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The contribution presented here describes the situation of families in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Zambia. Zambia is one of most problematic countries, which faces many social as well as health problems. The contribution brings experience from the life of its inhabitants - structure of families, role of the mother, father and grandparents.
The work defines the term street kids in accordance with the special literature to improve the comprehensibility for the reader. The problem of street kids in Zambia occupies the first position in the field of interest of humanitarian institutions and their help. The contribution defines and presents demographic and statistical data on the inhabitants in general and mentions certain accurate numbers as directly determined in Zambia. Demographic data are associated with problems corresponding with the situation of families and further parameters of the family and social politics in Zambia, such as high mortality, morbidity and illiteracy.
The family is considered here as a social unit, which is essentially missing in Zambia and thus, the whole family system and structure of inhabitants is impaired.
The contribution also points out problems of the HIV/AIDS, which disturbs the family unit to the most considerable extent with respect to a high mortality of mothers, fathers and in worst cases of both parents.
Certain considerable differences are defined in the motherhood and upbringing of children and in the general familial and traditional coexistence, such as carrying of children in scarf or role of the mother in upbringing. The fact is particularly shown that in Zambia, there is no maternity leave. By way of illustration, a system of the marriage and coexistence of two persons as a basis of the family is described and supplemented by historical rules.
The contribution mainly emphasizes the coexistence of brothers and sisters: how the children are able to take care of their small brothers and sisters. The role of the mother is frequently taken by an older daughter or son, who carries their younger sister or brother everywhere, which enhances their emotional bonds.
All these facts come from far history of local ceremonies, rituals and superstitions.
At the end of our contribution, we also mention a further frequent problem, which is the poor education of inhabitants that also strongly hits the process of forming families and of the child development. This involves a problem that the parents cannot realize the consequence of having many children in the family. The parents, due to their poverty, cannot feed and bring up the children in agreement with requirements for their healthy and quality development.
We also point out the problem of early conception and mainly the fact that the girls are sometimes forced to live the school, to avoid the outrage and suggestion of bad live style. The authors realize that this gesture of the society does not solve the problem and they criticize this fact.

Down syndrome is a genetic anomaly exerting lifelong consequences. In 1866, an English physician John Langdon Down noticed that some of his mentally retarded patients share some similar characters and he described and summarized them into a new unit, which was later named after him Down syndrome. In 1959, a French genetic Lejeune discovered the fact that persons with Down syndrome have chromosome No. 21 in addition to the normal arrangement. Given the fact that in persons with Down syndrome there are three chromosomes instead of two ones, we speak about trisomia 21. Down syndrome is encountered in one of 130,000 deliveries. Children with Down syndrome achieve particular development stages later compared with the other children and thus, their behaviour does not correspond to their age and physical performance. They are able to communicate with other children very well and they are also able to adhere to rules. However, new situations are more difficult for them. The prognosis of children born with Down syndrome is very favourable. More than 90% of these children survive the first year of their life and about half of them live to the age of sixty. Particularly the early care is of a great importance, which exerts positive impacts on the whole child development and future life. Today, there are a number of organisations providing diverse services for families with handicapped children. Parents have unambiguously the most difficult task after the delivery of a child with Down syndrome. In this mentally tedious period, psychological advisory services are necessary, which help the parents face the situation and which indicate services available to these children. Depending on the age and degree of the child involvement, services are provided concerning the education, jobs, living in flats and free time. Today we are aware of the fact that the timely or early care for children with Down syndrome plays the principal role in their further development. A next very substantial assumption for the best development is a loving care in the family, i.e. assumption that the child will not be passed to the institutional care, which was a common practice in the past times, but that it will grow in home environment.

The contribution deals with particular fields of the education in children and adolescents in the primary care. Nutritional habits, drinking regimen, movement activity, free-time activities, sleep habits, problems of addictive substances, body weight, body height, body mass index and preventive medical examinations were investigated. As to the body weight, there are individuals with higher BMI. Knowledge of individuals about well-balanced food is sufficient in most respondents. The movement activity of respondents examined was reported as average; in contrast, the time spent at TV or computer considerably exceeds the movement activity. In a targeted analysis of information accumulated, it is possible to establish recommendations concerning the education - the field of regular nutrition, reduction in intake of high energy drinks, regular physical activity and, last but not least, very important area of the consumption of alcohol and smoking. These areas, including ergonomic parameters of school furniture, should be regularly monitored, for example by a school nurse.

