Synthetic Corpus Generation for Deep Learning-Based Translation of Spanish Sign Language.

Sign language serves as the primary mode of communication for the deaf community. With technological advancements, it is crucial to develop systems capable of enhancing communication between deaf and hearing individuals. This paper reviews recent state-of-the-art methods in sign language recognition, translation, and production. Additionally, we introduce a rule-based system, called ruLSE, for generating synthetic datasets in Spanish Sign Language. To check the usefulness of these datasets, we conduct experiments with two state-of-the-art models based on Transformers, MarianMT and Transformer-STMC. In general, we observe that the former achieves better results (+3.7 points in the BLEU-4 metric) although the latter is up to four times faster. Furthermore, the use of pre-trained word embeddings in Spanish enhances results. The rule-based system demonstrates superior performance and efficiency compared to Transformer models in Sign Language Production tasks. Lastly, we contribute to the state of the art by releasing the generated synthetic dataset in Spanish named synLSE.

Immune and molecular landscape behind non-response to Mycophenolate Mofetil and Azathioprine in lupus nephritis therapy.

Lupus nephritis (LN) represents one of the most severe complications of systemic lupus erythematosus, leading to end-stage kidney disease in worst cases. Current first-line therapies for LN, including mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and azathioprine (AZA), fail to induce long-term remission in 60-70% of the patients, evidencing the urgent need to delve into the molecular knowledge-gap behind the non-response to these therapies. A longitudinal cohort of treated LN patients including clinical, cellular and transcriptomic data, was analyzed. Gene-expression signatures behind non-response to different drugs were revealed by differential expression analysis. Drug-specific non-response mechanisms and cell proportion differences were identified. Blood cell subsets mediating non-response were described using single-cell RNASeq data. We show that AZA and MMF non-response implicates different cells and regulatory functions. Mechanistic models were used to suggest add-on therapies to improve their current performance. Our results provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms associated with treatment failures in LN.

Exploring the interplay between climate, population immunity and SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics in Mediterranean countries.

The relationship between SARS-CoV-2 transmission and environmental factors has been analyzed in numerous studies since the outbreak of the pandemic, resulting in heterogeneous results and conclusions. This may be due to differences in methodology, considered variables, confounding factors, studied periods and/or lack of adequate data. Furthermore, previous works have reported that the lack of population immunity is the fundamental driver in transmission dynamics and can mask the potential impact of environmental variables. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between climate variables and COVID-19 transmission considering the influence of population immunity. We analyzed two different periods characterized by the absence of vaccination (low population immunity) and a high degree of vaccination (high level of population immunity), respectively. Although this study has some limitations, such us the restriction to a specific climatic zone and the omission of other environmental factors, our results indicate that transmission of SARS-CoV-2 may increase independently of temperature and specific humidity in periods with low levels of population immunity while a negative association is found under conditions with higher levels of population immunity in the analyzed regions.

An Integrated Multidimensional Resilience Index for urban areas prone to flash floods: Development and validation.

Resilience analysis is critical in developing flash flood risk reduction strategies in the context of global change and sustainable development. The most common method for assessing resilience is index-based. Nevertheless, the resulting indices typically fail to represent resilience's multidimensional character since they frequently disregard all involved dimensions (i.e., social, economic, environmental, physical, institutional, and cultural). Furthermore, regional resilience indices are rarely externally validated in urban areas prone to flash flooding because the required data are limited and flash flooding does not occur concurrently throughout the study region. This research developed and validated a regional Integrated Multidimensional Resilience Index (IMRI) in urban flash flood-prone areas to address the aforementioned knowledge gaps. The Monte Carlo method enabled internal validation of the IMRI following uncertainty and sensitivity analyses. Latent Class Cluster Analysis (LCCA) was used to characterize resilience, leveraging resulting regional spatial patterns. The findings obtained revealed that the most resilient urban areas have greater social and cultural resilience, while the least resilient urban areas should strengthen their social and institutional resilience. Validation results demonstrated a low bias between the IMRI scores and the control statistics derived from the Monte Carlo analysis as well as a higher than 80 % probability of not getting variations in the resilience categories, confirming the robustness of the IMRI. Through LCCA, five distinct regional spatial patterns of resilience were identified. The methodological approach deployed here enabled the identification of the underlying characteristics that determine the urban system's resilience to flash flooding, thereby supporting the formulation of resilience-building strategies for each dimension and urban area under consideration.

Subjective well-being, happiness, and environmental health factors related to women planning a pregnancy or pregnant, using mobile health intervention.

