Epidemiology of Acute and Overuse Injuries in Underwater Rugby.

Background: Underwater rugby (UWR) is a team sport. Athletes require a high degree of strength, endurance, speed, and coordination involving intense physical contact. Currently, a paucity of literature exists regarding injury occurrence in UWR.

High incidence of hamate hook fractures in underwater rugby players: diagnostic and therapeutic implications.

Hamate hook fractures are rare injuries but appear to occur frequently in underwater rugby, the reason for which was investigated in this study. High-level underwater rugby players with hook fractures diagnosed during a five-year interval (2005-2010) were studied retrospectively. Medical data on these patients were reviewed for information on the mechanism of injury, type of fracture, radiological imaging, treatment, and outcome.

Fluoroquinolones influence the intracellular calcium handling in individuals susceptible to malignant hyperthermia.

Introduction: The mechanisms of fluoroquinolone-induced myotoxicity are unknown but an involvement of intracellular calcium handling is suspected. An in vitro contracture test used to investigate cellular processes in malignant hyperthermia (MH) can be applied to study the effects of fluoroquinolones.

Methods: With approval of the local ethics committee, muscle biopsies of 18 MH susceptible (MHS) and 12 MHS non-susceptible (MHN) pigs were performed.

Statins alter intracellular calcium homeostasis in malignant hyperthermia susceptible individuals.

Aims: Statines, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, are widely used to treat hypercholesterinemia. These substances are well tolerated, but myotoxic effects have been reported. The exact mechanisms of the induced myotoxicity are unknown but an involvement of intracellular calcium handling is suspected.