Publications by authors named "F Javier Romero"

Background/objectives: Football players have a high injury risk due to the physical demands of their profession, which can negatively affect their quality of life (QoL) in the long term. The aim of this study is to characterize the severe injuries that former Portuguese football players suffered throughout their professional careers and investigate the resulting impacts on the physical domain of QoL after retirement.

Methods: This study includes 84 former Portuguese football players (48.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In the evolution of pervasive electronics, it is imperative to significantly reduce the energy consumption of power systems and embrace sustainable materials and fabrication processes with minimal carbon footprint. Within this context, thermoelectric generators (TEGs) have garnered substantial attention in recent years because of the readily available thermal gradients in the environment, making them a promising energy-harvesting technology. Current commercial room-temperature thermoelectrics are based on scarce, expensive, and/or toxic V-VI chalcogenide materials, which limit their widespread use.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Optomechanical sensors provide a platform for probing acoustic/vibrational properties at the micro-scale. Here, we used cavity optomechanical sensors to interrogate the acoustic environment of adjacent air bubbles in water. We report experimental observations of the volume acoustic modes of these bubbles, including both the fundamental Minnaert breathing mode and a family of higher-order modes extending into the megahertz frequency range.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Leptosphaeria maculans causes blackleg disease in Brassica napus, leading to significant yield losses, with the toxin Sirodesmin PL playing a key role in this process.
  • The study focuses on how Sirodesmin PL affects gene expression, plant defenses, and cellular structures in B. napus cotyledons, showing that it upregulates defense-related genes while downregulating photosynthesis-related genes.
  • The results indicate that Sirodesmin PL not only triggers defense mechanisms like reactive oxygen species production but also induces cell death through damage to the photosystem II, suggesting its role as a virulence factor for effective infection during the fungus's necrotrophic stage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Obesity has been increasing at alarming rates in Brazil and worldwide. It is known that bariatric surgery is an effective and safe treatment for severely obese adults with related comorbidities or morbidly obese individuals. Among the various comorbidities, chronic low back pain is one of the major sources of discomfort and reduced quality of life in these patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF