A-trait and risk-taking behavior in predicting injury severity among martial arts athletes.

Introduction: Trait anxiety (A-trait) can be seen as a multiplicative function of the person-situation interaction. Considering risk-taking behavior (R-TB), literature highlights instrumental and stimulating risk. The aim of the research is to investigate the level of A-trait (in physically dangerous conditions and in new, unusual situations) and the level of R-TB (instrumental and stimulating risk) in athletes, and to verify to what extent A-trait and risk-taking behavior predict injury severity. Materials and methods: One hundred and fifty-four senior martial arts athletes from grappling combat sports, striking combat sports and mixed martial artists (MMA) participated in the study. For assessing trait anxiety and risk-taking behavior, the Romanian adaptation of the Endler Multidimensional Anxiety Scales (EMAS), respectively the Romanian adaptation of the Makarowski's Stimulating and Instrumental Risk Questionnaire were used. Results: Using multivariate analysis of variance, significant differences between athletes (according to the sports disciplines practiced), in terms of A-trait and R-TB, were examined. Next, we checked the existing correlations between injury severity, A-trait and R-TB scores in athletes practicing striking combat sports, grappling combat sports and MMA. To verify whether there are significant differences in terms of trait anxiety, stimulating and instrumental risk between athletes who have suffered mild, moderate and/or severe injuries and athletes who have suffered only minor/mild injuries, t-Test for Independent Samples was used. Binomial logistic regression procedures were, also, performed, predicting athletes' likelihood of injury, based on R-TB and A-trait. Conclusion: A moderate or slightly below average level of anxiety in new, unusual situations and a higher level of instrumental risk are linked with a decreased likelihood of severe injuries in athletes. Martial arts athletes (in entire sample) who have suffered more severe injuries are more adrenaline-seeking in competition and use less rational thinking, taking more pleasure in just performing technical executions, regardless of the outcome.

The Personality and Resilience of Competitive Athletes as BMW Drivers-Data from India, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain.

BACKGROUND: Individual differences in personality and resilience are related to a variety of social behaviors. The current study sought to answer the question of whether BMW drivers exhibit different personality profiles and resilience levels compared with drivers of other car brands. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: An international study was carried out in India, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain on a sample of 448 athletes using the 20-item Mini-IPIP and the Resilience Scale. The results of BMW drivers (n = 91) were compared with the results of drivers of other German car brands (n = 357). RESULTS: BMW drivers were characterized by higher neuroticism compared with drivers of other German car brands. They also showed higher resiliency, both in terms of total score and scores on the subscales of: personal coping competences and tolerance of negative emotions, tolerance of failures and perceiving life as a challenge, and optimistic attitude towards life and capacity for self-mobilization in difficult situations. The greatest difference was observed for the factor of tolerance of failures and perceiving life as a challenge. Using the Dwass-Steel-Critchlow-Fligner (DSCF) pairwise comparison test, gender differences between athletes (as BMW drivers and drivers of other German car brands, respectively) were discussed. Additionally, the results of the main logistic regression analyses emphasized that neuroticism represents a better predictor of BMW preference in the case of athletes (as drivers) than the scores obtained for resilience. CONCLUSIONS: BMW drivers differed from drivers of other German car brands only with regard to neuroticism. A higher level of neuroticism can affect mental health and the overall quality of life in athletes; aggression and distress management are essential. Athletes (as BMW drivers) also showed differences in resiliency levels. Understanding the mechanisms of behavior among BMW drivers is possible through considering their personality and individual differences.

Coping Strategies and Perceiving Stress among Athletes during Different Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic-Data from Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has affected numerous aspects of human functioning. Social contacts, work, education, travel, and sports have drastically changed during the lockdown periods. The pandemic restrictions have severely limited professional athletes' ability to train and participate in competitions. For many who rely on sports as their main source of income, this represents a source of intense stress. To assess the dynamics of perceived stress as well as coping strategies during different waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, we carried out a longitudinal study using the Perception of Stress Questionnaire and the Brief COPE on a sample of 2020 professional athletes in Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. The results revealed that in all three countries, the highest intrapsychic stress levels were reported during the fourth wave (all, p < 0.01) and the highest external stress levels were reported before the pandemic (p < 0.05). To analyze the data, analyses of variance were carried out using Tukey's post hoc test and η2 for effect size. Further, emotional tension was the highest among Polish and Slovak athletes in the fourth wave, while the highest among Romanian athletes was in the pre-pandemic period. The coping strategies used by the athletes in the fourth wave were more dysfunctional than during the first wave (independent t test and Cohen's d were used). The dynamics of the coping strategies­emotion focused and problem focused­were also discussed among Polish, Romanian, and Slovak athletes. Coaches and sports psychologists can modify the athletes' perceived stress while simultaneously promoting effective coping strategies.

