Título del artículo:

Characterization of current switching transients for appliance identification

Demand Side Management is a key concept within the Smart Grid vision to promote energy efficiency, load flexibility and interaction between the consumers and other power grid stakeholders. Disaggregated information requires an advanced load monitoring system of individual appliance consumption. A smart house is envisioned to include a Nonintrusive Load Monitoring (NILM) system to support demand side management and motivate the users to adopt energy saving practices. NILM systems use input electrical measurements taken at the energy meter point of a house and estimate the individual appliance operation and consumption through mathematical algorithms. Each appliance can be distinguished from others through a set of particular attributes namely load signatures that can be computed from transient signals, steady state signals or both. This paper aims to characterize current switching transients, for NILM applications and to discuss how they are affected by variation of factors such as point on wave of switching, network impedance, supply voltage distortion and sampling frequency of the meter. For that purpose, measurements of residential appliances of several categories are acquired and processed. The conclusion of this work is the assessment of suitability, robustness and efficiency of appliance identification based on current transients.

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Renewable Energy and Power Quality Journal

Título del artículo:

Angle-specific eccentric hamstring fatigue after simulated soccer

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of simulated soccer on the hamstrings eccentric torque-angle profile and angle of peak torque (APTeccH), and on the hamstrings:quadriceps torque ratio at specific joint angles (ASHecc:Qcon). Methods: The authors assessed dominant-limb isokinetic concentric and eccentric knee flexion and concentric knee extension at 120°/s in 9 semiprofessional male soccer players immediately before and after they completed the Loughborough Intermittent Shuttle Test (LIST). Results: The LIST resulted in significant decreases in eccentric hamstrings torque at 60°, 50°, and 10° and a significant (21.8%) decrease in ASHecc:Qcon at 10° (P < .05). APTeccH increased from 7.1° ± 1.0° to 18.8° ± 4.2° (P < .05). Eccentric hamstrings peak torque significantly declined from 185.1 ± 70.4 N·m pre-LIST to 150.9 ± 58.5 N·m post-LIST (P = .002), but there were no significant changes in hamstrings or quadriceps concentric peak torque (P = .312, .169, respectively). Conclusions: Simulated soccer results in a selective loss of eccentric hamstrings torque and hamstrings-to-quadriceps muscle balance at an extended joint position and a shift in the eccentric hamstrings APT to a shorter length, changes that could increase vulnerability to hamstrings injury. These findings suggest that injury-risk screening could be improved by evaluating the eccentric hamstrings torque-angle profile and hamstrings strength-endurance and that the development of hamstrings fatigue resistance and long-length eccentric strength may reduce injury incidence.

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International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance

Título del artículo:

A new neurometric dissection of the area-under-curve-associated jiggle of the motor evoked potential induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation

Objective: The jiggle of the motor evoked potential (MEP) induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) depends on a number of factors including the assessment of this stochastic signal by the method known as area under curve (AUC). We aim to ascertain the MEP findings assessed by the AUC method obtained from individuals affected by lesions at different levels of the neuroaxis.Methods: We systematically search and critically appraise the scientific reports publishing on the MEP obtained from individuals with hypo- or hyperkinetic disorders of the neural system, and dissect the neurophysical assessment of the obtained data. To accomplish this, we used the instruments named to as U-Pen Instrument for Neurometric Evaluation Uncommonly and Rarely Obtained from NeuroSignals 1.0 (UPINEURON 1.0), and the Quality of Assessment Statistics Index (QuASI).Results: The MEP differences found by the classical peak-to-peak method decreased or disappeared when the AUC was used. The opposite was also true (Kappa. =. <. 0.00). The internal consistency of the UPINEURON was 0.88. The mean of the UPINEURON 1.0 indicator was 34.8 (range. =. 16-50), and the mean of the QuASI scores was 56.5 (range 30-80). Spearman correlation between UPINEURON 1.0 and QuASI was 0.513.Conclusions: The MEP jiggle found in individuals with disordered neural function is not a \"minor\" factor; it is beyond the underlying neural condition, sample size, type of coils, and number of trials, among other variables. The use of the novel indicators introduced in this investigation will help to improve the analysis of the AUC of neural signals. They may also lead to the reconsideration of current practices.

