Alkalmazkodási stratégiák a vidék gazdaságában = Adaptational strategies in rural economy

A hároméves, különböző jellegű vidéki települések alkalmazkodási stratégiáinak feltérképezésére irányuló kutatásunk négy megyében zajlott: dolgoztunk munkanélküliség által erősen sújtott, perifériális helyzetben lévő mezőgazdasági-, valamint volt-ipari térségben, továbbá nagyvárosok vonzáskörzetében jobb helyzetben levő mezőgazdasági és vállalkozó faluban is. Négy településen (Szatmárcseke, Borsodnádasd, Derecske és Tarján) mélyfúrás jellegű kutatás zajlott; nagyszámban készültek interjúk, Borsodnádasdon és Szatmárcsekén egyetemi diákok segítségével kérdőíves felmérés is zajlott. Mikrotérségi szintű vizsgálat folyt Derecske környékén (5 település) és a szatmári Tiszaháton (13 település). Az OTKA kutatás keretében összesen 858 kérdőív, 180 db. interjú készült, ami mellett térségi és helyi statisztikákat, és egyéb forrásokat is gyűjtöttünk. Emellett az Alapítvány 2007-ben Kétvölgyön a résztvevőkutatók számára műhelyvitát rendezett, majd a Magyar Művelődési Intézettel közösen decemberben konferenciát szervezett "Fiatal kutatók Márkus István nyomdokain: falukutatók Borsodnádasdon" címmel, amin a kutatók mellett a Debreceni Egyetem és az ELTE is képviseltették magát. A három év alatt az öt kutató 22 konferencia előadást tartott a témában, 8 tanulmányt publikált, további 4 a jelenleg Borsodnádasdról készülő kötetben jelenik meg 2008-ban. A résztvevő kutatók mindegyike doktorjelölt, és dolgozatához felhasználja az OTKA kutatás eredményeit. | The three years long research was executed in four counties: we have worked in peripheral agricultural and collapsed industrial villages, which were distressed very much by unemployment. Besides we have done research also in agricultural and 'entrepreneur' areas near to bigger cities, which are in better situation. There were deep research and many interviews were made in four settlements (Szatmárcseke, Borsodnádasd, Derecske, Tarján); in Borsodnádasd and Szatmárcseke there were quantitative surveys too which were carried out with university students. In five settlements (around Derecske) and in the Szatmár Tiszahát (10 villages) there were micro-regional researches. During the OTKA project we have made 858 questionnaires and 210 interviews, besides regional and local statistics and other information were collected. In 2007 the Foundation organized a workshop for the participant researchers in Kétvölgy and in December with the Hungarian Culture Institute organized a conference with the title of "Young researchers in the wake of Márkus István: researchers in Borsodnádasd" when out of the researchers the Debrecen University and ELTE were also represented themselves. During the three years the five participant researchers had 22 presentations on the subject, 8 studies were published and 4 are under edition in a book of Borsodnádasd. Being the participant researchers Ph.D candidates, writing their thesis they will use the OTKA results

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

Changes of migraine-related white matter hyperintensities after 3 years: A longitudinal MRI study

OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate changes of migraine-related brain white matter hyperintensities 3 years after an initial study. Baseline quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of migraine patients with hemispheric white matter hyperintensities performed in 2009 demonstrated signs of tissue damage within the hyperintensities. The hyperintensities appeared most frequently in the deep white matter of the frontal lobe with a similar average hyperintensity size in all hemispheric lobes. Since in this patient group the repeated migraine attacks were the only known risk factors for the development of white matter hyperintensities, the remeasurements of migraineurs after a 3-year long follow-up may show changes in the status of these structural abnormalities as the effects of the repeated headaches. METHODS The same patient group was reinvestigated in 2012 using the same MRI scanner and acquisition protocol. MR measurements were performed on a 3.0-Tesla clinical MRI scanner. Beyond the routine T1-, T2-weighted, and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery imaging, diffusion and perfusion-weighted imaging, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and T1 and T2 relaxation time measurements were also performed. Findings of the baseline and follow-up studies were compared with each other. RESULTS The follow-up proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies of white matter hyperintensities showed significantly decreased N-acetyl-aspartate (median values 8.133 vs 7.153 mmol/L, P=.009) and creatine/phosphocreatine (median values 4.970 vs 4.641 mmol/L, P=.015) concentrations compared to the baseline, indicating a more severe axonal loss and glial hypocellularity with decreased intracellular energy production. The diffusion values, the T1 and T2 relaxation times, and the cerebral blood flow and volume measurements presented only mild changes between the studies. The number (median values 21 vs 25, P<.001) and volume (median values 0.896 vs 1.140 mL, P<.001) of hyperintensities were significantly higher in the follow-up study. No changes were found in the hemispheric and lobar distribution of hyperintensities. An increase in the hyperintensity size of preexisting lesions was much more common than a decrease (median values 14 vs 5, P=.004). A higher number of newly developed hyperintensities were detected than disappeared ones (130 vs 22), and most of them were small (<.034 mL). Small white matter hyperintensities in patients with a low migraine attack frequency had a higher chance to disappear than large white matter hyperintensities or white matter hyperintensities in patients with a high attack frequency (coefficient: -0.517, P=.034). CONCLUSIONS This longitudinal MRI study found clinically silent brain white matter hyperintensities to be predominantly progressive in nature. The absence of a control group precludes definitive conclusions about the nature of these changes or if their degree is beyond normal aging