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Several sports have published consensus statements on methods and reporting of epidemiological studies concerning injuries and illnesses with football (soccer) producing one of the first guidelines. This football-specific consensus statement was published in 2006 and required an update to align with scientific developments in the field. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently released a sports-generic consensus statement outlining methods for recording and reporting epidemiological data on injury and illness in sport and encouraged the development of sport-specific extensions.The Fédération Internationale de Football Association Medical Scientific Advisory Board established a panel of 16 football medicine and/or science experts, two players and one coach. With a foundation in the IOC consensus statement, the panel performed literature reviews on each included subtopic and performed two rounds of voting prior to and during a 2-day consensus meeting. The panel agreed on 40 of 75 pre-meeting and 21 of 44 meeting voting statements, respectively. The methodology and definitions presented in this comprehensive football-specific extension should ensure more consistent study designs, data collection procedures and use of nomenclature in future epidemiological studies of football injuries and illnesses regardless of setting. It should facilitate comparisons across studies and pooling of data.

Objectives: To determine the relationship between injury incidence, player-salary cost and team performance in the professional Australian soccer league.Design: Prospective observational cohort study.Methods: Injury incidence, player-salary cost and team performance data were collected from the 10-club A-League competition (n=27 matches/season) over 6 seasons from 2012/13. Player-salary cost of injury was calculated from the salary cap, injury-induced missed matches and player exposure, and trends were reported from Poisson regressions. Team performance was determined from ranking, points, goals (scored, conceded and difference) and match outcome (win, loss or draw) per season and analysed via a mixed-effects Poisson models to estimate association with injury.Results: Nine-hundred-and-sixteen injuries resulted in 3148 missed matches. Injury incidence remained stable apart from a decrease in 2015/16 (p=0.01). Missed matches were significantly higher in season 2013/14 (55.1 [50.7-59.9]; pConclusions: Player-salary costs remained stable, concomitant with stable injury rates and missed matches. Despite injury being associated with goals difference, points and match losses; the magnitude of these relationships are small and team performance is more complex than injury occurrence alone. Injury prevention remains necessary for reducing injury-induced player-salary costs; however, additional services are required to improve team performance.

We start the new year with effective coronavirus vaccines, but the end of the pandemic is still a way off. So what will life be like in 2021, as we glimpse the beginning of the end of the crisis, ask Graham Lawton, Michael Le Page, Donna Lu, Clare Wilson and Adam Vaughan

Objectives: Due to the nature of firefighting, most effective cooling interventions to reduce heat strain and optimise performance are not practically viable. This study quantified the effects of two practical cooling strategies, co-designed with subject-matter experts, on physiological strain and physical, perceptual, and visuo-motor performance during simulated firefighting in the heat. Design: Randomised cross-over. Methods: On three occasions 14 firefighters completed an 80-min simulation in a hot-humid environment (32.0[0.9]°C, 59[3]%RH) including two 20-min firefighting tasks in full protective clothing, each followed by 20-min seated recovery. Recovery involved removal of protective clothing and one of three interventions – control (CON; ambient-temperature water consumption), basic (BASIC; cool-water consumption, ambient-forearm immersion/towels, fan), and advanced (ADV; ice-slushy consumption, cool-forearm immersion/ice packs, misting-fan). Thermal (core temperature) and cardiovascular (heart rate, arterial pressure) responses were measured throughout, whilst physical (handgrip/balance), visuo-motor (reaction time/memory recall) and perceptual (fatigue/thermal sensation/comfort) measures were assessed pre- and post-trial. Results: Compared to CON, core temperature was lower in BASIC and ADV following the second task (ADV: 37.7[0.4]; BASIC: 38.0[0.4]; CON: 38.3[0.4]°C) and recovery protocol (ADV: 37.5[0.3]; BASIC: 37.7 [0.3] CON: 38.3[0.4]°C). This was paralleled by lowered heart rate, rate pressure product, and thermal sensation following the recovery protocols, in the ADV and BASIC condition compared to CON (p < .05). No physical or visuo-motor outcomes differed significantly between conditions. Conclusion: Whilst these observations need to be extended to field conditions, our findings demonstrate that two novel cooling interventions developed in collaboration with subject-matter experts offered benefits for reducing thermal strain and optimising firefighter safety.