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Physiology and Behavior

Título del artículo:

Maternal undernutrition and cardiometabolic disease: A latin american perspective

The current epidemic of obesity and cardiometabolic diseases in developing countries is described as being driven by socioeconomic inequalities. These populations have a greater vulnerability to cardiometabolic diseases due to the discrepancy between the maternal undernutrition and its consequence, low-birth weight progeny, and the subsequent modern lifestyles which are associated with socioeconomic and environmental changes that modify dietary habits, discourage physical activity and encourage sedentary behaviors. Maternal undernutrition can generate epigenetic modifications, with potential long-term consequences. Throughout life, people are faced with the challenge of adapting to changes in their environment, such as excessive intake of high energy density foods and sedentary behavior. However, a mismatch between conditions experienced during fetal programming and current environmental conditions will make adaptation difficult for them, and will increase their susceptibility to obesity and cardiovascular diseases. It is important to conduct research in the Latin American context, in order to define the best strategies to prevent the epidemic of cardiometabolic diseases in the region.

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BMC Medicine

Título del artículo:

Achievement of technological and scientific capacity in physical therapy services of bucaramanga and floridablanca

Objective To identify the achievement of the condition of technological and scientific capacity of a sample of physical therapy and respiratory services from the urban area of Floridablanca and Bucaramanga. Methodology A descriptive study was performed with a set of samples not based on probabilities out of convenience. The sample consisted of four health service provider institutions in the town of Floridablanca and three institutions from the urban area of Bucaramanga. During the year 2011, two check lists were applied in order to verify the fulfillment of standards of habilitation and to find the reasons for their non-compliance in some of their requisites. Results Three institutions in Floridablanca belong to the first level of care and one to the second level of care; the standards with the lowest fulfillments are: Risk follow-up with a median fulfillment score of 0 (Range: 0-12); Medical Records of care with a median of 9.5 (Range: 0-100) and the standard of priority procedures with a median of 18 (Range: 9-27). In Bucaramanga, two institutions belong to the second level of care and one to the third level of care. The lowest standards in fulfillment were: Medications and devices with zero for one institution, Priority procedures with a median of 60 (Range: 0-89) and physical installations with a median of 73 (Range: 64-84). Conclusions The results show a non-compliance with the essential requisites of habilitation even though these are demanded by the territorial organizations in each health department, district, and municipality.

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Revista de Salud Publica

Título del artículo:

Six weeks of core stability training improves landing kinetics among female capoeira athletes: A pilot study

Core stability training (CST) has increased in popularity among athletes and the general fitness population despite limited evidence CST programmes alone lead to improved athletic performance. In female athletes, neuromuscular training combining balance training and trunk and hip/pelvis dominant CST is suggested to reduce injury risk, and specifically peak vertical ground reaction forces (vGRF) in a drop jump landing task. However, the isolated effect of trunk dominant core stability training on vGRF during landing in female athletes had not been evaluated. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate landing kinetics during a drop jump test following a CST intervention in female capoeira athletes. After giving their informed written consent, sixteen female capoeira athletes (mean ± SD age, stature, and body mass of 27.3 ± 3.7 years, 165.0 ± 4.0 cm, and 59.7 ± 6.3 kg, respectively) volunteered to participate in the training program which consisted of static and dynamic CST sessions, three times per week for six weeks. The repeated measures T-test revealed participants significantly reduced relative vGRF from pre- to post-intervention for the first (3.40 ± 0.78 vs. 2.85 ± 0.52 N·NBW-1, respectively [p<0.05, effect size = 0.60]), and second landing phase (5.09 ± 1.17 vs. 3.02 ± 0.41 N·NBW-1, respectively [p<0.001, effect size = 0.87]). The average loading rate was reduced from pre- to post-intervention during the second landing phase (30.96 ± 18.84 vs. 12.06 ± 9.83 N·NBW·s-1, respectively [p<0.01, effect size = 0.68]). The peak loading rate was reduced from pre- to postintervention during the first (220.26 ± 111.51 vs. 120.27 ± 64.57 N·NBW·s-1 respectively [p<0.01, effect size = 0.64]), and second (99.52 ± 54.98 vs. 44.71 ± 30.34 N·NBW·s-1 respectively [p<0.01, effect size = 0.70]) landing phase. Body weight, average loading rate during the first landing phase, and jump height were not significantly different between week 0 and week 6 (p=0.528, p=0.261, and p=0.877, respectively). This study provides evidence that trunk dominant core stability training improves landing kinetics without improving jump height, and may reduce lower extremity injury risk in female athletes.

