e-tracking

Fossil footprints (i.e., tracks) were believed to document arch anatomical evolution, although our recent work has shown that track arches record foot kinematics instead. Analyses of track arches can thereby inform the evolution of human locomotion, although quantifying this 3-D aspect of track morphology is difficult. Here, we present a volumetric method for measuring the arches of 3-D models of human tracks and feet, using both Autodesk Maya and Blender software. The method involves generation of a 3-D object that represents the space beneath the longitudinal arch, and measurement of that arch object's geometry and spatial orientation...

Work on deep learning-based models of grid cells suggests that grid cells generically and robustly arise from optimizing networks to path integrate, i.e., track one's spatial position by integrating self-velocity signals. In previous work, we challenged this path integration hypothesis by showing that deep neural networks trained to path integrate almost always do so, but almost never learn grid-like tuning unless separately inserted by researchers via mechanisms unrelated to path integration. In this work, we restate the key evidence substantiating these insights, then address a response to by authors of one of the path integration hypothesis papers...

INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE: Weight maintenance following intentional weight loss is challenging and often unsuccessful. Physical activity and self-monitoring are strategies associated with successful weight loss maintenance. However, less is known about the type and number of lifestyle strategies used following intentional weight loss. The purpose of this study was to determine the types and amounts of strategies associated with successful long-term weight loss maintenance. METHODS: Data from the 24-month Maintaining Activity and Nutrition Through Technology-Assisted Innovation in Primary Care (MAINTAIN-pc) trial were analyzed...

PURPOSE: To adequately manage oral anticancer agents (OAAs) therapy, appropriate self-care behaviours must be implemented. Informal caregivers could support and contribute to patient self-care. This study aimed to explore and describe the caregiver contribution to self-care and their related experience of caring among informal caregivers of patients on OAAs. METHODS: Qualitative descriptive design. We conducted semi-structured interviews, which were transcribed, read in depth, and analysed with deductive and inductive content analysis, according to Mayring...

Filamentous structures are ubiquitous in nature, are studied in diverse scientific fields, and span vastly different spatial scales. Filamentous structures in biological systems fulfill different functions and often form dynamic networks that respond to perturbations. Therefore, characterizing the properties of filamentous structures and the networks they form is important to gain better understanding of systems level functions and dynamics. Filamentous structures are captured by various imaging technologies, and analysis of the resulting imaging data addresses two problems: (i) identification (tracing) of filamentous structures in a single snapshot and (ii) characterizing the dynamics ( i...

OBJECTIVE: Adult data proved that dyslipidemia is associated with cardiovascular risk. Our study aimed to analyze the relation between lipid indices, arterial damage and urinary albumin excretion (UAE) in children with primary hypertension (PH). DESIGN AND METHOD: In 87 pediatric patients (15.10 ± 2.68 years, 60 boys, 27 girls) with untreated PH, we nalysed total, high-density, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (T-C, LDL-C, HDL-C), triglycerides (TG), and lipid indices: TG/HDL-C, Non-HDL-C, T-C/HDL-C, LDL-C/HDL-C, atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), atherogenic index (AI), lipoprotein combine index (LCI), and CHOLIndex (LDL-C - HDL-C)...

OBJECTIVE: Elevated blood pressure (BP) lead to increased thickness of arterial wall and increased diameter of arteries, are risk factors of cardiovascular sequelae in adult populations. Intima-diameter ratio (IDR) and tensile stress (TS) may reflect arterial wall-remodeling to elevated BP. The aim was to evaluate common carotid artery elasticity, IDR, and TS in children with primary hypertension (PH). DESIGN AND METHOD: 50 untreated patients with PH and we evaluated: common carotid artery(CCA) intima-media thickness (cIMT) and elasticity(E-tracking - ET), central BP and aortic elasticity (aPWV,AIx75HR), office BP and ABPM, and clinical, and biochemical data...

The presented article concentrates on the influence of various concrete additives in the form of fibers on the mechanical parameters of concrete so as to obtain the effect of gradual changes in these parameters, which is very important in the transition zone of the railway track. Steel, polymer and glass fibers, as well as concrete without additives, were accepted for the study. The effect of additives on the consistency of the mixture, compressive strength, frost resistance and elastic modulus was studied...

Space perception is systematically biased. Few theories of spatial bias address the possible functional advantages of mechanisms that produce spatial biases. The scale expansion hypothesis proposes that many spatial biases are due to the perceptual expansion of visual angles, which acts somewhat like a natural magnifying glass in vision. The present study examined the idea that visual expansion may improve motor precision (i.e., reduce motor variability) in movements when using closed-loop control but not when using open-loop control...

A goal in trait-based ecology is to understand and predict plant community responses to environmental change; however, diversity stored within seed banks that may expand or limit these responses is typically overlooked. If seed banks store attributes that are more advantageous or vulnerable under future conditions, they could impact community adaptability to change and disturbance. We explored compositional differences between seed banks and vegetation (i.e. seed bank bias) across a twelve-site gradient of increasingly higher and older soil terraces, asking: How do seed banks contribute to taxonomic and functional composition, and what do shifts in seed bank biases along the gradient (i...

