The effect of diet and sociopolitical change on physiological stress and behavior in late Roman‐Early Byzantine (300–700 AD) and Islamic (902–1,235 AD) populations from Ibiza, Spain

Objectives This study evaluated chronological changes in physiological stress and levels of habitual loading of Ibizan populations from the Late Roman-Early Byzantine to the Islamic period (300-1235 AD) using measures of body size and bone cross-sectional properties. It also explored the effect of diet, modeled using stable isotopes, on physiological stress levels and behavior. Materials and Methods American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Volume 172, Issue 2, June 2020 pp. 189-213 DOI:10.1002/ajpa.24062 Published by Wiley. This is the Author Accepted Manuscript issued with: Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (CC:BY:NC 4.0). The final published version (version of record) is available online at DOI:10.1002/ajpa.24062. Please refer to any applicable publisher terms of use. 2 The sample comprised individuals from three archaeological populations: Urban Late Roman- Early Byzantine (LREB) (300-700 AD), Medieval Urban Islamic (902-1235 AD), and Rural Islamic. Bone lengths, femoral head dimensions, and diaphyseal products and circumferences were compared to assess differences in body size and habitual loading in 222 adult individuals. Ordinary least squares regression evaluated the correlations between these measures and carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope ratios in 115 individuals for whom both isotope values and osteological measures are available. Results The Rural Islamic group had shorter stature and reduced lower limb cross-sectional properties compared to the two urban groups. In both LREB and Islamic groups, body mass and femur length was positively correlated with δ13C values, and δ15N shows a positive correlation with left humerus shape in the LREB Urban sample. Conclusions The low stature and cross-sectional properties of the Rural Islamic group are most likely an indicator of greater physiological stress, potentially due to poorer diet. Positive correlations between measures of body size and δ13C values further suggest that greater access to C4 resources improved diet quality. Alternatively, this relationship could indicate greater body size among migrants from areas where individuals consumed more C4 resources

Computational approaches to explainable artificial intelligence: Advances in theory, applications and trends

Deep Learning (DL), a groundbreaking branch of Machine Learning (ML), has emerged as a driving force in both theoretical and applied Artificial Intelligence (AI). DL algorithms, rooted in complex and non-linear artificial neural systems, excel at extracting high-level features from data. DL has demonstrated human-level performance in real-world tasks, including clinical diagnostics, and has unlocked solutions to previously intractable problems in virtual agent design, robotics, genomics, neuroimaging, computer vision, and industrial automation. In this paper, the most relevant advances from the last few years in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and several applications to neuroscience, neuroimaging, computer vision, and robotics are presented, reviewed and discussed. In this way, we summarize the state-of-the-art in AI methods, models and applications within a collection of works presented at the 9th International Conference on the Interplay between Natural and Artificial Computation (IWINAC). The works presented in this paper are excellent examples of new scientific discoveries made in laboratories that have successfully transitioned to real-life applications.MCIU - Nvidia(UMA18-FEDERJA-084

Computational Approaches to Explainable Artificial Intelligence:Advances in Theory, Applications and Trends

Deep Learning (DL), a groundbreaking branch of Machine Learning (ML), has emerged as a driving force in both theoretical and applied Artificial Intelligence (AI). DL algorithms, rooted in complex and non-linear artificial neural systems, excel at extracting high-level features from data. DL has demonstrated human-level performance in real-world tasks, including clinical diagnostics, and has unlocked solutions to previously intractable problems in virtual agent design, robotics, genomics, neuroimaging, computer vision, and industrial automation. In this paper, the most relevant advances from the last few years in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and several applications to neuroscience, neuroimaging, computer vision, and robotics are presented, reviewed and discussed. In this way, we summarize the state-of-the-art in AI methods, models and applications within a collection of works presented at the 9 International Conference on the Interplay between Natural and Artificial Computation (IWINAC). The works presented in this paper are excellent examples of new scientific discoveries made in laboratories that have successfully transitioned to real-life applications

Beamforming for large-area scan and improved SNR in array-based photoacoustic microscopy

