BACKGROUND: A large proportion of individuals with a stroke are unable to return to work, although figures vary greatly. Due to the very high cost of post-stroke care, both tangible and intangible, in the form of long-term social consequences, it seems extremely important to search for factors responsible for the low efficiency of the rehabilitation and recovery process, because this fact has direct influence on future employment. Such knowledge would enable physiotherapists to quickly identify those patients who are at risk of rehabilitation breakdown, in order to provide them with special care and include them in intensive therapeutic treatments. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to assess the efficacy of post-stroke rehabilitation, evaluated within the biopsychosocial aspect. METHODS: The study consisted of 120 patients after first stroke, including 48 women and 72 men aged 58.0 (±8.6). The measure of the effects of physiotherapy in the present study was not only the improvement of the functional state (simple and complex activities of daily life, locomotive activities), but also the improvement of the mental state (mood and the sense of well-being, level of acceptance of illness, perceived self-efficacy) and the reduction of pain. The Mini-Mental State Examination, the Geriatric Depression Scale, the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale, the Acceptance of Illness Scale, the Visual Analogue Scale, the Barthel Index, the Instrumental Activity of Daily Living and the Rivermead Mobility Index were used. All parameters were measured twice: on admission to the ward and after three weeks of physiotherapy. The characteristics of the study group were presented using descriptive statistics. The analysis of interdependence of the efficacy of physiotherapy used two non-parametric tests: the Mann-Whitney U test to compare two groups, and the Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA test to compare a greater number of groups. Correlations between characteristics with continuous distributions were assessed using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient ( ρ ), and in case of categorical variables, Pearson’s chi-squared ( χ 2 ) correlation coefficient. Linear regression was used to determine the hierarchy of the influence of particular characteristics on the efficacy of physiotherapy. RESULTS: Statistical analyzes show that patient’s age, time since stroke, number of comorbidities, family care capacity, marital status of the patient and also a low level of acceptance of illness, depression symptoms and lack of a sense of self-efficacy were related with low efficacy of post-stroke rehabilitation CONCLUSIONS: Comprehensive neurological rehabilitation, taking into account mental challenges and socio-economic circumstances of individuals with a stroke is essential in order to achieve high efficacy of physiotherapy. Important external factors may play a pi...

Suspension cultures of Arnebia euchroma supported with liquid perfluorodecalin (PFD) degassed, aerated, or ethylene-saturated were investigated as a novel in situ extraction system for enhanced alkannin/shikonin production. Simultaneously, the effect of PFD applied as the liquid gas carrier on the growth of A. euchroma biomass was studied. The similar dry (4-fold) and fresh (7-fold) biomass increase was observed in the control (without PFD addition) and supplemented with PFD-degassed or PFD-aerated cultures while PFD-ethylene application impeded cell growth. The highest total of alkannin/shikonin production (23.23 mg flask−1) was observed when PFD-aerated has been used and it resulted in about 50 % higher yield of alkannin/shikonin compared with the control culture. Chiral HPLC analysis revealed that in cultures supported with PFD, both alkannin and shikonin were produced. Their mutual ratio varied depending on culture conditions, and the accumulation of alkannin prevailed under almost all culture conditions. PFD has proved to be exceptionally efficient and cell-safe solvent for the in situ extraction of naphthoquinone red pigments without exerting any detrimental effects on cell growth. Extracellularly secreted red naphthoquinones were easily dissolved and extracted from the PFD phase, which can be regenerated and reused (e.g., in continuous culture system).

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INTRODUCTION. A menstrual pain often contributes to the decline of a woman's life quality. It remains a serious problem in an everyday life, but also in a proffessional life of a sportwoman as it significantly affects the achieved results. Pharmacology is the most popular way to cease the menstrual pain. However, thanks to the development of physiotherapy, many methods of the menstrual pain management have been emerged and they are still evolving. It is in this regard especially noticebale that Kinesiology Taping should be paid rapt attention. AIM OF THE RESEARCH. The aim of the research is to assess Kinesiology Taping application in the reduction of menstrual pains among female basketball players. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY. The reaserch was conducted in a group of 35 women aged 20-36 with regular menstrual cycles and who train basketball professionaly. This group was for itself the study group and the control group. The assessment was conducted twice: 1) the first menstrual cycle after the research inclusion (no medical intervention); 2) the second menstrual cycle with the application of Kinesiology Taping. 3 day prior menstrual bleeding Kinesiology Taping was used among the participants of the reasearch. The 'I'-shaped cutting technique was used. The tapes tension was 50% and they were on women's bodies for 7 days. RESULTS. The average pain intensity in the NRS scale before the therapy was 5,525286 (median 6,00). Whereas after the therapy with the kinesiology taping application the decline of pain intensity was noted at the level of 3,428571 (median 3,00). The statistical analysis showed that the use of Kinesiology Taping had statistically significant – p