TOBY play-pad application to teach children with ASD – a pilot trial

 Purpose: To investigate use patterns and learning outcomes associated with the use of Therapy Outcomes By You (TOBY. Playpad, an early intervention iPad application. Methods: Participants were 33 families with a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) aged 16 years or less, and with a diagnosis of autism or pervasive developmental disorder - not otherwise specified, and no secondary diagnoses. Families were provided with TOBY and asked to use it for 4-6 weeks, without further prompting or coaching. Dependent variables included participant use patterns and initial indicators of child progress. Results: Twenty-three participants engaged extensively with TOBY, being exposed to at least 100 complete learn units and completing between 17% and 100% of the curriculum. Conclusions: TOBY may make a useful contribution to early intervention programming for children with ASD delivering high rates of appropriate learning opportunities. Further research evaluating the efficacy of TOBY in relation to independent indicators of functioning is warranted.

Influência da urbanização na vazão máxima da microbacia hidrográfica do córrego da cachoeirinha, Lençóis Paulista, SP

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Investigations on voltages and currents in the lightning protection system of the Indian satellite launch pad-I during a stroke interception

A reliable protection against direct lightning hit is very essential for satellite launch pads. In view of this, suitable protection systems are generally employed. The evaluation of efficacy of the lightning protection schemes among others requires an accurate knowledge of the consequential potential rise at the struck point and the current injected into soil at the earth termination. The present work has made a detailed effort to deduce these quantities for the lightning protection scheme of the Indian satellite launch pad-I. A reduced scale model of the system with a frequency domain approach is employed for the experimental study. For further validation of the experimental approach, numerical simulations using numerical electromagnetic code-2 are also carried out on schemes involving single tower. The study results on the protection system show that the present design is quite safe with regard to top potential rise. It is shown that by connecting ground wires to the tower, its base current and, hence, the soil potential rise can be reduced. An evaluation of an alternate design philosophy involving insulated mast scheme is also made. The potential rise in that design is quantified and the possibility of a flashover to supporting tower is briefly looked into. The supporting tower is shown to have significant induced currents.

La pedagogía adaptativa como respuesta compensadora, eficaz y de calidad en la atención a la diversidad del alumnado en escuelas urbanas : programa PAD.

Confirmar la validez del soporte teórico de la intervención compensatoria en el alumnado en situación de riesgo social y educativo mediante las metodologías incluidas en la donominación de Pedagogía Adaptativa. 253 alumnos y alumnas de diez aulas de dos centros educativos de Gijón (Asturias) de los niveles de infantil, primaria y secundaria, así como un tercer centro de contraste. El estudio se desarrolló en varias fases: 1. Planificación : comunicación y difusión. 2. Identificación de clases. 3. Primer control : evaluación del programa. 4. Fase de Réplica. 5. Segundo Control. Las variables dependientes se agrupan en productos (mejora cognitiva general y diferencias y mejora académica), procesos (tasas de actividad, valoración del profesorado, autoevaluación del alumnado y valoración de familias) e impacto (socialización y ambiente instructivo). Se utilizaron pruebas psicopedagógicas (WISC-R y K-ABC) y hojas de desarrollo curricular. La experiencia ha permitido apreciar varias situaciones a resaltar: los efectos alcanzados se pueden cuantificar en tamaños de efectos del orden de 0,8 siendo más consistentes en el nivel de Educación Infantil que en Primaria y Secundaria; el efecto compensatorio valorado mediante el indicador 20-20 se manifiesta con clarida en las aulas de los tres niveles educativos que obtienen mejoras medias significativas; se confirma, igualmente, la importancia de la dirección del aula establecida como directriz compensatoria por otros metanálisis y deja patente la prioridad personal del profesorado como mediador de aprendizajes, transmisor de expectativas y organizador del ambiente de aula; la familia, como primera institución educativa resulta imprescindible si bien, hemos podido constatar la importancia, no tanto de su participación enlas actividades generales del centro, sino de su implicación en el aprendizaje por medio del control en el hogar del plan de trabajo y la identificación con el estilo educativo del centro. Se concluye que la pegagogía adaptativa constituye una fórmula válida de atención a la diversidad en la medida en que se consignan organizar aulas eficaces en centros eficaces. Si el centro educativo mantiene en su proyecto y funciona con cohesión, autonomía y compromiso social con la comunidad, las aulas deben constituir alternativas organizativas relevantes y significativas para el alumnado en situación de riesgo educativo.

