Sports injuries in footballers related to defects of posture and body mechanics

The objective of this study was to investigate possible relationships between the incidence of sports injury and the existence of body mechanics defects in players of various codes of football. Injuries were recorded prospectively over a 24 month period. Fifteen aspects of body mechanics were evaluated at the start of the study using a specially developed photogrammetric technique known to have high reliability and sensitivity. It was found that subjects who suffered from ankle injuries had lower mean scores for ankle mechanics than the non-injured players. Knee injuries were found to be associated with lumbar lordosis and sway back. Subjects who suffered from muscle strains had a higher incidence of lumbar lordosis, sway back and abnormal knee inter-space. Back injuries were associated with poor shoulder symmetry, scapulae abduction, back asymmetry, kyphosis, lordosis and scoliosis. Subjects who suffered from two or more injuries had lower overall body mechanics scores than the other subjects. In general, it was found that the incidence of ankle, back, knee and muscle injuries was influenced by the presence of defects of body mechanics. These results suggest that intervention to improve body mechanics would be likely to reduce the incidence of sports injuries in football.     

Phospholipid phase transitions. Effects of n-alcohols, n-monocarboxylic acids, phenylalkyl alcohols and quaternary ammonium compounds

The interactions of a series of alcohols, acids and quaternary ammonium salts with a phosphatidylcholine-water model biomembrane (dipalmitoyl phosphatidycholine) system have been studied using differential scanning calorimetry. In particular the effects of these molecules upon the lipid endothermic phase transitions were investigated over a range of concentrations. A variety of effects was observed. (a) Those molecules which shift or broaden the main lipid transition can also remove the pretransition endotherm. (b) n-Alcohols and n-monocarboxylic acids containing the same number of carbon atoms have very similar effects at molar concentrations up to 40%. Those molecules containing 12 or more carbon atoms raise the main lipid phase transition whilst those molecules containing 10 or less carbon atoms lower this transition temperature. (c) The phase diagram of stearoyl alcohol in the phosphatidylcholine-water system shows the formation of lipid-alcohol complexes. (d) Alkyl trimethyl ammonium bromides showed behaviour which differs considerably from n-alcohols and n-carboxylic acids of the same chain length. (e) Other alkyltrialkyl and tetraalkylammonium bromides show that a variety of effects on the lipid phase transition can be obtained. (f) With the homologous series of phenyl-alkyl alcohols from benzyl alcohol to 4-phenyl butanol increasing the number of methylenes between the terminal OH and the benzene ring leads to greater interaction between solute and bilayer. The range of different effects obtained with the compounds studied offers a means for introducing various degrees and types of perturbation into membrane systems.     

Use of novel PCR primers specific to the genes of staphylococcal enterotoxin G, H, I for the survey of Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from food-poisoning cases and food samples in Taiwan

Data regarding the incidence of the newly found enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus strains in food poisoning cases and in food samples were to date not available in Taiwan. In this study, PCR primers specific for the detection of SEG, H and I genes, i.e., seg, seh and sei, were used for the assay of 55 human isolates of S. aureus negative to the classical enterotoxins (SEA-->SEE) detection. These isolates were from the fecal specimens of the patients suffering from food poisoning outbreaks. Only eight strains were found to have the seg, seh and sei. The presence of other bacterial pathogens, such as Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Bacillus cereus and Salmonella spp. and perhaps, strains producing other new staphylococcal enterotoxins, in the fecal specimens of these patients, may account for these food poisoning cases. For 139 strains from food samples, such as frozen Chinese foods, Chinese sausages and lunch meals, sea strains accounted for the major portion and it seemed to be the most common SE type to coexist with seg, seh and sei. Only two strains had sec and none of them had seg, seh or sei. For strains without the classical SE genes, only 13 strains had seg, seh and/or sei. The above results imply that seg, seh and sei S. aureus strains play only a minor role in food-borne outbreaks in Taiwan.     

Magneto-Transport Characterization of <Emphasis Type="Italic">p-</Emphasis>Type HgCdTe

The electrical properties of semiconductor materials have conventionally been extracted via Hall measurements performed at a single magnetic field. When applied to a semiconductor such as HgCdTe with mixed conduction characteristics, the values obtained from the Hall measurement represent only an averaged contribution of all carriers present in the sample. In this study, the transport properties of a liquid-phase epitaxially (LPE) grown p-type HgCdTe were determined. Variable magnetic field and temperature Hall and resistivity measurements were employed in conjunction with the improved-quantitative mobility spectrum analysis (iQMSA) algorithm to extract the concentrations and mobilities of all carriers present in the material. A comparison study was made between a van der Pauw Greek cross and a standard Hall bar structure on the same material. A disparity in the transport property of the sample was observed when both structures were measured within a few days of each other. Through iQMSA analysis, the discrepancy is seen to be attributed to the formation of an n-type skin inversion layer within a week after processing.