Resilience and Subjectively Experienced Stress Among Paramedics Prior to and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: Paramedics play a vital role in the healthcare system by providing professional support in situations of direct threat to patient health and life. They experience numerous difficulties during their work, which result in occupational stress. During the COVID-19 pandemic, their work has become even more demanding. The aim of the current study was to examine the role of resilience in the subjective experience of stress among paramedics during the COVID-19 pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was carried out in two phases, in October-November 2019 (N = 75) and in May-June 2020 (N = 84), using the Sense of Stress Questionnaire (Skala Poczucia Stresu) and the Resilience Scale (Skala Pomiaru Preznosci). RESULTS: Paramedics exhibited higher intrapsychic stress before the COVID-19 pandemic. Tolerance of failure and treating life as a challenge were higher during the pandemic, in contrast to optimism and the ability to mobilize in difficult situations. Paramedics who were in contact with patients with COVID-19 experienced higher stress. Perseverance and determination, openness to new experiences and sense of humor, as well as competences and tolerance of negative emotions were revealed to play a key part in mitigating subjectively experienced stress. CONCLUSION: Paramedics' subjectively experienced stress was lower during the COVID-19 pandemic. Paramedics who were in direct contact with patients with COVID-19 experienced higher stress. They had sufficient psychological resources, in the form of resilience (perseverance and determination, openness to new experiences, sense of humor, and competences and tolerance of negative emotions), which allowed them to cope with the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stress among nurses from countries variously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic - results collected in Poland and Iran.

BACKGROUND: Nursing involves numerous stressful situations, such as overwork, night shifts, responsibility for the patients' health, rapid pace of work, emotional demands, contact with suffering individuals, and patients' aggressive behaviors. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is an additional demand on the already demanding profession. Thus, the aim of the current study was to assess the character of the relationship between overwork and subjectively experienced stress, taking into account the moderating role of contact with patients and work in facilities dedicated for COVID-19 patients, and the strategies of coping with stress, including resilience, in countries affected by the pandemic to various degrees. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was carried out on 151 Iranian and 158 Polish nurses at the beginning of June 2020. The following research tools were used: the Overwork Climate Scale, the Brief COPE, the Resilience Scale, and the Perception of Stress Questionnaire. The participants were also asked about their contacts with patients infected with COVID-19, and work in facilities dedicated for such patients. RESULTS: Polish and Iranian nurses reported similar levels of overwork, but they differed with respect to the level of subjectively experienced stress and they used different coping strategies to various degrees. Contact with patients infected with COVID-19 and work in facilities dedicated for such patients also moderated the relationship between overwork climate and resilience. CONCLUSIONS: Stress levels among Iranian and Polish nurses during the pandemic are different and are related to the intensity of contact with patients infected with COVID-19. Culture and context have an important impact on coping strategies which requires further studies with a multinational approach. Med Pr. 2021;72(5):457-65.

Stress dynamics in long-term isolation at sea. A demographic variables model.

The current article describes a naturalistic research programme carried out among fishermen during a 6-month expedition to the southern Atlantic Ocean. Stress levels of 81 participants were measured 4 times during the expedition. Social-demographic variables (age, years of experience at sea, job satisfaction, education, current and childhood place of residence, relationship status) were also included in the analysis. Results show that these variables should be considered when analysing stress dynamics among people experiencing long-term work-related isolation.

The Human Factor in Maritime Transport: Personality and Aggression Levels of Master Mariners and Navigation Students.

