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The novel findings of the study are that dancers had greater balance than did nondancers in some but not all tests. Although dancing may improve balance as compared with not dancing, it is not better than physical activity in improving balance. Thus, balance comparisons between dancers and nondancers may not fully explain why female dancers exhibit low ACL injury rates compared with physically active women. Other factors (e.g., anticipated/unanticipated movement demands) should be examined to understand the ACL injury disparity between dancers and physically active women.

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Five membrane peptidase activities have been identified on cultured human osteoblast-like cells. These consisted of the four exopeptidases aminopeptidase-A, aminopeptidase-N, aminopeptidase-W and carboxypeptidase-M, and the endopeptidase, endopeptidase-24.11. The presence of endopeptidase-24.11 was confirmed immunochemically by immunofluorescent staining and by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The inclusion of phosphoramidon partially inhibited the hydrolysis of human calcitonin by a membrane fraction prepared from osteoblast-like cell membranes, thus implicating endopeptidase-24.11 in its inactivation. Another metallopeptidase also contributed substantially to calcitonin hydrolysis. Purified porcine endopeptidase-24.11 (1 microgram) was shown to hydrolyse calcitonin with a half-life of 23 min, which compared to a half-life of 0.5 min for substance P under similar conditions. Sequence data revealed that the initial site of hydrolysis of calcitonin was between residues Lys18 and Phe19. The expression of endopeptidase-24.11 by cultured osteoblast-like cells was shown to be modified by various agents: expression was decreased by phorbol 12-myristate-13-acetate (160 nM for 48 h) and increased in the presence of calcitonin (1.5 nM for 48 h) and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (0.01-1 microM for 72 h).

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BACKGROUND Concussions are a public health concern and concussion management in school requires a team approach. We examined schoolteachers' and administrators' perceptions of concussions, management, and implementation of return‐to‐learn (RTL) guidelines. METHODS We audio‐recorded and transcribed semistructured interviews with teachers (N = 16) and administrators (N = 6) from a public school system. We analyzed data using an analytic induction and constant comparison approach. RESULTS Two themes emerged: different understanding, and school context. Participants with no sport coaching experience were less familiar with concussions than those who coached a sport. Participants with personal experience with concussions were more sympathetic toward concussed students' needs. Teachers expressed feeling ill‐equipped to implement RTL guidelines without specific instructions in the complex school environment. However, school administrators had minimal understanding of teacher‐described challenges. CONCLUSIONS Teachers and administrators recognize that concussions are a health concern, but differ in their perceptions of concussions, management, and implementation of RTL guidelines. Personal experiences mediate individual perceptions about concussions. The daily realities of a school environment complicate teachers' capacity to implement RTL guidelines. Conversely, school administrators did not express awareness of any challenges with concussion management. To best facilitate students' recovery schools should include all stakeholders when devising concussion management policies.