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Virtual Learning Environments have become innovative tools in health professionals education. Through Massive Open Online Courses, they enable different ways of connecting with knowledge, facilitating study autonomy, interaction, and closer alignment with professional practices and the context of course participants. MOOCs comprise an educational strategy for many fields, including health. As they educate health professionals about a variety of practices, MOOCs play a crucial role in interculturality by enabling professionals to approach cultural diversity in work settings. This study provides a review of the literature investigating the element of interculturality in the production of healthcare-related MOOCs intended for a variety of audiences, including practicing healthcare professionals, healthcare professional trainees, and the general public. Based on a systematic review protocol, we searched for peer-reviewed studies published between 2016 and 2023 in Science Direct, PubMed, ERIC, and Scopus. Fifteen studies were selected for final analysis, which highlighted MOOC development, its underlying processes, and its importance in promoting health and social well-being. MOOCs have (1) provided new approaches to technology-mediated learning in distance health education, (2) aided training, (3) disseminated knowledge, and (4) promoted interculturality. Continuous collaboration and innovation in MOOC development are essential to ensure their effectiveness and relevance in the contemporary educational scenario.

Abstract Prognosticating Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) presents a formidable challenge due to patients exhibiting different onset sites, progression rates, and survival times. In this study, we have developed and evaluated Machine Learning (ML) algorithms that integrate Ensemble and Imbalance Learning techniques to classify patients into Short and Non-Short survival groups based on data collected during diagnosis. We aimed to identify individuals at high risk of mortality within 24 months of symptom onset through analysis of patient data commonly encountered in daily clinical practice. Our Ensemble-Imbalance approach underwent evaluation employing six ML algorithms as base classifiers. Remarkably, our results outperformed those of individual algorithms, achieving a Balanced Accuracy of 88% and a Sensitivity of 96%. Additionally, we used the Shapley Additive Explanations framework to elucidate the decision-making process of the top-performing model, pinpointing the most important features and their correlations with the target prediction. Furthermore, we presented helpful tools to visualize and compare patient similarities, offering valuable insights. Confirming the obtained results, our approach could aid physicians in devising personalized treatment plans at the time of diagnosis or serve as an inclusion/exclusion criterion in clinical trials.

Bed regulation within Brazil's National Health System (SUS) plays a crucial role in managing care for patients in need of hospitalization. In Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, the RegulaRN Leitos Gerais platform was the information system developed to register requests for bed regulation for COVID-19 cases. However, the platform was expanded to cover a range of diseases that require hospitalization. This study explored different machine learning models in the RegulaRN database, from October 2021 to January 2024, totaling 47,056 regulations. From the data obtained, 12 features were selected from the 24 available. After that, blank and inconclusive data were removed, as well as the outcomes that had values other than discharge and death, rendering a binary classification. Data was also correlated, balanced, and divided into training and test portions for application in machine learning models. The results showed better accuracy (87.77%) and recall (87.77%) for the XGBoost model, and higher precision (87.85%) and F1-Score (87.56%) for the Random Forest and Gradient Boosting models, respectively. As for Specificity (82.94%) and ROC-AUC (82.13%), the Multilayer Perceptron with SGD optimizer obtained the highest scores. The results evidenced which models could adequately assist medical regulators during the decision-making process for bed regulation, enabling even more effective regulation and, consequently, greater availability of beds and a decrease in waiting time for patients.

IntroductionPeople with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) can present initially muscle weakness, which is a debilitating symptom that may be improved by engaging in muscle strengthening activities. Currently, the effects of motor interventions for muscle strengthening in people with ALS are unclear. This review intends to analyze the effects of motor interventions for muscle strengthening in individuals with ALS.Methods and analysisRandomized, non-randomized, and quasi-experimental clinical trials assessing individuals with ALS of both sexes, aged 18 years or older, who have received motor interventions for muscle strengthening considering all practices that can lead to increased strength, endurance, power and muscular hypertrophy will be included. No restriction on language, location, or publication date will be applied. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library (CENTRAL), SPORTDiscus, and Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) databases will be searched. The US National Institutes of Health Ongoing, ClinicalTrials.gov, and the reference lists of included studies will also be searched. Two reviewers will independently screen titles and abstracts and extract data from included studies. The methodological quality of the included studies will be assessed by the PEDro scale and the certainty of the evidence by the GRADE approach. Disagreements will be resolved by a third researcher. Findings will be presented in text and table formats. A meta-analysis will compare the effects of motor interventions for muscle strengthening versus placebo or other interventions.