Objectives: To compare the environmental health results in women trying to get pregnant or pregnant using a mobile health application (Green Page) through healthcare professionals or self-completed by women, and to explore the relationship between the subjective well-being of these women with their lifestyles and environmental factors. Methods: A descriptive study with mixed methods was conducted in 2018. A mobile health survey was used in two phases. Phase 1 was a cross-sectional study through professionals (n = 1100) followed by phase 2, a convenience sampling through women's self-reporting (n = 3425). A personalized report was downloadable with health recommendations for the well-being of the mother and child. Results: Of the 3205 participants (mean age = 33 years, SD = 0.2 years), 1840 were planning a pregnancy and 1365 were pregnant. One in five pregnant women had a low level of happiness. Globally, subjective well-being and happiness were found to be negatively associated with lack of contact with nature, sedentary lifestyle, excess weight, environmental exposure, and older age in pregnancy. Precisely 45%, 60%, and 14% of women were exposed to tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drugs, respectively. The women self-reported levels of risk factors higher than when the tool was used by or through professionals. Conclusions: The use of mobile health interventions focused on environmental health during planning or pregnancy periods could help improve the quality of healthcare and foster greater involvement of women in their self-care process, thus promoting empowerment, healthier environments, and lifestyles. Ensuring equity of access and data protection are global challenges to be addressed.

Relación Entre el uso de Instagram y la Imagen Corporal de los Adolescentes / Relationship Between the use of Instagram and the Body Image of Teenagers

El uso de las redes sociales entre los adolescentes está derivando en problemas relacionales, psicológicos y de salud. Varios estudios han constatado el impacto del uso de redes sociales en distintas áreas de la vida de los jóvenes. Este trabajo analiza cómo afecta el uso de la red social Instagram a la autoimagen corporal de los adolescentes con tres objetivos: (a) describir comportamientos relacionados con la autoimagen corporal de los adolescentes, (b) estudiar la influencia del sexo y la edad en la autoimagen corporal de los adolescentes y (c) establecer relaciones entre el uso problemático de redes sociales y la (auto)imagen corporal. Se usó un diseño transversal con una muestra compuesta por 95 adolescentes. Los resultados indican que el uso de redes sociales influye en la relación con el cuerpo y la autoimagen y que el número de horas diarias invertidas en redes sociales,así como la supervisión familiar, son variables que influyen en la imagen corporal de los adolescentes. Se discutenlas implicaciones educativas (AU)

The use of social networks among adolescents may lead to relational, psychological and health problems. Several studies have shown the impact of the use of social networks in different areas of young people’s lives. Here, we analyze how the use of Instagram as social media influences adolescents’ body self-image. There are three objectives: (a) to describe behaviors related to adolescents’ body self-image, (b) to study the influence of sex and age on adolescents’body self-image, and (c) to establish relationships between problematic use of social networks and body (self-)image. A cross-sectional design was used with a sample composed of 95 adolescents. The results indicate that the use of social networks influences the relationship with the body and self-image and that the number of daily hours spent on social networks, as well as family supervision, are variables that influence adolescents’ body image. Educational implications are discussed (AU)

The Mechanism of Resistance of EUROPEAN Plum to Plum pox virus Mediated by Hypersensitive Response Is Linked to VIRAL NIa and Its Protease Activity.

Plum pox virus (PPV) infects Prunus trees across the globe, causing the serious Sharka disease. Breeding programs in the past 20 years have been successful, generating plum varieties hypersensitive to PPV that show resistance in the field. Recently, a single tree displaying typical PPV symptoms was detected in an orchard of resistant plums. The tree was eradicated, and infected material was propagated under controlled conditions to study the new PPV isolate. Performing overlapping PCR analysis, the viral sequence was reconstructed, cloned and tested for infectivity in different 'Jojo'-based resistant plums. The results confirmed that the isolate, named PPV-D 'Herrenberg' (PPVD-H), was able to infect all these varieties. Analyses of chimeras between PPVD-H and a PPV-D standard isolate (PPVD) revealed that the NIa region of PPD-H, carrying three amino acid changes, was enough to break the resistance of these plums. Experiments with single and double mutants showed that all changes were essential to preserve the escaping phenotype. Additionally, one of the changes at the VPg-NIapro junction suggested the involvement of controlled endopeptidase cleavage in the viral response. Transient expression experiments in Nicotiana benthamiana confirmed that NIa cleavage in PPVD-H was reduced, compared to PPVD, linking the observed behavior to an NIa cleavage modulation.

