Health Status and Patient Satisfaction after Corneal Graft: Results from the Corneal Transplant Epidemiological Study

Purpose. To evaluate effects of corneal transplantation on the health-related quality of life and patients' satisfaction. Methods. Patients scheduled for elective penetrating or anterior lamellar keratoplasty completed by telephone interview the SF-12 Health Survey, before and one year after surgery, and a 6-item questionnaire on the satisfaction for graft outcomes. Results. The two questionnaires were answered by 1,223 patients. Transplantation did not influence the PCS-12 in males (ES = −0.01) and had a negative effect in females (ES = −0.18). Both sexes improved their MCS-12 (ES = 0.18 and 0.23, resp.). The majority of patients (83.1%) were satisfied by the outcome of the graft. Conclusions. This is the first report on the use of the SF-12 and one of the few that assess quality of life in patients after corneal transplantation. We showed that grafting improves patients' health-related quality of life results of patients, influencing mental health (i.e., psychological attitude, social interaction, and emotions) with minor effects on physical health (limitation, pain, and vitality)

Assessing the validity of the MyJump2 app for measuring different jumps in professional cerebral palsy football players: an experimental study

Background: Vertical jumps can be used to assess neuromuscular status in sports performance. This is particularly important in Cerebral Palsy Football (CP Football) because players are exposed to high injury risk, but it may be complicated because the gold standard for assessing jump performance is scarce in field evaluation. Thus, field techniques, such as mobile apps, have been proposed as an alternative method for solving this problem. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the reliability of the measures of the MyJump2 app to assess vertical jump performance in professional CP Football. Methods: We assessed 40 male CP Football athletes (age 28.1 [SD 1.4] years, weight 72.5 [SD 6.2] kg, and height 176 [SD 4.2] cm) through the countermovement jump (CMJ) and squat jump (SJ) using a contact mat. At the same time, we assessed the athletes using the MyJump2 app. Results: There were no significant differences between the instruments in SJ height (P=.12) and flight time (P=.15). Additionally, there were no significant differences between the instruments for CMJ in jump height (P=.16) and flight time (P=.13). In addition, it was observed that there were significant and strong intraclass correlations in all SJ variables varying from 0.86 to 0.89 (both P<.001), which was classified as "almost perfect." Similar results were observed in all variables from the CMJ, varying from 0.92 to 0.96 (both P <=.001). Conclusions: We conclude that the MyJump2 app presents high validity and reliability for measuring jump height and flight time of the SJ and CMJ in CP Football athletes.7

Anthropometric and Motor Performance of Cerebral Palsy Football Athletes

O futebol de 7 é um esporte intermitente no qual a capacidade de força é evidenciada, tornando a avaliação desta e outras capacidades essenciais para o alcance do desempenho esportivo. Objetivo: O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar o perfil antropométrico e do desempenho motor, por classe funcional e posição de atletas da seleção brasileira de futebol de 7. Metodologia: A amostra foi composta por 16 atletas. Na avaliação antropométrica foi medido: MC, estatura, IMC, pregas cutâneas e circunferência abdominal. Para o desempenho motor foram utilizados: saltos verticais, agilidade 10 x 5 e RAST test. Resultados: As variáveis antropométricas apresentaram média da MC de 69,6±7,3, IMC de 19,9±1,9, somatória de nove pregas 88,8±35,4 e %G 10,6±5,4. O desempenho motor apresentou resultados para agilidade de 18,9±1,1, Countermovement jump 33,4±8, Squat jump 31,6±7,6 e potência média 6,3±1,5. Conclusão: Os resultados se apresentaram adequados para atletas de alto rendimento e o desempenho motor sofreu influências da classe funcional.Football 7 is an intermittent sport, which requires strength capacity, making its evaluation and the evaluation of other capacities essential for the achievement of the sport performance. The aim of study was to identify the anthropometric profile and the motor performance of the athletes from the Brazilian National Cerebral Palsy Football Team. The sample was composed of 16 athletes. the Anthropometric assessment was made to weight, height, BMI, skinfolds and waist circumference. the motor performance was measured through vertical jump tests, 10x5 meters agility test and RAST test. Results: The anthropometric variables showed that the body mass (Kg) was 69.6±7.3, BMI was 19.9±1.9, sum of 9 skinfolds 88.3±34.8 and body fat percentage was 10.6±5.4. the motor performance indicated that the agility test was 18.9±1.1, the countermovement jump was 33.4±8, the squat jump was 31.6±7.6 and average power was 6.3±1.5. The results revealed to be consistent with high-performance athletes and also show that the functional class influenced their motor performance.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Anthropometric and Motor Performance of Cerebral Palsy Football Athletes

