Using mobile technology to conduct epidemiological investigations

INTRODUCTION : The aim of this study was to report the experience of an epidemiological field survey for which data were collected and analyzed using tablets. METHODS : The devices used Epi Info 7 (Android version), which has been modeled a database with variables of the traditional form. RESULTS : Twenty-one households were randomly selected in the study area; 75 residents were registered and completed household interviews with socioeconomic and environmental risk variables. CONCLUSIONS : This new technology is a valuable tool for collecting and analyzing data from the field, with advantageous benefits to epidemiological surveys.

Recent brazilian experience on farmer reaction and crop response to fertilizer use

(1) In the period 1965/77 fertilizer consumption in Brazil increased nearly fifteen foild from circa 200,000 tons of N + P2O5 + K2O to 3 million tons. During the fifteen years extending from 1950 to 1964 usage of the primary macronutrients was raised by a factor of 2 only. (2) Several explanations are given for the remarkable increase, namely: an experimental background which supplied data for recommendations of rates, time and type of application; a convenient governmental policy for minimum prices and rural credit; capacity of the industry to meet the demand of the fertilizer market; an adequate mechanism for the diffusion of the practice of fertilizer use to the farmer. (3) The extension work, which has caused a permanent change in the aptitude towards fertilization, was carried out in the traditional way by salesmen supported by a technical staff, as well as by agronomists of the official services. (4) Two new programs were started and conducted in a rather short time, both putting emphasis on the relatively new technology of fertilizer use. (5) The first program, conducted in the Southern part of the country, extended lab and green house work supplemented by a few field trials to small land owners - the so called "operação tatú" (operation armadillo). (6) The seconde program, covering a larger problem area in the Northeast and in Central Brazil, began directly in field as thousands of demonstrations and simple experiments with the participation of local people whose involvement was essential for the success of the initiative; in this case the official extension services, both foreign and national sources of funds, and universities did participate under the leadership of the Brazilian Association for the Diffusion of Fertilizers (ANDA). (7) It is felt that the Brazilian experience gained thereof could be useful to other countries under similar conditions.

Nutrient extraction and exportation by common bean cultivars under different fertilization levels: I - macronutrients

The use of cultivars with a higher yield potential and the adoption of new technology have achieved high grain yields in common bean, which probably changed the demand for nutrients in this crop. However, there is almost no information about the periods of the cycle in which nutrients are most demanded at which quantities by the main cultivars. The objective of this study was to evaluate the macronutrient extraction and exportation by the common bean cultivars Pérola and IAC Alvorada, under different levels of NPK fertilization, on a dystroferric Red Nitosol, in Botucatu, São Paulo State, Brazil. The experiment was arranged in a randomized complete block (split plot) design with four replications. The plots consisted of six treatments based on a 2 x 3 factorial model, represented by two cultivars and three NPK levels (PD0 - 'Pérola' without fertilization, PD1 - 'Pérola' with 50 % of recommended fertilization, PD2 - 'Pérola' with 100 % of recommended fertilization, AD0 - 'IAC Alvorada' without fertilization, AD1 - 'IAC Alvorada' with 50 % of recommended fertilization, and AD2 - 'IAC Alvorada' with 100 % of recommended fertilization) and subplots sampled seven times during the cycle. At higher levels of NPK fertilization, the grain yield and macronutrient extraction and exportation of both cultivars were higher, but without statistical differences. Macronutrient absorption was higher in the treatments with 100 % of recommended NPK fertilization (average amounts per hectare: 140 kg N, 16.5 kg P, 120 kg K, 69 kg Ca, 17.9 kg Mg, and 16.3 kg S). Regardless of the treatment, the demand for N, P, K, Ca, and Mg was highest from 45 to 55 days after emergence (DAE), i.e., in the R7 stage (pod formation), while the highest S absorption rates were concentrated between 55 and 65 DAE. More than 70 % of P, between 58 and 69 % of N, 40 and 52 % of S, 40 and 48 % of K, and 35 and 45 % of Mg absorbed during the cycle was exported with grains, whereas less than 15 % of Ca was exported.