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Journal of Human Kinetics

Título del artículo:

Instantaneous bispectral analysis of heartbeat dynamics for the assessment of major depression

Major depression (MD) is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Although alterations in autonomic regulation have been proposed as one potential pathophysiological mechanism to explain this comorbidity, studies using standard HRV features in depressed subjects have been inconclusive. In this study, 48 patients with MD and 48 healthy controls (HC) were randomly assigned to an audio-visual task with two different versions: one emotionally neutral (N) and the other emotionally arousing (E). ECG signal (lead II) was collected at 250 Hz, and point process nonlinear analysis of heartbeat dynamics was performed to obtain instantaneous features from standard time-domain analysis, as well as spectral (LF, HF, LF/HF) and bispectral (LL, LH, and HH) analysis. Mean values of all features were computed over the 30s segment of the emotional elicitation session. Only bispectral parameters LH and HH were significantly different between patients and HC (p<0.02). Our results suggest that time-varying nonlinear dynamics of parasympathetic activity are significantly reduced in MD compared to HC in response to emotional elicitation. We conclude that instantaneous bispectral analysis could be a promising tool for assessment of autonomic modulation in MD.

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Computing in Cardiology

Título del artículo:

The assisted nordic hamstring curl

Assisted nordic hamstring curls provide a mechanism for assisting the lower phases of a nordic hamstring curl, allowing training at increased hamstring muscle length positions and the performance of more repetitions. This exercise may be useful to target the specific muscle lengths or fatigue conditions at which injuries occur.

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Strength and Conditioning Journal

Título del artículo:

The 20 × 20 Latin American society of hypertension target

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Journal of Hypertension

Título del artículo:

Clean production strategies for flour milling industry: A case study

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CISCI 2015 - Decima Cuarta Conferencia Iberoamericana en Sistemas, Cibernetica e Informatica, Decimo Segundo Simposium Iberoamericano en Educacion, Cibernetica e Informatica, SIECI 2015 - Memorias

Título del artículo:

Comparing the identification of sites with high risk of landslides using isohyets of precipitation vs alterations of rainfall by La Niña in Santander Colombia

Extreme meteorological events associated with climate change are a real issue and have important impact over the economy of infrastructure sector, including highways, hydrocarbon transport by pipelines, mines, etc., because saturation of soils by water can produce landslides and it could produce the fracture of pipelines or other kind of tangible assets. For example, an assessment of historical geotechnical failures in Ecopetrol (Colombian Oil Company) vs. extreme meteorological events shows that during La Niña (extreme rainfall period) geotechnical failures are three times greater. This work shows a method to identify places of risk by extreme meteorological events, mainly La Niña phenomenon, with focus in most probably alteration of rainfall. Our results illustrate the hot spots where there is a high probability of slight excess (120-160% of average rainfall) and high excess (>160%) of average rainfall. The results were intersected in a GIS with pipelines and mass movement risk maps to identify the places of high risk along Santander region.

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ASME 2015 International Pipeline Geotechnical Conference, IPG 2015

Título del artículo:

Competence for home health care in colombian people with chronic ilness and their caregivers

Background. The competence for home health care is part of the fundamental features required when taking care of people with chronic disease. It is described as the ability, the skill and the preparation the user or their family caregiver possesses in order to perform the work of caring. Objective. To describe and compare the competence for home health care in Colombian people with chronic illness and their family caregivers in the different regions of Colombia. Materials and Methods. Quantitative, descriptive, comparative and cross-sectional study conducted between 2012 and 2014 in the five geographical regions of Colombia. The sample consists of 2231 participants including people with chronic illness and family caregivers. The measurement instruments used were the Survey for the characterization of the caring Dyad patient - family caregiver GCPC-UN-D, and the Home health care competence instrument “GCPCUN- CPC”, both in its patient and family caregiver versions. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the home health care competence. For comparison of the groups nonparametric tests for independent samples were used. Results. People with chronic illness and their family caregivers have heterogeneous levels of home health caring competence in the different regions of Colombia. In both cases the higher levels are found in the Amazon region, while the lowest are found in the Pacific region. These levels of home health care competence are far away from the required ones to ensure quality and safety in the care of these patients. Conclusion. The indicators for the evaluation of home health care competence must address patients and their family caregiver as well as the health human talent, health institutions and the Social Security System in order to understand in a better way and change the current vulnerability in home health care practices in the country.