[EN] Beamforming enhances the performance of array-based photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) systems for large-area scan. In this study, we quantify the imaging performance of a large field-of-view optical-resolution photoacoustic-microscopy system using an phased-array detector. The system combines a low-cost pulsed-laser diode with a 128-element linear ultrasound probe. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and generalized contrast-to-noise ratio (gCNR) are quantified using the phased-array detector and applying three beamforming strategies: a no-beamforming method equivalent to a single-element flat transducer, a fixed focus beamforming method that mimics a single-element focused transducer, and a dynamic focus beamforming using a delay-and-sum (DAS) algorithm. The imaging capabilities of the system are demonstrated generating high-resolution images of tissue-mimicking phantoms containing sub-millimetre ink tubes and an ex vivo rabbit¿s ear. The results show that dynamic focus DAS beamforming increases and homogenizes SNR along 1-cm2 images, reaching values up to 15 dB compared to an unfocused detector and up to 30 dB compared to out-of-focus regions of the fixed focus configuration. Moreover, the obtained values of gCNR using the DAS beamformer indicate an excellent target visibility, both on phantoms and ex vivo. This strategy makes it possible to scan larger surfaces compared to standard configurations using single-element detectors, paving the way for advanced array-based PAM systems.This research has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through grant "Juan de la Cierva - Incorporación" (IJC2018-037897-I), and program "Proyectos I+D+i 2019, Spain" (PID2019-111436RB-C22), by Programa Operativo Empleo Juvenil, Spain 2014-2020 (MIN19-VAL-I3M-004), and by the Agència Valenciana de la Innovació, Spain through grant INNCON00/2020/009. Action co-financed by the European Union through the Programa Operativo del Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) of the Comunitat Valenciana 2014-2020 (IDIFEDER/2018/022). A.C. received financial support from Generalitat Valenciana, Spain and Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain through the grants APOSTD/2018/229 and program PAID-10-19, respectively. A.D. received support from Generalitat Valenciana, Spain through grant GJIDI/2018/A/249.Cebrecos, A.; García-Garrigós, JJ.; Descals, A.; Jimenez, N.; Benlloch Baviera, JM.; Camarena Femenia, F. (2021). Beamforming for large-area scan and improved SNR in array-based photoacoustic microscopy. Ultrasonics. 111:1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultras.2020.106317S18111Yao, J., & Wang, L. V. (2013). Photoacoustic microscopy. Laser & Photonics Reviews, 7(5), 758-778. doi:10.1002/lpor.201200060Jeon, S., Kim, J., Lee, D., Baik, J. W., & Kim, C. (2019). Review on practical photoacoustic microscopy. Photoacoustics, 15, 100141. doi:10.1016/j.pacs.2019.100141Beard, P. (2011). Biomedical photoacoustic imaging. Interface Focus, 1(4), 602-631. doi:10.1098/rsfs.2011.0028Maslov, K., Zhang, H. F., Hu, S., & Wang, L. V. (2008). Optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy for in vivo imaging of single capillaries. Optics Letters, 33(9), 929. doi:10.1364/ol.33.000929Maslov, K., Stoica, G., & Wang, L. V. (2005). In vivo dark-field reflection-mode photoacoustic microscopy. Optics Letters, 30(6), 625. doi:10.1364/ol.30.000625Wang, L. V., & Yao, J. (2016). A practical guide to photoacoustic tomography in the life sciences. Nature Methods, 13(8), 627-638. doi:10.1038/nmeth.3925Zhang, C., Maslov, K., & Wang, L. V. (2010). Subwavelength-resolution label-free photoacoustic microscopy of optical absorption in vivo. Optics Letters, 35(19), 3195. doi:10.1364/ol.35.003195Li, M.-L., Wang, J. C., Schwartz, J. A., Gill-Sharp, K. L., Stoica, G., & Wang, L. V. (2009). In-vivo photoacoustic microscopy of nanoshell extravasation from solid tumor vasculature. Journal of Biomedical Optics, 14(1), 010507. doi:10.1117/1.3081556Zhong, H., Duan, T., Lan, H., Zhou, M., & Gao, F. (2018). Review of Low-Cost Photoacoustic Sensing and Imaging Based on Laser Diode and Light-Emitting Diode. Sensors, 18(7), 2264. doi:10.3390/s18072264Allen, T. J., & Beard, P. C. (2006). Pulsed near-infrared laser diode excitation system for biomedical photoacoustic imaging. Optics Letters, 31(23), 3462. doi:10.1364/ol.31.003462Zeng, L., Liu, G., Yang, D., & Ji, X. (2013). Portable optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy with a pulsed laser diode excitation. Applied Physics Letters, 102(5), 053704. doi:10.1063/1.4791566Wang, T., Nandy, S., Salehi, H. S., Kumavor, P. D., & Zhu, Q. (2014). A low-cost photoacoustic microscopy system with a laser diode excitation. Biomedical Optics Express, 5(9), 3053. doi:10.1364/boe.5.003053Zeng, L., Liu, G., Yang, D., & Ji, X. (2014). Cost-efficient laser-diode-induced optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy for two-dimensional/three-dimensional biomedical imaging. Journal of Biomedical Optics, 19(7), 076017. doi:10.1117/1.jbo.19.7.076017Hariri, A., Fatima, A., Mohammadian, N., Mahmoodkalayeh, S., Ansari, M. A., Bely, N., & Avanaki, M. R. N. (2017). Development of low-cost photoacoustic imaging systems using very low-energy pulsed laser diodes. Journal of Biomedical Optics, 22(7), 075001. doi:10.1117/1.jbo.22.7.075001Erfanzadeh, M., Kumavor, P. D., & Zhu, Q. (2018). Laser scanning laser diode photoacoustic microscopy system. Photoacoustics, 9, 1-9. doi:10.1016/j.pacs.2017.10.001Zeng, L., Piao, Z., Huang, S., Jia, W., & Chen, Z. (2015). Label-free optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy of superficial microvasculature using a compact visible laser diode excitation. Optics Express, 23(24), 31026. doi:10.1364/oe.23.031026Hariri, A., Lemaster, J., Wang, J., Jeevarathinam, A. S., Chao, D. L., & Jokerst, J. V. (2018). The characterization of an economic and portable LED-based photoacoustic imaging system to facilitate molecular imaging. Photoacoustics, 9, 10-20. doi:10.1016/j.pacs.2017.11.001Erfanzadeh, M., & Zhu, Q. (2019). Photoacoustic imaging with low-cost sources; A review. Photoacoustics, 14, 1-11. doi:10.1016/j.pacs.2019.01.004Yao, J., & Wang, L. V. (2014). Sensitivity of photoacoustic microscopy. Photoacoustics, 2(2), 87-101. doi:10.1016/j.pacs.2014.04.002Allen, T. J., Ogunlade, O., Zhang, E., & Beard, P. C. (2018). Large area laser scanning optical resolution photoacoustic microscopy using a fibre optic sensor. Biomedical Optics Express, 9(2), 650. doi:10.1364/boe.9.000650Song, L., Maslov, K., Shung, K. K., & Wang, L. V. (2010). Ultrasound-array-based real-time photoacoustic microscopy of human pulsatile dynamics in vivo. Journal of Biomedical Optics, 15(2), 021303. doi:10.1117/1.3333545Song, L., Maslov, K., & Wang, L. V. (2011). Multifocal optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy in vivo. Optics Letters, 36(7), 1236. doi:10.1364/ol.36.001236Zheng, F., Zhang, X., Chiu, C. T., Zhou, B. L., Shung, K. K., Zhang, H. F., & Jiao, S. (2012). Laser-scanning photoacoustic microscopy with ultrasonic phased array transducer. Biomedical Optics Express, 3(11), 2694. doi:10.1364/boe.3.002694Kempski, K. M., Graham, M. T., Gubbi, M. R., Palmer, T., & Lediju Bell, M. A. (2020). Application of the generalized contrast-to-noise ratio to assess photoacoustic image quality. Biomedical Optics Express, 11(7), 3684. doi:10.1364/boe.391026Cook, J. R., Bouchard, R. R., & Emelianov, S. Y. (2011). Tissue-mimicking phantoms for photoacoustic and ultrasonic imaging. Biomedical Optics Express, 2(11), 3193. doi:10.1364/boe.2.003193Park, J., Jeon, S., Meng, J., Song, L., Lee, J. S., & Kim, C. (2016). Delay-multiply-and-sum-based synthetic aperture focusing in photoacoustic microscopy. Journal of Biomedical Optics, 21(3), 036010. doi:10.1117/1.jbo.21.3.036010Mozaffarzadeh, M., Varnosfaderani, M. H. H., Sharma, A., Pramanik, M., de Jong, N., & Verweij, M. D. (2019). Enhanced contrast acoustic‐resolution photoacoustic microscopy using double‐stage delay‐multiply‐and‐sum beamformer for vasculature imaging. Journal of Biophotonics, 12(11). doi:10.1002/jbio.201900133Matrone, G., Ramalli, A., Tortoli, P., & Magenes, G. (2018). Experimental evaluation of ultrasound higher-order harmonic imaging with Filtered-Delay Multiply And Sum (F-DMAS) non-linear beamforming. Ultrasonics, 86, 59-68. doi:10.1016/j.ultras.2018.01.002Paridar, R., Mozaffarzadeh, M., Periyasamy, V., Pramanik, M., Mehrmohammadi, M., & Orooji, M. (2019). Sparsity-based beamforming to enhance two-dimensional linear-array photoacoustic tomography. Ultrasonics, 96, 55-63. doi:10.1016/j.ultras.2019.03.010Shamekhi, S., Periyasamy, V., Pramanik, M., Mehrmohammadi, M., & Mohammadzadeh Asl, B. (2020). 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Anterior segment optical coherence tomography angiography to evaluate the peripheral fitting of scleral contact lenses

