Physician attitudes toward sports medicine coverage of mixed martial arts.

BACKGROUND: The popularity of modern Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has been increasing since 2000s. It has drawn the attention of the media due to higher injury rates compared to other sports, and it is possible that this may have led to a generally negative image of MMA among viewers, including but not limited to, physicians. Therefore, our study aimed to understand the attitudes of physicians toward MMA and being asked to cover MMA events. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with an online survey was answered by 410 physicians from four physician organizations throughout the USA. Demographic data, sports event-related, sports coverage experience, athleticism, and familiarity with MMA answers were analyzed. Wilcoxon, Fisher Exact, and χ2 tests were used to compare the data. The main outcomes was the association between characteristics of physicians and attitude toward MMA coverage. RESULTS: Physician characteristics influenced positive attitudes toward MMA coverage. Those who regularly followed MMA felt more strongly that combat sport events required physician coverage, mainly for boxing (92.4% vs. 73.4%; P<0.001), kickboxing (89.9% vs. 54.7%; P<0.001), and taekwondo (50.6% vs. 38.4%; P=0.046). Doctors who considered themselves athletic or who had covered MMA events in the past were more likely to think that all sporting events should be covered by physicians (97.4% vs. 65.9%; P<0.01; 98.4% vs. 72.8%, P<0.001, respectively). Family medicine (72/139 [51.8%]) and physical medicine and rehabilitation (7/11 [63.6%]) were the specialties more inclined to agree with physician coverage for these events. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians familiar with MMA, either as a previous ringside physician or as a spectator, are more inclined to believe these events should have physician coverage as are those more experienced with sports medicine, such as family medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists. Therefore, specialized sports medicine training should be provided to allow for appropriate MMA physician coverage. With additional training, MMA event organizers should feel comfortable asking physicians in any specialty to provide sports medicine coverage to improve care for MMA athletes.

Challenges with Mosquito-borne Viral Diseases: Outbreak of the Monsters.

BACKGROUND: The viruses responsible for mosquito-borne diseases are on an exploring mode, expanding their horizon, adapting to the situation and comfortably making their presence felt globally, from South Africa to Asia, Europe and United States. The current global scenario and recent documentations indicate towards the real monsters, outbreak of Zika, dengue and chikungunya viruses. Zika, dengue and chikungunya viruses are positive sense single-stranded RNA arbovirus and so their initial symptoms are almost 80% similar and all three are spread by mosquitos which bite during the day. Zika virus may damage brain by targeting the neuron cells in babies, and thereby it is very perilous to pregnant women. Dangerous Type: A less common but highly dangerous type of dengue is one which causes haemorrhagic fever and shock syndrome which are lethal. Chikungunya is not as lethal as Zika and dengue are, but it triggers joints pain which could last for months and even for years. CONCLUSION: The vaccines against Zika, dengue and chikungunya viruses are at different stages of development. The challenges associated with the epidemic wave of Zika, dengue and chikungunya viruses have been explained and the current status of drug/ vaccine development against these viruses has been reviewed.

Surfactant assisted self-assembly of zinc 5,10-bis (4-pyridyl)-15,20-bis (4-octadecyloxyphenyl) porphyrin into supramolecular nanoarchitectures.

The surfactant assisted self-assembly (SAS) method has been used in the formation of nanocubes, nanorods and microrods from zinc 5,10-bis (4-pyridyl)-15,20-bis (4-octadecyloxyphenyl) porphyrin. By the dropwise addition of chloroform solution of the zinc porphyrin into an aqueous solution of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), cuboidal nanostructures are formed at the initial stage. The nanocubes are transformed into nanorods and microrods by aging under ambient conditions. The longer nanorods with well defined edges have been formed with lower concentration of porphyrin solution whereas the shorter nanorods have been formed with higher concentration of zinc porphyrin. The synergistic effect of hydrophobic interactions by the long alkyl chains substituted on the peripheral phenyl rings of porphyrin and axial coordination of pyridyl nitrogen atoms with central zinc is mainly responsible for the formation of different nanostructures. The nanostructures were characterized by UV-visible spectra, fluorescence spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), IR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern.