Collections : adapting the display of personal objects for different audiences

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2000.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-68).Although current networked systems and online applications provide new opportunities for displaying and sharing personal information, they do not account for the underlying social contexts that frame such interactions. Existing categorization and management mechanisms for digital content have been designed to focus on the data they handle without much regard for the social circumstances within which their content is shared. As we share large collections of personal information over mediated environments, our tools need to account for the social scenarios that surround our interactions. This thesis presents Collections: an application for the management of digital pictures according to their intended audiences. The goal is to create a graphical interface that supports the creation of fairly complex privacy decisions concerning the display of digital photographs. Simple graphics are used to enable the collector to create a wide range of audience arrangements for her digital photographs. The system allows users to express their preferences in sharing their personal pictures over a disembodied environment such as the Web. The system also introduces an original approach to the presentation interface of photographic collections on the Web: a viewing application that takes into account the viewing history of the photographs and the integration of text comments to images.by Fernanda Bertini Viégas.S.M

Revealing individual and collective pasts : visualizations of online social archives

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-125).As mediated communication becomes an increasingly central part of everyday life, people have started going online to conduct business, to get emotional support, to find communities of interest, and to look for potential romantic partners. Most of these social activities take place primarily through the exchange of conversational texts that, over time, accrue into vast archives. As valuable as these collections of documents may be for our comprehension of the online social world, they are usually cumbersome, impenetrable records of the past. This thesis posits that history visualization- the visualization of people's past presence and activities in mediated environments- helps users make better sense of the online social spaces they inhabit and the relationships they maintain. Here, a progressive series of experimental visualizations explores different ways in which history may enhance social legibility. The projects visualize the history of people's activities in four different environments: a graphical chat room, a wiki site, Usenet newsgroups, and email. History and the persistent nature of online communication are the common threads connecting these projects. Evaluation of these tools shows that history visualizations can be utilized in a variety of ways, ranging from aids for quicker impression formation and mirrors for self-reflection, to catalysts for storytelling and artifacts for posterity.by Fernanda Bertini Viégas.Ph.D

Prenatal diagnosis of fetal lung maturity in high-risk pregnancies

The objective was to evaluate the accuracy of the foam stability test, lecithin/sphingomyelin (LS) ratio, presence of phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and lung profile (L/S ratio > 1.7 and PG present simultaneously) in 121 consecutive high-risk gestations at the São Paulo Hospital from January 1990 to January 1995. Delivery occurred within 3 days of fetal lung maturation testing. This is a prospective study in which the sensitivity, specificity, positive (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of all the tests were determined. Neonatal respiratory outcome and amniocentesis results were stratified by gestational age for comparison. The distribution of the studied population according to maternal pathology was diabetes mellitus (48), hypertensive disorders (41), Rh isoimmunization (14) and miscellaneous (18). Respiratory distress (RD) was present in 33 infants (27.2%), mainly in the diabetic group. There was no false negative using lung profile (all patients) and foam stability tests among hypertensive pregnancies (specificity 100%), but there were about 20% to 50% false positives in the other tests. Overall, all four tests had a low PPV: 23% for foam test, 51% for L/S ratio, 63% for PG, 61% for lung profile, and high NPV: 92% for foam test, 88% for L/S ratio, 89% for PG and 100% for lung profile. All tests had less accuracy in the diabetic pregnant women. This study shows that the presence of PG and L/S ratio > 1.7 in the amniotic fluid of high-risk pregnancies confirms maturity with a very low risk to develop RD and that the foam stability test was useful as a first-line test to predict the absence of surfactant-deficient respiratory distress syndrome, particularly in hypertensive pregnant women.Trata-se de um estudo prospectivo para a avaliação da maturidade fetal em 121 gestações de alto risco realizado no Hospital São Paulo - Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), entre janeiro de 1990 e janeiro de 1995. Em todos os casos, o parto foi realizado em até 3 dias após a obtenção de líquido amniótico por amniocentese. O objetivo principal foi o de analisar a acurácia do teste de Clements (TC), da relação lecitina/esfingomielina (L/E), da presença de fosfatidilglicerol (PG) e do perfil pulmonar (relação L/E >1,7 e PG presente) para antecipar a ocorrência ou não de sindrome de desconforto respiratório neonatal (SDR). Foram calculados a sensibilidade, a especificidade e os valores preditivos positivo (VPP) e negativo (VPN) de todos os testes. O grupo de estudo foi composto por 48 gestações complicadas por diabetes mellitus, 41 por síndromes hipertensivas, 14 por isoimunização Rh e 18 por diversas patologias. O perfil pulmonar apresentou sensibilidade de 100% em todos os casos. O teste de Clements também não apresentou resultados falso-positivos em gestantes hipertensas, apurando-se, contudo, de 20% a 50% de falso-negativos em todos os outros testes. Os quatro testes apresentaram baixos VPP (23% no TC, 51% na relação L/E, 63% na presença de PG, 61% no perfil pulmonar) e elevados VPN (92% no TC, 88% na relação L/E, 89% na presença de PG, 100% no perfil pulmonar). Este estudo demonstrou que a presença de PG e relação L/E >1,7 simultâneos no líquido amniótico comprovam a maturidade pulmonar com muito baixo risco de DR ao nascimento. Concluiu-se também que o teste de Clements deve constituir o rastreamento inicial para predizer a ausência de SDR, particularmente em gestações complicadas por síndromes hipertensivas.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de MedicinaUNIFESP, EPMSciEL

