Objective. Although Psychological capital has encountered increasing research interest in recent years, the scale for measuring PsyCap is absent in the Slovak language. In the present pre-registered study, the authors provide the initial results of the adaptation of the Revised Compound Psychological Capital Scale to the Slovak language. Method. A cross-sectional study with N = 262 people has been conducted. CPC-12R and measures of theoretically related constructs have been used.Results. With regards to evidence for factor validity, the authors found that the default higher-order model (PsyCap as a second-order factor & four first-order dimensions – hope, optimism, self-efficacy, and resilience) provided an acceptable fit to the data. With regards to evidence for convergent and divergent validity, the authors found that, as hypothesized, CPC-12R was related to a set of variables covering: A) a more specific work-related domain, B) more general well-being, and also C) more stable personality traits. More specifically, the scale correlated with work satisfaction, staying intentions, and three aspects of engagement (namely vigor, absorption, and dedication). Furthermore, the scale correlated with subjectively perceived stress, life satisfaction, and emotional components of habitual well-being. The scale was also related Submitted: 21. 1. 2022; P. K., Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Moyzesova 9, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia; e-mail: pavol.kacmar@upjs.skThis work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency, Contract no. APVV-20-0319, by the grant agency of The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic VEGA Contract no. 1/0853/21, and by the Czech Science Foundation no. GA20-03810S. Open data, analytical code and pre-registration can be found at: osf.io/b4j57/.to Big-five personality domains, such as extra-version, conscientiousness, and negative emotionality, but not to the aesthetic sensitivity facet (considered as evidence for divergent validity). With regard to evidence for concurrent validity, the authors found that CPC-12R was strongly related to PCQ12 and both scales were related to other variables of interest to a similar degree.Limitations. Cross-sectional design and convenience sampling are the main limitations of the present study. and Cieľ. Napriek tomu, že je v posledných rokoch venovanej Psychologickému kapitálu stále viac výskumnej pozornosti, škála, ktorá by tento konštrukt zachycovala v slovenskom jazyku, absentuje. V tejto predregistrovanej štúdii sa autori preto podujali na adaptovanie revidovanej Compound Psychological Capital scale (CPC-12R) do slovenského jazyka a na predstavenie úvodných faktorových, konvergentných, divergentných a súbežných dôkazov validity.Metódy. Výskumný súbor tvorilo 262 účastníkov. Boli využité CPC-12R a ďalšie škály, týkajúce sa rôznych oblastí (sféra práce, duševnej pohody a osobnostných čŕt). Výsledky. Čo sa týka dôkazov validity, týkajúcich sa faktorovej štruktúry, primárny model druhého rádu (PsyCap ako faktor druhého rádu a 4 subfaktory) ukázal predbežne akceptovateľné parametre. Čo sa týka konvergentných a divergentných dôkazov validity, výsledky ukázali, že škála súvisela s premennými z oblasti práce, všeobecnejšie chápanou duševnou pohodou, ako aj stabilnejšimi osobnostnými čŕtami. Presnejšie, škála bola vo vzťahu s pracovnou spokojnosťou (r=.45), úmyslom zotrvať v organizácii (r=.24), ako aj angažovanosťou a jej troma zložkami (r=.52, .36, a .24). Škala sa taktiež ukázala byť vo vzťahu so subjektívne vnímaným stresom (r=-.53), životnou spokojnosťou (r=.56) a viac emočne ladeným aspektom v intenciách pozitívneho (r=.50) a negatívneho (r=-.46) komponentu habituálnej životnej pohody. Okrem toho sa súvis preukázal s črtami modelu veľkej päťky, ako extraverzia (r=.44), svedomitosť (r=.36) a negatívna emocionalita (r=-.59), ale nie s estetickou senzitivitou (r=.02) (dôkaz divergentnej validity). Čo sa týka súbežných dôkazov validity, výsledky poukázali na to, že CPC-12R bolo v tesnom vzťahu s PCQ12 a to aj vtedy, keď autori zobrali do úvahy potenciálnu jazykovú bariéru účastníkov výskumu. Limity. Medzi hlavné limity patria predovšetkým prierezový charakter štúdie a príležitostný výber výskumného súboru. Závery. Štúdia prináša CPC-12R do slovenského jazykového prostredia a ponúka úvodne dôkazy pre viaceré druhy validity.
