Musculoskeletal injuries and generalized joint laxity in ballet dancers

Aims: To examine the incidence and type of musculoskeletal injuries in classical ballet dancers, to analyse these injuries in relation to absence from performance, and to identify dancers at risk of frequent injuries in a Swedish professional ballet company (study I). To analyse spinal sagittal mobility and joint laxity in young Swedish ballet dancers in comparison with controls (study II). To assess the incidence of musculoskeletal injuries, the site and type of injury, and the most common injury diagnoses in young ballet dancers at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm, Sweden (study III). To investigate age- and gender-specific associations between joint hypermobility, generalized joint laxity and musculoskeletal injuries in young Swedish ballet dancers (study IV). Methods: In study I, 98 professional ballet dancers (48 men, 50 women, average age 28.3, range 17– 47) at the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm were studied in a combined retro-prospective way. All injuries for which the dancers sought medical care during Aug 1988–Jun 1993 at the in-house outpatient clinic were registered. Injury incidence rates per 1,000 activity hours were calculated and 2 test and unpaired t-test were used for statistical analyses. In study II, 23 dance students (11 boys, 12 girls) in 4th grade at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm, and 36 controls at a public Swedish school were examined regarding spinal configuration in standing. The spinal sagittal mobil- ity was measured by use of De Brunner’s kyphometer and Myrin’s inclinometer. Joint mobility was measured and registered by employing a modified form of the Contompasis method. For compari- son between dancers and the controls, the student’s t-test was used. In Study III, 476 students (297 girls and 179 boys) aged 10–21 at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm made up the study group. A 7 year (August 1988 to June 1995) retrospective analysis of medical records in the school orthopaedic outpatient clinic was undertaken. Data on diagnosis, site of injury and type of injury were collected, and the injuries were classified as traumatic or due to overuse. Injury incidence rates per 1,000 activity hours were calculated. Statistical differences for the total injury incidence rates between genders, age groups, and for type of injury were calculated and t-test was used to test statistically significant differences between proportions. In study IV, 216 (130 girls, 86 boys) ballet students in 4th grade were examined while entering the Royal Swedish Ballet School between Aug 1988 and Jun 1995. Joint mobility was measured applying the modified Contompasis method and the results were subdivided into three groups based on the score obtained. Medical records were analysed and all injuries for the period were registered. Injury incidence rates per 1,000 activity hours were calculated. For statistics a conditional risk set model using Cox regression was employed. Results: In study I, 95% of the 98 dancers suffered an injury when employed for one year or more. The dancers incurred 390 injuries over the 5-year study period i.e., 0.6 inj/1,000 activity hours. Most injuries were due to overuse and located in the foot and ankle region. The injury profile differed significantly between the genders and between younger and older dancers. Female dancers more fre- quently suffered overuse injuries while male dancers more frequently suffered knee injuries. Ankle sprain was the most common diagnosis, mostly occurring among dancers 10 years with manifest GJL. Conclusions: Musculoskeletal injuries are common in both young and adult ballet dancers. The association between GJL and injury risk in young ballet dancers implies that there is a need for screening programmes regarding GJL and appliance of primary prevention in order to prevent musculoskeletal injuries in young ballet dancers

On the performance of turbo codes and convolutional codes of low rate

Recently two new classes of low-rate codes have been presented. The first class is the super-orthogonal turbo codes (SOTCs) and the second is the maximum free distance (MFD) convolutional codes. In this paper we present an evaluation of the performance vs. arithmetic decoding complexity for these codes and compare them with the previously reported super-orthogonal convolutional codes (SOCCs). For all classes of codes, the arithmetic decoding complexity is estimated, and the error performance on the additive white Gaussian noise channel is simulated. The SOCCs offer performance comparable to that of the MFD codes. However, the existence of good SOCCs is restricted to a small number of rates while the MFD codes give high performance for a multitude of rates. For the parameters used in this investigation the SOTCs yield higher performance at lower arithmetic decoding complexity than the MFD code

On the performance of turbo codes and convolutional codes of low rate

Recently two new classes of low-rate codes have been presented. The first class is the super-orthogonal turbo codes (SOTCs) and the second is the maximum free distance (MFD) convolutional codes. In this paper we present an evaluation of the performance vs. arithmetic decoding complexity for these codes and compare them with the previously reported super-orthogonal convolutional codes (SOCCs). For all classes of codes, the arithmetic decoding complexity is estimated, and the error performance on the additive white Gaussian noise channel is simulated. The SOCCs offer performance comparable to that of the MFD codes. However, the existence of good SOCCs is restricted to a small number of rates while the MFD codes give high performance for a multitude of rates. For the parameters used in this investigation the SOTCs yield higher performance at lower arithmetic decoding complexity than the MFD code

Antioxidant intake, plasma antioxidants and oxidative stress in a randomized, controlled, parallel, Mediterranean dietary intervention study on patients with rheumatoid arthritis

BACKGROUND: Previously we have reported that patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) obtained a significant reduction in disease activity by adopting a Mediterranean-type diet. The present study was carried out to investigate the antioxidant intake, the plasma levels of antioxidants and a marker of oxidative stress (malondialdehyde) during the study presented earlier. METHODS: RA patients randomized to either a Mediterranean type diet (MD group; n = 26) or a control diet (CD group; n = 25) were compared during a three month dietary intervention study. Their antioxidant intake was assessed by means of diet history interviews and their intake of antioxidant-rich foods by a self-administered questionnaire. The plasma levels of retinol, antioxidants (α- and γ-tocopherol, β-carotene, lycopene, vitamin C and uric acid) and urinary malondialdehyde (MDA), a marker for oxidative stress, were determined using high performance liquid chromatography. The Student's t-test for independent samples and paired samples were used to test differences between and within groups. For variables with skewed distributions Mann-Whitney U-test and Wilcoxon signed ranks test were performed. To evaluate associations between dietary intake of antioxidants, as well as between disease activity, MDA and antioxidants we used Pearson's product moment correlation or Spearman's rank correlation. RESULTS: The MD group had significantly higher intake frequencies of antioxidant-rich foods, and also higher intakes of vitamin C (p = 0.014), vitamin E (p = 0.007) and selenium (p = 0.004), and a lower intake of retinol (p = 0.049), compared to the CD group. However, the difference between the groups regarding vitamin C intake was not significant when under- and over-repoters were excluded (p = 0.066). There were no changes in urine MDA or in the plasma levels of antioxidants (after p-lipid adjustments of the tocopherol results), from baseline to the end of the study. The levels of retinol, vitamin C and uric acid were negatively correlated to disease activity variables. No correlation was found between antioxidant intake and the plasma levels of antioxidants. CONCLUSIONS: Despite an increase in reported consumption of antioxidant-rich foods during the Mediterranean diet intervention, the levels of plasma antioxidants and urine MDA did not change. However, the plasma levels of vitamin C, retinol and uric acid were inversely correlated to variables related to RA disease activity

Capacidade para o trabalho, fatores de risco para as doenças cardiovasculares e condiçőes laborativas de trabalhadores de uma indústria metal-mecânica de Curitiba-Pr /

Orientadora: Maria Lúcia Leite Ribeiro OkimotoCo-orientador: George StanescuInclui apęndiceDissertaçăo (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Tecnologia, Programa de Pós-Graduaçăo em Engenharia Mecânica. Defesa: Curitiba, 2004Inclui bibliografi

Capital intelectual: uma abordagem conceitual

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Um Motor de Busca para Infraestruturas de Dados Espaciais

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