Can a specific neck strengthening program decrease cervical spine injuries in a men\u27s professional rugby union team? A retrospective analysis

Cervical spine injuries in Rugby Union are a concerning issue at all levels of the game. The primary aim of this retrospective analysis conducted in a professional Rugby Union squad was to determine whether a 26-week isometric neck strengthening intervention program (13-week strengthening phase and 13- week maintenance phase) was effective in reducing the number and severity of cervical spine injuries. The secondary aim was to determine whether at week five, where the program had been the similar for all players, there was increased isometric neck strength. All 27 players who were common to both the 2007- 2008 and 2008-2009 seasons were included in this analysis and data was extracted from a Sports Medicine/Sports Science database which included the squad\u27s injury records. Primary outcome variables included; the number of cervical spine injuries and the severity of these injuries as determined by the total number of days lost from training and competition. Secondary outcome variables included isometric neck strength in flexion, extension and left and right lateral flexion. Using nonparametric statistical methods, no significant differences were evident for the total number of cervical spine injuries (n = 8 in 2007-2008, n = 6 in 2008-2009) or time loss due to these injuries (100 days in 2007-2008, 40 days in 2008-2009). However, a significant (p = 0.03) reduction in the number of match injuries was evident from 2007-2008 (n = 11) to 2008-09 (n = 2). Nonsignificant increases in isometric neck strength were found in all directions examined. A significant reduction in the number of match injuries was evident in this study. However, no other significant changes to primary outcome variables were achieved. Further, no significant increases in isometric neck strength were found in this well-trained group of professional athletes

CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e and tectonic controls on Antarctic climate and ice-sheet evolution in the mid-Miocene

Antarctic ice sheet and climate evolution during the mid-Miocene has direct relevance for understanding ice sheet (in)stability and the long-term response to elevated atmospheric CO2 in the future. Geologic records reconstruct major fluctuations in the volume and extent of marine and terrestrial ice during the mid-Miocene, revealing a dynamic Antarctic ice-sheet response to past climatic variations. We use an ensemble of climate – ice sheet – vegetation model simulations spanning a range of CO2 concentrations, Transantarctic Mountain uplift scenarios, and glacial/interglacial climatic conditions to identify climate and ice-sheet conditions consistent with Antarctic mid-Miocene terrestrial and marine geological records. We explore climatic variability at both continental and regional scales, focusing specifically on Victoria Land and Wilkes Land Basin regions using a high-resolution nested climate model over these domains. We find that peak warmth during the Miocene Climate Optimum is characterized by a thick terrestrial ice sheet receded from the coastline under high CO2 concentrations. During the Middle Miocene Climate Transition, CO2 episodically dropped below a threshold value for marine-based ice expansion. Comparison of model results with geologic data support ongoing Transantarctic Mountain uplift throughout the mid-Miocene. Modeled ice sheet dynamics over the Wilkes Land Basin were highly sensitive to CO2 concentrations. This work provides a continental-wide context for localized geologic paleoclimate and vegetation records, integrating multiple datasets to reconstruct snapshots of ice sheet and climatic conditions during a pivotal period in Earth\u27s history

A temperate former West Antarctic ice sheet suggested by an extensive zone of bed channels

Several recent studies predict that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will become increasingly unstable under warmer conditions. Insights on such change can be assisted through investigations of the subglacial landscape, which contains imprints of former ice-sheet behavior. Here, we present radio-echo sounding data and satellite imagery revealing a series of ancient large sub-parallel subglacial bed channels preserved in the region between the Möller and Foundation Ice Streams, West Antarctica. We suggest that these newly recognized channels were formed by significant meltwater routed along the icesheet bed. The volume of water required is likely substantial and can most easily be explained by water generated at the ice surface. The Greenland Ice Sheet today exemplifies how significant seasonal surface melt can be transferred to the bed via englacial routing. For West Antarctica, the Pliocene (2.6–5.3 Ma) represents the most recent sustained period when temperatures could have been high enough to generate surface melt comparable to that of present-day Greenland. We propose, therefore, that a temperate ice sheet covered this location during Pliocene warm periods

Developing community-based scientific priorities and new drilling proposals in the southern Indian and southwestern Pacific oceans

An International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) workshop was held at Sydney University, Australia, from 13 to 16 June 2017 and was attended by 97 scientists from 12 countries. The aim of the workshop was to investigate future drilling opportunities in the eastern Indian Ocean, southwestern Pacific Ocean, and the Indian and Pacific sectors of the Southern Ocean. The overlying regional sedimentary strata are underexplored relative to their Northern Hemisphere counterparts, and thus the role of the Southern Hemisphere in past global environmental change is poorly constrained. A total of 23 proposal ideas were discussed, with ~12 of these deemed mature enough for active proposal development or awaiting scheduled site survey cruises. Of the remaining 11 proposals, key regions were identified where fundamental hypotheses are testable by drilling, but either site surveys are required or hypotheses need further development. Refinements are anticipated based upon regional IODP drilling in 2017/2018, analysis of recently collected site survey data, and the development of site survey proposals. We hope and expect that this workshop will lead to a new phase of scientific ocean drilling in the Australasian region in the early 2020s.The organizers gratefully acknowledge generous and critically important funding for participants’ travel to the workshop. Funding came from the Australian and New Zealand IODP Consortium (ANZIC), the US Science Support Program (USSSP), the Magellan-Plus Workshop Program of the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD), the Japan Drilling Earth Consortium (J-DESC), the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), IODP-India, and the home institutions of numerous scientists

Antarctic Environmental Change and Ice Sheet Evolution through the Miocene to Pliocene ¿ A perspective from the Ross Sea and George V to Wilkes Land Coasts

We wish to acknowledge the support of National Antarctic Programmes and the International Scientific Drilling Programmes and Projects that have allowed our community to acquire the critical records of environmental change that have been discussed in this review. We thank Jenny Black, GNS Science, for her assistance with Fig. 9.2. R.L., T.N., R.M., C.O. and N.G. acknowledge funding support from the New Zealand Ministry of Business and Innovation and Employment through the Antarctic Science Platform contract (ANTA1801) Antarctic Ice Dynamics Project (ASP-021-01). C.E. acknowledges funding by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitivity (grant CTM2017-89711-C2-1/2-P), co-funded by the European Union through FEDER funds. L.F.P. was funded through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement number 792773 for the West Antarctic Margin Signatures of Ice Sheet Evolution (WAMSISE) Project

Cenozoic history of Antarctic glaciation and climate from onshore and offshore studies

