The custom-made foot orthosis using the Central Stabilizer Element: nex concept of element

Foot orthoses have been applied for the management of lower limb disorders, mainly for those who develop foot pain. The Central Stabilizer Element (CSE) is a new element that contains the midfoot laterally when a plantar insole is manufactured. OBJECTIVES: - To determine the effect on foot pain of adding the Central Stabilizer Element during the manufacturing process of foot orthosis, -- - To describe the proportions of Central Stabilizer Element in terms of width and length of this element. METHODS: A sample comprising 130 patients (57 males and 73 females) with foot pain was recruited for this study, with the patients having supinated, neutral, pronated and overpronated feet. All the patients received a custom-made foot orthosis with the Central Stabilizer Element. The Central Stabilizer Element was made of resins of polyvinyl chloride, and is a device insert in foot orthosis that contains the midfoot laterally to control pronation and supination movements. Conclusion •The students know how to design the insole. •They know how to match different foot posture with the different types of insoles •We make our decisions based on the scientific evidence foundUniversidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Identification of asymmetric conditional heteroscedasticity in the presence of outliers

The identification of asymmetric conditional heteroscedasticity is often based on samplecross-correlations between past and squared observations. In this paper we analyse theeffects of outliers on these cross-correlations and, consequently, on the identification ofasymmetric volatilities. We show that, as expected, one isolated big outlier biases thesample cross-correlations towards zero and hence could hide true leverage effect.Unlike, the presence of two or more big consecutive outliers could lead to detectingspurious asymmetries or asymmetries of the wrong sign. We also address the problemof robust estimation of the cross-correlations by extending some popular robustestimators of pairwise correlations and autocorrelations. Their finite sample resistanceagainst outliers is compared through Monte Carlo experiments. Situations with isolatedand patchy outliers of different sizes are examined. It is shown that a modified Ramsayweightedestimator of the cross-correlations outperforms other estimators in identifyingasymmetric conditionally heteroscedastic models. Finally, the results are illustrated withan empirical applicatio

Nested 2D finite-element function-spaces formulation for the mode-matching problem of arbitrary cross-section waveguide devices

A large class of microwave, millimeter-wave and terahertz waveguide devices for high- frequency electronic systems are made up of waveguide steps cascaded along the prop- agation direction, giving rise to diverse modal and numerical analysis techniques to solve Maxwell equations for this problem. In this paper, a novel formulation is proposed to com- pute the numerical modes in all arbitrary cross-sections and characterize all waveguide steps involved in this kind of structures with a modular and straightforward approach through block-matrix operations. The key idea is expressing the modal fields in terms of 2D nested function spaces (each one for a different cross-section) made up of finite- element basis functions. This leads to finite-element matrices used to compute the modes in all different arbitrary waveguides of the structure from a single inter-cross-section con- forming 2D mesh. Moreover, these finite-element matrices and results are used to build directly the mode-matching solution of all steps in the structure. After comparison with analytical results for canonical steps, this flexible and efficient approach is validated with various examples of waveguide devices (two filters, a polarizer, a transformer and a po- larization rotator), showing excellent agreement with other numerical methods and mea- surements.This work was supported by AEI/FEDER, UE (project number TEC2016- 76070-C3-1-R) and Comunidad de Madrid (project number S2013/ICE-3000)

Differences in perceived popularity and social preference between bullying roles and class norms

The aim of this study was to examine differences in perceived popularity and social preference of bullying roles and class norms. In total, 1,339 students (48% girls) participated: 674 primary school (M = 10.41 years, SD = 0.49) and 685 secondary school students (M = 12.67 years, SD = 0.80). Peer nominations and perceptions of class norms were collected. The results showed the highest perceived popularity among aggressors and defenders, except in anti-bullying primary school classes, where aggressors had low levels of popularity. In pro-bullying secondary school classes school, female victims had the lowest popularity levels. These findings suggest that class norms and personal variables as gender and school levels are important to understand bullying roles. Practical implications are discussed to guide teachers and practitioners according to the importance to adapt antibullying programs to the characteristics of the group in each school level and gender

Benzylic Complexes of Palladium(II): Bonding modes and Penta- coordination for Steric Relief

A large variety of α-(pentafluorophenylmethyl)benzylic palladium complexes with different ligands have been synthesized and char- acterized. Multinuclear NMR spectroscopic data allow to determine the σ-or η3-benzylic nature of the complexes in solution. The adoption of either coordination mode is a function of the number of ligands coordinated to palladium and, remarkably, the presence of bulky phosphines favors the adoption of a bidentate η3-benzylic mode and palladium pentacoordinated complexes. Experimental data and DFT calculations indicate that this five- coordination could alleviate the steric hindrance of two cis bulky phosphines. The benzylic complexes show a rich fluxional behavior that involves both ligand exchange and σ- to η3-benzylic interconversion.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (SGPI, grant CTQ2016-80913-P

