rss_2.0Sciendo RSS Feed for Sports and Recreationhttps://www.sciendo.com/subject/SRhttps://www.sciendo.comhttps://www.sciendo.com/subjectImages/Sports_&_Recreation.jpg700700https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-0026<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p><italic>Study aim</italic>: POWERbreathe® S-Index Test is an accessible and functional evaluation of inspiratory muscle strength. The main purpose of this study is to present guidelines that allow to successfully apply the test in sports settings with high accuracy, robustness, and repeatability.</p> <p><italic>Material and methods</italic>: Review of available literature and professional guidelines regarding traditional spirometry testing and POWERbreathe® trainers’ application was performed. The obtained information was summarized, analyzed, and interpreted to create POWERbreathe® S-Index Test guidelines and recommendations for practitioners. POWERbreathe® K4 and K5 (POWERbreathe International Ltd., Southam, UK) devices paired with Breathe-Link Live Feedback Software (POWERbreathe International Ltd., Southam, UK) were considered during the analysis and guidelines creation.</p> <p><italic>Results</italic>: We recommend performing POWERbreathe® S-Index Test with 8 forceful and dynamic inspiratory maneuvers from residual volume to full inspiratory capacity, divided into 2–3 series of 2–3 maneuvers, in a standing position, after respiratory warm-up.</p> <p><italic>Conclusion</italic>: POWERbreathe® S-Index Test may be a useful tool to measure functional inspiratory muscle strength in athletes. When performed with the presented guidelines, it can be successfully applied in sports settings with high accuracy, robustness, and repeatability.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-00262023-09-21T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-0025<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p><italic>Study aim</italic>: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of whole-body and local cryotherapy on pain and function of the osteoarthritic hip.</p> <p><italic>Material and methods</italic>: The study included 40 patients (26 women and 14 men) aged 36 to 85 years with confirmed hip osteoarthritis. Twenty participants received whole-body cryotherapy whereas twenty received local cryotherapy in the hip region. A visual analog scale (VAS) was used to assess the effects of therapy.</p> <p><italic>Results</italic>: Based on the examinations, improvements in both reported pain and general functional status of the participants were observed in both groups. Slightly greater improvement regarding reported pain was found in the group of participants undergoing local cryotherapy treatments.</p> <p><italic>Conclusion</italic>: The results showed that the analgesic effect of both whole-body and local cryotherapy noticeably increased the ability of the participants to engage in activities of daily living.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-00252023-09-21T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-0027<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p><italic>Study aim</italic>: This study aimed to determine and compare the ‘optimum power load’ in the hexagonal (HBDL) and straight (SBDL) bar deadlift exercises.</p> <p><italic>Material and methods</italic>: Fifteen novice strength-trained males performed three repetitions of the HBDL and SBDL at loads from 20–90% of their one-repetition maximum (1RM). Peak power, average power, peak velocity, and average velocity were determined from each repetition using a velocity-based linear position transducer.</p> <p><italic>Results</italic>: Repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant effect of load for HBDL and SBDL (all p &lt; 0.001). Post-hoc analyses revealed peak power outputs for HBDL were similar across 50–90% 1RM, with the highest peak power recorded at 80% 1RM (1053 W). The peak power outputs for SBDL were similar across 40–90% 1RM, with the highest peak power recorded at 90% 1RM (843 W). A paired sample t-test revealed that HBDL showed greater peak power at 60% (Hedges’ g effect size g = 0.53), average power at 50–70%, (g = 0.56–0.74), and average velocity at 50% of 1RM (g = 0.53). However, SBDL showed greater peak velocity at 20% (g = 0.52) and average velocity at 90% of 1RM (g = 0.44).</p> <p><italic>Conclusion</italic>: Practitioners can use these determined loads to target peak power and peak velocity outputs for the HBDL and SBDL exercises (e.g., 50–90% 1RM in HBDL). The HBDL may offer additional advantages resulting in greater peak power and average power outputs than the SBDL.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-00272023-09-21T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-0028<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p><italic>Study aim</italic>: Obesity is a serious public health problem that has spread over the past 40 years in industrialized countries. This condition can predispose to the onset of several chronic diseases for instance hyperlipidemia which is involved in multiple signaling pathways for bone homeostasis. There is a communication between adipose tissue and bone, which can regulate each other through feedback mechanisms including glucose consumption by bone, also regulating insulin levels. In our observational study, we analyzed the effects of low-impact training, particularly swimming, combined with a mediterranean diet on obese pre-adolescents.</p> <p><italic>Material and methods</italic>: Six-month of an observational study was performed involving twenty pre-adolescents aged between 8 and 12 years with diagnosed obesity with z-BMI &gt;2, according to the World Health Organization guidelines.</p> <p><italic>Results</italic>: The assessment was carried out at the beginning of the intervention (T0) and at the end of treatment (T1). All participants were randomly assigned to either: the control group (CG) just followed the mediterranean diet whilst the experimental group (EG) over the mediterranean diet followed a planned physical activity.</p> <p>The results showed statistically significant differences between T0 and T1 in both CG and EG, especially concerning 1,25(OH)₂D and insulin levels. However, the differences were more impressive in EG (1,25(OH)₂D 9.27 vs 25.64; Insulin 29.31 vs 12.66) compared with CG (1,25(OH)₂D 8.7 vs 13.7; Insulin 28.45 vs 22.76).</p> <p><italic>Conclusions</italic>: In conclusion, these results showed the importance of diet and low-impact exercise intervention to improve pre-adolescent’s health especially those with obesity.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-00282023-09-21T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/ijcss-2023-0010<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>The utilization of metrics such as expected goals (xG) has the potential to provide teams with a competitive edge. By incorporating xG into their analysis and decision-making processes, teams can gain valuable insights. This study proposes a new approach to football xG modeling using Kos Angle which represents the shooting angle, from which we substract the angles occupied by players inside the shot angle. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of the Kos Angle feature on the performance of football xG models. After developing the mathematical formula of the Kos Angle, we selected additional features and built different xG models. Subsequently, the impact of the Kos Angle feature on the models’ performances was evaluated, revealing an increase in Recall and Precision and a decrease in Brier score and RMSE. We also found that the Kos Angle accounted for a significant portion of the models’ predictive power. By providing a more realistic representation of shot situations, the addition of the Kos Angle feature allows the improvement of xG models performances, which can give a more valuable insights to football professionals who rely on xG metrics and their variations. </p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/ijcss-2023-00102023-09-13T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/ijcss-2023-0008<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>Training load (TL) is frequently documented among team sports and the development of emerging technology (ET) is displaying promising results towards player performance and injury risk identification. The aim of this systematic review was to identify ETs used in field-based sport to monitor TL for injury/performance prediction and provide sport specific recommendations by identifying new data generation in which coaches may consider when tracking players for an increased accuracy in training prescription and evaluation among field-based sports. Data was extracted from 60 articles following a systematic search of CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science and IEEE XPLORE databases. Global positioning system (GPS) and accelerometers were common external TL tools and Rated Perceived Exertion (RPE) for internal TL. A collection of analytics tools were identified when investigating injury/performance prediction. Machine Learning showed promising results in many studies, identifying the strongest predictive variables and injury risk identification. Overall, a variety of TL monitoring tools and predictive analytics were utilized by researchers and were successful in predicting injury/performance, but no common method taken by researchers could be identified. This review highlights the positive effect of ETs, but further investigation is desired towards a ‘gold standard” predictive analytics tool for injury/performance prediction in field-based team sports.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/ijcss-2023-00082023-09-04T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-0024<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p><italic>Study aim</italic>: This study aimed to examine the effects of a six-week complex-contrast training (CCT) intervention on the physical fitness of male field hockey athletes.</p> <p><italic>Material and methods:</italic> Participants were randomized into a CCT (n = 8) or control (CG; n = 6) group. Physical fitness was assessed pre- and post-six-week intervention using a 30 m linear sprint test, medicine ball throw, standing long jump (SLJ), countermovement jump with arm swing (CMJA), modified T-test (MAT), and unilateral isokinetic maximal strength test (knee flexion and extension) of both legs. The six-week CCT intervention was integrated as three weekly sessions within the sport-specific training schedule of field hockey athletes. Each session included four contrast pair exercises (e.g., squat + squat jump). ANCOVA with baseline scores as a covariate was used to analyze the specific training effects.