Progression of world records (WRs) in athletics is a reliable mean to assess the potentiality of the human body, which also reflects how society has evolved over time and will continue to evolve. We conducted a quantitative analysis of WRs in measurable Olympic events from nine representative disciplines (100, 400, 1500, 10 000 m, marathon, long jump, high jump, shot put and javelin throw) in order to identify progression and trends.

Data were gathered for the years 1900–2007 from the database of the International Olympic Committee.

Overall, the relative improvement of athletic performance was higher in women than in men, being nearly doubled across the different specialities. The biggest increases were observed for javelin throw and shot put, in both men and women, respectively. Conversely, the improvement in race time was directly related to the race distance. We also observed a consistent significant linear model of WRs progression in time, although the improvement has substantially stopped or reached a plateau in several specialities.

The observed trend might be explained by a variety of factors, including social and environmental changes, natural selection, advances in training and sport physiology, ergogenic aids and, possibly, doping.

These results are discussed in a multifaceted approach, taking into account several biological, environmental and technological issues that might explain the trends observed.

It has long been recognized from epidemiological data that inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), have a strong genetic predisposition, interacting with unknown environmental drivers to render susceptible individuals at risk for relapsing intestinal inflammation. Substantial progress has been made in the last 2 years in characterizing the susceptibility genes involved.

The recent acceleration in understanding has resulted from the use of new technologies of genome-wide association scanning in large panels of cases and controls.

Genome scans have robustly identified 11 susceptibility genes and loci and highlighted a number of new, previously unsuspected pathways as playing an important role in IBD pathogenesis—including the IL23 pathway in IBD overall and specific aspects of innate immunity (particularly NOD2 and the autophagy genes ATG16L1 and IRGM) in CD.

The next challenge is to identify specific causal variants at each of the confirmed susceptibility loci and then characterize their biological impact on gene expression and function of the protein product.

To date, most attention has focused on CD. A recent meta-analysis has increased the number of confirmed susceptibility loci to 32—more than for any other common disease to date. Attention is now turning to the use of the same techniques in UC to identify new, disease-specific genes and understand areas of overlap.

This review explores genetic clues to the pathogenesis of IBD derived from the growing list of confirmed IBD susceptibility genes, and briefly elaborates some of the important themes and overlaps that are becoming evident both within IBD and also with other complex diseases.

Regeneration of the infarcted myocardium after a heart attack is one of the most challenging aspects in tissue engineering. Suitable cell sources and optimized biocompatible materials must be identified.

In this review, we briefly discuss the current therapeutic options available to patients with heart failure post-myocardial infarction. We describe the various strategies currently proposed to encourage myocardial regeneration, with focus on the achievements in myocardial tissue engineering (MTE). We report on the current cell types, materials and methods being investigated for developing a tissue-engineered myocardial construct.

Generally, there is agreement that a ‘vehicle’ is required to transport cells to the infarcted heart to help myocardial repair and regeneration.

Suitable cell source, biomaterials, cell environment and implantation time post-infarction remain obstacles in the field of MTE.

Research is being focused on optimizing natural and synthetic biomaterials for tissue engineering. The type of cell and its origin (autologous or derived from embryonic stem cells), cell density and method of cell delivery are also being explored.

The possibility is being explored that materials may not only act as a support for the delivered cell implants, but may also add value by changing cell survival, maturation or integration, or by prevention of mechanical and electrical remodelling of the failing heart.

Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) have progressive immunodeficiency and infection is the commonest cause of death. This review seeks to identify the extent of the abnormality, its cause, clinical significance and any possible remedy.

TJH has studied CLL for the past 40 years and has scanned or read every paper he could find published on the topic since 1970 and most of those of historical importance published before that date. He has read around the subject, covering relevant articles on immunology, cell biology, oncology and genetics. Furthermore, he has attended most major meetings dealing with CLL in this time and has written many reviews to update the state of knowledge about the topic. He receives weekly updates of papers published on CLL from PubMed and Science Direct with the keywords ‘chronic lymphocytic leukaemia’.

The immunodeficiency chiefly manifests as hypogammaglobulinaemia but involves all elements of the immune system. It is caused by the interpolation of tumour cells among immunological cells and mediated by bi-directional cell contact and secretion of cytokines, which both sustain and invigorate the tumour and suppress immunity. CLL treatment generally makes the immunodeficiency worse. Intravenous immunoglobulin is clinically effective but not cost-effective, while prophylactic antibiotics are useful in appropriate circumstances. Vaccination against infectious disease is usually ineffective.

Exactly how the presence of tumour cells in the immune organs renders the patient immunodeficient is controversial as is the clinical significance of minor degrees of immunodeficiency in early or indolent cases. The immunosuppressive effect of most forms of treatment is agreed, but how much this should figure in the choice of treatment is a matter of dispute.

The study of tumour–stromal interactions is an area of intense research.