The problem of competences is an area considerably affecting the position of nurses in multidisciplinary teams and also relationships between the physician and nurse. Based on a sociological quantitative research, which employed the technique of controlled interviews of the interviewer with the physician and nurse, opinions concerning relationships between the nurse and physician including the transfer of competences between them were ascertained. Within the framework of the research, in agreement with the project, 535 physicians and 537 general nurses were included into the sample group. These respondents were selected based on a random choice with the help of quota.
The nurses were enquired, whether the physician impose tasks on them, which do not belong to their competences, what the types of tasks most frequently are, and whether the nurses refuse to perform the tasks, which do not belong to their competences. There was also a question whether the nurses believe that there is a distinct boundary between competences of nurses and physicians. The physicians were enquired, whether they charge nurses with doing tasks, which belong to the competence of doctors, what the types of these works most frequently are, and whether they respect the refusal of nurses to perform tasks, which do not belong to their competences. In the research, we also considered a question, whether the physicians would hand over certain competences to nurses and if so, what should the competences be, and whether they believe that the boundary between competences of nurses and physicians is distinctly delimited. Based on answers of general nurses, most physicians in the Czech Republic do not charge nurses with doing works, which do not belong to their competences or they do so in individual cases only. This standpoint is supported by more than half the total number of nurses (56.8%). Only about 1/4 the number of physicians charge nurses with doing works, which fall into competences of physicians, most of them doing so from time to time, 5% regularly. The subsequent analysis of answers of nurses demonstrated that the nurses are charged with doing works of administrative nature beyond their competences (43.5%). A majority of nurses are able to refuse to do the work, which does not belong to their competences. Almost half the number of nurses in the Czech Republic (48.6%) believe that the boundary between competences of physicians and nurses are clearly and distinctly delimited.

The reality of the life ever more urgently presents the task of readiness to solving problems, which are characterized by the endangerment of lives, safety and property of people. Specific conditions for the solution of crisis situations of different nature are also determined by requirements for expert physical and mental readiness of management subjects.
The target of the article is to specify requirements for the crisis manager personality, and in confrontation with other opinions, to delimit the structure and characterize contents of competences of crisis managers, and based on this, to explain the social and psychological dimension of knowledge, capacity and skill of crisis managers and emphasize necessary adjustments to the contents and increase in the efficacy of the method of their education.
The principal method was a comparison of still existing knowledge and attitudes with results of our own questionnaire action among experts from practice and academic institutions. The knowledge acquired was supplemented by results of a partial analysis of relevant domestic and foreign sources and experience from the solution of several realistic crisis situations, industrial accidents and ecological and natural catastrophic events.
The competences of the manager comprise a set of knowledge and capacity in harmony with the extent of the authority and responsibility. There are different approaches to their formulation: some of them prefer traditional structuring based on the contents of functions and levels of management and some others are focused on personality qualities of managers, emotional stability and mental resistance necessary in the solution of tedious and frequently unexpected situations. The currently existing opinions, experience from practice as well as results of research emphasize requirements for strengthening social competences. This is also supported by a comparison of results of our own questionnaire research and extensive research in the USA.
The competences required considerably include those, which are associated with conducting people, giving decisions in complicated situations, effective communication between cooperating components, communication with people involved as well as with the public. This is everything reflected by the contents, methods and means employed in particular educational forms as well as in requirements for expert as well as personality qualities of pedagogues.

The experimental use of corticoids is focused on simulation of processes commonly occurring in the organism or in the treatment with these substances. High corticoid levels exert negative effects particularly on memory structures of the CNS such as the hippocampus. High glucocorticoid levels reduce CRH levels through the feedback loop mechanism. In contrast, elevated CRH levels negatively affect the amount of glucocorticoids circulating in the blood. In a number of diseases (as for example posttraumatic stress disorder or Alzheimer disease) there are high levels of glucocorticoids. Glucocorticoids are mediators of the stress reaction (flight or fight) in agreement with the activation of sympathetic part of the autonomous nervous system. In the evolution, the system made the organism possible to escape particularly from a physical danger (for example primeval man was pursued by a tiger). This system is currently by far not adapted to the rapidly varying conditions of the life. A number of sedentary occupations do not make it possible to use it in an optimum way. It is perhaps possible that this is a reason for maladaptive patterns of the stress reaction manifested in chronic stress by diabetes, hypertension, dementia and further so called civilization diseases. One of possibilities of investigating these processes is the animal stress model in laboratory rats. Groups of animals are administered for a certain period with CRH and/or glucocorticoids and compared to controls. After completing the experiment, we search for morphological changes in the CNS (volumetric reduction in the hippocampus) or follow behavioural changes over time. The most severe damage occurs in the group administered with glucocorticoids compared with the group receiving CRH only or that administered with CRH + glucocorticoids. This investigation can be used to understand further processes occurring at cellular or subcellular level.

