A systematic scoping review of study methodology for randomized controlled trials investigating probiotics in athletic and physically active populations

Background:The purported ergogenic and health effects of probiotics have been a topic of great intrigue among researchers,practitioners,and the lay public alike.There has also been an increased research focus within the realm of sports science and exercise medicine on the athletic gut microbiota.However,compared to other ergogenic aids and dietary supplements,probiotics present unique study challenges.The objectives of this systematic scoping review were to identify and characterize study methodologies of randomized controlled trials investigating supplementation with probiotics in athletes and physically active individuals.Methods:Four databases(MEDLINE,CINAHL,Cochrane CENTRAL,and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews)were searched for randomized controlled studies involving healthy athletes or physically active individuals.An intervention with probiotics and inclusion of a control and/or placebo group were essential.Only peer-reviewed articles in English were considered,and there were no date restrictions.Results were extracted and presented in tabular form to detail study protocols,characteristics,and outcomes.Bias in randomized controlled trials was determined with the RoB 2.0 tool.Results:A total of 45 studies were included in the review,with 35 using a parallel group design and 10 using a cross-over design.Approximately half the studies used a single probiotic and the other half a multi-strain preparation.The probiotic dose ranged from 2×10^(8)to 1×10^(11)colony forming units daily,and the length of intervention was between 7 and 150 days.Fewer than half the studies directly assessed gastrointestinal symptoms,gut permeability,or the gut microbiota.The sex ratio of participants was heavily weighted toward males,and only 3 studies exclusively investigated females.Low-level adverse events were reported in only 2 studies,although the methodology of reporting varied widely.The risk of bias was generally low,although details on randomization were lacking in some studies.Conclusion:There is a substantial body of research on the effects of prob iotic supplementation in healthy athletes and physically active individuals.Considerable heterogeneity in probiotic selection and dosage as well as outcome measures has made clinical and mechanistic interpretation challenging for both health care practitioners and researchers.Attention to issues of randomization of participants,treatments and interventions,selection of outcomes,demographics,and reporting of adverse events will facilitate more trustworthy interpretation of probiotic study results and inform evidence-based guidelines.

An experimental methodology for the concurrent characterization of multiple parameters influencing nanoscale friction

A structured transdisciplinary method for the experimental determination of friction in the nanometric domain is proposed in this paper.The dependence of nanoscale friction on multiple process parameters on these scales,which comprise normal forces,sliding velocities,and temperature,was studied via the lateral force microscopy approach.The procedure used to characterize the stiffness of the probes used,and especially the influence of adhesion on the obtained results,is thoroughly described.The analyzed thin films were obtained by using either atomic layer or pulsed laser deposition.The developed methodology,based on elaborated design of experiments algorithms,was successfully implemented to concurrently characterize the dependence of nanoscale friction in the multidimensional space defined by the considered process parameters.This enables the establishment of a novel methodology that extends the current state-of-the-art of nanotribological studies,as it allows not only the gathering of experimental data,but also the ability to do so systematically and concurrently for several influencing variables at once.This,in turn,creates the basis for determining generalizing correlations of the value of nanoscale friction in any multidimensional experimental space.These developments create the preconditions to eventually extend the available macro-and mesoscale friction models to a true multiscale model that will considerably improve the design,modelling and production of MEMS devices,as well as all precision positioning systems aimed at micro-and nanometric accuracy and precision.

Systematic Approach for Web Protection Runtime Tools’Effectiveness Analysis

Web applications represent one of the principal vehicles by which attackers gain access to an organization’s network or resources.Thus,different approaches to protect web applications have been proposed to date.Of them,the two major approaches are Web Application Firewalls(WAF)and Runtime Application Self Protection(RASP).It is,thus,essential to understand the differences and relative effectiveness of both these approaches for effective decisionmaking regarding the security of web applications.Here we present a comparative study between WAF and RASP simulated settings,with the aim to compare their effectiveness and efficiency against different categories of attacks.For this,we used computation of different metrics and sorted their results using F-Score index.We found that RASP tools scored better than WAF tools.In this study,we also developed a new experimental methodology for the objective evaluation ofweb protection tools since,to the best of our knowledge,nomethod specifically evaluates web protection tools.

Characterization of the Oum El Khacheb phosphorites(South Tunisia)and enrichment of big rejections by grinding

In the last decade, the phosphate reserves have started to decrease. In this study, both phosphate of Oum El Khacheb's(O.E.K) region(South of Tunisia) and its big rejections were characterized mineralogically and chemically by several analysis methods such as the binocular magnifying glass, X-rays diffraction technique, Technicon auto-analyzer, atomic absorption spectroscopy, and carbon sulfur analyzer. Then,this work focuses on the coarse rejections of O.E.K's phosphorites which can be valorized by the wet grinding method. Therefore, we have used the methodology of experimental research to determine the optimal grinding conditions. Results found by Doelhert matrix are: a duration at about 4 min, a pulp on solid concentration of 45.00%, a number of cycles equals to 60 rpm and 3.87 as the jar's loading.The enhancement of the weight yields of phosphate recuperation increased significantly by 46.39% from big rejections with 24.60% of P_2O_5 concentration.

Exploring Chinese Experimental Literary Translation： Translation of Latin American Magic Realism into Modern Chinese

The main purpose of this paper is to develop useful empirical research methods to advance the understanding of experimental Chinese literary translation. This will be based on an empirical corpus-based study of two modern Chinese versions of Gabriel Garcfa Marquez＇s One Hundred Years of Solitude. The case study reveals that in translating linguistic events, textual features and cultural phenomena that are unknown to the target audience, for example, magical realism, into Chinese, translators may adopt a range of translation strategies and tactics that lead to significant differences between the genre of the translation and the corre- sponding genre in the target language. New linguistic expressions and writing techniques introduced by experimental literary translation will either be normalised by existing writing conventions or be accepted by the target readership which in turn will expand and enrich the target language and cultural system.