Objective. The Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire – Symptoms (CPAQ-S, 20 items) measures patients’ acceptance of their symptoms. The questionnaire was created by reframing the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire-20 (CPAQ-20). This study describes the Czech validation of the full and short CPAQ-S forms.Sample and settings. The final sample consisted of 368 patients (71% female) recruited at seven clinical sites in the Czech Republic. Hypotheses. A hypothesized two-dimensional factor structure (Activity Engagement and Symptom Willingness) was tested together with other theoretically relevant factor solutions.Statistical analyses. An ordinal confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis were employed. Results. None of the theory-driven factor structures were confirmed in the CPAQ-S-20, and exploratory factor analysis did not yield any satisfactory factor solution. However, an eightitem version (CPAQ-S-8) was derived based on the factor analysis that was characterized by good psychometric properties even when retaining important facets of the expected two-factor structure (i.e., Activity Engagement and Symptom Willingness).Limitations. While the sample heterogeneity was conceived as a strength of the study, an underlying noninvariance across different types of complaints could have caused unsatisfactory functioning of the scale. and Cíl. Škála Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (20položková verze) měřící přijetí chronické bolesti byla adaptována k měření přijetí obecných chronických obtíží pacientů klinických zařízení: Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire – Symptoms. Tato studie popisuje českou adaptaci plné a zkrácené (CPAQ-S) verze škály. Vzorek. Finální vzorek sestával z 368 pacientů (71 % žen) ze sedmi klinických zařízení v České republice. Hypotézy. Předpokládaná dvoufaktorová struktura (Zapojení do aktivit navzdory bolesti a Ochota snášet symptomy) byla testována společně s dalšími teoreticky relevantními modely. Statistické analýzy. Byla použita ordinální konfirmační a následná explorační faktorová analýza. Výsledky. Žádný z testovaných faktorových modelů CPAQ-S-20 nebyl podpořen daty. Využití explorační faktorové analýzy nepřineslo žádnou přidanou informační hodnotu. Empiricky odvozená osmi-položková verze škály (CPAQ-S-8) byla charakterizována poměrně dobrými psychometrickými vlastnostmi i po zachování očekávané dvoufaktorové struktury tj., Zapojení do aktivit navzdory bolesti a Ochota snášet symptomy. Limity. Zatímco heterogenitu vzorku je možné vnímat jako silnou stránku studie, heterogenita různých typů obtíží, jimiž pacienti ve vzorku trpěli, mohla způsobit neuspokojivé fungování škály.
Male reproductive functions are an important area affecting men´s overall health and well-being. However, during the last years, there has been observed increasing incidence of male reproductive issues. The radical growth has been recorded parallelly with a massive expanse of industrialization and agricultural chemigation. Many groups of experts have begun to identify several potential factors and substances that may have adverse effects on men´s reproductive health. Since then, xenobiotics have become a major concern of many scientific studies. There is evidence that most of them have multigenerational and transgenerational effects on reproductive health, which is a serious problem for our population. Bisphenol A could be considered as one of the most studied endocrine disruptors. Until now, several negative effects of bisphenol A were associated with reduced weight testes, histological alterations, impairment spermatogenesis, and steroidogenesis as well as with testes or prostate cancer. Due to convincing evidence, bisphenol A has been started to replace by its analogues such as bisphenol B, S, F, in order to eliminate and suppress the risk of exposure to bisphenol A. However, it seems that a lack of toxicological analyses allows using of these hazardous substances in daily life. Their harmful effect was confirmed by the animal in vitro and in vivo models, while the epidemiological studies monitoring the impact of bisphenol analogues on men's reproductive health are markedly limited. This review provides information about the effects of bisphenol on reproductive health in men. At the same time, it is focused on physiological aspects of sperm viability, steroid hormone secretion, sperm motility, or testes histology in relation to bisphenols exposure.