Ten US states have recorded cases of the UK variant, while Australia has brought in measures to curb its spread, report Donna Lu and Adam Vaughan

From immunity to vaccines and face coverings, Jessica Hamzelou, Graham Lawton, Michael Le Page, Donna Lu and Adam Vaughan have the answers

Doctors on the front line in the Chinese province where the coronavirus outbreak started tell Donna Lu about their experiences treating covid-19

Objectives To describe the injury epidemiology of the Australian male professional soccer league (A-League) over 6 consecutive seasons. Design Prospective observational cohort study. Methods Match-loss injury data was collected from each A-League club (n = 10) for each competition match (n = 27/season) over 6 seasons (2012/13–2017/18). Injuries were collected weekly through a standardised protocol and were classified by setting, mechanism, severity, the type and location on the body. Generalised Linear Models were used to estimate the injury incidences (injury/round/season), whilst rate ratios were reported for total injuries and within abovementioned injury classifications. Results Overall injury incidence was not significantly different ranging from 4.8 (95%CI:4.1–5.8) to 6.7 (95%CI:5.8–7.8) between seasons 2012/13 to 2017/18 (p > 0.05). Match injuries remained stable whilst training injuries decreased across the 6 seasons (exp(β) 0.59[95%CI:0.36–1.0]; p = 0.04). Respectively, contact and non-contact injuries were not significantly different across the 6 seasons, although non-contact injuries were more common than contact injuries (p > 0.05). Mild severity injuries decreased (exp(β) 0.64 [95%CI:0.4–0.9];p = 0.02), whilst moderate severity injuries increased (exp(β) 1.7 [95%CI:1.0–2.8];p = 0.04) in season 2017/18 compared to 2012/13. The most common injuries were at thigh (23–36%), of which the majority were hamstring injuries (54%–65%) of muscle/tendon type (50–60% of total injuries/season). Injuries remained stable across the seasons by type and location (p > 0.05 and p > 0.05, respectively). Conclusions Injury rates, mechanisms, locations and types have remained relatively stable over recent seasons of the A-League. Current Australian professional soccer league medical practices may have contributed to the stability of injury rates.

Young children who have spent much of their lives under coronavirus restrictions now seem more vulnerable to a number of other conditions, finds Donna Lu.

Objectives The aim of this study was to assess current perceptions of heat stress, fatigue and recovery practices during active duty in Australian firefighters. Design Prospective survey. Methods 473 firefighters from Fire and Rescue New South Wales completed a two-part, 16-item survey. Questions included perceptions of the operational activities and body areas associated with the most heat stress, the most mentally and physically demanding activities, and levels of fatigue felt. Further questions focussed on the use and importance of recovery practices, effectiveness of currently used heat-mitigation strategies and additional cooling strategies for future use. Results Around a third of firefighters (62%) reported structural fire-fighting as the hottest operational activities experienced, followed by bushfire-fighting (51%) and rescue operations (38%). The top three responses for which body-parts get the hottest ranked as ‘the head’ (58%), ‘the whole body’ (54%) and ‘the upper back’ (40%), respectively. The majority of firefighters (~90%) stated they always or sometimes use the opportunity to recover at an incident, with the top three being ‘sit in the shade’ (93%), ‘cold water ingestion (drinking)’ (90%) and ‘removing your helmet, flash hood and jacket’ (89%). Firefighters reported higher usefulness for more easily deployed strategies compared to more advanced strategies. Limited age and gender differences were found, although location of active service differences were present. Conclusion These findings may inform future research, and translation to operational directives for recovery interventions; including exploration of protective gear and clothing, education, resources and provision of cooling methods, as well as recovery aid development.

The country at the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic now sees few cases and deaths. Donna Lu investigates the numbers and what's behind them

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© 2017, © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This study examined if a particular profile of internal and external workload existed prior to injury. Forty-five professional soccer players were monitored over two seasons. For each non-contact injury, a profile of workload variables was determined for 4 weeks and expressed as (i) an absolute, (ii) week-to-week change and (iii) relative to the player’s season mean. Variables included exposure, session rating of perceived exertion (s-RPE) workload, total distance, low-, high-, very-high-speed running distance, mean speed, bodyload, monotony and strain. Acute:chronic workload ratio was also calculated and sensitivity of the relative workload was tested. Absolute and relative exposure and s-RPE workload were greater in all 3 weeks compared to the injury week (P 0.05). Acute:chronic workload ratio for s-RPE was significantly greater than acute:chronic workload ratio for very-high-speed running (P = 0.04). A workload threshold of 114% of a player’s season mean reported low sensitivity and specificity for exposure (25.6[20.2–33.5]% and 73.9[22.6–28.2]%,) and s-RPE workload (16.3[12.6–24.9]% and 79.9[20.3–26.1]%, respectively). No specific load profile existed, although high-sustained exposure and s-RPE were evident for the 3 weeks prior to injury. Consequently, load prescription should be aware of sustained high workloads.

China's most advanced lunar mission yet will fill gaps in the moon's history and could be a dry run for sending humans, reports Donna Lu

How do you reimagine someone as famous as the Polish physicist and chemist? Build a big picture of her work – and its future fallout, says Donna Lu

James Dean is set to be the latest actor to star in a film long after his death. Are we ready for true Hollywood immortality, asks Donna Lu

Decked out in wellies, Donna Lu went searching for traces of one of the world's strangest creatures

With some countries nearly covid-free, the only safe way to reopen borders may be to wait for herd immunity from vaccines, reports Donna Lu

The decision that visitors from only some countries must isolate in hotels ignores scientific advice and is bound to fail, says Donna Lu