The main target of the study presented here was mapping and description of factors affecting the choice of the first affiliation of nurses leaving the studies and comparison of the data acquired with results of foreign research. The first target was to evaluate and compare the development of preferences for particular working sites in students.
The sample group included 63 students of the last year of full-time study branch General Nurse at Ostrava University in Ostrava and branch Registered General Nurse at SZŠ and VOŠZ Ostrava. Quantitative examination was implemented in March 2009 with the use of a standardized questionnaire by R. Whittle.
Among nurses leaving the studies, surgical, paediatric and internal departments were of top interest. The less preferred working sites included departments of subsequent and palliative care and psychiatric departments. The preference for the working sites remained almost unaltered in the course of the studies. The factors most significantly affecting the choice of the first affiliation included personal good experience with the working site chosen, interest in a certain field of nursing, possibility of further education and professional development. The choice of the first affiliation was not affected by any feedback and recommendation from other students or negative experience of students with particular working sites.
The results of the examination demonstrated that students of nursing have certain expectations concerning their future working site, which is affected by several factors. Understanding requirements of new qualified nurses concerning the future working sites can help medical institutions to make the work of nurses at less preferred working sites more attractive and motivate new nurses leaving the school.

The prevention is an unavoidable and important part of provisions focused on the control of the increasing frequency of allergic diseases. The authors of the contribution present results of a research aimed at establishing the extent of the involvement of nurses working at outpatient departments and taking the primary care of children and youth in support of the health and prevention of allergic diseases. The method was based on the use of a semi-structured questionnaire. The involvement of the nurses in the preventive care was expressed as a percent proportion of working hours devoted to consultation activities, visits to families, quality of the communication with parents, cooperation with institutions and participation in projects. The research sample included 95 nurses working at outpatient departments and taking the primary care of children and youth. The result of the research indicated that the highest involvement of nurses is achieved in the field of consultation activities. The nurses most frequently granted advices concerning breast-feeding and taking hygienic care of the skin. They were less frequently involved in performing services in the form of visits to families after deliveries of children. The lowest involvement of the nurses was encountered in the field of the cooperation with institutions and participation in projects. The involvement of the nurses in the prevention and support of health statistically significantly increased with increasing degree of their education. The results demonstrated that most services in the form of visits to families were provided by nurses who achieved the highest level of the education (p = 0.03). The cooperation with institutions statistically significantly increased with increasing level of the nurse education (p = 0.002). There was the most considerable cooperation with centres for mothers (p

The target of the work is to provide basic characteristics of legal arrangements of traditional families, establishing of marriage, possible divorce and principal relationships between parents and children in Czech countries at the end of the existence of Austro-Hungary.
Considerations are recently being ever more frequently encountered not only in expert publications, indicating that the traditional family faces a big crisis. This is usually documented by different statistical data about high rates of divorces, low numbers of marriages, i.e. not establishing marriage of young persons or older partners, particularly over the last 15 years, replacement of the marriage by partnerships and in general arguing that the basic task of the family, particularly reproduction and upbringing of children can be provided in other or better way within these forms compared to improperly functioning family.
The serious consideration of the development over recent years and expression of opinions about the magnitude of its importance for the future is impossible without a retrospective look; the family actually passed through a long process of development, which was affected in the territory of the currently existing Czech Republic (and of course also in the other areas) by economic, political, social, religious and further relationships in different time periods.
The view into the past is also possible in a rather non-traditional manner and without excess quoting of historical events, where the law should be particularly helpful, if we consider the fact that the law comprises opinions of the majority in the society concerning given problems or is at least respected by an important majority of the society.
The drawback of the method chosen is certainly a fact that in the first consideration of the legal problems of the family, these were laws established by a monarch, whereas further considerations concern laws adopted by parliaments of either democratic or totalitarian states. Given the assumption that texts of legal rules are prepared by experts in an objective manner or within the framework of a given intention of the law, the author is convinced that the above mentioned drawback of the method chosen steps aside.

The target of the study was to examine changes in opinions, attitudes and practices of students in the course of their university studies in terms of certain selected aspects of their risk behaviour. A questionnaire was employed to establish differences between a group of students of the first year (n = 625) and that of students of higher years (n = 581). The results obtained based on the statistical analysis (version 14.0 SPSS) were verified by qualitative methods - deep non-categorized interviews with 32 students and analysis of written texts provided by 27 students.
The results indicate considerable changes in older students: in the number of dinners per week - an increase by 13%; in the occurrence of long-term mental stress - an increase by 16.4%; in the rate of the active locomotor activity - an increase by 16%; and in a reduction in the tolerance to obesity - by 13.4%. Smaller, but still demonstrable changes were observed in the rate of quite sufficient sleep - an increase by 7.7%; in the tolerance to smoking tobacco products - a reduction in the tolerance by 6.0%; in smoking tobacco product such as - a decrease by 5.5%; in opinions concerning the use of drugs - an increase in the tolerance by 7.9%; and in the drug use such as - an increase by 5.7%.
There is a surprising finding, which is quite opposite to most still published opinions that the rate of the sport and physical education activities of students increase in higher years.
The main reasons as mentioned by students are as follows: a) they found a group of students having similar interests for the organization of sport activities; b) many types of sports are expensive and money is more accessible to students in higher years; c) during the study, the students gained a number of kilos exceeding appropriate limits; d) they are capable of better organization of their time; e) they are already aware of fact that sport activities are helpful in terms of their mental as well as health condition.

