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Problem: The skin is exposed to numerous stresses during sport. In addition to infection-related or allergic triggers, the development of sport-associated skin diseases depends on the discipline practiced and can be caused by mechanical stressors, thermal damage, and UV radiation. Methods: This review intends to give an overview of study results on the incidence and prevalence of skin diseases in competitive athletes. Publications describing case reports of the outbreak of a specific skin disease within a small cohort of athletes of a defined discipline were included as well as publications comparing the incidence of dermatoses between different disciplines based on large study cohorts.Results: Most studies focus on the analysis of the ocurrence of certain skin diseases in athletes of only one defined discipline, in most cases athletes performing sports with close body contact. Hardly any studies deal with dermatoses in competitive athletes among multiple disciplines. This review displays the occurrence of infectious, allergic, traumatic, UV-induced, and sebaceous dermatoses in competitive athletes by taking different disciplines into account.Discussion: Depending on the training environment, flow of movement, climatic influences and other factors, certain skin diseases occur frequently in athletes of specific disciplines.Key Words: High-Performance Athlete, Skin Disease, Training, Specific Disciplines

Lisa Müller,1 Carolin Hildebrandt,1,2 Erich Müller,3 Renate Oberhoffer,2 Christian Raschner1 1Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria; 2Department of Sport and Health Science, Preventative Pediatrics, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; 3Department of Sport Science and Kinesiology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria Background: Studies on injuries and illnesses involving youth ski racers younger than 15 years are lacking in the literature. The aim of this study was prospectively to assess the incidence, prevalence, and severity of traumatic and overuse injuries, as well as illnesses of elite youth ski racers with regard to sex, biological maturity status, and relative age.Subjects and methods: A prospective, longitudinal cohort design was used to monitor the anthropometrics, training characteristics, traumatic and overuse injuries, and illnesses of 82 elite youth ski racers (51 males, 31 females, age 9–14 years) over 2 consecutive years. The exact training exposure (skiing and athletic) was recorded. Relative age and estimated biological maturity status were assessed.Results: Relatively low injury incidence or prevalence (traumatic, 0.86/1,000 hours of training; overuse, 0.28/1,000 hours) and comparably high illness prevalence (2.4/athlete) were reported. The knee was the most commonly affected body part (traumatic injuries 36.5%, overuse injuries 82%). A high number of bone fractures were revealed (46%), while no stress fractures occurred; 66% of the illnesses were respiratory tract infections. No differences were found between males and females, the differing maturity groups, or relative age quartiles. Early-maturing athletes had comparably low traumatic and overuse-injury rates. Relatively younger athletes had low traumatic injury rates.Conclusion: The injury-prevention measures implemented in the training process of youth ski racers seem to contribute to a low incidence of injury. Biological maturity status should be considered in the training process to prevent injuries in late-maturing athletes. Keywords: traumatic and overuse injuries, health problems, youth alpine ski racing, birth quarter, biological development

Background: To counteract cardiovascular risk factors in childhood, the German Heart Foundation developed Skipping Hearts for schools: Aim of this rope skipping project is to promote physical activity by providing pleasure in exercise, which, in turn would improve physical performance. The current evaluation study investigated the effectiveness of this preventive measure. Methods: Using a pre-post-design, anthropometric characteristics, health parameters and motor skills of 1,493 elementary school children (9.030.65 years) were tested. 1,161 children received a one-stage (SHBasic: n=721) or two-stage training (SHChampion: n=440), 332 children served as controls. To score the project, all children and the coordinating teachers of the examined schools (n=24) were surveyed by means of questionnaires. Additionally, physical activity was measured by accelerometry (sub-sample: n=89).Results: Endurance, strength, coordination and shoulder mobility showed improvements in the students participating in Skipping Hearts compared to the control group (p

This article presents a retrospective single-center cohort study on neonates with severe congenital heart disease (CHD) who received medical care at a perinatology unit outside a pediatric cardiology center. The study analyzed mortality, morbidity, and clinical parameters of 122 neonates from 2018 to 2022. The results showed that prenatal diagnosis by ultrasound was common, and there were nine diagnostic groups identified. The study concluded that it is safe to deliver and provide medical care to neonates with CHD in a perinatology unit with a cardiology focus, and rapid retransfer to the neonatology unit postoperatively is possible. [Extracted from the article]

New polystyrene (PS) foams with submicron pore sizes and open pore structure are introduced as potential cores for vacuum insulation panels (VIPs). Measurements of the thermal conductivity λ of the air-filled and evacuated PS foams, the influence of temperature T, opacifiers as well as gas pressure p on the thermal conductivity λ are presented. First results of the foam microstructures, as visualized by electron microscopy, confirm that pore sizes below 1 µm can be achieved. Thermal conductivity values of advanced samples in vacuum of about 7 mW/(m·K) were measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]