Experiencias psicóticas autoinformadas: diferencias según la edad y la psicopatología asociada / Self-reported psychotic experiences: differences by age and associated psychopathology

Este trabajo pretende explorar las diferencias en sintomatología psicopatológica que puede haber en la población general adulta con o sin experiencias psicóticas (EP) en función del rango de edad. Se evaluó la presencia de EP, la sintomatología psicopatológica general y diferentes características sociodemográficas y psicosociales en 216 personas sin antecedentes psiquiátricos personales. La muestra se dividió en adultos jóvenes (18-35 años) y maduros (36-60 años). Los jóvenes mostraron una mayor expresión de EP (33,6%). Los adultos maduros con EP presentaban más sintomatología psicopatológica en las dimensiones de hostilidad-ira, somatización, depresión y ansiedad que los adultos maduros sin EP. Los adultos jóvenes con EP mostraron significativamente más síntomas en las mismas dimensiones, así como también en las dimensiones de obsesión-compulsión, ideación paranoide y psicoticismo que los participantes de esta edad sin EP. Las EP son más frecuentes en personas de 18-35 años, sin embargo, pueden estar presentes en distintos rangos de edad y podrían alertar de la presencia de niveles elevados de sintomatología afectiva y de ira-hostilidad. (AU)

This study aims to explore the differences in psychopathological symptoms that may This study aims to explore the differences in psychopathological symptoms that may exist in the general adult population with or without psychotic-like experiences (PLEs), depending on the age range. The presence of PLEs, self-reported general psychopathological symptomatology, and different sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics were assessed in 216 participants without any record of personal psychiatric antecedents. The sample was divided into young adults (18-35 years) and mature adults (36-60 years). The young adults showed a higher expression of PLEs (33.6%). The mature adults with PLEs presented more psychopathological symptoms in the dimensions of hostility-anger, somatization, depression, and anxiety than mature adults without PLEs. Young adults with PLEs showed significantly more symptoms in the same dimensions, and in the obsession-compulsion dimensions, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism, than participants of this age without PLEs. PLEs are more frequent in people between 18-35 years old; however, PLEs can be present in different age ranges and could serve as an alert to high levels of affective and anger-hostility symptoms. (AU)

Heartbeat detector from ECG and PPG signals based on wavelet transform and upper envelopes.

The analysis of cardiac activity is one of the most common elements for evaluating the state of a subject, either to control possible health risks, sports performance, stress levels, etc. This activity can be recorded using different techniques, with electrocardiogram and photoplethysmogram being the most common. Both techniques make significantly different waveforms, however the first derivative of the photoplethysmographic data produces a signal structurally similar to the electrocardiogram, so any technique focusing on detecting QRS complexes, and thus heartbeats in electrocardiogram, is potentially applicable to photoplethysmogram. In this paper, we develop a technique based on the wavelet transform and envelopes to detect heartbeats in both electrocardiogram and photoplethysmogram. The wavelet transform is used to enhance QRS complexes with respect to other signal elements, while the envelopes are used as an adaptive threshold to determine their temporal location. We compared our approach with three other techniques using electrocardiogram signals from the Physionet database and photoplethysmographic signals from the DEAP database. Our proposal showed better performances when compared to others. When the electrocardiographic signal was considered, the method had an accuracy greater than 99.94%, a true positive rate of 99.96%, and positive prediction value of 99.76%. When photoplethysmographic signals were investigated, an accuracy greater than 99.27%, a true positive rate of 99.98% and positive prediction value of 99.50% were obtained. These results indicate that our proposal can be adapted better to the recording technology.

Exploring Urban Green Spaces' Effect against Traffic Exposure on Childhood Leukaemia Incidence.

BACKGROUND: Several environmental factors seem to be involved in childhood leukaemia incidence. Traffic exposure could increase the risk while urban green spaces (UGS) exposure could reduce it. However, there is no evidence how these two factors interact on this infant pathology. OBJECTIVES: to evaluate how residential proximity to UGS could be an environmental protective factor against traffic exposure on childhood leukaemia incidence. METHODS: A population-based case control study was conducted across thirty Spanish regions during the period 2000-2018. It included 2526 incident cases and 15,156, individually matched by sex, year-of-birth, and place-of-residence. Using the geographical coordinates of the participants' home residences, a 500 m proxy for exposure to UGS was built. Annual average daily traffic (AADT) was estimated for all types of roads 100 m near the children's residence. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs), UGS, traffic exposure, and their possible interactions were calculated for overall childhood leukaemia, and the acute lymphoblastic (ALL) and acute myeloblastic leukaemia (AML) subtypes, with adjustment for socio-demographic covariates. RESULTS: We found an increment of childhood leukaemia incidence related to traffic exposure, for every 100 AADT increase the incidence raised 1.1% (95% CI: 0.58-1.61%). UGS exposure showed an incidence reduction for the highest exposure level, Q5 (OR = 0.63; 95% CI = 0.54-0.72). Regression models with both traffic exposure and UGS exposure variables showed similar results but the interaction was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Despite their opposite effects on childhood leukaemia incidence individually, our results do not suggest a possible interaction between both exposures. This is the first study about the interaction of these two environmental factors; consequently, it is necessary to continue taking into account more individualized data and other possible environmental risk factors involved.