Purificação de lacases PPO-I de Botryosphaeria rhodina

Laccases are glycoprotein polyphenol oxidases which are involved in fungal pathogenicity and they are also useful for biotechnological applications. The ligninolytic ascomycete, Botryosphaeria rhodina, has been studied as producer of exopolysaccharide and PPO-I and PPO-II laccases induced by veratryl alcohol. However, as the induced laccases have not been isolated, the aim of this study was to purify the enzyme and to identify the carbohydrates constituents of the glycosidic moiety. The fungus was cultivated on broth Vogel, 1% glucose and 30.4mM veratryl alcohol during 4.5 days at 28°C/180 rpm. The extracellular fluid showed high carbohydrate concentration and the stability of PPO-I laccase under conditions of refrigeration and freezing at 4°C-18°C over 40 days. The purification was developed by ultrafiltration using a NMWL 100 and 30 kDa membrane, gelfiltration on Sephadex G-100, and ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-cellulose. The purified laccase was identified as a glycoprotein, weight molecular 113 kDa, consisting of 40% protein and 60% carbohydrate identified by HPAEC-PAD as fucose, galactose, mannose, glucose and glucosamine.

Atividade da enzima conversora de angiotensina e os níveis plasmáticos de peptídeos do sistema renina-angiotensina (Ang I, Ang II e Ang-(1-7)) em mulheres normotensas e hipertensas no climatério

Pós-graduação em Ciências da Motricidade - IBRC

The Next 10 years in the Management of Peripheral Artery Disease: Perspectives from The 'PAD 2009' Conference

OBJECTIVES: To briefly inform on the conclusions from a conference on the next 10 years in the management of peripheral artery disease (PAD). DESIGN OF THE CONFERENCE: International participation, invited presentations and open discussion were based on the following issues: Why is PAD under-recognised? Health economic impact of PAD; funding of PAD research; changes of treatment options? Aspects on clinical trials and regulatory views; and the role of guidelines. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A relative lack of knowledge about cardiovascular risk and optimal management of PAD patients exists not only among the public, but also in parts of the health-care system. Specialists are required to act for improved information. More specific PAD research is needed for risk management and to apply the best possible evaluation of evidence for treatment strategies. Better strategies for funding are required based on, for example, public/private initiatives. The proportion of endovascular treatments is steadily increasing, more frequently based on observational studies than on randomised controlled trials. The role of guidelines is therefore important to guide the profession in the assessment of most relevant treatment.

Direct and Inverse Results on Row Sequences of Hermite-Pad, Approximants

We give necessary and sufficient conditions for the convergence with geometric rate of the common denominators of simultaneous rational interpolants with a bounded number of poles. The conditions are expressed in terms of intrinsic properties of the system of functions used to build the approximants. Exact rates of convergence for these denominators and the simultaneous rational approximants are provided.

i-Cobb - An innovative technique in spinal radiographic measurement

The measurement of Cobb angles from radiographs is routine practice in spinal clinics. The technique relies on the use and availability of specialist equipment such as a goniometer, cobbometer or protractor. The aim of this study was to validate the use of i-Phone (Apple Inc) combined with Tilt Meter Pro software as compared to a protractor in the measurement of Cobb angles. Between November 2008 and December 2008 20 patients were selected at random from the Paediatric Spine Research Groups Database. A power calculation was performed which indicated if n=240 measurements the study had a 96% chance of detecting a 5 degree difference between groups. All patients had idiopathic scoliosis with a range of curve types and severities. The study found the i-Phone combined with Tilt Meter Pro software offers a faster alternative to the traditional method of Cobb angle measurement. The use of i-Phone offers a more convenient way of measuring Cobb angles in the outpatient setting. The intra-observer repeatability of the iPhone is equivalent to the protractor in the measurement of Cobb angles.