The past three decades have seen a sustained and coordinated effort to refine the seismic stratigraphic framework of the Antarctic margin that has underpinned the development of numerous geological drilling expeditions from the continental shelf and beyond. Integration of these offshore drilling datasets covering the Cenozoic era with Antarctic inland datasets, provides important constraints that allow us to understand the role of Antarctic tectonics, the Southern Ocean biosphere, and Cenozoic ice sheet dynamics and ice sheet–ocean interactions on global climate as a whole. These constraints are critical for improving the accuracy and precision of future projections of Antarctic ice sheet behaviour and changes in Southern Ocean circulation. Many of the recent advances in this field can be attributed to the community-driven approach of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Past Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics (PAIS) research programme and its two key subcommittees: Paleoclimate Records from the Antarctic Margin and Southern Ocean (PRAMSO) and Palaeotopographic-Palaeobathymetric Reconstructions. Since 2012, these two PAIS subcommittees provided the forum to initiate, promote, coordinate and study scientific research drilling around the Antarctic margin and the Southern Ocean. Here we review the seismic stratigraphic margin architecture, climatic and glacial history of the Antarctic continent following the break-up of Gondwanaland in the Cretaceous, with a focus on records obtained since the implementation of PRAMSO. We also provide a forward-looking approach for future drilling proposals in frontier locations critically relevant for assessing future Antarctic ice sheet, climatic and oceanic change.We thank many people who collaborated, by sharing data and ideas, on geoscience research projects under the umbrella of the highly successful Paleoclimate Records from the Antarctic Margin and Southern Ocean (PRAMSO) and Palaeotopographic-Palaeobathymetric Reconstructions subcommittees of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Past Antarctic Ice Sheet scientific program. This synthesis, which reflects our views, would not have been possible without the efforts of these many investigators, most of whom continue their collaborative Antarctic studies, now under the successor SCAR INSTANT programme. Chris Sorlien is thanked for drafting Fig. 3.6. We thank John Anderson, Peter Barrett, Giuliano Brancolini and Alan Cooper for their useful comments and for their continuous dedication to the past Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution reconstructions. We thank Nigel Wardell, Frank Nitsche and Paolo Diviacco for maintaining the Seismic Data Library System and the National Antarctic funding agencies of many countries (Australia, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, the UK, the United States) for supporting geophysical and geological surveys essential for Paleotopographic and Paleobathymetric reconstructions. We thank the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) for its support of recent expeditions that arose out of PRAMSO discussions. R.M. was funded by the Royal Society Te Apārangi NZ Marsden Fund (grant 18-VUW-089). C.E. acknowledges funding by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitivity (grants CTM2017-89711-C2-1/2-P), cofunded by the European Union through FEDER funds. L.D.S. and F.D. were funded by the Programma Nazionale delle Ricerche in Antartide (PNRA16_00016 project and PNRA 14_00119). R.Larter and C.D.H. were funded by the BAS Polar Science for Planet Earth Programme and NERC UK IODP grant NE/J006548/1. S.K. was supported by the KOPRI Grant (PE21050). L.P. was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 792773 WAMSISE. A.S. and S.G. were funded by NSF Office of Polar Programs (Grants OPP-1744970 (A.S.), -1143836 (A.S.), and -1143843 (S.G.). This is University of Texas Institute for Geophysics Contribution #3784. B.D. acknowledges funding from a Rutherford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (RFT-VUW1804-PD). K.G. and G.K. were funded by AWI research programme Polar Regions and Coasts in the changing Earth System (PACES II) and the Sub-EIS-Obs programme by the Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR). RL, RM, TN acknowledge support from MBIE Antarctic Science Platform contract ANTA1801

New ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs from the European lower cretaceous demonstrate extensive ichthyosaur survival across the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary

Background Ichthyosauria is a diverse clade of marine amniotes that spanned most of the Mesozoic. Until recently, most authors interpreted the fossil record as showing that three major extinction events affected this group during its history: one during the latest Triassic, one at the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary (JCB), and one (resulting in total extinction) at the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary. The JCB was believed to eradicate most of the peculiar morphotypes found in the Late Jurassic, in favor of apparently less specialized forms in the Cretaceous. However, the record of ichthyosaurs from the Berriasian–Barremian interval is extremely limited, and the effects of the end-Jurassic extinction event on ichthyosaurs remains poorly understood. Methodology/Principal Findings Based on new material from the Hauterivian of England and Germany and on abundant material from the Cambridge Greensand Formation, we name a new ophthalmosaurid, Acamptonectes densus gen. et sp. nov. This taxon shares numerous features with Ophthalmosaurus, a genus now restricted to the Callovian–Berriasian interval. Our phylogenetic analysis indicates that Ophthalmosauridae diverged early in its history into two markedly distinct clades, Ophthalmosaurinae and Platypterygiinae, both of which cross the JCB and persist to the late Albian at least. To evaluate the effect of the JCB extinction event on ichthyosaurs, we calculated cladogenesis, extinction, and survival rates for each stage of the Oxfordian–Barremian interval, under different scenarios. The extinction rate during the JCB never surpasses the background extinction rate for the Oxfordian–Barremian interval and the JCB records one of the highest survival rates of the interval. Conclusions/Significance There is currently no evidence that ichthyosaurs were affected by the JCB extinction event, in contrast to many other marine groups. Ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs remained diverse from their rapid radiation in the Middle Jurassic to their total extinction at the beginning of the Late Cretaceous