O futebol de 7 é um esporte intermitente no qual a capacidade de força é evidenciada, tornando a avaliação desta e outras capacidades essenciais para o alcance do desempenho esportivo. Objetivo: O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar o perfil antropométrico e do desempenho motor, por classe funcional e posição de atletas da seleção brasileira de futebol de 7. Metodologia: A amostra foi composta por 16 atletas. Na avaliação antropométrica foi medido: MC, estatura, IMC, pregas cutâneas e circunferência abdominal. Para o desempenho motor foram utilizados: saltos verticais, agilidade 10 x 5 e RAST test. Resultados: As variáveis antropométricas apresentaram média da MC de 69,6±7,3, IMC de 19,9±1,9, somatória de nove pregas 88,8±35,4 e %G 10,6±5,4. O desempenho motor apresentou resultados para agilidade de 18,9±1,1, Countermovement jump 33,4±8, Squat jump 31,6±7,6 e potência média 6,3±1,5. Conclusão: Os resultados se apresentaram adequados para atletas de alto rendimento e o desempenho motor sofreu influências da classe funcional.Football 7 is an intermittent sport, which requires strength capacity, making its evaluation and the evaluation of other capacities essential for the achievement of the sport performance. The aim of study was to identify the anthropometric profile and the motor performance of the athletes from the Brazilian National Cerebral Palsy Football Team. The sample was composed of 16 athletes. the Anthropometric assessment was made to weight, height, BMI, skinfolds and waist circumference. the motor performance was measured through vertical jump tests, 10x5 meters agility test and RAST test. Results: The anthropometric variables showed that the body mass (Kg) was 69.6±7.3, BMI was 19.9±1.9, sum of 9 skinfolds 88.3±34.8 and body fat percentage was 10.6±5.4. the motor performance indicated that the agility test was 18.9±1.1, the countermovement jump was 33.4±8, the squat jump was 31.6±7.6 and average power was 6.3±1.5. The results revealed to be consistent with high-performance athletes and also show that the functional class influenced their motor performance.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Anthropometric and Motor Performance of Cerebral Palsy Football Athletes

O futebol de 7 é um esporte intermitente no qual a capacidade de força é evidenciada, tornando a avaliação desta e outras capacidades essenciais para o alcance do desempenho esportivo. Objetivo: O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar o perfil antropométrico e do desempenho motor, por classe funcional e posição de atletas da seleção brasileira de futebol de 7. Metodologia: A amostra foi composta por 16 atletas. Na avaliação antropométrica foi medido: MC, estatura, IMC, pregas cutâneas e circunferência abdominal. Para o desempenho motor foram utilizados: saltos verticais, agilidade 10 x 5 e RAST test. Resultados: As variáveis antropométricas apresentaram média da MC de 69,6±7,3, IMC de 19,9±1,9, somatória de nove pregas 88,8±35,4 e %G 10,6±5,4. O desempenho motor apresentou resultados para agilidade de 18,9±1,1, Countermovement jump 33,4±8, Squat jump 31,6±7,6 e potência média 6,3±1,5. Conclusão: Os resultados se apresentaram adequados para atletas de alto rendimento e o desempenho motor sofreu influências da classe funcional.Football 7 is an intermittent sport, which requires strength capacity, making its evaluation and the evaluation of other capacities essential for the achievement of the sport performance. The aim of study was to identify the anthropometric profile and the motor performance of the athletes from the Brazilian National Cerebral Palsy Football Team. The sample was composed of 16 athletes. the Anthropometric assessment was made to weight, height, BMI, skinfolds and waist circumference. the motor performance was measured through vertical jump tests, 10x5 meters agility test and RAST test. Results: The anthropometric variables showed that the body mass (Kg) was 69.6±7.3, BMI was 19.9±1.9, sum of 9 skinfolds 88.3±34.8 and body fat percentage was 10.6±5.4. the motor performance indicated that the agility test was 18.9±1.1, the countermovement jump was 33.4±8, the squat jump was 31.6±7.6 and average power was 6.3±1.5. The results revealed to be consistent with high-performance athletes and also show that the functional class influenced their motor performance.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Estudis de validació de proves per a l’anàlisi de la potència aeròbica en atletes tetraplègics

