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The annual wormwood (Artemisia annua L.) is a plant from the family Asteraceae. It comes from China, where it is an important part of the traditional Chinese medicine. Terpenoids (particularly sesquiterpenic lactones), flavonoids, coumarins and other metabolites of shikimic acid are the prevalent substances in the species A. annua, as is also the case in many other species of the genus Artemisia. The most important substance is biologically active sesquiterpene artemisinine (Qinghaosu). Artemisinine, sesquiterpenic lactone with endoperoxide bond, found in above-ground parts of A. annua, is more effective, more rapid and less toxic in the treatment of malaria compared to chloroquine. Malaria is currently the most severe infectious disease worldwide with at least 300 million reported cases annually. The annual wormwood is the main natural botanical source of artemisinine and potential source of essential oil for the manufacture of perfumes. Contents of artemisinine are very dependent on the plant ecotype, ecological conditions and seasonal and geographical variations. The annual wormwood is currently cultivated in China, Vietnam, India, Romania, Kenya and Tanzania. Methods of the chemical and biological synthesis of artemisinine are ever being studied due to poor yields from natural sources, but the natural or cultivated forms of A. annua are still the main sources of this substance. The medicinal value of artemisinine is unfortunately limited due to its low solubility in both oil and water, which resulted in developing semi-synthetic derivatives exerting pharmacological characteristics superior to those of the original substance. The most important derivatives of this type are artemether, arteether and artesunate, which exert higher efficacy and also higher solubility and metabolic and hydrolytic stability compared to artemisinine. In addition, artemisinine and its semi-synthetic derivatives are characterized by their strong anti-cancer activity, antibacterial effects and by possibility of their use as pesticides.

The communication deals with a survey of motivations and opinions of paediatric nurses working at intensive care units, who applied for the special education in the ARIP programme (anaesthesiology, resuscitation and intensive care in paediatrics). The target of the project was to acquire data from nurses, who have just completed this type of study. The author searched for questions, what their expectations were and whether they were fulfilled, if they familiarized their colleagues with knowledge acquired in the course of the study, how their knowledge was accepted and also whether physicians were interested in their study. The intention of the author was to use the knowledge from the project as a feedback for the existing method of the special education and for the preparation of a new programme and choice of new lecturers.
The results of the project indicated that the study fulfilled the expectations of nurses in spite of the fact that their application for the study was rather a decision of the employee than their own choice. In the motivation of nurses, attempts to complete or amplify their knowledge, interest in the problems, enhancement of the qualification, acquiring of new knowledge or only attempts to acquire a special qualification were prevalent.
There was a very positive finding that nurses transferred new knowledge from the study to each other and that this was also typical in the past. Their knowledge was mostly accepted by other colleagues with interest, except for two negative cases. Introduction of new methods into practice did not posed considerable problems, though if some leavers were not still sufficiently courageous.
Physicians were not interested very much in the study of nurses, but they also liked helping them. The nurses explained the low interest of physicians in different ways: low interest in nurses at all; some of them simply did not know what the reason was.

At the time being, sport is a matter of interest of the society as a whole. Health and social services, economical institutions, state administration and a number of social organizations participate in this activity. The level of handicap sport in a country documents the degree of its cultural and social advancement. The origination of the sport of persons with involvements of the locomotor apparatus can be traced in institutes providing the subsequent care (currently referred to as rehabilitation) in the era of the World War II. Providing of the locomotor function in these patients was the primary task. It was necessary to recover the balance of the body, to strengthen intact muscles and possibly also to engage injured muscles. Enlargement of the extent of the mobility of involved joints was the next task. In defects due to losses of body parts (mostly after the amputation of extremities), it was quite necessary to manufacture compensating or substituting aids and to train the handicapped people in their meaningful use. In training the balancing, sport elements were employed: jumping, running, throwing, boxing. Thereafter, they started to measure the performance of the rehabilitated persons, mainly for medical advisory purposes, further competitive elements were introduced and games were arranged. They were aimed not only at the possibility of the objective evaluation of the results achieved, but also at the motivation of the other patients, in order that their return to the army might be supported. In the period after the war, particularly institutes in English Stoke Mendevilla and Czech Kladruby continued performing these activities. Sport competitions of disabled people were stepwise spread throughout Europe. In 1960, games in Roma established a basis of the contemporary Paralympics.

I compiled my contribution named "Canistherapy from the viewpoint of therapist" in the Old people's home May, where I work as an ergotherapist and where outpatient type canistherapy is practised. AAA and AAT methods are employed in the work with clients in our facility. Canistherapy is prevalently indicated for clients with Alzhemimer dementia and clients after cerebrovascular events. Ergotherapy is a part of complex rehabilitation. Canistherapy not only facilitates but particularly supplements the ergotherapist work, since both types of the therapy are directed to common targets. Ergotherapy, similarly as canistherapy, makes possible mutual interactions, contributes to the activization and may be implemented for improving fine motor skills and for affecting the mental condition of clients. In a comparison of AAA and AAT methods, I consider the individual canistherapy method as more purposeful, since it makes it possible to start from individual needs of the clients and provides more space for affecting involved or weakened functions through the choice of suitable canistherapeutic activities. In our facility, canistherapy is positively accepted by the clients and it enhances their interest in participation in further activities, too. The main reason for the offer of free time activities and therapies to clients from our home is to achieve as high quality of life as possible, enhance the self-confidence and enjoy the worthy old age.