The current study sought to identify groups of navigation students and master mariners (captains) characterized by different constellations of the Big Five personality traits and aggression levels. We hypothesized that master mariners would exhibit the resilient personality type and that navigation students would additionally exhibit personality types other than the resilient (e.g., over- or undercontrolled). A sample of 108 navigation students (men, in their second or third year of naval school, all active athletes) and 76 master mariners took part in the study and completed the Polish version of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992; Zawadzki et al., 1998) and the Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 1992; Tucholska, 1998). The hypothesis about the resilient personality type among master mariners was confirmed. The second hypothesis about personality types other than the resilient among navigation students was also confirmed: 33% of the students exhibited the overcontrolling personality type. The article also highlights the need to include psychological assessment in naval school enrolment procedures.

[The psychological profile of pilots of passenger planes: Analysis of temperamental traits, aggression and risk]. / Profil psychologiczny pilotów samolotów pasazerskich ­ analiza temperamentu, agresji i sklonnosci do podejmowania ryzyka.

BACKGROUND: Over the years it has been assumed, that the greater the number of pilot flight hours, the better the development of problem-solving skills among pilots. Research suggests, however, that the problem is more complex than that. Not only one's experience is of importance - temperament, aggression and risk may also affect the decision-making process under stressful conditions. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We examined 97 male pilots of passenger planes, who had flew ATRs, Boeings, Airbuses, Embraers, and Saabs. The comparative group was made up of 127 graduates of technical studies (not connected with aviation). In our study, we used the following methods: the PTS (Pavlovian Temperament Survey) Temperament Questionnaire by Strelau, the Aggression Questionnaire by Buss and Perry, and the Stimulating-Instrumental Risk Inventory (SIRI) by Zaleskiewicz. RESULTS: Following the analyses we could categorize the pilots into 3 distinct groups: group 1 - strong type of nervous system with a tendency to avoid risk; group 2 - strong type of nervous system with a tendency to take risks; group 3 - the relatively weakest type of nervous system with a tendency toward aggressive behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Members of each group were analyzed to assess how they function in a task situation, i.e., whilst piloting a passenger plane. The study showed that individuals with high need for stimulation may - consciously or not - seek situations of excessive or unnecessary risks, and this is done in order to reach the right level of stimulation. A constellation of the following variables: temperament, risk, and aggression could be - we argue - useful in psychological examinations, and should be taken into account in training procedures for pilots. Med Pr 2017;68(5):639-651.

Adrenaline Instead of Amphetamine-Replacing Psychoactive Substances with Parachute Jumps.

The "Adrenaline Instead of Amphetamine" program was launched by Gdansk's MONAR association-a center for drug treatment. The purpose of the program was to show some alternatives to using psychoactive substances and to propose replacing these anti-medical behaviors with parachuting. The treatment effectiveness in this center is about 30%, and the program's effectiveness was 80%.

Speech intelligibility in cerebral palsy children attending an art therapy program.

BACKGROUND: Dysarthia is a common sequela of cerebral palsy (CP), directly affecting both the intelligibility of speech and the child's psycho-social adjustment. Speech therapy focused exclusively on the articulatory organs does not always help CP children to speak more intelligibly. The program of art therapy described here has proven to be helpful for these children. MATERIAL/METHODS: From among all the CP children enrolled in our art therapy program from 2005 to 2009, we selected a group of 14 boys and girls (average age 15.3) with severe dysarthria at baseline but no other language or cognitive disturbances. Our retrospective study was based on results from the Auditory Dysarthria Scale and neuropsychological tests for fluency, administered routinely over the 4 months of art therapy. RESULTS: All 14 children in the study group showed some degree of improvement after art therapy in all tested parameters. On the Auditory Dysarthia Scale, highly significant improvements were noted in overall intelligibility (p<0.0001), with significant improvement (p<0.001) in volume, tempo, and control of pauses. The least improvement was noted in the most purely motor parameters. All 14 children also exhibited significant improvement in fluency. CONCLUSIONS: Art therapy improves the intelligibility of speech in children with cerebral palsy, even when language functions are not as such the object of therapeutic intervention.

Application of the high-performance liquid chromatography method with coulometric detection for determination of vitamin B(6) in human plasma and serum.

