Cardiovascular overmortality as the depopulation factor of city Lodz and region

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of mortality in Poland and in the EU as well. Cardiovascular death rate in Lodzkie Voivodeship is one of the highest in Poland. The aim of this paper is to compare the level of CVD mortality in the city of Lodz and nearby region with the Polish national level after elimination of the age factor. The result of analysis indicates that Lodzkie Voivodeship is characterized by the overmortality caused by cardiovascular disease of about 1,000 people every year.Choroby układu krążenia (ChUK) stanowią najczęstszą przyczynę zgonów zarówno w Polsce, jak i na terenie UE. Natężenie zgonów z powodu ChUK w województwie łódzkim należy do jednego z najwyższych w Polsce. Celem autora niniejszej pracy było porównanie poziomu umieralności z powodu ChUK w Łodzi i w regionie z poziomem ogólnokrajowym przy zniwelowaniu czynnika demograficznego. Wyniki przeprowadzonych analiz wskazały, że województwo łódzkie charakteryzuje się nadumieralnością z powodu ChUK, sięgającą średniorocznie blisko 1000 osób, przy tym wskazana niekorzystna sytuacja utrzymuje się już od kilkunastu lat

Studenci i uczelnie wyższe w Łodzi i innych wielkich miastach polskich w latach 2004-2008 (kontekst europejski)

Celem podjętej analizy jest nakreślenie ogólnych trendów i prawidłowości w rozwoju uczelni wyższych w Łodzi, Krakowie, Poznaniu i Wrocławiu na tle innych wielkich miast w Europie Zachodniej i środkowej oraz Unii Europejskiej

Modele życia rodzinnego. Studium demograficzno-społeczne na przykładzie łódzkiej młodzieży akademickiej

Praca stanowi wynik badań preferencji i postaw młodzieży akademickiej wobec kwestii życia małżeńsko-rodzinnego oraz próbę wyodrębnienia różnicujących je czynników ekonomiczno-społecznych.Udostępnienie publikacji Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego finansowane w ramach projektu „Doskonałość naukowa kluczem do doskonałości kształcenia”. Projekt realizowany jest ze środków Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Wiedza Edukacja Rozwój; nr umowy: POWER.03.05.00-00-Z092/17-00

Longevity and cardiovascular mortality of Polish elite football players

Background: Despite wide popularity of football, there is a paucity of scientific evidence explaining the relationship between being a competitive footballer and life expectancy. Aim: The study analyses and compares cause-specific mortality of Polish male elite footballers and the general Polish male population. Methods: Data regarding of 455 elite footballers who died between 1990 and 2015 were retrospectively analysed. The cause of death was established based on the official data from the Polish Central Statistical Office. The control group consisted of men from the general male population in Poland who died in the sampled period at the age of 25 years or more. Results: The mean age at death turned out to be higher for footballers than controls (70.2 vs. 67.4 years). Cardiovascular diseases were a more common cause of death among footballers than in the general male population, both in the subgroup of subjects who died under the age of 65 years and in those who were at least 65 years old at the time of death (46.9% vs. 32.3% and 61.3% vs. 53.3%, respectively). A detailed analysis of cause-specific cardiovascular mortality revealed that acute myocardial infarction caused more deaths (odds ratio [OR] 1.31; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02–1.68) and hypertensive disease caused less deaths (OR 0.20; 95% CI 0.05–0.79) among athletes than in the general male population. A trend analysis has shown that the level of cardiovascular mortality among footballers is falling. Conclusions: The study results indicate excess cardiovascular mortality among Polish elite footballers

Evaluation of the Heart Function of Swimmers Subjected to Exhaustive Repetitive Endurance Efforts During a 500-km Relay

Aim: Knowledge of the human body’s ability to adapt to repeated endurance efforts during swimming is limited. We echocardiographically assessed the impact of an exhausting and repetitive swimming effort on cardiac activity.Materials: Fourteen well-trained amateur swimmers (8 female swimmers aged 16–43 years and 6 male swimmers aged 13–67 years old) participated in an ultramarathon relay. Over 5 days, swimmers swam 500 km in the Warta River (in 5-km intervals). Each swimmer swam seven intervals, each within 44:46 to 60:02 min. Objective difficulties included low water temperatures, strong winds, rain, and night conditions.Methods: Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) was performed three times: at baseline (the day before exertion), at peak effort, and during recovery (48 h after the event). The heart rate (HR) of each swimmer was monitored.Results: Swimmers completed the ultramarathon relay within approximately 91 h. The average HR value at the end of each interval was 91% HRmax. TTE test results showed no significant changes indicative of deterioration of myocardial function at peak effort or after 48 h. Significant increases in left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction, LV fractional shortening (LVFS), LV myocardial systolic velocity, and right ventricular (RV) fractional area changes observed on day 2 after swimming were compared to baseline values and peak effort values. No significant changes in diastolic heart function were observed.Conclusion: Echocardiography assessment indicated that prolonged intense swimming does not affect LV or RV function. Supercompensation of the post-event RV function and increased global LV systolic function demonstrated ventricular interaction after prolonged intense swimming

Tax Evasion as an Ethical Issue From the Point of View of the Students of Lodz

According to the Catholic Social Teaching, tax evasion is ethically reprehensible and people who do it commit sin. The Catholic Church based its opinion first of all on the Holy Scripture (the teaching of Jesus, St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s). Also pope John Paul II, primate of Poland Stefan cardinal Wyszyński and Joseph cardinal Höffner objected to tax frauds. The survey was conducted among the students of the University of Lodz and of the Medical University of Lodz. Its aim was to examine the students’ opinion about tax evasion. The students’ answers were grouped with regard to church attendance in order to trace if there exists a correlation between church attendance and tax morality. Statistical analysis indicated a connection between church attendance and tax morality. The highest tax morality was noticed in the group of regularly practising Catholics, a bit smaller in the non-practising or unbelieving group of people and the least tax morality was noticed among the irregularly practising group of Catholics. According to the students’ opinion, the main reason to pay taxes is for fear of financial sanction. Among other reasons the respondents listed that it is a national duty or that it is necessary to cover national expenditures. It is optimistic, however, that most of the students declared to pay the taxes fairly, if they run their own corporations in the future

Trwanie życia Polaków na tle innych krajów słowiańskich. Od epoki prehistorycznej po współczesność

Szacuje się, iż trwanie życia ludzi żyjących w gromadach pierwotnych wynosiło przeciętnie od 15 do 30 lat. Istotny progres stwierdzono dopiero w połowie XIX wieku, ponieważ jeszcze w okresie od XVI do XVIII wieku kształtowało się ono na poziomie od 25 do 35 lat. Od połowy XIX wieku obserwowany jest niemal liniowy wzrost trwania życia ludzi i obecnie wynosi ponad 72 lata (w skali świata), przy silnym zróżnicowaniu regionalnym (w Japonii i Szwajcarii wynosi blisko 85 lat, zaś w Lesotho czy Somalii nie przekracza 60 lat). Niemniej jednak wybuch światowej pandemii COVID-19 boleśnie przypomniał światu, że obserwowany liniowy wzrost trwania życia nie jest zagwarantowany na stałe