The contribution presents a draft ethical code for canistherapy consisting of four parts: Personality and professional competences of canistherapists required, principal rights and obligations of canistherapists, responsibilities of canistherapists in relation to clients, colleagues and contractual organizations, to the profession, and to canistherapy in the Slovak Republic.

The theme of my contribution is: "Experience with canistherapy in our facility".
Canistherapy in ÚSP Máj is in operation since September 2004. Activities practised within the scope of AAA (Animal Assisted Activities) are implemented as a form of the group therapy under supervision of volunteers from the Training Canistherapeutic Association Hafík, with a participation of the healthcare personnel.
Immobile clients, persons with dementia, but also quite self-sufficient clients are included into canistherapy.
Targets considered in our facility were the reasons for starting this therapy. We attempt to enhance the life quality of seniors, to provide their activation, to moderate feelings of loneliness and to affect physical, mental and social problems.
Canistherapy in geriatric facilities is based on a knowledge that animal is the most reliable and frequently only one friend of man in loneliness. Possibility of having an animal at home or at least to have a chance to meet it for example in the old people's house is beneficial mainly for maintaining the equilibrium of the emotional, social and mental life.
In our clients, we successfully induced the interest in canistherapy. We consider canistherapy as a social affair. Dogs became a new theme of conversation. Our seniors are more active. They are interested in walking with dogs and participating in dog exhibitions. Their mood was improved. They consider dogs visiting us as their new friends, which it is possible to spend time with.
Our experience with canistherapy is very good. Our clients have improved mood and feelings of happiness, enjoyment and satisfaction.

The contribution deals with the analysis of the subjective importance of the health of adolescents. The authors present results of a cross-sectional research based on a group of 350 Slovak adolescents (162 boys and 188 girls). The target: to identify dominant areas to be considered in the compilation of a teaching subject focused on the education of an adolescent personality for health based on a subjective survival of concepts associated with the health. Methods: Semantic sample (V. Doležal). Results: In the consideration of terms associated with the health, the adolescents select six principal factors as follows: social support, distress, family relationship, stress, difficulties of the life, with a prevalence of negative context. Information concerning the health protection from negative effects is prevalent over information leading to the health protection. Certain differences are indicated between the considerations of the concept of health between adolescent girls and boys, which reflect persisting gender stereotypes. Adolescent girls, in contrast to boys, select the factors contradictoriness and difference, which do not occur in boys. This finding corresponds with other investigations accenting the contradictoriness between attitudes to the health and active approach to the health protection as well as support. Adolescent boys, in contrast to girls, select a special factor, peace of mind, which is characterized by the terms: happiness, love, relaxation. The results of the examination demonstrated the importance of following both health threatening and protective factors associated with health. Insufficient attention is being paid just to factors supporting health, which was also manifested in the subjective perception of the concept of health in the adolescents examined. When compiling educational strategies supporting the health of the young generation, differences between genders should also be taken into account among other factors.

It is important for each participant to exhibit not only good professional skills but also good communication skills. However, basic communication skills are often not taught at all at the level of high school, or at best very little. As a result, the Universities in Czech Republic have recently started to address this problem by introducing more practical courses aimed at communication. One such course, aimed at laboratory technicians, is also being developed at the Faculty of Health and Social sciences in Ceske Budejovice. Professional communication of laboratory technician includes three aspects: communication with external professional world, communication among peers in the same profession at his/her workplace (among colleagues, superiors, etc), communication with patient, and communication connected with obtaining new professional and research information. Successful communication of laboratory technician towards the patient is influenced by the following factors: use of appropriate language code, correct choice of paralingual methods, conscious use of nonverbal communication, and knowledge and respect of different interpretations of nonverbal communications by patients from different geographical locations (such as outside of the country), and respect of specific patients (their current health status, sex, etc). It is also important to realize that the laboratory technician must overcome so-called "intimate zone" when using "functional touches". Success in professional communication can be influenced by a number of factors, including age, education, experience, and nature of the person. However, professional communication should never be influenced by current mood, private problems or by refusing certain types of patients.

Salesians of Don Bosco are a catholic religious order, which is traditionally aimed at work with children and youth from socially weak and threatened groups. In the Czech Republic, they are successfully involved in the organization of free-time and extra-school educational activities for Romany children and youth. In addition to the varied offer of favourable activities, there are also friendly relationships between assistants and clients, which results in high rate of regular visits of Romany people in the centres.
Romany people are currently the most numerous minority in the Czech society, which traditionally exerts the largest differences and which is currently considered by the majority as most problematic in many respects. However, the problems are two-sided and frequently result from insufficient knowledge and understanding. They are based on differences in the traditional, currently essentially changing life style and value orientations in the Romany minority (Davidová at al., 2008).
The article deals with the social work within the Romany community in České Budějovice, particularly with the activity of the Salesian centre of the youth - house of children and youth České Budějovice (henceforth SaSM).
In the next part, the author presents results of and outputs from the project named Motivation factors in the work of Salesians with Romany young people, which was completely funded by the Grant Agency of the University of South Bohemia (GA JU) in České Budějovice (GA JU 21/2006/H-ZSF, principal investigator Mgr. David Urban).
The research was implemented in 2007. Its purpose was to provide mapping of factors motivating clients of the Romany oratory (Romany children visiting the SaSM) for regular visits and participation in programmes arranged by the SaSM in České Budějovice, Ostrava and Teplice.
The technique of questionnaire examination was employed for the data accumulation. This was implemented by the form of short interviews with subjects (the interviewers were Salesian assistants and volunteers) with subsequent recording the questions into the questionnaires.
The results of the research indicated that the considerable variety of activities is one of the most important factors motivating for the participation in the programme of Salesian centres of the youth and that the possibility of sport activities was considered as most positive. Further important factors were friendly relationships between members of the centre and clients and the presence of Romany assistants in the centre.

