Early Rehabilitation Programs Improve Pain and Disability in Patients with Lumbar Disc Protrusion: A Prospective Controlled Study

Low back pain is a common problem in the active population, and the second reason for visiting a physician. In patients with lumbar disc protrusion, the nucleus pulposus bulges against the disc and the latter protrudes into the spinal column, but the annulus fibrosus remains intact. The purpose of this study was to prove that starting an early complex rehabilitation treatment results into pain and disability reduction, and increased muscle strength and mobility in patients with lumbar disc protrusions. We performed a prospective cohort study, enrolling 60 patients (25 men and 35 women) aged between 26 to 76 years, diagnosed with lumbar disc protrusion. Patients in the experimental group registered significant improvements in all studied variables (pain, mobility, muscle strength, disability) after 6 months of treatment. The results of our study suggest that, in the lumbar disc disease, a combined rehabilitation program may be more effective in terms of pain and disability reduction, if it starts early after diagnosis. The current study proves the importance of combining electrotherapy with hydrotherapy and physical therapy. Patients who received this treatment combination showed an extremely significant improvement in pain relief, and reduction of functional disability after 6 months of treatment.

Applying Metaheuristics to Minimize Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders

This article covers the topic of planning and organization of work, which is one of the biggest problems is to establish the most appropriate allocations between human and technical resources, according to the characteristics that define and characterize each individual. These adjustments to decision-making regarding the characteristics of a new larger workforce is a challenge for human resource managers and researchers working to provide well-being and quality of life improvements for employees. The problem of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, coupled with the aging of the active population, may increase the number of citizens with permanent disabilities. Given the complexity and uniqueness of the problems, a decision support system that uses some metaheuristic approaches is presented. The result is a hybrid approach that gives the best solution according to several parameters defined by the decision-maker. Computational results of real problem instances are presented, proving that in most cases, the optimal solution is achieved.

Sexually Transmitted Infections in Pediatrics

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) disproportionately affect young people, with more than half of the infections occurring in 15- to 25-year-olds, although as an age group they constitute only 25% of the sexually active population. Adolescents have been considered as a key and vulnerable population; adolescents are considered as marginalized populations (i.e., poor access to adequate health services, social and parental acceptance, stigmatization, among others. Every year, 87 million new cases of gonorrhea are reported worldwide in the population from 15 to 49 years old. In 2016, the estimated global prevalence of CT in 15-to 49-year-old women was 3.8% and in men 2.7%, with regional values ranging from 1.5 to 7.0% in women and 1.2 to 4.0% in men. The worldwide prevalence of HSV-2 among 15–49-year old is 11.3% and for HSV-1 among 0–49-year-old is 67%. These numbers alert us about the increase in the frequency of these diseases among young populations; more open sexual behavior could be an important factor for this increase; the treatment of these diseases is challenging due to the difficulties with detection and treatment; in the case of gonorrhea, it could become a major public health problem due to the emerging antimicrobial resistance; in the case of Chlamydia, despite the effective treatment, reinfection is still a possibility and for genital herpes, the disease can be controlled but not cured. This chapter will describe the most important aspects of these three diseases for supporting the clinicians and researchers about the management of sexually transmitted diseases in the adolescent population.

Hydrodynamic flow and concentration gradients in the gut enhance neutral bacterial diversity

The gut microbiota features important genetic diversity, and the specific spatial features of the gut may shape evolution within this environment. We investigate the fixation probability of neutral bacterial mutants within a minimal model of the gut that includes hydrodynamic flow and resulting gradients of food and bacterial concentrations. We find that this fixation probability is substantially increased, compared with an equivalent well-mixed system, in the regime where the profiles of food and bacterial concentration are strongly spatially dependent. Fixation probability then becomes independent of total population size. We show that our results can be rationalized by introducing an active population, which consists of those bacteria that are actively consuming food and dividing. The active population size yields an effective population size for neutral mutant fixation probability in the gut.

A study of the degree of customer satisfaction with hotel services during COVID

The purpose of the article is to develop proposals to increase the degree of satisfaction of hotel services consumers during COVID among residents of Kazakhstan and Russia. The article examines the issues of service, service, cost and quality of services of hotel enterprises, including measures to counteract coronavirus infection. Marketing research was conducted in the third quarter of 2021, the methodology for determining the degree of satisfaction consisted of six stages. The research results have shown that, despite the existing mobility restrictions in the studied countries, the economically active population feels the need for attractive emotions, rest, and a change of scenery. The survey data showed that the epidemiological situation in the examined countries impacted tourist trips over the past year and a half. The respondents noted the need to comply with health safety measures. The choice of recreation and accommodation facilities was influenced by the cost of PCR analysis, especially for families traveling with children, and the availability of a vaccination passport. Also, in the conditions of COVID, the choice of consumers was made in favor of personal vehicles. This period has increased the demand for domestic tourism facilities. However, most previous consumers’ requirements for services have remained the same – for quality of service, cost, and friendly attitude. The respondents attributed to the key factors: hotel location, clean rooms, and quality of food. 85% of respondents are satisfied with the hotel services and measures of safe stay. Conclusions and recommendations based on the study findings can be applied by the enterprises providing hotel and catering services.