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Revista Facultad de Medicina

Título del artículo:

Corrigendum to \"A new neurometric dissection of the area-under-curve-associated jiggle of the motor evoked potential induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation\" [Physiol. Behav. (141), (2015) 111-119] DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2015.01.014

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Physiology and Behavior

Título del artículo:

A new multiplex-PCR for urinary tract pathogen detection using primer design based on an evolutionary computation method

This work describes a new strategy for optimal design of Multiplex-PCR primer sequences. The process is based on the Particle Swarm Optimization-Simplex algorithm (Mult-PSOS). Diverging from previous solutions centered on heuristic tools, the Mult-PSOS is selfconfigured because it does not require the definition of the algorithm’s initial search parameters. The successful performance of this method was validated in vitro using Multiplex-PCR assays. For this validation, seven gene sequences of the most prevalent bacteria implicated in urinary tract infections were taken as DNA targets. The in vitro tests confirmed the good performance of the Mult-PSOS, with respect to infectious disease diagnosis, in the rapid and efficient selection of the optimal oligonucleotide sequences for Multiplex-PCRs. The predicted sequences allowed the adequate amplification of all amplicons in a single step (with the correct amount of DNA template and primers), reducing significantly the need for trial and error experiments. In addition, owing to its independence from the initial selection of the heuristic constants, the Mult-PSOS can be employed by non-expert users in computational techniques or in primer design problems.

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Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

Título del artículo:

The Link between Fetal Programming, Inflammation, Muscular Strength, and Blood Pressure

Hypertension affects one billion individuals worldwide and is considered the leading cause of cardiovascular death, stroke, and myocardial infarction. This increase in the burden of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is principally driven by lifestyle changes such as increased hypercaloric diets and reduced physical activity producing an increase of obesity, insulin resistance, and low-grade inflammation. Visceral adipocytes are the principal source of proinflammatory cytokines and systemic inflammation participates in several steps in the development of CVD. However, maternal and infant malnutrition also persists as a major public health issue in low- to middle-income regions such as Latin America (LA). We propose that the increased rates of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in these countries could be the result of the discrepancy between a restricted nutritional environment during fetal development and early life, and a nutritionally abundant environment during adulthood. Maternal undernutrition, which may manifest in lower birth weight offspring, appears to accentuate the relative risk of chronic disease at lower levels of adiposity. Therefore, LA populations may be more vulnerable to the pathogenic consequences of obesity than individuals with similar lifestyles in high-income countries, which may be mediated by higher levels of proinflammatory markers and lower levels of muscle mass and strength observed in low birth weight individuals.

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Mediators of Inflammation

Título del artículo:

Identification and characterization molecular of Burkholderia glumae, causal agent of bacterial panicle blight in rice

The aim of this study was to identify and molecularly characterize isolates of Burkholderia glumae from rice plants with evidence of putrescence. Burkholderia glumae is the causal agent of bacterial blight of panicle rice, with a high incidence causing considerable losses in crop production in Colombia. Since its identification is difficult, it is important to implement an evaluation system to quickly and accurately identify this pathogen. Sixty four isolates were obtained, 41 of which were identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as Burkholderia glumae. The molecular characterization with MB1 and BOX-PCR markers showed genetic variability in most isolates, but allowed the grouping according to its geographical origin. The high genetic diversity suggests a high degree of variability within individuals of this species.

