, and to achieve outstanding results. On the other side, the intentions of the media workers is to publish stories to the audience, which could be positive, negative, informative, provocative, or sensational. Elite athletes and employees of the media need to be more aware of each other’s motivations, attitudes and aims for better understanding each other

Mapping Sport for Development and Peace as Bourdieu’s Field

Over the past two decades, there has been a growing interest in the use of sport and other forms of physical activity to reach development goals and to support peace-building and peace-keeping processes. The sport for development and peace (SDP) sector is continuously growing in terms of the types of stakeholders involved and the number of projects implemented

Effects of Regional Inequalities on the Sporting Activity of School Pupils: The Hungarian Case

In this study, the sporting activity of Hungarian school pupils is investigated with a focus on regional differences. The objective of the paper is to answer the following questions: Are there regional differences in pupils’ sporting activity, and, if yes, what is their relationship with the socio-cultural background of the pupils and the infrastructural and staffing conditions of schools? Has the 2012 introduction of daily physical education had a different effect on pupils’ leisure-time sporting activity in disadvantaged and affluent regions? Can the trends in the sporting activity of pupils be characterized as convergent or divergent since the introduction of daily physical education? The paper is based on an extensive study that relies on the most comprehensive database on physical education in schools, the National Assessment of Basic Competencies (NABC). The present study statistically analyzed eighth-grade pupil and school data from the 2010 and 2014 NABC. The results present the regional differences in pupils’ participation in sporting activity, their recent modification, and the main reasons behind the changes. In conclusion, the authors state that social, economic, and cultural inequalities are not clearly reflected in the sporting activity of students; however, certain data still call attention to the need to examine regional differences

Are there any gender differences in the hippocampus volume after head-size correction? A volumetric and voxel-based morphometric study

Previous findings on normal sexual dimorphism in hippocampal volume have not always been consistent. This study investigated gender differences in hippocampal volume using different head-size correction strategies. T1-weighted MR images were collected in 99 healthy, Caucasian, university students (66 female subjects; mean age: 23.1 ± 2.3, range: 19-31 years). Sexual dimorphism in hippocampus was investigated by automated MRI volumetry and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) using both general linear model (GLM) and proportion head-size correction strategies. Absolute hippocampal volumes were larger in men than women. After adjusting for head-size, the proportion method indicated larger hippocampi in women than men, while no gender differences were found using the GLM approach. Investigating absolute hippocampal volumes in 15 head-size matched pairs of males and females indicated no gender differences. We suggest that there is no sexual dimorphism in hippocampal size and the apparent gender differences found by the proportion method may have more to do with head-size than with sex. The GLM and proportion head-size correction strategies are not interchangeable and may yield different results. The importance of the present findings is mostly related to scientific reproducibility across MRI volumetry or VBM studies