Imma Gimenez-Sanchis,1 Beatriz Palacios-Carmen,1 Angel García-Garrigós,1 Javier Cantó-Vañó,1 Antonio J Pérez-Ortega,1 David P Piñero2 1Opticas ClaraVisión, Ontinyent, Spain; 2Department of Optics, Pharmacology and Anatomy, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain Purpose: The aim of this study was to show the potential applicability of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) for the evaluation of the peripheral fitting of fully scleral contact lenses.Methods: A pilot study was proposed fitting three different scleral contact lenses (Irregular Corneal Design [ICD]) with different sagittal heights (4200, 4800, and 5600 mm) in a healthy volunteer of 27 years old. We evaluated by means of optical coherence tomography (OCT, DRI Triton) the apical clearance achieved with each of the three lenses fitted. The impact over scleral flow was assessed with the OCTA module of the same device.Results: The apical clearance was 310, 901, and 1680 µm with the scleral lenses of sagittal heights 4200, 4800, and 5600 µm, respectively. With OCTA, we evaluated the impact of the lens bearing on the conjunctival vascular flow, observing an area of vascular interruption of 0, 25, and 75% with the lenses of 4200, 4800, and 5600 µm of sagittal heights, respectively. The vascular interruption was induced in the perilimbar area, suggesting the need of readjusting the limbal clearance zone of the lens.Conclusion: Fully scleral contact lens fitting may be optimized with the use of OCTA, allowing the practitioner to perform the fitting with better control of the peripheral bearing of the lens on the conjunctival tissue, assessing the impact on vascular structures. This potential use of OCTA must be investigated further in future studies including large samples of eyes. Keywords: scleral contact lens, optical coherence tomography, OCT angiography, apical clearance, corneal limbu