</p> <p><italic>Results</italic>: Significant differences between CCT and CG were observed in the 30 m sprint, CMJA, MAT, and isokinetic strength (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001–0.013) after the intervention, favoring the CCT group. Further, post-hoc analyses revealed significant pre to post improvements in all dependent variables for the CCT group (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001–0.001; effect size [g] = 0.28–2.65; %Δ = 3.1–16.3), but not in the CG (<italic>p</italic> = 0.169–0.991; g = 0.00–0.32; %Δ = 0.0–2.6).</p> <p><italic>Conclusion</italic>: Supplementing regular field hockey training with CCT is recommended as an effective training strategy to improve the performance of linear sprints, vertical jumps, changes of direction, and muscle strength in amateur male field hockey athletes.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-00242023-08-29T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/ijcss-2023-0007<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>In this paper, we proposed a new method of evaluating horse ability and jockey skills in horse racing. In the proposed method, we aimed to estimate unobservable individual effects of horses and jockeys simultaneously with regression coefficients for explanatory variables such as horse age and racetrack conditions and other parameters in the regression model. The data used in this paper are records on 1800­m races (excluding steeplechases) held by the Japan Racing Association from 2016 to 2018, including 4063 horses and 143 jockeys. We applied the hierarchical Bayesian model to stably estimate such a large amount of individual effects. We used the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method coupled with Ancillarity- Sufficiency Interweaving Strategy for Bayesian estimation of the model and choose the best model with Widely Applicable Information Criterion as a model selection criterion. As a result, we found a large difference in the ability among horses and jockeys. Additionally, we observed a strong relationship between the individual effects and the race records for both horses and jockeys.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/ijcss-2023-00072023-08-19T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-0022<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p><italic>Study aim</italic>: To study knock knee deformity and the body mass index among male school students of Chandigarh, India. The study also intended to evaluate the association of knock knee deformity with BMI.</p> <p><italic>Material and method</italic>: In total, 900 school students were selected, and out of these 300 each were from private, government model and government schools in slum areas. Convenient sampling was employed. The age of the subjects ranged from 9 to 13 years. Height, weight, BMI and intermalleolar distance of selected subjects were assessed. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA and correlation were employed.</p> <p><italic>Results</italic>: The highest percentages of obese (11.3%) and overweight (15.3%) students were found in the private schools. The highest percentages of severe knock knee deformity (10.7%) were found in the students of the private schools, whereas 16.7% of students in the government model schools had moderate knock knee deformity. Height, weight and BMI were significantly correlated with knock knee deformity.</p> <p><italic>Conclusion</italic>: Body weight among the school students might be associated with the school type, as the problem of obesity and underweight was pervasive in private and government schools. Knock knee deformity was related to the school type and body weight status.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-00222023-08-10T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-0023<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>Study aim: To develop a reliable and valid questionnaire to assess parents’ postural knowledge.</p> <p>Material and methods: This questionnaire was conducted on 30 Iranian parents. The questionnaire assessed knowledge of abnormalities in body posture and ergonomic knowledge of parents, which were in line with their postural knowledge. The kappa coefficient (test–retest reliability) of the questionnaire included assessing its stability over 1 week among 30 participants. The validity of the content of the questionnaire was checked and agreed upon by three experts from three different institutions.</p> <p>Results: The kappa coefficient for 19 questions and their 46 sub-questions ranged from 0.30 to 1. Out of these items, 89% (n = 41) had a value of 0.6 or above and 11% (n = 5) were below 0.6. Questions were categorized as “no change expected” (0.86÷1), “change unlikely” (0.68÷1), and “change likely” (0.30÷0.68).</p> <p>Conclusions: The Parent’s Postural Knowledge Questionnaire was found to be highly reliable and its contents relevant for the assessment of postural knowledge among Iranian parents. This tool is appropriate for studying larger populations in the variable of interest.