Adolescent sexual initiation through the lens of letters to the editor published in Polish teenage magazines

Almost all teenage magazines invite readers to submit questions concerning relationships, published as letters to the editor, popularly called ‘advice columns’, often containing explicit questions about sexuality. This study aims to examine, firstly, how themes related to sexual initiation are presented in letters to the editor published in Polish magazines and, secondly, how these themes are reflective of Poland's socio-cultural climate. These aims are achieved through thematic data analysis and by presenting an in-depth history of teenage magazines in Poland. In order of prevalence, the presented themes include entering into a general dialogue focused on sexual activity, eliminating the long-term (e.g. unplanned pregnancy) and short-term (e.g. rejection by one's partner) consequences of sexual activity, establishing ideal circumstances for sexual initiation, and, as a transition stage, meeting needs relevant only to those who have already initiated sexual activity. Although by no means exclusive, these findings offer some insight into adolescent sexual initiation, reflective of Poland's socio-cultural climate, where adolescent sexuality remains a taboo topic and teenage magazines may be viewed by certain groups of adolescents as a resource for supplementing existing sexual education.     

Teaching Multimedia Documents to LIS Students

Multimedia documents (MMDs) are connected to education in two different ways: future professionals have to be educated to perform the complex task of multimedia creation, and multimedia is also successfully used in various phases of the educational process. This paper focuses on education for multimedia from the point of view of four of its different aspects: technology, design, purpose and content. The present status of education for multimedia is illustrated by an analysis of the academic scene in Serbia and neighboring countries, as well as through some other illustrative examples. The results of this analysis show that the content aspect of multimedia is covered mainly in the Library and Information Science (LIS) curricula. We present the place of the obligatory course Multimedia Document in the LIS curriculum at the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade. It is organized as a team project of a whole generation of students in the last year of their studies, where each generation has to tackle a different topic important from the perspective of preservation of cultural heritage and present it in a multimedia form. In this paper, we show how successful this approach has been, both from teachers' and students' point of view.     

Is an integrative laboratory algorithm more effective in detecting alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency in patients with premature chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than AAT concentration based screening approach?

Introduction:

Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), genetic risk factor for premature chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), often remains undetected. The aim of our study was to analyse the effectiveness of an integrative laboratory algorithm for AATD detection in patients diagnosed with COPD by the age of 45 years, in comparison with the screening approach based on AAT concentration measurement alone.

Subjects and methods:

50 unrelated patients (28 males/22 females, age 52 (24–75 years) diagnosed with COPD before the age of 45 years were enrolled. Immunonephelometric assay for alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) and PCR-reverse hybridization for Z and S allele were first-line, and isoelectric focusing and DNA sequencing (ABI Prism BigDye) were reflex tests.

Results:

AATD associated genotypes were detected in 7 patients (5 ZZ, 1 ZM_malton, 1 ZQ0_amersfoort), 10 were heterozygous carriers (8 MZ and 2 MS genotypes) and 33 were without AATD (MM genotype). Carriers and patients without AATD had comparable AAT concentrations (P = 0.125). In majority of participants (48) first line tests were sufficient to analyze AATD presence. In two remaining cases reflex tests identified rare alleles, M_malton and Q0_amersfoort, the later one being reported for the first time in Serbian population. Detection rate did not differ between algorithm and screening both for AATD (P = 0.500) and carriers (P = 0.063).

Conclusion:

There is a high prevalence of AATD affected subjects and carriers in a group of patients with premature COPD. The use of integrative laboratory algorithm does not improve the effectiveness of AATD detection in comparison with the screening based on AAT concentration alone.     

DIRECT OBSERVATIONS OF CHILDREN AT RISK FOR ACADEMIC FAILURE: BENEFITS OF AN INTERGENERATIONAL VISITING PROGRAM

Ten elementary school students in need of a positive self-image and/or a sense of appropriate social conduct took part in a monthly intergenerational visiting program at an assisted living facility. In comparison to systematic observations obtained in their classrooms, the children were observed to be significantly less anxious, more interested, and participating more during the intergenerational program. Outcomes of a focus group with five seniors revealed that they had enjoyed the program and wanted it to continue. School administrators may want to consider intergenerational visiting programs for students whose behaviors place them at risk for academic failure.     

