Sports Background and Selected Features of Biological Condition in Life Quality of Women over 55

Population aging is a trend of the 21st century. Correctly administered, physical exercise is believed to significantly influence and modify the aging process, and remarkably decrease deterioration of the psycho-physical condition. The aim of this study was to verify if (and how) competitive sports practiced by women in their youth have influence on their physical fitness and life-quality in adulthood and old age. The study included 94 women who declared leading or having lead a physically active lifestyle (49 women did sports in the past, while 45 of them were physically non-active in their youth). Physical fitness resulting from former sport activity was analyzed with the Rikli&Jones test. Significantly better results were obtained by the group of former competitors in the bending forward and walking test. There is a close correspondence between doing sport in the past and mineral bone density, good subjective health evaluation and motor organ diseases. The approach to subjective health evaluation was much better in women who did sport in the past despite their significantly higher prevalence to motor organ diseases. Osteoarticular and muscle disorders may be the negative results of sport performance in the past

Morphological similarities and differences of young players from selected sport team games

Introduction: Body physique is an important determinant of sports success. Knowledge in this area enables the effective selection of players for various sports disciplines. Aim: Using a multidimensional perspective, to determine the degree of variation in the body physique of athletes from four sports disciplines: American football, football, volleyball and handball. Materials and methods: The research was carried out in 2017 in sport clubs operating in the Lower Silesia Voivodship. The research group consisted of 125 male players, with a mean age of 16.27 years. They represented 4 sports disciplines and included 22 American football players, 30 football players, 49 handball players and 24 volleyball players. In the analysis, the measurements of height and weight were used as well as the Body Max Index, calculated with the following formula: body weight [kg]/body height [m]2 Results: The American football players had the highest body weight and the highest BMI. The handball and volleyball players were the tallest. The football players were characterised by the lowest body weight. Conclusions: Each of the analysed sports disciplines prefers players with a different body physique. Nevertheless, a greater similarity between the handball and volleyball players can be observed. American football players are more different morphologically, whereas football players are the least similar to the players from the other disciplines. The results of the study will facilitate both players' and coaches' decision-making process regarding the change of the sports discipline and the choice of a new one, if such need arises

Effects of tabata training on health-related fitness components among secondary school students

Physical education curricula in Polish schools should include more tasks to increase physical activity. The Tabata Training Program can help regulate body weight and induce changes in body fat and physical fitness. This study aimed to determine the effects of a 10-week PE curriculum supplemented by a Tabata Training Program on health-related fitness in 16-year-old secondary school students. The study examined 187 students (66 boys and 121 girls) assigned to either a Tabata Training Program intervention or control group. The intervention lasted 14 minutes during one physical education lesson per week. Pre- and post-intervention, anthropometric measurements were taken, and each participant performed physical fitness tests to evaluate muscular strength, flexibility, speed/agility, and cardiovascular efficiency. Boys of the intervention group significantly reduced body fat (by 1.77%, p<.05) and increased cardiovascular efficiency (the physical efficiency index was higher by 3.61 points, p<.05). Girls increased cardiovascular efficiency only (the physical efficiency index increased by 5 points, p<.001). However, slight changes in motor parameters were observed in all the participants. The Tabata Training Program demonstrated partial effectiveness but should be individualized and sex differences should be considered

The sex effects on changes in jump performance following an isometric back squat conditioning activity in trained adults

There are limited data concerning the disparity between males and females in post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) based on isometry. Therefore, this study aimed to establish if sex differences exist in the PAPE effect on jump height. The study included 30 males and 15 females aged between 19 and 25, with relative strength in the back squat of at least 110% of body weight and a minimum of 3 years of resistance training experience. A baseline countermovement jump (CMJ) was performed, and the PAPE protocol, which involved three 4-s sets of isometric full-back squats with a 1-min rest interval, was introduced. Five CMJs were performed over the following 9 minutes in 2 minutes rest intervals. Changes (Δ) towards the baseline and each jump height results were calculated and analyzed in the absolute (cm) and relative (%) approach. The repeated measures ANOVA with sex as between-groups effect and time of the changes as within-group effect were conducted. Results showed statistically significant interaction (sex×time) in absolute changes (Δ cm) (F = 2.50, η2 = 0.05, p = 0.0447), which indicated that the sex effect has changed over time. Post-hoc test showed that during the first 3 minutes, men and women benefited equally, but in the fifth and seventh minutes, the observed changes were greater in men, thus close to significance (p = 0.0797, p = 0.0786), and in the last minute, the difference was statistically significant (p = 0.0309). Also, a statistically significant interaction effect was observed for relative changes (Δ %) (F = 4.22, η2 = 0.09, p = 0.0027). At the beginning (the first and third minutes), changes in females were greater than in males, but the differences were insignificant. However, after 5 minutes, the decrease in females was observed with statistically significant differences in the last minute compared to males (p = 0.0391). Chi-Squared analysis indicated that the time to peak performance was insignificant (χ2 = 7.45, p = 0.1140) in both sexes. The introduced PAPE protocol based on isometry improved jump height in both sexes, with performance enhancement recorded in the third-minute post-activation. However, performance decreased in females over the next 6 minutes, while it was maintained in the male group. Despite the generally positive short-term effects of the protocol on females, the usefulness of the protocol is limited