Simulações computacionais e ferramentas de modelização em educação química: uma revisão de literatura publicada

This article presents a review of published literature concerning the use of computer simulations and modeling tools in Chemical Education. The findings about the possibilities of their application in the Chemistry curriculum, their effective implementation, the teaching methods involved, the research methodology and also the instruments of evaluation that were used and their results were described and analyzed. The need to develop adequate theory support to educators who want to start using this new technology in their Chemistry classes became evident along the research, as well as the lack of development of model perception among Chemistry educators and learners.

Realidade virtual e robótica em cirurgia: aonde chegamos e para onde vamos?

Minimally Invasive Surgery, Telesurgery, Robotics and Virtual Reality represent the technological frontiers that have revolutionized operating practices nowadays. These new technologies aim at improving the quality of assistance offered to patients; thus, they demand from the medical staff more effective measures as far as scientific research, training and expenditure of time and financial resources are concerned. In the past, surgeons have led several medical revolutions, such as the use of antiseptic surgical methods by Semelweiss, the use of anesthesia by Warren, antibiotic therapy, the transplants and the onset of the minimally invasive surgery by Mouret and Perissat. The objective of this article is to present the outreach of this new technology which comprises minimal access, computing, robotics and teletransmission. We have concluded that the new technologies developed in the medical field in the last decades, will offer new options and challenges for the treatment of the surgical patient, leading the scientific knowledge to a new era, the one of the virtual environment.

Jejunum and ileum blunt trauma: what has changed with the implementation of multislice computed tomography?

OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the impact of the new technology of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) in improving the accuracy and early diagnosis of BSBI.METHODS: patients with blunt small bowel injuries (BSBI) grade> I were identified retrospectively and their CT scans reviewed by an experienced radiologist. Clinical and tomographic findings were analyzed and patients grouped as "pre-MDCT" and "post-MDCT", according to the time of implementation of a 64-slice MDCT.RESULTS: of the 26 patients with BSBI 16 had CT scans. Motor vehicle collision (62.5%) was the most frequent mechanism of injury. In the pre-MDCT period, five of the 13 patients (38.5%) had abdominal CT, and in the post-MDCT, 11 of 13 patients (84.6%) had the exam. During pre-MDCT, all CT scans were abnormal with findings of pneumoperitoneum (60%), free fluid (40%) and bowel wall enhancement (20%). In the post-MDCT group, all exams but one were abnormal and the most frequent findings were free fluid (90.9%), bowel wall enhancement (72.7%), and pneumoperitoneum (54.5%). However, the rate of delayed laparotomy did not change. The mortality rate in both groups were similar, with 20% during pre-MDCT and 18.2% during post-MDCT.CONCLUSION: the use of MDCT in abdominal trauma in our service has increased the sensibility of the diagnosis, but has had no impact on outcome so far.

Production of recombinant antigens in plants for animal and human immunization - a review

Plants present a cost effective production system for high value proteins. There is an increasing world demand for cheap vaccines that can be readily administered to the population, especially in economically less developed regions. A promising concept is the production of vaccines in plants that could be grown locally. Expression of antigenic peptides in the palatable parts of plants can lead to the production of edible active vaccines. Two major strategies are: i) to express antigens in transgenic plants, and ii) to produce antigenic peptides on the surface of plant viruses that could be used to infect host plants. This review considers the experimental data and early results for both strategies, and discusses the potential and problems of this new technology

Drying soybean seed using air ambient temperature at low relative humidity

Under subtropical and tropical environments soybean seed (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) are harvested early to avoid deterioration from weathering. Careful after-harvest drying is required and is an important step in maintaining the physiological quality of the seed. Soybean seed should be harvested when the moisture content is in a range of 16-20%. Traditional drying utilizes a high temperature air stream passed through the seed mass without dehumidification. The drying time is long because the system is inefficient and the high temperature increases the risk of thermal damage to the seed. New technology identified as heat pipe technology (HPT) is available and has the unique feature of removing the moisture from the air stream before it is passed through the seed mass at the same environmental temperature. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the performance of HPT for dry soybean seed. In the first study the seeds were dried from 17.5 to 11.1% in 2 hours and 29 minutes and in the second sudy the seeds were dried from 22.6 to 11.9% in 16 hours and 32 minutes. This drying process caused no reduction in seed quality as measured by the standard germination, tetrazolium-viability, accelerated aging and seedling vigor classification tests. The only parameter that indicated a slight seed quality reduction was tetrazolium vigor in the second study. It was concluded that the HPT system is a promising technology for drying soybean seed when efficiency and maintenance of physiological quality are desired.