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-00232023-08-10T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/pcssr-2023-0023<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>Sports governance is a broad domain in which many ambitious goals are expected to be considered by top management. Attending to productive organisational energy may be the key to consolidating and amplifying efforts by members of sports organisations at individual, group and organisational levels in order to achieve those wide-ranging goals. The aim of the article is to discover whether Estonian football organisations with higher results for the dimensions of productive organisational energy also show higher performance. Overall, we reached about 14% of the population of players, coaching staff and management from football organisations in Estonia. Productive organisational energy was measured using affective, cognitive and behavioural dimensions (Cole et al., 2012). Rankings in the league tables for 2020, 2021 and 2022 reflected the performance of the football clubs. The results demonstrated that football clubs that had higher levels of productive organisational energy were mostly placed in the top half of the league table. All three dimensions of productive organisational energy were similarly relevant in regard to performance. The connection between productive organisational energy and performance has so far been analysed only in business organisations and in one health service organisation. We brought the topic to the sports context and distinguished three dimensions of productive organisational energy while comparing the performance of organisations, which has not been done before. We also conducted the first empirical study that considers whether dimensions of productive organisational energy are balanced in better performing clubs.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/pcssr-2023-00232023-08-05T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/pcssr-2023-0022<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>Leadership effectiveness is one of the significant concerns in the business world. While attaining goals, leaders offer direction, encouragement, and inspiration. They aid in creating a vision and uniting people behind a common goal. The literature on leadership has shown that leaders are less effective, affecting organizations, the environment, and society. This ineffectiveness is believed to be due to their rigidity, arrogance, narcissism, and ill-being. The research on leadership has shown that, among other factors, stress is one of the leading causes of this inefficiency, affecting leaders’ well-being, attitude, relationships, and organizational productivity. As a result, leaders have poor awareness of how their environment is evolving. For that reason, stress management and a leader’s well-being (mental and physical fitness) become the primary concern for business organizations. Leaders are the frontrunner of organizations, leading organizational objectives such as profit maximization, continuous improvement, employee management, and stakeholder satisfaction. In order to manage the corporate goal and workplace stress, they must ensure their well-being (mental and physical fitness). This paper proposes sports to enhance leaders’ well-being and team-building ‘we’ attitudes, which help leaders to improve the organizational productivity. This paper employs content analysis methodology to justify how sports enhance leadership effectiveness. The time has come to understand the philosophy of sports, which has several benefits that guide practitioners to maintain a balance in their professional and personal life. This paper highlights sport as a vehicle for social change and personal development in leadership effectiveness.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/pcssr-2023-00222023-08-04T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/pcssr-2023-0021<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>Today media and sports are indivisible, having a kind of inseparable, mutually influential relationship. Media attracts audiences and generates profit through sports. In its turn, sports content is disseminated, transmitted, and popularized through the media. Thus, theoretically, sports and media exist in symbiosis. However, practically, this relationship is complex and includes many factors. First of all, in recent decades, the process of overall digitalization (and digital transformation) of all fields of life has had a crucial impact on sport, media, and their interrelationship. This paper aims to conceptualize and analyze the possible impact of digitalization on “winner-takes-all” (WTA) (winner-takes-most, WTM) dynamics in the professional sports industry, notably for spectating audiences, and answer the question: “Can digitalization be seen as a driver of ecosystem change and how it should be tested?” This conceptual model paper seeks to construct and develop a theoretical framework that can explain and predict relationships between concepts of digitalization and key sport spectating variables: audience, TV rights, and revenue through a prism of WTA. We found that the technological change in the sports media market and the greater global-orientated strategy of leading sports organizations have re-sorted and compressed many market shares, but the effect of technological disruption has been significantly less pronounced for the most powerful digital leaders in the industry. To this end, we represent digitalization as the main accelerating factor of the WTA effect (along with other auxiliary effects) in the sports industry and propose future research directions and perspectives.