Handwritten Text Generation from Visual Archetypes

Generating synthetic images of handwritten text in a writer-specific style is a challenging task, especially in the case of unseen styles and new words, and even more when these latter contain characters that are rarely encountered during training. While emulating a writer's style has been recently addressed by generative models, the generalization towards rare characters has been disregarded. In this work, we devise a Transformer-based model for Few-Shot styled handwritten text generation and focus on obtaining a robust and informative representation of both the text and the style. In particular, we propose a novel representation of the textual content as a sequence of dense vectors obtained from images of symbols written as standard GNU Unifont glyphs, which can be considered their visual archetypes. This strategy is more suitable for generating characters that, despite having been seen rarely during training, possibly share visual details with the frequently observed ones. As for the style, we obtain a robust representation of unseen writers' calligraphy by exploiting specific pre-training on a large synthetic dataset. Quantitative and qualitative results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposal in generating words in unseen styles and with rare characters more faithfully than existing approaches relying on independent one-hot encodings of the characters.Comment: Accepted at CVPR202

HWD: A Novel Evaluation Score for Styled Handwritten Text Generation

Styled Handwritten Text Generation (Styled HTG) is an important task in document analysis, aiming to generate text images with the handwriting of given reference images. In recent years, there has been significant progress in the development of deep learning models for tackling this task. Being able to measure the performance of HTG models via a meaningful and representative criterion is key for fostering the development of this research topic. However, despite the current adoption of scores for natural image generation evaluation, assessing the quality of generated handwriting remains challenging. In light of this, we devise the Handwriting Distance (HWD), tailored for HTG evaluation. In particular, it works in the feature space of a network specifically trained to extract handwriting style features from the variable-lenght input images and exploits a perceptual distance to compare the subtle geometric features of handwriting. Through extensive experimental evaluation on different word-level and line-level datasets of handwritten text images, we demonstrate the suitability of the proposed HWD as a score for Styled HTG. The pretrained model used as backbone will be released to ease the adoption of the score, aiming to provide a valuable tool for evaluating HTG models and thus contributing to advancing this important research area.Comment: Accepted at BMVC202

Are three months multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention enough to get benefits on blood pressure in overweight/obese adults ?

The aim of the study is to determine the effects of a multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention (including a short period of physical exercise) on some health-related variables, particularly on blood pressure, in an overweight/obese adult group. The main outcome was blood pressure lowering. The study involved 378 subjects affected by obesity or type 2 diabetes. The intervention included exercise, nutrition and psychological aspects. Before and after the intervention, several anthropometrics, cardiovascular risk related measures (height, body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, body composition and WHTR index) and physical exercise measures (aerobic capacity, flexibility and dynamic muscle strength) were evaluated through fitness tests. We observed a significant reduction in: blood pressure values, body weight, BMI, waist circumference, WHTR, fat mass and an improvement of fat free mass and physical exercise measures. The C.U.R.I.A.Mo. multidisciplinary approach is effective for reducing blood pressure, after relatively few exercise sessions (three weeks), particularly in patients with hypertension. The intervention can ameliorate the health status and physical performance in the short term, in normotensive and hypertensive adult subjects with overweight/obesity

Supervised Exercise in Water: Is It a Viable Alternative in Overweight/Obese People with or without Type 2 Diabetes? A Pilot Study

: The study of the effects of a water-based exercise program in overweight/obese people with or without type 2 diabetes is a topic of relatively recent interest. This type of exercise presents some advantages in reducing the risk of injury or trauma, and it can be a valuable therapeutic card to play for sedentary or physically inactive patients who have chronic metabolic diseases. This work aims to make a contribution showing the effects of a water-based exercise intervention, supervised by graduates in sports sciences, in a group of overweight/obese people with or without type 2 diabetes. In total, 93 adults (age 60.59 ± 10.44 years), including 72 women (age 60.19 ± 10.97 years) and 21 men (age 61.95 ± 8.48 years), were recruited to follow a water-based exercise program (2 sessions/week, for 12 weeks) at the C.U.R.I.A.Mo. Healthy Lifestyle Institute of Perugia University. Results showed an improvement in body mass index (-0.90 ± 1.56, p = 0.001), waist circumference (-4.32 ± 6.03, p < 0.001), and systolic (-7.78 ± 13.37, p = 0.001) and diastolic (-6.30 ± 10.91, p = 0.001) blood pressure. The supervised water-based intervention was useful in managing patients with metabolic diseases who often present with other health impairments, such as musculoskeletal problems or cardiovascular or rheumatic disease that could contraindicate gym-based exercise

Effects of a Mixed Exercise Program on Overweight and Obese Children and Adolescents: A Pilot, Uncontrolled Study

