Background: It is believed that the cessation of normative cancer care services during the COVID-19 pandemic may be resulting in pathologic upstaging and higher long-term mortality rates. We aimed to understand how the pandemic has affected our patients diagnosed with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: We conducted a single-centre retrospective analysis to assess how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected patient referrals, pathologic stage of NSCLC, mortality rates and surgical procedures at our cancer care centre in Ontario, Canada. At our centre, physicians advocated for and followed recommendations that operations in cancer patients should be among the last procedures to be delayed. Patients were included if they were aged 18 years or older, were not receiving palliative care, and had been screened, diagnosed and treated for NSCLC (primary tumours). We compared outcomes between a prepandemic period (January 2019 to February 2020) and a period during the pandemic (March 2020 to February 2021). Results: A total of 695 patients were included for statistical analysis, of whom 650 underwent surgery. There was no statistically significant difference in any of the outcomes of interest between patients seen before ( n = 330) and during ( n = 320) the pandemic. Conclusion: Cancer care services at our centre were maintained during the COVID-19 pandemic, and potential adverse effects on prognosis and survival that have been seen in other countries were avoided. The results inform health care providers how the effects of future pandemics can be blunted by using proactive preservative strategies and surgeon advocacy.

ObjectiveTo determine how distinct combinations of resistance training prescription (RTx) variables (load, sets and frequency) affect muscle strength and hypertrophy.Data sourcesMEDLINE, Embase, Emcare, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, and Web of Science were searched until February 2022.Eligibility criteriaRandomised trials that included healthy adults, compared at least 2 predefined conditions (non-exercise control (CTRL) and 12 RTx, differentiated by load, sets and/or weekly frequency), and reported muscle strength and/or hypertrophy were included.AnalysesSystematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis methodology was used to compare RTxs and CTRL. Surface under the cumulative ranking curve values were used to rank conditions. Confidence was assessed with threshold analysis.ResultsThe strength network included 178 studies (n=5097; women=45%). The hypertrophy network included 119 studies (n=3364; women=47%). All RTxs were superior to CTRL for muscle strength and hypertrophy. Higher-load (>80% of single repetition maximum) prescriptions maximised strength gains, and all prescriptions comparably promoted muscle hypertrophy. While the calculated effects of many prescriptions were similar, higher-load, multiset, thrice-weekly training (standardised mean difference (95% credible interval); 1.60 (1.38 to 1.82) vs CTRL) was the highest-ranked RTx for strength, and higher-load, multiset, twice-weekly training (0.66 (0.47 to 0.85) vs CTRL) was the highest-ranked RTx for hypertrophy. Threshold analysis demonstrated these results were extremely robust.ConclusionAll RTx promoted strength and hypertrophy compared with no exercise. The highest-ranked prescriptions for strength involved higher loads, whereas the highest-ranked prescriptions for hypertrophy included multiple sets.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42021259663 and CRD42021258902.

Jump-based asymmetry is often used as an indicator of sport performance and may be used to discern injury susceptibility. Due to task specificity, however, countermovement jump asymmetry may not be representative of on-court asymmetry. As such, we assessed the association between countermovement jump asymmetry and on-court impact asymmetry metrics (n=3, and n=4, respectively) using linear regressions (α=0.05). Fifteen female basketball athletes completed countermovement jump and on-court sessions across a competitive season. A significant negative association was found between peak landing force asymmetry and both overall and medium acceleration on-court asymmetry (b=–0.1, R2=0.08, p<0.001; b=–0.1, R2 =0.11, p<0.001, respectively), as well as between peak propulsive force asymmetry and on-court medium acceleration asymmetry (b=–0.24, R2=0.04, p=0.01). Alternatively, both peak landing and peak propulsive force asymmetry were significantly positively associated with on-court high acceleration asymmetry (b=0.17, R2 =0.08, p<0.001; b=0.35, R2=0.02, p=0.04, respectively). While some overlap may exist, countermovement jump and on-court impact asymmetry appear to be independent. Thus, sport-specific monitoring may be necessary to adequately monitor injury susceptibility using asymmetry.

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