ECCENTRIC HAMSTRING STRENGTH IN CLUB GAELIC FOOTBALLERS.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the eccentric hamstring strength of Gaelic footballers during the season. The Nordic hamstring exercise was used to determine maximal hamstring eccentric Torque using the Nordbord testing system™. A total of 67 players were tested in pre-season as described previously by Opar et al. (2013). Injury data was recorded directly via questionnaire from each participant. 117 players were tested in the preseason, 98 in the in-season and a combined total of 67 players tested in both in-season and pre-season and included in the study. There was no difference in eccentric torque for in both preseason (121±25 v124±27, p\u3e0.641) and late in-season (124±29 v 128±22, p\u3e0.7997) when comparing injured and non injured groups. A previous hamstring injury produced a 32.88 RR. In club Gaelic footballers pre-season eccentric strength in the Nordic exercise is not a pre-requisite for the prevention of future HSI while previous HSI is a strong risk factor

Reordering of Baryon Chiral Perturbation Theory

Reordering of the chiral perturbation series, proposed recently by Becher and Leutwyler in the framework of SU(2) baryonic ChPT, is applied to the SU(3) case. This results in improved convergence of the chiral expansion of static properties of the lowest lying baryon octet, which in most cases is quite impressive. Finite renormalization of coupling constants and the role it plays in the interpretation of effective field theories is discussed. Some future tests of the viability of the scheme are proposed too.Comment: 9 pages, one reference adde

Prototype construction of a compiler for network analysis feasibility study

Feasibility of unified compilers for network analysi

The Case for UHF RFID application in the meat supply chain in the Irish context: a review perspective

As a result of recent food scares increasing pressure has been placed on food producing industries to incorporate a farm-to-fork traceability system. Conventional methods of traceability while reasonably successful are not without their disadvantages. These include potential damage and limited data capacity in the case of bar codes, unacceptable delays incurred through the use of DNA sampling and finally inapplicability of on biometric technologies due to permanent detachment post mortem. The aims of this paper is to outline the legislative requirements for traceability, technological aspects of current traceability systems, and the case for the widespread adoption of RFID in the farm-to-fork traceability of meat, all based on the Irish system. The arguments would be valid to any country or geographic region, with the existing differences taken into account. RFID technologies offer, among others, solutions to most important challenges to barcode technology, amenity to automation, possibility of value-added products, possibility for condition monitoring during storage and transport, potential to in house traceability under adverse processing environments, seamless integration with global supply chain, item-level traceability, and all these in near real-time

Permittivity of Meat Fish and their Components at UHF RFID Frequencies and Industry Relevant Temperatures

Permittivity values of lean beef, pork, fish, poultry, and values for other components from these sources (i.e. fat, marrow and bone) were measured at selected                                                                                                                                                                                                                              industry-relevant temperatures – 18 oC, - 12  oC, - 5 oC, 0 oC, 7 oC, 25 oC, 40 oC and UHF RFID relevant frequencies of 868 MHz, 915 MHZ, 950 MHz and 2450 MHz. Muscle fibre orientation in relation to probe placement was also investigated. Increases in temperature generally led to increases in the dielectric constant (e’) and loss factor (e’’) of all test samples while the opposite trend was observed with increases in frequency (i.e. e’ and e’’ decreased). These trends were clearly evident for samples of lean beef, pork, poultry and fish. The dielectric properties of other non-lean components also varied with temperature and frequency. e’ and e’’ values of fat and marrow were significantly lower than those of lean while for fibrous tissues muscle fibre orientation only had a significant influence in the case of poultry (p≤0.05) and not in the case of beef or pork (p≥0.05). Results of this study can serve as basic data for the design and/or application of RFID inlays

An Exact Renormalization Group analysis of 3-d Well Developed turbulence

We take advantage of peculiar properties of three dimensional incompressible turbulence to introduce a nonstandard Exact Renormalization Group method. A Galilean invariance preserving regularizing procedure is utilized and a field truncation is adopted to test the method. Results are encouraging: the energy spectrum E(k) in the inertial range scales with exponent -1.666+/- 0.001 and the Kolmogorov constant C_K, computed for several (realistic) shapes of the stirring force correlator, agrees with experimental data.Comment: 12 pg, 2figures, LaTex, To be published on Physics Letters

RELIABILITY AND BILATERAL STRENGTH IMBALANCES OF A NEW ISOMETRIC TEST TO IDENTIFY PREVIOUS HAMSTRING STRAIN COMPARED TO ECCENTRIC STRENGTH

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of a novel device in assessing isometric hamstring strength and determine whether isometric and eccentric strength imbalances remain in previously injured Gaelic footballers from the previous season. A total of 70 amateur Gaelic Footballers were tested in the preseason period (January to March 2020) and 45 of these players were tested on two separate occasions no more than 7 days apart to determine the test-retest reliability of the new Isometric hamstring strength assessment approach. The Nordic hamstring exercise was used to determine maximal hamstring eccentric Torque using the Nordbord testing system™. The isometric testing showed a moderate to high reliability ICC (CI 95%) of 0.89 (CI 0.79-0.94) with the typical error of 7.7 % (6.9-9.7%). Those with previous HSI had significantly lower Isometric strength for the involved side when comparing to the non-involved side in terms of Absolute force, Relative force, Absolute Torque, Relative torque (

Features of cancer in teenagers and young adults in primary care: a population-based nested case-control study

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.BACKGROUND: Teenagers and young adults (TYA, 15-24 years) diagnosed with cancer report repeated visits to primary care before referral. We investigated associations of symptoms and consultation frequency in primary care with TYA cancers. METHODS: Population-based, case-control study was carried out using data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). A total of 1064 TYA diagnosed with cancer were matched to 13,206 controls. Symptoms independently associated with specific cancers were identified. Likelihood ratios (LRs) and positive predictive values (PPVs) were calculated. RESULTS: In the 3 months before diagnosis, 397 (42.9%) cases consulted > or =4 times vs 593(11.5%) controls (odds ratio (OR): 12.1; 95% CI: 9.7, 15.1), yielding a PPV for any cancer of 0.018%. The LR of lymphoma with a head/neck mass was 434 (95% CI: 60, 3158), with a PPV of 0.5%. Corresponding figures in other cancers included - LR of leukaemia with lymphadenopathy (any site): 29 (95% CI: 8, 112), PPV 0.015%; LR of CNS tumour with seizure: 56 (95% CI: 19, 163), PPV 0.024%; and LR of sarcoma with lump/mass/swelling: 79 (95% CI: 24, 264), PPV 0.042%. CONCLUSION: Teenagers and young adults with cancer consulted more frequently than controls in the 3 months before diagnosis. Primary care features of cancer match secondary care reports, but were of very low risk; nonetheless, some features increased the likelihood of cancer substantially and should be taken seriously when assessing TYA.RMD is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). WH was, in part, funded by an NIHR postdoctoral fellowship. This study is based on data from the Full Feature Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) obtained under licence from the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Access to the CPRD was funded through the Medical Research Council (MRC) licence agreement with the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. The conduct of this study was approved by the Independent Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC) of the MHRS (Protocol 10_056A) and the University of Bristol (reference: 35515