Drying peanut seed using air ambient temperature at low relative humidity

The moisture content of peanut kernel (Arachis hypogaea L.) at digging ranges from 30 to 50% on a wet basis (w.b.). The seed moisture content must be reduced to 10.5% or below before seeds can be graded and marketed. After digging, peanuts are cured on a window sill for two to five days then mechanically separated from the vine. Heated air is used to further dry the peanuts from approximately 18 to 10% moisture content w.b. Drying is required to maintain peanut seed and grain quality. Traditional dryers pass a high temperature and high humidity air stream through the seed mass. The drying time is long because the system is inefficient and the high temperature increases the risk of thermal damage to the kernels. New technology identified as heat pipe technology (HPT) is available and has the unique feature of removing the moisture from the air stream before it is heated and passed through the seed. A study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the HPT system in drying peanut seed. The seeds inside the shells were dried from 17.4 to 7.3% in 14 hours and 11 minutes, with a rate of moisture removal of 0.71% mc per hour. This drying process caused no reduction in seed quality as measured by the standard germination, accelerated ageing and field emergence tests. It was concluded that the HPT system is a promising technology for drying peanut seed when efficiency and maintenance of physiological quality are desired.

The yellow fever 17D vaccine virus as a vector for the expression of foreign proteins: development of new live flavivirus vaccines

The Flaviviridae is a family of about 70 mostly arthropod-borne viruses many of which are major public health problems with members being present in most continents. Among the most important are yellow fever (YF), dengue with its four serotypes and Japanese encephalitis virus. A live attenuated virus is used as a cost effective, safe and efficacious vaccine against YF but no other live flavivirus vaccines have been licensed. The rise of recombinant DNA technology and its application to study flavivirus genome structure and expression has opened new possibilities for flavivirus vaccine development. One new approach is the use of cDNAs encopassing the whole viral genome to generate infectious RNA after in vitro transcription. This methodology allows the genetic mapping of specific viral functions and the design of viral mutants with considerable potential as new live attenuated viruses. The use of infectious cDNA as a carrier for heterologous antigens is gaining importance as chimeric viruses are shown to be viable, immunogenic and less virulent as compared to the parental viruses. The use of DNA to overcome mutation rates intrinsic of RNA virus populations in conjunction with vaccine production in cell culture should improve the reliability and lower the cost for production of live attenuated vaccines. The YF virus despite a long period ignored by researchers probably due to the effectiveness of the vaccine has made a come back, both in nature as human populations grow and reach endemic areas as well as in the laboratory being a suitable model to understand the biology of flaviviruses in general and providing new alternatives for vaccine development through the use of the 17D vaccine strain.

The use of biodiversity as source of new chemical entities against defined molecular targets for treatment of malaria, tuberculosis, and T-cell mediated diseases: a review

