Hungarian School Sport Federation

This study evaluated tibiofemoral loading and medial meniscal stress distribution in individuals with flexible flatfoot (FFF) during walking under different foot progression angle (FPA) conditions. This study analyzed the gait of 28 FFF patients (16 males, 12 females) under three FPA conditions (neutral, toe-in, toe-out). Kinematic (Vicon) and kinetic (Kistler) data were used to estimate tibiofemoral forces in OpenSim. Subsequently, joint angles and muscle forces at peak tibiofemoral forces were used to drive a finite element (FE) model of the knee, enabling the comparison of meniscal von Mises stress, maximum shear stress, and contact pressure across FPA conditions. Tibiofemoral force increased during early stance (9-11%) in the toe-in condition with this increase reaching statistical significance in males (p = 0.008, mean partial within the SPM-identified cluster). FE analysis showed that peak stresses and contact pressure were primarily localized in the anterior region of the medial meniscus. A consistent directional response to FPA was observed with the lowest peak values occurring in the toe-in condition and the highest values in the toe-out condition. Adjusting FPA modulates intra-articular knee loading via the kinetic chain. For FFF patients, neutral FPA provides stable loading. The toe-in condition presents a complex mechanism: despite increasing tibiofemoral force (notably in males), it reduces peak stress by altering contact mechanics and stress distribution. Therefore, FFF gait interventions must be individualized based on factors like foot morphology, sex, and functional goals.

Exercise training has demonstrated potential benefits in addressing the adverse effects of cardiovascular diseases, particularly myocardial infarction (MI). This study analyzed the cardioprotective effects of moderate exercise before and after MI in rats subjected to isoproterenol (ISO)-induced heart damage. Wistar rats were assigned to five groups: controls (CTRL), isoproterenol-treated (ISO), swimming before ISO (PRE + ISO), swimming after ISO (ISO + POST), and swimming both before and after ISO (PRE + ISO + POST). Cardiac function was assessed through echocardiography, while oxidative stress markers, Heme Oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and Myeloperoxidase (MPO), were quantified using biochemical assays and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Statistical analyses were conducted by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), accompanied by Tukey's post hoc test. Exercise performed post-MI and both pre- and post-MI significantly reduced ISO-induced infarct size and improved left ventricular function (stroke volume (SV), ejection fraction (EF), and Tei index). HO-1 protein concentration and HO enzyme activity were restored, while swim training reduced the activity of MPO compared to the ISO group. Moderate exercise training, when appropriately timed, provides cardioprotection against ISO-induced myocardial damage by reducing oxidative stress and cardiac dysfunction.

Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the acute effects of cold-water immersion (CWI), cryotherapy (CRT), and intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) on lower-body neuromuscular performance in female basketball players. Methods: Eighteen athletes volunteered to participate (body mass = 63.0 ± 7.2 kg; height = 171.4 ± 6.5 cm; age = 16.4 ± 1.2 years), completing testing at three time points: (i) pre-practice, (ii) post-practice, and (iii) 45-60 min following a randomly assigned recovery intervention. At each time point, athletes performed three countermovement vertical jumps on a dual force plate system sampling at 1000 Hz (VALD Performance). To standardize external load across groups, all players wore inertial measurement units (Kinexon). Results: The two-way repeated measures ANOVA showed no statistically significant interaction (p > 0.05) between the three testing time points and recovery modalities for any of the analyzed variables. However, a significant main effect of time was observed, with 13 of 20 force-time metrics (65%), including jump height, reactive strength index-modified, contraction time, and concentric peak and mean force, declining post-recovery compared with pre-practice values, regardless of the recovery intervention applied. External load measures (e.g., total distance, number of jumps) remained consistent across groups. Conclusions: Overall, these findings suggest that CWI, CRT, and IPC were no more effective than passive recovery (i.e., control group) in mitigating post-practice declines in lower-body force and power-producing capacities.

This study examines how corporate social responsibility (CSR) influences sustainable finance outcomes (SFO) in the Ethiopian Insurance industry through environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices and institutional challenges (IC). Using covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) with data collected from a primary survey, the results show that CSR has both a direct and an indirect positive effect on SFO through ESG. However, the adoption of ESG practices also tends to increase institutional challenges, which in turn negatively influences SFO. This interaction produces a competitive partial mediation effect. The serial mediation path CSR–ESG–IC–SFO is found to be negative, suggesting that enabling and constraining forces operate simultaneously. From a theoretical point of view, the study combines stakeholder, legitimacy, and institutional theories to explain this competitive mediation within a less-studied Sub-Saharan African (SSA) frontier market. On the practical side, the findings highlight the importance of establishing ESG disclosure standards, investing in capacity building, and strengthening governance systems to reduce institutional frictions and make CSR a stronger driver of sustainable finance.

