The purpose of this study was to examine the association of the BstUI RFLP C/T (rs 12722) and DpnII RFLP C/T (rs 13946) COL5A1 polymorphisms, individually and as haplotypes, with anterior cruciate ligament ruptures in recreational skiers. Subjects were 138 male recreational skiers with surgically diagnosed primary anterior cruciate ligament ruptures. The control group consisted of 183 apparently healthy male recreational skiers, who were without any self-reported history of ligament or tendon injury. DNA was extracted from buccal cells donated by the subjects and genotyping was carried out using real-time PCR. The genotype distributions for both polymorphisms met Hardy-Weinberg expectations in both groups. There were no significant differences in genotype distribution of allele frequencies of COL5A1 BstUI RFLP C/T and COL5A1 DpnII RFLP C/T polymorphisms between the ACL rupture and control groups. The T-T (BstUI RFLP T, DpnII RFLP T) haplotype was the most common (55.6%). The haplotype T-C was not present in any of the subjects. There was an underrepresentation tendency of the C-T haplotype in the study group compared to controls under recessive mode of inheritance. Higher frequency of the COL5A1 BstUI RFLP C/T and COL5A1DpnII RFLP C/T polymorphisms haplotype is associated with reduced risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury in a group of apparently healthy male recreational skiers.

The ability to quickly locate objects within the visual field has a significant influence on athletic performance. Saccades are conjugate eye movements responsible for the rapid shift that brings a new part of the visual field into foveal vision. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of sport expertise and intense physical effort on saccade dynamics during a free-viewing visual search task in skilled soccer players. Two groups of male subjects participated in this study: 18 soccer players and 18 non-athletes as the control group. Two sessions of visual search tasks without a sport-specific design were employed. Eye movements during the visual search tasks were recorded binocularly. Between pre-and post-test sessions, athletes performed a maximal incremental treadmill test. Cardiorespiratory parameters were measured continuously. Capillary lactate samples were collected. Pre-test findings indicated that athletes, in comparison to non-athletes, achieve higher values of the following characteristics of saccades (1) average acceleration, (2) acceleration peak, (3) deceleration peak, and (4) average velocity. An increase in post-test saccade duration and a decrease in post-test saccade velocity was observed in athletes due to the strenuous physical effort in relation to the pre-test state. Athletes may transfer high saccadic function efficiency to non-specific visual stimuli. The findings partially confirm that physical exertion can reduce oculomotor efficiency in athletes.

Experienced and less experienced soccer players were compared in terms of their gaze behavior (number of fixations, fixation duration, number of fixation regions, and distribution of fixations across specific regions) during frontal 1 vs. 1 defensive situations. Twenty-four men (eight experienced soccer players, eight less experienced players and eight non-players) watched 20 video clips. Gaze behavior was registered with an Eye Tracking System. The video scenes were analyzed frame-by-frame. Significant main effect of the group (experience) was observed for the number of fixation regions. Experienced soccer players had a lower number of fixation regions than the non-soccer players. Moreover, the former group presented with significantly larger percentage of fixations in the ball/foot region. These findings suggest that experienced players may use a more efficient search strategy than novices, involving fixation on a lesser number of areas in specific locations.

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