Quality flaw prediction in Spanish Wikipedia: A case of study with verifiability flaws

In this work, we present the first quality flaw prediction study for articles containing the two most frequent verifiability flaws in Spanish Wikipedia: articles which do not cite any references or sources at all (denominated Unreferenced) and articles that need additional citations for verification (so-called Refimprove). Based on the underlying characteristics of each flaw, different state-of-the-art approaches were evaluated. For articles not citing any references, a well-established rule-based approach was evaluated and interesting findings show that some of them suffer from Refimprove flaw instead. Likewise, for articles that need additional citations for verification, the well-known PU learning and one-class classification approaches were evaluated. Besides, new methods were compared and a new feature was also proposed to model this latter flaw. The results showed that new methods such as under-bagged decision trees with sum or majority voting rules, biased-SVM, and centroid-based balanced SVM, perform best in comparison with the ones previously published.     

Locus and nature of perceptual phonological deficit in Spanish children with reading disabilities

The aims of this study were (a) to determine whether Spanish children with reading disabilities (RD) show a speech perception deficit and (b) to explore the locus and nature of this perceptive deficit. A group of 29 children with RD, 41 chronological age-matched controls, and 27 reading ability-matched younger controls were tested on tasks of speech perception. The effect of linguistic unit (word vs. syllable) and type of phonetic contrast (voicing, place and manner of articulation) were analyzed in terms of the number of errors and the response time. The results revealed a speech perception deficit in Spanish children with RD that was independent of the type of phonetic contrast and of linguistic unit.     

Improving Academic Performance of Sport and Exercise Science Undergraduate Students in Gross Anatomy Using a Near-Peer Teaching Program

Peer and near-peer teaching programs are common in medical undergraduate courses. However, there are no studies that have investigated the effectiveness of a near-peer teaching program on the academic performance of undergraduate students pursuing sport and exercise science coursework. This study was conducted to analyze the effectiveness of such a program for students who participated in a course on the functional anatomy of the locomotor apparatus. A total of 39 student participants were divided into two groups: students in one group voluntarily attended at least one session of a near-peer teaching program, and students in the other group attended no sessions. The final grade (range 0–100%) was recorded and used as an indicator of academic performance. The final grade of students who attended the near-peer teaching program (69.5 ± 16.0%) was 38.7% higher (P = 0.002, d = 1.06) than those who did not (50.1 ± 20.4%). When the academic performance of the same students was evaluated in another course (exercise physiology) that did not offer a near-peer teaching program, there were no significant differences between the groups (students who attended or did not attend the near-peer teaching program). A significant positive association was found between near-peer teaching program frequency and the number of students approved and not approved in the course (P = 0.041). A significant difference (P = 0.001) was found in the attendance at regular classes between the group who participated in the near-peer teaching program (median: 62 hours; IQR [interquartile ranges]: 4.0 hours) and those who did not (median: 58 hours; IQR: 4.0 hours). Gender was not a moderating factor on academic performance or near-peer teaching program attendance. These results highlight the effectiveness of a near-peer teaching program on the academic performance of students from a sport and exercise science degree program while enrolled in an anatomy course. Anat Sci Educ. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.     

Aerobic fitness and physical activity are inversely associated with body fat,dyslipidemia and inflammatory mediators in children and adolescents living with HIV

This study aimed to investigate if moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and aerobic fitness are associated with cardiovascular risk factors in HIV+ children and adolescents. Sixty-five children and adolescents (8 to 15 years) provided minutes of MVPA measured by accelerometers and peak oxygen uptake (peak VO₂) by breath-by-breath respiratory exchange. Cardiovascular risk factors were characterized by body fat, blood pressure, total cholesterol, HDL-c, LDL-c, triglycerides, glucose, insulin, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and carotid intima-media thickness. Results indicated that higher MVPA was associated with lower values of total (β = ?3.566) and trunk body fat (β = ?3.495), total cholesterol (β = ?0.112) and LDL-c (β = ?0.830). Likewise, higher peak VO₂ was associated with lower total (β = ?0.629) and trunk body fat values (β = ?0.592) and levels of CRP (β = ?0.059). The physically active participants had lower total cholesterol (?24.4 mg.dL^?1) and LDL-c (?20.1 mg.dL^?1) compared to participants judged to be insufficiently active. Moreover, participants with satisfactory peak VO? showed lower total (?4.1%) and trunk (?4.3%) body fat, CRP (?2.3 mg.L^?1), IL-6 (?2.4 pg.mL^?1) and TNF-α (?1.0 pg.mL^?1) compared to low peak VO₂ peers. High levels of MVPA and aerobic fitness may prevent developing of cardiovascular risk factors in children and adolescents HIV+.     

