DEVELOPMENT OF RETROSPECTIVE LIFE-LONG PHYSICAL ACTIVITY QUESTIONNAIRE: FIRST STAGE

With the increase in life expectancy and declining birth rates, the issue of improving the quality of life in people over 60 has become one of the priorities in health care (WHO, 2015). So  far a limited number of studies have addressed the long-term relationship between aerobic exercise and cognitive processes (e.g. see systematic review by Young, Angevaren, Rusted, Tabet, 2015). The aim of the study was to conduct the first stage in developing an instrument to retrospectively investigate life-time physical activity. Methods: a literature search in databases EBSCO, Pubmed, SCOPUS and Science Direct using keywords “retrospective physical activity”, “long-term physical activity” was conducted.  After literature review, individual interviews with participants aged from 65 to 76 were held to create a retrospective physical activity questionnaire. Interviews were conducted according to literature-based protocol, which was updated after each participant. Results: eight main categories of life-time activity: "work”, “education", "sleep", "transportation", "self-care", "leisure time", "household activities" and "sports”.  Conclusions: means of measuring life-long physical activity retrospectively would be highly beneficial in physical activity research; however, further work in developing and validating retrospective physical activity questionnaire is needed.

DIFFERENCES OF THE LATVIAN POPULATION PERCEPTIONS AND MEMORIES OF THE DAILY ACTIVITIES OVER 30 YEARS

Regular physical activity helps to improve physical and mental functions as well as reverse some effects of chronic disease to keep older people mobile and independent (McPhee et al., 2016). However, physical activity with aerobic load elements could be a contributing factor to aging (Prakash, Voss, Erickson, Kramer, 2015). Epidemiological studies have shown that the intensity of daily physical activity might have an important role to maintain life-long cognition (Kimura, Yasunaga, Wang, 2013). The aim is to identify differences Latvian time use from the retrospective surveying primary data from Total Life-span Physical Activity questionnaire and tertiary data from 1979 published data on population time use and trends (Eglite, Svikis, Zarina, 1979). Methods: The primary data of daily activities was from April to December 2019 obtained from the retrospective questionnaire “Total Lifespan Physical Activity questionnaire” (Ulmane, Šneidere, Stepens, 2019) and tertiary data were used from 1979 published data on population time use and trends (Eglite, Svikis, Zarina, 1979). The data were adjusted to six physical activity categories to be comparable - Work/education, physiological needs, Transportation, Leisure time, Household activities and Sports. Results: did not affect males and females differently in these measures, but only differences of some categories. Results show that the most differences were found in the categories – transportation, household activities, and sport. Conclusions: The study had several limitations because data from the 1979 published book (Eglite, Svikis, Zarina, 1979) was only available in aggregate form. Together these results provide important insights into the difference between the capital city, small towns or rural areas, but 2019 study respondents were almost always from the capital city. However, in the future for more precise data analysis needed primary or secondary data.

COGNITIVE RESERVE AND COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE IN HEALTHY LATVIAN SENIORS

In the next 30 years, a significant increase of the population aged over 65 is expected (WHO, 2015). Ageing can often be associated with cognitive decline; however, recent research indicates that symptoms of age-related cognitive impairment are modulated by Cognitive Reserve (CR), which derives from level of education, working activity, and social activity (Tucker Stern, 2011). The role of CR in neurodegenerative disease has been extensively researched, but little is known about its contribution to normal ageing. Fifty-four healthy Latvian seniors were recruited for the study. We assessed simple and complex reaction times, associative memory, memory retrieval, attention, working memory. Furthermore, we quantified their CR. We analysed the relationship between CR and reaction times with two separate logistic regressions. Then, four linear regression models were built to analyse the relationship between CR and the scores on the cognitive tasks. CR was not related to the cognitive performance of healthy Latvian seniors. Such results indicate that CR resources may be mostly required when high-demanding tasks have to be performed

Differences in long- and short-term memory performance and brain matter integrity in seniors with different physical activity experience