The scope of the article is knowledge acquired by the author in the course of her stay in Zambia in 2006 to 2009. It concerns problems of so called free-time activities for "Street children". The attention is paid to problems of poverty, which involves the life of children, and inter alia, also affects the structure of their free time.
The targets of the communication presented here is to describe the currently existing health and social situation in Zambia, define basic terms concerning free time and free-time activities, and describe free-time activities in Zambia as related to the social situation. Poverty is one of the biggest problems of Zambian families; 76% of the population of Zambia live under the limit of poverty (more than 69% of children). This is also associated with problems of diseases, particularly malaria and sexually transmissible diseases HIV/AIDS. Poverty is one of the main causes of the presence of many OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children).
The research was performed at three stages - in different years - where methods were developed in the first year, which were subsequently verified by the author over next years. The issue of these proposals is establishing an open system and scope of free-time activities in Zambia. A presentation of results and set of free-time activities documented by photographs is conclusively presented.

The specific nature of helping professions presents high requirements not only for the professional capacity but also for the personality. The concept of the D-type personality including high negative affectivity and simultaneously high social inhibition plays an important role as a risk factor in the etiology and prognosis of certain diseases, particularly in coronary artery disease.
The target of the present research was mapping of the occurrence of the D-type personality in a selected sample of students of helping professions. In this way, we considered a comparison of the occurrence of this feature in different study branches. In a sample of 221 students aged in average 20.39 years, the DS 14 questionnaire by J. Denollet (2005) was employed for the consideration of the negative affectivity, social inhibition and D-type personality.
In the subscale Negative affectivity, characterizing the tendency to experience negative emotions over times and situations, the respondent achieved an average score of 9.8, whereas in the subscale Social inhibition, concerning the tendency to suppress the expression of emotions and behaviour in social interactions, the average value was of 10.6. Total of 54 students were specified as distressed or D-type personalities, which means almost one fourth (24.43%) the total number of respondents (n = 221). In comparison of particular groups (or sections), we observed no considerable differences between groups of students of Nursing, Social work and Psychology. In the subscale Negative affectivity, in the group of Nursing, the average score of 11.54 was achieved and in the subscale Social inhibition, the value was of 9.98. Thus, both values are very close to the limit value of 10 (SI) or they exceed this value (NA). These results also indicated a higher number of students identified as D-type personalities (17, i.e. 28.33%). Respondents in the group of Social work achieved the average score in the subscale Negative affectivity of 9.14 and in the subscale Social inhibition of 11.7, and 16 students were specified as D-type personalities (29.09%). Similar results were also achieved in the group of students of Psychology, where the average values for the Negative affectivity and Social inhibition were of 9.7 and 11.7, respectively, and 13 respondents (26%) were specified as the D-type. The best result of our evaluation was achieved by students of Public health, whose average values in both subscales did not achieve the limit of 10 (NA = 8.86; SI = 9.25) which was also shown in the lowest number of students identified as D-type personalities. There were 8 (14.29%) individuals in this group.
In our research, we found a relatively high occurrence of risk personality factors comprised in the concept of the D-type personality. The fact that this was a population of students commonly considered as "healthy" clearly demonstrates the need of the prevention focused on lowering the occurrence and possible consequences of these risk factors in a wider population.

The community health care involves an important potential benefit for the population health and takes a crucial and irreplaceable position in the healthcare system. In the Czech Republic, it is also necessary to provide conditions for the development of the community care, in which multidisciplinary teams of professionals will provide the holistic and integrated care, which is based on individual attitude to each particular person in all the age periods, in health and disease, and does not call for hospitalization. Taking care of seniors is a crucial area for the role of independently working community nurses in the Czech healthcare system. Nurses taking care of seniors should have important positions in multidisciplinary teams since based on their competences they can contribute to the protection and improvement of the physical and mental health of seniors. Within the scope of our research, we were interested in opinions of the lay and expert public on the role of nurses in community nursing in terms of taking care of seniors. In association with this field of taking care, within the scope of a research in all the target groups (physicians, nurses and Czech Republic citizens), the authors of the present communication considered what the perception of the currently existing level of taking care of seniors in the Czech Republic is and what types of services are most urgently missing in this care. The sample group included 1007 physicians, 1005 general nurses and 2022 citizens. These respondents were selected by a random choice with the help of quota. The lay as well as expert public most strongly prefers just the care for seniors within the scope of the community nursing care. The expert as well as lay public considers the currently existing level of taking care of seniors in the Czech Republic as average. In association with missing services in taking care of seniors, short stay hospitals, old people's homes and relieving stays are most frequently considered as missing by the expert public (physicians and nurses). Members of lay public (the citizens) are most considerably missing old people's homes, houses with nursing care and short stay hospitals. The problem of missing services is tightly related to the elimination of drawbacks in the field of taking care of seniors. Extension of the existing services is considered by physicians in agreement with nurses as the most important starting point for the elimination of problems in the field of taking care of seniors. Nurses prefer more considerably financial benefits for family caregivers and physicians put a larger emphasize on the renewal of the function of geriatric nurse under field conditions.