Cardiorespiratory and perceptual responses of two interval training and a continuous training protocol in healthy young men

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) can be performed with different effort to rest time-configurations, and this can largely influence training responses. The purpose of the study was to compare the acute physiological responses of two HIIT and one moderate intensity continuous training (MICT) protocol in young men. A randomised cross-over study with 10 men [age, 28.3?±?5.5years; weight, 77.3?±?9.3?kg; height, 1.8?±?0.1?m; peak oxygen consumption (VO₂peak), 44?±?11?mL.kg^?1.min^?1]. Participants performed a cardiorespiratory test on a treadmill to assess VO₂peak, velocity associated with VO₂peak (vVO₂peak), peak heart rate (HRpeak) and perceived exertion (RPE). Then participants performed three protocols equated by distance: Short HIIT (29 bouts of 30s at vVO₂peak, interspersed by 30s of passive recovery, 29?min in total), Long HIIT (3 bouts of 4?min at 90% of vVO₂peak, interspersed by 3?min of recovery at 60% of vVO₂peak, 21?min in total) and MICT (21?min at 70% of vVO₂peak). The protocols were performed in a randomised order with ≥48 h between them. VO₂, HRpeak and RPE were compared. VO₂peak in Long HIIT was significantly higher than Short HIIT and MICT (43?±?11 vs 32?±?8 and 37?±?8?mL.kg^?1.min^?1, respectively, P?P?P?2, HR and RPE than Short HIIT and MICT, suggesting a higher demand on the cardiorespiratory system. Short HIIT and MICT presented similar physiologic and perceptual responses, despite Short HIIT being performed at higher velocities.     

3-min all-out effort on cycle ergometer is valid to estimate the anaerobic capacity by measurement of blood lactate and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of a single 3-min all-out maximal effort to estimate anaerobic capacity (AC) through the lactate and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) response methods (AC_{[La^?]+EPOCfast}) on a cycle ergometer. Eleven physically active men (age?=?28.1?±?4.0?yrs, height?=?175.1?±?4.2?cm, body mass?=?74.8?±?11.9?kg and ?O_2max?=?40.7?±?7.3?mL?kg^?1?min^?1), participated in the study and performed: i) five submaximal efforts, ii) a supramaximal effort at 115% of intensity of ?O_2max, and iii) a 3-min all-out maximal effort. Anaerobic capacity was estimated using the supramaximal effort through conventional maximal accumulated oxygen deficit (MAOD) and also through the sum of oxygen equivalents from the glycolytic (fast component of excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) and phosphagen pathways (blood lactate accumulation) (AC_{[La^?]+EPOCfast}), while during the 3-min all-out maximal effort the anaerobic capacity was estimated using the AC_{[La^?]+EPOCfast} procedure. There were no significant differences between the three methods (p?>?0.05). Additionally, the anaerobic capacity estimated during the 3-min all-out effort was significantly correlated with the MAOD (r?=?0.74; p?=?0.009) and AC_{[La^?]+EPOCfast} methods (r?=?0.65; p?=?0.029). Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the 3-min all-out effort is valid to estimate anaerobic capacity in physically active men during a single cycle ergometer effort.     

Correlations between serum and salivary hormonal concentrations in response to resistance exercise

The aim of present study was to examine the relationships between serum and salivary values of free testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and cortisol before and after a session of resistance exercise. Twenty-eight healthy men (mean age 40 years, s = 4) participated in the present study. Serum and salivary samples were collected at rest and after a multiple-sets resistance exercise protocol, of approximately 25 minutes duration. Concentrations of free testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and cortisol were measured using radioimmunoassay kits. No significant correlation was observed between serum free testosterone and salivary testosterone (r = 0.22 to 0.26, P > 0.05). Serum cortisol was significantly correlated with salivary cortisol before (r = 0.52, P = 0.005) and after (r = 0.62, P = 0.001) the exercise protocol. Serum and salivary concentrations of dehydroepiandrosterone were significantly correlated before (r = 0.68, P < 0.001) and after (r = 0.7, P < 0.001) exercise. The results of the present study suggest that even under exercise conditions, the salivary values of cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone can reflect the behaviour of these hormones in blood. However, further studies are necessary to verify if salivary testosterone reflects the behaviour of serum free testosterone during resistance exercise.     

A meta-analysis of maturation-related variation in adolescent boy athletes’ adaptations to short-term resistance training

This meta-analysis investigated the maturation-related pattern of adaptations to resistance training in boy athletes. We included studies examining the effects of 4–16-week resistance training programmes in healthy boy athletes aged 10–18 years. Pooled estimates of effect size for change in strength across all studies (n = 19) were calculated using the inverse–variance random effects model for meta-analyses. Estimates were also calculated for groups based on likely biological maturity status (“before”, “during” and “after” peak height velocity). Using the standardised mean difference, resistance training increased strength across all groups (effect size = 0.98, [CI: 0.70–1.27]). Strength gains were larger during (1.11 [0.67–1.54]) and after (1.01 [0.56–1.46]) peak height velocity than before (0.5 [?0.06–1.07]). Adaptations to resistance training are greater in adolescent boys during or after peak height velocity. These findings should help coaches to optimise the timing of training programmes that are designed to improve strength in boy athletes.