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According to the results of the ESPAD studies, Hungarian students in the public education take place on the top in Europe due to the increasing prevalence of smoking and binge drinking. We do not have comparable international data regarding university students. In present study, we try to cover up the blank spaces of the previous studies, putting the focus on the higher educational students. For this reason, an international investigation called IESA (Institutional Effects on Academic Achievement, N=1792) was applied involving four countries. As the result of the institutional effect, the student has significantly bigger chance to avoid health-damaging habits in a campus society in which risk-avoiding approaches are dominating; however, the complex embeddedness in peer groups raises significantly the chance of risk-behaviour as well. Students studying in the same higher educational campuses create a health behaviour interpretive community and their effects often overwrite the individual protective and risk factors.

The purpose of our study is to examine the differences and similarities between the students of the Hungarian Northern Great Plain Region, some cross-border minority and the majority institutions in terms of their sporting frequency, motivation and the institutional environment of sports in Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania and Serbia. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used as well in our research. In the quantitative study, a questionnaire query was answered by 2017 students from 15 institutions. In the qualitative research we conducted eight interviews with sports leaders and physical education instructors. The results of the research include that the sports habits of students are largely influenced by the institutional environment, the proper institutional infrastructure, diverse, community-building sports programs and the elaborated sport concept.

Corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) in the parvocellular neurosecretory neurones of hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus governs neuroendocrine stress cascade and is the major target of the negative feedback effect of corticosteroids. To assess whether glucocorticoids exert their inhibitory effect on CRH expression directly on parvocellular neurones or indirectly through a complex neuronal circuit, we examined the effect of corticosterone (CORT) and dexamethasone (DEX) on CRH mRNA levels in slice explant cultures of the rat hypothalamus. Organotypic slice cultures were prepared from 6 days old rat pups and maintained in vitro for 14 days. CRH mRNA expression was measured by in situ hybridisation histochemistry. Under basal conditions, CRH mRNA expressing cells were exclusively revealed in the paraventricular region along the third ventricle. Inhibition of action potential spike activity by tetrodotoxin (TTX, 1 μm) reduced CRH mRNA signal in the organotypic cultures. CORT (500 nm) or DEX (50 nm) treatment for 24 h significantly inhibited CRH expression in the parvocellular neurones and this effect of corticosteroids was not affected following blockade of voltage dependent sodium channels by TTX. Forskolin-stimulated CRH mRNA levels in the paraventricular nucleus were also inhibited by CORT or DEX in the presence and in the absence of TTX. These studies identify paraventricular CRH neurones as direct target of corticosteroid feedback. Type II corticosteroid receptor agonists act directly on paraventricular neurones to inhibit basal and forskolin-induced CRH mRNA expression in explant cultures of the rat hypothalamus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy and PXRD were used to study artificially prepared jarosites with the compositions of KFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 − x F x x = 0 − 1.6 PXRD measurements revealed single phase jarosite samples. All Mössbauer spectra taken at room temperature exhibit a quadrupole doublet corresponding to mineral jarosite. However, at low temperature where the mineral jarosite has a well resolved sextet, the synthetic jarosite even with x = 0 F − content shows a relaxation transition. The spectra indicate that with increasing F − concentration, the paramagnetic–antiferromagnetic transition temperature is decreasing. The results can be used in the analysis of artificial jarosites or those formed during biomineralization processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immediate-early genes (IEG) are powerful tools for identifying activated neurosecretory neurones and extended circuits that affect neuroendocrine functions. The generally acknowledged scenario is when cells became activated, IEGs expressed and IEG-encoded transcription factors affect target gene expression. However, there are several examples in which: (i) neuronal activation occurs without induction of IEGs; (ii) IEG induction is not related to challenge-induced neuropeptide expression; and (iii) markers of neuronal activation are not expressed in chronically activated neurones. In spite of these limitations, the use of c-Fos and other regulatory- or effector transcription factors as markers of neuronal activation will continue to be an extremely powerful technique. Recently-developed models, including transgenic mice expressing different marker genes under the regulation of IEG promoters, will help to monitor neuronal activity in vivo or ex vivo and to reveal connection between activated neurones. Furthermore, combinations between novel imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance and IEG-based mapping strategies, will open new means with which to study functional activity in the neurosecretory systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]