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Staphylococcus spp. are growing pathogens in humans and companion animals. The emergence of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus -associated infections, due to zoonotic transmission, is a major public health concern. Domestic animals, such as dogs and cats, are possible reservoirs of multi-resistant bacterial species, which makes it relevant to monitor them due to their proximity to humans. However, there is a lack of information on the real scenario in Europe, especially in Portugal, particularly for animal infections caused by Staphylococcus spp. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial resistance profile of Staphylococcus spp. isolated from cats and dogs diagnosed with infection in Northern Portugal. During 2021–2023, 96 Staphylococcus isolates from dogs and cats with symptoms of bacterial infection, including animals being treated in veterinary clinics/hospitals and cadavers submitted for necropsy at INIAV were included in the study collection. Of the 96 isolates, 63 were from dogs and 33 were Staphylococcus spp. from cats, most of which were isolated from ear (57% and 18%, respectively), skin (19 % and 27 %, respectively) and respiratory tract infections (6 % and 27 %, respectively). Among all the isolates, 12 different Staphylococcus spp. were identified, with Staphylococcus pseudintermedius being the most identified (61 % from dogs and 30 % from cats). It is noteworthy that 36 % of the isolates were multi-drug resistant and 25 % of the isolates showed a methicillin-resistant phenotype, with the mecA gene having been identified in all these isolates. This study highlights a high occurrence of multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus spp. in companion animals in Northern Portugal. This underlines the potential for cats and dogs to act as reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance, that can be transmitted to humans, posing a serious threat to public health. • Staphylococcus spp. prevalence in ill companion animals is high in Portugal • High prevalence of multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus spp. in companion animals • S. pseudintermedius is the most common isolated species • mecA resistance gene was present in 26 % of the isolates analysed. • Potential for cats and dogs to act as reservoirs of resistant Staphylococcus spp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence suggests that 'green exercise' (defined as physical activity in nature's environments) provides an important context for health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA), offering opportunities for (mental) health and well-being outcomes, compared to urban/manufactured environments. Theoretical explanations for HEPA tend to emphasize either nature's characteristics, or mental constructs, without explaining why similar behaviours have different outcomes in nature. Here, we discuss how an ecological dynamics rationale for this phenomenon simultaneously includes the environment and the individual. A narrative position statement, based on a critical evaluation of the literature, and an ecological dynamics conceptualisation, was undertaken. The dominant theories were critically reviewed, and an ecological conceptualisation was proposed to highlight current limitations. An ecological dynamics perspective adopts as its unit of analysis the person-environment system, where individuals and environments co-influence each other in a relational, transactional manner, rather than existing independently. An emphasis on the person-environment system suggests how elucidation of psychological processes needs to incorporate aspects of the environment. Thus, explanations of HEPA behaviours cannot be limited to processes considered to occur solely within the individual, implying the need for consideration of different affordances (behavioural opportunities) offered by a particular environment. Affordances in nature's environments are different from affordances in manufactured/urban contexts. Realizing such nature-based affordances implies perceptual and action variability that draws individuals to become, and remain, physically, psychologically and/or emotionally embedded in the natural environment. • The specific impact of HEPA in nature's environments benefits from a person-environment system's theoretical perspective. • In such a transactional perspective, psychological processes incorporate aspects of the environment. • Nature's affordances are less constrained than manufactured affordances. • The natural environment, due to its variability, solicits embodied and embedded actions. • Exerciser-nature interactions can be modulated by skill when solicited by affordances of nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different mathematical models based on electrochemical permeation tests have been proposed to determine the density of hydrogen trapping sites (NT) in metals. However, recent mathematical models that have been used to determine NT contain mathematical errors or have been based on the work of researchers whose works contain no mention of equations or mathematical terms related to hydrogen trapping, which calls into doubt the validity of the models' applicability. In this work, based on permeation test results for X65 steel, we show that the use of incorrect mathematical models leads to values of NT that differ by four orders of magnitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Physical exercise has benefits that go beyond health and well-being, namely in cognitive, motor and psychophysiological areas. The discovery of a shared neural network between action observation and execution (Action-Observation Network) led us to hypothesize that watching human motor action might improve cognitive and motor aspects of performance and proneness for exercise. Design/Methods: Sixty participants viewed a Motor (M) (n = 30) or a Non-Motor (NM) (n = 30) movie with strong or weak content of motoric features of human action, respectively. Performance in d2 Attention test, Fitts' Motor task, and a Proneness for Exercise Visual Analog Scale was assessed before and after movie visualization, in a cross-sectional study. Psychophysiological measures were recorded throughout the experiment. Results: Our results demonstrate an increase in proneness for exercise, and greater improvement in attention-related cognitive aspects in the M group. The aforementioned benefits of action observation did not modulate motor performance. A mental effort deployment was associated to the decrease in heart rate variability after visualization of the NM movie. This was not conducive to attention channeling on task performance. Conversely, M movie observation seemed to be associated to a cognitive load release, affording attention deployment for the resolution of the subsequent tasks. Conclusions: It seems that some benefits associated to physical practice can result from the mere visualization of movies with human motor action content. These are the improvement in attention-related cognitive skills associated to psychophysiological changes that support a disengagement from mental effort. Crucially, the observation of exercise behavior seems to be a key factor for exercise adherence. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives: A quantitative review of the effects of requisite responses and methods of stimulus presentation for assessing decision-making expertise in sport was undertaken. Design: An electronic literature search was conducted in the online databases: SPORTDiscus with Full Text and ISI Web Knowledge All Databases. Articles for analysis were selected according to prior defined criteria. Methods: We considered 111 effect sizes in studies involving 882 expert and non-expert participants. Effect sizes were calculated for six common protocols for measures responses: verbalized knowledge, eye movement measures, decision time, response accuracy, movement accuracy, and movement time. Two moderator variables were also considered to assess effects of research protocols on the dependent variables: “the requisite response” and “stimulus presentation”. A random effect model was used to calculate effect sizes. Results: Analysis of moderator variables suggested that expertise effects were more apparent for “requisite responses” when participants were required to actually perform sporting actions and for “stimulus presentation” under in situ task constraints than for other conditions. Conclusions: Future empirical work on expertise and decision-making needs to consider task representativeness in considering requisite responses of participants in simulating performance environment conditions. Use of representative task constraints with performers required to perform sport actions in in situ conditions appeared the most functional empirical protocols to enhance validity of data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objectives: This study aimed to explain how defenders intercept the trajectory of a passing ball by understanding how they coupled their actions to critical information sources in a competitive performance setting in team sports. Design: Time series data on movement displacements of fifteen senior male futsal performers were recorded and digitized during nine competitive futsal games. Method: Performance was recorded by a digital camera and digitized with TACTO software. The spatial–temporal dynamics of performers during ten intercepted and ten non-intercepted passes were compared. Time to ball interception was calculated by the difference between the time of each defender to an interception point in ball trajectory and the time of the ball’s arrival at the same interception point. Initial distances between defenders and ball and velocity data of defenders and ball over time were also recorded. Results: Time to ball interception revealed positive values when passes were not intercepted, and negative to zero values when passes were intercepted. At the moment of pass initiation defenders’ distances to the ball constrained their possibilities for successful interception. Analysis of defenders’ adaptations to the environment revealed that continuous changes in the defenders’ velocities constrained their success of the interception. Conclusions: Intercepted passes seemed to be influenced by the continuous regulation of a defender’s velocity relative to the ball’s trajectory. Time to ball interception is a variable that captured the emergent functional behaviours of players attempting to intercept the trajectory of a pass in the team sport of futsal. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper describes and evaluates the novel utility of network methods for understanding human interpersonal interactions within social neurobiological systems such as sports teams. We show how collective system networks are supported by the sum of interpersonal interactions that emerge from the activity of system agents (such as players in a sports team). To test this idea we trialled the methodology in analyses of intra-team collective behaviours in the team sport of water polo. We observed that the number of interactions between team members resulted in varied intra-team coordination patterns of play, differentiating between successful and unsuccessful performance outcomes. Future research on small-world networks methodologies needs to formalize measures of node connections in analyses of collective behaviours in sports teams, to verify whether a high frequency of interactions is needed between players in order to achieve competitive performance outcomes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The concept of organismic asymmetry refers to an inherent bias for seeking explanations of human performance and behaviour based on internal mechanisms and referents. A weakness in this tendency is a failure to consider the performer-environment relationship as the relevant scale of analysis. In this paper we elucidate the philosophical roots of the bias and discuss implications of organismic asymmetry for sport science and performance analysis, highlighting examples in psychology, sports medicine and biomechanics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser machining is an attractive alternative to traditional machining of Al 2024 because critical operation parameters in aeronautic industry like processing time, versatility, contamination and finish can be improved. The main disadvantage of laser machining is the high temperatures reached by the studied material during the laser processing. A heat affected zone (HAZ) extension lower than 5 μm is observed. The microstructural analysis shows that this HAZ suffers a heating between 548 and 596 °C where α-liquid phases are present. The high N2 gas pressure used for the laser cutting induces three types of roughness on this viscous material during the laser processing. To improve this feature, the use of other laser wavelengths and/or power is proposed. The higher quality of the process can also be reached using other aeronautic materials with lower Cu content as 7475 Al alloy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]