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Veronika Hola,1 Hana Polanska,1 Tereza Jandova,1 Jana Jaklová Dytrtová,1 Josefina Weinerova,2 Michal Steffl,1 Veronika Kramperova,1 Klara Dadova,1 Krzysztof Durkalec-Michalski,3 Ales Bartos2,4 1Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic; 2University Hospital Kralovske Vinohrady, Department of Neurology, Prague, Czech Republic; 3Department of Sports Dietetics, Poznan University of Physical Education, Pozna&nacute;, 61-871, Poland; 4Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Department of Neurology, Prague, Czech RepublicCorrespondence: Michal Steffl, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Charles University, José Martího 31, Prague, 162 52, Czech Republic, Tel +420778701882, Email michal.steffl@ftvs.cuni.czBackground: Maintaining healthy brain function during ageing is of great importance, especially for the self-sufficiency of older adults. The main aim of this study was to determine the effects of dance and martial arts on exerkines Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and irisin blood serum levels.Methods: This randomized controlled trial examined the effects of dance and martial arts on serum Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and irisin levels, as well as cognitive function, mood, and physical measures in older adults. Seventy-seven independently living older adults (mean age 70.3± 3.8 years) were randomized into three groups: dance (DG), martial arts (MaG), and control (CG), followed over 12 weeks. Generalized linear models were used to assess the interventions’ effects.Results: There was a significant increase in BDNF levels in both the DG (1.8 ± 4.9, p < 0.05) and MaG (3.5 ± 6.3, p < 0.05), while CG experienced a decrease (− 4.9 ± 8.2, p < 0.05). Between-group effects were significant for BDNF, with DG and MaG showing higher levels than CG (p < 0.05). No significant changes in irisin levels were found. Cognitive performance, particularly attention and mental flexibility (measured by the Trail Making Test A and B), significantly improved in the DG compared to CG (p < 0.05). Additionally, participants in DG showed improved mood based on the Geriatric Depression Scale (p < 0.05) compared to CG. Anthropometric T-scores were significantly associated with changes in irisin levels (p < 0.05) after intervention.Conclusion: The study found that dance and martial arts upregulated BDNF levels, with dance showing notable improvements in cognitive function and mood in older adults. Changes in anthropometric measures were linked to increased irisin levels. These findings suggest that both dance and martial arts may promote healthy brain function in aging populations.Trial Registration: NCT05363228.Keywords: cognitive domains, ageing, cognitive performance, cognitive function, serum, biomarkers

BackgroundCOVID-19 remains a major infectious disease with substantial implications for individual and public health including the risk of a post-infection syndrome, long COVID. The continuous changes in dominant variants of SARS-CoV-2 necessitate a careful study of the effect of preventative strategies.AimWe aimed to estimate the effectiveness of post-vaccination, post-infection and hybrid immunity against severe cases requiring oxygen support caused by infections with SARS-CoV-2 variants BA1/2 and BA4/5+, and against long COVID in the infected population and their changes over time.MethodsWe used a Cox regression analysis with time-varying covariates and calendar time and logistic regression applied to national-level data from Czechia from December 2021 until August 2023.ResultsRecently boosted vaccination, post-infection and hybrid immunity provide significant protection against a severe course of COVID-19, while unboosted vaccination more than 10 months ago has a negligible protective effect. The post-vaccination immunity against the BA1/2 or BA4/5+ variants, especially based on the original vaccine types, appears to wane rapidly compared with post-infection and hybrid immunity. Once infected, however, previous immunity plays only a small protective role against long COVID.ConclusionVaccination remains an effective preventative measure against a severe course of COVID-19 but its effectiveness wanes over time thus highlighting the importance of booster doses. Once infected, vaccines may have a small protective effect against the development of long COVID.

The distribution of effect sizes may offer insights about the research done and reported in a scientific field. We have evaluated 12 412 manually collected correlation effect sizes (Sample 1) and 31 157 computer-extracted correlation effect sizes (Sample 2) published in journals focused on social or developmental psychology. Sample 1 consisted of 243 studies from six journals published in 2010 and 2019. Sample 2 consisted of 5012 papers published in 10 journals between 2010 and 2019. The 25th, 50th and 75th effect size percentiles were 0.08, 0.17 and 0.33, and 0.17, 0.31 and 0.52 in Samples 1 and 2, respectively. Sample 2 percentiles were probably larger because Sample 2 only included effect sizes from the text but not from tables. In text authors may have emphasized larger correlations. Large sample sizes were associated with smaller reported correlations. In Sample 1 about 70% of studies specified a directional hypothesis. In 2010 no papers had power calculations, while in 2019 14% of papers had power calculations. These data offer empirical insights into the distribution of reported correlations and may inform the interpretation of effect sizes. They also demonstrate the importance of computation of statistical power and highlight potential reporting bias., (© 2022 The Authors.)