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Informacion Tecnologica

Título del artículo:

Nonlinear digital signal processing in mental health: Characterization of major depression using instantaneous entropy measures of heartbeat dynamics

Nonlinear digital signal processing methods that address system complexity have provided useful computational tools for helping in the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of pathologies. More specifically, nonlinear measures have been successful in characterizing patients with mental disorders such as Major Depression (MD). In this study, we propose the use of instantaneous measures of entropy, namely the inhomogeneous point-process approximate entropy (ipApEn) and the inhomogeneous point-process sample entropy (ipSampEn), to describe a novel characterization of MD patients undergoing affective elicitation. Because these measures are built within a nonlinear point-process model, they allow for the assessment of complexity in cardiovascular dynamics at each moment in time. Heartbeat dynamics were characterized from 48 healthy controls and 48 patients with MD while emotionally elicited through either neutral or arousing audiovisual stimuli. Experimental results coming from the arousing tasks show that ipApEn measures are able to instantaneously track heartbeat complexity as well as discern between healthy subjects and MD patients. Conversely, standard heart rate variability (HRV) analysis performed in both time and frequency domains did not show any statistical significance. We conclude that measures of entropy based on nonlinear point-process models might contribute to devising useful computational tools for care in mental health.

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Frontiers in Physiology

Título del artículo:

Fibromyalgia is characterized by altered frontal and cerebellar structural covariance brain networks

Altered brain morphometry has been widely acknowledged in chronic pain, and recent studies have implicated altered network dynamics, as opposed to properties of individual brain regions, in supporting persistent pain. Structural covariance analysis determines the inter-regional association in morphological metrics, such as gray matter volume, and such structural associations may be altered in chronic pain. In this study, voxel-based morphometry structural covariance networks were compared between fibromyalgia patients (N = 42) and age- and sex-matched pain-free adults (N = 63). We investigated network topology using spectral partitioning, which can delineate local network submodules with consistent structural covariance. We also explored white matter connectivity between regions comprising these submodules and evaluated the association between probabilistic white matter tractography and pain-relevant clinical metrics. Our structural covariance network analysis noted more connections within the cerebellum for fibromyalgia patients, and more connections in the frontal lobe for healthy controls. For fibromyalgia patients, spectral partitioning identified a distinct submodule with cerebellar connections to medial prefrontal and temporal and right inferior parietal lobes, whose gray matter volume was associated with the severity of depression in these patients. Volume for a submodule encompassing lateral orbitofrontal, inferior frontal, postcentral, lateral temporal, and insular cortices was correlated with evoked pain sensitivity. Additionally, the number of white matter fibers between specific submodule regions was also associated with measures of evoked pain sensitivity and clinical pain interference. Hence, altered gray and white matter morphometry in cerebellar and frontal cortical regions may contribute to, or result from, pain-relevant dysfunction in chronic pain patients.

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NeuroImage: Clinical

Título del artículo:

Effects of functional training program in core muscles in women with fibromyalgia

Objective: To evaluate the effects of a program of functional muscles core training targeting women with fibromyalgia. Materials and methods: A quasi-experimental type trial was conducted, before and after an intervention, for 20 days, often three days/week, 60 minutes each session. In a single-group of eight women, changes in muscle strength, pain, quality of life related to health and physical activity were evaluated. Results: An increase in repetitions of the test trunk fexion, time on the left and right bridge testing lateral and prone bridge the test were found. All features of pain decreased, and, according to the S-FIQ, a decrease in morning fatigue, stiffness and anxiety was reported. Also Met’s/minute-weeks increased after intervention. Conclusion: These data suggest that functional program core muscle training is effective in increasing muscle strength, pain modulation, functional performance optimization, and increased levels of physical activity in women with fibromyalgia.

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Revista Ciencias de la Salud

Título del artículo:

Health related quality of life and urinary incontinence in women with overweight and obesity in Bucaramanga, Colombia

Objective: To determine the association between quality of life health-related (HRQL) and urinary incontinence (UI) in a population of overweight women in the urban area of Bucaramanga, Colombia. Materials and methods: An analytic cross-sectional study was conducted in March and May 2012. The sample consisted of 63 randomly selected women; median age was 46 years with a minimum of 18 and maximum of 65 years, 76% were overweight, and 24% obese. We assessed the HRQL with the SF-36 questionnaire and lower urinary tract symptoms quality of life questionnaire (ICIQ-FLUTSqol). Urinary incontinence was assessed using the International Consultation on Incontinence questionnaire, short form (ICIQ-IU Short Form). Results: The overall prevalence of UI was 39.7%; 28.6% was Stress UI, mixed UI 11.1%. There were no statistically signifcant differences in the eight dimensions of SF-36 in women with and without UI. The dimension with lowest score in women with IU was Energy-Fatigue (63.4). The HRQL scores assessed with ICIQ-FLUTSqol questionnaire was 27 with a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 55. Conclusion: In women with overweight, we do not found statistically signifcant differences in the eight dimensions of HR-QOL when comparing women with and without UI.

