Objective-To describe the incidence, nature, and circumstances of injury experienced by a cohort of rugby union players during a full competitive club season. Methods-A prospective cohort study followed up 356 male and female rugby players throughout the 1993 competitive club season. Players were interviewed by telephone each week to obtain information on the amount of rugby played and the injury experienced. Results-Detailed information was collected for 4403 player-games and 8653 player-practices. A total of 671 injury events were reported, of which 569 were rugby related. The injury rate for games was higher than that for practices (rate ratio 8.3). At 10.9 injuries per 100 playergames, males had a higher rate of injury than females at 6.1 injuries per 100 playergames (p<0.001). Injury rates varied by position, with male locks (13.0 injuries per 100 player-games) and female inside backs (12.3 injuries per 100 player-games) having the highest rate in their respective sexes. The lower limb was the body region most often injured in games (42.5%) and practices (58.4%). Sprains/strains were the most common type of injury in games (46.7%) and practices (76.1%). In games the tackle was the phase of play in which the most injuries occurred (40%), followed by rucks (17%) and mauls (12%). Thirteen per cent of game injury events were the result of foul play. Conclusions-Rugby injury was common among the study subjects and varied according to grade and gender. Identifying the causes of injuries in the tackle, lower limb injuries, and dealing with the issue of foul play are priority areas for the prevention of rugby injury. (Br J Sports Med 1998;32:319-325)

Neutralizing antibody development in interferon-treated patients is correlated with reduced efficacy and is a potential cause for renewed disease activity.

Objectives-Although the nature of rugby injury has been well documented, little is known about key risk factors. A prospective cohort study was undertaken to examine the association between potential risk factors and injury risk, measured both as an injury incidence rate and as a proportion of the playing season missed. The latter measure incorporates a measure of injury severity. Methods-A cohort of 258 male players (mean (SD) age 20.6 (3.7) years) were followed through a full competitive season. At a preseason assessment, basic characteristics, health and lifestyle patterns, playing experience, injury experience, training patterns, and anthropometric characteristics were recorded, and then a battery of fitness tests were carried out. Results-A multiple regression model identified grade and previous injury experience as risk factors for in season injury, measured as an injury incidence rate. A second model identified previous injury experience, hours of strenuous physical activity a week, playing position, cigarette smoking status, body mass index, years of rugby participation, stress, aerobic and anaerobic performance, and number of push ups as risk factors for in season injury, measured as proportion of season missed. Conclusions-The findings emphasise the importance of previous injury as a predictor of injury incidence and of missing play. They also show the importance of considering both the incidence rate and severity of injury when identifying risk factors for injury in sport. (Br J Sports Med 2001;35:157-166)

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Asymptomatic hepatic dysfunction is common in patients with multiple sclerosis who are treated with interferon-beta-1a, and is dose related. Adverse effects are mainly mild and transient, with little impact on adherence to therapy, although rare serious events can occur. Regular liver function monitoring during the first 6 months is recommended.

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Porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCV), a spike (S) gene deletion mutant of Transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), causes mild or subclinical respiratory infections in pigs. The shedding of PRCV/TGEV was studied at different days post-arrival in fecal and nasal swabs from PRCV/TGEV seronegative sentinel pigs introduced into a PRCV seropositive herd with questionable TGEV serology and diarrhea. Nasal shedding of PRCV was detected in 57% and 63% of samples by nested-RT-PCR and cell culture immunofluorescence (CCIF), respectively. However fecal shedding of PRCV was detected in 37% of the samples by nested-RT-PCR and 19% by CCIF. Four respiratory and 5 fecal PRCV strains were isolated in swine testicle cells including nasal/fecal PRCV pairs (isolated at the same time) from 3 pigs. Comparison of nasal/fecal PRCV pairs from individual pigs revealed different deletions in the spike (S) gene (648 or 681 nt) in 2 pairs and a consistent change in nt 790/791 (aa T to V) for all pairs. In preliminary studies, inoculation of gnotobiotic pigs with each plaque-purified pair of the nasal and fecal PRCV isolates, revealed no clinical disease but different tropisms. The nasal isolate was shed both nasally and in feces, but the fecal isolate was shed only marginally in feces, and not nasally. Our results show that nested-RT-PCR was as sensitive as CCIF for PRCV detection in nasal swabs, but was more sensitive than CCIF for PRCV detection in fecal samples; alternatively PRCV shed in feces was more labile with loss of infectivity. The S-gene sequence differences found between the fecal and respiratory PRCV isolates may influence their tissue tropism. These new PRCV isolates should be useful to understand the molecular basis of coronavirus tropism and evolution in infected swine.