IT-REHAB : Integral Telerehabilitation System

The main functionalities of the physical rehabilitation module of IT-REHAB are briefly described in this paper. IT-REHAB is a telerehabilitation system under development for patients with physical or cognitive rehabilitation needs. It supports wireless biomechanical and physiological data collection and includes advanced functionalities based on a custom-designed Medium Access (MAC) protocol for improved bandwidth utilization and an immersive user interface that incorporates virtual reality elements for a motivating experience. Moreover, it includes affective computing technologies for pain intensity estimation, wearables for easy sensor devices setting up, and real-time communication between patients and therapists

Beneficial or hazardous? A comprehensive study of 24 elements from wild edible plants from Angola

Angola suffers from a high child mortality rate and a prevalence of anemia due to malnutrition. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive overview of the mineral content of 43 wild edible plants. A total of 24 different elements (aluminum, antimony, arsenic, cadmium, calcium, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, lithium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, potassium, selenium, silicon, sodium, strontium, titanium, thallium, vanadium, zinc) were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy to identify nutritional beneficial and hazardous plants. For the majority of studied species (31 of 43) data lack completely. For the remaining, only macronutrient contents are published yet, determining their (ultra)trace element and heavy metal contents for the first time. None of the examined plants pose a risk to human health due to low heavy metal contents, seasonality, and low amounts of consumed plant parts. Iron and zinc rich plant parts, such as fruits of Canarium schweinfurthii, or leaves of Crassocephalum rubens, Solanum americanum, and Piper umbellatum could help combating deficiency syndromes. The genus Landolphia shows to be an aluminum hyperaccumulator with aluminum contents >1000 mg/kg. Results of this study serve as a database for upcoming research. The nutritional value of edible plants is evaluated

Youth water polo performance determinants: the INEX study

Due to the growing engagement of youth in water polo practice, we aimed to characterize age-grouped players across anthropometric, general and specific motor abilities and contextual domains. We have also examined the associations of players’ specific skills with their anthropometric and general motor characteristics. One-hundred-and-one male water polo players, grouped into 12-, 13- and 14-year age cohorts were recruited. One-way ANOVA explained age-cohort variance, and a multiple linear regression was used to assess the association between variables. The variance in cohorts was explained by arm span (25%), stature, hand breadth and length (17%) fat-free mass (18%), 20 m sprint (16%), sit-ups (18%), medicine ball throw (27%), anaerobic (31%) and aerobic performance (21%), change of direction (18%), and in-water vertical jump (14%). The variance of in-water vertical jump, 10 m sprint, change of direction and aerobic fitness for players’ anthropometric characteristics were, 32, 25, 14 and 10% (respectively). The players’ upper-limb explosive power explained 30, 22 and 17% of variance for in-water vertical jump, 10 m sprint and aerobic fitness, respectively. Body mass had an inverse, and arm span had a direct association with in-water vertical jump and swim velocity capability, arm span had an inverse and direct association with change of direction and aerobic fitness, respectively. The upper limbs’ explosive power related directly to in-water vertical jump and aerobic fitness skills, but inversely with 10 m sprint scores

RECENSÕES

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Numerical Model for Describing the Segregation Phenomenon in Lightweight Concrete Using Density Sections

In this work, numerical models were obtained for describing the segregation phenomenon in lightweight aggregate concrete. To that end, a numerical methodology based on the generation of geometric models of finite elements has been applied, selecting those that describe better this phenomenon. The use of lightweight aggregate concretes (LWC) allows greater design flexibility and substantial cost savings. It is also well known that it contributes to a positive impact on the energy consumption of a building due to the high-thermal resistance values. However, lightweight concretes are susceptible to present aggregate segregation due to density differences between its components during concrete vibration. Segregation in concrete may strongly affect the concrete global properties. This fact justifies the needs for the identification and quantification of this phenomenon, in order to estimate the concrete segregation experimentally, a LWC was mixed in laboratory conditions. Controlled segregation was caused applying different times of internal vibration in a cylinder specimen. The specimens were horizontally sectioned in order to obtain the density in each section because the segregation index can be estimated obtaining a relation by comparing the densities of the upper and lower parts. Firstly, ANOVA test was performed to determine the statistical significance (p<0.05) of the differences in the density of the different sections, differences in the aggregate type and differences in the time of concrete vibration. Results show that there is a significant difference of each section and there is no significant difference of each lightweight aggregate used to mix the concrete in spite of their different density. In order to model the segregation in the LWC, at first, linear models were considered and rejected because for not explaining the phenomenon. However, the application of numerical models shows good results to describe the phenomenon of segregation in LWC.This research was funded by the University of Alicante (GRE13-03) and (VIGROB-256)

Deforming tachyon kinks and tachyon potentials

In this paper we investigate deformation of tachyon potentials and tachyon kink solutions. We consider the deformation of a DBI type action with gauge and tachyon fields living on D1-brane and D3-brane world-volume. We deform tachyon potentials to get other consistent tachyon potentials by using properly a deformation function depending on the gauge field components. Resolutions of singular tachyon kinks via deformation and applications of deformed tachyon potentials to scalar cosmology scenario are discussed.Comment: To appear in JHEP, 19 pages, 5 eps figures, minor changes and one reference adde

Imaging the Near Field of Dielectric and Metallic Nanoparticles

Trabajo presentado en el 7th International Conference on Photo-Excited Processes and Applications , celebrado en Copenhague (Dinamarca), del 15 al 20 de agosto de 201

Reply to: Shark mortality cannot be assessed by fishery overlap alone

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Atrial fibrillation ablation : the added value of adenosine test in confirming pulmonary vein isolation

© The European Society of Cardiology 2018. All rights reserved.Introduction: Adenosine test has been increasingly used to confirm pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) in patients undergoing ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF). However, its impact on the success of ablation remains unknown. Purposes: To evaluate the results of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) test in patients undergoing PVI and assess the success of ablation related to the use of this test (adenosine-guided PVI versus conventional PVI). Methods: Single-center prospective study of consecutive patients undergoing first AF ablation procedure, started at January 2013. After ablation, the persistence of PVI was tested with adenosine triphosphate administration (15–30mg by intravenous route). When adenosine triphosphate-induced pulmonary vein conduction (termed as reconduction) was observed, additional energy applications of radiofrequency were applied to obtain persistent isolation on retesting. Cardiac event recorder was performed at 7 days, 3, 6 and 12 months after ablation and annually from the 2nd year. The adenosine triphosphate-induced reconduction rate was evaluated depending on the pulmonary vein involved. The impact of adenosine test implementation in the success of the ablation at 365 days (recurrence of AF or supraventricular tachycardia) was determined by analysis of overall survival using Kaplan-Meier method. Results: Adenosine test was performed on 151 patients, with reconduction detected on at least one of the pulmonary veins in 11 patients (33.8%) and in 17.6% of the 641 pulmonary veins evaluated, with no statistically significant difference between the different veins. The overall success rate of AF ablation at 365 days was 72% and did not differ significantly between adenosine-guided PVI versus conventional PVI (74.3% versus 70.8%, P = NS), although the duration of follow-up had been shorter in the first group (median of 13.0 vs. 38.3 months; p<0.001). Conclusion: The adenosine-induced reconduction occurs in about one third of the patients. However, the additional adenosine-guided energy applications do not seem to increase the overall success of ablation. We found no significant reduction in the 1 year incidence of recurrent atrial tachyarrhythmias by ATP-guided PVI compared with conventional PVI.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio