Recent trends in teaching Astronomy

The purpose of the Department of Physics's close association with the Gothard Observatory is to provide a foundation in basic astronomy and astrophysics during 3 semesters in Berzsenyi Daniel Teacher Training College for future Hungarian Elementary School teachers who will teach pupils to age 14 years. The courses of lectures include: Solar System, Sun, Stars, Stellar Interiors and Atmospheres, Astronomical Techniques, Extragalactic Astronomy, Cosmology. Students have outstanding opportunities to learn and to apply in their research the development of instrumentation, and the techniques of observation with telescopes. Excellent modern computing facilities for support of data analysis and theoretical work are available at Gothard Observatory. Library facilities contain a wealth of astronomical reference materials. Students have direct access to many facilities of the Department and Observatory.     

Knowledge of general practitioners on dementia and mild cognitive impairment: a cross-sectional,questionnaire study from Hungary

General practitioners (GPs) play a pivotal role in dementia recognition, yet research suggests that dementia often remains undetected in primary care. Lack of knowledge might be a major contributing factor to low recognition rates. Our objective was to address a gap in the scientific literature by exploring GPs’ knowledge on dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) for the first time in Hungary by conducting a cross-sectional, questionnaire study among practicing GPs. Recruitment of the participants (n = 402) took place at mandatory postgraduate training courses and at national GP-conferences; the applied questionnaire was self-administered and contained both open-ended and fixed-response questions.

Results showed that GPs highlighted vascular and metabolic factors (38.3% of the answer items) and unhealthy lifestyle (29.1% of the answer items) as dementia risk factors. They perceived vascular dementia as the most common dementia form, followed by Alzheimer’s disease. Almost half of the respondents (44.9%) were not familiar with MCI. Most GPs identified memory problems (98.4%) and personality change (83.2%) as the leading symptoms of dementia.

In summary, GPs demonstrated adequate knowledge on areas more relevant to their practices and scope of duties (risk and preventive factors, main types and symptoms of dementia); however, uncertainties were uncovered regarding epidemiology, MCI, and pharmacological therapy. As only one-fifth (19.4%) of the GPs could participate recently in dementia-focused trainings, continued education might be beneficial to improve dementia detection rates in primary care.