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Revista Ciencias de la Salud

Título del artículo:

Epidemiology, risk factors and genotypes of HBV in HIV-infected patients in the northeast region of Colombia: High prevalence of occult hepatitis B and F3 subgenotype dominance

Introduction: Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an increasing cause of morbidity and mortality in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals. HIV-positive patients are commonly co-infected with HBV due to shared routes of transmission. Objectives: Our aim was to determine the risk factors, prevalence, genotypes, and mutations of the Surface S gene of HBV, and occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) among patients infected with HIV in a northeastern Colombian city. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 275 HIV-positive patients attending an outpatient clinic in Bucaramanga, Colombia during 2009-2010. Blood samples were collected and screened for serological markers of HBV (anti-HBs, anti-HBc and HBsAg) through ELISA assay. Regardless of their serological profile, all samples were tested for the HBV S gene by nested-PCR and HBV genotypes were determined by phylogenetic inference. Clinical records were used to examine demographic, clinical, virological, immunological and antiretroviral therapy (ART) variables of HIV infection. Results: Participants were on average 37±11 years old and 65.1% male. The prevalence of HIV-HBV coinfection was 12% (95%CI 8.4-16.4) of which 3.3% had active HBV infection and 8.7% OBI. The prevalence of HIV-HBV coinfection was associated with AIDS stage and ART treatment. Sequence analysis identified genotype F, subgenotype F3 in 93.8% of patients and genotype A in 6.2% of patients. A C149R mutation, which may have resulted from failure in HBsAg detection, was found in one patient with OBI. Conclusions: The present study found a high prevalence of HIV-HBV coinfection with an incidence of OBI 2.6-fold higher compared to active HBV infection. These findings suggest including HBV DNA testing to detect OBI in addition to screening for HBV serological markers in HIV patients.

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PLoS ONE

Título del artículo:

Anthropometric characteristics and physical performance of Colombian elite male wrestlers

Background: Wrestling was an important part of the ancient Olympic Games and is still one of the most popular events of the modern Olympic Games. Studies indicate that general physiologic profile of successful wrestlers is high anaerobic power and capacity, muscular strength, above average aerobic power, exceptional flexibility, fat free mass, and a mesomorphic somatotype. Objectives: The objective of the present study was to evaluate anthropometric characteristics and physical performance of elite male wrestlers. Patients and Methods: The Colombian Wrestling Team was evaluated while in preparation for the Olympic Games (n = 21; age, 27.9 ± 6.7 years). Athletes were tested on anthropometric and fitness parameters: body composition, somatotype distribution according to Heath-Carter, aerobic capacity, vertical jump, and anaerobic power. Results: The evaluations showed a mean body fat percentage of 13.6% ± 3.0% (95% CI, 12.2%-15%), muscle mass of 46.4% ± 2.2% (95% CI, 45.4%-47.4%), Ponderal index of 41.0 ± 1.8 (95% CI, 40.2-41.8), body adiposity index (BAI) 25.1 ± 3.6 (95% CI, 23.5-26.8), and somatotype distribution mesomorphic-ectomorph (5.3-1.6-3.8). Mean aerobic capacity was 45.9 ± 6.6 mL/kg/min (95% CI, 42.8-48.9), vertical jump was 36.4 ± 6.6 cm (95% CI, 11.8-16.6), and anaerobic power was 92.6 ± 19.5 kg/s (95% CI, 83.7-101.5). Conclusions: These results provided a profile of elite wrestlers that could be used as training targets for developing athletes. The results may also provide information for training and tactical planning.

