A new device to measure isometric strength in upper limbs: comparison between dominant and non-dominant limbs*

Univ Estadual Paulista, Dept Mecan, Guaratingueta, SP, BrazilFac Med ABC, Dept Morfol & Fisiol, Santo Andre, SP, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Med, Disciplina Cardiol, São Paulo, BrazilFac Tecnol São Paulo FATEC, São Paulo, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Educ Fis & Motricidade Humana, BR-13560 Sao Carlos, SP, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Med, Disciplina Cardiol, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Multi-step time series prediction intervals using neuroevolution

Multi-step time series forecasting (TSF) is a crucial element to support tactical decisions (e.g., designing production or marketing plans several months in advance). While most TSF research addresses only single-point prediction, prediction intervals (PIs) are useful to reduce uncertainty related to important decision making variables. In this paper, we explore a large set of neural network methods for multi-step TSF and that directly optimize PIs. This includes multi-step adaptations of recently proposed PI methods, such as lower--upper bound estimation (LUBET), its ensemble extension (LUBEXT), a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm LUBE (MLUBET) and a two-phase learning multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (M2LUBET). We also explore two new ensemble variants for the evolutionary approaches based on two PI coverage--width split methods (radial slices and clustering), leading to the MLUBEXT, M2LUBEXT, MLUBEXT2 and M2LUBEXT2 methods. A robust comparison was held by considering the rolling window procedure, nine time series from several real-world domains and with different characteristics, two PI quality measures (coverage error and width) and the Wilcoxon statistic. Overall, the best results were achieved by the M2LUBET neuroevolution method, which requires a reasonable computational effort for time series with a few hundreds of observations.This article is a result of the project NORTE-01- 0247-FEDER-017497, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestionsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

O registro dos limites da cidade: imagens da várzea do Carmo no século XIX

Este trabalho debruça-se sobre a iconografia paulistana do século XIX, em suas pinturas, aquarelas e litografias. Partindo da constatação da existência de um privilegiamento das áreas dos arredores do centro nas representações da cidade, especificamente uma região, a várzea do Carmo, e dessa permanência ainda na virada do século, quando a cidade sofre um processo de urbanização e crescimento grande, e a fotografia já está registrando as áreas centrais, quisemos investigar os sentidos dessas representações, tanto a presença desse espaço - a várzea do Carmo - no imaginário da época (cronistas, legisladores, memorialistas), quanto as imagens da cidade que estão sendo produzidas a partir desse ângulo de registro. Escolhemos analisar algumas imagens dessa região, concentrando-nos no final do século, contrapondo com outros discursos produzidos sobre a área por cronistas, jornalistas e memorialistas, na tentativa de entender um pouco mais a sociedade que as produziu

Níveis disfuncionais de ansiedade relacionada ao Coronavírus em estudantes de medicina: Dysfunctional levels of Coronavirus-related anxiety in medical students

As preocupações com a saúde mental das pessoas afetadas pela pandemia de coronavírus não foram abordadas adequadamente. Isso é surpreendente, uma vez que tragédias em massa, particularmente aquelas que envolvem doenças infecciosas, muitas vezes desencadeiam ondas de medo e ansiedade elevados que são conhecidos por causar perturbações maciças no comportamento e no bem-estar psicológico de muitos na população. Assim, o objetivo desse trabalho é demonstrar os níveis disfuncionais de ansiedade relacionada ao coronavírus em estudantes de medicina. Para isso, foi realizado uma revisão sistemática sobre a temática

Biodiversity recovery of Neotropical secondary forests

Old-growth tropical forests harbor an immense diversity of tree species but are rapidly being cleared, while secondary forests that regrow on abandoned agricultural lands increase in extent. We assess how tree species richness and composition recover during secondary succession across gradients in environmental conditions and anthropogenic disturbance in an unprecedented multisite analysis for the Neotropics. Secondary forests recover remarkably fast in species richness but slowly in species composition. Secondary forests take a median time of five decades to recover the species richness of old-growth forest (80% recovery after 20 years) based on rarefaction analysis. Full recovery of species composition takes centuries (only 34% recovery after 20 years). A dual strategy that maintains both old-growth forests and species-rich secondary forests is therefore crucial for biodiversity conservation in human-modified tropical landscapes. Copyright © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Atividade elétrica muscular e medida da força externa nos membros superiores de indivíduos saudáveis

O objetivo do estudo foi analisar a atividade elétrica muscular e a força isométrica nos membros superiores, a partir de um dispositivo de baixo custo. Para testar o dispositivo foram realizados testes em dois músculos rotadores do ombro: infraespinhoso e peitoral maior, comparando a força produzida pelo membro dominante e não-dominante e correlacionando a força isométrica com o sinal eletromiográfico. Participaram do estudo 20 (vinte) sujeitos do sexo masculino, saudáveis, com idade entre 18 e 21 anos, massa corpórea entre 55 e 90 kg (69,75 ± 10,46 kg) e com estatura entre 1,65 e 1,93 m (1,75 ± 0,05 m). Foram aplicados testes de esforço musculoesqueléticos em diferentes posições. Para comparar as médias das variáveis analisadas foi utilizada a análise de variância simples (One-Way ANOVA) e o teste de Kruskal-Wallis. O teste t de Student com significância estatística a = 5% (p < 0,05) e com a = 1% (p < 0,01) foi aplicado para comparar os valores de força média entre o membro superior direito e o membro superior esquerdo. Para verificar a correlação entre a EMG-Força, aplicou-se o teste de correlação de Pearson. O membro dominante gerou mais força que o não-dominante. Os valores normalizados de RMS e de Força apresentaram correlação significativa com 95% de confiança apenas no teste de rotação externa no membro superior esquerdo na posição de rotação externa. Na correlação entre os valores de RMS normalizados - Força Média, houve correlação significativa nos testes de rotação interna e externa no membro superior esquerdo, na posição de rotação externa. O sistema de aquisição se mostrou eficiente e novos estudos devem ser realizados, envolvendo a relação EMG-ForçaThe aim of this study was to evaluate the muscle electrical activity and isometric strength in the upper limbs from a low-cost device. Tests were performed on two of the shoulder rotator muscles: infraspinatus and pectoralis major, comparing the strength produced by the dominant and non-dominant and isometric strength correlated with electromyographic signal. The study included twenty (20) male subjects, healthy and aged between 18 and 21 years, body mass index between 55 and 90 kg (69.75 ± 10.46 kg) and height between 1.65 and 1.93 m (1.75 ± 0.05 m). We applied musculoskeletal stress tests in different positions. To compare the means of the variables we used the simple analysis of variance (One-Way ANOVA) and the Kruskal-Wallis test. The Student’s t- test with statistical significance = 5% (p <0.05) and = 1% (p <0.01) was used to compare the values of mean force between the right upper limb and left upper limb to verify the correlation between the EMG-Force, we applied the Pearson correlation Test. The dominant member generated more force than the non-dominant. The normalized values of RMS and Power were significantly correlated with 95% confidence test only in external rotation in the left arm in external rotation position. In the correlation between RMS values normalized – mean strength significant correlation tests of internal and external rotation in the left arm in external rotation position. The acquisition system is efficient and further studies should be conducted involving the relationship EMG-Strengt