The modern approach to the development of new chemical entities against complex diseases, especially the neglected endemic diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria, is based on the use of defined molecular targets. Among the advantages, this approach allows (i) the search and identification of lead compounds with defined molecular mechanisms against a defined target (e.g. enzymes from defined pathways), (ii) the analysis of a great number of compounds with a favorable cost/benefit ratio, (iii) the development even in the initial stages of compounds with selective toxicity (the fundamental principle of chemotherapy), (iv) the evaluation of plant extracts as well as of pure substances. The current use of such technology, unfortunately, is concentrated in developed countries, especially in the big pharma. This fact contributes in a significant way to hamper the development of innovative new compounds to treat neglected diseases. The large biodiversity within the territory of Brazil puts the country in a strategic position to develop the rational and sustained exploration of new metabolites of therapeutic value. The extension of the country covers a wide range of climates, soil types, and altitudes, providing a unique set of selective pressures for the adaptation of plant life in these scenarios. Chemical diversity is also driven by these forces, in an attempt to best fit the plant communities to the particular abiotic stresses, fauna, and microbes that co-exist with them. Certain areas of vegetation (Amazonian Forest, Atlantic Forest, Araucaria Forest, Cerrado-Brazilian Savanna, and Caatinga) are rich in species and types of environments to be used to search for natural compounds active against tuberculosis, malaria, and chronic-degenerative diseases. The present review describes some strategies to search for natural compounds, whose choice can be based on ethnobotanical and chemotaxonomical studies, and screen for their ability to bind to immobilized drug targets and to inhibit their activities. Molecular cloning, gene knockout, protein expression and purification, N-terminal sequencing, and mass spectrometry are the methods of choice to provide homogeneous drug targets for immobilization by optimized chemical reactions. Plant extract preparations, fractionation of promising plant extracts, propagation protocols and definition of in planta studies to maximize product yield of plant species producing active compounds have to be performed to provide a continuing supply of bioactive materials. Chemical characterization of natural compounds, determination of mode of action by kinetics and other spectroscopic methods (MS, X-ray, NMR), as well as in vitro and in vivo biological assays, chemical derivatization, and structure-activity relationships have to be carried out to provide a thorough knowledge on which to base the search for natural compounds or their derivatives with biological activity.

What new cell biology findings could bring to therapeutics: is it time for a phenome-project in Toxoplasma gondii?

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat" (SunTzu the Art of War, 544-496 BC). Although written for the managing of conflicts and winning clear victories, this basic guideline can be directly transferred to our battle against apicomplexan parasites and how to focus future basic research in order to transfer the gained knowledge to a therapeutic intervention stratey. Over the last two decades the establishment of several key-technologies, by different groups working on Toxoplasma gondii, made this important human pathogen accessible to modern approaches in molecular cell biology. In fact more and more researchers get attracted to this easy accessible model organism to study specific biological questions, unique to apicomplexans. This fascinating, unique biology might provide us with new therapeutic options in our battle against apicomplexan parasites by finding its Achilles' heel. In this article we argue that in the absence of a powerful high throughput technology for the characterisation of essential gene of interests a coordinated effort should be undertaken to convert our knowledge of the genome into one of the phenome.

New approaches in antimalarial drug discovery and development: a review

Malaria remains a major world health problem following the emergence and spread of Plasmodium falciparum that is resistant to the majority of antimalarial drugs. This problem has since been aggravated by a decreased sensitivity of Plasmodium vivax to chloroquine. This review discusses strategies for evaluating the antimalarial activity of new compounds in vitro and in animal models ranging from conventional tests to the latest high-throughput screening technologies. Antimalarial discovery approaches include the following: the discovery of antimalarials from natural sources, chemical modifications of existing antimalarials, the development of hybrid compounds, testing of commercially available drugs that have been approved for human use for other diseases and molecular modelling using virtual screening technology and docking. Using these approaches, thousands of new drugs with known molecular specificity and active against P. falciparum have been selected. The inhibition of haemozoin formation in vitro, an indirect test that does not require P. falciparum cultures, has been described and this test is believed to improve antimalarial drug discovery. Clinical trials conducted with new funds from international agencies and the participation of several industries committed to the eradication of malaria should accelerate the discovery of drugs that are as effective as artemisinin derivatives, thus providing new hope for the control of malaria.

Assistive technology for visually impaired women for use of the female condom: a validation study

OBJECTIVE To validate assistive technology for visually impaired women to learn how to use the female condom. METHOD a methodological development study conducted on a web page, with data collection between May and October 2012. Participants were 14 judges; seven judges in sexual and reproductive health (1st stage) and seven in special education (2nd stage). RESULTS All items have reached the adopted parameter of 70% agreement. In Stage 1 new materials were added to represent the cervix, and instructions that must be heard twice were included in the 2nd stage. CONCLUSION The technology has been validated and is appropriate for its objectives, structure / presentation and relevance. It is an innovative, low cost and valid instrument for promoting health and one which may help women with visual disabilities to use the female condom.