The authors attempted to find whether the clients after surgery for ischaemic disease of distal extremities will be willing to accept changes in their living style in different fields of the life. Based on a questionnaire completed during control examinations by 117 clients dismissed from the hospital after reconstruction vascular surgery of distal extremities, data were accumulated concerning the subjective attitude to the problem and analysis of serum values of biochemical parameters of atherosclerosis (HDL, LDL, total cholesterol and triglycerides) before and after the operation. Results of the secondary prevention in the treatment of ischaemic disease of distal extremities were evaluated. Some parameters in the group were assessed in terms of the age and education of clients.
Based on results of the present work and their statistical evaluation, it is to conclude that the clients in the group were not generally willing to change their living style in all the parameters, but their complex therapy significantly improved biochemical parameters of atherosclerosis. The work demonstrated that clients with higher education exerted a higher willingness to change their living style in certain areas.
A quite definite result of the work is the documentation of the unwillingness of clients to accept changes in their living style in general but also their will to perceive problems of their health condition and accept at least partial changes in certain areas of the living style, which result in a shift of objective parameters providing data on progression of atherosclerosis. It is necessary to consider this principle in the attitude to each individual client and to conduct a targeted secondary prevention.

The theme "leadership in nursing" have still recently been an unknown concept. Many people unconsciously applied its elements to their professional as well as private life, used particular methods of the leadership and thus achieved required targets not only in their work with clients but also with their families. The "leadership" itself was then considered rather in association with war conflicts and dictators than with methods of the work with people, which can be used within the framework of the nursing process or other peaceful activities. The purpose of the work presented here is a presentation of results of the analysis of domestic as well as foreign expert sources, which deal with problems of the leadership and nursing and with their mutual interconnections. It is focused on the theory of the leadership, its main characters, methods and approaches to the evaluation of results, which can be very well implemented in the nursing professions. It also indicates persons known from the history of nursing who were able to convince many people about necessary changes in and development of the nursing education, research and use of statistical data etc. thanks to their ability and untiring work. By way of examples from history, doubtless advantages of leading are documented compared to other styles aimed at achieving targets, which usually are not effective. Emphasize is put on a sufficient information basis, ability to work with facts, skill in handling with people and inducing enthusiasm in changes. This everything belongs to characteristics of good leaders, who contributed to the development of nursing. By way of examples, let us mention Florence Nightingale, doc. Marta Staňková or a Swiss businessman and founder of the International Red Cross Henri Dunant.

The target of the research was to describe feelings and experience of women after the delivery of a dead child. The research was carried out by a qualitative method by using a small group of respondents. A method of the data accumulation, non-structured interview and analysis of the document contents were used. Free answers of women (n=7) who delivered a dead child were analyzed. The method offers a possibility of better understanding the problems of the respondents considered. The respondents spontaneously described feelings experienced depending on encountering certain situations. Based on the data analysis, the following categories and subcategories were established: 1. Experiencing and feelings (subcategories: fear of pregnancy, information about the diagnosis, the delivery, postnatal period, taking leave of the child, negative experiences); 2. Help and support (subcategories: support by the child father, support by surrounding people, professional support and explanation of the child death). In the women considered, it was found that the process of mourning was not supported too much and sufficient information about this process is not available. After the delivery of the dead child, the women did not take advantage of the professional help; self-helping groups of women having a similar experience in their life was an important form of the help. From answers of respondents it was shown that the dead child delivery was a traumatizing experience for all of them. During this, a support and help provided for the woman in the course of the delivery and in the further period are of importance. The midwife can play an important role, which can affect managing this event. The women should also be provided with information in a written form in order that they might read it again later. Understanding of feelings of women experiencing this stress situation by healthcare professionals can also contribute to more effective providing of the nursing care.