The scope of the contribution is focused on causes of homelessness. The homelessness is a multidimensional phenomenon and concerns all age categories including seniors. The phenomenon results not only in the absence of satisfying principal living needs but also in rather more painful consequences. The depreciation of the value of the human life, social separation, stigmatization, absence of privacy and safety are the features associated with social exclusion, which is in its extreme form represented by the homelessness.
The contribution demonstrates missing unambiguous delimitation or definition of causes, which are the triggering factors of the homelessness, their wide variability and mutual interconnection (multi-factorial nature) of factors of individual failure (compared with the common population) and structural factors (effects of the society - unemployment, admission to the education, availability of accommodation, health care).
The life and practice demonstrates enormous gaps and void spaces from the standpoint of the legislation in the form of absence of defining the term "homeless person" itself, unambiguousness and problems of delimitation of competences of particular subjects (sponsors - providers) of social services as well as from the standpoint of the coverage with social services and quantitative and qualitative points of view.
The currently existing capacity of social facilities aimed at helping homeless people is insufficient and not reflecting complex providing of needs associated with the target of reintegration of homeless people into common life. From this standpoint, the most important problems are as follows:
- the absence of supporting complex services associated with the principal degree of the reintegration process (daytime centres and field social work are lacking);
- providing of the reintegration process from the standpoint of next supporting services either in the form of accommodation (asylum homes, provisional homes, protected accommodation, rented flats), development or mastering of new professional skills (protected workshops, special labour programmes), availability and quality of services of social intervention, social consultation services;
- mutual cooperation between particular subjects participating in the solution of problems of homeless people (the state - regions - villages - non-governmental and charitable organizations);
- the absence of detailed mapping of problems of homeless people throughout Slovakia;
- mutual coordination of activities of the third sector implemented on the basis of the activity of the whole society.
The problems mentioned outline the spheres, the solution of which should be to a certain extent also connected with forthcoming legislative changes.

After the accident in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986, the area of the Czech Republic was polluted with radioactive substances. Their deposition was affected by atmospheric streaming and particularly precipitations, which supported washing the radionuclide out of the atmosphere. Further important sources are contaminants produced during nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere. From the standpoint of long-term contamination, the most important radionuclide is caesium-137, which is absorbed by animal and plant tissues including woody species. There is a particular problem of the contamination of forest fruits and mushrooms, which are parts of the nutritional chain contaminating the meat of forest animals. The study was focused on possible association between species of mushrooms and amounts of caesium. Semiconductor gamma-ray spectrometry was used for the measurement of different species of mushrooms from a rather small area in the South Bohemian region, locality Újezd, where it was possible to assume a uniform concentration of caesium-137 in the soil. The caesium-137 activities were also measured in the wood, bark, soil and moss. The activity of the potassium-40 natural radionuclide was also measured in all the samples for comparison. The result of the measurement of the caesium-137 activity in the above mentioned components of the forest ecosystem demonstrated that these were relatively low values and their effects on the health of our population are negligible compared with other ionizing radiation sources. The subsequent contamination of mushrooms, which contaminate the meat of forest animals through the nutritional chain, is more important. The specific activity of caesium in samples of mushrooms demonstrates a considerable variation of the values measured in spite of the fact that these were mushrooms growing on a small area; similar variations were observed with the potassium-40 specific activity. The caesium-137 activity in mushrooms can be affected by the species of mushrooms, their age or possibly depth of their mycelium.

In our work, we considered foreign studies, which supported the importance of the aEEG in the early prediction of the neurological development in newborns with early onset asphyxial syndrome. The target of the work was to support a correlation between the type of the aEEG curve and degree of involvement in newborns over the first hours after the hypoxic insult and to introduce this approach into routine practice.
Method: In 56 newborns, who experienced perinatal hypoxia (average umbilical pH 6.95, average BE - 17.3) and in two newborns after early onset postnatal hypoxia, the aEEG record was continuously monitored. During the evaluation of the aEEG records, the basic activity according to classification by Hellström-Westas was followed. The degree of the hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy was evaluated according to the classification by Sarnat-Sarnat. The present work does not include evaluation of a further neurological development.
Results: In 12 (21%) of 56 newborns, there was no development of HIE, 8 (14%) had HIE of degree I, 19 (35%) had HIE of degree II and 17 (30%) had HIE of degree III. Newborns without the development of HIE had normal or slightly abnormal curves. In children with HIE of degree I, we recorded normal or slightly abnormal curves. In children with development of HIE of degree II, we encountered all the types of curves from normal to severely pathological ones. In the group with HIE of degree III, all the children exerted pathological curves of the type "discharge-flattening", low-voltage or flat curve. The results suggest that if the child has a pathological curve over the first hours, then HIE of at least degree II was developed. 53% of children with flat curve encountered HIE of degree III.
Conclusion: Cerebral function monitoring is a non-invasive method suitable for early assessment of the severity of the experienced perinatal hypoxia. Given the possibility of the evaluation as soon as over the first hours of the life, this should be a suitable approach to the screening of patients for therapeutic hypothermia.

