Cerebral stroke is the very common cause of executive dysfunctions, such as disinhibition and inability to switch of attention. The aim of this longitudinal study was to determine a clinical characteristic of executive dysfunctions in light of the neuropsychological examinations. Forty-four patients who had ischemic stroke were examined twice with a twelve-month interval. At each session executive functions were measured on the same patients. Executive functioning was measured by three popular tasks, i.e. an experimental version of the Stroop Color- Word Interference Test, Verbal Fluency Test, and Trail Making Test. Twenty-five healthy volunteers were examined once only to transform patients’ results of neuropsychological testing into standardized form. Executive impairment was found in 24 patients (i.e. 65% of the clinical group), who failed to complete at least one of the three tests. Patients manifested executive dysfunctions which were highly heterogeneous with respect to character, severity and their prevalence. Overall, there was clear evidence that executive functions showed substantial recovery. Timecourse of distinct executive dysfunctions was similar.
Purpose. The aim of this study was to examine the process of how motor skills were developed and shaped in boys and girls in relation to their rate of maturation, based on the use of peak height velocity (PHV), which measures biological maturity. Methods. This study made use of a longitudinal study researching the physical fitness of boys and girls from Kraków, Poland during the years 1980-1990. From the original sample population, 296 boys and 196 girls were selected for further analysis. Physical fitness tests were administered over the subsequent decade, measuring the following motor skills: speed, explosive strength of the lower limbs, static strength of the right and left hand, agility, dynamic strength of the abdominal muscles, static endurance of the upper limbs and shoulders, and flexibility. On the basis of the median and PHV age quartiles for both sexes, the examined individuals were divided into two cohorts: early maturers and late maturers. The mean values and standard deviations of the physical fitness test results were calculated based on biological age. Afterwards, the means and standard deviations of each tested motor skill of the early maturers were standardized into means and standard deviations of the late maturers. Results. The motor skills best performed in all age groups and in both sexes by early maturers were in tests of static strength of the hands. In the group of boys, early maturers in all age groups also performed the best in tests of speed and explosive strength of the lower limbs. Late-maturing girls were positively differentiated in each age group in tests of static strength of the upper limbs and shoulders, and in the dynamic strength of the abdominal muscles. Conclusions. The rate of maturation was found to significantly influence the results of fitness tests, particularly in the case of boys.
Background: The main aim of the present study was an attempt to answer the enquiries concerning the influence of physical training on morphological changes (anthropometric indicators), capability of anaerobic work and their interactions with a natural development of youth in pubertal and post-pubertal age.Material/Methods: The technique of parallel groups was used: experimental (handball trained [TR]) and control (not trained [NT]). The research period comprised two consecutive years. Once per year selected somatic parameters, body composition, biological age, and anaerobic parameters were determined by means of 30 s Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT).Results: Results have shown the high intensity of boys' biological development in circumpubertal age in response to several years of training handball. A further analysis indicated smaller dispersion of parameters describing the growth and physiological development of the TR group than in NT. The results suggest that handball training caused a significant improvement in morphological and functional indicators. Consequently, capabilities of physical effort increase and a more harmonic development is achieved. Moreover, the results have shown that capabilities of anaerobic work in the TR group have differently depended on the time of progressive development, whereas in the NT group there has been an increase in these capabilities in relation to the age of the examined boys.Conclusions: Several years of handball training did not influence the increase in anaerobic efficiency of pre-pubertal age boys. On the other hand, handball training in pubertal and post-pubertal age boys caused a statistically significant increase in maximum anaerobic power (MPWAnT). A high positive correlation between weight and MPWAnT confirms a relationship between anaerobic power and body growth during puberty.
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