Abstract Purpose Nowadays, projective methods play an important role in psychodiagnostics when it comes to understanding clients' personalities, because they allow the therapist to get to know the clients' subconscious conflicts, desires and motivations. Measuring and understanding an athlete's psychological state is key to an effective and successful intervention and performance enhancement, for which the athlete apperception technique (AAT) is a perfect tool. The AAT is a projective technique that portrays sport-specific themes. This study aimed to introduce this sport-specific projective method to the Hungarian sport science and to determine the possibilities it could provide during the sport psychodiagnostic work or the sport psychological counselling. Methods For our study, we used the 10 basic images of the AAT, and we had a total of 11 16-year-old and older Hungarian athlete participants. The analysis of the responses to the images was performed through theory-driven content analysis. Results Regarding the appearance of the manifest themes in general, in all images, at least two types of themes could be identified in the answers, but in five pictures, certain themes did not appear in any of the answers. In the case of two images, the participants' stories reflected on the latent themes of the images, not the manifest ones. Conclusions The use of AAT in the sport environment offers great possibilities, especially to the applied sport psychologists since it makes it easier to understand the psychodynamic characteristics, motivation and anxieties of athletes and coaches.

IntroductionHistorical training methodologies in endurance running provide valuable insights for contemporary sports science. Mihály Iglói's interval-based system, highly influential between the 1950s and 1970s, produced numerous world records yet remains only partially understood. This study reconstructs Iglói's approach through historical sources, contextualizes it within modern theory, and evaluates its relevance to current elite distance running practices.MethodsA narrative approach was applied, combining Hungarian and English archival sources with a comparative review of contemporary peer-reviewed literature on international-level distance running training. Data synthesis identified continuities, divergences, and adaptable elements of Iglói's methodology.ResultsIglói advanced Gerschler's intervals into a complex, high volume system with up to 13 interval sessions per week. Training was primarily based on effort-based short repetitions (100–400 m), complemented by race-specific longer repetitions (600–1200 m). Sessions were organized into sets and sub-sets, interspersed with active recoveries and shakedown strides, while particular emphasis was placed on running form. The system was flexible and individualized, adapting to athletes' goals and event demands. Under this framework, athletes achieved 31 world records and numerous national titles.DiscussionContemporary distance running training again heavily focuses on controlled longer and shorter aerobic intervals for improving lactate threshold speed (vLT2). From Iglói's system, re-adaptable elements include race speed–specific but controlled short intervals for aerobic conditioning, combined with harder repetitions, alongside the use of active recoveries and “flush” or recovery sets to enhance lactate shuttle mechanisms. Equally important is the emphasis on economic running form at different parts of the race, supporting both efficiency and tactical readiness.

Abstract Physical education classes may carry a higher risk of bullying than other classes due to students perceived freedom, competitive environment, limited teacher supervision, and visible physical differences. Despite these risks, research on how teachers intervene is limited, yet this study sheds light on intervention methods perceived by future teachers who are in a critical period of professional development. Therefore, this study aimed to translate, adapt, and validate The Handling Bullying Questionnaire (HBQ) among physical education teacher candidates (PETC) in Hungary. A total 170 PETC completed the HBQ that measures the likelihood of using the strategies in a hypothetical bullying scenario. Linguistic adaptation was carried out using the back-translation technique. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and reliability analysis are used to examine the structure of the scale. Based on exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, a construct with 22 items and 5 factors replicated the same measurement results with the previous studies. The scale explains 58.82% of the total variance. Cronbach alpha values ranged from 0.692 to 0.750. The results indicate that PETCs are not in favor of ignoring bullying but are more inclined toward authority-based strategies and involve others in the incident, while tending to work less with victim. It was determined that the strategies varied according to gender, age, and year of study. Findings indicate that Hungarian version of HBQ is a valid and reliable measurement tool for PETCS.