Alcohol affects organisms in different ways. It is impossible to determine a consumption baseline where adverse effects outweigh benefits. Although the results regarding moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy are inconsistent, it is not recommended that women consume alcohol throughout pregnancy. The adverse effects of alcohol stand against the positive effects on heart and blood circulation. Depending on dose, the correlation between alcohol consumption and the risk of various tumours has been demonstrated. The daily dose of alcohol for men should not exceed 20 g, for women, 10 g. Moderate alcohol consumption is not recommended in any case, but it can be tolerated.

The communication describes problems of taking nursing care of patients with speech disorders. The author demonstrates the unavoidable role of involvement of the family in the treatment process and taking nursing care of its sick member. She analyzes the most frequently occurring speech disorders, which should be included into basic knowledge of nurses. She demonstrates the most frequent causes of speech disorders, which include the altered health condition, for example after a sudden cerebral event, she describes aphasia with differentiating it as motor and sensitive, and furthermore she considers disorders of the speed (dynamics) of the speech, disorders of speech contents, disorders of the pronunciation, disorders of the patient timbre, disorders of mimic behaviour, disorders of gesticulation behaviour and disorders of sight manifestations in the course of the communication. A special attention is paid to the role of nurses in the examination of the patient speech, in the effective cooperation with the family and in the involvement of the family in the treatment of the family member with the speech disorder. The author presents particular provisions - interventions - of the nurse. Considerable attention is also paid to disorders of the speech in children with presenting principles of the communication of the nurse with these children. The purpose of the work was to demonstrate the importance of knowledge of this psychosocial region of the nurse work, which is relatively sparingly discussed in the special literature. A further target was to present at the level of practice principles of the individual attitude to patients with speech disorders, which are considered in the conclusion of the work.

The author deals with problems of active involvement of the family in the treatment of patients with mental disorders as one of important and essential roles of the medical personnel - physicians and nurses. She analyzes the process of overcoming health crisis in the family, which takes care of and supports its sick member with mental disorder; she presents practical instructions and advices concerning these aspects of the nursing work. By a mutual cooperation of the medical personnel and family, environment is formed which recovers or reorganizes the function of the family for the time of the patient disease and convalescence. The target of studying the problems was to emphasize the marginally perceived problem of nursing practice in taking care of patients with specific disorders. After classification of mental disorders into dynamic mental disorders and structural - formal mental disorders, the author also mentions disorders involving the whole personality - mental retardation in children and adults, dementia. For particular mental disorders, she presents practical directions and advices how to work with patients with mental disorders and also how to mobilize and motivate the family for the cooperation in this process. In addition to the theoretical analysis of the problem, the purpose of the work was to extend knowledge in these problems at the level of practice - by providing recommendations for clinical practice, which were projected by the author into rules of communication with patients having mental disorders. Conclusively, she emphasizes the importance of the cooperation of physicians and nurses in the involvement of the family into the treatment of the sick family member and of the role of the nurse in managing this process.

The article acquaints the reader with the course of proceedings concerning contributions to the care and assessment of the degree of the dependence, with the intention of the law on social services and particularly with the role and activities of case-workers and second-opinion physicians in proceedings concerning contributions to the care. General principles of the second-opinion medical activity are valid for the consideration of the health condition and degree of the dependence. The second-opinion medical activities are valid for the consideration of the health condition and degree of the dependence. The physician of the medical second-opinion service of the county administration of the social security (LPS OSSZ) starts from the health condition of a person documented by findings of the attending physician, from results of the social examination and determination of needs of the person or possibly from results of functional examinations and results of his/her own examination. The social examination is also an obligatory basis for the consideration of the dependence degree of a person for purposes of the contribution to the care, where the ability of the independent life of the person in the natural social environment is considered in terms of taking care of oneself and self-sufficiency. The target of the social examination is, however, not the determination of the dependence degree, but providing integral information for the physician of the county administration of the social security about an adverse social situation of the person considered.
The relationship of the social examination to the consideration of a long-term adverse health condition by the second-opinion physician is not sufficiently correctly used in practice when evaluating evidences for the administrative authority decision. The authors mention case reports demonstrating different results between examinations of the client by the case-worker and by the second-opinion physician. They conclusively emphasize the need for amendment of paragraph 25 Law No. 108/2006 Sb. On social services in wording of later regulations, which should determine that the social examination is a basis for a consideration of a long-term adverse health condition and in contrast to the still existing situation, where the social examination was an equivalent evidence for decisions of villages with extended competence on the dependence degree.

