Rug-pee study: the prevalence of urinary incontinence among female university rugby players.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of urinary incontinence among female university varsity rugby players. Secondary objectives were to understand when the incontinence occurred and to assess the degree of bother experienced. It is postulated that female rugby players may have higher rates of urinary incontinence due to the high-impact activities involved in training and competitions. METHODS: Data was collected via a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 95 athletes were included in the survey results. Urinary incontinence was experienced by 51 of the 95 (54%) players. Of the 51 athletes who reported leaking urine, 90% leaked urine when competing in a rugby game and 88% of players leaked when being tackled or hit. Despite the high prevalence of urinary incontinence, most players reported they were not bothered or only slightly bothered by their urinary leaking. Several of the players (18%) were interested in receiving treatment for their urinary incontinence. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of urinary incontinence among varsity female rugby players is 54%, which is consistent with rates among other high-impact sports. Surprisingly, the majority of these women are not bothered by their incontinence and most are not interested in treatment for this condition at this time.

Density of tumour stroma is correlated to outcome after adoptive transfer of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in a murine mammary carcinoma model.

Adoptive immunotherapy shows promise for the treatment of cancer; however, partial or mixed responses remain common outcomes due to the heterogeneity of tumours. We studied three murine mammary tumour lines that express an ovalbumin-tagged version of HER-2/neu and reproducibly undergo complete regression (CR), partial regression (PR), or progressive disease (PD) after adoptive transfer of ovalbumin-specific CD8(+) (OT-I) and CD4(+) (OT-II) T cells. The three tumour lines were implanted in immunocompetent C57Bl/6 host mice, and established tumours were treated by adoptive transfer of naive OT-I and OT-II T cells. Tumours of the CR and PR classes triggered almost indistinguishable T cell responses in terms of activation, proliferation, trafficking to the tumour site, infiltration of tumour stroma, and intratumoural T cell proliferation; however, tumours of the PR class showed reduced infiltration of tumour epithelium by donor T cells. PD responses were associated with early impairment of T cell activation and proliferation in draining lymph node, followed by negligible infiltration of tumour tissue by donor T cells. Histopathological determinants of outcome were investigated through an unsupervised analysis of 64 untreated tumours representing the three response classes. Tumours of the CR class had proportionately more stroma, which had a looser, more collagen-rich histological appearance. Thus, the amount and composition of tumour stroma distinguished successfully (CR) from unsuccessful (PR or PD) outcomes after adoptive T cell transfer, a finding that might facilitate the design of immunotherapy trials for human breast cancer.