STUDENTS' BEHAVIOUR AND ATTITUDES TO SCHOOL RULES AS OUTCOME OF INVOLVEMENT IN STRUCTURED LEISURE ACTIVITIES

The aim of the study was to ascertain the associations between students’ participation in extracurricular activities, duration and type of these activities and their antisocial behaviour, attitude towards the rules regulating their behaviour at school and students’ rights. The sample consisted of 1360 (707 males and 653 females) adolescents between ages of 12 and 17 years. The survey-style assessment questionnaire was used in this study. The research revealed that participation in extracurricular activities was associated with more seldom alcohol use, smoking, deviant behaviour at school, and favourable evaluation of school rules. Duration of extracurricular activities a week was not associated with students’ antisocial behaviour. Evaluating substance use and deviant behaviour at school participating in sport students did not differ from those ones who did not participate in any extracurricular activities. Substance use and deviant behaviour at school is less characteristic to those students who attend arts and various activities

INVESTIGATION AND USE OF THE LITHUANIAN FLAX GENETIC RESOURCES IN THE BREEDING PROGRAMS

The profusion, diversity and value of genetic resources significantly contribute to the success of flax breeding. Of special value are genotypes of local origin, highly adapted to the local climatic and soil conditions. Storage of genetic resources in Lithuania was started in 1994-1995. During the period 1995-1997 25 flax varieties and local accessions were studied at the Upytė Research Station of LIA. In 1998-2000 we tested 21 varieties and breeding lines, in 2001-2002 18 accessions, in 2003-2004 12 accessions. The best genotypes were included in flax breeding programs. About 50 genotypes have been transferred to the Gene Bank of the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture after assessment for biological-agronomical characters following UPOV descriptors

STEM CRUSHING - AN ECO-FRIENDLY WAY TO EFFECT ON FLAX DEW-RETTING

Preparation of flax raw material - retted straw - is becoming more and more problematical since the straw is prepared by way of dew-retting, because this run under the open sky and fully couldn’t be controlled, and this concludes in insufficient fibre quality. Besides of this, during the flax pulling process part of the stems is caught by the belts of the pulling combine LKV-4T and consequently is damaged (crushed). Thus fibre separation in this part of the stem usually runs more quickly and the quality of flax fibre along the stem becomes uneven. Top-part of the stem is damaged by thrashing apparatus. Furthermore, we should remember that the shape offlax stem is a cone, and dew-retting process at flax foot part takes much longer than at the top or at the strongly damaged middle part of the stem. The influence of crushing of fibre flax stems and desiccation was investigated at the Upyte Research Station of LIA in 2003. Special crushing apparatus was assembled on the flax combine LKV-4T. Desiccated with glyphosate and non-desiccated flax stems were crushed during pulling. The quality of fibre after stem crushing was higher

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FIBRE FLAX YIELD AND DIFFERENT FORMS OF NITROGEN IN THE SOIL

Research on fibre flax yield response to the amount of different nitrogen forms in the soil was carried out at the Upytė Research Station of the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture (LIA). Humus content (as a source of nitrogen) (%), total nitrogen (%), ammonium nitrogen (NH4+) (mg kg-1), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-) (mg kg-1), total mineral nitrogen (Nmin) (mg kg-1) were measured in the soil samples collected from the plough layer, and the correlation between the mentioned - above soil variables and fibre flax yield was calculated. In most cases the relationships were weak but significant. Seed, stem, and long fibre yields responded to the soil nitrogen differently. The strongest correlation was established between flax yield and humus content

Exophthalmometry value distribution in healthy Lithuanian children and adolescents

AbstractPurposeTo determine absolute and relative ocular protrusion values for healthy Lithuanian children and adolescents and analyze the data according to the age, gender, weight, height, and outer orbital distance.MethodsA total of 397 children and adolescents were included in this study. Measurements for the right and left eyes protrusions were done with Hertel exophthalmometer in healthy subjects aged from 5 to 18years old. Height, weight, age and gender of subjects were recorded.ResultsThe mean age for all children and adolescents was 11.5±3.6years. For all subjects, the mean (±SD) absolute ocular protrusion value of both eyes (OU) was 14.91±1.68mm. There was no significant difference in measurements between male and female subjects although female eye protrusion was higher. No individual had more than 2mm of asymmetry between eyes. Mean exophthalmometric values for right eye were greater than the values of the left eye, and the mean relative protrusion for all participants was 0.2mm. The mean distance between the lateral rims of the orbits was 98.7±5.2mm for all subjects. Proptosis measurements significantly correlated with the age, weight and height of children and adolescents and base measurements.ConclusionsIn the present study, we have established ocular proptosis values according to the age, gender, weight and height of healthy Lithuanian children and adolescents. The eye protrusion significantly correlated with the age, weight and height of subjects and the distance between the lateral rims of the orbits. The gender did not play significant role on the eye projection data. We believe that larger, well-design studies are necessary in future to assess the distribution of proptosis in healthy Lithuanian children and adolescents

Professional competencies of healthand fitness instructors: do they match the european standard?