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/pcssr-2023-00212023-07-26T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-0021<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p><italic>Study aim</italic>: The practical application of vibration stimuli is increasingly observed in physiotherapy and sports. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of local vibration on knee-joint range of motion (ROM) improvement among male American football players.</p> <p><italic>Materials and methods</italic>: The study consisted of 31 participants (age 22.9 ± 4.3), divided by knee injury (KI) history and nKI (no knee injury). The intervention involved the use of vibration on parts of the quadriceps muscle with a 10-second vibration and 5-second intermission protocol. ROM measurements were conducted in the prone position (PrP) before the intervention, immediately after, and after 10 minutes, as well as in the half-kneeling position (HkP) before and immediately after.</p> <p><italic>Results</italic>: Knee ROM increased immediately after (p &lt; 0.001) and 10 minutes after (p &lt; 0.05) the intervention in nKI in the PrP, and there was a statistically significant improvement in the HkP (p &lt; 0.001). There was no significant interaction between ROM in PrP and knee injury (F_2,58 = 8.562; p &lt; 0.001), but there were significant differences in the ROM before (KI: 133.9° ± 6.26°; nKI: 144° ± 4.06°), immediately after (KI: 137.3° ± 6.98°; nKI: 145.9° ± 4.64°), and 10 minutes after (KI: 136.7° ± 6.75°; nKI: 145.6° ± 4.5°) the intervention. There was no significant interaction between ROM measurement in HkP and knee injury. There was a statistically significant difference in ROM (F_1,29 = 33.76; p &lt; 0.001) before (KI: 141.4° ± 7.66°; nKI: 146.4° ± 7.17°) and immediately after (KI: 145.3° ± 8.22°; nKI: 150.2° ± 6.32°) the intervention in the HkP.</p> <p><italic>Conclusions</italic>: Local vibration may increase knee ROM by improving soft tissue elasticity.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-00212023-07-22T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-0020<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p><italic>Study aim</italic>: The functional assessment of patients after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) is one of the key points in deciding whether one can safely return to physical activity. The aim of this study is to investigate the usefulness of the NEURAC® tests and single leg balance test (SLBT) in the functional evaluation of adolescent patients after ACLR to detect differences between the operated and non-operated extremity.</p> <p><italic>Material and methods</italic>: A total of 31 physically active, adolescent patients (mean age: 15.7 ± 1.4 years) who underwent primary single-bundle ACLR using the autogenous semitendinosus-gracilis tendon graft were evaluated using the NEURAC® and SLBT tests (mean time from surgery to examination was 6.6 ± 1.0 months). All patients were operated on by the same surgeon, and postoperative physiotherapy was carried out using a standardized protocol.</p> <p><italic>Results</italic>: Only one of the NEURAC® tests showed significant differences between the operated and non-operated extremities: prone bridging (3.58º vs. 3.97º, <italic>P</italic> = 0.01). Several weak and moderate, significant correlations between NEURAC® and SLBT tests were observed in the operated (r from –0.42 to 0.37) and non-operated (r from –0.37 to –0.43) extremities</p> <p><italic>Conclusions</italic>: The NEURAC® tests in comparison to SLBT seems to be more effective for detecting functional differences between the operated and non-operated extremity in adolescent patients about 6 months post-ACLR. Correlations between the outcomes of the NEURAC® tests and SLBT are not clear.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bhk-2023-00202023-07-22T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/pcssr-2023-0019<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>The aim of the article is to explain attitudes towards the sponsors of a sporting event from brand management, especially considering the perceptions of congruence with the sponsor, quality, value, and two less common variables of innovation and popularity. The analysis has been carried out using two methodological approaches: a Partial Least Squares (PLS) model and a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). PLS results indicate that congruence, innovation and popularity significantly predict attitudes towards the sponsor, explaining up to 61% of it. On the other hand, QCA analysis shows nine interactions capable of producing the expected result, where congruence, quality innovation and popularity have shown a relevant role. This study has implications at a theoretical and practical level, contributing to understanding consumer behaviour in the context of sporting events and providing marketing managers with valuable information to help improve the performance of their sponsorships.