Our body is perceived not only by our surroundings, but first of all by ourselves. The satisfaction/dissatisfaction with our body, but mainly with its particular parts, affects the survival of our own value.
The target of the work was to find how nurses working in practice evaluate their bodies and how their evaluation varies in the perception of damage to health and mobility restriction. The body image test was employed for the determination of one's own body, where the satisfaction/dissatisfaction with individuals parts of the body is expressed based on a 5-grade scale by Likert. We compared average values of the first and second evaluation and determined changes occurring in the perception of a mobility restriction due to a disease or injury. The results obtained demonstrate more negative evaluation of individual parts of the body as soon as in the first evaluation, where average values of 17 parts of 20 were between 2.01 and 2.92 (four grades mean a maximum value). Only three parts of the body had average values of the group between 3.00 and 3.26. In the perception of damage to health with restricting the mobility, the average values were even lower - nearly all the body parts (19 of 20) had average values of 1.62 to 2.89 grades. The highest average score in both evaluations was attributed to the eyes and mouth (3.26/3.04 and 3.05/2.89). Only few respondents reported a higher score in the second evaluation, particularly in the following parts: neck, hair, eyes, mouth, but also shoulders, waist and buttocks.
The disease, injury, and mobility restriction frequently negatively affect the self-evaluation since not only the society but also individuals perceive them as a stigma. In addition, it is also necessary to take into account other factors, as for example dependence on other people, restriction of activities and social roles. In women - nurses working involved in practice, there may also be effects of personal experience with patients having similar problems.

In helping professions including nursing, the planned form of the help is a characteristic feature. The target of our survey was mapping of the occurrence of the pro-social behaviour or pro-social personality in a selected sample of students and nurses. The sample included 245 respondents: 143 students of the regular form of the bachelor study in the branch nursing (age of respondents ranged between 19 and 25 years, average age was of 20.86 years) and 102 nurses employed as healthcare professionals (average age 36.06 years, the lowest age was of 23 years and the highest age was of 52 years). For the identification of the pro-social behaviour we employed the Questionnaire "Prosocial Tendencies Measure" and Questionnaire of the pro-social personality "Prosocial Personality Battery".
There were significant differences between the groups followed in the pro-social tendencies (students 72.52, nurses 75.32), in anonymous pro-social behaviour (students 12.26, nurses 13.53), in behaviour in emergency situations (students 10.76, nurses 11.48), in the social responsibility (students 50.91, nurses 52.48), in accepting the perspective (students 22.57, nurses 24.45), in subjectively perceived altruism (students 34.93, nurses 40.38), in Factor 1 - Empathy focused on other people (students 128.9, nurses 133.58) and in Factor 2 - Helpfulness (students 21.67, nurses 27.69). In these subscales, nurses achieved higher average scores. There was also a difference in the subscale of the personal discomfort (students 14.21, nurses 12.98) in favour of students.
The interest in helping other people and usefulness are frequently the main motivating factors in the choice of the school and profession where the helping activity stands as the main component. In the course of the education and practice, particular components can be, however, developed and changed in positive as well as negative directions, thus affecting the work of the nurse. Thus, increased attention should be paid to these changes with supporting these valuable characters.

Due to the slowly receding global economic crisis, the number of unemployed persons in the Czech Republic remains high. According to data of the Czech Statistical Office, in the fourth quartile of 2010, the unemployment rate reached 7% for those between the ages of 15-64. Accordingly, it is important to discover ways to reduce the high unemployment rate, reduce the corresponding impact on the state budget, and most importantly, help the unemployed. In the Czech Republic, the most common and preferred approach to reducing the structural unemployment is through re-training. We believe an additional approach merits consideration, namely, the use of volunteering. Volunteering is not a novelty approach to reducing unemployment. In the Czech Republic, it was first implemented in 2000; however, it remains rather invisible. In this article, we introduce volunteering, its legislative background, and benefits that volunteering might bring to the unemployed. We also provide examples of situations where volunteering can complement or provide a substitute for re-training as well as serve as a first job experience for graduates. Next, we list some barriers to volunteering, and finally, we focus on the Czech experience with volunteering of the unemployed. We acknowledge that only a specific group of unemployed persons might find volunteering suitable and interesting and that only some non-governmental organizations might find volunteers among the unemployed. However, we believe that volunteering is one of the means to decrease unemployment and the negative impacts of unemployment, and we envision some steps to make volunteering among the unemployed a more popular concept. Year 2011 is the European Year of the Volunteer, and in this context, we hope this article could steer some discussion about volunteering of the unemployed.

The purpose of the study presented here was to find whether successful students of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague have different living style compared to those students of the same faculty, who were forced to discontinue the study for different reasons. With the help of a questionnaire (7-point Likert scale), based on preliminarily established objective significance, differences were determined between a group of students continuing their studies after the third semester (n = 625) and that of students who have already terminated the study (n = 311).
Based on considering total of 34 selected indicators, an objectively significant difference was found in 18 ones. According to preliminarily established rules, a "considerable" difference (by 10% and above) was found in three indicators and "intermediate" difference (5-9.9%) was observed in 15 indicators.
Successful students, i.e. in our case those continuing these studies, can be on average characterized as students taking their breakfast and lunch several times a week, taking more frequently their lunch in the student's canteen, exerting lower tolerance to smoking tobacco cigarettes and using drugs (and also using them less frequently) including so called energy drinks, and feeling long-term mental stress to a smaller extent.
In the field of free time activities, they meet less frequently their friends and partners, listen less frequently music, perform less frequently works in the household and study more frequently languages and special literature. On average, they include movement activities more frequently into their healthy living style and thus, they are also more willing to perform sport activities more regularly, pay less attention to profit-making activities during their study and their general financial situation is less difficult.