Actor-level data on large-scale commercial agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa are scarce. The peculiar choice of transnational investing in African land has, therefore, been subject to conjecture. Addressing this gap, we reconstructed the underlying logics of investment location choices in a Bayesian network, using firm- and actor-level interview and spatial data from 37 transnational agriculture and forestry investments across 121 sites in Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. We distinguish four investment locations across gradients of resource frontiers and agglomeration economies to derive the preferred locations of different investors with varied skillsets and market reach (i...

Objectives: Experimental data indicate that activating mutations in the mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) pathway may lead to abnormal arterial wall structure. Vascular anomalies like arterial stenoses are reported in pediatric patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). In addition, large renal lesions (angiomyolipoma-AML and cysts) are risk factors for arterial hypertension in adult patients with TSC. This study aimed to assess blood pressure, including central blood pressure and arterial damage (early vascular aging-EVA) in children with TSC...

INTRODUCTION: The immune system can trigger an inflammatory process leading to blood pressure elevation and arterial damage. The aim of the study was to assess the relation between subclinical inflammation and arterial damage in pediatric patients with primary hypertension (PH) and to establish the usefulness of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte (PLR) ratios, and mean platelet volume (MPV) as markers of arterial damage in these subjects. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In 119 children with PH (14...

Arterial stiffness (AS) of the carotid artery is an early marker of stratifying cardiovascular disease risk. This paper aims to improve performance of ARTSENS, a non-invasive A-mode ultrasound-based device for measuring AS. The primary objective of ARTSENS is to enable measurement of elastic modulus using A-Mode ultrasound and Blood pressure. As this device is image-free, there is a need to automate - a) carotid detection, b) wall localization and c) inner lumen diameter measurement. This has been performed using conventional signal processing methods in some of the earlier works in this domain...

The present study was aimed at assessing the impact of manipulating the attentional load using a multiple object tracking (MOT) task on the dynamics of the accommodative response in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The pupil size was recorded to assess the effectiveness of the experimental manipulation, and the role of ADHD medication was also explored. The accommodative and pupil dynamics (magnitude and variability) were monitored with an open-field autorefractometer (WAM-5500) in 41 children with ADHD (24 non-medicated and 17 medicated) and 21 non-ADHD controls, while they performed the MOT task with four different levels of complexity (i...

Stroke is a serious, adverse neurological event and the third leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Most strokes are caused by a block in cerebral blood flow, resulting in neurological deficits through the death of brain tissue. Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) is currently the only immediate treatment medication for stroke. The goal of rt-PA administration is to reduce the thrombus and/or embolism via thrombolysis; however, the administration of rt-PA must occur within a very short therapeutic timeframe (3 h to 6 h) after symptom onset...

INTRODUCTION: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is one of the most common autosomal dominant disorders. It is characterized by elevated LDL cholesterol levels occurring already by early childhood. Awareness of health risks in FH patients should incite health professionals to actively seek and treat children with lipid disorders to reduce their risk of myocardial infarction and stroke. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the suitability of taking into account the following parameters: ApoB/ApoA index, IMT and e-tracking examination, when initiating statin therapy in FH patients...

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is the most common monogenic autosomal dominant disorder. FH results in an increased cardiovascular mortality rate. However, cardiovascular risk control factors enable the avoidance of approximately 80% of strokes and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, early detection and implementation of lipid-lowering treatment is essential. In the present study, 57 pediatric patients aged 9.57 ± 3.26 years with FH were enrolled in the study. Researchers checked the lipid profile and performed the ultrasound imaging including intima-media thickness (IMT) measurement and echo (e)-tracking in the study group...

Sexual need fulfillment in a relationship is associated with both partners' sexual and relationship quality. In the current research, we explored what underlies two approaches to sexual need fulfillment-sexual communal norms (i.e., being motivated to meet a partner's sexual needs) and sexual exchange norms (i.e., tracking and trading sexual benefits). People high in attachment avoidance are less responsive to their partner's needs and distance themselves from intimacy. Sexuality is a domain in which partners aim to meet each other's needs, but it may also heighten avoidantly attached partners' concerns about intimacy...

Land-use and climate changes have been repeatedly identified as important factors affecting terrestrial carbon budgets, however little is known about how deforestation and catchment development affect aquatic systems in carbonate-rich regions. Multi-proxy analyses of 210 Pb-dated sediment cores from two hard-water lakes with different land-use histories were applied for assessing carbon cycling and limnological changes in response to land-use changes over the past century in southwest China. Logging of primary forests in the catchment of Lugu Lake, starting in the 1950s, led to a significant increase of catchment erosion, as well as a consistent decline in inferred lake-water total organic carbon (TOC) levels and sediment carbonate accumulation...