The Asian ladybird Harmonia axyridis is an invasive insect in Europe and the Americas and is a great threat to the environment in invaded areas. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that non native species are resistant to many groups of parasites that attack native insects. However, very little is known about the complex microbial community associated with this insect. This study based on sequencing 16S rRNA genes in extracted metagenomic DNA is the first research on the bacterial flora associated with H. axyridis. Lady beetles were collected during hibernation from wind turbines in Poland. A mean ± SD of 114 ± 35 species of bacteria were identified. The dominant phyla of bacteria recorded associated with H. axyridis were Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. Representatives of these phyla are common in the environment, e.g. in the soil, and are often identified as the dominant bacteria associated with arthropods. We also identified animal pathogenic bacteria, such as Burkholderia, Rhodococcus, Chlamydiae and Anaplasmataceae spp. (Neorickettsia helminthoeca and Ehrlichia ovina). We also identified Wolbachia pipientis in a single beetle. This bacterium is a causative agent of reproductive alterations in arthropods. These results support the enemy release hypothesis in the case of this ladybird invasion. Pathogenic bacteria were recorded in only a few samples. Moreover, male-killing bacteria such as Spiroplasma spp., Wolbachia spp. and Rickettsia spp. were only recorded in single insects so they cannot be responsible for the observed alterations in the sex-ratio of the ladybird population studied., Krzysztof Dudek, Kinga Humińska, Jacek Wojciechowicz, Piotr Tryjanowski., and Obsahuje bibliografii
There is growing evidence that methamphetamine use during pregnancy may produce detrimental cardiovascular effects in the adult offspring. Prior work demonstrated that chronic methamphetamine exposure throughout the gestational period causes adult female offspring to become hypersensitive to myocardial ischemic injury. The goal of the present study was to determine whether this methamphetamine-induced effect occurs early or late in the gestational period. Pregnant female rats were divided into 4 experimental groups. Groups 1 and 2 received subcutaneous injections of saline (group 1) or methamphetamine (5 mg/kg) (group 2) throughout the gestational period. Group 3 received methamphetamine injections on days 1-11 and saline on days 12-22, and group 4 received saline on days 1-11 and methamphetamine on days 12-22. Hearts were isolated from adult (8 weeks) female offspring and subjected to 30 min ischemia and 2 hours reperfusion on a Langendorff isolated heart apparatus. Contractile function was measured via an intraventricular balloon, and infarct size was measured by triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining. Infarcts were significantly larger in methamphetamine exposed offspring regardless of whether they had been exposed to methamphetamine during the first half or the second half of the gestational period. Prenatal exposure to methamphetamine had no effect on preischemic contractile function or postischemic recovery of contractile function. These data indicate that methamphetamine use during either the first half or second half of pregnancy increases susceptibility to myocardial infarction in adult female offspring. These data provide further evidence that prenatal exposure to methamphetamine may increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases during adulthood.
Methamphetamine (MA), as massively abused psychoactive stimulant, has been associated with many neurological diseases. It has various potent and neurotoxic properties. There are many mechanisms of action that contribute to its neurotoxic and degenerative effects, including excessive neurotransmitter (NEU) release, blockage of NEU uptake transporters, degeneration of NEU receptors, process of oxidative stress etc. MA intoxication is caused by blood-brain barrier disruption resulted from MA-induced oxidation stress. In our laboratory we constantly work on animal research of MA. Our current interest is to investigate processes of MA-induced alteration in neurotransmission, especially during development of laboratory rat. This review will describe current understanding in role of NEUs, which are affected by MA-induced neurotoxicity caused by altering the action of NEUs in the central nervous system (CNS). It also briefly brings information about NEUs development in critical periods of development.
Emotion has an essential effect on various cognitive processes in humans including attention, perception, learning, and memory. Long-term memories are affected not only by the emotion experienced during learning but also by the emotional state during retrieval. The term “emotional memory” is often associated with episodic memory and mental time-travel; however, emotion influences every aspect of memory (e.g., both declarative memory and non-declarative memory). Here the authors discuss the methodological advantages and limitations across the current methods in emotional memory research. Traditional neuropsychological methods use emotionally arousing stimuli; however, such stimuli are often reduced to a simple list of words or pictures. In comparison to these methods, virtual reality (VR) is a relatively new tool, but with growing importance in neuroscience research and clinical practice. VR allows to study human behavior, cognitive functions, and brain activity in ecologically valid situations even under laboratory conditions. Future directions and potential use of virtual reality in emotional memory testing are discussed. and Emoce mají zásadní vliv na různé kognitivní procesy u lidí, včetně pozornosti, vnímání, uče-ní a paměti. Dlouhodobé vzpomínky jsou ovliv-něny nejen emocemi prožitými při jejich učení, ale také emočním stavem při jejich vybavová-ní. Termín „emoční paměť“ je často spojován s epizodickou pamětí a s mentálním cestováním v čase, emoce však ovlivňují každý aspekt paměti (např. jak deklarativní paměť, tak nedeklarativ-ní paměť). V této přehledové studii autoři dis-kutují metodologické výhody a omezení napříč současnými metodami výzkumu emoční paměti. Tradiční neuropsychologické metody využívají podněty vzbuzující emoce; takové podněty se však často redukují na jednoduchý seznam slov nebo obrázků. Ve srovnání s těmito metodami je virtuální realita (VR) relativně novým nástro-jem s rostoucím významem v neurovědním vý-zkumu a klinické praxi. VR umožňuje studovat lidské chování, kognitivní funkce a mozkovou aktivitu v ekologicky validních situacích i v la-boratorních podmínkách. Ve studii jsou shrnuty budoucí cíle a potenciální využití virtuální reali-ty při testování emoční paměti.
