The relationship of distal femur and proximal tibia morphology with anterior cruciate ligament injuries.

PURPOSE: The study aims to determine the correlations between the anatomical structures of the distal femur and proximal tibia associated with the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). METHODS: Bilateral extremities of 293 patients [143 ACL-ruptured, 150 ACL-intact] (all male) were included in the study. Femoral bi-condylar width (BCW), intercondylar notch width (NW) in the distal femur, proximal tibia width (TW), and tibial eminence width (EW) parameters were measured in the proximal tibia. Indexes are calculated as intercondylar notch width index (NWI) = NW/BCW, tibial eminence width index (EWI) = EW/TW. RESULTS: BCW, NW, TW, and EW measurements were lower in the ACL-ruptured group, but the difference was statistically significant only in the NW (p = 0.009) and TW (p = 0.005) measurements. There was no difference between groups in the NWI. The EWI parameters were calculated higher in the ACL-ruptured group, and the difference was statistically significant (p = 0.02). In both groups, there were very strong correlations between BCW and TW (ACL-ruptured r = 0.820, ACL-intact r = 0.877) and between NW and NWI (ACL-ruptured r = 0.862, ACL-intact r = 0.852), also EW and EWI in ACL-intact group (r = 0.947). CONCLUSIONS: The NW and TW measurements may give an idea about injury risk or prevention in morphological measurements. Correlations also show that the femur and tibia should consider together for ACL injuries.

Effect of increasing maximal aerobic exercise on serum gonadal hormones and alpha-fetoprotein in the luteal phase of professional female soccer players.

[Purpose] The performance of female athletes during their menstrual period has attracted the attention of researchers for many years. It is known that the menstrual period changes with exercise. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is an oncofetal protein. In this study, the effect of maximal aerobic exercise in the luteal phase on some hormones and AFP in female athletes was researched. [Subjects and Methods] Twelve volunteers and healthy female footballers with normal menstrual cycles volunteered for this study as subjects. All the participants performed a shuttle run test. Blood samples were taken before, after, and one hour after exercise. Serum AFP, estrogen, progesterone, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH) values were measured using an auto analyzer and original kits. Heart rate measurements were performed before and after the exercise. [Results] AFP activity had significantly decreased after 1 h of recovery from the exercise in the female soccer players, and estrogen and LH activity had significantly increased immediately after the exercise. Progesterone activity had significantly decreased immediately after the exercise. FSH values had significantly increased immediately after the exercise. [Conclusion] The results of the present study show there were significant decreases in the values of AFP, which is a cancer parameter, 1 hour after the exercise. This result may be valuable in future physiotherapy studies on the relationship between exercise and cancer.

Responses of trace elements to aerobic maximal exercise in elite sportsmen.

Trace elements are chemical elements needed in minute quantities for the proper growth, development, and physiology of the organism. In biochemistry, a trace element is also referred to as a micronutrient. Trace elements, such as nickel, cadmium, aluminum, silver, chromium, molybdenum, germanium, tin, titanium, tungsten, scandium, are found naturally in the environment and human exposure derives from a variety of sources, including air, drinking water and food. The Purpose of this study was investigated the effect of aerobic maximal intensity endurance exercise on serum trace elements as well-trained individuals of 28 wrestlers (age (year) 19.64±1.13, weight (Kg) 70.07 ± 15.69, height (cm) 176.97 ± 6.69) during and after a 2000 meter Ergometer test protocol was used to perform aerobic (75 %) maximal endurance exercise. Trace element serum levels were analyzed from blood samples taken before, immediately after and one hour after the exercise. While an increase was detected in Chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni), Molybdenum (Mo) and Titanium (Ti) serum levels immediately after the exercise, a decrease was detected in Aluminum (Al), Scandium (Sc) and Tungsten (W) serum levels. Except for aluminum, the trace elements we worked on showed statistically meaningful responses (P < 0.05 and P < 0.001). According to the responses of trace elements to the exercise showed us the selection and application of the convenient sport is important not only in terms of sportsman performance but also in terms of future healthy life plans and clinically.

Effect of increasing maximal aerobic exercise on serum muscles enzymes in professional field hockey players.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Exercise results in oxidative enzyme increase and micro-injuries in skeletal muscles. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of maximal aerobic exercise on serum muscle enzymes in professional field hockey players. This study aims to determine the effect of increasing maximal aerobic exercise on creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) serum levels. MATERIAL & METHODS: 31 young professional field hockey players (13 female and 18 male players) volunteered for this study. All participants underwent the shuttle run test. Blood samples were taken from each participant before the shuttle run test. Post test blood samples were taken immediately after exercise and one hour after respectively. Pre and post test CK, CK-MB, AST and ALT values were measured by means of auto analyzer using original kits. RESULTS: The acute post test measure of the CK level increased in male (p=0.002) and female (p=0.00) sportsmen. CK-MB values obtained one hour after the exercise was lower than those before the exercise in males (p=0.02). In females (p=0.017) and males (p=0.05) AST activity significantly increased immediately after exercise and decreased to resting activity 1 h recovery. ALT significantly increased immediately after exercise in female (p=0.03) and male (p=0.00) athletes and after 1 h recovery ALT activities decreased below resting values. CONCLUSION: The timing and severity of exercise used in our study increased CK values, decreased CK-MB values and AST, ALT values increased in female and male field hockey players.

Frontal lobe morphometry with MRI in a normal age group of 6-17 year-olds.

BACKGROUND: Morphometric data of the frontal lobe are important for surgical planning of lesions in the frontal lobe and its surroundings. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques provide suitable data for this purpose. OBJECTIVES: In our study, the morphometric data of mid-sagittal MRI of the frontal lobe in certain age and gender groups of children have been presented. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a normal age group of 6-17-year-old participants, the length of the line passing through predetermined different points, including the frontal pole (FP), commissura anterior (AC), commissura posterior (PC), the outermost point of corpus callosum genu (AGCC), the innermost point of corpus callosum genu (IGCC), tuberculum sella (TS), AGCC and IGCC points parallel to AC-PC line and the point such line crosses at the frontal lobe surface (FCS) were measured in three age groups (6-9, 10-13 and 14-17 years) for each gender. RESULTS: The frontal lobe morphometric data were higher in males than females. Frontal lobe measurements peak at the age group of 10-13 in the male and at the age group of 6-13 in the female. In boys, the length of FP-AC increases 4.1% in the 10-13 age group compared with the 6-9-year-old group, while this increase is 2.3% in girls. CONCLUSION: Differences in age and gender groups were determined. While the length of AGCC-IGCC increases 10.4% in adults, in children aged 6-17, the length of AC-PC is 11.5% greater than adults. These data will contribute to the preliminary assessment for developing a surgical plan in fine interventions in the frontal lobe and its surroundings in children.