Given the demographic aging of the population, the theme of taking the family care of seniors becomes an ever more important problem of the research in sociology. In accordance with this, the target of the study is searching for methods and principles of helping family members within the family. The article is based on a sociological research, which inter alia studied the measure of the financial help granted, emotional support and support through taking care of non-self-sufficient family members between generations. In attempts to reveal principles of the inter-generation care, three theories were tested as follows: the reciprocal theory, the theory of obligation and the theory of attachment. The author used an analysis of quantitative data from an inquiry examination for their corroboration or refusal. Four hundred and eleven persons who intensively took care of senior family members and 203 respondents having no experience with the family care were inquired. In a questionnaire, the respondents reported the transfer of help between them and their children similarly as between them and their parents. Thus, the data offer an insight into the situation of help within families over three generations.
In the article, basic theoretical concepts and methods of the work are first described. After that, there is a description of findings concerning the magnitude of the help granted in families and a subchapter dealing with effects of selected attitudes. Thereafter, the author tries to find a model of taking care of family members. The purpose of the work is to show what types and methods of the help in the family exert mutual interactions.
The author conclusively supports the capacity of the theory of the obligation, which can most properly explain taking care of seniors in families. On the other hand, a new hypothesis was also found concerning contextual reasons for the inter-generation solidarity. Whereas in the families taking the care, the theory of the obligation can be most appropriately implemented, in families which do not take a care of seniors it seems that certain aspects of the attachment theory of the family solidarity are prevalent.

The literature search presented here is supposed to offer an outline of the literature concerning the function of skeletal muscles during natural movements. The clinical experience shows that different skeletal muscles of a certain joint do not exert the same functional behaviour. Some of them obviously play a larger role in the locomotion, some others being more important for the joint stability. The results of the search for the literature demonstrate that: a) every skeletal muscle performs a combination of movements simultaneously about all the axes available for the joint; b) every joint of the human body exerts its typical physiological movement pattern based on natural movements as e.g. the gait. This pattern consists of a characteristic combination of movements about all the joint axes simultaneously. It is possible to recognize flexion and extension physiological patterns. Thus, it is obvious that the human body does not take advantage of all the combinations of movements about all the axes during natural movements, but it prefers some of them. Based on results of an analysis of the literature, it is possible to divide skeletal muscles surrounding the same joint into pattern and non-pattern ones. The pattern muscles particularly participate in natural movements. They perform either flexion or extension patterns of the joint movement and can be considered as prevalently locomotion muscles. Non-pattern muscles perform some of the flexion pattern movements and some other movement from the extension pattern. Thus, they prevent, joint deflections in all the movement directions. Their main function is the joint stabilization. The results of the study presented here will serve as a starting point for experimental scientific studies, which should corroborate or refuse the hypothesis presented concerning pattern and non-pattern muscles.

In association with enhancing requirements for the quality of nursing activity and with growing requirements for the level of education of nurses, the need of participation of nurses in the nursing research is shown to be ever more urgent. The nursing care is still based rather on the managed standard procedures without sufficient use of results of foreign research. Thus, we were interested in a question concerning the extent and forms of the participation of nurses in the research work in practice. The purpose of the study was to describe the participation of Czech nurses in the scientific and research work and the prevalent type of the research, and to consider whether they have feedbacks from this research and whether they take advantage of the research results in their work.

Attitudes towards the suicide were varying in the past, provided that this phenomenon currently induces ambivalent reactions of the surrounding society, since this is a distraction of one's own life and life is a highly recognized value, but on the other hand this is an action of free choice, which should never be refused. From the standpoint of the motivation of suicidal behaviour, a discussion is being developed, what are principal causes of suicides and whether this is a matter of a free decision of an individual, pathological disorder of personality or possibly insufficient integration of an individual into social structures.
In the exploration of standpoints of students concerning the suicide it was shown that adolescents and young adults rather tend to disapprove the suicide, even though they recognize that man has a right to commit suicide. The differences between attitudes of these respondents were mainly manifested depending on their study interests, religion orientation and experience with suicidal behaviour (either in themselves or in close people), the attitudes being not considerably different between genders.

In the communication presented, possibilities are shown of using local application of pelloids in diseases or functional disorders of the locomotor apparatus. In the present study, we considered the successfulness of the treatment with pelloids in patients with the diagnosis of vertebrogenic algic syndrome. The purpose of our study was consideration of effects of pelloids on therapeutic treatment and affecting of effects of pelloidotherapy in its concurrent use with pulsed magnetotherapy.

