Anthropometric characteristics and sex influence magnitude of skin cooling following exposure to whole body cryotherapy.

This study explored whether anthropometric measures influence magnitude of skin cooling following exposure to whole body cryotherapy (WBC). Height, weight, body fat percentage, and lean mass were measured in 18 male and 14 female participants. Body surface area, body surface area to mass ratio, body mass index, fat-free mass index, and fat mass index were calculated. Thermal images were captured before and after WBC (-60°C for 30 seconds, -110°C for 2 minutes). Skin temperature was measured at the chest, arm, thigh, and calf. Mean skin temperature before and after WBC and change in mean skin temperature (ΔT sk) were calculated. ΔT sk was significantly greater in females (12.07 ± 1.55°C) than males (10.12 ± 1.86°C; t(30) = -3.09, P = .004). A significant relationship was observed between body fat percentage and ΔT sk in the combined dataset (P = .002, r = .516) and between fat-free mass index and ΔT sk in males (P = .005, r = .622). No other significant associations were found. Skin response of individuals to WBC appears to depend upon anthropometric variables and sex, with individuals with a higher adiposity cooling more than thinner individuals. Effects of sex and anthompometrics should be considered when designing WBC research or treatment protocols.

The impact of playing in matches while injured on injury surveillance findings in professional football.

This study aimed to analyze the frequency, nature, and consequences of footballers playing matches while injured, and to examine the impact on injury surveillance findings. High levels of inter-rater reliability and content validity were established for a tool designed to document players who were already injured at the start of a match. The tool was implemented in three English football teams (a Championship, League 1, and League 2 team) for one season, using a "time loss" definition of injury. One hundred forty-three matches were surveyed, revealing 102 match appearances by players who were already injured. Almost half of all games featured at least one injured player, with episodes of playing with injury occurring more frequently and lasting longer in League 2 players compared with higher level players. No association was observed between the number of injured players starting matches and match outcome [χ(2) (4, N = 143) = 3.27, P = 0.514]. Fifteen percent of all injury episodes captured were only through prospective documentation of playing while injured. The findings show that both traumatic and overuse injuries are managed by footballers through competitive matches, and have important implications for aiding understanding of the epidemiology of injury in professional football.

Coding sports injury surveillance data: has version 10 of the Orchard Sports Injury Classification System improved the classification of sports medicine diagnoses?

OBJECTIVES: To compare versions 8 and 10 of the Orchard Sports Injury Classification System (OSICS) to determine whether the revised version of OSICS has improved its use in a sports medicine setting, and to assess the inter-rater reliability of OSICS-10. METHODS: Injury surveillance data, gathered over a 2 year period in professional football, cricket and rugby union to produce 335 diagnoses, were coded with both OSICS-8 and OSICS-10. Code-diagnosis agreement was assessed for OSICS-8 in terms of whether a diagnosis was codeable or noncodeable, and for OSICS-10 by evaluating the highest available OSICS-10 tier of coding. Eight clinicians coded a list of 20 diagnoses, comprising a range of pathologies to all gross anatomical regions, which were compared to assess inter-rater reliability. RESULTS: All diagnoses could be assigned an appropriate code with OSICS-10, compared with 87% of diagnoses that could be assigned an OSICS-8 code. Contusions comprised almost half of OSICS-8 noncodeable diagnoses. OSICS-10 tier 2 codes accounted for 20% of diagnoses coded with the updated system. Of these 20%, almost half contained a more detailed diagnosis that did not have an available OSICS-10 tier 3 or 4 code. Inter-rater reliability increased with decreasing diagnostic detail, with an overall level shown to be moderate (k = 0.56). CONCLUSIONS: OSICS-10 is a more encompassing system than OSICS-8 to use in classifying sports medicine diagnoses, and has a moderate level of inter-rater reliability. Further minor revision may be required to address lack of detail in some strain, effusion and contusion codes.

Mutations in the hrp48 gene, which encodes a Drosophila heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle protein, cause lethality and developmental defects and affect P-element third-intron splicing in vivo.

The Drosophila melanogaster hnRNP protein, hrp48, is an abundant heterogeneous nuclear RNA-associated protein. Previous biochemical studies have implicated hrp48 as a component of a ribonucleoprotein complex involved in the regulation of the tissue-specific alternative splicing of the P-element third intron (IVS3). We have taken a genetic approach to analyzing the role of hrp48. Mutations in the hrp48 gene were identified and characterized. hrp48 is an essential gene. Hypomorphic mutations which reduce the level of hrp48 protein display developmental defects, including reduced numbers of ommatidia in the eye and morphological bristle abnormalities. Using a P-element third-intron reporter transgene, we found that reduced levels of hrp48 partially relieve IVS3 splicing inhibition in somatic cells. This is the first direct evidence that hrp48 plays a functional role in IVS3 splicing inhibition.