Differences in Acute:Chronic Workload Ratio Preceding Injury Occurrence in United Soccer League Players

Professional soccer players are prone to injuries. Training loads (TL), including games, are associated with injury occurrence. Acute:Chronic workload ratio (ACWR), an index of TL, is considered an accurate injury rate metric. In respect to the relationship between injury occurrence and ACWR load obtained using global positioning systems (GPS), little evidence exists in United Soccer League (USL) teams. It is possible high ACWR during the season to lead to injuries. PURPOSE: To investigate the interaction effect of players’ injury status with ACWR of professional soccer players of a USL team. METHODS: In 2019-20, in-season data were gathered from 20 players (Age 26.3 ± 2.7) across six 3-week microcycles. Players’ TL was monitored over 133 training sessions and 40 regular season games using 10-Hz GPS and 400-Hz accelerometer (PlayerTek, Catapult Innovations). All physical, technical, and tactical overload/underload activities consisted of soccer-specific exercises (utilizing possession, small-sided games: 3v3-11v11) and tactical drills (based on coaches’ desired style of play and game-specific situations). ACWR for players’ total load accumulation was calculated for the week’s acute TL prior to injury week by the mean chronic 4-week TL prior to injury week. Injury group include 11 players who got injured during the in-season and 9 that remained healthy. A factorial repeated design in SPSS for injury group (2) and ACWR injury occurrence time (7) was used to examine the interaction effect. RESULTS: Injury group*ACWR injury time was not significant F6,66= .81, p=.56, η2 = .07. CONCLUSION: There was no difference in ACWR index between injured and non-injured players. For every ACWR injury week the injured ones had higher but non-significant ACWR values ranged from .17 to 1.7 than non-injured besides the cycle2/week2 and cycle3/week2. Our findings warrant further investigation with more participants. Possible limitations may include sample size and convenience sample

Temperature cues gametogenesis and larval release in a tropical sponge

Determining the reproductive processes of benthic invertebrates is central to our understanding of their recruitment and population dynamics. Sexual reproduction of the gonochoric and viviparous Great Barrier Reef sponge, Luffariella variabilis (Poléjaeff 1884) was quantified from histological samples collected over two reproductive seasons (2004 and 2005). Gametogenesis commenced for females at a water temperature of 21°C, the lowest water temperature of the year. Spermatogenesis occurred above 22.5°C with sperm asynchronously developed and released from August or September to October. Oocytes developed asynchronously from July to September, embryos from September to December, and larvae from November to December. Female reproduction terminated in December (after larval release) prior to the highest mean annual water temperature of 30°C in January. There was a significant (35%) decrease in female reproductive output in 2005 compared to 2004, as measured by the reproductive index (0.68 ± 0.12 female reproductive propagules mm−2 of mesohyl in 2005 compared with 1.05 ± 0.10 mm−2 in 2004). This corresponded with delayed oogenesis and spermatogenesis, and a shortened larval development cycle corresponding with a delayed minimum temperature (21°C) in August of 2005 compared with July 2004. Accordingly, the maximum percentage of the mesohyl occupied by female reproductive propagules (eggs, embryos and larvae) was also reduced by 60% in 2005 (overall mean of 13.04% in October 2004 compared with 5.35% in October 2005). However, the mean sizes of individual female propagules remained the same from year to year. Males in contrast, showed no overall difference in either reproductive index or percentage occupation of the mesohyl between 2004 and 2005. The lowered reproductive output (∼35%) of females of L. variabilis associated with delayed minimum water temperatures may have important implications for population reproductive success where oogenesis and spermatogenesis and larval release are cued by minimum and maximum water temperatures, respectively

The impact of surgical delay on resectability of colorectal cancer: An international prospective cohort study

AimThe SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to explore the impact of surgical delays on cancer resectability. This study aimed to compare resectability for colorectal cancer patients undergoing delayed versus non-delayed surgery.MethodsThis was an international prospective cohort study of consecutive colorectal cancer patients with a decision for curative surgery (January-April 2020). Surgical delay was defined as an operation taking place more than 4 weeks after treatment decision, in a patient who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy. A subgroup analysis explored the effects of delay in elective patients only. The impact of longer delays was explored in a sensitivity analysis. The primary outcome was complete resection, defined as curative resection with an R0 margin.ResultsOverall, 5453 patients from 304 hospitals in 47 countries were included, of whom 6.6% (358/5453) did not receive their planned operation. Of the 4304 operated patients without neoadjuvant therapy, 40.5% (1744/4304) were delayed beyond 4 weeks. Delayed patients were more likely to be older, men, more comorbid, have higher body mass index and have rectal cancer and early stage disease. Delayed patients had higher unadjusted rates of complete resection (93.7% vs. 91.9%, P = 0.032) and lower rates of emergency surgery (4.5% vs. 22.5%, P ConclusionOne in 15 colorectal cancer patients did not receive their planned operation during the first wave of COVID-19. Surgical delay did not appear to compromise resectability, raising the hypothesis that any reduction in long-term survival attributable to delays is likely to be due to micro-metastatic disease

Alirocumab and cardiovascular outcomes after acute coronary syndrome

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Alirocumab and Cardiovascular Outcomes after Acute Coronary Syndrome

BACKGROUN