The changing smoking and health scene in the Czech Republic

Little by little

Within the long-term pedagogical research ongoing since the school year 2008/2009 to 2015/2016 at the secondary vocational school in Bohumín was through of Entrance test of physics, which included curriculum of the sixth to ninth year of elementary school, regularly finding out, in which parts of Entrance test – Unit conversions, International System of Units, Properties of matter, Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Electricity and Magnetism, Optics, Atoms and Universe – pupils of the 1st years of secondary vocational school, technical and non-technical, reach a higher number of correct answers, in which dominates the wrong answers and which parts of the test pupils are better left out completely. It turned out that the results of these tests are very informative not only for theoretical and practical teaching, but also technical and other science subjects. The results of the Entrance tests are also a valuable source of information for continuous innovation Workbook of Physics – Mechanics for the 1st year of secondary vocational schools [1] – whose the first version began during the school year 2007/2008 and which was tested within pre-research in school years 2008/2009, 2009/2010 and within research in school year 2010/2011. On the basis of feedbacks getting from research the Workbook is regularly expanded, innovated and updated. The Workbook consists of parts dedicated to physical concepts, physical tasks, proposals to physical experiments, pupils comments from viewed video projection and documentary films, examples from the world of science and technology, examples from practice and real life, physical terminology in English, quizzes, competitions, interesting things and links related to discussed curriculum. The Workbook is divided into thematic sections, chapters and subchapters similar as physics textbooks for pupils of the 1st years of Secondary Schools in the Czech Republic. In the Workbook there are included tasks on fill in the words, polynomial tasks with choice answer „one right answer“, tasks assignment, tasks to sketching to the pictures and physical tasks including graphic sketches. Long-term research through the Entrance test of physics and the use of the Workbook in physics teaching will continue in the school year 2016/2017 and not just among pupils of the 1st years of secondary vocational school, but also pupils at grammar school, where the research was conducted in the school year 2010/2011 and 2014/2015.

Heart attacks, strokes, and other diseases of the circulatory system are the most common cause of death in the European Union, killing two in every five people each year and...

Psychosocial risks at work can be defined as a set of risks resulting from the employee's interaction with the work environment, the nature and organization of work and interpersonal relationships both inside and outside the workplace. Data collection was provided through an online questionnaire survey in December 2021 in 5 selected Labour Offices in the Czech Republic. A special questionnaire was prepared and tailored to the needs of workers exposed to demanding communication with clients. This questionnaire survey was done after the pilot study to ensure the adequacy of the questions, comprehensiveness of the contents, and clearness of instructions. The questionnaire was divided into the mandatory part with Demographic data (7 questions), Work with the client (10 questions) and Resilience (10 questions). Optional areas of the questionnaire covered Communication with superior and team (9 questions), Nature of the work (8 questions), Work organization (9 questions), Job evaluation (5 questions), and Job change, digitalization and unexpected crises (4 questions). A total number of 1168 questionnaires were included for further analysis. The study group consisted of 93% women and 7% men. The biggest age group of respondents was between 50 to 64 years (33%). The results showed the highest satisfaction of employees in the area of communication at the workplace, whereas employees were most dissatisfied with work changes. For 58% of respondents, communication with the work team and superior impacted their job satisfaction. If there was a conflict or escalation of communication when dealing with a client at the counter at the Labour Office, only 1.7% of respondents stated that they had equipment at the workplace place to signalize and monitor the potentially dangerous clients. Our results demonstrated several very problematic areas of psychosocial risks at the workplaces of Labour Offices.Acknowledgements:This result was financially supported by institutional support for the long-term conceptual development of the research organization for the years 2018–2022 and it is a part of the research task 10-S4-2021-VÚBP “Possibilities for intervention measures for employees exposed to demanding communication with clients in public administration with a focus on employment offices”, solved by the Occupational Safety Research Institute in cooperation with the National Institute of Public Health in the years 2021–2023.This research was supported by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic - RVO(National Institute of Public Health - NIPH, 75010330)

