Finite element model of an impact on a palmar pad from a snowboard wrist protector

Wrist injuries are the most common types of injury in snowboarding. Protectors can reduce injury risk by limiting wrist hyperextension and attenuating impact forces. There are a range of wrist protector concepts available, but it is unclear if any particular design is more effective. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a finite element model of an impact on the palmar pad from a protector. Pad material from a protector was characterised to obtain stress vs strain data, and determine whether it was rate dependent. Material data was implemented into a finite element model to predict impact behavior at 2.5 J. Four material models were investigated, with an Ogden model paired with a Prony series providing the best agreement to experimental data. Future work will build a model of a complete protector for predicting the protective levels of these products

A comparison of European eel Anguilla anguilla eDNA concentrations to fyke net catches in five Irish lakes

The European eel, Anguilla anguilla, is classified as critically endangered by the IUCN. To protect what remains of the European eel population, accurate monitoring methods for this species are important. Environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques are gaining popularity for ecological monitoring of aquatic organisms because they are sensitive and non-invasive. This study directly compared catch data from a standardised fyke-net fishing survey with a single species A. anguilla eDNA survey in five freshwater lakes in Ireland. The eDNA was recovered by the filtration of water samples and amplified by quantitative real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR). European eel eDNA was reliably determined in 83 % (70/84) of surface water samples collected from lakes classified as having high, medium and low eel populations. In addition there was a positive association between the eDNA concentrations recovered and the eel population classification with lower eDNA concentrations in lakes classified as low eel population lakes. Similar amounts of A. anguilla eDNA were detected in water samples collected from open water and shore-side, suggesting shore sampling is an adequate method for eel detection. Together, the results demonstrate that eDNA sampling is more sensitive for detecting eel presence in low eel population environments than standard survey methods, and may be a useful non-invasive tool for monitoring A. anguilla species distribution

Out of the boxes, out of the silos: The need of interdisciplinary collaboration to reduce poor-quality medical products in the supply chain

In this paper, we argue that understanding and addressing the problem of poor-quality medical products requires a more interdisciplinary approach than has been evident to date. While prospective studies based on rigorous standardized methodologies are the gold standard for measuring the prevalence of poor-quality medical products and understanding their distribution nationally and internationally, they should be complemented by social science research to unpack the complex set of social, economic, and governance factors that underlie these patterns. In the following sections, we discuss specific examples of prospective quality surveys and of social science studies, highlighting the value of cross-sector partnerships in driving high-quality, policy-relevant research in this area

Characterizing K2 Candidate Planetary Systems Orbiting Low-mass Stars. I. Classifying Low-mass Host Stars Observed during Campaigns 1–7

We present near-infrared spectra for 144 candidate planetary systems identified during Campaigns 1–7 of the NASA K2 Mission. The goal of the survey was to characterize planets orbiting low-mass stars, but our Infrared Telescope Facility/SpeX and Palomar/TripleSpec spectroscopic observations revealed that 49% of our targets were actually giant stars or hotter dwarfs reddened by interstellar extinction. For the 72 stars with spectra consistent with classification as cool dwarfs (spectral types K3–M4), we refined their stellar properties by applying empirical relations based on stars with interferometric radius measurements. Although our revised temperatures are generally consistent with those reported in the Ecliptic Plane Input Catalog (EPIC), our revised stellar radii are typically 0.13 [subscript ⊙](39%) larger than the EPIC values, which were based on model isochrones that have been shown to underestimate the radii of cool dwarfs. Our improved stellar characterizations will enable more efficient prioritization of K2 targets for follow-up studies

Chronic neuropsychiatric sequelae of SARS-CoV-2: Protocol and methods from the Alzheimer\u27s Association Global Consortium

Introduction Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) has caused \u3e3.5 million deaths worldwide and affected \u3e160 million people. At least twice as many have been infected but remained asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic. COVID‐19 includes central nervous system manifestations mediated by inflammation and cerebrovascular, anoxic, and/or viral neurotoxicity mechanisms. More than one third of patients with COVID‐19 develop neurologic problems during the acute phase of the illness, including loss of sense of smell or taste, seizures, and stroke. Damage or functional changes to the brain may result in chronic sequelae. The risk of incident cognitive and neuropsychiatric complications appears independent from the severity of the original pulmonary illness. It behooves the scientific and medical community to attempt to understand the molecular and/or systemic factors linking COVID‐19 to neurologic illness, both short and long term. Methods This article describes what is known so far in terms of links among COVID‐19, the brain, neurological symptoms, and Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) and related dementias. We focus on risk factors and possible molecular, inflammatory, and viral mechanisms underlying neurological injury. We also provide a comprehensive description of the Alzheimer\u27s Association Consortium on Chronic Neuropsychiatric Sequelae of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection (CNS SC2) harmonized methodology to address these questions using a worldwide network of researchers and institutions. Results Successful harmonization of designs and methods was achieved through a consensus process initially fragmented by specific interest groups (epidemiology, clinical assessments, cognitive evaluation, biomarkers, and neuroimaging). Conclusions from subcommittees were presented to the whole group and discussed extensively. Presently data collection is ongoing at 19 sites in 12 countries representing Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Discussion The Alzheimer\u27s Association Global Consortium harmonized methodology is proposed as a model to study long‐term neurocognitive sequelae of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. Key Points The following review describes what is known so far in terms of molecular and epidemiological links among COVID‐19, the brain, neurological symptoms, and AD and related dementias (ADRD) The primary objective of this large‐scale collaboration is to clarify the pathogenesis of ADRD and to advance our understanding of the impact of a neurotropic virus on the long‐term risk of cognitive decline and other CNS sequelae. No available evidence supports the notion that cognitive impairment after SARS‐CoV‐2 infection is a form of dementia (ADRD or otherwise). The longitudinal methodologies espoused by the consortium are intended to provide data to answer this question as clearly as possible controlling for possible confounders. Our specific hypothesis is that SARS‐CoV‐2 triggers ADRD‐like pathology following the extended olfactory cortical network (EOCN) in older individuals with specific genetic susceptibility. The proposed harmonization strategies and flexible study designs offer the possibility to include large samples of under‐represented racial and ethnic groups, creating a rich set of harmonized cohorts for future studies of the pathophysiology, determinants, long‐term consequences, and trends in cognitive aging, ADRD, and vascular disease. We provide a framework for current and future studies to be carried out within the Consortium. and offers a “green paper” to the research community with a very broad, global base of support, on tools suitable for low‐ and middle‐income countries aimed to compare and combine future longitudinal data on the topic. The Consortium proposes a combination of design and statistical methods as a means of approaching causal inference of the COVID‐19 neuropsychiatric sequelae. We expect that deep phenotyping of neuropsychiatric sequelae may provide a series of candidate syndromes with phenomenological and biological characterization that can be further explored. By generating high‐quality harmonized data across sites we aim to capture both descriptive and, where possible, causal associations

Compartir los datos de investigación en ciencia: introducción al data sharing

The emergence in the scientific community of an initiative known as data sharing, consisting of sharing research data among researchers and aiming to maximize efforts and resources, is analysed. First, the concept of research data and the related technical difficulties depending on the discipline are reviewed. We also examine the motivations, origins and growth of this movement, which has had an important impact on the scientific community’s behaviour through the creation of reposi- tories and data banks, raising both technical and social challenges. Then we discuss leading funding agencies’ initiatives and scientific journals’ editorial policies promoting these practices. Finally, we examine the impact these major changes in researchers’ habits have for librarians, including the emergence of new professional profiles