Functional Capacity Among Brazilian Older Adults 12 Months After COVID-19 Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Evidence suggests that older adults who survived COVID-19 were exposed to greater functional dependence in their daily living activities. This study aims to examine the prevalence of functional dependence and associated factors among Brazilian older people with functional dependence 12 months after COVID-19 infection. A cross-sectional study was carried out involving people aged 60 years or older in the state of Paraná, Brazil.

Relationship Between Rheumatoid Arthritis and Periodontal Disease-Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to determine the association between rheumatoid arthritis and periodontal disease. This systematic review and meta-analysis of the scientific literature was carried out based on the recommendations of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). We analyzed all studies that evaluated the relationship between the chronic inflammatory diseases through the response to non-surgical periodontal treatment, comparing the values of CAL (Clinical Attachment Level) for PD (periodontal disease) and DAS28 for RA.

Description and Classification of Training Drills, Based on Biomechanical and Physiological Load, in Elite Basketball.

The aim of this study was to understand and describe the physiological and biomechanical demands of various tasks used in basketball training and, subsequently, to provide a practical application of these tasks in a typical training week. Twelve basketball players had their external load variables monitored across 179 training sessions (2896 samples) using local positioning system technology. These variables included total distance covered, distance covered at various intensity levels, accelerations, decelerations, PlayerLoad™, and explosive efforts.

Validity and Reliability of Kinovea for Pelvic Kinematic Measurement in Standing Position and in Sitting Position with 45° of Hip Flexion.

The anatomy of the pelvis may obscure differences in pelvic tilt, potentially underestimating its correlation with clinical measures. Measuring the total sagittal range of pelvic movement can serve as a reliable indicator of pelvic function. This study assessed the inter- and intra-examiner reliability of the Kinovea version 0.

Seasonal Land Use and Land Cover Mapping in South American Agricultural Watersheds Using Multisource Remote Sensing: The Case of Cuenca Laguna Merín, Uruguay.

Recent advancements in Earth Observation sensors, improved accessibility to imagery and the development of corresponding processing tools have significantly empowered researchers to extract insights from Multisource Remote Sensing. This study aims to use these technologies for mapping summer and winter Land Use/Land Cover features in Cuenca de la Laguna Merín, Uruguay, while comparing the performance of Random Forests, Support Vector Machines, and Gradient-Boosting Tree classifiers. The materials include Sentinel-2, Sentinel-1 and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission imagery, Google Earth Engine, training and validation datasets and quoted classifiers.

Analysis of Autonomous Penetration Testing Through Reinforcement Learning and Recommender Systems.

Conducting penetration testing (pentesting) in cybersecurity is a crucial turning point for identifying vulnerabilities within the framework of Information Technology (IT), where real malicious offensive behavior is simulated to identify potential weaknesses and strengthen preventive controls. Given the complexity of the tests, time constraints, and the specialized level of expertise required for pentesting, analysis and exploitation tools are commonly used. Although useful, these tools often introduce uncertainty in findings, resulting in high rates of false positives.

A Bibliometric Review of Brain-Computer Interfaces in Motor Imagery and Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials for Applications in Rehabilitation and Robotics.

In this paper, a bibliometric review is conducted on brain-computer interfaces (BCI) in non-invasive paradigms like motor imagery (MI) and steady-state visually evoked potentials (SSVEP) for applications in rehabilitation and robotics. An exploratory and descriptive approach is used in the analysis. Computational tools such as the biblioshiny application for R-Bibliometrix and VOSViewer are employed to generate data on years, sources, authors, affiliation, country, documents, co-author, co-citation, and co-occurrence.

The Use of Principal Component Analysis for Reduction in Sleep Quality and Quantity Data in Female Professional Soccer.

The main aim of the present study was to uncover multivariate relationships between sleep quantity and quality using principal component analysis (PCA) in professional female soccer players. A second aim was to examine the extent to which objective sleep quantity and quality variables can discriminate between perceived sleep. Ten objective sleep variables from the multisensory sleep-tracker were analyzed.

Empowering the Sports Scientist with Artificial Intelligence in Training, Performance, and Health Management.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the field of sports science by providing unprecedented insights and tools that enhance training, performance, and health management. This work examines how AI is advancing the role of sports scientists, particularly in team sports environments, by improving training load management, sports performance, and player well-being. It explores key dimensions such as load optimization, injury prevention and return-to-play, sports performance, talent identification and scouting, off-training behavior, sleep quality, and menstrual cycle management.

Luminescence Lifetime-Based Water Conductivity Sensing Using a Cationic Dextran-Supported Ru(II) Polypyridyl Complex.

Water conductivity sensing relies universally on electrical measurements, which are subject to corrosion of the electrodes and subsequent signal drift in prolonged in situ uses. Furthermore, they cannot provide contactless sensing or remote readout. To this end, a novel device for water conductivity monitoring has been developed by employing a microenvironment-sensitive ruthenium complex, [Ru(2,2'-bipyridine-4,4'-disulfonato)], embedded into a quaternary ammonium functionalized cross-linked polymer support.

Enhancing Autonomous Driving in Urban Scenarios: A Hybrid Approach with Reinforcement Learning and Classical Control.

The use of Deep Learning algorithms in the domain of Decision Making for Autonomous Vehicles has garnered significant attention in the literature in recent years, showcasing considerable potential. Nevertheless, most of the solutions proposed by the scientific community encounter difficulties in real-world applications. This paper aims to provide a realistic implementation of a hybrid Decision Making module in an Autonomous Driving stack, integrating the learning capabilities from the experience of Deep Reinforcement Learning algorithms and the reliability of classical methodologies.

Fully Canonical Triple-Mode Filter with Source-Load Coupling for 5G Systems.

This work presents the design of a novel fully canonical triple-mode filter with source-load coupling for 5G applications, exploiting its very compact size for the FR1 band. The design is carried out using circular waveguide technology to attain power handling and low insertion losses. The fully canonical topology allows for increasing the selectivity of the filter since the number of finite transmission zeros is equal to the order of the filter.

EdgeNet: An End-to-End Deep Neural Network Pretrained with Synthetic Data for a Real-World Autonomous Driving Application.

This paper presents a novel end-to-end architecture based on edge detection for autonomous driving. The architecture has been designed to bridge the domain gap between synthetic and real-world images for end-to-end autonomous driving applications and includes custom edge detection layers before the Efficient Net convolutional module. To train the architecture, RGB and depth images were used together with inertial data as inputs to predict the driving speed and steering wheel angle.

Intelligent Sensor Software for Robust and Energy-Sustainable Decision-Making in Welding of Steel Reinforcement for Concrete.

In today's industrial landscape, optimizing energy consumption, reducing production times, and maintaining quality standards are critical challenges, particularly in energy-intensive processes like resistance spot welding (RSW). This study introduces an intelligent decision support system designed to optimize the RSW process for steel reinforcement bars. By creating robust machine learning models trained on limited datasets, the system generates interactive heat maps that provide real-time guidance to production engineers or intelligent systems, enabling dynamic adaptation to changing conditions and external factors such as fluctuating energy costs.

Learning from Other Tumors: Pathways for Progress and Overcoming Challenges in Cholangiocarcinoma.

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a group of complex and heterogeneous tumors originating from the epithelial cells of bile ducts that can occur in intrahepatic, perihilar, or distal localizations [...

Adjuvant Immunotherapy After Resected Melanoma: Survival Outcomes, Prognostic Factors and Patterns of Relapse.

Background: Anti-PD-1-based immunotherapy has improved outcomes in stage IIB to IV resected melanoma patients in clinical trials. However, little is known about real-world outcomes, prognostic factors and patterns of relapse.

Methods: This is a retrospective multicenter observational study including patients with resected melanoma treated with subsequent anti-PD-1-based adjuvant immunotherapy.

Characterisation of Castration-Resistant Cell-Derived Exosomes and Their Effect on the Metastatic Phenotype.

Background/objectives: Prostate cancer (PCa) is characterised by its progression to a metastatic and castration-resistant phase. Prostate tumour cells release small extracellular vesicles or exosomes which are taken up by target cells and can potentially facilitate tumour growth and metastasis. The present work studies the effect of exosomes from cell lines that are representative of the different stages of the disease on the tumoral phenotype of PC3 cells.

Usefulness of Serum Biomarkers in Predicting Anastomotic Leakage After Gastrectomy.

Background/objectives: Anastomotic leakage (AL) is one of the most concerning complications following gastrectomy. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the predictive accuracy of C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), fibrinogen, and the mean platelet volume (MPV) in the early diagnosis of post-gastrectomy AL.

Methods: A prospective bicentric observational study was conducted including all patients undergoing elective gastrectomy between August 2018 and December 2022.

Fertility Sparing in Endometrial Cancer: Where Are We Now?

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecological neoplasm with an increased incidence in the premenopausal population in recent decades. This raises the problem of managing endometrial cancer in fertile women who have not yet achieved pregnancy. In these women, after careful selection, hysterectomy may be postponed in favor of conservative management if specific requirements are met.

Current Status of Neoadjuvant Treatment Before Surgery in High-Risk Localized Prostate Cancer.

Localized high-risk (HR) prostate cancer (PCa) is a heterogeneous disease whose likelihood of a biochemical recurrence, metastatic progression and cancer-related mortality after initial treatment is higher when compared with patients with low (LR) or intermediate-risk (IR) disease. In the past, neoadjuvant therapy has shown an improvement in postoperative oncological variables but failed to demonstrate any survival advantages. With the promising results from novel treatments in metastatic and non-metastatic castration resistant PCa settings, new evidence has appeared in the literature in the neoadjuvant setting.

Topical and Intralesional Treatments for Skin Metastases and Locoregionally Advanced Melanoma.

Cutaneous melanoma is a malignant neoplasm with local and distant metastatic potential. When feasible, surgery is the first line of treatment in locoregionally advanced disease. Topical and intralesional treatments can be an alternative second-line treatment.

Agreement Between High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Testing in Paired Self-Collected and Clinician-Collected Samples from Cervical Cancer Screening in Spain.

: Implementing self-sampling (SS) in cervical cancer screening requires comparable results to clinician-collected samples (CCS). Agreement measures are essential for evaluating HPV test performance. Previous studies on non-paired samples have reported higher viral cycle threshold (Ct) values in SS compared to CCS, affecting sensitivity for detecting cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse (CIN2+).

Analysis of Inflammatory Features in Suspicious Lesions for Significant Prostate Cancer on Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Are They Mimickers of Prostate Cancer?

Background: Inflammatory features can mimic PCa in suspicious MRI-lesions.

Objectives: To assess the incidence of inflammatory features in targeted biopsies to suspicious lesions.

Methods: A prospective analysis was conducted of 531 MRI-suspicious lesions with Prostate Imaging-Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) scores of 3 to 5 in 364 men suspected of having PCa.