85 GENETIC DIVERSITY is a hallmark of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) biology and is generally responsible for the failure of both drug and vaccine interventions. Phylogenetic relationships based on this sequence heterogeneity have ben employed to subdivide circulating strains of HIV1 into 2 genetic groups (M and O) and at least 19 subtypes (A to J).1 Although specific subtypes tend to predominate in geographic regions (i.e., subtype B in Europe and America), increases in travel due to social±economic development and migration will lead to the spread of different HIV-1 subtypes in most countries. UNAIDS/WHO now estimates that more than 30 million people are infected with HIV-1 worldwide.2 Only 0.5% of this total were reported in eastern Europe and central Asia even though this region has experienced the most rapid increase in HIV-1 seroprevalence in the last decade. Fewer than 30,000 cases of HIV-1 infection were reported in eastern European countries in the early 1990s but this total has risen dramatically to more than 150,000 in 1997.2 Although the first HIV-1 infection in the Czech Republic was diagnosed in 1985,3 only 2000 HIV-infected individuals and fewer than 200 cumulative deaths have been reported since the beginning of the epidemic. Homosexual and intravenous drug user (IDU) transmission are responsible for most infections in the Czech Republic, but the rate of heterosexual transmission appears to be increasing.4 In this report, we have performed the first molecular characterization of HIV-1 isolates from the Czech Republic, identifying at least two different group M subtypes (B and E) of HIV-1 circulating in this country. Peripheral blood was obtained in 1997 from 22 HIV-1seropositive individuals with diverse clinical status, transmission routes, age, and sex (Fig. 1A). All patients were participating in diagnostic and research program in the National Institute of Public Health (Prague, Czech Republic). Homosexual transmission was responsible for the majority of HIV-1 infections in this sample population (Fig. 1A). Patients CZ5 and CZ19 may have contracted HIV-1 from confirmed sexual partners in Germany whereas patients CZ9 and CZ10 may have seroconverted while living in the Ukraine and South America, respectively. A sequence analysis of the HIV-1 envelope gene in all 22 samples established a possible phylogenetic relationship between HIV-1 strains found in the Czech Republic. In addition, a potential course of HIV-1 evolution in this country has been tracked, using samples from patients with different seroconversion dates scattered over the past 10 years. Proviral DNA was extracted directly from uncultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) as previously described. A fragment of approximately 1.2 kb, spanning the V1±V5-coding region of gp120 (env gene), was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), using two sets of primer pairs (ED3±ED14 and ED5±ED126) for nested PCR as previously described.6 Owing to failure to amplify HIV-1 DNA from five different samples (CZ2, CZ5, CZ6, CZ7, and CZ14), we resorted to amplify a smaller segment of HIV-1 env DNA (C2±C3 region), using primer pairs ED5±ED12 and ED31±ED336 for external and nested PCR, respectively. The subtype of the env PCR products of each sample was determined using the heteroduplex mobility assay (HMA)6 and env fragments of 14 subtype-specific HIV-1 strains (belonging to subtypes A to H of group M). Nucleotide sequences between positions 7074 and 7286 (positions determined on the HIV-1-HXB2 genome, GenBank accession number K03455), corresponding to 70 amino acids in gp120env (i.e., the entire V3 loop and portions of the C2 and C3 region), were sequenced in both directions using primers E110 (5 9 -CTGTTAAATGGCAGTCTAGCAGGA-3 9 ) and E125 (5 9 -CAATTTCTGGGTCCCCTCCTGAGG-3 9 ) using the fmol method (Promega, Madison, WI).5 Nucleotide sequences were edited and translated by EDITSEQ software (DNASTAR, Madison, WI), then aligned using the CLUSTAL X version 1.63b program.8 Pairwise DNA matrices and phylogenetic analyses were performed with the MEGA version 1.02 program. As suspected, HMA results showed that 21 of 22 (95%) HIV1 isolates from the Czech Republic were most closely related to group M subtype B (data not shown). However, a specific heteroduplex of the CZ4 env sample and the clade E reference env fragments suggested a subtype E HIV-1 infection of this

