Reducing Injury Risk in Youth Sport

Professor Mark De Ste Croix's Inaugural Lecture, 12 February 2014. Mark De Ste Croix has worked in the area of paediatric sport and exercise physiology for over 17 years with a specific focus on enhancing our understanding of growth and maturation related changes in muscle strength. Mark studied for his PhD and held a post-doctoral research fellowship post at the world renowned Children’s Health and Exercise Research Centre at the University of Exeter. His early work significantly enhanced our understanding of the age and sex related changes in strength during childhood. Using isokinetic dynamometry and magnetic resonance imaging Mark’s work contributed to a greater understanding of the mechanisms associated with the age related development of muscle strength during childhood. His specific expertise in using isokinetic dynamometry with paediatric populations has contributed towards a national expert statement on assessment and interpretation using Isokinetic dynamometry. Since joining the University of Gloucestershire in 2003 Mark has employed his expertise in paediatric neuromuscular development to explore injury risk in youth sport. This has included securing competitive research grants from both FIFA and UEFA to explore the effects of football match play on injury risk in female youth footballers. Mark has also been commissioned by the English FA to conduct research into injury risk and injury incidence in female youth footballers. Mark also works closely with a number of football clubs around the world including Barcelona, Athletic Club Bilbao, and more locally with Bristol City and Bristol Ladies Academy. Mark has published over 60 articles on the topic in academic peer reviewed journals, co-edited 1 book, written 25 book chapters, presented at over 70 International Conferences and presented keynote lectures at 15 International conferences. Mark is currently the deputy-convener of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Science special interest group on paediatric sport and exercise, and co-director of the Exercise and Sport Research Centre at the University of Gloucestershire. In this lecture Mark will highlight the importance of understanding growth and maturation related changes in strength; explore the mechanisms associated with injury risk for youth sport; and propose appropriate pre-habilitation programmes for reducing injury risk

The Virtual Ventricular Wall: A Tool for Exploring Cardiac Propagation and Arrhythmogenesis

Methods for the experimental and clinical investigation of cardiac arrhythmias are limited to inferring propagation within the myocardium, from surface measurements, or from electrodes at a few sites within the cardiac wall. Biophysically and anatomically detailed computational models of cardiac tissues offer a powerful way for studying the electrical propagation processes and arrhythmias within the virtual heart. We use virtual tissues to study and visualise the effects of patho- and physiological conditions, and pharmacological interventions on transmural propagation in the virtual ventricular walls. Class III drug actions are quantitatively explained by changes induced in the transmural dispersion of action potential duration. We illustrate the automated construction of a virtual anisotropic ventricle from Diffusion Tensor MRI for individual hearts, and use it to explore mechanisms leading to ventricular fibrillation. The virtual ventricular wall provides an effective tool for exploring, evaluating and visualising processes during the initiation and maintenance of ventricular arrhythmias

An Introduction to Visualization of Diffusion Tensor Imaging and its Applications

Water diffusion is anisotropic in organized tissues such as white matterand muscle. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a non-invasive MR technique, measureswater self-diffusion rates and thus gives an indication of the underlying tissuemicrostructure. The diffusion rate is often expressed by a second-order tensor. InsightfulDTI visualization is challenging because of the multivariate nature and thecomplex spatial relationships in a diffusion tensor field. This chapter surveys thedifferent visualization techniques that have been developed for DTI and comparestheir main characteristics and drawbacks. We also discuss some of the many biomedicalapplications in which DTI helps extend our understanding or improve clinicalprocedures. We conclude with an overview of open problems and research directions