The COVID-19 pandemic is already considered one of the biggest global health crises. In Rio Grande do Norte, a Brazilian state, the RegulaRN platform was the health information system used to regulate beds for patients with COVID-19. This article explored machine learning and deep learning techniques with RegulaRN data in order to identify the best models and parameters to predict the outcome of a hospitalized patient. A total of 25,366 bed regulations for COVID-19 patients were analyzed. The data analyzed comes from the RegulaRN Platform database from April 2020 to August 2022. From these data, the nine most pertinent characteristics were selected from the twenty available, and blank or inconclusive data were excluded. This was followed by the following steps: data pre-processing, database balancing, training, and test. The results showed better performance in terms of accuracy (84.01%), precision (79.57%), and F1-score (81.00%) for the Multilayer Perceptron model with Stochastic Gradient Descent optimizer. The best results for recall (84.67%), specificity (84.67%), and ROC-AUC (91.6%) were achieved by Root Mean Squared Propagation. This study compared different computational methods of machine and deep learning whose objective was to classify bed regulation data for patients with COVID-19 from the RegulaRN Platform. The results have made it possible to identify the best model to help health professionals during the process of regulating beds for patients with COVID-19. The scientific findings of this article demonstrate that the computational methods used applied through a digital health solution, can assist in the decision-making of medical regulators and government institutions in situations of public health crisis.

IntroductionThe implementation of a telerehabilitation protocol for self-care in the routine of caregivers of individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has been associated with reduced levels of stress and improved quality of life. Moreover, it may reduce the difficulty of traveling to perform physical or other self-care activities. Thus, this study designed a clinical trial protocol to investigate the effects of a self-care education program via telerehabilitation on the burden and quality of life of caregivers of individuals with ALS.MethodsThis single-blinded randomized clinical trial will recruit 26 caregivers and randomly allocate them to the experimental (EG = 13) or control group (CG = 13). The EG will receive an informative booklet and participate in a 6-week synchronous telerehabilitation program with a neuropsychologist, nutritionist, and physiotherapist to discuss physical and mental health. The CG will receive an informative booklet on self-care and physical activity and weekly phone calls for 6 weeks to solve questions about the booklet. Outcomes will include the caregiver burden (Zarit scale), quality of life (World Health Organization Quality of Life BREF), pain (McGill Pain Questionnaire), stress (Perceived Stress Scale), and depression (Beck Depression Inventory), which will be evaluated at the baseline after the six-week program and 30 days after the program. Additionally, we will assess daily the nocturnal awakenings, sleep patterns, level of physical activity, and heart rate variability.DiscussionThis study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of telerehabilitation for caregivers of individuals with ALS. If effective, this program could be disseminated among health professionals, increasing the possibility of remotely monitoring individuals with difficulty performing physical activities.Trial registration numberNCT05884034 (clinicaltrials.gov).

Abstract Dengue is recognized as a health problem that causes significant socioeconomic impacts throughout the world, affecting millions of people each year. A commonly used method for monitoring the dengue vector is to count the eggs that Aedes aegypti mosquitoes have laid in spatially distributed ovitraps. Given this approach, the present study uses a database collected from 397 ovitraps allocated across the city of Natal, RN—Brazil. The Egg Density Index for each neighborhood was computed weekly, over four complete years (from 2016 to 2019), and simultaneously analyzed with the dengue case incidence. Our results illustrate that the incidence of dengue is related to the socioeconomic level of the neighborhoods in the city of Natal. A deep learning algorithm was used to predict future dengue case incidence, either based on the previous weeks of dengue incidence or the number of eggs present in the ovitraps. The analysis reveals that ovitrap data allows earlier prediction (four to six weeks) compared to dengue incidence itself (one week). Therefore, the results validate that the quantification of Aedes aegypti eggs can be valuable for the early planning of public health interventions.

