Thermographic imaging in sports and exercise medicine: A Delphi study and consensus statement on the measurement of human skin temperature

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Elsevier in Journal of Thermal Biology on 18/07/2017, available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2017.07.006 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.© 2017 Elsevier Ltd The importance of using infrared thermography (IRT) to assess skin temperature (tsk) is increasing in clinical settings. Recently, its use has been increasing in sports and exercise medicine; however, no consensus guideline exists to address the methods for collecting data in such situations. The aim of this study was to develop a checklist for the collection of tsk using IRT in sports and exercise medicine. We carried out a Delphi study to set a checklist based on consensus agreement from leading experts in the field. Panelists (n  =  24) representing the areas of sport science (n = 8; 33%), physiology (n = 7; 29%), physiotherapy (n = 3; 13%) and medicine (n = 6; 25%), from 13 different countries completed the Delphi process. An initial list of 16 points was proposed which was rated and commented on by panelists in three rounds of anonymous surveys following a standard Delphi procedure. The panel reached consensus on 15 items which encompassed the participants’ demographic information, camera/room or environment setup and recording/analysis of tsk using IRT. The results of the Delphi produced the checklist entitled “Thermographic Imaging in Sports and Exercise Medicine (TISEM)” which is a proposal to standardize the collection and analysis of tsk data using IRT. It is intended that the TISEM can also be applied to evaluate bias in thermographic studies and to guide practitioners in the use of this technique.Published versio

Effects of external nutrient sources and extreme weather events on the nutrient budget of a Southern European coastal lagoon

The seasonal and annual nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and carbon (C) budgets of the mesotidal Ria Formosa lagoon, southern Portugal, were estimated to reveal the main inputs and outputs, the seasonal patterns, and how they may influence the ecological functioning of the system. The effects of extreme weather events such as long-lasting strong winds causing upwelling and strong rainfall were assessed. External nutrient inputs were quantified; ocean exchange was assessed in 24-h sampling campaigns, and final calculations were made using a hydrodynamic model of the lagoon. Rain and stream inputs were the main freshwater sources to the lagoon. However, wastewater treatment plant and groundwater discharges dominated nutrient input, together accounting for 98, 96, and 88 % of total C, N, and P input, respectively. Organic matter and nutrients were continuously exported to the ocean. This pattern was reversed following extreme events, such as strong winds in early summer that caused upwelling and after a period of heavy rainfall in late autumn. A principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that ammonium and organic N and C exchange were positively associated with temperature as opposed to pH and nitrate. These variables reflected mostly the benthic lagoon metabolism, whereas particulate P exchange was correlated to Chl a, indicating that this was more related to phytoplankton dynamics. The increase of stochastic events, as expected in climate change scenarios, may have strong effects on the ecological functioning of coastal lagoons, altering the C and nutrient budgets.Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) [POCI/MAR/58427/2004, PPCDT/MAR/58427/2004]; Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT

The BINGO project: VII. Cosmological forecasts from 21 cm intensity mapping

Context. The 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen (HI) opens a new avenue in our exploration of the structure and evolution of the Universe. It provides complementary data to the current large-scale structure (LSS) observations with different systematics, and thus it will be used to improve our understanding of the Icold dark matter (ICDM) model. This will ultimately constrain our cosmological models, attack unresolved tensions, and test our cosmological paradigm. Among several radio cosmological surveys designed to measure this line, BINGO is a single-dish telescope mainly designed to detect baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) at low redshifts (0.127 < z < 0.449). Aims. Our goal is to assess the fiducial BINGO setup and its capabilities of constraining the cosmological parameters, and to analyze the effect of different instrument configurations. Methods. We used the 21 cm angular power spectra to extract cosmological information about the HI signal and the Fisher matrix formalism to study BINGO's projected constraining power. Results. We used the Phase 1 fiducial configuration of the BINGO telescope to perform our cosmological forecasts. In addition, we investigated the impact of several instrumental setups, taking into account some instrumental systematics, and different cosmological models. Combining BINGO with Planck temperature and polarization data, the projected constraint improves from a 13% and 25% precision measurement at the 68% confidence level with Planck only to 1% and 3% for the Hubble constant and the dark energy (DE) equation of state (EoS), respectively, within the wCDM model. Assuming a Chevallier- Polarski- Linder (CPL) parameterization, the EoS parameters have standard deviations given by w0 = 0.30 and wa = 1.2, which are improvements on the order of 30% with respect to Planck alone. We also compared BINGO's fiducial forecast with future SKA measurements and found that, although it will not provide competitive constraints on the DE EoS, significant information about HI distribution can be acquired. We can access information about the HI density and bias, obtaining 8.5% and 6% precision, respectively, assuming they vary with redshift at three independent bins. BINGO can also help constrain alternative models, such as interacting dark energy and modified gravity models, improving the cosmological constraints significantly. Conclusions. The fiducial BINGO configuration will be able to extract significant cosmological information from the HI distribution and provide constraints competitive with current and future cosmological surveys. It will also help in understanding the HI physics and systematic effects

