Muscular Strength Imbalances Are not Associated with Skin Temperature Asymmetries in Soccer Players

Although strength imbalances using isokinetic dynamometer have been examined for injury risk screening in soccer players, it is very expensive and time-consuming, making the evaluation of new methods appealing. The aim of the study was to analyze the agreement between muscular strength imbalances and skin temperature bilateral asymmetries as well as skin temperature diferences in the hamstrings and quadriceps. The skin temperature of the anterior and posterior thigh of 59 healthy male soccer athletes was assessed at baseline using infrared thermography for the identification of hamstrings-quadriceps skin temperature diferences and thermal asymmetries (>0.5 ºC). Subsequently, concentric and eccentric peak torque of the quadriceps and hamstrings were considered in the determination of the ratios, as well as muscular asymmetries (>15%). When considering the torque parameters, 37.3% (n = 22) of the players would be classified as high risk for injuries. The percentage of those presenting skin temperature imbalances superior to 0.5 C was 52.5% (n = 31). The skin temperature assessment showed sensitivity (22%) and specificity (32.2%) to identify torque asymmetries, demonstrating the inability to identify false negatives (15.3%) and false positives (30.5%) from all soccer athletes. In conclusion, skin temperature diferences between hamstrings and quadriceps could be more related to thermoregulatory factors than strength imbalances

A large, curated, open-source stroke neuroimaging dataset to improve lesion segmentation algorithms

Accurate lesion segmentation is critical in stroke rehabilitation research for the quantifcation of lesion burden and accurate image processing. Current automated lesion segmentation methods for T1-weighted (T1w) MRIs, commonly used in stroke research, lack accuracy and reliability. Manual segmentation remains the gold standard, but it is time-consuming, subjective, and requires neuroanatomical expertise. We previously released an open-source dataset of stroke T1w MRIs and manually-segmented lesion masks (ATLAS v1.2, N=304) to encourage the development of better algorithms. However, many methods developed with ATLAS v1.2 report low accuracy, are not publicly accessible or are improperly validated, limiting their utility to the feld. Here we present ATLAS v2.0 (N=1271), a larger dataset of T1w MRIs and manually segmented lesion masks that includes training (n=655), test (hidden masks, n=300), and generalizability (hidden MRIs and masks, n=316) datasets. Algorithm development using this larger sample should lead to more robust solutions; the hidden datasets allow for unbiased performance evaluation via segmentation challenges. We anticipate that ATLAS v2.0 will lead to improved algorithms, facilitating large-scale stroke research.Sook-Lei Liew ... Brenton G. Hordacre ... et al

Soasim: A Simulator For Semiconductor Optical Amplifier With Feed Gain Control

A semiconductor optical amplifier simulator (SOASim) and its modeling background are presented. SOASim has the capability to consider semiconductor optical amplifiers under amplitude-modulated input current feeding. Experimental results including all-optical pulse reshaping applications are shown with good agreement with simulations. Several gigabit rate operation may be obtained if the SOA could achieve gain recovery time below 10 picoseconds.250651

Species richness, range size, and wing development in South American melanopline grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Acrididae)

1. Wing development can influence biogeographic patterns, and much debate has been focused on the ecological conditions that favour secondary wing reductions in insects. Although grasshoppers are mostly flight-capable, brachypterism appears to be common in many species and has been typically associated with limited dispersal abilities. 2. This study presents the first comprehensive analysis of biodiversity patterns in South American melanopline grassshoppers. Two different macroecological methodologies were applied: a range–diversity plots approach and generalised lineal models (GLMs). The study simultaneously considered three features (species richness, range size, and wing development) and four potentially explanatory hypotheses that can influence geographic biodiversity patterns: energy, environmental heterogeneity, seasonality, and habitat suitability hypotheses. 3. These analyses of dispersal abilities and distributional data indicate a clear and consistent association between wing development and biogeographical patterns in South American melanopline grasshoppers. Brachyptery was related to small distribution sizes, whereas the opposite was true for macroptery. Melanopline species richness is best explained by all the environmental hypotheses considered in the analysis (energy, environmental heterogeneity, seasonality, and habitat suitability hypotheses), whereas geographic range size is explained by the environmental heterogeneity and seasonality hypotheses. 4. Models indicate a stronger association with range size than with species richness, and it is therefore considered that range size is a key feature to elucidate the spatial patterns of biodiversity. Despite the relevance of species richness and range sizes as descriptors of macroecological and biodiversity patterns, these features are seldom investigated simultaneously.Fil: Scattolini, María Celeste. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Entomología; ArgentinaFil: Lira Noriega, Andres. Instituto de Ecología; MéxicoFil: Cigliano, Maria Marta. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Entomología; Argentin