Memristors: a short review on fundamentals, structures, materials and applications

The paper contains a short literature review on the subject of special type of thin film structures with resistive-switching memory effect. In the literature, such structures are commonly labeled as "memristors". The word "memristor" originates from two words: "memory" and "resistor". For the first time, the memristor was theoretically described in 1971 by Leon Chua as the 4th fundamental passive electronics element with a non-linear current-voltage behavior. The reported area of potential usage of memristor is enormous. It is predicted that the memristor could find application, for example in the domain of nonvolatile random access memory, flash memory, neuromorphic systems and so forth. However, in spite of the fact that plenty of papers have been published in the subject literature to date, the memristor still behaves as a "mysterious" electronic element. It seems that, one of the important reasons that such structures are not yet in practical use, is unsufficient knowledge of physical phenomena determining occurrence of the switching effect. The present paper contains a literature review of available descriptions of theoretical basis of the memristor structures, used materials, structure configurations and discussion about future prospects and limitations

Intentional dehydration of taekwondo practitioners in relation to their stamina and motor skills level

Introduction In sports where competitors are divided into weight classes, a problem of obtaining the desired body mass on the competition day occurs. This issue is present primarily in martial arts, with an exception of fencing. Therefore, adjusting body mass is a component of the training process and happens cyclically due to participation in tournaments (Sterkowicz, 2006). These procedures are used most frequently before competitions in order to fit into the limits of a lower or higher weight class (Sterkowicz et al., 2005). Taekwondo tournaments participants are divided into weight classes, just like is wrestling, judo, and other martial arts. The purpose of the division is to ensure fairness of the fights by selecting opponents of similar morphological and physiological characteristics. Nonetheless, decreasing body mass for the purpose of qualifying into the lower weight class is a frequent phenomenon (Janiszewska et al., 2012). A large percentage of the competitors reduces body mass during the short period preceding the official weighting before a tournament, then go back to the natural body mass during the several hours before the tournament starts (Kazemi, 2005; Fleming, 2009). It is possible that the competitors reduce body mass as a result of discarding excessive fat reserves in specific body parts. However, very frequently it is competitors of very low fat body content rapidly reducing body mass before a tournament solely through dehydration, since it is the only way to qualify to the lower weight class (Shirreffs, 2009). Rapid and quick body mass reduction leading to dehydration, however, is not without influence on body functions. Reports on the problem suggest that occurring negative physiological consequences result in motor skill changes. Nonetheless, there are no reports unequivocally naming the type of motor skills connected to dehydration. Thus, the purpose of the paper was to determine the influence of intentional dehydration on the level of the following motor skills: stamina (strength), coordination (simple reaction time and upper limb movement speed), and speed of taekwondo practitioners

Change of the precision of hand movements in young men after short-term (anaerobic) exercise

Background: Physical exercise causes disturbances of body homoeostasis resulting in fatigue. This affect the quality of motor activity, including precision of hand movement. The objective of the work was to evaluate the effect of a short-term (anaerobic) physical exercise on hand movement in men in static and dynamic conditions. Materials &methods: The study group comprised of 52 young men aged 20.44±7.87 years old. Heartbeat frequency, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured. Precision of hand movement was studied with the use of the MLS module from the Vienna Test System. Tests of precise hand movements were conduced in static and dynamic conditions. A number of errors committed was analysed. Tests were performed with a dominant hand, twice: before and after an anaerobic exercise. The exercise test was to perform a maximum number of arm flexes in frontal support (press-ups), until denied. Results: Comparison of test results before and after the exercise indicated a statistically significant increase of hand tremor in statics and no changes in dynamics after the exercise. This occurrence was manifested by a number of errors made. Using multiple regression, it was shown that hand tremor in statics is related to body built. Higher values of height and body mass correlated with a greater number of errors. A statistically significant impact of resting heartbeat frequency on a number of errors in statics was also observed. In dynamic conditions, a relationship between hand tremor and a volume of work performed and the resultant heartbeat frequency was detected. The increase in number of flexes by one causes the increase in number of errors by two. Conclusion: Physical exercise significantly affects hand precision in statics in the students studied. Impact of physical exercise on a greater number of errors committed in a dynamic test was not observed

Ronald Reagan a wyzwania epoki

Z wprowadzenia: "Śmierć Ronalda Reagana w czerwcu 2004 r. zamknęła znaczącą epokę w dziejach Europy i świata. Reagan symbolizował pokolenie polityków, którym przyszło działać w czasach szybkiej dekompozycji dwóch, wydawałoby się niepodważalnych pewników politycznych dominujących po drugiej wojnie światowej w świecie zachodnim. Z polityków tych był tym, który przyczynił się w olbrzymiej mierze do podważenia obu z nich."(...