Lipids together with saccharides and proteins form basic components of the organism nutrition. Excess amounts and unsuitable composition of lipids in the food increase the risk of severe diseases. About half the world population have increased cholesterol levels, which causes one third of the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases. The most effective method of reducing the incidence of cardiovascular diseases in the population is a prevention, which inter alia includes the treatment of hyperlipoproteinaemia, i.e. adhering to regimen provisions and possibly pharmacotherapy.
The target of the present pilot research was to find what levels of blood lipids and BMI occur in a group of respondents, managers of one company, who have not reported any health problems and have not been examined by a physician over the last three years. Levels of triacylglycerols, glycaemia and blood pressure were also monitored for a possible demonstration of metabolic syndrome.
The research demonstrated that in the total group of 154 respondents, 52% of respondents had normal levels of total cholesterol, the optimum body weight being found in 40.3% of respondents only. In 1.6% of the respondents, there was an elevated LDL cholesterol level and in 24.7% of the respondents there was a lower HDL cholesterol level and an increased atherogenic index was encountered in 26%. Higher triacylglycerol levels were found in 28% of the respondents, higher glycaemia in 27.3% of the respondents and higher diastolic blood pressure values (85 mm Hg and above) were measured in 46.1% of the respondents. Suspect metabolic syndrome could be considered in seven cases. The awareness of certain regimen provisions was shown in 32.5% of the respondents only. Within the group of 74 respondents with demonstrated higher cholesterol levels, only 44 respondents (59.5% of this group) expressed their willingness to adhere to certain regimen precautions. After that, within a time period of five months, positive changes in levels of blood lipids, triacylglycerols, glycaemia, BMI, and blood pressure values were revealed in this group. Positive changes were also demonstrated in respondents with suspect metabolic syndrome.

Triclopyr is a systemic herbicide, which belongs to the group of chlorinated pyridines. Triclopyr is used in the form of ester or amine salt. It is employed for the control of deciduous woody plants, provided that it does not destroy grass and coniferous woody plants. It is used for the control of broad leafed weeds and bushes at different spots along ways, in pastures and meadows, in forests and sport areas including home lawns, where the grass and coniferous woody plants remain intact after this use. Triclopyr is unusually effective against woody plants and is used for the destruction of bushes along railways and defoliation of forest areas. Triclopyr is not stable in surface waters. It has a limited mobility and low capability of the accumulation in the soil. Given its adsorption characteristics and the fact that it is decomposed in many ways, such as photolysis, metabolic conversion in plants and microbial degradation, its ability to penetrate into deeper soil layers and contaminate ground waters is low. Triclopyr is decomposed in soil with a half-life between 30 and 90 days. One of products of its degradation is trichloropyridinol, which can persist in the soil for as long as one year. In decaying vegetation, triclopyr is active for about 3 months. The substance is slightly toxic to birds. It was found to be non-toxic to bees and slightly toxic to fishes. In humans, pure triclopyr exerts a very low toxicity after its oral administration. Technical triclopyr is slightly toxic after its oral administration or transdermal penetration. Humans can be exposed to triclopyr residua in the food.

The consideration of the degree of dependence for purposes of providing financial contributions to the care is currently being performed through the mediation of the assessment of the impact of long-term adverse conditions on the ability to manage operations delimited by the law. In the currently existing system, based on section 9 paragraphs 1 and 2 of Law No. 108/2006 Sb. "On social services" as amended, the ability to manage 18 operations in taking the self-care and 18 self-sufficiency activities are evaluated. Each of these operations includes a number of activities as delimited in Attachment l of Regulation No. 505/2006 Sb. as amended. The result of this is that within the framework of these particular 36 operations, total of 129 activities are evaluated: 71 activities in taking the self-care and 58 activities concerning the self-sufficiency. The principle of the proposed changes in considering the health condition of applicants for the financial contribution to the health care is an assessment of the degree of dependence based on the transformation of the existing 36 operations in 10 integral and logically associated spheres of the everyday life specifying how the applicant manages fulfilling of basic needs of the life. In general, the 10 basic spheres of the life needs include all the still considered operations. The new second-opinion medical criteria are based on the evaluation of everyday life activities, which have already been shown to be useful in practice and which are simultaneously the first step to accepting the International classification of functional capability, disability and health (ICF) by the professional public. Thus, by the incorporation of elements of the ICF, comprising all the components of the human health and certain components of the well-being, into the new second-opinion medical criteria of the assessment of the degree of the dependence, the attitude of the professional public to health handicaps is being modified. The suggested change in considering the degree of the dependence by second-opinion physicians simultaneously offers a continuation of changes in the new approach to the determination of the dependence of the persons subjected to the opinion, initiated in January 2011 by a new concept of the social examination.

The author shows connections between philosophical starting points and identification of ethical problems associated with the medical practice. The Hippocrates concept of medicine was not only a moral change in the attitude to the patient and in the formulation of principles of non-malefficiency and benefficiency expressed in the known therapeutic idea: to cause no harm, to be helpful or at least not to be harmful. It particularly brought changes in ontology - by changing the concept of the disease and methodology - by the implementation of the causal criterion and searching for natural causes of the disease in disorders of somatic and mental relationships and also relationships to the external environment. Medicine was developed as a natural discipline and later also as a discipline oriented at natural science. The reflection and updating of ethical problems also correspond to this starting point and to understanding man. Enormous scientific, publication and control attention is being paid to ethical problems associated with the development of biomedicine and technical approaches to it, such as experiment with a human subject, interventions into the reproductive process, genetics, use of stem cells, transplantations, etc. Problems of the justification and conditions for preventing discrimination for any reasons are also being discussed. The least attention is being paid to ethical aspects of inter-human relationships including practical, informal implementation of patients' rights. Solution of moral dilemmas of physicians almost remains beyond the focus of interest. Special education in medical ethics including its humanitarian, anthropological (cultural and philosophical) orientation, discussion and exchange of knowledge concerning therapy with estimation of dignity or moderation of suffering also by non-pharmacological methods, as well as implementation of more numerous research studies aimed at ethical dilemmas of physicians could be helpful not only for patients but also for more considerable mental comfort of physicians.

The ever increasing occurrence of civilization diseases points out the need for the primary prevention and motivates healthcare professionals to the enhancement of their efforts focused on the maintenance and support of the population health. Insufficient locomotor activity is one of civilisation factors negatively affecting the health in young people.
The work presented here is aimed at problems of diseases of the supporting-locomotor system in adolescents in association with a lack of movement activities, activity reduced due to their health condition and changes in their style of life.
The target and scope of the research was the determination and consideration of the supporting-locomotor system in adolescents with a special regard to the movement activity in the style of life of adolescents. The correct posture and condition of the supporting-locomotor system were evaluated with the help of examination methods and diagnostic tests, in which the method of the posture evaluation by Jaroš and Lomíček was employed. In addition, to provide the complex nature of the measurement and evaluation of anthropometric data, we used a questionnaire supplementing information on movement activities and health condition of respondents.
In the evaluation of the general posture, our respondents achieved an average value of 11.38 expressing the percent proportion of the incorrect posture. In the general posture evaluation we found 59.3% of girls and 55.4 % of boys to exert incorrect posture. There was an only slight dependence between the BMI and posture evaluation, the relationship being more considerable in boys. Statistically significant differences in the posture were found between sporting and occasionally sporting to non-sporting persons, which applied to the same extent in groups of girls and boys. In the respondents, we also evaluated their movement activity and health condition, which considerably affect the supporting-locomotor system.
The results of the research show that in the contemporary population of young people, important causes of the development of the incorrect posture include a deficiency of movement activities. The occurrence of diseases of the supporting-locomotor system is ever increasing due to the lack of physical movements and movement inactivity, thus presenting a serious health problem.

The varying style of life of the population, secular trends in the development or changes in nutritional habits in certain social spheres due to social-economic conditions - these are examples of factors participating in the ever increasing number of individuals suffering from excess weight and obesity. These diagnoses fall into a group of civilization diseases and their incidence is ever being increased. Specialists, such as associate professor Hainer or professor Svačina, similarly as the World Health Organization (WHO) speak directly about epidemic. Of course, in association with increasing prevalence of excess weight and obesity, amounts of financial means necessary for the treatment of the diseases but also of those related to them or of complications resulting from them are also increasing. Due to this, over a number of recent years, emphasize has been put on attempts aimed at the prevention, improvement of nutritional habits, changes in the style of life, promotion of movement activities, etc. In the field of taking direct care of obese persons, activities are being developed, which respect their needs and specific features in attempts to achieve improvement of their general health condition, particularly the reduction in their weight. However, it is necessary to realize that this is not only a disease of physical nature associated with a number of complications, but that it also affects the mental component of individuals, self-perceiving and their life in the community. Thus, it affects a wide spectrum of the life. The subject of the work presented here is a delimitation of the holistic concept of excess weight and obesity based on contents analysis of available sources with taking into account historical and philosophic concepts of these diseases and also emphasizing effects of the culture, economic situation or ethnic differentiation on understanding the importance of the risk nature of the style of life and particularly of nutritional habits, which directly affect or directly support their origination. Within the scope of preventive programmes and activities directed to the improvement of the style of life of individuals with excess weight and obesity, it is thus necessary to take into account cultural background, which are they coming from or for example economic situation in addition to physical possibilities and basic needs of these individuals. With the help of the holistic concept and individual attitude respecting every individual as a valuable and original personality with his/her differences and characteristics, it is then possible to achieve more constant changes not only in the field of food and movement activities, but also in the mental and spiritual area.

Poliomyelitis is a long-term non-progressive involvement of the posture and mobility originating based on damage to the developing brain in prenatal, perinatal and early postnatal periods. Poliomyelitis involves the individual throughout the life, the extent of the locomotor involvement and occurrence of further associated deficiencies in the field of sensory systems or cognitive functions being factors affecting the life of the individual in all the areas of his/her activities.
One of targets of the research work presented here was mapping of the level of the care provided for the paediatric client with the diagnosis of poliomyelitis in the field of healthcare services. The qualitative research method was employed in the work. For baseline data related to determining the level of the health care from the standpoint of healthcare professionals in the given region, paediatricians providing the primary care obtained a questionnaire estimating their opinions concerning the level of taking the health care of children with poliomyelitis. A semi-structured interview was employed for the accumulation of the qualitative research data. Interviews with respondents taking care of children with poliomyelitis served as a basis for a compilation of case studies. The case studies established a research basis for the preparation of categorized tables and graphs summarizing principal results of the research.
The research results in the field of taking the health care of children with poliomyelitis in terms of the holistic attitude suggested that the recommended procedure for practitioners related to the diagnostics and therapy is being accepted and implemented in practice. However, from the standpoint of the person taking the care, there is a lack of information about the child health condition, particularly at initial stages of the disease. The interconnections in the use of therapeutic possibilities in practice are also rather complicated. Emphasize is put on the development of locomotor abilities through the mediation of physiotherapeutic methods, which is particularly accepted at the time of pre-school development, but in latter periods, this important part of the complex therapy is taking a back seat.