α-Substituted Benzylic Complexes of Palladium(II) as Precursors of Palladium Hydrides

The adoption of a pseudoallylic (η3) form makes palladium benzylic derivatives a class of stabilized palladium alkyls that can undergo β-H elimination reactions in a more controlled way. α- (Pentafluorophenylmethyl)benzyl palladium complexes have been studied and they decompose by β-H elimination to give palladium hydrides that, depending on the auxil- iary ligands can: a) transmetalate to another palladium atom and, by reductive elimina- tion, give hydrogenated products; this process is favored for a combination of bridging ligands (i.e halogens) and low coordinating ligands. b) Be used as a hydride source and get trapped by a diene to give palladium allylic derivatives. The presence of carbon mon- oxide does not induce a β-H elimination reactions and only CO insertion into the Pd- benzyl bond to give acyl derivatives is observed.MINECO (SGPI, grant CTQ2016-80913-P

New Method for Simultaneous Determination of Microcystins and Cylindrospermopsin in Vegetable Matrices by SPE-UPLC-MS/MS

Cyanotoxins are a large group of noxious metabolites with different chemical structure and mechanisms of action, with a worldwide distribution, producing effects in animals, humans, and crop plants. When cyanotoxin-contaminated waters are used for the irrigation of edible vegetables, humans can be in contact with these toxins through the food chain. In this work, a method for the simultaneous detection of Microcystin-LR (MC-LR), Microcystin-RR (MC-RR), Microcystin-YR (MC-YR), and Cylindrospermopsin (CYN) in lettuce has been optimized and validated, using a dual solid phase extraction (SPE) system for toxin extraction and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) for analysis. Results showed linear ranges (5–50 ng g−1 f.w.), low values for limit of detection (LOD) (0.06–0.42 ng g−1 f.w.), and limit of quantification (LOQ) (0.16–0.91 ng g−1 f.w.), acceptable recoveries (41–93%), and %RSDIP values for the four toxins. The method proved to be robust for the three variables tested. Finally, it was successfully applied to detect these cyanotoxins in edible vegetables exposed to cyanobacterial extracts under laboratory conditions, and it could be useful for monitoring these toxins in edible vegetables for better exposure estimation in terms of risk assessment.España MINECO AGL2015-64558-

Human ultra-weak photon emission as non-invasive spectroscopic tool for diagnosis of internal states - A review

In the knowledge that human ultra-weak photon emission (UPE) is mainly due to the metabolic oxidative stressprocesses that the skin cells undergo in the presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS), external stressors (like UVradiation), but also internal stressors (like diseases or brain activity) might strongly influence the UPE. Thismanuscript revises the scientific advances focused on the influence of internal factors on the human UPE. Accordingto literature, the UPE seems to be influenced by some diseases (including diabetes, hemiparesis, protoporphyria,or a typical cold), and even by the cerebral intention/relaxation (brain activity/meditation). Theseallow to consider UPE as a natural and promising non-invasive spectroscopic tool for helping during the diagnosisof a variety of illnesses or stress- / mood-state disorders. Nonetheless, further research is required for answering some still unresolved controversial points

Does a 3-month multidisciplinary intervention improve pain, body composition and physical fitness in women with fibromyalgia?

We acknowledge BMJ Publishing Group and the British Journal of Sports Medicine for publishing our scientific article, holding the copyright to the work: https://doi.org/10.1136/BJSM.2009.070896Objective To determine the effects of a 3-month multidisciplinary intervention on pain (primary outcome), body composition and physical fitness (secondary outcomes) in women with fibromyalgia (FM). Methods 75 women with FM were allocated to a low-moderate intensity 3-month (three times/week) multidisciplinary (pool, land-based and psychological sessions) programme (n=33) or to a usual care group (n=32). The outcome variables were pain threshold, body composition (body mass index and estimated body fat percentage) and physical fitness (30 s chair stand, handgrip strength, chair sit and reach, back scratch, blind flamingo, 8 feet up and go and 6 min walk test). Results The authors observed a significant interaction effect (group*time) for the left (L) and right (R) side of the anterior cervical (p<0.001) and the lateral epicondyle R (p=0.001) tender point. Post hoc analysis revealed that pain threshold increased in the intervention group (positive) in the anterior cervical R (p<0.001) and L (p=0.012), and in the lateral epicondyle R (p=0.010), whereas it decreased (negative) in the anterior cervical R (p<0.001) and L (p=0.002) in the usual care group. There was also a significant interaction effect for chair sit and reach. Post hoc analysis revealed improvement in the intervention group (p=0.002). No significant improvement attributed to the training was observed in the rest of physical fitness or body composition variables. Conclusions A 3-month multidisciplinary intervention three times/week had a positive effect on pain threshold in several tender points in women with FM. Though no overall improvements were observed in physical fitness or body composition, the intervention had positive effects on lower-body flexibility