Assessing Tourist Revisit Intention through the Sports and Recreational Services Offered

Background: Sports and recreational tourism are forms of tourism that imply active involvement of tourists in various sports activities during their vacation, and it can be said that the main motive of such a vacation is a sport. Objectives: This research aimed to determine the relationship between sports and recreational activities and tourist satisfaction based on the questionnaire related to the behaviour and satisfaction of tourists during their stay in Montenegro. Methods/Approach: Regression analysis has been conducted in order to assess the interaction between sport-recreational activities and previous experience in Montenegro, and their effect on tourist revisit intention. Results: Empirical results demonstrate the influence of sports and recreational services on tourist satisfaction measured by tourists’ revisit intentions. Distinguishing between sports, and health, spa and wellness facilities and services, the findings indicate that health, spa, and wellness facilities and services have a higher impact on revisit intention than sports activities. In addition, the interaction effect between different sports and recreational activities and previous experience in Montenegro did not provide a more amplified effect on tourist satisfaction. Conclusions: Establishing closer links between workers who provide sports services and those providing other tourist services is one of the main challenges in the future of the development of sports tourism in Montenegro, as one of the most critical aspects that can provide tourist satisfaction. The data study can be used for more efficient and effective decision making and strategy development of sports and recreational activities in the tourism industry

Innovative Strategies for Creating and Assessing Research Quality and Societal Impact in Social Sciences and Humanities

Contemporary academic evaluation regimes, aiming to quantify and rank research quality, scholars and institutions, mostly rely on criteria such as metrics and citation scores. However, researchers started questioning recently whether these are the most appropriate instruments to evaluate academic excellence, especially in social sciences and humanities. Predominant evaluation criteria, such as peer review and citation index reflect only a limited scope of the research quality and relevance, as many dimensions cannot be seized through these traditional indicators, such as societal impact. In response to this criticism, a number of innovative research quality evaluation methods emerged in recent years, aiming to better reflect the complexity of often transdisciplinary research in social sciences and humanities. In this article, we attempt to review some of the most innovative strategies for assessing research quality, especially concerning transdisciplinary research in social sciences and humanities, as well as the societal impact and ‘productive interactions’. We conclude that while other innovative strategies are still in the pioneer phase, requiring more research and practical implementation, measuring societal impact emerged as a reliable, relevant, comprehensive and applicable strategy for evaluating research quality in social sciences and humanities

METABOLIC ISSUES IN PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS WITH THE FOCUS ON FIRST-EPISODE PATIENTS: A REVIEW

Before the onset of the illness, future schizophrenia patients do not weigh more comparing to their peers. However, during the later course of the illness, obesity is twice as prevalent as in general public, afflicting the half of schizophrenia patient population. There is a list of potential factors that contribute to this, including lifestyle, dietary habits, unsatisfactory monitoring of physical health etc, but nowadays side effects of antipsychotic medication become the most prominent concern when weight gain and metabolic issues in psychosis are addressed. The fact is that second generation antipsychotics (SGA) are associated with weight gain and metabolic syndrome, but that might be the case with the first generation antipsychotics (FGA) too. Besides, obesity might be evident in patients before any exposure to medications, and all that bring lot of dilemmas into the field. This paper critically reviews available data on metabolic problems in patients with psychotic disorders, raging from genetic to molecular and environmental factors, and highlights the necessity of screening for the early signs of metabolic disturbances, as well as of multidisciplinary assessment of psychiatric and medical conditions from the first psychotic episode

Trifolium pratense L. as a Potential Natural Antioxidant

The essential oils of three different growth stages of Trifolium pratense L. (TP1, TP2 and TP3) were investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and tested for their antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. The highest content of volatile compounds was found in the essential oil sample TP1, where terpenes such as beta-myrcene (4.55%), p-cymene (3.59%), limonene (0.86%), tetrahydroionone (1.56%) were highlighted due to their biological activity. The antioxidant activity was determined by following the scavenging capacity of the essential oils for the free radicals DPPH center dot, NO center dot and O-2(center dot-), as well as effects of the investigated oils on lipid peroxidation (LP). In all three cases, the sample TP1 showed the best radical-capturing capacity for DPPH center dot (27.61 +/- 0.12 mu g/mL), NO center dot (16.03 +/- 0.11 mu g/mL), O-2(center dot-) (16.62 +/- 0.29 mu g/mL) and also had the best lipid peroxidation effects in the Fe2+/ascorbate induction system (9.35 +/- 0.11 mu g/mL). Antimicrobial activity was evaluated against the following bacteria cultures: Escherichia coli (ATCC10526), Salmonella typhimurium (ATCC 14028), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 11632) and Bacillus cereus (ATCC 10876). None of the examined essential oil samples showed inhibitory effects on the tested bacterial strains

