Objectives: To assess injury patterns and incidence in the Australian Wallabies rugby union players from 1994 to 2000. To compare these patterns and rates with those seen at other levels of play, and to see how they have changed since the beginning of the professional era.Methods: Prospective data were recorded from 1994 to 2000. All injuries to Australian Wallabies rugby union players were recorded by the team doctor. An injury was defined as one that forced a player to either leave the field or miss a subsequent game.Results: A total of 143 injuries were recorded from 91 matches. The overall injury rate was 69/1000 player hours of game play. The injury rates in the periods before (1994–1995) and after (1996–2000) the start of the professional era were 47/1000 player hours and 74/1000 player hours respectively. The lock was the most injured forward, and the number 10 the most injured back. Most injuries were soft tissue, closed injuries (55%), with the head being the most commonly injured region (25.1%). The phase of play responsible for most injuries was the tackle (58.7%). Injuries were more likely to occur in the second half of the game, specifically the third quarter (40%). The vast majority of injuries were acute (90%), with the remainder being either chronic or recurrent.Conclusions: Injury rate increases at higher levels of play in rugby union. Injury rates have increased in the professional era. Most injuries are now seen in the third quarter of the game, a finding that may reflect new substitution laws. There is a need for standardised collection of injury data in rugby union.

We describe the operational in-orbit calibration of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-8 and-9 imagers and sounders. In the infrared channels the calibration is based on observations of space and an onboard blackbody. The calibration equation expresses radiance as a quadratic in instrument output. To suppress noise in the blackbody sequences, we filter the calibration slopes. The calibration equation also accounts for an unwanted variation of the reflectances of the instruments' scan mirrors with east-west scan position, which was not discovered until the instruments were in orbit. The visible channels are not calibrated, but the observations are provided relative to the level of space and are normalized to minimize east-west striping in the images. Users receive scaled radiances in a GOES variable format (GVAR) data stream. We describe the procedure users can apply to transform GVAR counts into radiances, temperatures, and mode-A counts.

To evaluate the short-term changes in inner retinal function using the photopic negative response (PhNR) after intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction in glaucoma. METHODS. Forty-seven participants with glaucoma who were commencing a new or additional IOP-lowering therapy (treatment group) and 39 participants with stable glaucoma (control group) were recruited. IOP, visual field, retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, and electroretinograms (ERGs) were recorded at baseline and at a follow-up visit (3 ± 2 months). An optimized protocol developed for a portable ERG device was used to record the PhNR. The PhNR saturated amplitude (V max), V max ratio, semi-saturation constant (K), and slope of the Naka-Rushton function were analyzed. RESULTS. A significant percentage reduction in IOP was observed in the treatment group (28 ± 3%) compared to the control group (2 ± 3%; P < 0.0001). For PhNR V max , there was no significant interaction (F 1,83 = 2.099, P = 0.15), but there was a significant difference between the two time points (F 1,83 = 5.689, P = 0.019). Post hoc analysis showed a significant difference between baseline and 3 months in the treatment group (mean difference, 1.23 μV; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.24-2.22) but not in the control group (0.30 μV; 95% CI, 0.78-1.38). K and slope were not significantly different in either group. Improvement beyond test-retest variability was seen in 17% of participants in the treatment group compared to 3% in the control group (P = 0.007, χ 2 test). CONCLUSIONS. The optimized protocol for measuring the PhNR detected short-term improvements in a proportion of participants following IOP reduction, although the majority showed no change.

No abstract