The BINGO project: IV. Simulations for mission performance assessment and preliminary component separation steps

Aims. The large-scale distribution of neutral hydrogen (HI) in the Universe is luminous through its 21 cm emission. The goal of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from Integrated Neutral Gas Observations (BINGO) radio telescope is to detect baryon acoustic oscillations at radio frequencies through 21 cm intensity mapping (IM). The telescope will span the redshift range 0.127<z<0.449 with an instantaneous field-of-view of 14.75 - 6.0. Methods. In this work we investigate different constructive and operational scenarios of the instrument by generating sky maps as they would be produced by the instrument. In doing this we use a set of end-to-end IM mission simulations. The maps will additionally be used to evaluate the efficiency of a component separation method (GNILC). Results. We have simulated the kind of data that would be produced in a single-dish IM experiment such as BINGO. According to the results obtained, we have optimized the focal plane design of the telescope. In addition, the application of the GNILC method on simulated data shows that it is feasible to extract the cosmological signal across a wide range of multipoles and redshifts. The results are comparable with the standard principal component analysis method

A New Era in the Quest for Dark Matter

There is a growing sense of `crisis' in the dark matter community, due to the absence of evidence for the most popular candidates such as weakly interacting massive particles, axions, and sterile neutrinos, despite the enormous effort that has gone into searching for these particles. Here, we discuss what we have learned about the nature of dark matter from past experiments, and the implications for planned dark matter searches in the next decade. We argue that diversifying the experimental effort, incorporating astronomical surveys and gravitational wave observations, is our best hope to make progress on the dark matter problem.Comment: Published in Nature, online on 04 Oct 2018. 13 pages, 1 figur

Role of mitochondrial raft-like microdomains in the regulation of cell apoptosis

Lipid rafts are envisaged as lateral assemblies of specific lipids and proteins that dissociate and associate rapidly and form functional clusters in cell membranes. These structural platforms are not confined to the plasma membrane; indeed lipid microdomains are similarly formed at subcellular organelles, which include endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi and mitochondria, named raft-like microdomains. In addition, some components of raft-like microdomains are present within ER-mitochondria associated membranes. This review is focused on the role of mitochondrial raft-like microdomains in the regulation of cell apoptosis, since these microdomains may represent preferential sites where key reactions take place, regulating mitochondria hyperpolarization, fission-associated changes, megapore formation and release of apoptogenic factors. These structural platforms appear to modulate cytoplasmic pathways switching cell fate towards cell survival or death. Main insights on this issue derive from some pathological conditions in which alterations of microdomains structure or function can lead to severe alterations of cell activity and life span. In the light of the role played by raft-like microdomains to integrate apoptotic signals and in regulating mitochondrial dynamics, it is conceivable that these membrane structures may play a role in the mitochondrial alterations observed in some of the most common human neurodegenerative diseases, such as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington's chorea and prion-related diseases. These findings introduce an additional task for identifying new molecular target(s) of pharmacological agents in these pathologies

The BINGO Project: III. Optical design and optimization of the focal plane

Context. The Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from Integrated Neutral Gas Observations (BINGO) telescope was designed to measure the fluctuations of the 21 cm radiation arising from the hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen. It is also aimed at measuring the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) from such fluctuations, thereby serving as a pathfinder to future, deeper intensity mapping surveys. The requirements for the Phase 1 of the projects consider a large reflector system (two 40 m-class dishes in a crossed-Dragone configuration) illuminating a focal plane with 28 horns to measure the sky, with two circular polarizations in a drift scan mode to produce measurements of the radiation in intensity (I) as well as the circular (V) polarization. Aims. In this paper, we present the optical design for the instrument. We describe the optical arrangement of the horns in the focal plane to produce a homogeneous and well-sampled map after the end of Phase 1, as well as the intensity and polarization properties of the beams. Our analysis provides an optimal model for the location of the horns in the focal plane, producing a homogeneous and Nyquist-sampled map after the nominal survey time. Methods. We used the GRASP package to model the focal plane arrangement and performed several optimization tasks to arrive at the current configuration, including an estimation of the sidelobes corresponding to the diffraction patterns of the two mirrors. The final model for the focal plane was defined through a combination of neural network and other direct optimization methods. Results. We arrived at an optimal configuration for the optical system that includes the focal plane positioning and the beam behavior of the instrument. We present an estimate of the expected sidelobes both for intensity and polarization, as well as the effect of band averaging on the final sidelobes, as well as an estimation of the cross-polarization leakage for the final configuration. Conclusions. We conclude that the chosen optical design meets the requirements for the project in terms of polarization purity and area coverage as well as a homogeneity of coverage so that BINGO can perform a successful BAO experiment. We further conclude that the requirements on the placement and rms error on the mirrors are also achievable so that a successful experiment can be conducted