COVID-19 pandemic and mental health in Spain: An analysis of their relationship using Google Trends.

INTRODUCTION: This study aims to examine the public interest that exists on Internet regarding various mental health topics and its relationship with evolution of COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Google Trends was used to explore relative search volume (RSV) for the following terms related with mental health (TRMH): "anxiety", "depression", "stress", "insomnia" and "suicide"; between January and December 2020. The cross-correlation function was performed to assess association between new COVID-19 cases and RSV levels for TRMH. Finally, Mann-Whitney test was used to examine differences between RSV values for TRMH before and after of state of alarm declarations on March and October 2020. RESULTS: The "anxiety" term showed the highest RSV indices. A significant correlation was found between new COVID-19 cases and RSV for "anxiety" with a time-lag of +1 week (r=0.49; p<.05). Was found an increase of SRV for "anxiety" (U=0.00; p=.01) and a decrease of SRV for "depression" (U=1.00; p=.04) between 4-week period before and after state of alarm of March 2020. Regarding the state of alarm of October 2020, a higher RSV for "anxiety" (U=0.50; p=.02) was found in the four weeks after it compared with a similar previous period. CONCLUSIONS: Anxiety is the mental health topic of greatest public interest on Internet in context of COVID-19 pandemic. Public concern about anxiety rises one week after the increase in COVID-19 cases and is greater after introduction of control measures that entail any type of mobility restriction or activity limitation. There is a greater general need for information on anxiety at specific times in the pandemic evolution.

Kinematics and performance of team-handball throwing: effects of age and skill level.

To assess the influence of age and skill level on handball throwing kinematics and performance, 126 participants were distributed into groups according to their skill level (elite or recreational) and age group (U12, U16 or +18). Each participant performed three sets of 10 throws, aiming to hit a target (40 × 40 cm) located in the right corner of the goal. During testing, kinematic data were recorded and throwing performance (accuracy and velocity) was measured. Results showed greater throwing velocity in the elite compared to recreational groups, whereas no differences were found for throwing accuracy. The elite U16 and +18 groups displayed higher segment velocities (hand, arm and pelvis) than the recreational groups. The participation of proximal segments was higher in older groups, showing the more skilled players (U16 and +18) greater pelvis velocities (1.62-1.75 vs 1.02-1.22 m/s). The increased velocity of the distal joints (hand peak velocity: 13.56 ± 1.65 vs 10.67 ± 1.98 m/s) are responsible for the difference in throwing velocity between the elite and recreational U12 groups. Several correlations were found between joint kinematics and throwing velocity. Coaches could use these results during training, to optimise specific throwing training.

Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 and its relationship with public interest in mental health: a study between 2020-2022 in Spain.

The possible relationship between vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and mental health has been largely unexplored. We investigated variations in public interest in mental health issues between the different periods of the vaccination campaign against SARS-CoV-2 in Spain and before the initiation of the campaign. Using Google Trends, we explored the relative search volume (RSV) for the terms 'anxiety', 'depression', 'stress', 'insomnia', and 'suicide' between 03/01/2020 and 01/15/2022. The RSV was compared for these terms with respect to four periods: the pre-vaccination pandemic period; the period running from initiation of vaccination until 50% of the population was fully vaccinated (FV); the period running from 50% FV to 70% FV; and the period after 70% FV. Differences in the RSV indices were observed between the studied periods for 'anxiety'(F = 6.07; p = 0.001; ƞ2 = 0.16), 'stress' (F = 7.77; p < 0.001; ƞ2 = 0.19), and 'insomnia' (F = 3.80; p = 0.013; ƞ2 = 0.11). A lower RSV was found for 'anxiety', 'stress', and 'insomnia' after 70% FV compared to the two previous vaccination periods. A lower RSV was also found for 'stress' after achieving the milestone of 70% FV in relation to the period prior to initiation of the campaign. In conclusion, there is less need for information on specific mental health topics in the period after 70% FV. In Spain, reaching this vaccination milestone may have had a positive impact on anxiety, stress, and insomnia levels in the population, as reflected in fewer web searches for information on these psychopathological processes. The promotion of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign could take into account the changes observed in this preliminary study with respect to public interest in stress, anxiety, and insomnia once a large percentage of the population has been vaccinated.