Use of Head Guards in AIBA Boxing Tournaments-A Cross-Sectional Observational Study.

OBJECTIVE: This study looks at the changes in injuries after the implementation of a new rule by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) to remove head guards from its competitions. DESIGN: A cross-sectional observational study performed prospectively. This brief report examines the removal of head guards in 2 different ways. The first was to examine the stoppages due to blows to the head by comparing World Series Boxing (WSB), without head guards, to other AIBA competitions with head guards. Secondly, we examined the last 3 world championships: 2009 and 2011 (with head guards) and 2013 (without head guards). SETTING: World Series Boxing and AIBA world championship boxing. PARTICIPANTS: Boxers from WSB and AIBA world championships. INTERVENTIONS: The information was recorded by ringside medical physicians. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Stoppages per 10 000 rounds; stoppages per 1000 hours. RESULTS: Both studies show that the number of stoppages due to head blows was significantly decreased without head guards. The studies also showed that there was a notable increase in cuts. CONCLUSIONS: Removing head guards may reduce the already small risk of acute brain injury in amateur boxing.

C-reative proteins in the sera of patients with leprosy

The C-reactive protein test (CRP) performed by a capillary precipitation method was applied to the sera of 380 leprosy patient, among which 335 were of the lepromatous and 45 of the tuberculoid type. A total of 2,140 tests were performed over a period of two years. The numbers of determinations for each patient ranged between i and 73. Serial CRP tests in 45 tuberculoid cases showed 9 cases (20%) to be consistently positive, 17 cases (37.8%) inconsistently positive, and 19 cases (42.2%) consistently negative. Of the 55 lepromatous cases that were bacteriologically negative ("arrested") at the end of the period, 28 (50.9%) were consistently negative, 17 (30.9%) were inconsistently positive, and 10 (18.1%) were consistently positive. Of the 280 bacteriologically positive lepromatous cases, 96 (34.2%) were consistently negative, 121 (43.2%)inconsistently positive, and 63 (22.5%) consistently positive.