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method (HPLC) with coulometric electrochemical detection has been developed and validated for the simultaneous analysis of pyridoxamine-5'-phosphate (PMP), pyridoxamine (PM), pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP), pyridoxal (PL), pyridoxine (PN) and 4-pyridoxic acid (4-PA) in human plasma and serum. The isocratic separation was achieved on C(18) column (250mmx4.6mm, I.D., 5microm) with a mobile phase consisted of 35mM sodium phosphate containing 2.5mM heptanesulfonic acid, adjusted to pH 3.2 with 85% orthophosphoric acid and 12% methanol (v/v). Within-run and between-run precisions expressed by the relative standard deviations were less than 2.7% and 7.7% for all the analysed vitamins and 4-PA, respectively. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were: 0.8 and 2.6nM, 1.1 and 3.8nM, 1.5 and 4.5nM, 1.3 and 4.2nM, 1.1 and 3.7nM, 2.1 and 6.3nM for PMP, PM, PLP, PL, PN and 4-PA, respectively. The recoveries ranged from 90.4% to 98.4%. Stability of vitamins was checked under a variety of storage conditions. The developed application demonstrated acceptable sensitivity, precision, accuracy, stability, and linearity over the physiological concentration range. The major advantage of the proposed method is its great simplicity.

[Hiperhomocysteinemia in active and passive smokers and the levels of folate and vitamin B6 in plasma]. / Hiperhomocysteinemia u osób palqcych oraz biernie narazonych na dym tytoniowy a stezenia kwasu foliowego i witaminy B6 w osoczu.

The increased plasma level of homocysteine have been shown to be the sensitive marker for the folate, vitamin B6 and cobalamins deficiency and an independent risk factor for the cardiovascular disease, neutral tube defects and a potential causal risk factor for neuropsychiatric disorders. The blood and plasma homocysteine levels except for genetic defects are influenced by age, gender, efficiency of detoxication systems, one or more unhealthy lifestyle factors, such as high alcohol consumption, low nutritional intake of vitamins, high coffee consumption, acquired disorders and lack of physical exercise. Many studies confirm that active tobacco smoking and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) have been significantly associated with hiperhomocysteinemia. In metabolic pathway of homocysteine the important role played folic acid, as a donor of methyl group in re-methylated reaction to methionine and vitamin B6. It acts as the cofactor in transsuphuration reactions of homocysteine to cystathionine and cysteine. Hence, the aim of this work was to compare the plasma folate and vitamin B6 concentrations in smokers and passive smokers with a hiperhomocysteinemia (> 15 micromol/L). It was observed that the plasma folate levels in active (n = 30) and passive smokers (n = 29) groups decrease statistically significant (P < 0.001) in comparison to non-smokers (n = 37). The calculated Spaermann's correlations coefficient of total plasma homocysteine level and plasma folate concentrations in the non-smoker group indicated a weak, statistically insignificant correlation (r = -0.103, P = 0.542). However, the above relationship in passive and active smokers were statistically significant (r = -0.495, P 0 0.01; r = -0.672, P < 0.001, respectively). The decrease of vitamin in B6 plasma was observed in all active smokers group (P < 0.01) and men smokers comparing to non-smokers (P < 0.001). There was no observed significant correlations between hiperhomocysteinemia and vitamin B6 in all studied groups. The results indicated that hiperhomocysteinemia have strong negative impact on folate levels in active and passive smokers. The tobacco smoke exposure have negative influence on the status of vitamin B6. The lack of significant correlation between increased homocysteine levels and vitamin B6 status confirmed hypothesis that hiperhomocysteinemia is not depended on vitamin B6 concentrations in plasma.

[The influence of tobacco smoking on homocysteine and glutathione levels in biological samples]. / Wplyw palenia tytoniu na poziom homocysteiny i glutationu w materiale biologicznym.

The aim of this paper was to examine the effect of tobacco smoking on the level of homocysteine and glutathione in biological samples. The study comprised 30 people, who qualified into two groups--subjects who never smoke the cigarettes (n = 10) and currently smoking (n = 20). Smoking habit were assessed by questionnaire. Cotinine (major metabolite of nicotine) was determined in urine using high-performance liquid chromatography method (HPLC) with ultraviolet detection. The biothiols: glutathione in reduced and oxidized forms and homocysteine were determined by HPLC method using coulometric electrochemical detection. The concentrations of total and free plasma homocysteine were higher in active smoker. Glutathione levels in both groups were comparable. Observed differences should be explained in the further experiment.