The aim of this study was to test professional competencies of the sample of health and fitness instructors (HFIs) according to EuropeActive’s educational standards at level 3 referenced to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), and to explore the associations between the formal education of HFIs and their current competencies. The core knowledge (CK) of 155 HFIs and the specific knowledge (SK) of 54 fitness instructors (FIs) and 35 group fitness instructors (GFIs) were analysed. In addition, 43 FIs and 35 GFIs underwent an examination of their practical skills. Only 11 (7.1%) of the HFIs met the requirements for the CK. We found no significant differences by age, education, type of employment, or professional experience for the CK test. No FIs passed the test for SK. Only 10 (15.6%) of the GFIs passed the test for SK. However, adequate practical instruction skills were found for the FIs (n=29, 70.7%), as well as for the GFIs (n=31, 91.2%). Only three HFIs passed the overall examination for the educational standards at EQF-level 3. The results highlight the importance of testing the competencies of HFIs in other European countries and of promoting the need for lifelong learning for HFIs. The competencies of HFIs are an important source of trust for healthcare providers and other sector stakeholders implementing the strategy for the prevention of non-communicable diseases

Change in children's oral health-related quality of life following dental treatment under general anaesthesia for the management of dental caries: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Dental caries has significant impact on children and their families and may necessitate treatment under general anaesthesia (GA). The use of oral health-related quality-of-life (OHRQoL) measures enables evaluation of dental treatment from a patient's perspective. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aimed to assess change in OHRQoL in children following treatment under GA for the management of dental caries. METHODS: A comprehensive search was conducted to identify articles which were assessed against inclusion criteria before data extraction. Studies involving children under 16 years, having treatment for dental caries under GA, were considered eligible. Included studies were quality assessed. RESULTS: Twenty studies were included, which demonstrated significant heterogeneity. Most studies employed a pre-test-post-test design. All but one study relied on proxy reports of OHRQoL. Only half the studies used instruments validated in the study population. Whereas all studies reported improved OHRQoL overall, some subscales showed changes which were not significant or worsened OHRQoL. The scientific quality of the studies varied considerably. CONCLUSION: Heterogeneity of included papers limited the conclusions which could be drawn. Treatment under GA appears to result in overall improvements in proxy-reported OHRQoL; however, there is a need for further high-quality studies employing validated, child-reported measures of OHRQoL

The crack analysis in monitoring procedures of Seaport pier concrete constructions

The geodetic and geotechnical techniques were accepted for monitoring and measurement of unique hydro-technical structures, i.e. of pier stability. The designed monitoring system for pier damage prevention has been realized at the experimental object of Klaipeda State Seaport. Cracks of pier concrete constructions were identified, measured and continuously observed by the application of crack-gauges for experimental measurement. The analysis of the results shows that cracks of chosen locations depend upon meteorological conditions, such as, for example, temperature. It influences the width of cracks in the pier concrete. The relations were obtained according to the created monitoring system of hydro-technical structure which estimates the influence of cracks of pier concrete to the structural damages

Iron deficiency anemia-related gut microbiota dysbiosis in infants and young children: A pilot study

Nutritional iron deficiency (ID) causes not only anemia but also malfunction of the entire human organism. Recently, a role of the gut microbiota has been hypothesized, but limited data are available especially in infants. Here, we performed a pilot study to explore the gut microbiota in 10 patients with iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and 10 healthy controls aged 6–34 months. Fresh stool samples were collected from diapers, and the fecal microbiota was profiled by next-generation sequencing of the V3–V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene. Except for diet diversity, the breastfeeding status at the enrollment, the exclusive breastfeeding duration, and the introduction of complementary foods did not differ between groups. Distinct microbial signatures were found in IDA patients, with increased relative abundance of Enterobacteriaceae (mean relative abundance, patients vs. controls, 4.4% vs. 3.0%) and Veillonellaceae (13.7% vs. 3.6%), and reduced abundance of Coriobacteriaceae (3.5% vs. 8.8%) compared to healthy controls. A decreased Bifidobacteriaceae/Enterobacteriaceae ratio was observed in IDA patients. Notwithstanding the low sample size, our data highlight microbiota dysbalance in IDA worth for further investigations, aimed at unraveling the ID impact on the microbiome trajectory in early life, and the possible long-term consequences

Prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy in children and young people with primary hypertension: Meta-analysis and meta-regression

Background: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is the main marker of HMOD in children and young people (CYP). We aimed to assess the prevalence of LVH and its determinants in CYP with primary hypertension (PH). Methods: A meta-analysis of prevalence was performed. A literature search of articles reporting LVH in CYP with PH was conducted in Medline, Embase, and Cochrane databases. Studies with a primary focus on CYP (up to 21 years) with PH were included. Meta-regression was used to analyze factors explaining observed heterogeneity. Results: The search yielded a total of 2,200 articles, 153 of those underwent full-text review, and 47 reports were included. The reports evaluated 51 study cohorts including 5,622 individuals, 73% male subjects, and a mean age of 13.6 years. LVH was defined as left ventricle mass index (LVMI) >= 95th percentile in 22 (47%), fixed cut-off >= 38.6 g/m(2.7) in eight (17%), sex-specific fixed cut-off values in six (13%), and miscellaneously in others. The overall prevalence of LVH was 30.5% (95% CI 27.2-33.9), while heterogeneity was high (I-2 = 84%). Subgroup analysis including 1,393 individuals (76% male subjects, mean age 14.7 years) from pediatric hypertension specialty clinics and LVH defined as LVMI >= 95th percentile only (19 study cohorts from 18 studies), reported prevalence of LVH at 29.9% (95% CI 23.9 to 36.3), and high heterogeneity (I-2 = 84%). Two studies involving patients identified through community screening (n = 1,234) reported lower LVH prevalence (21.5%). In the meta-regression, only body mass index (BMI) z-score was significantly associated with LVH prevalence (estimate 0.23, 95% CI 0.08-0.39, p = 0.004) and accounted for 41% of observed heterogeneity, but not age, male percentage, BMI, or waist circumference z-score. The predominant LVH phenotype was eccentric LVH in patients from specialty clinics (prevalence of 22% in seven studies with 779 participants) and one community screening study reported the predominance of concentric LVH (12%). Conclusion: Left ventricular hypertrophy is evident in at least one-fifth of children and young adults with PH and in nearly a third of those referred to specialty clinics with a predominant eccentric LVH pattern in the latter. Increased BMI is the most significant risk association for LVH in hypertensive youth