The article contains degrees through which the medicinalization process passes, i.e. identification, classification, diagnosis, intervention and prognosis. These degrees are shortly demarcated. Positive and negative sides of this phenomenon are pointed out, which is a significant secondary product of growth of knowledge in the sphere of medicine. Sociological approach to medicinalization is critical. Sociologists state that, in addition to aspects of "social control", there is also indirect "checking" effect of medicinalization in medical praxis, which is much more powerful. By focusing exclusively on the patient, the physician individualizes social problems. But a number of serious illnesses have social and environmental dimensions. A lot of fatal diseases are conditioned by poverty, bad housing, unfavourable natural environment and also risk working conditions. But medical hegemony is also result of real success in curing some diseases. As the medical terminology has spread in a lot of human activities and to the solution of a lot of problems, demedicinalization and deprofessionalization efforts emerge more and more. At present we witness demedicinalization processes when physicians and patients have tried to eliminate some aspects of human behaviour out of reach of medicine in a number of cases. Some critics of medicinalization try to redefine aspects of life like e.g. birth, death etc. as private affairs in which medical intervention should be limited. Although these efforts constitute only the beginning of resistance against medicinalization of the society and seem to be isolated exceptions of "medicinalization" trend so far, they also point out certain problems in this fight initiated.

The article presents the most important results of the pilot study that researched the relationships among prosocial tendencies, empathy and five personality dimensions. The diagnostics of prosocial tendencies was performed with the help of Prosocial Tendencies Measure Questionnaire - PTM by G. Carl and B. A. Randall; the empathy measuring was performed with the help of multi-dimension scale by M. Davis, Interpersonal Reactivity Index - IRI, and the diagnostics of personality dimensions was performed with the help of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory questionnaire - NEO-FFI (Costa, McCrae), which was transformed and standardized for Czech population by M. Hřebíčková and T. Urbánek under the name of NEO pětifaktorový osobnostní inventář (NEO five-factor personality inventory). The research was implemented at a set of 137 university students of social work and educator branch.
The research performed showed that prosocial tendencies are significantly related to all followed aspects of empathy, but they are not related at all with the researched personality factors following from Big Five approach. On the contrary, cognitive and emotional empathy are significantly related to the personality factor of kindness and openness towards experience. Therefore it can be considered that the relation among the basic personality dimensions and the prosocial tendencies can be mediated by the level of cognitive and emotional empathy. It seems that the basic personality features of Big Five approach to the explanation why people show prosocial tendencies do not suffice in themselves, without taking in consideration other psychological constructs, as well as results of processes of social learning.

Seniors, not only in České Budějovice, are a group of inhabitants having its specific position among other citizens. This is a relatively numerous group; in České Budějovice the citizens of 60 years of age and over 60 years of age form 20% of the population. We intended to acquire a certain concept concerning their situation, needs and interests for purposes of a further activity of the Association of Pensioners, but also for needs of further subjects and for establishing hypotheses for further studies.

The target of the work is characterization of the importance and mission of non-profit organizations in the field of social services. The new law on social services arranges rights and obligations in the field of granting social services not only for users and givers of these services but also rights and obligations of state administrative authorities. One of duties of the region is compilation of a mid-term plan of development of social services in the region.

The intention of the authors was to propose measures aimed at providing the personnel stabilization in the field of advisory medicine, where the personnel is permanently undersized and it is necessary to consider that the impact of the activity of medical advisors on the national budget is of the order of magnitude of several tens of milliard CZK annually. The work was based on an examination carried out by the company Factum Invenio for the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, which provided information on opinions of medical advisors and expert medical public concerning the activity of the medical advisory service. The examination named "Opinions of medical advisors concerning the topic of their work" was carried out by the technique of standardized controlled telephonic interviews in a sample of 348 respondents - medical advisors. The second examination named "Opinions of physicians concerning the activity of the medical advisory service" was carried out by the technique of standardized controlled telephonic interviews in a sample of 500 respondents - physicians. The respondents were chosen by a method of quota-based selection according to the physician specialty (practitioner, paediatrician, specialist at an outpatient department and physician in a hospital), and region. The data from both examinations were processed and evaluated with the use of the SPSS statistical software. The third examination named "Opinions of lay public concerning the activity of the medical advisory service" was implemented by the technique of standardized controlled personal interviews in a group of 500 respondents having personal experience with approaches of medical advisors, which means that they contacted them in association with their health situation or in association with the health situation of a closely related person. Of the total number of 500 interviews, 101 ones were arranged in rehabilitation facilities Kladruby and Hrabyně. The SPSS statistical software was employed for processing of data accumulated in completed, controlled and encoded questionnaires. All the three studies comprise the main facts reflecting the most important trends associated with the problem investigated. The most important ones include addressing of younger age categories when searching for those, who are interested in the field of advisory medicine and furthermore making the branch more attractive by a reduction in the administrative work and enhancement of the financial appraisal and also interconnection of the activity of medical advisors with clinical medicine.