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the average daily consumption of cigarettes and its correlates, attitudes toward smoking, and suggestions for anti‐smoking measures in a sample of Chinese college student smokers.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 150 college student cigarette smokers in Baoding, a city near Beijing, filled out a questionnaire asking about their average daily consumption of cigarettes, attitude toward smoking and their opinions on how they might control their smoking behavior.FindingsIn total, 85.3 percent of the smoking students were males and 14.7 percent females, and males had started smoking earlier. However, and surprisingly, the average daily consumption among females was greater than among males (9.6 vs 5.6 cigarettes a day, p<0.01). Average daily cigarette consumption was significantly associated with perceived health condition (students who thought themselves in poorer health consumed more), perceived risk of cigarette smoking (but with those who thought it harmful actually consuming more than those who did not), frequency of offering cigarettes as gifts, and perceived enjoyment from smoking. The three most commonly reported measures which curbed smoking were friends' or classmates' suggestions, the urging of a boyfriend/girlfriend, and the urging of parents.Practical implicationsFindings in this paper underscore the importance of developing effective smoking cessation programs through gender‐specific approaches at post‐secondary educational institutions as well as coordinating anti‐smoking efforts at multiple levels of educational administration in China.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the few studies on Chinese college students' cigarette smoking practices and student smokers' attitudes toward cigarette smoking. It also reports for the first time possible effective anti‐smoking measures as suggested by the students themselves. The value of this study lies in the finding that cigarette smoking among highly educated individuals in China is on the rise and vigorous research on the smoking behavior of this group should be a high priority.

Rapid international spread of emerging infections has increased interest in strategic collaborations, as they may be the best way to protect populations. Strategic collaborations can build capacity in less-resourced settings. As specialised institutions that provide a stable locus of expertise, continuity of experience, scientific knowledge, and appropriate human, technical, and financial resources, national public health institutes (NPHIs) are well-prepared to tackle public health challenges. We describe how a collaboration between the NPHIs of England and South Africa built a mutually beneficial professional relationship to help implement the WHO International Health Regulations, build capacity for health protection, and promote the exchange of information, advice, and expertise. We illustrate how this can be achieved in a mutually beneficial way.

The aim of the study is to present the theoretical background of trend studies in general, to characterize the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study and to describe its methodology and changes of the Czech HBSC study between 1994 and 2014. The first part describes various types of trend research studies including their advantages and disadvantages. The second part summarizes the history of the HBSC study in an international context and particularly in the Czech Republic. The final part presents the basic methodological data from six surveys conducted in the Czech Republic between 1994 and 2014.

Objective: To understand the prevalence of smoking and its change in adults aged ≥40 years in China and provide evidence for the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) prevention and control strategies. Methods: The data of this study were obtained from COPD surveillance in China during 2014-2015 and during 2019-2020. The surveillance covered 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities). A multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling were used to select residents aged ≥40 years, and face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect the information about their tobacco use. After complex sampling weighting of the samples, the current smoking rate, average age to start smoking and average daily cigarette consumption of people with different characteristics during 2019-2020 were estimated, and the changes in the current smoking rate and average daily cigarette consumption were analyzed from 2014-2015 to 2019-2020. Results: During 2019-2020, the current smoking rate in adults aged ≥40 years was 27.2%, and the rate was much higher in men (52.1%) than in women (2.5%).The average age of the smokers to start smoking was 20.0 years old, and men usually started smoking at younger age (19.6 years) compared with women (27.9 years). The average daily cigarette consumption of daily smokers was 18.0 sticks, and the consumption of men (18.3 cigarettes) was higher than that of women (11.1 cigarettes). Compared with the surveillance results during 2014-2015, the current smoking rate had decreased by 2.8 percentage points in the general population, 4.1 percentage points in males, 1.6 percentage points in females, and the urban and rural areas fell by 3.1 percentage points and 2.5 percentage points, respectively. The average daily cigarette consumption decreased by 0.6 sticks. Conclusions: In recent years, the current smoking rate and average daily cigarette consumption in adults aged ≥40 years decreased in China, but smoking is still common in more than quarter of this population and more than half of men aged ≥40 years. It is necessary to take targeted tobacco control measures based on population and regional characteristics to further reduce the smoking level of the population.

This empirical study focuses on students’ development of positive and negative achievement emotions during the first year and the beginning of the second year of secondary school. Using multilevel growth curve modelling, the development of the achievement emotions enjoyment, pride, anxiety, hopelessness and boredom during class in general was investigated. Data from 584 students (taken at three different time points during the first year and the beginning of the second year of secondary school in Germany) was analysed by controlling for gender and the type of school. The results confirm the main assumption: positive achievement emotions decline, whereas negative achievement emotions increase after transition to secondary school. The assumption regarding the effects of type of school was also confirmed: students entering a higher track school (German Gymnasium) experience more positive achievement emotions than students in middle track schools (German Realschule) do. However, the decline in these achievement emotions in higher track schools is comparatively worse than for students in middle track schools. The results are discussed with regard to students’ further studies, as well as the wider educational implications.

In 2000 we launched a series of studies to try to understand what role, if any, publc education could play in social reconstruction in Croatia and BiH. We had two questions: what do communities think about the role schools could play in creating a memory of the past through curriculum? And, second, how do they want the schools organized to deliver that curriculum? Over the course of three years we collected the views of parents, teachers, students and administrators in two of the most ethnically divided cities of the former Yugoslavia – Vukovar and Mostar – on a wide range of issues, including interethnic relations in schools, the teaching of history, school integration, curricula development, and national identity. The surveys centered on the sixth and eighth grades of elementary school and the second year of secondary school, while interviews and focus groups centered on the second year of secondary school. Our study shows that in order to make progress with respect to social reconstruction and resolving dilemmas about the schools in Vukovar and Mostar, the conflicting groups need to reach a consensus through public debate. In case of Vukovar it means reaching a consensus about what kind of schooling would allow preservation of minority culture and in the same time provide an integrative and safe environment for children to interact, learn and socialize with their peers from other group. In case of Mostar it means a timely fashion of school and classroom integration. While Bosniaks are ready for integration, Croat youth are neutral on this issue. This is why the work must be done with the Croat community to help its members feel secure about fostering a Croat national identity outside of school as well as in integrated schools and classrooms.

Active school transport (AST) is a source of daily physical activity uptake. However, AST seems to have decreased worldwide over recent decades. We aimed to examine recent trends in AST and associations with gender, age, family affluence, and time to school, using data from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study collected in 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 in the Czech Republic, Norway, Scotland, and Wales. Data from 88,212 students (11, 13 and 15 years old) revealed stable patterns of AST from 2006 to 2018, apart from a decrease in the Czech Republic between 2006 and 2010. For survey waves combined, walking to and from school was most common in the Czech Republic (55%) and least common in Wales (30%). Cycling was only common in Norway (22%). AST differed by gender (Scotland and Wales), by age (Norway), and by family affluence (everywhere but Norway). In the Czech Republic, family affluence was associated with change over time in AST, and the effect of travel time on AST was stronger. The findings indicate that the decrease in AST could be levelling off in the countries considered here. Differential associations with sociodemographic factors and travel time should be considered in the development of strategies for AST.