Abstract Background Public health campaigns aim to promote awareness, increase knowledge, and encourage a target population to adopt desirable attitudes and behaviors. Assessing their reach from a multidimensional perspective through information technology can facilitate the development of more effective campaigns in public health response. Methods We scrutinized seven data sources from different perspectives to assess a health campaign launched in Brazil named “Syphilis No!”. This campaign is part of an Agenda for strategic actions to reduce syphilis in Brazil which includes dissemination of educommunication materials to remind people of the importance of syphilis prevention, emphasizing “test, treat and cure” concept. We developed a multidimensional analysis framework and implemented an information system to process the data from a time series perspective, and assessed the effects over time, both before and after the campaign. We descriptively analyzed data related to the campaign, including e-news, search engine activity, online courses, serological tests, medication distribution and case notification rates. Findings Regarding search engine activity, we observed the highest volume of search during the first week of campaigns in 2018 (between November 25th and December 7th). Nevertheless, analyzing this data in a trend plot revealed sustained growth until the end of 2019. From March 2018, the amount of e-news posts related to syphilis in Brazil, indexed by Google, followed an increasing slope, with a record peak in October 2019. In addition, data showed that 12 new online courses related to syphilis disease were available on the AVASUS Platform Learning Management System (LMS), to support efforts to promote lifelong learning for health professionals, teachers, and students. These courses reached more than 22,000 students between February 2019 and September 2020. Serological test data showed that the number of tests carried out in 2019 were 375·18% more than in 2015, even accounting for population growth. Finally, starting from the middle of 2018, the syphilis case notification rates followed a decreasing curve. Interpretation From this perspective, the “Syphilis No!” Project was a positive influence, inducing policy to fight syphilis in Brazil by supporting the implementation of a testing, treatment, and cure agenda (#TesteTrateCure). Certainly, this inference was made by analyzing multidimensional aspects and because, prior to 2018, the country had largely neglected this disease, with no records of communication actions during that period.

Abstract Applications on electromagnetic waves in the field of biotelemetry have increased in the latest years, being used to prevent, diagnose, and treatment of several diseases. In this context, biotelemetry allows minimally invasive monitoring of the physiologic, improving comfort and patient care and significantly reducing hospital costs. Aiming to assist the mineral bone density classification, through a radio frequency signal (RF), for a later diagnosis of osteoporosis, Osseus was proposed in 2018. This equipment is a combination of the application of techniques and concepts of several areas such as software, electrical, electronic, computational, and biomedical engineering, developed at a low cost, with easy access to the population, and non-invasive. However, when placed on evaluation, potential improvements were identified to increase the stability of Osseus operation. It is proposed the implementation of improvements in the antennas used by Osseus, aiming its miniaturization, improvement in the reception of the RF signal, and better stability of the equipment's operation. Then, two antennas were built, one of which was used as a project for the second, which is an array. The array showed significant improvements in the radiation parameters relevant to the application, being a candidate to replace the antennas currently in use at Osseus.

Introduction The prescription of an intervention plan can be challenging for the physical therapist, considering clinical phenotypes, individual prognosis and the rapid, progressive and deteriorating nature of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In this context, therapeutic exercises (eg, resistance and aerobic exercises) for patients with ALS remain controversial and may influence the treatment plan. Therefore, this review aims to critically assess whether physical therapy interventions are effective for improving functional capacity, quality of life and fatigue of individuals with ALS.Methods and analysis Studies will be selected according to eligibility criteria, and language, geographical area or publication date will not be restricted. Four databases will be used: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library (CENTRAL) and Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro). Searches will also be conducted on ClinicalTrials.gov and references from included studies. We plan to conduct the searches between October and December 2022. Two independent authors will examine titles and abstracts and exclude irrelevant studies and duplicates. We will assess the quality of studies and quality of evidence, and disagreements will be resolved with a third researcher. The findings will be presented in the text and tables; if possible, we will perform meta-analyses.Ethics and dissemination No ethical approval is required because this study does not involve human beings. We will publish our findings in peer-reviewed journals.PROSPERO registration number CRD42021251350.

