To examine prevalence of verbal, physical, and sexual abuses in young elite athletes, a cross sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted during the World Athletics under 20 World Championships. This questionnaire aimed at distinguishing between abuses perpetrated in the context of Athletics from those which were unrelated to Athletics. Four hundred and eighty athletes (52.3%, male) from North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania took part in the electronic anonymous survey. Outside Athletics setting, no gender difference was found for the prevalence of verbal, physical, and sexual abuses. However, 45 males (18% of the male population) and 34 females (15% of the female population) athletes reported sexual abuse. Asian athletes reported a slightly higher rate of sexual abuse; three quarters of them being non-touching abuses. Inside Athletics setting, no gender difference was found for the prevalence of verbal, physical, and non-touching sexual abuses. However, 58 males (23%) and 47 females (21%) reported verbal abuses. Thirty-one males (12%) and 20 females (9%) reported physical abuses, whereas 30 males (12%) and 17 females (7%) reported sexual abuses. Physical abuses were slightly more frequent in Asia and in Africa and less frequent in South America. Sexual abuses inside Athletics also differed over regions, and were unexpectedly twice more frequent than expected in Asia and slightly less frequent than expected in Europe. Friends and partners were identified as the more frequent (>50%) abusers outside or inside the Athletics settings, whereas outside Athletics and inside Athletics, coaches were identified as sexual abuse perpetrators in 8 and 25% of cases, respectively. The prevalence of verbal, physical, or sexual abuses is high but consistent with what has been reported in United Kingdom, Norway, Canada, and Sweden at national level in recreational or elite athletes. Sexual abuse, including touching or penetrative abuses, occurred significantly more often in male athletes when compared to female athletes. This finding invites healthcare and social workers, and policymakers to also consider the risk of sexual abuse of young male athletes in Athletics. These results also call for longitudinal studies on young elite athletes.

Due to the phase-out of TBT-SPCs imposed by the International Maritime Organization, new-generation antifoulings are set to replace 80% of the existing antifouling market. Two types of coatings are claimed to offer satisfactory performance over five years: tin-free SPCs and foul-release coatings, which were both commercially introduced in the mid 1990s. This paper gives an overview of the research at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne which compares the drag, boundary-layer and roughness characteristics of both coatings when newly applied. It was found that foul-release coatings offer less drag than tin-free SPC, by an amount which depends on the quality of application and which has been related to the respective differences in roughness characteristics. Assessments have shown that foul-release surfaces are very effective against macrofouling organisms, but that the surface is covered by slime films when the vessel returns to drydock. A literature review on the effect of slime films on ship resistance shows that slime films have a significant effect on drag, but in turbulent flows the effect is likely to remain limited because of detachment processes. Further research is underway to investigate this.

Macular dysfunction was studied in 7 patients recovering after surgery for a retinal detachment involving the macula. The degree of disturbed size perception (dysmetropsia) and metamorphopsia was measured in parallel with letter and grating acuity in patients during the recovery process for time periods up to 47 months following successful re-attachment. The demonstration of dysmetropsia, quantitatively assessed by a matching technique, in several patients indicate that the spatial density of the macular photoreceptors changes following detachment. In 3 patients out of 7 a longstanding micropsia was present. The degree of micropsia was not related to the degree of metamorphopsia. Subclinical/clinical macular oedema is considered to be the most probable cause for the increased separation of the macular photoreceptors. The study indicates that quantitative measurement of dysmetropsia gives valid information about receptor displacement and of unilateral subclinical macular oedema. The relations between letter acuity, grating acuity and micropsia gives certain information about the role of changed receptor separation as a cause of impaired central vision, and we found that incomplete recovery of acuity partly can be due to long-standing separation of foveal receptors.

Macular functions were studied in patients recovering after surgery for retinal detachment involving the macula. Central vision was assessed by visual acuity, grating acuity, metamorphopsia, and contrast sensitivity tests for 5 months up to 3 years post-operatively. Impairment of contrast sensitivity was generally observed at high and intermediate spatial frequencies as compared to age-matched controls. In 2 cases, both with low visual acuity, an attenuation was also found at low spatial frequencies. Reductions of visual and grating acuity were closely related indicating that the test target for acuity determination is of minor importance in evaluating recovery in retinal detachments. The majority of the patients studied had different degrees of metamorphopsia. The reduction of the contrast sensitivity at intermediate spatial frequencies corresponded to the reduction in acuity. Our study thus presents no evidence for a selective vulnerability of specific contrast channels unrelated to acuity loss.

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