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Asian Journal of Sports Medicine

Título del artículo:

The impact of the fifa 11+ training program on injury prevention in football players: A systematic review

The FIFA 11+ is a simple, and easy to implement, sports injury prevention program comprising a warm up of 10 conditioning exercises. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the impact of the FIFA 11+ on injury incidence, compliance and cost effectiveness when implemented among football players. MEDLINE, EMBASE and Scopus databases were searched using the search terms “FIFA 11+”, “football”, “soccer”, “injury prevention”, and “The 11”. The titles and abstracts were screened by two independent reviewers and the data were filtered by one reviewer using a standardized extraction form and thereafter checked by another one. The risk of bias and the methodological quality of the studies were evaluated through the PEDro score and Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP). A total of 911 studies were identified, of which 12 met the inclusion criteria of the review. The FIFA 11+ has demonstrated how a simpleexercise program completed as part of warm-up can decrease the incidence of injuries in amateur footba players. In general, considerable reductions in the number of injured players, ranging between 30% and 70%, have been observed among the teams that implemented the FIFA 11+. In addition, players with high compliance to the FIFA 11+ program had an estimated risk reduction of all injuries by 35% and show significant improvements in components of neuromuscular and motor performance when participating in structured warm-up sessions at least 1.5 times/week. Most studies had high methodological quality and a low risk of bias. Given the large number of people who play football at amateur level and the detrimental impact of sports injuries on a personal and societal level, the FIFA 11+ can be considered as a fundamental tool to minimize the risks of participation in a sport with substantial health benefits.

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International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Título del artículo:

A novel method to evaluate the community built environment using photographs - Environmental profile of a community health (Epoch) Photo neighbourhood evaluation tool

Background: Previous research has shown that environments with features that encourage walking are associated with increased physical activity. Existing methods to assess the built environment using geographical information systems (GIS) data, direct audit or large surveys of the residents face constraints, such as data availability and comparability, when used to study communities in countries in diverse parts of the world. The aim of this study was to develop a method to evaluate features of the built environment of communities using a standard set of photos. In this report we describe the method of photo collection, photo analysis instrument development and inter-rater reliability of the instrument. Methods/Principal Findings: A minimum of 5 photos were taken per community in 86 communities in 5 countries according to a standard set of instructions from a designated central point of each community by researchers at each site. A standard pro forma derived from reviewing existing instruments to assess the built environment was developed and used to score the characteristics of each community. Photo sets from each community were assessed independently by three observers in the central research office according to the pro forma and the inter-rater reliability was compared by intra-class correlation (ICC). Overall 87% (53 of 60) items had an ICC of≥0.70, 7% (4 of 60) had an ICC between 0.60 and 0.70 and 5% (3 of 60) items had an ICC ≤0.50. Conclusions/Significance: Analysis of photos using a standardized protocol as described in this study offers a means to obtain reliable and reproducible information on the built environment in communities in very diverse locations around the world. The collection of the photographic data required minimal training and the analysis demonstrated high reliability for the majority of items of interest.

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PLoS ONE

Título del artículo:

Cardiovascular risk and events in 17 low-, middle-, and high-income countries

BACKGROUND: More than 80% of deaths from cardiovascular disease are estimated to occur in low-income and middle-income countries, but the reasons are unknown. METHODS: We enrolled 156,424 persons from 628 urban and rural communities in 17 countries (3 high-income, 10 middle-income, and 4 low-income countries) and assessed their cardiovascular risk using the INTERHEART Risk Score, a validated score for quantifying risk-factor burden without the use of laboratory testing (with higher scores indicating greater risk-factor burden). Participants were followed for incident cardiovascular disease and death for a mean of 4.1 years. RESULTS: The mean INTERHEART Risk Score was highest in high-income countries, intermediate in middle-income countries, and lowest in low-income countries (P<0.001). However, the rates of major cardiovascular events (death from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction, stroke, or heart failure) were lower in high-income countries than in middle- and low-income countries (3.99 events per 1000 person-years vs. 5.38 and 6.43 events per 1000 person-years, respectively; P<0.001). Case fatality rates were also lowest in high-income countries (6.5%, 15.9%, and 17.3% in high-, middle-, and low-income countries, respectively; P = 0.01). Urban communities had a higher risk-factor burden than rural communities but lower rates of cardiovascular events (4.83 vs. 6.25 events per 1000 person-years, P<0.001) and case fatality rates (13.52% vs. 17.25%, P<0.001). The use of preventive medications and revascularization procedures was significantly more common in high-income countries than in middle- or low-income countries (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Although the risk-factor burden was lowest in low-income countries, the rates of major cardiovascular disease and death were substantially higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries. The high burden of risk factors in high-income countries may have been mitigated by better control of risk factors and more frequent use of proven pharmacologic therapies and revascularization. Copyright © 2014 Massachusetts Medical Society.

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New England Journal of Medicine