The contribution presents results of examination aimed at physicians and cooperation with physicians as regarded by students of the Health and Social Faculty of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice.
The technique of questionnaires, enriched in modified techniques of the semantic differential by Osgood, was employed for the data accumulation. The questionnaire was distributed to students of the Faculty of Health and Social Studies of the University of South Bohemia in the second and third years of the bachelor study programme "General nursing" and also to students of the first and second years of the continuing master programme "Nursing". Total of 151 questionnaires were distributed. One hundred and five questionnaires were returned; seven of them were not useful due to incorrect completing. This means that total of 98 (65%) of questionnaires were used.
The incorporation of students into the team and positive comprehension not only of physicians are important aspects for the inclusion of alumni from the branches General nursing and Nursing into their future professions. The results of examinations particularly demonstrated positive perception of physicians, which indicates a shift from the traditional dividing of roles in healthcare services to a partnership. This fact is the first assumption necessary for successful application of the holistic attitude to the client.
In spite of the generally positive comprehension of physicians, 1/5 the students consider them negatively. Results of the work presented here also pointed out negative factors concerning the consideration of physicians and offered a possibility for a future discussion.
Results of the examination also documented the fact that the students perceive their inclusion into the team as ineffective. This fact presents a possibility for a further analysis in this area, whether lectors of the practical education at all the departments fulfil their role in adequate manner and whether the supervision activity fails at these departments or the positive opinions concerning physicians are just affected by low level of contacts with them.

A number of programmes for the lifelong education are being established at universities within the framework of the lifelong education transformation. The programme mentioned here can serve by way of example.
The target of the communication is evaluation of the contents of the courses and finding the feedback obtained via the students.
Eight short-term thematic educational courses aimed at the lifelong education were compiled and prepared and, based on results of processing and feedback acquired via the participants, the contents of the themes were evaluated.
One hundred and thirty six participants took part in the evaluation and each course was separately evaluated. The educational themes prepared were positively evaluated by the participants. The participants of the education were satisfied with the level of educational materials as well as technical provisions. The courses New trends in nursing care in perinatology and paediatrics, Communication in nursing, Multicultural nursing and Theoretical aspects in nursing enjoyed the best appreciation. In the themes named New trends in nursing care for acute conditions, New trends in nursing care for adults and seniors, Management of healthcare and nursing services and Nursing process and human needs, it would be suitable to incorporate certain comments noticed in feedback questionnaires.
It was demonstrated that the courses should be furthermore implemented and extended with focusing on comments of participants. Based on the evaluation of project results, it will be possible to use the method and training materials not only for the education of new professionals within the framework of the profession of general nurse, but also to employ this know-how for training of adequate target groups in other regions of the Czech Republic. The educational courses formed in this way can be implemented in further education of general nurses throughout the Czech Republic in the form of short-term thematic courses, which will be offered after completing the project to those interesting in the lifelong education at the Faculty of Health and Social Education, the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice.

The extension of the community health care, particularly of the nursing care, is a key to the improvement of the health as well as physical and mental well being of the whole population. Formation of the system of care for health at the community level is a rather new component of the health care system. The subsystem of the community health care represents a basic functional unit of the whole system of taking care of health particularly oriented at the health. It is focused on achieving the health through the mediation of affecting health determinants at a local level. The community health care is provided by a multidisciplinary team of professionals. In addition to the activity of practitioners, specialists and pharmacists, the community nursing care occupies an important position in the community care. In a system based on the community care, nurses should support and maintain connections between individuals, families and communities. The community nursing care is a synthesis of the nursery practice and public health applied to supporting and saving the population health. Support of the health, maintenance of the health, health education, management, coordination and continuity of the care are employed in the holistic approach to providing the health care in individuals, families, groups and communities. Nurses and midwives are considered as the most important source of providing reform strategies associated with the transformation of hospitals by reducing the period of hospitalization and particularly with the development of the community care. Positive changes in the Czech Republic in the community health care development currently bring legislation adjustments providing conditions for the development of the new type of the special education programme: community nurses and midwives. By Regulation of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic 424/2004 Sb., which is presented next to Law No. 96/2004 Sb., activities of general nurses and midwives in the field of the community care are particularly specified.

The basic aspect of the nurse work is consideration of bio-psycho-social factors affecting the health. Nursing itself deals with persons in health and disease but also with those, whose health is threatened. Nurses are representatives of professions, through the mediation of which they can considerably affect a wide group of clients of all the age categories throughout the life, from the birth to the death. On the other hand, they are also recipients of the health care and thus also of nursing care at all the levels. They are thus also responsible for their own health promotion. Besides others, they provide the health care clients with information in the education within the scope of the primary and secondary prevention. We are interested in the question of promoting nurses health. In our contribution, we offer certain results documenting preventive activities in the instance of promoting nurses health.