The end game: Mortality outcomes in North American professional athletes.

Comprehensive investigations into the mortality outcomes of elite athletes can assist in decoding risk factors for premature mortality and provide avenues for exploring human health through engagement in sport. As such, the purpose of this study was to comprehensively examine lifespan trends of athletes from the 4 major sports in North America: Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and National Hockey League (NHL). We hypothesized that proportional death rates would be similar across the 4 sports, when standardizing the data by debut years. Overall, 17 523 of 50 515 (34.7%) athletes were deceased as of the respective data collection cutoff date for their sport, with MLB players having the highest risk of imminent mortality. Professional basketball players generally had the highest relative proportion of death when standardizing data by debut year, although NHL and NFL players who debuted after 2005 had the highest proportion of death. In addition, a 1-year increase in career length significantly decreased the risk of death (HR: 0.982, 95% CI: 0.978-0.985), even after adjusting for sport type (HR: 0.977, 95% CI: 0.974-0.980). Meaningful significance should be considered given the historical and unique nature of the sample. Nevertheless, investigating risk of death differences through different occupational and biological variables can help highlight aversive trends to lifespan that permeate throughout high-performance athlete populations.

Training and development of Canadian wheelchair basketball players.

Considering the growth in research, examining the development of mainstream sport athletes over the past two decades, studies examining development of athletes with disabilities have been surprisingly limited. While similarities in developmental trajectories between the two cohorts may exist regarding factors such as the value of practice, which tend to be universal regardless of context, disability-related issues (e.g. whether the disability was congenital or acquired) may influence the course of development, affecting variables such as starting age, training and developmental milestones. Fifty-two male and female athletes training with the Wheelchair Basketball Canada National Academy provided detailed training histories. Athletes illustrated similar developmental patterns (e.g. milestones, training adjustments) as they progressed through their sporting career. However, athletes with congenital disabilities started participation in wheelchair basketball and unorganised practice at significantly younger ages (t49 = -4.35, p < .001, d = 1.32; t49 = -3.49, p < .001, d = 1.03, respectively). While athletes with congenital disabilities continued to reach a majority of the sporting milestones at younger ages, athletes with acquired disabilities were able to reach late career milestones (e.g. national debuts) at similar ages. Athletes' disability severity did not influence their progress through the developmental milestones and time devoted to training throughout their sporting career. Future work may consider examining developmental trajectories and training histories of athletes in various parasports to extend our understanding of their development and skill acquisition.

Physical Load Affects Perceptual-Cognitive Performance of Skilled Athletes: a Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Many researchers have considered the impact of physical exercise on perceptual-cognitive performance. There have also been a substantial number of studies that have examined how perceptual-cognitive skills differ between elite athletes and non-athletes. However, the knowledge on how physical exercise interacts with perceptual-cognitive skill is limited. This systematic review aims to provide detailed information on how athletes' perceptual-cognitive performance is influenced by acute physical exercise load and whether these effects differ between elite athletes and lesser skilled groups. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted using different combinations of the keywords physical load, acute, exercise, perception, cognition, perceptual, cognitive, sport, and athlete with the PubMed and SportDiscus databases. Additional articles were found through screening the references of these papers. Articles had to (a) be full journal articles written in English, (b) include an athlete sample, (c) examine acute effects of physical exercise, and (d) measure a perceptual-cognitive task as the dependent variable. RESULTS: Twenty-six articles matched the inclusion criteria. Results suggested the impact of acute physical exercise on perceptual-cognitive performances of athletes depends on the specificity of the induced exercise and perceptual-cognitive task. Additionally, speed and accuracy were influenced differently by physical exercise. Furthermore, skilled athletes seem to be more positively influenced by acute physical exercise than novices. CONCLUSION: Since many factors influence perceptual-cognitive expertise, future research should be highly precise (e.g., regarding the definition of variables, the intensity of the physical exercise) and specific (e.g., regarding the tasks used, the type of the physical exercise).

Early death in active professional athletes: Trends and causes.

The objective of the study was to examine mortality trends and causes of death among professional athletes from the four major sports in North America who died during their playing careers. 205 deceased athletes who were registered as active when they died from the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Baseball (MLB) were examined. Results were compared with the Canadian and U.S. general population. The leading causes of death in players reflected the leading causes of death in the Canadian and U.S. general population (i.e., car accidents). Descriptively, NFL and NBA players had a higher likelihood of dying in a car accident (OR 1.75, 95% CI: 0.91-3.36) compared with NHL and MLB players. In addition, NFL and NBA players had a significantly higher likelihood of dying from a cardiac-related illness (OR 4.44, 95% CI: 1.59-12.43). Mortality trends were disproportionate to team size. Overall, death in active athletes is low. Out of 53 400 athletes who have historically played in the four leagues, only 205 died while active (0.38%). Future examinations into the trends and causes of mortality in elite athlete populations will create a better understanding of health-related risks in elite sport.

Examining the relationship between relative age, competition level, and dropout rates in male youth ice-hockey players.

The relative age effect suggests that athletes born in the first two quartiles of a given selection year experience a selection advantage and therefore a greater opportunity for success. We describe two studies examining the relationship between relative age, competition level, and dropout rates of Ontario Minor Hockey Association male ice-hockey players from ages 10 to 15 years (n = 14 325). In Study 1, dropout was highest among players born in quartiles three and four [χ(2) (3) = 16.32, P < 0.05; w = 0.06], while Study 2 found dropped out players to have less movement between competition levels compared to retained players. This study confirms a relationship between relative age and dropout from ice-hockey and adds further depth to our understanding of this persistent phenomenon.

Ultrastructure changes induced by dry film formation of a trisodium phosphate blend, antimicrobial solution.

Trisodium phosphate (TSP) has been reported to have antimicrobial activity and is approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for use in food processing applications. A novel (U.S. Patent 6,184,198), antimicrobial solution containing a blend of TSP, sodium bicarbonate, and sodium carbonate (TSP blend) has demonstrated effective inhibition of microbial contamination in a broad spectrum of applications. This high-resolution cold field emission scanning electron microcopy (LVSEM) investigation details structural changes and dry film formation in various classes of microbes as a mechanism for antimicrobial activity of this solution. The results showed that this TSP blend solution completely inhibited the growth of pathogenic E. coli O157:H7, and Salmonella bacteria, the mold Cryptococcus, as well as a Norwalk virus surrogate-feline calicivirus. Results by LVSEM confirmed that the antimicrobial effect was induced when encapsulating the target microbes in a high lubricity film that is formed around these organisms as the solution dries. The thickness of the film was estimated to be approximately 60 nm.