Attitudes of Sport Organization Officials toward Links between the Sports Sector, Sports Industry, and Knowledge Organizations with Innovations in Montenegrin Sport

It is well-known that modern organizations stand out as leaders in their industries have one common factor that brings them together around the fact they are successful: they are all principally committed to innovation. This fact also applies to sports. Empirical research was conducted to determine a research analysis of attitudes of sport organization officials toward links between the sports sector, sports industry, and knowledge organizations with innovations in Montenegrin sport. Seventy-five subject representatives of sports organizations were ran- domly assigned as a sample, while the questionnaire used is based on the Community Innovation Survey (CIS). Descriptive statistics were employed to test the hypothesis. This study confirmed that there is significant potential for improving innovation in sports in Montenegro. Policymakers and other stakeholders, including sports admin- istrators and other sports leaders, should increase the ability of sports organizations to innovate in sports

Gamma-Glutamyltransferase and C-Reactive Protein in Stable Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Systemic inflammation and oxidative stress are the most important features of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The presence of oxidative stress in the airways of smokers, the largest population of COPD patients, is a consequence of direct inhalation of cigarette smoke and increased inflammation-related production of reactive oxygen species. On the other hand, oxidative stress appears to be the key component of many processes associated with chronic inflammation. We intend to examine whether serum C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) activity might be used as auxiliary markers in monitoring level of oxidative stress and inflammation in clinically stable COPD. We also investigated influence of cigarette smoking on these two systemic parameters. Catalytic activity of GGT and concentration of CRP were determined in sera of COPD patients (N=109) and in healthy controls (N=51) by using standard spectrophotometric method and immunoturbidimetric method, respectively. Concentration of CRP and activity of GGT were increased in COPD patients, as compared to healthy controls (p<0.05). We found a significant positive correlation between those two parameters in COPD patients (r=0.202, p=0.0371). Our results showed no difference in GGT activity (p=0.606) or CRP concentration (p=0.573) between groups of patients when subdivided according to the severity of the disease. Smoking did not have a significant impact on CRP and GGT values in COPD patients and healthy controls. We showed an increase of serum CRP and GGT values in COPD patients, and we suggest that serum GGT activity might also represent an inflammation/oxidative stress marker. It seems that COPD patients present higher serum CRP and GGT values than healthy subjects independently from their smoking habits

Plasma Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) Concentration and BDNF/TrkB Gene Polymorphisms in Croatian Adults with Asthma

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its tropomyosin-related kinase B (TrkB) receptor might contribute to normal lung functioning and immune responses ; however, their role in asthma remains unclear. Plasma BDNF concentrations, as well as BDNF and NTRK2 (TrkB gene) polymorphisms, were investigated in 120 asthma patients and 120 healthy individuals using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and polymerase chain reaction, respectively. The genotype and allele frequencies of BDNF Val66Met (rs6265) and NTRK2 rs1439050 polymorphisms did not differ between healthy individuals and asthma patients, nor between patients grouped according to severity or different asthma phenotypes. Although plasma BDNF concentrations were higher among healthy subjects carrying the BDNF Val66Met GG genotype compared to the A allele carriers, such differences were not detected in asthma patients, suggesting the influences of other factors. Plasma BDNF concentration was not affected by NTRK2 rs1439050 polymorphism. Asthma patients had higher plasma BDNF concentrations than control subjects ; however, no differences were found between patients subdivided according to asthma severity, or Type-2, allergic, and eosinophilic asthma. Higher plasma BDNF levels were observed in asthma patients with aspirin sensitivity and aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease. These results suggest that plasma BDNF may serve as a potential peripheral biomarker for asthma, particularly asthma with aspirin sensitivity