Monitoring Locomotor Load in Soccer: Is Metabolic Power, Powerful?

The aim of the present study was to examine the validity and reliability of metabolic power (P) estimated from locomotor demands during soccer-specific drills. 14 highly-trained soccer players performed a soccer-specific circuit with the ball (3×1-min bouts, interspersed with 30-s passive recovery) on 2 different occasions. Locomotor activity was monitored with 4-Hz GPSs, while oxygen update (VO2) was collected with a portable gas analyzer. P was calculated using either net VO2 responses and traditional calorimetry principles (PVO2, W.kg(-1)) or locomotor demands (PGPS, W.kg(-1)). Distance covered into different speed, acceleration and P zones was recorded. While PGPS was 29±10% lower than PVO2 (d<- 3) during the exercise bouts, it was 85±7% lower (d<- 8) during recovery phases. The typical error between PGPS vs. PVO2 was moderate: 19.8%, 90% confidence limits: (18.4;21.6). The correlation between both estimates of P was small: 0.24 (0.14;0.33). Very large day-to-day variations were observed for acceleration, deceleration and > 20 W.kg(-1) distances (all CVs > 50%), while average Po2 and PGPS showed CVs < 10%. ICC ranged from very low- (acceleration and > 20 W.kg(-1) distances) to-very high (PVO2). PGPS largely underestimates the energy demands of soccer-specific drills, especially during the recovery phases. The poor reliability of PGPS >20 W.kg(-1) questions its value for monitoring purposes in soccer.

[Evaluation and utilization patterns of antibiotic therapy. A study in 4 hospital departments]. / Modalités d'utilisation et évaluation de l'antibiothérapie. Etude dans quatre services hospitaliers.

The use of antibiotics in 480 cases in 4 hospital wards during 1988 was assessed by examination of medical records. Only the first antibiotic therapy administered during the first stay in the ward for each patient was included. Antibiotics were administered to 163 in-patients (37% of hospitalizations) for infections in 113 (26%) cases. Amoxycillin and macrolides were the drugs most frequently used. Sixty-eight percent of the treatments were administered in the absence of microbiological data. Single drug therapy was used in 60% of treatments. Fifty in-patients (11% overall; 41% of patients undergoing surgery) received antibiotics for prophylaxis. The exact indication(s) for the choice of therapy was not given in the medical records of 39% of cases. Treatment started within 48 hours of infection in 15% of the cases. Overall, 93% of the treatments given were indicated, but 53% were inappropriate because they were too expensive, unlikely to be effective or were multiple drug therapy without justification. There are a variety of factors that cause such inappropriate administration of antibiotics.