The National Institute of Public Health (NIPH Brno) conducted a study in which the contamination of dark chocolates (DCH) with selected heavy metals was measured and evaluated, with a focus mainly on Cd and Pb, then As, Hg, Ni, Al, Cr.The aim of the study was to verify and describe the situation on the market in the Czech Republic and to confront the conclusions of the study presented in the American magazine Consumer Reports, evaluating the situation in the USA (Cd and Pb contamination).For the NIPH study, 29 samples of chocolates without additives were taken from the market in the Czech Republic, the legislative requirement for the classification of dark chocolates was respected.Microwave mineralization was used for analytical preparation, determination of elements was carried out by accredited ICP-MS, AAS-AMA methods. A comparison of the measured concentrations of individual contaminants (with the exception of mercury)showed an increase with increasing content cocoa solids.Confrontation with EU legislation (EC Regulation 2023/915) was only carried out for Cd (maximum limit in DCH: 0.80 mg/kg fresh mass).This limit was not exceeded for any of the chocolates in both studies (Czech Republic and USA ).For Pb, the maximum limit in DCH is not established.The comparison with the USA study was carried out using the Californian MADL limits (for Cd: 4.1 g/day and for Pb: 0.5 g/day), the drawing of the limits for Cd and Pb was assessed.The measured values were also evaluated in terms of dietary exposure to cadmium (TWI = 2.5 g/kg bw/week EFSA).Exposure limits for lead for comprehensive dietary exposure assessment, as in the case of cadmium, are not established.

The objective was to discover whether there any demonstrable relationships exist between the incidence of human tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) cases and current meteorological factors and to specify their character. Epidemiological data were extracted from the EPIDAT database (National Institute of Public Health, Prague). Analyzed were a total of 4,613 TBE cases registered in the whole Czech Republic (1994-2001) and 4,637 cases registered in the territory of Bohemia (1994-2004). Meteorological data were from the database of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute in Prague. A linear relationship has been found between TBE incidence and temperature factors in all the years under study. Lagged cross correlation was used (with the lags in time respective to incubation period from infected tick attack to initial TBE symptoms) and close relations were found for daily mean air temperature and lags 6-14 days (with a peak of 9 days). Effects of the current course of the meteorological situation (as well as long-term year-to-year changes) on TBE incidence are, foremost, mediated by the influence of climatic factors on Ixodes ricinus ticks and their host-seeking activity; under certain conditions, also by the effects of momentary weather on human behavior as TBE in the Czech Republic is a recreational disease connected with outdoor activities.

Spoligotyping was used to examine IS6110-positive DNA of 26 Mycobacterium bovis, M. bovis BCG and M. bovis subsp. caprae non-viable isolates stored up to 10 years. All of these isolates were previously identified by biochemical tests and all 17/17 tested isolates were earlier found virulent for guinea pigs. In total seven spoligotypes, designated S1–S7, were detected and compared with the spoligotypes of 3 176 isolates in the database of the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) in Bilthoven, the Netherlands. A Neotype M. bovis strain, isolated in 1965 in the USA and thereafter stored in The Czechoslovak National Collection of Type Cultures (My 310/87) since 1987 was of an identical spoligotype S4 with the original reference M. bovis strain from the USA. The M. bovis isolates from capybara’s (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) imported from Germany to the Czech Republic in 1989, as well as cattle isolates from 1966, 1991 and 1994, were of the most common type S1. Also a human isolate from 1981, a M. bovis BCG vaccine strain and clinical M. bovis BCG isolates from three children with post-vaccinal complications were of this most predominant spoligotype. e four unique spoligotypes S2, S3, S5 and S6 were identified in M. bovis isolates from cattle in the years 1965, 1996 and 1967 in the CzechRepublic, respectively, but also in isolates from farmed red deer (Cervus elaphus) from 1991 and in cattle isolates from Slovakia from the year 1992. The scarcely occurring spoligotype S7, which is typical for M. b. caprae was detected in the Czech Republic from farmed red deer (1999), cattle isolates (1966, 1991, 1995) and in a strain isolated from an 80-year-old man (1999). Several strains isolated in each of three outbreaks in cattle herds were examined. Identical spoligotypes were detected in two outbreaks and different causal agents (M. bovis of spoligotype S1 and M. b. caprae of spoligotype S7) were identified in two cows from the third outbreak. e results confirm an effective control of bovine tuberculosis in the CzechRepublic and Slovakia during 1959–1968, because previously circulating spoligotypes were successfully eradicated. e data also suggest other reservoirs of bovine tuberculosis may exist among free-living wild animals.