Hurdle preflight in springboard diving: a case of diminishing returns

Attempts to increase dive height by introducing a period of flight in the final approach step preceding the hurdle of dives from forward and reverse groups were investigated. One study involved 11 collegiate-level divers experienced in both traditional and hurdle preflight techniques. In a second study, dives executed by 9 national-level women were compared. Dives with a hurdle preflight had shorter final approach steps and greater hurdle flight durations. Flight time differences in favor of hurdle preflight techniques diminished from final approach step through hurdle flight to dive flight. Although the collegiate-level divers had longer dive flight times when using a hurdle preflight, it was suggested that the costs of these techniques may outweigh their potential benefits.     

Indirect reference intervals for haematological parameters in capillary blood of pre-school children

IntroductionIndirect estimation of reference intervals (RIs) is straightforward and inexpensive procedure for determination of intra-laboratory RIs. We applied the indirect approach to assess RIs for haematological parameters in capillary blood of pre-school children, using results stored in our laboratory database.Materials and methodsWe extracted data from laboratory information system, for the results obtained by automatic haematology analyser in capillary blood of 154 boys and 146 girls during pre-school medical examination. Data distribution was tested, and logarithmic transformation was applied if needed. Reference intervals were calculated by the nonparametric percentile method.ResultsReference intervals were calculated for: RBC count (4.2-5.4 x10¹²/L), haemoglobin (114-146 g/L), MCH (25.0-29.4 pg), MCHC (321-368 g/L), RDW-SD (36.1-43.5 fL), WBC count (4.5-12.3 x10⁹/L), neutrophils count (1.7-6.9 x10⁹/L) and percentage (29.0-69.0%), lymphocytes count (1.6-4.4 x10⁹/L) and percentage (21.9-60.7%), PLT (165-459 x10⁹/L), MPV (8.1-11.4 fL) and PDW (9.2-14.4%). Gender specific RIs were calculated for monocytes count (male (M): 0.2-1.6 x10⁹/L; female (F): 0.1-1.4 x10⁹/L) and percentage (M: 2.5-18.3%; F: 1.8-16.7%), haematocrit (M: 0.34-0.42 L/L; F: 0.34-0.43 L/L), MCV (M: 73.4-84.6 fL; F: 75.5-84.2 fL) and RDW (M: 12.1-14.3%; F: 11.7-13.9%), due to observed gender differences in these parameters (P = 0.031, 0.028, 0.020, 0.012 and 0.001; respectively). Estimated RIs markedly varied from the literature based RIs that are used in the laboratory.ConclusionsIndirect method employed in this study enables straightforward assessment of RIs in pre-school children. Herein derived RIs differed from the literature-based ones, indicating the need for intra-laboratory determination of RIs for specific populations and sample types.     

Desirability of personal characteristics associated with creativity: Through the eyes of Polish and Chinese university students

The social desirability of characteristics associated with creativity and cultural stereotypes was examined across Polish and Chinese cultures. Polish responses were compared with those from an earlier Chinese study (n = 451). First, we carried out an initial study among 116 Polish students to determine what traits are parts of the national stereotype. Then we sought answers from another set of Poles (n = 610) as to what traits were, first, creative and, secondly, desirable. To analyze the responses we first ranked the traits that both Polish and Chinese students found desirable and then compared the desirable traits across cultures with traits known to be trademarks of creativity. As expected, we found differences between the two samples arising from underlying social origins in that: (a) Poles desired more creative traits and more western traits, whereas Chinese desired more Confucianism based traits and less creative traits; and (b) both Poles and Chinese found creativity traits are desirable albeit Poles found them more desirable than Chinese. An interesting side note is that Poles, unlike Chinese, do not take a positive view of their cultural traits.     

The role of CRP and inflammation in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a complex, degenerative and progressive disease involving the multiple genetic and environmental factors that can result in severe visual loss. The etiology of AMD is not well understood. Many theories exist and feature mechanisms of oxidative stress, atherosclerotic-like changes, genetic predisposition and inflammation. The most recent clinical studies appointed to a great role of inflammation and C-reactive protein (CRP) in the pathogenesis of AMD. There is a large body of evidence indicating the association of CRP with endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), as well as with lipid status disorder in AMD patients. According to recent studies, CRP is definitely not only the inflammatory marker but also a mediator of development of the vascular disorders in the retinal circulation. The results obtained from the present studies may help our understanding the pathogenesis of the retinal vascular disease associated with high levels of CRP.