El següent estudi presenta una revisió de la literatura des de l’any 1980 fins a l’any 2011 que té com a objectius, trobar metodologies originals per a l’avaluació de la Potència Aeròbica en atletes amb tetraplegia, descriure els procediments metodològics utilitzats i presentar els possibles errors metodològics analitzats perquè altres recerques incideixin en el desenvolupament de protocols més fidedignes i adequats per a aquestapoblació. S’han consultat les bases de dades ScienceDirect, Scopus, Pubmed i Medlineutilitzant les paraules clau “Wheelchair Users”, “Spinal Cord Injury”, “Field Test”, “Validation” i “Peak Oxygen Consumption”. Després de l’anàlisi en profunditat dels manuscrits, van ser seleccionats 10 articles, tots d’autoria internacional. Es pot concloure que la utilització d’aquests recursos és una important àrea d’interès en el camp del rendiment paraesportiu, encara que es presenten algunes restriccions a causa dels tipus de discapacitat, la dificultat d’aconseguir mostres homogènies i la dificultat d’obtenir grups de mostra en nombres considerats suficients per a la realització de procediments estadístics. Malgrat l’evolució dels processos d’avaluació en l’àmbit paraesportiu, més estudis haurien de ser proposats perquè els protocols de camp es tornin més fidedignes i adequats per a aquesta població

Validación de pruebas para el análisis de la potencia aeróbica en atletas tetrapléjicos

El siguiente estudio presenta una revisión de textos, entre los años 1980 y 2011, cuyos objetivos son encontrar metodologías originales para la evaluación de la potencia aeróbica en atletas con tetraplejia, describir los procedimientos metodológicos utilizados y presentar los posibles errores metodológicos analizados para que otras investigaciones incidan en el desarrollo de protocolos más fidedignos y adecuados para dicha población. Se han consultado las bases de datos ScienceDirect, Scopus, Pubmed y Medline utilizando las palabras clave “Wheelchair Users”, “Spinal Cord Injury”, “Field Test”, “Validation” y “Peak Oxygen Consumption”. Tras el análisis en profundidad de los manuscritos, se seleccionaron 10 artículos de autorías internacionales. Se puede concluir que la utilización de estos recursos es una importante área de interés en el campo del rendimiento paradeportivo, aunque se presentan algunas restricciones a causa de los tipos de discapacidad, la dificultad de conseguir muestras homogéneas y la dificultad de obtener grupos de muestra en números considerados suficientes para la realización de procedimientos estadísticos. A pesar de la evolución de los procesos de evaluación en el ámbito paradeportivo, se deberían proponer más estudios para que los protocolos de campo se vuelvan más fidedignos y adecuados para esta població

Adaptive Developmental Delay in Chagas Disease Vectors: An Evolutionary Ecology Approach

The developmental time of vector insects is important to their population dynamics, evolutionary biology, epidemiology of the diseases they transmit, and to their responses to global climatic change. In various triatomine species vectors of Chagas disease (Triatominae, Reduviidae), a delay in the molt of a small proportion of individuals has been observed, and from an evolutionary ecology approach, we propose the hypothesis that the developmental delay is an adaptation to environmental stochasticity through a spreading of risk (bet-hedging) diapause strategy. We confirmed, by means of a survey among specialists, the existence of the developmental delay in triatomines. Statistical descriptions of the developmental time of 11 species of triatomines showed some degree of bi-modality in nine of them. We predicted by means of an optimization model which genotype, coding for a given frequency of developmental diapause, is expected to evolve. We identified a series of parameters that can be measured in the field and in the laboratory to test the hypothesis of an optimal diapause frequency. We also discuss the importance of these findings for triatomines in terms of global climatic change and epidemiological consequences such as their resistance to insecticides

The commissioning of the CUORE experiment: the mini-tower run

CUORE is a ton-scale experiment approaching the data taking phase in Gran Sasso National Laboratory. Its primary goal is to search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay in 130Te using 988 crystals of tellurim dioxide. The crystals are operated as bolometers at about 10 mK taking advantage of one of the largest dilution cryostat ever built. Concluded in March 2016, the cryostat commissioning consisted in a sequence of cool down runs each one integrating new parts of the apparatus. The last run was performed with the fully configured cryostat and the thermal load at 4 K reached the impressive mass of about 14 tons. During that run the base temperature of 6.3 mK was reached and maintained for more than 70 days. An array of 8 crystals, called mini-tower, was used to check bolometers operation, readout electronics and DAQ. Results will be presented in terms of cooling power, electronic noise, energy resolution and preliminary background measurements