Bone mass and quality in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: longitudinal evaluation of bone mass determinants using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, peripheral quantitative computed tomography, and quantitative ultrasonography.

INTRODUCTION: Our objective was to evaluate longitudinally the main bone-mass and quality predictors in young juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients by using lumbar spine dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan, radius peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT), and phalangeal quantitative ultrasonography (QUS) at the same time. METHODS: In total, 245 patients (172 females, 73 males; median age, 15.6 years: 148 oligoarticular, 55 polyarticular, 20 systemic, and 22 enthesitis-related-arthritis (ERA) onset) entered the study. Of these, 166 patients were evaluated longitudinally. Data were compared with two age- and sex-matched control groups. RESULTS: In comparison with controls, JIA patients, but not with ERA, had a reduced spine bone-mineral apparent density (BMAD) standard deviation score (P < 0.001) and musculoskeletal deficits, with significantly lower levels of trabecular bone mineral density (TrabBMD) (P < 0.0001), muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) (P < 0.005), and density-weighted polar section modulus (SSIp) (P < 0.05). In contrast, JIA showed fat CSA significantly higher than controls (P < 0.0001). Finally, JIA patients had a significant reduced amplitude-dependent speed of sound (AD-SoS) (P < 0.001), and QUS z score (P < 0.005). Longitudinally, we did not find any difference in all JIA patients in comparison with baseline, except for the SSIp value that normalized. Analyzing the treatments, a significant negative correlation among spine BMAD values, TrabBMD, AD-SoS, and systemic and/or intraarticular corticosteroids, and a positive correlation among TNF-α-blocking agents and spine BMAD, TrabBMD, and AD-SoS were observed. CONCLUSIONS: JIA patients have a low bone mass that, after a first increase due to the therapy, does not reach the normal condition over time. The pronounced bone deficits in JIA are greater than would be expected because of reduction in muscle cross-sectional area. Thus, bone alterations in JIA likely represent a mixed defect of bone accrual and lower muscle forces

A school with a teaching project

Diretora e orientadora pedagógica da Escola Municipal de Ensino Fundamental Dona Izaura da Silva Vieira, Itapira, São Paulo, elaboram projeto pedagógico para orientar trabalhos dos professores em sala de aula nas quatro séries iniciais do ensino fundamental, projeto ao qual denominaram de construindo o saber, conscientes do fazer. No período de agosto a dezembro de 1998, trabalharam em torno de diversos temas, dois dos quais foram relatados neste artigo: Vivenciando a cultura popular e Ler e aprender. Ambos trouxeram resultados concretos para toda a escola, inclusive através de atividades que envolveram toda a comunidade, tais como a semana da cultura popular e o Jornal da Escola Izaura em Ação. The Director and the teacher advisor of the Municipal Elementary School Dona Izaura da silva Vieira, in Itapira, São Paulo, elaborated a teaching project to guide the school’s teacher’s projects in the classroom in the first four years of elementary school, a project they called Building knowledge, Being aware of doing. From August to December 1998, they worked on several themes, two of which reported on in this article: Living popular culture and Reading and learning. Both brought concrete results to the entire school, including through activities that involvec the community as a whole, such as Popular culture week and Journal da Escola Izaura em Ação (Izaura School in Action Newspaper).