Coming changes in the way of the human existence bring qualitative modifications of the system of the human consciousness. There are reasons for an assumption that at the contemporary stage of the development of natural sciences, an era will come, in which man can humble himself. Thus, the object of the purposeful transformation will be not the external nature but the nature of man, i. e. the natural-biological basis of the human life activity. The consequence of this will be a new dimension of the discipline referred to as genetic engineering. Genetic engineering of man principally alters the basic relationship between the subject and object, forming the basic arrangement and values of the consciousness, by creating tools making possible more considerable intervention into the nature of man and rule of this nature. Targets of genetic engineering are beneficial. These are attempts to provide conditions for increasing the quality of the health protection, to prolong the active life, to set man free of severe diseases including neurodegenerative disorders, and even to enhance the intellectual level. Advances of biology and medicine alter the understanding of the world, self-consciousness and moral self-confidence. The goal of modern medicine is not only to help the patient, but also to search for possibilities of the control of the processes of pathology, conception and dying. Thus, the development of biotechnological intervention presents complex and ambiguous ethical problems similar to those formerly originating in association with other technologies. The concept of anthropogenetics is focused on a further elaboration and concrete expression of the general theory of biology and on acquiring knowledge, which is of importance for the use in practice. A considerable aspect of the effect of the practice on the field of the scientific-theoretical knowledge associated with the development of genetic engineering is the requirement for solving the principal contradiction between substantiated results of the human life activity and the human life itself - the human subjectivity.

The concept of metabolic syndrome (MS) is frequently being ever more encountered in the special literature and this is unfortunately a problem of the actual need and not of fashion trends.
The occurrence of this disease has been increasing in the recent years in industrially developed countries at extremely rapid rate and it becomes a focus of interest in a number of medical disciplines, such as endocrinology, diabetology, obesitology, preventive cardiology, etc.
Based on the examination of a 1% randomised sample of the Czech population of 25 to 64 years of age, metabolic syndrome was found in 25% of women and 32% of men in 2001.
Metabolic syndrome results from the concurrent action of several basic risk factors.
Attempts of specialists to unify pathological symptoms and syndromes under a common denominator are demonstrated by the fact that conditions, today collectively named metabolic syndrome, were referred to in the literature in the course of the last 50 years under different names (e.g. hyperplastic syndrome, syndrome 5 P, hyperplastic obesity, hypertonic-metabolic syndrome, syndrome X, civilisation syndrome). Criteria defined in 2005 are currently being used for the metabolic syndrome diagnostics.
Metabolic syndrome complications exert considerably feared impacts on the health condition, since it is known that over 70% of patients with myocardium infarction formerly experienced a certain stage of metabolic syndrome. A further problem of the health care in all the developed countries is the predicted increase in the occurrence of diabetes mellitus in the future decades, since persons with genetic predisposition to insulin resistance having excess energy intake and unsuitable life style have also frequently the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. General obesity is a necessary factor for the metabolic syndrome diagnostics. Obesity becomes a clear endangerment to the health condition worldwide, because 315 million inhabitants of our planet suffer from obesity based on an estimate. The metabolic syndrome treatment must be complex and it is impossible without adhering to directions for non-pharmacological lowering of risk factors.

Old people's homes are one of forms of taking the institutional care of seniors. Coming of a client into a residential facility means a decision for life and big change for each senior. In the case of unsuccessful adaptation to the old age or to the new environment, intentional isolation and apathy can be encountered with losing interest in and meaning of the life of a senior.
For gaining data necessary in the determination of the target, a method of data accumulation was employed - based on questionnaires. The standard approach comprised a standardized dialogue with a closed type of questions. Thirty subjects were contacted. One of them was not willing to answer and two of them did not answer all the questions and thus, they were excluded from the total amount of the subjects. The senior health condition was clearly delimited as one of specific factors of the successful adaptation. Clients are mostly quite self-sufficient and they actively live together with their family members and friends. Within the framework of the research it was found that principal factors helping successful adaptation are as follows: willingness of joining the home, knowledge of the environment, support of the orientation in the reality and easy-access environment, saving of the confidence, dignity and human fairness, information on rules of the life in the facility, consequent active elimination of unsuitable handling, sufficient offer of free-time activities. The adaptation of clients in the old people's home is an individual matter. If we want to speak about successful adaptation, it is necessary to consider many different and simultaneously tightly related factors. A big emphasize is currently put or strengthening the quality of life not only in the productive age but also in the old age. Different mobilizing programmes are emphasized, which are at preventive and also therapeutic levels. Respecting of individual possibilities and desires of each individual are of importance.