Pediatric excess weight has reached severity worldwide, affecting physical health. Decreasing weight and body mass index (BMI) after exercise intervention reduces the cardiometabolic consequences; the role of age and gender on the effectiveness of exercise in overweight youth was debated in this study. A total of 138 overweight/obese young (75 girls, 63 boys) were recruited at Perugia (Italy) University to follow an exercise program. Participants were allocated into two groups (children, n = 88 and adolescents, n = 50). The study aimed to verify the efficacy of a mixed resistance&ndash;endurance exercise program in anthropometric and physical performance measures, evaluating the influence of gender and age on two groups of young overweight/obese participants. In children, we observed a statistically significant improvement in fat mass percentage, fat-free mass, waist circumference (WC), fat mass, as well as in strength, endurance, speed, and flexibility measures. We also observed reduced WC and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) values in girls. In the adolescents&rsquo; subgroup, results showed a statistically significant variation in fat mass percentage, BMI, WC, and WHtR, and strength of the upper and lower limbs; we also observed a weight reduction in girls. A clinical approach, with the combination of strength and dynamometric tests plus the body composition study using air plethysmography methodology, is health-effective and allows for the monitoring of the efficacy of an exercise program in overweight/obese young people

Diurnal trajectories of salivary cortisol, salivary α-amylase and psychological profiles in oral lichen planus patients.

Although many reports have been published on the link between oral lichen planus (OLP) and the stress-related neuro-psycho-endocrine clinical features of the disease over the last 20 years, the data still remain controversial. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the personality traits of OLP subjects and assess the subjects' capability of coping with stress challenges. Cortisol and alpha-amylase were measured as reliable markers of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and autonomic nervous system (ANS) activities in salivary samples collected by the participants at their home during the sampling day (07:30, 12:00, and 19:30). Compared with the healthy controls, the OLP patients demonstrated a less effective coping ability, had higher scores in stress perception and loneliness, and had no significant variation in their anxiety and depressive symptoms. The OLP patients also showed dysregulation of the HPA axis activity with a significant reduction of diurnal salivary cortisol production, which was particularly significant in the morning hours. No significant variation was found in the OLP salivary alpha-amylase diurnal fluctuation and production, which was measured at the same time point as that for cortisol. In conclusion, we report that OLP subjects had a reduced capability of coping with stress events and presented a dysregulation of HPA axis activity with hypocortisolism detected in the morning hours

Effect of short term intensive lifestyle intervention on hepatic steatosis indexes in adults with obesity and/or type 2 diabetes

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has an estimated prevalence of 20-30% in the general population and even higher in individuals with metabolic risk factors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a lifestyle intervention program on surrogate markers of hepatic steatosis in obesity and/or type 2 diabetes patients, enrolled in the C.U.R.I.A.Mo. (Centro Universitario di Ricerca Interdipartimentale Attivita Motoria) trial. Methods: 102 subjects (56 females and 46 males, aged between 23 and 78) with type 2 diabetes, obesity or a BMI of at least 25 kg/m(2) with comorbidities, participated in the intensive phase of a multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention program at the Healthy Lifestyle Institute of the University of Perugia (C.U.R.I.A.Mo.). Six indices related to NAFLD (Visceral Adiposity Index, Fatty Liver index, Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease liver fat score and liver fat equation, hepatic steatosis index and TyG index) were calculated before and after a three-month multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention. Results: The intervention improved the anthropometric and clinical parameters in the total population, the obese and/or diabetics. Data showed a significant weight loss, a reduced waist circumference, triglycerides, and an improvement in Mediterranean diet adherence. Hepatic steatosis indices were significantly reduced in the total population and in different subgroups (males, females, obesity and diabetes)

Raccomandazioni cliniche in odontostomatologia

L’Organizzazione Mondiale della Sanità considera la salute orale come parte integrante, non solo dello stato di salute generale, ma anche della qualità della vita di ciascun individuo. In tale ottica, in accordo e con il sostegno del mondo professionale e della comunità scientifica di questo settore, le raccomandazioni cliniche in odontostomatologia contenute nel presente volume forniscono indicazioni e definiscono standard di intervento per la prevenzione e la cura delle più comuni patologie del cavo orale nonché per l’identificazione di percorsi terapeutici appropriati a supporto degli operatori pubblici e privati. Esse costituiscono, inoltre, uno strumento utile per mantenere alto il livello di qualità delle cure in questo periodo storico, nel quale, se da un lato crescono le opportunità tecniche di cura e la potenziale domanda delle stesse, dall’altro la riduzione delle risorse economiche a disposizione dei cittadini tende a limitare l’accesso all’offerta professionale privata e, al contempo, i processi di razionalizzazione dell’allocazione dei fondi nel SSN rendono più difficile l’accesso alle strutture pubbliche. L’individuazione di raccomandazioni cliniche chiaramente definite e rese pubbliche può facilitare la condivisione degli obiettivi e dei percorsi terapeutici tra odontoiatra e paziente, migliorare la comunicazione e, in ultima analisi, accrescere la fiducia sia nei riguardi del proprio specifico professionista che del “sistema delle cure” più in generale. La revisione delle “Raccomandazioni cliniche in odontostomatologia” si è resa necessaria in considerazione del cambiamento dell’evidenza scientifica, dell’immissione in commercio di nuovi materiali e dell’utilizzo di nuove tecnologie, specie in ambito protesico. Come per la precedente, alla realizzazione di questa edizione ha contribuito un ampio gruppo di docenti ed esperti delle singole branche odontoiatriche insieme alle più importanti e rappresentative Associazioni professionali e ai componenti della Commissione Albo Odontoiatri (CAO) nazionale