Comparison of Injuries to the Anterior Cruciate Ligament in Male Soccer and Football Athletes and the Effect of Varying Rehabilitation on Recovery Time

Injuries are commonplace when a sport involves high levels of physical contact and quick movements. Athletes often strain or tear muscles and sprain ligaments when they are putting above normal levels of stress on the connection points through their explosive motions and high force collisions. Two sports where this is particularly common are soccer and football. Due to the high levels of running and cutting in both sports, lower body injuries, particularly to the knee are some of the most common injuries that occur. The purpose of this study was to take a retrospective look at ACL tears in college football and male soccer athletes, and to analyze their recovery period to determine if the sport that the athlete participated in affected their return to play duration. In this study, the recovery of six football players and two soccer players was analyzed based on the exercises they completed during their therapy. The results found were that the soccer players had more rehab sessions in which they did more range of motion exercises and recovered significantly faster

Impact of endobronchial allergen provocation on macrophage phenotype in asthmatics

Background: The role of M2 polarized macrophages (MF) during the allergic airway inflammation has been discussed in various animal models. However, their presence and relevance during the chronic and acute phase of allergic airway inflammation in humans has not been fully elucidated so far. In the present study we phenotypically characterized macrophages with regard to M2 polarization in mice, a human in vitro and a human ex vivo model with primary lung cells after endobronchial provocation. Results: Macrophages remained polarized beyond clearance of the acute allergic airway inflammation in mice. Alveolar macrophages of asthmatics revealed increased mRNA expression of CCL13, CCL17 and CLEC10A in response to allergen challenge as well as increased surface expression of CD86. Further, mRNA expression of CCL13, CCL17, and CLEC10A was increased in asthmatics at baseline compared to healthy subjects. The mRNA expression of CCL17 and CLEC10A correlated significantly with the degree of eosinophilia (each P < .01). Furthermore, macrophages from asthmatics released significant amounts of CCL17 protein in vitro which was also found increased in BAL fluid after allergen provocation. Conclusions: This study supports previous findings of M2 macrophage polarization in asthmatic subjects during the acute course of the allergic inflammation and provides evidence for their contribution to the Th2 inflammation

Medieval universities, legal institutions, and the commercial revolution

We present new data documenting medieval Europe’s Commercial Revolution using information on the establishment of markets in Germany. We use these data to test whether medieval universities played a causal role in expanding economic activity, examining the foundation of Germany’s first universities after 1386 following the papal schism. We find that the trend rate of market establishment breaks upward in 1386 and this break is greatest where the distance to a university shrank most. There is no differential pre-1386 trend associated with the reduction in distance to a university, and there is no break in trend in 1386 where university proximity did not change. These results are robust to estimating a variety of specifications that address concerns about the endogeneity of university location. Universities provided training in newly rediscovered Roman and canon law; students with legal training served in positions that reduced the uncertainty of trade in the Middle Ages. We argue that training in the law, and the consequent development of legal and administrative institutions, was an important channel linking universities and greater economic activity in medieval Germany

'And they knew that they were naked.' Nakedness in the Middle Ages

In Anlehnung an die berühmte Kontroverse zwischen Nobert Elias und Hans Peter Duerr um die Frage der Entstehung der Schamgrenzen im Verhältnis von Körper und Kultur wendet sich dieser Sammelband in inter- und transdisziplinärer Weise der 'Nacktheit im Mittelalter' zu. In 18 Beiträgen aus der gesamten Bandbreite geisteswissenschaftlicher Disziplinen (Geschichte, Islamwissenschaften, Kunstgeschichte, Latinistik, Literaturwissenschaften, Theologie und Philosophie) werden verschiedenste Aspekte entblößter Körper behandelt und umfassend, teilweise mit reichem Bildmaterial dargestellt.folg

Social Class

Discussion of class structure in fifth-century Athens, historical constitution of theater audiences, and the changes in the comic representation of class antagonism from Aristophanes to Menander