Incidence, nature, and causes of ice hockey injuries. A three-year prospective study of a Swedish elite ice hockey team

In this prospective study, we have investigated incidence of injuries of different severity, types of injury, and mechanisms of injury during ice hockey practice and games. One Swedish elite hockey team was closely observed during three seasons (1982 to 1985). There was a total number of 95 injuries and 29 facial lacerations. The majority of injuries were minor (73%) and only 8% were classified as major. Seventy-six percent of the injuries occurred during games and 24% during practice. The incidence of injury during practice was 1.4 per 1,000 player-practice hours and 78.4 per 1,000 player-game hours. In comparison with other sports, the incidence of injury during hockey practice is very low, while that during games is high. Eighty percent of the injuries were caused by trauma and 20% by overuse. The most common types of injury were contusions, strains, and sprains. Complete tear of the medial collateral ligament of the knee was the most common severe injury. Most injuries resulted from body contact, predominantly tackling (checking), and from puck or stick contact. A reduction of the number of minor and moderate injuries should be possible by stricter enforcement of the hockey rules, especially against stick violations, and more widespread use of visors.     

Correlation of macroscopic osteoarthrotic changes and radiographic findings in the acromioclavicular joint

In a total of 108 acromioclavicular articulations from cadavers the osteoarthrotic changes were studied. The articulations were macroscopically and radiographically ranked according to their grade of osteoarthrosis. The two ranking lines were correlated statistically and showed a rank correlation of 0.741. In 38 articulations tomography was also carried out. These articulations were classified into five grades of osteoarthrosis and the macroscopic, conventional radiographic and tomographic gradings were compared. The correlation coefficient for tomography versus macroscopy was 0.714. Tomography versus standard radiography showed a correlation of 0.767 and standard radiography versus macroscopy a correlation of 0.841. The standard radiographic investigation reveals moderate and severe osteoarthrotic changes in the acromioclavicular joint but cannot depict smaller changes. Tomography does not seem to improve the specificity. There is a need for a better radiologic technique in the examination of the acromioclavicular joint. Radiography during some kind of loading might be a practical way of improving the specificity and make it possible to show early osteoarthrosis in the acromioclavicular articulation.     

Role of pulmonary diseases and physical condition in the regulation of vasoactive hormones

Lungs have many non-respiratory metabolic functions, of which some take place in the capillary endothelium, while others are in parenchymal lung tissue. We have studied the role of the lungs in the metabolism of vasoactive and some other hormones by comparing patients who have undergone lung resection to those having various obstructive or fibrotic lung diseases. We have also compared these groups with persons in good physical health. The data suggested that lung resection patients had low angiotensin II levels in plasma but the response of angiotensin II to exercise was normal. Also adrenalin concentration was low in the lung resection group while dopamine did not show any significant difference between the groups. When hormone levels were correlated to the exercise data, renin levels were especially related to physical condition. Serum post-exercise renin values were inversely related to the uneven distribution of lung perfusion, possibly thus reflecting the diminished pulmonary vascularization. A negative association was found between angiotensin II and diffusion capacity. Thus, the angiotensin II levels may preferably be controlled by the non-circulatory functions of the lungs.     

c-fms is present in primary tumours as well as in their metastases in bone marrow.

The expression of c-fms oncoprotein in different primary tumours as well as in their metastases in bone marrow, was shown. All the samples were fixed and processed by the acetone, methyl benzoate, xylene procedure (AMeX), which was suitable for studying oncoprotein expression not only in primary tumours but also in bone marrow (BM) biopsies. Among the patients suffering from acute myeloid leukaemia (AMeL), positive c-fms cells were found in 55% cases. On the contrary, patients with lymphocytic cell disorders have not had detectable c-fms oncogene product in BM biopsies.c-fms oncoprotein was also detected in some primary tumour specimens (lung carcinoma, cervical carcinoma, gastric carcinoma, breast carcinoma and melanoma) and their metastases in BM, while it was not present in normal uterine tissue. There was a positive correlation between c-fms oncoprotein expression in primary and metastatic tumours. Our results showed that c-fms product is confined, not only to some normal, but also to the variety of malignant cells of different origin.     

Nuclear morphometry and DNA flow cytometry as prognostic factors in female breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE--To evaluate the predictive value of traditional prognostic factors, nuclear morphometry, and flow cytometric data in invasive breast cancer. DESIGN--Open study. SETTING--One university hospital in Finland. SUBJECTS--248 women with invasive breast cancer followed up for more than 11 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Univariate and multivariate analysis of factors thought to indicate prognosis. RESULTS--Diameter of the tumour, lymph node status, S phase fraction. DNA index, the age of the patient, and the SD of nuclear perimeter were significant independent predictors in the whole series in a multivariate analysis. In node negative patients the SED of the nuclear perimeter and diameter of the tumour had independent prognostic value, whereas in node positive patients diameter of the tumour and the S phase fraction were independently related to survival. CONCLUSIONS--Diameter of the tumour is an important prognostic factor in breast carcinomas. Histoquantitative methods are superior to conventional histological techniques for the prediction of outcome in women with breast cancer.     

Shedding of Fc receptor from mononuclear cells and their ability of binding IgG1 and IgG3 anti-Rh/D antibodies

Fc receptors for IgG1 and IgG3 on peripheral blood lymphocytes and monocytes were studied before and after temperature shift from 4-37 degrees C. The investigations were performed in the EA test using human erythrocytes sensitized with anti-Rh/D/antibodies of IgG1 (EA IgG1) and IgG3 (EA IgG3) subclasses. It occurred that lymphocytes and monocytes were able to bind IgG1 and IgG3 antibodies before and after shedding, however, lower percentage of rosette was observed after temperature shift. This decrease was similar in the EAIgG1 and EAIgG3 tests. The supernatants obtained during shedding occurred to contain active Fc receptors since the inhibition of rosette formation was obtained after the incubation of sensitized erythrocytes with these supernatants. IgG1 as well as IgG3 myeloma proteins inhibited rosette formation in both EAIgG1 and EAIgG3 tests. Our data might suggest that IgG1 and IgG3 anti-D antibodies are able to bind to the same Fc receptor on lymphocytes as well as on monocytes.     

Chromosome pattern of leukemias induced in mice with normal karyotype and with T/1:17/190Ca chromosome translocation

The chromosome pattern of leukemias induced by gamma-irradiation in the translocation T190/tf and in the genetically related tf/tf strain was analyzed. The degree of variation in chromosome numbers was similar in both experimental groups. Karyotypically, the tumors of both strains showed slight and less frequent higher degree of variability. The most consistent karyotypic change was trisomy of chromosome 15, whose frequency was similar in both strains. In one of the leukemias a marker chromosome derived by translocation involving chromosome 15 was identified. Comparison of the breakpoint in this translocation with literature data on other translocations of chromosome 15 found in leukemias enabled narrowing the region on chromosome 15 containing the postulated genes essential for murine leukemogenesis. The incidence of leukemias was lower in the T190/tf translocation strain than in the tf/tf strain with normal karyotype.