We propose a modified and updated protocol to obtain mitotic chromosomes from the regenerated tissue of Pelophylax tadpole tail tips. Chromosomal preparations from regenerated tissue results in high-quality and clean slides suitable for further staining and study. Tadpoles remain alive, undergo minimum suffering, and can be grown to adulthood for further investigation. The method could be used for other groups of Anura and modified for other species with the ability to regenerate their tissues.
Existuje čoraz viac dôkazov o zachytávaní každodenných zážitkov človeka v podobe intenzívnych longitudinálnych údajov získaných prostredníctvom denných zápiskov alebo metódy Experience sampling. Tieto údaje ponúkajú širokú škálu informácií o dynamike duševných procesov a správania, ich vývoja v čase a v rámci špecifických situácií. Cieľom tohto príspevku je predstaviť metódu zachytávania každodenných zážitkov (Experience Sampling Method – ESM) v kontexte výskumu duševného zdravia a prostredníctvom vybraných príkladov opísať možnosti, ako tieto údaje využiť v rámci nomotetického a idiografického prístupu a robenia záverov. Tento príspevok nie je vyčerpávajúcim opisom témy ESM, ale skôr stručným prehľadom čoraz viac využívanej metódy zachytávania každodenných zážitkov týkajúcich sa psychopatológie, jej limitov a perspektívy do budúcna. and There is growing evidence of capturing human experience in daily life using intensive longitudinal data obtained via daily diaries or experience sampling. These data offer a wide range of information regarding the dynamics of mental processes and behavior and how they unfold within individuals over time and within specific situations. The aim of this paper is to present the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) in the context of mental health research and through selective examples explain the possibilities of how to use data for nomothetic and idiographic inferences and conclusions. This paper is not an exhaustive description of the ESM topic, but rather a brief overview of the emerging methods for capturing daily experience regarding psychopathology, its limitations and future perspective.
Surrogacy can be already considered as one of the common parts of assisted reproduction which is due to its nature associated with a number of controversies. The aim of our article will be to point out the fact that the use of this procedure is connected not only to the discussed ethical and legal problems but also to associated and often neglected psychosocial consequences. In this regard, we will focus on a specific area of international surrogacy as a new form of reproductive tourism which develops dynamically and uncontrollable on the market principle and against the background of the globalization and the absence of supranational rules. This situation leads to the social and legal uncertainty of the applicants to this procedure, the surrogate mother and the child. The global closure of state borders and restrictions on movement due to the handling SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic only exacerbated the situation, or more precisely created unexpected barriers to communication between the surrogate mother and the applicants, including takeover of child care, what has implications for the live of all parties involved. and Náhradní mateřství lze již v dnešní době považovat za jednu z běžných součástí asistované reprodukce, se kterou je z povahy věci spojena řada kontroverzí. Cílem našeho článku bude poukázat na skutečnost, že využívání daného způsobu získání dítěte je kromě diskutovaných eticko-právních problémů spojeno rovněž s často opomíjenými důsledky psychosociálního charakteru. V tomto ohledu se zaměříme na specifickou oblast mezinárodní surrogace, jakožto novou formu reprodukční turistiky, která se na tržním principu dynamicky a do značné míry nekontrolovatelně rozvíjí na pozadí globalizace a absence nadnárodních pravidel. Uvedený stav pochopitelně vede k sociální a právní nejistotě jak žadatelů o danou proceduru, tak náhradní matky a dítěte. Celosvětové uzavírání státních hranic a omezování pohybu v důsledku zvládání pandemie koronaviru SARS-CoV-2 pak danou situaci jen prohloubilo, respektive náhle vytvořilo neočekávané překážky navázání komunikace mezi náhradní matkou a žadateli, včetně převzetí dítěte do péče, což má dopady do života všech zúčastněných osob.