There has been little done to develop better vaccination strategies in patients with CLL, and although effective antimicrobials have been developed to protect against opportunistic infections, many are both expensive and inconvenient. More work is necessary to define precisely which patients should be offered them and when.

The term quorum sensing (QS) is used to describe communication between bacterial cells, whereby a coordinated population response is controlled by diffusible signal molecules produced by individuals.

Studies on QS-mediated signalling processes in bacteria have revealed the existence of intricate regulatory networks to enable bacterial populations to fine tune their responses to environmental changes and increase their chances of survival, using complex signalling pathways.

A population of bacteria invading a host may benefit from the coordinated release of virulence determinants and in vitro studies have shown that QS regulates virulence factor production in many species of bacteria.

However, the role of QS in vivo is less well understood, but has been demonstrated to be important in several pathogenic organisms.

There is a growing interest in blocking bacterial cell–cell communication as a means to control infections. This review discusses QS from a pathogenic perspective and discusses the potential of QS as an anti-pathogenic target.

Chondral and osteochondral injuries are commonly seen in today's clinical practice. Articular cartilage provides an ultimate low-friction gliding surface, which none of the artificial constructs have been able to replace successfully. Retrospective review of the knee arthroscopies has revealed an underestimated incidence of this complex problem. Cartilage injuries in the knee joint if left untreated lead to pre-mature early arthritis and affect the activities of daily living. Various different treatment methods of cartilage regeneration have shown encouraging results, but unfortunately none has proved to be the ultimate solution.

This article re-visits the intricate structure of articular cartilage and reviews the different methods of regeneration described in the literature, based on evidence-based effectiveness. The methods described by their originators and their results are considered gold standards for those methods, as being the best available evidence.

Majority of the authors agree that cartilage injuries are complex and difficult to treat. If untreated, cartilage defects lead to early osteoarthritis. Great debate still persists about the best available treatment for symptomatic chondral or osteochondral defect(s).

The controversy about the management outplays its aetiological theories. Several authors have reported good results with different techniques; however none has proved to be the solution for the problem.

Up until 1990, marrow stimulation techniques were routine form of management for chondral defects. However, ever since autologous chondrocyte implantation was successfully introduced in humans, it has provided a new dimension for the treatment of chondral defects.

The success of any treatment lies in its longevity. The new minimally invasive techniques are being invented. However, timely research, on the basis of randomized controlled trial comparing different methods of cartilage reconstruction is necessary for decision-making in today's evidence-based medical world.

Pancreatic cancer is a devastating malignancy and a leading cause of cancer mortality. Furthermore, early diagnosis represents a serious hurdle for clinicians, as symptoms are non-specific and usually manifest in advanced, treatment-resistant stages of the disease.

Here, we review the rationale and progress of targeted therapies currently under investigation.

At present, chemoradiation regimes are administered palliatively, and produce only marginal survival benefits, underscoring a desperate need for more effective treatment modalities.

Questions have been raised as to whether erlotinib, the only targeted therapy to attain a statistically significant increase in median survival, is cost-effective.

The last decade of research has provided us with a wealth of information regarding the molecular nature of pancreatic cancer, leading to the identification of signalling pathways and their respective components which are critical for the maintenance of the malignant phenotype.

These proteins thus represent ideal targets for novel molecular therapies which embody an urgently needed novel treatment strategy.

Many scoring systems have been used for elbow disorders. However, only few of these have been validated, and many assess only few aspects of elbow function.

A literature search was performed using the keyword ‘elbow’ in combination with ‘scoring system’, ‘outcome assessment’, ‘elbow disorder’ and ‘clinical evaluation’.

Eighteen scoring systems are currently available for the evaluation of elbow disorders. Each of them evaluates the elbow performance using specific variables, including both objective and subjective criteria. All these scoring systems are presented.

Although many scoring systems have been used to evaluate elbow function, we are still far from a single outcome evaluation system which is reliable, valid and sensitive to clinically relevant changes, takes into account both patients' and physicians' perspective and is short and practical to use.

Further studies are required to evaluate the reliability, validity and sensitivity of the elbow scoring systems used in the common clinical practice.

Driving is recognized to be a visually intensive task and accordingly there is a legal minimum standard of vision required for all motorists. The purpose of this paper is to review the current United Kingdom (UK) visual requirements for driving and discuss the evidence base behind these legal rules. The role of newer, alternative tests of visual function that may be better indicators of driving safety will also be considered. Finally, the implications of ageing on driving ability are discussed.

A search of Medline and PubMed databases was performed using the following keywords: driving, vision, visual function, fitness to drive and ageing. In addition, papers from the Department of Transport website and UK Royal College of Ophthalmologists guidelines were studied.

Current UK visual standards for driving are based upon historical concepts, but recent advances in technology have brought about more sophisticated methods for assessing the status of the binocular visual field and examining visual attention. These tests appear to be better predictors of driving performance. Further work is required to establish whether these newer tests should be incorporated in the current UK visual standards when examining an individual's fitness to drive.