Climate change is already not only a global problem, but also poses a growing risk to the health and safety of workers. For thisreason, this study analyses the measures taken as part of the ADAPTHEAT (Led by Fundación 1º de Mayo (Spain), with participation fromFondazione Di Vittorio (Italy), ELINYAE (Greece), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands), and the Hungarian Trade Union ConfederationMASZSZ (Hungary)) project in Hungary to mitigate heat-related risks in the workplace. The research focuses on legislation and employers’practices, which were analysed on the basis of risk assessments, collective agreements and case studies. The findings highlight thatworkplace heat stress is not only a concern in traditionally high-risk sectors such as agriculture but affects nearly all workplaces.Despite recent legislative changes in Hungary, the regulatory framework and employer obligations remain rather general. Therefore, raisingawareness among employers and employees remains essential. The study also emphasizes the important role of trade unions and health andsafety representatives in advocating for improved protection.

DunedinPACE quantifies the pace of biological aging. No study has examined its association with cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). Additionally, the physiologically relevant CRF thresholds associated with slow aging remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between CRF and the pace of epigenetic aging, as measured by DunedinPACE, and to identify a CRF threshold indicative of slower biological aging. Here, we analyzed data of 144 older men (aged 65-72years) enrolled in the WASEDA'S Health Study to examine the association of CRF (VO₂/kg at peak and ventilatory threshold (VT)), physical fitness, anthropometric parameters, and nutritional intake with epigenetic aging. Epigenetic aging was assessed using DunedinPACE derived from blood DNA methylation profiles. We performed Pearson's and partial correlation analyses adjusted for age, smoking status, and drinking status, followed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses with bootstrapped optimal cutoff determination. In the unadjusted analyses, VO₂/kg at peak (r = - 0.17, p = 0.041) and VT (r = - 0.17, p = 0.046) were inversely associated with DunedinPACE, and VO₂/kg at peak showed a significant association even in the adjusted models (r = - 0.16, p = 0.046). The ROC curve analysis revealed a potential threshold of VO₂/kg at peak (26.2mL/kg/min) for differentiating individuals with slower biological aging, supported by bootstrap distributions of optimal cutoff points and Youden's index. This study suggests that higher CRF is associated with a slower pace of epigenetic aging, as measured using DunedinPACE. The identified VO₂peak threshold may provide a biomarker-based fitness target to support healthy aging in older adults.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a multisystem progressive neurodegenerative disease. A recent theory of ALS onsetting pathogenesis proposed that the initiating primary damage is an acquired irreversible intrafusal proprioceptive terminal PIEZO2 channelopathy with underlying genetic and environmental risk factors. This Piezo2 channelopathy may also disrupt the ultrafast proton-based oscillatory signaling to motor neurons through vesicular transporter 1 (VGLUT1) and to the hippocampus through VGLUT2. As a result, it may gradually degenerate motor neurons in which process Kv1.2 ion channels are gradually depleted. It also gradually depletes heat shock transcription factor-1 (HSF-1) in the hippocampus, hence negatively affecting adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Syndecans, especially syndecan-3 (SDC3) in the nervous system, may act as critical players in the maintenance of the crosstalk between Piezo ion channels. Hence, our goal was to reanalyze the potential pathogenic gene variants from the cohort of our previous ALS study with a special focus on the aforementioned genes. Reanalysis of data formerly acquired by whole-exome sequencing of 21 non-related adult ALS patients was carried out with a focus on 28 genes. Accordingly, we identified charge-altering variants of SDC3 in 13 patients out of 21 that may contribute to the impairment of the Piezo crosstalk, and the progressive loss of the proposed proton-based signaling to motor neurons and to the hippocampus. A variant of uncertain significance was identified in the KCNA2 gene that may facilitate the faster loss of Kv1.2 ion function on motor neurons when Piezo2 channelopathy prevails. Not to mention that one variant was identified in the potassium current rectifying ion channels encoding KCNK1 and KCNK16 genes that may also propel the ALS disease process and provide the autoimmune-like pathogenic background. Moreover, Piezo2 channelopathy likely promotes diminishing HSF1 function in the hippocampus in the presence of the identified HSF1 variant. The current findings may support the ALS onsetting acquired irreversible Piezo2 channelopathy-induced pathogenesis. However, the preliminary nature of these findings needs validation and further functional studies on cohorts with a larger sample size in the future.