The Gifted and Gifted Education in Hungary

The real challenge is to see value that is not yet in its true form. Becoming gifted is a process, during which characteristics of giftedness are present throughout, but not necessarily in a form perceptible or acceptable to the environment. Giftedness does not hide itself, only to the extent that the environment believes it hidden. Perception defines the pattern that manifests itself. The beginning of the 20th century is a success story of Hungarian gifted education. Outstanding teachers and their students have reached outstanding achievements through gifted education linked to everyday education. Their methods and ideas are durable, and are therefore worth recalling

HIV among people who inject drugs in Hungary.

Abstract Background Before 2014 (the year of closure of the two largest needle exchange programs in Hungary, which halved the number of available syringes in the country despite increased injecting risk practices) no HIV was reportedly acquired in Hungary among people who inject drugs (PWIDs) who were not also men who had sex with other men (MSM). In 2014, one and in 2015 two non-MSM PWIDs were newly diagnosed with HIV who supposedly became infected in Hungary, and both incident HIV cases in 2015 were diagnosed in the AIDS stage. In addition, two new (albeit supposedly imported) non-MSM PWID cases were also registered in the first three quarters of 2016, one of which subsequently was diagnosed with and then died of AIDS. At the same time, the prevalence of HCV doubled among PWIDs (from 24% to 49% in Hungary and from 34% to 61% in Budapest). Case presentation The case that we discuss in this paper is a male PWID, who was diagnosed with HIV and AIDS in May of 2015 and then died of AIDS the next month. His HIV infection status was detected with delay, and then appeared in the official statistics as an incident PWID HIV case and an incident PWID AIDS case, but not as an incident PWID AIDS death. No contact tracing followed, even though it would have been relatively easy considering the circumstances. To our knowledge, no HIV post-exposure protocol exists in hospitals, in case of HIV exposure due to an eventual needle-stick injury. Conclusions Our paper draws attention to recently published HIV and AIDS surveillance data, and shows the failure of the system. While sounding the alarm based on three newly detected PWID HIV cases in the past 2 years may be premature, there are definitely serious problems in the HIV detection and tracing system among PWIDs in Hungary

Égető kérdések. Merre tartunk az e-cigarettázással összefüggésbe hozható tüdőbetegséggel?

The electronic cigarette and vaping associated lung injury (EVALI) syndrome was first described in the United States (US) and was presumably strongly associated with cannabinoid vaping and exposure to vitamin E acetate, an oily additive used to dilute/cut cannabinoids vape liquids. As the case numbers were relatively low (epidemiologically) and the available data was inconsistent, several assumptions were made to explain the phenomenon. The lack of standardization of sampling, the self-reported, inhomogeneous user habits, the huge number of potential etiologies, and certain trade/legal loopholes (such as online distribution, black market penetration, or the inefficient regulatory control regarding the quantity and/or quality of ingredients/cutting agents) might question the validity of the data and the consequent conclusions. Furthermore, an interesting but by no means negligible question is the fact why no EVALI cases have been registered outside the US when electronic cigarettes and vapes have become increasingly popular worldwide. The present review seeks to answer whether vitamin E acetate is indeed the cause of this complex syndrome, what potentially non-healthcare related factors might have contributed to the rapid increase and decline in EVALI cases, and last but not least the minimum standards of safe vaping (as potential for drug delivery route for cannbinoids). Orv Hetil. 2020; 161(31): 1281-1285

Liquid Drugs and High Dead Space Syringes May Keep HIV and HCV Prevalence High – A Comparison of Hungary and Lithuania

Despitevery similar political, drug policy and HIV prevention backgrounds, HIV and HCV prevalence is considerably different in Hungary (low HIV and moderate HCV prevalence) and Lithuania (high HCV and moderate HIV prevalence). Wecompared the drug use profile of Hungarian (n = 215) and Lithuanian (n = 300) injecting drug users (IDUs). Overall, compared with IDUs in Hungary, IDUs in Lithuania often injected opiates purchased in liquid form (‘shirka’), used and shared 2-piece syringes (vs. 1-piece syringes) disproportionately more often, were less likely to acquire their syringes from legal sources and had significantly more experience with injected and less experience with non-injected drugs. It may not be liquid drugs per se that contribute to a higher prevalence of HCV and/or HIV, but it is probably factors associated with the injecting of liquid drugs, such as the wide-spread use and sharing of potentially contaminated 2-piece syringes acquired often from non-legal sources, and syringe-mediated drug sharing with 2-piece syringes. Scaling up substitution therapy, especially heroin replacement, combined with reducing the supply of liquid drugs may decrease the prevalence of high-risk injecting behaviours related to the injecting of liquid drugs and drug injecting-related infections among IDUs in Lithuania