Amount and type of physical activity and sports from one year forward after hip or knee arthroplasty—A systematic review

Introduction After rehabilitation following total hip or knee arthroplasty (THA/TKA), patients are advised to participate in physical activity (PA) and sports. However, profound insight into whether people adopt a physically active lifestyle is lacking. Aim is to gain insight into the performed amount and type of PA (including sports) and time spent sedentarily by persons after THA/TKA. Methods A systematic review (PROSPERO: CRD42020178556). Pubmed, Cinahl, EMBASE and PsycInfo were systematically searched for articles reporting on amount of PA, and on the kind of activities performed between January 1995-January 2021. Quality of the articles was assessed with the adapted tool from Borghouts et al. Results The search retrieved 5029 articles, leading to inclusion of 125 articles reporting data of 123 groups; 53 articles reported on subjects post-THA, 16 on post-hip-resurfacing arthroplasty, 40 on post-TKA, 15 on post-unicompartimental knee arthroplasty and 12 on a mix of arthroplasty types. With respect to quality assessment, 14 articles (11%) met three or fewer criteria, 29 (24%) met four, 32 (26%) met five, 42 (34%) met six, and 6 (5%) met seven out of the eight criteria. PA levels were comparable for THA and TKA, showing a low to moderately active population. Time spent was mostly of low intensity. Roughly 50% of -subjects met health-enhancing PA guidelines. They spent the largest part of their day sedentarily. Sports participation was relatively high (rates above 70%). Most participation was in low-impact sports at a recreational level. Roughly speaking, participants were engaged in sports 3 hours/week, consisting of about three 1-hour sessions. Conclusion Activity levels seem to be low; less than half of them seemed to perform the advised amount of PA following health-enhancing guidelines Sports participation levels were high. However, many articles were unclear about the definition of sports participation, which could have led to overestimation.

Relationships between Socioeconomic Indicators and Motor Performance of Schoolchildren in Slovakia

Physical inactivity is currently a significant problem in Western societies. Among the many factors that affect the amount of physical activity in children, socioeconomic status, the type of school, and the area where they live can play a major role in physical development. A total of 31,620 children (6.3 ± 0.53 years; 15,726 boys; 15,893 girls), representing 55.6 % of the entire Slovak population of first graders, participated in eight motor performance (MP) tests, the results of which were correlated with somatic parameters (body height, body weight, and body mass index (BMI)) and socioeconomic indicators (SEIs) within the children’s respective territorial regions. The largest correlations were observed between MP and unemployment rate (r = −0.802) and between MP and economically active population with primary education (r = −0.807). Other correlations between MP and SEIs were also found at the level of self-governing regions (r = 0.995) and districts (r = 0.551). SEIs and MP were strongly correlated, indicating that children who grow up in better socioeconomic environments display greater MP. Therefore, national and local governments should provide tangible and intangible resources to enable the proper development of children’s MP {XE “Rodina”}.

The Effects of a Single Bout of Soccer Heading of Single and Dual-Task Tandem Gait in Collegiate Recreationally Active Individuals

Introduction: The understanding of subconcussive impacts is limited with few assessments to determine effects in a recreationally active population due to existing tests being static and unidimensional. Methods: This study investigated the effects of 10 soccer headers on pre and post-test measurements of patient reported outcome measures and single and dual-task tandem gait of 12 recreationally active college-aged participants. Results: No changes due to the heading session were observed; however, there was a detectable learning effect with participants walking faster and committing more gait errors but less cognitive errors. Conclusion: A bout of soccer heading may not pose an immediate risk to dynamic postural control and cognitive function.

Sustainable Mobility Issues of Physically Active University Students: The Case of Serres, Greece

The mobility practices of students are largely dictated by their respective educational obligations. Students of physical education are an ostensibly physically active population, whose active lifestyle may include active travel. University student mobility research calls for behavioral approaches to ground relevant interventions. This work investigated the sustainability practices in the student community of the Physical Education Department in Serres, a medium-sized Greek city. Moreover, this paper aimed to shed light on the gender differences in the physical activity levels of 259 students, as well as their respective differences in mobility practices. A novel questionnaire, based on Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior and Godin–Shephard’s approach to physical activity, was used. The results confirmed higher levels of physical activity in male students, although their attitude toward physical activity was less positive than that of their female classmates. Further positive attitudes in women were recorded toward sustainable mobility choices, although the evidence demonstrated a similar gap between the answers of the two genders. Car possession was higher in men, whereas car purchase intention was slightly lower in women, who had a lower income in general. Moreover, income impacted gender mobility preferences. Recommendations can be guided by students’ sports preferences and can be gender-sensitive, taking income into account.

REVIEW AND REASSESSMENT THE RADIUS OF PEDESTRIAN ACCESSIBILITY TO CATERING ESTABLISHMENTS

This article deals with the issues regarding the accommodation of catering establishments in a residential area and to ensure pedestrian accessibility to them to save time and reduce the load on the city's transport system. It is based on a three-stage service system and the average walking speed of the economically active population. To solve the unsatisfactory location of catering establishments in a residential area, a formula for calculating the service radius for each type of catering establishment, and classify catering establishments into fast, leisure, and mixed types are proposed. To conclude, with the implementation of the attached calculations in urban planning, the location of types of catering establishments in the residential area could solve the set goals.