Quality of place as the winner of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of quality of life. Will this knowledge strengthen the development of geographical psychology?

The paper is focused on the third wave of the pandemic and its comparison with the first wave in terms of the quality of life of university students in Czechia. In the first wave, the society came together, with solidarity being a prominent manifestation. The third wave differed from the first one in medical (vaccination was already available) as well as social terms. The paper has two objectives, the first is to measure the quality of life and related variables in the third wave of the pandemic and to compare the values found in the third wave with those in the first wave of the pandemic. The second objective is to identify which of the factors related to quality of life are predictors of that quality. The hypothesis assumes different measured values of quality of life for men and women. The measurement yielded knowledge of the high value of quality of place and environmental quality, which can enrich the quality of life epistemology on the one hand and geographical psychology on the other. Trust, health, happiness, quality of place, and safety were identified as factors. The measurement revealed the finding of different quality of life values in the third and first wave of the pandemic. While quality of life values increased in the first wave compared to the pre-pandemic period, both quality of life values and factors decreased in the third wave compared to the first wave. The only exception was one factor that we consider to be a winner of the third wave of the pandemic. The factor that declined in all measurements is considered to be the loser of the third wave of the pandemic. The paper concludes with implications derived from these findings.

Adaptation Difficulties of Children at the Beginning of School Attendance Based on the Optics of Primary School Teachers.

The presented paper is devoted to finding out and analyzing the opinions of primary education teachers on the causes of the unsuccessful adaptation of current schoolchildren to the beginning of systematic education. To find out the above issues, pedagogical research was carried out at selected primary schools in Slovakia. The implementation of the research and the subsequent analysis of the research results confirmed that the length of teachers' pedagogical practice has a statistically significant effect on their views on the causes of adaptation difficulties in emotional, social, intellectual, and psychomotor areas of children's school readiness.

Social Capital as a Predictor of Quality of Life: The Czech Experience.

In the paper, we understand social capital as a variable that affects the quality of life. A variable whose change affects another variable is called a predictor. The paper is based on Putnam's understanding of social capital with the dimensions of trust, norms and networks. Trust is considered the most important dimension, and for the purposes of the paper social capital is identified with trust. Quality of life is a holistic concept with two dimensions expressing an assessment of satisfaction with life. After society became richer-in the 1960's in the West and, after the collapse of the bipolar world, also in Central and Eastern Europe-the need for quantity was replaced by the need for quality. The paper is focused on Czechia, with social capital as a predictor of quality of life being investigated geographically at the level of districts. According to the research hypothesis, social capital will have a strong influence on the quality of life of residents in Czechia, i.e., it will be its predictor. To test the validity of the research hypothesis, research was conducted. The aim of the paper is to outline the epistemology of social capital from the aspect of quality of life, description of quality of life and then to test the validity of the research hypothesis by measurements. The result of the quantification of social capital and quality of life at the level of districts and their correlation is important from an epistemological point of view for two reasons. The first is to question the generally accepted premise of the position of social capital as a strong predictor of quality of life. The second is the recognition that the premise of the position of social capital as a strong predictor of quality of life applies in the districts with the highest quality of life.

A 10-yr follow-up study for the detection of peripheral neuropathy in young patients with type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this work was to follow-up the development of diabetic neuropathy (DN) and its severity in patients with type 1 diabetes over 10 yr. Our intention was also to observe risk factor changes and verify which of them influence the development of neuropathy. The other objective was longitudinal study of electrophysiological parameters, focusing on the early diagnosis of DN. METHODS: The prospective study comprised of 62 young patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) aged 13.9 ± 5.89 yr, with diabetes duration of 5.56 ± 5.11 yr, treated with an intensified insulin regimen. All patients underwent a detailed clinical neurological examination, nerve conduction study (NCS) and biothesiometry three times (baseline, after 5 yr, after 10 yr). RESULTS: During the follow-up there was an increase in DN prevalence from 24.2% to 62.9% (p < 0.001). The proportion of patients with subclinical neuropathy increased from 17.7% to 46.8% (p < 0.001) and patients with clinical neuropathy from 6.5% to 16.1% (p < 0.001). The main contribution factors for rapid growth of the DN prevalence were poor glycaemic control, diabetes duration and patient's age. Regarding the conduction parameters, the most significant changes were observed in sural nerve SNAP amplitude (-5.2 m/s, p < 0.001) and sural nerve conduction velocity (-8.2 uV, p < 0.001). In contrast, the least significant changes were in peroneal nerve CMAP amplitude (-0.65 mV, p = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study demonstrated a progressive increase in the DN prevalence over time, in particular its subclinical stages. The long-term poor glycaemic control was a determining factor in the rapid DN development. The sensory conduction parameters deteriorated faster than the motor parameters. The present study is one of few of those in type 1 DM, which in relation to risk factors assess not only the presence of neuropathy, but also its severity. The results support the necessity of a regular diagnostic search for DN in diabetic children.

The analysis of professional competencies of a lecturer in adult education.

In this article, we present the andragogical research project and evaluation of its results using nonparametric statistical methods and the semantic differential method. The presented research was realized in the years 2012-2013 in the dissertation of I. Zeravíková: Analysis of professional competencies of lecturer and creating his competence profile (Zeravíková 2013), and its purpose was based on the analysis of work activities of a lecturer to identify his most important professional competencies and to create a suggestion of competence profile of a lecturer in adult education.

Cultivar-specific kinetics of chitinase induction in soybean roots during exposure to arsenic.

The kinetics of defense responses was studied in soybean exposed to ecologically relevant concentrations of arsenic for 96 h. In the roots of two soybean cultivars with contrasting tolerance to this metalloid there were observed differences in basal levels of membrane lipid peroxidation as well as a significantly different course of peroxidation upon exposure to As. The different course of stress was reflected in the accumulation of defense components. The responses of individual chitinase isoforms were studied since these enzymes had previously been shown to be stable components of defense against metals. The kinetics and magnitude of accumulation of the three isoforms during exposure to As significantly differed within as well as between the studied cultivars. Furthermore, accumulation of these isoforms appeared to be related to oxidative status in the root tissue. The timing of induced responses is likely to be important for efficient defense against metal(oid) pollution in environment.