A needle in the haystack – the dire straits of needle exchange in Hungary

Abstract Background The two largest needle exchange programs (NEPs) in Hungary were forced to close down in the second half of 2014 due to extreme political attacks and related lack of government funding. The closures occurred against a background of rapid expansion in Hungary of injectable new psychoactive substances, which are associated with very frequent injecting episodes and syringe sharing. The aim of our analysis was to predict how the overall Hungarian NEP syringe supply was affected by the closures. Methods We analyzed all registry data from all NEPs in Hungary for all years of standardized NEP data collection protocols currently in use (2008–2014) concerning 22 949 client enrollments, 9 211 new clients, 228 167 client contacts, 3 160 560 distributed syringes, and 2 077 676 collected syringes. Results We found that while the combined share of the two now closed NEPs decreased over time, even in their partial year 2014 they still distributed and collected about half of all syringes, and attended to over half of all clients and client contacts in Hungary. The number of distributed syringes per PWID (WHO minimum target = 100) was 81 in 2014 in Hungary, but 39 without the two now closed NEPs. Conclusions There is a high probability that the combination of decreased NEP coverage and the increased injection risk of new psychoactive substances may lead in Hungary to a public health disaster similar to the HIV outbreaks in Romania and Greece. This can be avoided only by an immediate change in the attitude of the Hungarian government towards harm reduction

A comparison of sexual behaviour and attitudes of healthy adolescents in a Danish high school in 1982, 1996, and 2001

AIM: To assess changes in sexual behaviour among students at a high school in Denmark from 1982 to 2001. METHODS: An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was used to compare data from three identical cross-sectional surveys performed in 1982, 1996, and 2001. RESULTS: Girls: More girls reported their first sexual intercourse before their 16th birthday in 2001 (42%) than in 1996 (29%) In 1982 it was also 42% (Chi-square for trend: p = 0.003). Fewer girls with no regular partner used condoms for their personal protection in 2001 (2%) than in 1996 (9%) and 1982 (0%) (Chi-square for trend p = 0.016). The proportion of girls with no regular partner who considered protection from sexually transmitted disease important for their choice of contraception was 39% in 2001 compared with 71% in 1996 and only 10% in 1982 (Chi-square for trend: p < 0.0001). Boys: More boys reported sexual debut before their 16th birthday in 2001 (40%) than in 1996 (37%) and 1982 (24%) (Chi-square for trend: p = 0.023). For boys with no regular partner, condom was preferred for personal protection by 85% in 2001, 91% in 1996 and 61% in 1982 (Chi-square for trend p = 0.007). Protection against sexually transmitted infection declined, especially among boys with no regular partner, from 51% in 2001 to 72% in 1996 and 21% in 1982 Chi-square for trend: p < 0.0001). The tendency towards earlier sexual debut and less use of safe sex practices to protect against sexually transmitted infections (STI) was accompanied by a rise in the number of detected STIs during this period. CONCLUSIONS: The period from 1982 to 1996 during which sexual attitudes were directed toward safer sex seems to have given way to a reverse trend in the period from 1996 to 2001. These findings may have significant implications for health care authorities organising preventive strategies for healthy adolescents

Unprotected Sex in Heterosexual Partnerships of Injecting Drug Users in St. Petersburg, Russia

We examined the association of individual demographic and behavioral attributes, partnership (dyad) and social network characteristics with unprotected sex in the heterosexual dyads of IDUs in St Petersburg, Russia. Of the individual-level characteristics female gender and younger age; and of the dyad-level characteristics sharing injecting equipment, social exposure to the sex partner (“hanging out with” or seeing each other daily), and both partners self-reporting being HIV infected were associated with unprotected sex. Although self-reported HIV discordant couples were less likely to engage in unprotected sex, it was reported in over half of self-reported HIV discordant relationships. This study highlights the intertwining of sexual risk and injecting risk, and the importance of sero-sorting based on perceived HIV status among IDU sexual partnerships in St Petersburg, Russia. A combination of social network and dyad interventions may be appropriate for this population of IDUs, especially for IDUs who are both injecting and sex partners, supported by free and confidential rapid HIV testing and counseling services to provide a comprehensive response to the wide-spread HIV epidemic among IDUs in St Petersburg

Injecting Equipment Sharing in Russian Drug Injecting Dyads

In this study, we investigated how individual attributes, dyad characteristics and social network characteristics may influence engaging in receptive syringe sharing, distributive syringe sharing and sharing cookers in injecting partnerships of IDUs in St Petersburg, Russia. We found that all three levels were associated with injecting equipment sharing, and that dyad characteristics were modified by characteristics of the social network. Self-reported HIV discordance and male gender concordance played a role in the risk of equipment sharing. Dyad interventions may not be sufficient to reduce injecting risk in IDU partnerships, but a combination of dyad and network interventions that target both IDU partnerships and the entire IDU population may be more appropriate to address injecting risk among IDUs