IntroductionCaregivers are essential during and after rehabilitation but exhibit intense physical and mental burdens due to responsibilities, resulting in stress, irritability, depression, anxiety, pain, and financial distress. Telerehabilitation offers several remote health services that improve time, engagement, and physical and mental health care access. Thus, we outlined a systematic review protocol to evaluate the impact of telerehabilitation on the burden, stress, pain, and quality of life of caregivers of patients with neurological disorders.MethodsSearches will be conducted in Ovid MEDLINE, Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Physiotherapy Evidence Database, and PsycINFO databases. Clinical trials evaluating the burden, stress, pain, and quality of life of caregivers of patients with neurological disorders using telerehabilitation will be included without publication date or language restriction. Two reviewers will independently select studies from titles, abstracts, and reference lists. The quality of evidence and risk of bias will be assessed according to Cochrane recommendations.ResultsThis systematic review to be developed will evaluate the impact of telerehabilitation on the burden, stress, pain, and quality of life of caregivers of patients with neurological disorders.DiscussionCaregivers, especially of patients with neurological disorders, need more attention since the overload, stress, duties with other personal responsibilities, and low remuneration may impact the quality of life. Therefore, they need intervention, especially physical therapy via telehealth, which values the time of caregivers and may change their perception of health and quality of life.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42022278523.

Introduction Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with variable and complex clinical manifestations that requires a multidisciplinary approach. However, face-to-face treatment in this population may experience barriers, such as difficulty accessing physical therapists or other professionals. As a result, strategies (eg, telerehabilitation) emerged to facilitate treatment and physical therapy monitoring. This study aims to evaluate the effects of remote versus face-to-face home-based exercise programmes on clinical outcomes and treatment adherence of people with ALS.Methods and analysis This is a single-blind randomised clinical trial protocol that will include 44 people with clinical diagnosis of ALS at any clinical stage and aged between 18 and 80 years. Participants will be randomised into two groups after face-to-face evaluation and perform a home-based exercise programme three times a week for 6 months. A physical therapist will monitor the exercise programme once a week remotely (phone calls—experimental group) or face-to-face (home visits—control group). The primary outcome measure will be functional capacity (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale-Revised). Secondary outcomes will include disease severity (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Severity Scale), fatigue (Fatigue Severity Scale), pain (Visual Analogue Scale and body pain diagram), adverse events and adherence rate. Outcomes will be initially evaluated face-to-face and revaluated remotely every 2 months and 1 month after interventions. Linear mixed models will compare outcome measures between groups and evaluations (α=5%).Ethics and dissemination This study was approved by the research ethics committee of Hospital Universitário Onofre Lopes/Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (no. 3735479). We expect to identify the effects of an exercise programme developed according to ALS stages and associated with remote or face-to-face monitoring on clinical outcomes using revaluations and follow-up after interventions.Trial registration number Brazilian Registry Clinical Trials (RBR-10z9pgfv).

The prognosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a complex and rare disease, represents a challenging and essential task to better comprehend its progression and improve patients' quality of life. The use of Machine Learning (ML) techniques in healthcare has produced valuable contributions to the prognosis field. This article presents a systematic and critical review of primary studies that used ML applied to the ALS prognosis, searching for databases, relevant predictor biomarkers, the ML algorithms and techniques, and their outcomes. We focused on studies that analyzed biomarkers commonly present in the ALS disease clinical practice, such as demographic, clinical, laboratory, and imaging data. Hence, we investigate studies to provide an overview of solutions that can be applied to develop decision support systems and be used by a higher number of ALS clinical settings. The studies were retrieved from PubMed, Science Direct, IEEEXplore, and Web of Science databases. After completing the searching and screening process, 10 articles were selected to be analyzed and summarized. The studies evaluated and used different ML algorithms, techniques, datasets, sample sizes, biomarkers, and performance metrics. Based on the results, three distinct types of prediction were identified: Disease Progression, Survival Time, and Need for Support. The biomarkers identified as relevant in more than one study were the ALSFRS/ALSFRS-R, disease duration, Forced Vital Capacity, Body Mass Index, age at onset, and Creatinine. In general, the studies presented promissory results that can be applied in developing decision support systems. Besides, we discussed the open challenges, the limitations identified, and future research opportunities.

