Injury and illness profiles during the 2014 South African Ironman triathlon

Background: There is a need for ongoing scrutiny of injury and illness profiles of ultra-distance athletes. This study aimed to record the medical history, illness and injuries of athletes receiving medical attention during the 2014 Ironman South Africa (IMSA) triathlon, and to investigate the temporal presentation of medical encounters.Methods: This was a retrospective, cross-sectional study. All athletes who required medical attention at the main medical tent and all of the medical posts or mobile units along the route were included in this study A total of 2 331 athletes started the race. Data included age, gender, time and stage of the race when medical attention was required, pre-race medical history and medication use, illness and injuries treated, special investigations performed, and weather conditions.Results: Overall, 179 athletes (7.7%) required medical attention. The incidence of medical encounters was 7.8%. A significantly higher percentage of younger participants encountered medical problems (P = 0.04). Most patient encounters (80.1%) occurred after the race. The median duration of treatment was 26 minutes. Medication was used by 35.1% of patients during the race. The most common medical encounters were exertion-related (71.2%), gastro-intestinal (16.4%), dermatological (11.9%), musculoskeletal (9.6%) and cardiorespiratory conditions (2.4%).Conclusion: Medical encounters occurred more frequently in later stages of the race. Most medical conditions were exertion-related. Potential higher risk may be associated with medication use, recent illness, and in younger participants. Temporal stacking of medical personnel, planning of resources according to expected conditions, preventative measures for high-risk behaviour, and on-going data collection with comparable methodology are recommended.Keywords: triathletes, medical encounters, medication use, treatment, event medical managemen

Physiological and pathophysiological role of somatostatin receptors in the human thymus

This is a review summarizing the physiological and pathophysiological role of somatostatin receptors in the human thymus

Differential expression of somatostatin receptor subtypes in human peripheral blood mononuclear cell subsets

BACKGROUND: Somatostatin (SS)-binding sites have been demonstrated in human lymphoid tissues and peripheral blood cells. However, not much is known with respect to the SS receptor subtype (sst) expression pattern and the expression of SS itself in the immune system. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the mRNA expression of the five known sst (sst(1-5)) in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (sub)populations. Moreover, the expression of the mRNAs encoding SS and the SS-like peptide cortistatin (CST) in immune cell subsets was studied. METHODS: RT-PCR and quantitative PCR were performed to evaluate sst, SS and CST mRNA expression in cells in the basal or activated state. Fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) analysis using fluorescent SS was performed to visualize sst protein on cell membranes. RESULTS: B- and T-lymphocytes selectively expressed sst(3) mRNA. sst(3) expression in B-lymphocytes was significantly lower compared with T-lymphocytes. Unstimulated, freshly isolated monocytes did not express any sst mRNA. Upon activation, monocytes selectively expressed sst(2) mRNA, whereas T-lymphocyte activation upregulated sst(3) expression. sst(2) mRNA expression on monocytes was confirmed by FACS analysis. B- and T-lymphocytes did not express SS mRNA, while both cell types expressed CST mRNA. CST mRNA expression was downregulated following T-lymphocyte activation. CONCLUSION: We demonstrate for the first time unequivocally that human peripheral blood B- and T-lymphocytes selectively express sst(3), whereas monocytes do not express sst. However, upon activation, monocytes are induced to express sst(2A). No expression of SS mRNA was detected in any cell type, whereas all cell types expressed CST mRNA. The differential expression of sst and CST mRNA in lymphocytes and monocytes s

Cortistatin rather than somatostatin as a potential endogenous ligand for somatostatin receptors in the human immune system

Cells of the human immune system have been shown to express somatostatin receptors (sst). The expression of sst suggests a functional role of the peptide somatostatin (SS). However, SS expression has not been demonstrated yet in different human immune tissues. Therefore, we investigated by RT-PCR the expression of both SS and cortistatin (CST), a SS-like peptide, in various human lymphoid tissues and immune cells. We detected SS mRNA expression in the human thymus only, while not in thymocytes. CST mRNA was clearly expressed in the immune cells, lymphoid tissues, and bone marrow. Using quantitative RT-PCR, significant differences in expression levels between tissues were demonstrated. Expression of CST mRNA was up-regulated during differentiation of monocytes into macrophages and dendritic cells and could be up-regulated by lipopolysaccharide stimulation. Two differently sized cDNA fragments of CST were detected in the majority of cells and tissues. However, although both fragments were detected in nearly all T-cell lines (7 of 8), most of the B-cell lines expressed the short fragment only (8 of 10). Usin

Larmor precession and tunneling time of a relativistic neutral spinning particle through an arbitrary potential barrier

The Larmor precession of a relativistic neutral spin-1/2 particle in a uniform constant magnetic field confined to the region of a one-dimensional arbitrary potential barrier is investigated. The spin precession serves as a clock to measure the time spent by a quantum particle traversing a potential barrier. With the help of general spin coherent state it is explicitly shown that the precession time is equal to the dwell time.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. To be published in Phys. Rev. A (01 February 2002

Autologous peripheral retinal pigment epithelium translocation in patients with subfoveal neovascular membranes

AIM: To evaluate the possibility of translocating autologous peripheral retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells and enhance their adhesion to improve functional outcome after choroidal neovascular membrane extracti

Somatostatin receptor subtype expression in cells of the rat immune system during adjuvant arthritis

Somatostatin is a neuropeptide that is widely distributed throughout the body. It acts as a neurohormone and a neurotransmitter an

Somatostatin receptor subtypes in human thymoma and inhibition of cell proliferation by octreotide in vitro

Somatostatin (SS) and SS receptor (SSR) subtypes, code-named sst1-5, are heterogeneously expressed in the normal human thymus. This suggests their involvement in controlling the immune and/or neuroendocrine functions in this organ. Moreover, recently a high in vivo uptake of [111In-DTPA-D-Phe1]octreotide has been reporte