return to competition without demonstrating a significant decline in baseball performance.Lumbar pars defects were a common cause of low back pain in American professional baseball players. The vast majority of affected athletes were able to return to competition without demonstrating a significant decline in baseball performance.Patients presenting with classical cardiovascular risk factors within acceptable or average value ranges often develop cardiovascular disease, suggesting that other risk factors need to be considered. Considering that endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) contribute to endothelial repair, we investigated whether EPCs might be such a factor. We compared the ability of peripheral blood EPCs to attach to extracellular matrix proteins and to grow and function in culture, between controlled hypertensive patients exhibiting a Framingham score (FS) of less then 10% while showing severe vascular impairment (intima-media thickness/diameter, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, brachial artery flow-mediated dilation, carotid and femoral atherosclerotic plaque presence; vulnerable group, N = 30) and those with an FS of ≥10% and scarce vascular changes (protected group, N = 30). When compared with vulnerable patients, protected patients had significantly higher early and late-EPC and early and late-tunneling nanotube (TNTges often develop cardiovascular (CV) disease, it has been suggested that other CV risk factors need to be considered in addition to those that are commonly combined in the Framingham score (FS) to estimate the risk of general CV disease. We investigated whether peripheral endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) deserve to be considered. see more Here we report that EPCs and TNTs are significantly lower in controlled hypertensive patients versus normotensive subjects and that the disparity in vascular status between patients presenting with an FS of ≥10% with scarce vascular changes and those presenting with an FS of less then 10% with severe vascular impairment is related to differences in EPC and TNT numbers. These data point to EPC and TNT numbers as potential CV risk factors to be included in the FS calculation.Fowl adenovirus (FAdV) infections in chickens have undergone substantial changes in recent decades, driven by host and pathogen factors. Based on the pathogenesis of inclusion body hepatitis (IBH) and hepatitis-hydropericardium syndrome (HHS), modern broilers are much more inclined to have difficulties keeping the metabolic homeostasis, whereas adenoviral gizzard erosion (AGE) is noticed equally in broilers and egg-layers. Defining the importance of certain serotypes for specific FAdV diseases is a major achievement of recent years but the isolation of viruses from clinically healthy birds remains unexplained, as virulence factors are hardly known and continue to be a "black box". Together with further studies on pathogenesis of FAdV-induced diseases, such knowledge on virulence factors would help to improve protection strategies, which presently mainly concentrate on autogenous vaccines of breeders to prevent vertical transmission.In this study, we sought to compose consortia of plant growth-promoting (PGP) and trace element tolerant bacteria, to improve plant growth and inhibit uptake and translocation of trace elements, eventually allowing the cultivation of profitmaking crops on trace elements polluted soils, reducing the risks of entrance of these elements into the food chain. Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) was grown on two polluted military soils (MS1 and MS2) in greenhouse microcosms and inoculated with three different bacterial consortia (C1, C2, C3). Growth and physiological status of the plants were unaffected during the experiment with the inoculation. After 2 months, plants were harvested. Consortium C2 and C3 decreased Pb shoot bioaccumulation by respectively 80-85% when plants were grown in the MS1 and even to concentrations below detection limit in plants grown in MS2. Differences in uptake and (sub)cellular localization of Pb and Cd in selected bacterial isolates were investigated in vitro by TEM-EDX. Pb absorption was observed by Bacillus wiedmanni ST29 and Bacillus paramycoides ST9 cultures. While adsorption at the bacterial cell wall was observed by Bacillus paramycoides ST9 and retention in the extracellular matrix by Cellulosimicrobium cellulans ST54.Rationale The association between airborne occupational exposures and lung function level is inconsistent in the general population. Moreover, little is known about the association between occupational exposures and annual lung function decline.Objectives We investigated the association between occupational exposures and lung function level and annual lung function decline in the population-based Lifelines cohort study.Methods We included 55,631 adults with baseline spirometry and reliable job code-13,759 of these subjects were aged ≥30 years and underwent spirometry again after 4.5 years of follow-up. Occupational exposures in the current or last-held job at baseline were estimated with the ALOHA+ job-exposure matrix. Linear regression analyses adjusted for covariates were used to test the association between each occupational exposure-biological dust, mineral dust, gases and fumes, pesticides, solvents, and metals-and lung function level and annual lung function decline. Interactions were used to test effect modification by sex or smoking.Results Exposures to biological dust, mineral dust, gases and fumes, insecticides, fungicides, and aromatic solvents were associated with a lower lung function level at baseline. The effects were larger in males and smokers compared with females and nonsmokers, respectively. However, no association between occupational exposures and the rate of annual lung function decline was found between baseline and follow-up.Conclusions In this study, airborne occupational exposures are associated with lower lung function level but not with a faster lung function decline. These negative effects are more pronounced among males and smokers. Postoperative stiffness after rotator cuff repair is a common complication that can lead to poor outcomes and patient discomfort. The application of an antiadhesive agent at the time of repair recently became an option for clinicians, but little information is available on its effects. To evaluate and compare retear rates, the incidence of postoperative stiffness, and the clinical outcomes of patients who underwent cuff repair with or without the application of an antiadhesive agent. Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Among 296 patients who underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair surgery, we compared the outcomes of those injected with a thermosensitive gel antiadhesive agent into the subacromial space (112 cases) versus noninjected controls (184 cases). Retear rates in the 2 groups were determined by magnetic resonance imaging at 1 year after surgery. Shoulder joint range of motion and functional scores were evaluated serially. The rate of retear was significantly lower in the injection group (20/112 cases; 17.