Risk factors for computer visual syndrome (CVS) among operators of two call centers in Sao Paulo, Brazil

The aims of this study were to investigate work conditions, to estimate the prevalence and to describe risk factors associated with Computer Vision Syndrome among two call centers' operators in Sao Paulo (n = 476). The methods include a quantitative cross-sectional observational study and an ergonomic work analysis, using work observation, interviews and questionnaires. The case definition was the presence of one or more specific ocular symptoms answered as always, often or sometimes. The multiple logistic regression model, were created using the stepwise forward likelihood method and remained the variables with levels below 5% (p < 0.05). The operators were mainly female and young (from 15 to 24 years old). The call center was opened 24 hours and the operators weekly hours were 36 hours with break time from 21 to 35 minutes per day. The symptoms reported were eye fatigue (73.9%), "weight" in the eyes (68.2%), "burning" eyes (54.6%), tearing (43.9%) and weakening of vision (43.5%). The prevalence of Computer Vision Syndrome was 54.6%. Associations verified were: being female (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.6 to 4.1), lack of recognition at work (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.8), organization of work in call center (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.7) and high demand at work (OR 1.1, 95% CI 1.0 to 1.3). The organization and psychosocial factors at work should be included in prevention programs of visual syndrome among call centers' operators.

A computer-controlled color vision test for children based on the Cambridge Colour Test

The present study aimed at providing conditions for the assessment of color discrimination in children using a modified version of the Cambridge Colour Test (CCT, Cambridge Research Systems Ltd., Rochester, UK). Since the task of indicating the gap of the Landolt C used in that test proved counterintuitive and/or difficult for young children to understand, we changed the target Stimulus to a patch of color approximately the size of the Landolt C gap (about 7 degrees Of Visual angle at 50 cm from the monitor). The modifications were performed for the CCT Trivector test which measures color discrimination for the protan, deutan and tritan confusion lines. Experiment I Sought to evaluate the correspondence between the CCT and the child-friendly adaptation with adult subjects (n = 29) with normal color vision. Results showed good agreement between the two test versions. Experiment 2 tested the child-friendly software with children 2 to 7 years old (n = 25) using operant training techniques for establishing and maintaining the subjects` performance. Color discrimination thresholds were progressively lower as age increased within the age range tested (2 to 30 years old), and the data-including those obtained for children-fell within the range of thresholds previously obtained for adults with the CCT. The protan and deutan thresholds were consistently lower than tritan thresholds, a pattern repeatedly observed in adults tested with the CCT. The results demonstrate that the test is fit for assessment of color discrimination in young children and may be a useful tool for the establishment of color vision thresholds during development.

The effects of 2 mg chlormadinone acetate/30 mcg ethinylestradiol, alone or combined with spironolactone, on cardiovascular risk markers in women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disorder associated with metabolic dysfunction and changes in cardiovascular risk markers, and using oral contraceptives (OCs) may exert a further negative effect on these alterations in patients with PCOS. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to assess the effects on arterial function and structure of an OC containing chlormadinone acetate (2 mg) and ethinylestradiol (30 mcg), alone or combined with spironolactone (OC+SPL), in patients with PCOS. Study Design: This was a randomized, controlled clinical trial. Fifty women with PCOS between 18 and 35 years of age were randomized by a computer program to use OC or OC+SPL. Brachial artery flow-mediated vasodilation, carotid intima-media thickness and the carotid artery stiffness index were evaluated at baseline and after 6 and 12 months. Serum markers for cardiovascular disease were also analyzed. The intragroup data were analyzed using analysis of variance with Tukey's post hoc test. A multivariate linear regression model was used to analyze the intergroup data. Results: At 12 months, the increase in mean total cholesterol levels was greater in the OC+SPL group than in the OC group (27% vs. 13%, respectively; p=.02). The increase in mean sex hormone-binding globulin levels was greater in the OC group than in the OC+SPL group (424% vs. 364%, respectively; p=.01). No statistically significant differences between the groups were found for any of the other variables. Conclusion: The addition of spironolactone to an OC containing chlormadinone acetate and ethinylestradiol conferred no cardiovascular risk-marker advantages in young women with PCOS. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Seeing beyond reading: a survey on visual text analytics

We review recent visualization techniques aimed at supporting tasks that require the analysis of text documents, from approaches targeted at visually summarizing the relevant content of a single document to those aimed at assisting exploratory investigation of whole collections of documents.Techniques are organized considering their target input materialeither single texts or collections of textsand their focus, which may be at displaying content, emphasizing relevant relationships, highlighting the temporal evolution of a document or collection, or helping users to handle results from a query posed to a search engine.We describe the approaches adopted by distinct techniques and briefly review the strategies they employ to obtain meaningful text models, discuss how they extract the information required to produce representative visualizations, the tasks they intend to support and the interaction issues involved, and strengths and limitations. Finally, we show a summary of techniques, highlighting their goals and distinguishing characteristics. We also briefly discuss some open problems and research directions in the fields of visual text mining and text analytics.

Unusual macular thickness in Alport syndrome: case report

This case report describes the presence of bilateral macular atrophy in a patient with Alport syndrome and compares this finding with literature. At fundoscopy, there was a discrete circumscribed macular thinning showing intense retinal pigment epithelium color and the presence of whitish circular retinal lesions ("dots" and "flecks") at nasal mid periphery of both eyes. Optical coherence tomography showed bilateral partial atrophy of the neurosensory retina in the macula, with a greater extent in the temporal region. This case describes a rare ophthalmological finding in Alport syndrome and important to be recognized for a precise diagnosis as well as for determining visual prognosis.

Semi-supervised dimensionality reduction based on partial least squares for visual analysis of high dimensional data

Dimensionality reduction is employed for visual data analysis as a way to obtaining reduced spaces for high dimensional data or to mapping data directly into 2D or 3D spaces. Although techniques have evolved to improve data segregation on reduced or visual spaces, they have limited capabilities for adjusting the results according to user's knowledge. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to handling both dimensionality reduction and visualization of high dimensional data, taking into account user's input. It employs Partial Least Squares (PLS), a statistical tool to perform retrieval of latent spaces focusing on the discriminability of the data. The method employs a training set for building a highly precise model that can then be applied to a much larger data set very effectively. The reduced data set can be exhibited using various existing visualization techniques. The training data is important to code user's knowledge into the loop. However, this work also devises a strategy for calculating PLS reduced spaces when no training data is available. The approach produces increasingly precise visual mappings as the user feeds back his or her knowledge and is capable of working with small and unbalanced training sets.

Effectiveness of low-level laser therapy for patients with carpal tunnel syndrome: design of a randomized single-blinded controlled trial

Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common neuropathy in the upper extremity, resulting from the compression of the median nerve at wrist level. Clinical studies are essentials to present evidence on therapeutic resources use at early restoration on peripheral nerve functionality. Low-level laser therapy has been widely investigated in researches related to nerve regeneration. Therefore, it is suggested that the effect of low-level laser therapy associated with other conservative rehabilitation techniques may positively affect symptoms and overall hand function in compressive neuropathies such as carpal tunnel syndrome. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of low-level laser therapy in addition to orthoses therapy and home orientations in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. Methods/Design: Patients older than 18 years old will be included, with clinical diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome, excluding comorbidies. A physiotherapist will conduct intervention, with a blinding evaluator. Randomization will be applied to allocate the patients in each group: with association or not to low-level laser therapy. All of them will be submitted to orthoses therapy and home orientations. Outcome will be assessed through: pain visual analogic scale, Semmes Weinstein monofilaments (TM) threshold sensibility test, Pinch Gauge T, Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire and two point discrimination test. Discussion: This paper describes the design of a randomized controlled trial, which aim to assess the effectiveness of conservative treatment added to low-level laser therapy for patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. Trial registration: Brazilian Clinical Trials Registry (ReBec) - 75ddtf / Universal Trial Number: U1111-1121-5184

Software for subjective visual vertical assessment: an observational cross-sectional study

Spatial orientation in relation to the gravitational axis is significantly important for the maintenance of the posture, gait and for most of the human's motor activities. The subjective visual vertical exam evaluates the individual's perception of vertical orientation. Objectives: The aims of this study were (1) to develop a virtual system to evaluate the subjective visual vertical exam, (2) to provide a simple tool to clinical practice and (3) to assess the subjective visual vertical values of h ealthy subjects using the new software. Study Design: observational cross-sectional study. Methods: Thirty healthy volunteers performed the subjective visual vertical exam in both static and dynamic conditions. The exam consisted in adjusting a virtual line in the vertical position using the computer mouse. For the static condition, the virtual line was projected in a white background. For the dynamic condition, black circles rotated in clockwise or counterclockwise directions. Six measurements were taken and the mean deviations in relation to the real vertical calculated. Results: The mean values of subjective visual vertical measurements were: static -0.372 degrees; +/- 1.21; dynamic clockwise 1.53 degrees +/- 1.80 and dynamic counterclockwise -1.11 degrees +/- 2.46. Conclusion: This software showed to be practical and accurate to be used in clinical routines.

Central poststroke pain: somatosensory abnormalities and the presence of associated myofascial pain syndrome

Background: Central post-stroke pain (CPSP) is a neuropathic pain syndrome associated with somatosensory abnormalities due to central nervous system lesion following a cerebrovascular insult. Post-stroke pain (PSP) refers to a broader range of clinical conditions leading to pain after stroke, but not restricted to CPSP, including other types of pain such as myofascial pain syndrome (MPS), painful shoulder, lumbar and dorsal pain, complex regional pain syndrome, and spasticity-related pain. Despite its recognition as part of the general PSP diagnostic possibilities, the prevalence of MPS has never been characterized in patients with CPSP patients. We performed a cross-sectional standardized clinical and radiological evaluation of patients with definite CPSP in order to assess the presence of other non-neuropathic pain syndromes, and in particular, the role of myofascial pain syndrome in these patients. Methods: CPSP patients underwent a standardized sensory and motor neurological evaluation, and were classified according to stroke mechanism, neurological deficits, presence and profile of MPS. The Visual Analogic Scale (VAS), McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), and Beck Depression Scale (BDS) were filled out by all participants. Results: Forty CPSP patients were included. Thirty-six (90.0%) had one single ischemic stroke. Pain presented during the first three months after stroke in 75.0%. Median pain intensity was 10 (5 to 10). There was no difference in pain intensity among the different lesion site groups. Neuropathic pain was continuous-ongoing in 34 (85.0%) patients and intermittent in the remainder. Burning was the most common descriptor (70%). Main aggravating factors were contact to cold (62.5%). Thermo-sensory abnormalities were universal. MPS was diagnosed in 27 (67.5%) patients and was more common in the supratentorial extra-thalamic group (P <0.001). No significant differences were observed among the different stroke location groups and pain questionnaires and scales scores. Importantly, CPSP patients with and without MPS did not differ in pain intensity (VAS), MPQ or BDS scores. Conclusions: The presence of MPS is not an exception after stroke and may present in association with CPSP as a common comorbid condition. Further studies are necessary to clarify the role of MPS in CPSP.

Multidimensional Projections for Visual Analysis of Social Networks

Visual analysis of social networks is usually based on graph drawing algorithms and tools. However, social networks are a special kind of graph in the sense that interpretation of displayed relationships is heavily dependent on context. Context, in its turn, is given by attributes associated with graph elements, such as individual nodes, edges, and groups of edges, as well as by the nature of the connections between individuals. In most systems, attributes of individuals and communities are not taken into consideration during graph layout, except to derive weights for force-based placement strategies. This paper proposes a set of novel tools for displaying and exploring social networks based on attribute and connectivity mappings. These properties are employed to layout nodes on the plane via multidimensional projection techniques. For the attribute mapping, we show that node proximity in the layout corresponds to similarity in attribute, leading to easiness in locating similar groups of nodes. The projection based on connectivity yields an initial placement that forgoes force-based or graph analysis algorithm, reaching a meaningful layout in one pass. When a force algorithm is then applied to this initial mapping, the final layout presents better properties than conventional force-based approaches. Numerical evaluations show a number of advantages of pre-mapping points via projections. User evaluation demonstrates that these tools promote ease of manipulation as well as fast identification of concepts and associations which cannot be easily expressed by conventional graph visualization alone. In order to allow better space usage for complex networks, a graph mapping on the surface of a sphere is also implemented.