Due to increasing changes in demographics, maintaining cognitive functioning later in life has become both economic and social concerns, and thus finding a cost-effective solution is one of the priorities in research. Factors like physical and intellectual activities have been associated with better cognitive performance in later life. While several studies have considered the impact of short-term physical activity interventions on cognitive functioning, retrospective research focusing on life-time physical activity experience has been sparse. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between memory performance and whole brain matter integrity in seniors with different regular life-long physical activity experience. Fifty-three Latvian seniors aged 65-85 (M = 72.25, SD = 5.03, 83% female) with no self-reported chronic disease participated in the study. Measures of memory, physical activity and whole brain matter integrity were obtained and analysed. The obtained results indicated no significant relationship between physical activity experience and short and long-term memory and whole brain matter integrity; however, brain matter integrity was significantly correlated with demographic factors like age and education. These results might be related to inadequate physical activity measures, as well as unequal physical activity experience in participants. In the future, more detailed assessment of physical activity experience should be considered

Psychosomatic complaints and anxiety/depression of primary school children with learning disorders

Pētījuma mērķis ir sniegt ieskatu, kas ir psihosomatiskie traucējumi, nomāktība/trauksme un mācīšanās traucējumi, kas tos ietekmē un kādas ir psihosomatisko traucējumu un nomāktības/trauksmes saistības ar sākumskolas vecuma bērnu mācīšanās traucējumiem. Pētījuma ietvaros tika izveidotas divas izlases grupas – bērni ar mācīšanās traucējumiem un bērniem bez mācīšanās traucējumiem. Bērniem ar mācīšanās traucējumiem ir specifiski iemaņu attīstības traucējumi un tos diagnosticē pedagoģiski medicīniskā komisija. Šie bērni mācās pēc speciālās izglītības programmas „izglītojamiem ar mācību iemaņu traucējumiem”, 56 programmas (kods 2101 5611). Abas grupas tika pielīdzinātas pēc vecuma un dzimuma. Izlases lielums ir 30 bērni ar mācīšanās traucējumiem un 30 bērni bez mācīšanās traucējumiem. Bērnu vidējais vecums ir 10 gadi un 2 mēneši. Bakalaura darba pētījumā, somatisko traucējumu un trauksmes/nomāktības simptomu un DSM noteikšanai, tika izmantota Bērna uzvedības novērtēšanas aptauja vecākiem (Child behavior checklist; Achenbach, 2001), kuru adaptējusi pirmo reizi Ilona Laizāne (2005), bet standartizāciju pabeidza Skreitule-Pikše, I., Raščevska, M., Sebre, S., Koļesovs, A., Bite I. (2013). Kopumā tika secināts, ka vairāk saistības starp trauksmi/nomāktību un somatiskiem traucējumiem atklājās bērniem ar mācīšanās traucējumiem, bet bērniem bez mācīšanās traucējumiem viena saistība. Atklājās, kad bērniem ar mācīšanās traucējumiem ir paaugstinātāki rādītāji somatiskām sūdzībām ar trauksmi. Savukārt, bērni ar mācīšanās traucējumiem, statistiski nozīmīgi, vairāk saskaras ar trauksmi/nomāktību un somatiskam problēmām, salīdzinot ar grupu bez mācīšanās traucējumiem. Atslēgas vārdi: psihosomatika, somatiska, trauksme/nomāktība, mācīšanās traucējumiThe goal of this research is to offer an insight of what are psychosomatic disorders, anxiety/depression and learning disorders, what affects them and also to establish the relationship between psychosomatic disorders and anxiety/depression of primary school children with learning disorders. Two groups were created – a group of children with learning dissabilities and a group of children without them. The group of children with learning disabilities has a specific disturbance in the development of skills and they are diagnosed by the pedagogically medical committee. These children study after a special program of education „students with learning skill disturbances”, 56 program (code 2101 5611). Both groups were equated by age and gender. The selection consists of 30 children with learning disabilities and 30 children without them. The average age of the selection is 10 years and 2 months. Child Behavior Checklist for parents (CBCL, Achenbach, 2001) was used to determine somatic disorders and symptoms of anxiety/depression and DSM, adaptation of this method was started by Ilona Laizāne (2005), but finished by Skreitule-Pikše, I., Raščevska, M., Sebre, S., Koļesovs, A., Bite I. (2013). It was deduced that there were more connections between anxiety/depression and somatic disabilities for children with learning difficulties, but for children without them – there were only 1 connection. It was discovered, that children with learning disabilities had an increased ratio for somatic complaints with Children with learning difficulties face anxiety /depression and somatic problems statistically more often than children without them. Key words: psychosomatics, somatics, anxiety/depression, learning difficultie