Objetivo: discutir se replicar o Projeto “Sífilis Não”, naquilo que se refere ao tratamento de vastas quantidades de dados pessoais relativos à saúde sem o consentimento dos titulares, seria possível em solo português. Metodologia: análise da legislação referente à proteção de dados pessoais brasileira, portuguesa e europeia, tendo o Projeto “Sífilis Não” como o caso em estudo. Resultados: o tratamento de dados pessoais sensíveis sem o consentimento do titular é, em regra, proibido pelo Regulamento Geral de Proteção de Dados, entretanto, o tratamento por motivo de interesse público na área da saúde e para fins de pesquisa científica é autorizado, desde que sejam garantidas as liberdades fundamentais dos titulares. Conclusão: tendo em vista que o Projeto “Sífilis Não” é um projeto de pesquisa que envolve o enfrentamento e erradicação da sífilis em todas as suas formas, hipóteses específicas da legislação portuguesa e europeia autorizam o tratamento de dados pessoais sensíveis mesmo sem o consentimento dos titulares, notadamente o tratamento de dados pessoais por motivos de interesse público no domínio da saúde pública e para fins de investigação científica.

A Lei 12.871, que institui o Mais Médicos, determina que as instituições de educação superior responsáveis pela oferta dos cursos de Medicina e dos Programas de Residência Médica poderão firmar Contrato Organizativo da Ação Pública Ensino-Saúde (COAPES) com as secretarias de saúde, com a finalidade de viabilizar a reordenação da oferta de cursos de Medicina e de vagas de Residência Médica e a estrutura de serviços de saúde em condições de ofertar campo de prática suficiente, além de permitir a integração ensino-serviço na área da Atenção Básica. Neste sentido, o Sistema de Monitoramento e Avaliação da Integração Ensino Saúde (SIMAIES) foi desenvolvido para servir como a plataforma de gestão virtual dos contratos criados a partir do COAPES. O SIMAIES é uma ferramenta para gestores e instituições de ensino organizarem e formarem a ponte ensino-serviço-comunidade nas regiões. O sistema é fruto de discussões ocorridas no Comitê Nacional dos COAPES e é peça fundamental para a propagação e correta manutenção deste recurso, otimizando o processo de avaliação e monitoramento das atividades de integração. Uma análise exploratória desta ferramenta mostrou que apesar da centralização, padronização e transparência trazida pela mesma, ainda há um fluxo burocrático a ser percorrido antes da utilização do sistema, o que pode trazer morosidade ao processo.

RESUMO Objetivo Avaliar a acurácia de instrumentos de custo acessível para triagem auditiva de adultos e idosos. Método Este estudo foi realizado com usuários de um Serviço de Saúde Auditiva do SUS. Todos foram submetidos a triagem com o aplicativo de smartphone MoBASA, o audiômetro Telessaúde (TS) e a versão eletrônica do Questionário de Handicap da Audição para Idosos (Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly – screening version - eHHIE-S). Os examinadores foram cegos quanto aos resultados dos testes de triagem e para os dados de audiometria de tom puro (ATP). Foram considerados com deficiência auditiva aqueles com média quadritonal na ATP maiores que 40 dB na melhor orelha. Sensibilidade, especificidade e valores preditivos positivo (VPP) e negativo (VPN) foram calculados. O índice Kappa foi usado como um indicador de concordância entre ATP e os resultados da triagem. Resultados A amostra constou de 80 indivíduos entre 18 a 94 anos (55,18 ± 20,21). Na ATP, 21 indivíduos (26,25%) apresentaram audição normal e 59 (73,75%) perda auditiva incapacitante. Nos testes de triagem auditiva observou-se valores de sensibilidade, especificidade, VPP e VPN maiores do que 75% no MoBASA e na sensibilidade e VPN do TS e eHHIE-S. Já a especificidade e VPP do TS e eHHIE-S foram inferiores a 75%. O índice Kappa indicou concordância substancial (0,6) entre o ATP e os resultados do MoBASA. No TS e eHHIE-S foi constatada regular concordância (0,3). Conclusão O MoBASA demonstrou ser um método acurado para triagem auditiva de adultos e idosos com perda auditiva incapacitante.

RESUMO Objetivo identificar o perfil das teleconsultorias assíncronas na área da saúde auditiva do Núcleo Técnico Científico de Telessaúde do Rio Grande do Norte (RN). Métodos este estudo é retrospectivo e descritivo. Foram analisados os registros das teleconsultorias de janeiro de 2015 a dezembro de 2019 na plataforma de teleconsultoria do Núcleo de Telessaúde do RN. As teleconsultorias foram filtradas e categorizadas por dois fonoaudiólogos quanto a estado de origem, gênero e profissão do solicitante, tema e objetivo da questão. Resultados entre as teleconsultorias realizadas no período, foram incluídas, neste estudo, as teleconsultorias na área da saúde auditiva. Em ordem decrescente de frequência, os profissionais solicitantes foram: agentes comunitários de saúde, fonoaudiólogos, agentes de combate a endemias, médicos, enfermeiros, agentes de saúde pública, técnicos e auxiliares de enfermagem e outros. Quanto aos objetivos das teleconsultorias, de maior a menor frequência, foram constatadas perguntas sobre condutas, avaliação, tratamento, relações entre fatores, etiologias, prevenção, sintomas, implantação, acesso ao sistema de saúde e outras. Em relação às temáticas, em ordem descendente, foram observadas perguntas sobre hipoacusia, dispositivos auxiliares de audição, zumbido, otite, programa saúde na escola, emissões otoacústicas, otalgia, labirintite e perfuração timpânica. Conclusão as teleconsultorias assíncronas sobre saúde auditiva tiveram maior frequência por solicitantes do gênero feminino, agentes comunitários de saúde e fonoaudiólogos, sobre a temática da hipoacusia e de dispositivos auxiliares de audição, com objetivo de tomada de decisões para condutas e avaliação na área da saúde auditiva.

Introduction: Syphilis is a problem for the Brazilian Public Health. Therefore, the Brazilian Ministry of Health has been promoting actions to fight this disease; among them, the “No Syphilis Project” stands out, and develops open educational resources (OER), among several activities. Objective: To analyze the open educational resources available in the SUS (the Brazilian Unified Health System) Virtual Learning Environment, focused on syphilis. Methods: This qualitative study, based on epistemology in the field of phenomenology, is a content analysis operated with the meanings constructed to parts of a set of texts and the objects of its analysis were the teaching plans of 19 educational resources available at AVASUS, which dealt with the theme “Syphilis”. The analysis was organized into two unitss: The main purpose of the educational resource and Thematic focus of the educational resource. Results: The overlapping of clinical aspects of the disease to the detriment of socio-environmental aspects and the prevalence of informational objectives can be observed, with the exception of one resource that presented an objective that sought a more active action by the course participant. In the analysis unit 1 it was possible to identify the prevalence of objectives such as 'presenting' or 'conveying' content/information related to the disease. In the analysis unit 2 it was possible to identify the “classic” biomedical cycle of approaching a disease, focusing on diagnosis. Conclusion: The study contributed to the identification of gaps from the thematic and methodological point of view that can guide the planning for the construction of new educational resources.

Introduction: The syphilis epidemic in Brazil, as evidenced by the Indicators and Basic Data on Syphilis in Brazilian Municipalities, published and updated annually by the Ministry of Health, shows that the growing number of cases dates back to 2010 and 2019 was the first in the long series of ten years to show a retreat. Over the years 2017 and 2018, from an agreement signed between the Brazilian Ministry of Health, the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), policies to fight syphilis related to diagnosis, treatment, prevention and management are being implemented. Objective: The objective of the work was to test the hypothesis that the No Syphilis Project has influenced the decline of Congenital Syphilis hospitalizations in Brazilian municipalities since May 2018. Methods: This is an ecological study that compared time series of Congenital Syphilis hospitalizations before and after the implementation of the No Syphilis Project in the Priority municipalities for the project and in Other municipalities. The variables were analyzed by the Chi-square test to rule out the randomness of the results. The series were also analyzed by Linear Regression to measure the degrees of correlation between them. Results: Significance was identified for the reduction of admissions by congenital syphilis occurred after the implementation of the project (p

Atualmente, diferentes técnicas têm sido desenvolvidas para tratamento de sinais com o objetivo da remoção de ruídos existentes, principalmente em sinais de voz. Muitas aplicações têm sido desenvolvidas e aperfeiçoadas nas mais diversas áreas tecnológicas, como as de telecomunicações, automação, eletrônica entre outras. Problemas como o de interferência inerente de um sistema, seja ele na detecção, no processamento, na transmissão ou na recepção, tem sido motivo para o aprimoramento de técnicas de otimização. Com o objetivo de restaurar os sinais de qualquer natureza, no qual sofreram algum tipo de degradação ou distorção, foi investigado o uso de filtros de Wiener através de algoritmos implementados em “Matlab”, através de uma abordagem conceitual de teorias de processos estocásticos baseados nos princípios de ergoticidade, autocorrelação e equações de Yule-Walker.

A aprendizagem baseada em problema (Problem-Based Learning - PBL) é um método no qual os estudantes aprendem através da resolução de um problema que, em geral, não possui uma solução trivial e uma única solução correta. A PBL destaca o trabalho em equipe como um dos principais requisitos para o sucesso do processo de aprendizagem, ou seja, a colaboração é essencial. No entanto, a implantação de um método de ensino com base na PBL não é uma tarefa trivial. Em Ambientes Virtuais de Aprendizagem (AVAs), a complexidade de implantação deste método é ainda maior, pois o facilitador nem sempre pode detectar possíveis problemas na colaboração, nem possui todas as informações necessárias para aplicar as técnicas de aprendizagem deste método. Desta forma, este artigo apresenta o processo de modelagem de um Sistema Multiagente (SMA) de apoio à PBL. O SMA proposto foi modelado utilizando a metodologia MAS-CommonKADS+, que consiste em uma extensão da metodologia MAS-CommonKADS.

A indústria Farmacêutica é um mercado competitivo, complexo e de investimentos vultosos em pesquisa, desenvolvimento e produção de produtos farmacêuticos. Uma das principais estratégias da Indústria farmacêutica é a promoção de seus produtos junto à classe médica, através dos propagandistas de medicamentos, profissionais essenciais ao sucesso desta estratégia. O estudo objetivou comprovar a importância estratégica dos propagandistas de medicamentos e as competências necessárias para o bom desempenho desta profissão, de forma a garantir maior vantagem competitiva, e o sucesso destas organizações. Foram realizadas entrevistas individuais e semi-estruturadas e uma reunião de brainstorming, resultando na identificação de 46 competências, entre conhecimentos, habilidades e atitudes, que os propagandistas atribuíram maior importância, sendo assim consideradas mais relevantes e essenciais para o desempenho das atividades dos propagandistas farmacêuticos sob suas perspectivas. Palavras chaves: Competências. Indústria farmacêutica. Marketing Farmacêutico. Propagandistas vendedores de medicamentos.

A convergência das diversas tecnologias no uso de redes de computadores é uma realidade em nossa sociedade e o aumento do uso destas redes, sejam elas cabeadas ou sem fios, é uma realidade que se consolida a cada dia. Neste sentido, é oportuno fazer uso das atuais estruturas de redes existentes nos vários hospitais e permitir que aplicações de Telemedicina e Telessaúde possam funcionar de forma satisfatória nestes ambientes. Todavia, as estruturas de redes já existentes são em sua maioria redes do tipo Ethernet que atendem perfeitamente aplicações comuns, mas que não satisfazem os requisitos impostos por algumas aplicações na área da saúde, principalmente as aplicações que necessitem transmitir vídeo em tempo real. Desta forma, o presente trabalho apresenta uma abordagem baseada na aplicação de políticas de Qualidade de Serviço (Quality of Service - QoS) e analisa o comportamento da Rede Metropolitana de Telemedicina dos Hospitais Universitários de Natal em situações de pico de uso desta. O objetivo destas políticas visa assegurar as condições necessárias, tais como melhorias nas características de previsibilidade da rede e diminuição do jitter (variação do atraso das mensagens), de tal forma que aplicações de Telemedicina possam ser utilizadas nestas redes de computadores.

Hospital portals that manage health related data are becoming increasingly popular since they play an important role to provide, acquire and exchange information to its users. This study aims to verify how the hospital portals are contributing to the expansion of users knowledge by the analysis of interactive features associated with three mechanisms of knowledge management: Knowledge Access (KA); Knowledge Creation (KC); and Knowledge Transfer (KT). The study is exploratory, descriptive and qualitative, classified as a survey, and involves the standardization of data collection instruments (questionnaires and interviews) applied directly to people of a particular population to evaluate the knowledge management the portals present on the university hospitals from northeastern of Brazil. The results indicated that the proceeds of access to knowledge (AK) prevailed over other confirming the results found on the Asians and Americans hospital portals.

Um fator recorrente das redes de escritório é a busca por maior desempenho, ou seja, redes que executem suas tarefas no menor tempo possível. Porém, para redes industriais o desempenho médio não é o fator mais relevante, isso porque o desempenho de um sistema de tempo real está diretamente relacionado com a previsibilidade imposta pelo ambiente. Enquanto as redes de escritório são orientadas a obter o melhor desempenho médio possível, as redes industriais são orientadas a requisitos temporais, dado que o fator de cumprimento das metas temporais é imperativo em muitas aplicações de tempo real, ou seja, o determinismo. O padrão Ethernet é a principal tecnologia de interconexão de redes locais, porém ainda não foi estabelecido como padrão para redes industriais porque o seu método de acesso ao meio, o CSMA/CD, não atende aos requisitos temporais exigidos por esse tipo de rede. Esse trabalho teve como objetivo desenvolver um middleware em Java para troca de dados em redes industriais, denominado Extensible Real-Time Publish Subscribe. Java foi escolhida como a tecnologia de desenvolvimento a fim de garantir a independência de plataforma provida pela Máquina Virtual Java. Essa independência também é provida pelo próprio middleware, uma vez que suas mensagens são formatadas em XML, que por se tratar de um padrão mundial estabelecido pela W3C, pode ser manipulado por diferentes tecnologias.

A tecnologia Ethernet domina o mercado de rede local de computadores. No entanto, não foi estabelecida como uma tecnologia para automação industrial, onde o determinismo procura os requisitos com um desempenho de tempo real. Muitas soluções têm sido propostas para resolver o problema do determinismo não, que se baseiam principalmente no TDMA (acesso múltiplo por divisão de tempo), passagem de token e mestre-escravo. É neste contexto que este trabalho é realizado, através de medidas de desempenho em redes de comunicação que utilizam o padrão IEEE 802.3, observando o comportamento destas redes, quando submetidos a diferentes cenários de sobrecarga. Para isso, as variações foram aprovadas em ambiente de teste, que será baseado em Shared Ethernet (Hub), Ethernet e Ethernet Switch com prioridade (IEEE 802.1Q). Desta forma, é possível indicar quais os dispositivos analisados pelos testes de desempenho demonstrado um comportamento mais adequado para suportar as aplicações com requisitos de tempo real.

Este trabalho apresenta um sistema de vigilância que realiza a detecção de movimento automático, utilizando um dispositivo de captura de vídeo. A detecção automática de movimento permite que os usuários para ser notificado sobre eventos de segurança sem a necessidade de monitoramento contínua de vídeo a ser realizada por seres humanos. Neste trabalho também é apresentada a modelagem de sistemas computacionais que utilizam a Sun Microsystems 'Java Media Framework

A publicidade vem causando um impacto cada vez mais perceptível na sociedade moderna, o qual se percebe nas mudanças de hábitos e costumes das pessoas. Entretanto, os atuais métodos de transmissões publicitárias estão se tornando problemáticos, devido à incorreta utilização e também devido à grande preocupação com o meio ambiente e com a qualidade de vida. Neste contexto, esse trabalho propõe a criação de um sistema para envio de mensagens publicitárias via celulares. Para tanto, utilizando um mecanismo de busca de perfil. A busca é responsável por localizar os celulares ativos, baseando-se no padrão Bluetooth. Um perfil consiste em todas as informações referentes a um usuário, as quais caracterizam os seus interesses. Após a localização e identificação do perfil o usuário receberá em seu celular mensagens de seu interesse. O processo de localização e sincronização de perfil é realizado de forma totalmente automática, aumentando assim a usabilidade do sistema.