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Highlights Of Pain Research
Musculoskeletal problems are among the complaints most frequently reported in health interview surveys. Typically around 50 percent of the population report having had musculoskeletal pain in one or more areas for at least one week during the past month. Musculoskeletal disorders are also the most common work-related health problems in the EU: 25 percent of European workers complain of backache and 23 percent of muscular pains. The trend will become even more acute as demographic changes lead to an ageing society.
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British Medical Association Launches "Look After Our NHS"
The BMA is stepping up its activity to publicise its concerns about government reforms that have created a market in healthcare and allowed commercially run firms to provide NHS care.
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Geriatrician Available To Discuss New Research On Falls In Older Adults
Each year in this country, one of every three people over age 65 suffers a fall, resulting in nearly 16,000 deaths. The federal government estimates that 1.8 million older adults who fall are treated each year in hospital emergency rooms for nonfatal injuries - including bruises, fractures and head trauma - and that 433,000 of those individuals need to be hospitalized because of their injuries. Research published this month in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society has found that a significant number of those falls - an average of 129 per day - involve the use of walkers and canes, the very devices on which millions rely to help them avoid the dangers posed by falling.
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What Makes A Great Footballer?

While most fans are in awe of what their football heroes can do with a football, the of their remarkable skill remains strangely mysterious. Although being in excellent physical condition undoubtedly helps, few people actually believe that intense physical training alone can turn an average bloke into a Ronaldo. Now, scientists from the University of Queensland have decided to study what this "something else" might be. Dr. Robbie Wilson talked about the details of this study and the results that have been obtained so far in his talk at the Society of Experimental Biology Annual Meeting in Glasgow on Sunday 28th June 2009. Dr. Wilson believes that this type of research may have applied outcomes for football clubs: "Our analyses suggest that unambiguous metrics of a player"s skill components should be used to help in the selection and identification of new talent. Our studies could help to streamline selection criteria and efficiency by providing a rank ordering of individuals based upon competitive one-on-one tasks. In addition, the relative importance of each type of skill component could be tailored to each player"s position and the club"s immediate and future requirements." Members of the semi-professional University of Queensland Football Club (UQFC) were recruited as experimental subjects, and they were made to compete against each other in one-on-one "football tennis" games, which require very similar athletic and skill sets to that required for regular football games. In parallel, the same players were evaluated for overall athleticism and skill in sixteen different tasks. "There was no evidence of any correlations between maximal athletic performance and skill", explains Dr. Wilson. "Our studies suggest that skill is just as important, if not more important, than athletic ability in determining performance of complex traits, such as performance on the football field". Interestingly, the researchers are hoping that focusing on footballing ability in humans will also provide them with insight into the role that individual skills play in other species, for example during aggression, prey capture or escape from a predator. Dr. Wilson argues that the importance of skill for the evolution of vertebrate physical performance is currently unknown and largely treated by researchers as a difficult "black box" to understand. "To develop an understanding of the evolution and function of complex performance traits, we need to investigate the role of individual skill". Cristian C. A. Bodo Society for Experimental Biology


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