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/pcssr-2023-00192023-07-15T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/phr-2022-0012<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>The subject of the work is the rarely discussed issue of the sexuality of the elderly. The article describes the sexuality of people in the "autumn of life". The aim of this work is to draw attention to the need to promote sexual health, as well as to prevent sexual disorders. A review of 34 literature items on various aspects of sexuality in the elderly was made: physiology, psyche, and social significance. There are restrictions on the intimate sphere resulting from the need for older people to stay in care and treatment facilities, social welfare homes. Love is presented as a biochemical process to show that it does not depend only on the changing corporeality of a person and that its epicenter is in the brain. The change of the hierarchy of sexual needs occurring with age, the evolution of the art of love from procreation to pleasure and sensuality are presented.</p> <p>Conclusion: the sexuality of seniors is an important sphere of their everyday life and has a large impact on functioning in society, as well as on the perception of their own attractiveness and self-acceptance.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/phr-2022-00122023-07-10T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/phr-2022-0007<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>The article is another paper in an unintended series on designing the technology of diving [1,2,3]. It refers to the elements of the methodology¹ used in the works to develop the technology of using the Mx/O_2-SCR CRABE SCUBA² type diving apparatus in the mine countermeasure system as an example [4,5]. The previous article focused on the impact of the NATO Standardization Organization requirements on the purpose of the main process implemented in the system that constitutes the aforementioned diving technology. The present article discusses the reliability of the process implemented in the system.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/phr-2022-00072023-07-10T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/phr-2022-0008<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>This is another from the series of papers discussing studies on saturation diving technology and its use in Poland. This part explains the specificities of the Polish context and achievements against the backdrop of economic and historical circumstances. It describes how the central base for saturation diving came into being in the times of economic collapse in the country. At that time, the shipbuilding industry was the driving force behind research on saturation diving as a cornerstone for building a framework for diving systems to be exported to other countries to secure the extraction of assets from the sea shelf. The paper introduces the readers to the efforts of animators and protagonists of that period of underwater research in Poland whose achievements are continued until to-date. The second part of the paper shows how the Polish system of saturation diving was created. The article also considers the technical and organisational aspects of the first saturation diving experiences and the history of the Polish method of decompression for saturation diving. To accomplish this difficult task, it was crucial to ensure a solid industrial and academic base working for the defence sector and assisted by relevant state agencies. A multiannual CPBR programme was also set up with measures 9.2 and 9.5 dealing with medicine and technology which resulted in the development of a diving system with its organization, medical support and reliable technology. Outcomes of this programme are still being implemented today. Despite progress made in medicine, technology, and organisation issues involved in saturation diving are still pertinent because independently of their complexity and high cost this type of diving is the most efficient and allows for very deep diving operations up to 400-500 m.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/phr-2022-00082023-07-10T00:00:00.000+00:00https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/phr-2022-0009<abstract> <title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> <p>Zinc and magnesium are among the most important elements for the human body. A deficiency or excess of either of them may pose a potential threat to the homeostatic mechanisms of the body. Both elements condition the proper functioning of the immune system. Zinc and magnesium deficiency significantly reduces the body's immunity, facilitating infection with various pathogens, including SARS-COV-2 infection. In this paper, we reviewed the literature on the impact of zinc and magnesium deficiencies on the incidence and course of COVID-19.</p> </abstract>ARTICLEtruehttps://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/phr-2022-00092023-07-10T00:00:00.000+00:00en-us-1