Characterization tests of a Stripline beam position monitor for the CLIC drive beam

A prototype of a stripline Beam Position Monitor (BPM) with its associated readout electronics has been developed at CERN in collaboration with SLAC, LAPP and IFIC. In this paper, the design and simulations of the BPM with the analog readout chain and the BPM test bench are described, and the results of the first characterization tests are presented. The position resolution and accuracy parameters are expected to be below 2μm and 20μm respectively for a beam with a bunching frequency of 12GHz, an average current of 101A and a machine repetition rate of 50H

Sensory expectations from aesthetic perceptions of coffee beverages presented in different mugs

[EN] The present work examined how the esthetic impression caused by a specific mug selection seems to influence the expected flavor elicited by a coffee beverage. Participants from Mexico viewed online photographs of espresso, Americano, latte and cappuccino presented in two different mugs, including a transparent glass mug and a white ceramic mug. The type of mug influenced participants' subjective ratings of the drinks. Espresso and Americano were expected to be more aromatic, bitter, hotter and more intense when served in a transparent glass mug rather than in a white ceramic mug. Results extend the knowledge of consumer preferences and bring an idea for the best way to better fulfill customer's sensory expectations.Corona, V.; Vargas De La Cruz, I.; Lujan-Moreno, GA.; Albors Garrigós, J.; García-Segovia, P.; Rojas, OG. (2022). Sensory expectations from aesthetic perceptions of coffee beverages presented in different mugs. Journal of Culinary Science & Technology. 20(3):213-238. https://doi.org/10.1080/15428052.2020.1824834S21323820

Bone health in a prospective cohort of postmenopausal women receiving aromatase inhibitors for early breast cancer

Objective: Baseline bone health in postmenopausal women is poorly characterized in prospective series of early breast cancer (EBC) patients candidates to aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapy. Our objective is to comprehensively evaluate bone health in a prospective clinical cohort of patients recruited prior to adjuvant AI therapy, with the aim of establishing potential AI impact on bone loss and fractures. Methods: From January 2006 to April 2010, we consecutively included 343 women with EBC who were about to start adjuvant AI therapy. Participants were assessed at baseline (before AI initiation) and at 3 months, with annual assessments thereafter. Bone mineral density (BMD), spine X-ray, bone metabolism (vitamin D [25(OH)D], bone turnover markers [BTM]), arthralgia and quality of life are measured. Results: Mean age was 61.9 years; 197 (57.4%) had been previously treated with tamoxifen; 145 (42.3%) were taking exemestane, 187 (54.5%) letrozole, and 11 (3.2%) anastrozole. Analysis of baseline data shows only 59 women (17.7%) had normal BMD; 200 (60.1%) had osteopenia and 74 (22.2%) had osteoporosis; 39 women (11.4%) had a prevalent fracture, 293 (89.1%) had 25(OH)D insufficiency (<30ng/ml), and 61 (18.5%) severe deficiency (<10ng/ml). Low 25(OH)D concentrations were associated with lower BMD and 233 (67.9%) participants had some degree of arthralgia. Conclusions: Low bone mass, prevalent fractures and vitamin D insufficiency were highly prevalent among candidates to adjuvant AI for EBC. Therefore, it is crucial to assess BMD, prevalent fractures and 25(OH)D concentrations before starting AI therapy and during follow-up. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd