A study of the facial aging - a multidisciplinary approach

This paper describes a mathematical and graphical model for face aging. It considers the possibility of predicting the aging process by offering an initial quantification of this process as it applies to the face. It is concerned with physical measurements and a general law of time dependence. After measuring and normalizing a photograph of a person, one could predict, with a known amount of error, the appearance of that person at a different age. The technique described has served its purpose successfully, with a representative amount of patient data behaving sufficiently near the general aging curve of each parameter. That model uses a warping technique to emulate the aging changes on the face of women. Frequently the warping methods are based on the interpolation between images or general mathematical functions to calculate the pixel attributes. The implemented process considers the age features of selected parts of a face such as the face outline and the shape of the lips. These age features were obtained by measuring the facial regions of women that have been photographed throughout their lives. The present work is first concerned with discussing a methodology to define the aging parameters that can be measured, and second with representing the age effects graphically.

Frequency of Blastocystis hominis and other intestinal parasites in stool samples examined at the Parasitology Laboratory of the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the São Paulo State University, Araraquara

Blastocystis homins is a protozoan that causes an intestinal infection known as human blastocystosis. This infection is diagnosed by means of parasitological examination of stools and by permanent staining techniques. The present study was developed to evaluate the frequency of Blastocystis hominis infection among inhabitants of the Araraquara region, State of São Paulo, and to compare different methods for investigating this protozoan in feces samples. Evaluations on 503 stool samples were performed by means of direct fresh examination and using the techniques of Faust et al., Lutz and Rugai et al. In addition, the iron hematoxylin, trichrome and modified Kinyoun staining techniques were used. Out of the 503 samples examined, 174 (34.6%) were found to be positive for the presence of intestinal parasites. The most frequent protozoa and helminths were Entamoeba coli (14.6%) and Strongyloides stercoralis (6.7%), respectively. Blastocystis hominis was present in 23 (4.6%) fecal samples, with a predominately pasty consistency and without characterizing a condition of diarrhea. Despite the low frequency of Blastocystis hominis found in the Araraquara region, compared with other regions of Brazil, it is important to perform laboratory diagnostic tests for this protozoan. Its finding in fecal material is indicative of food and drinking water contamination. Since the transmission route for this parasite is accepted to be oral-fecal, this implies that the population needs guidance regarding hygiene and basic sanitation measures as a means for controlling health problems caused by enteroparasites.