RELATIONS OF MOTOR ABILITY OF BALANCE AND SUCCESS OF PERFORMANCE OF GYMNASTICS ELEMENTS ON THE FLOOR EXERCISE

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between motor ability for balance and the performance of selected gymnastic elements on the floor in students aged 7-8 years, to provide an overview of the current motor status of the respondents at this age, and to develop suggestions for possible changes in the curriculum at this age, and to develop suggestions for supplementing training methodology. Training of selected gymnastics elements was conducted on a sample of 42 subjects who had no previous experience in performing gymnastics elements during regular physical education classes, and the predictor variable was tested using four tests assessing motor balance ability. The tests assessing motor balance ability showed a statistically significant predictive value for the performance of all three gymnastics exercises. It is noticeable that the value of the prediction model increased the more complex an item was derived, indicating the complexity of the motor balance space and the high and stable level of the same in the subjects at the time of testing. Regarding the tests used, it can be noted that the test FLAM was significantly involved in the prediction of performance success in all three gymnastic elements, while the other two tests showed their predictive value in the execution of the hand stand. On the other hand, the study shows that the gymnastic elements used should be used in physical education classes to contribute to the promotion and development of all motor skills of students and as part of the preparation for the execution of more complex elements on the floor and apparatus in higher grades.

Cross-transfer of motor control in visuomotor tasks. Systematic review

Introduction: The term “cross-education” describes the perfomance improvement, both in motor control and strength, of a limb after training the opposite. Despite its current interest, there is no consensus on many concepts of the transfer of a visuomotor skill. The aim of the present research was to review the current literature on the phenomenon of cross-education in visuomotor skills in order to determine the magnitude of transference and its relationships with the context of the intervention. Results: A literature search was conducted during December 2019 in the databases Pubmed, CINAHL, MEDLINE, Web of Science, SPORTdiscus and Scopus. The descriptors “Motor ability” and “Motor skill” were used, in addition to the keywords “Motor control”, “skill”, “Task”, “cross over effect”, “cross exercise”, “contralateral learning”, “inter limb transfer “,” cross transfer “,” cross education “. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 19 articles were obtained for analysis. Of these articles, 12 are RCTs, 4 crossover clinical trial, 2 are non-randomized trials and only 1 lacks a control group. Most of the articles consist of a short-term intervention. Only 5 studies are of a duration of between 4 and 6 weeks. Conclusion: the cross-education phenomenon occurs in visuomotor skills. However, the magnitude of transference and its relation to the amount of learning of the trained member seems to be very variable depending on the context of the intervention. Likewise, the scarce consensus and the methodological differences in the studies make it difficult to draw firm conclusions about the effects of the context on the transference.

THE PHENOMENON OF PLAY IN THE CONTEXT OF THEATRICAL AND STAGE ART: TO THE PROBLEM OF UNDERSTANDING

The article analyzes the main approaches to the study of the phenomenon of play, highlighting the key research positions on the way to identify the essence of this phenomenon. In most studies, the phenomenon of play is considered as a cultural universal and the main source of human cultural activity. In this regard, the main aim of this article is to consider the phenomenon of play as a necessary component of musical art, highlighting the importance of play logic in musical and stage genres. Consequently, the triad of the concepts of play – composition – motor ability, forms a single conceptual field, which contributes to the identification of the features of the ways of formation of music. Moreover, in this triad, it is the third component – motor ability – that appears as the first manifestation of the play purpose of the artistic form, which in turn is a manifestation of the inner drama and psychological subtext of the composition, which correlates it with stage and theatrical action, the phenomenon of theatricality, which acquires special relevance in musical art in general, and opera forms in particular.

Motor Ability and Mental Health of Young Children: A Longitudinal Study

This study used a longitudinal method to investigate relations between motor abilities and mental health in young children. We analyzed longitudinal data of 38 Japanese children who were 3–6 years old. We administered the Movement Assessment Battery for Children–Second edition (MABC2) and Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) at 3–4 years and 5–6 years of age: MABC2 was used to evaluate each child’s motor ability; SDQ was used to assess the degree of their mental health difficulties and prosocial behavior. Logistic regression results indicated that the MABC2 score at 3–4 years can predict the risk of motor skill impairments at 5–6 years (adjusted odds ratio was 0.354). Motor ability assessed at 3–4 years, however, did not predict the risk of mental health problems at 5–6 years. Analyses of longitudinal quantitative changes in motor ability and mental health confirmed these results. Mental health problems that occurred at 5–6 years were related only to individual SDQ score differences at 3–4 years. The MABC2 total score at 3–4 years was not related to later prosocial behavior. Boys tended to obtain a lower MABC2 score at 5–6 years. Girls tended to obtain a higher SDQ prosocial score at 5–6 years. Results of this study suggest that motor skill impairment and SDQ-measured mental health are independent characteristics in young Japanese children aged 3–6 years.

A New Method to Develop the Primate Model of Knee Osteoarthritis With Focal Cartilage Defect

Objective: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative joint disease, and animal models have proven pivotal in investigating this disease. This study aimed to develop a primate model of OA that may be more relevant to research studies on OA in humans.Method: Twelve female rhesus macaques were randomly divided into three groups. Four animals were untreated (Control group); four were subjected to the modified Hulth method, involving cutting of the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments, and transecting the meniscus (Hulth group); and four were subjected to the modified Hulth method combined with cartilage defect (MHCD group). Each primate was subjected to motor ability tests, and underwent arthroscopic, radiographic, morphological, and pathological observation of the knee joints at various times for up to 180 days.Results: Motor ability on Day 180 was significantly lower in the MHCD group than in the Control (p＜0.01) and Hulth (p＜0.05) groups. Radiographic and morphological examination showed that the severity of knee joint deformity and articular cartilage injury were greater in the MHCD group than in the other groups. Pathological examination showed that cartilage thickness was significantly lower in the MHCD group than in the other groups at the same time points. The Mankin score on Day 180 was markedly higher in the MHCD group than in the Hulth (p＜0.05) and Control (p＜0.001) groups.Conclusion: The MHCD model of OA closely resembles the pathophysiological processes of spontaneous knee OA in humans. The time required to develop knee OA is shorter using the MHCD model than using the Hulth method.