Glibenclamide in the treatment for gestational diabetes mellitus in a compared study to insulin

OBJECTIVES: To study glibenclamide as a treatment for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and its impact on newborn birth weight and neonatal glycemia as compared to insulin. METHODS: A randomized and open-label clinical trial, conducted from October 1st, 2003 to March 8, 2005. Seventy-two pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus requiring drug therapy were randomized and allocated into two groups - insulin and glibenclamide. RESULTS: The general characteristics in both groups were similar, except for the results of the 75 g OGTT, which were higher in the glibenclamide group (p= 0.02). Maternal fasting and postprandial glucose levels presented no difference. Six (18.75%) pregnant women received the maximum dose of glibenclamide with no glycemic control. The birth weight was higher in the group treated with glibenclamide (p= 0.01), and the incidence of macrosomic newborns statistically different (p= 0.01). Neonatal hypoglycemia was more frequent (p= 0.01) in newborns of glibenclamide group, with one single case of persistent hypoglycemia. CONCLUSION: Glibenclamide can be the first line drug for glycemic control in most GDM patients. The birth weight and incidence of hypoglycemia were higher in the glibenclamide group, but with one single case of persistent hypoglycemia that required intravenous infusion of glucose.OBJETIVOS: Estudar a glibenclamida no tratamento do diabete melito gestacional (DMG) e sua repercussão no peso e na glicemia do recém-nascido (RN), em comparação com a insulina. MÉTODOS: Ensaio clínico randomizado e aberto, realizado entre 1º de outubro de 2003 e 8 de março de 2005. Foram sujeitas 72 gestantes com DMG que necessitaram de terapêutica complementar, sendo randomizadas em dois grupos: insulina e glibenclamida. RESULTADOS: As características gerais nos grupos não apresentaram diferença estatística, com exceção dos resultados do TTOG 75 g, que apresentaram valores maiores no grupo da glibenclamida (p= 0,02). As glicemias médias maternas não apresentaram diferença. Seis (18,75%) gestantes atingiram a dose máxima de glibenclamida sem o controle glicêmico. O peso dos RNs foi maior no grupo tratado com glibenclamida (p= 0,01), com diferença na incidência de macrossômico (p= 0,01). A hipoglicemia neonatal estava mais presente (p= 0,01) nos RNs do grupo da glibenclamida, porém com apenas um caso de hipoglicemia persistente. CONCLUSÃO: A glibenclamida pode ser a droga de escolha para tratamento do DMG na maioria das pacientes.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) EPM Departamento de ObstetríciaMaternidade Darcy VargasUniversidade da Região de JoinvilleUNIFESP, EPM, Depto. de ObstetríciaSciEL

Mudança de comportamento e cessação de uso de tabaco em mulheres: uma experiência com treinamento de Agentes Comunitárias de Saúde

O conhecimento sobre mudança de comportamento constitui importante ferramenta para auxiliar profissionais de saúde a otimizar a eficácia das intervenções com pacientes. Apesar das evidências sobre a efetividade das atuações em saúde de Agentes Comunitários de Saúde (ACS), esses ainda não estão diretamente envolvidos nos programas de cessação de uso de tabaco. Os objetivos deste estudo foram desenvolver e avaliar uma capacitação de ACS para servirem de apoio a mulheres no processo de cessação. A capacitação foi elaborada em colaboração com ACS, pacientes e profissionais de saúde e enfocou no controle do tabaco e habilidades de mudança do comportamento. Foram aplicados pré e pós-teste para avaliar o conhecimento sobre tabaco e mudança de comportamento e percepção sobre habilidades e confiança para promover mudanças de comportamento, sendo os dados analisados por meio do teste T pareado. Os resultados indicaram aquisição de conhecimento e melhora na percepção de habilidades e confiança para auxiliar mulheres no processo de cessação (N=80; p<0,05). Esses dados confirmam que treinamento com enfoque em mudança de comportamento pode ser útil para ampliar o envolvimento de ACS com intervenções na cessação e, dada a generalidade das habilidades propostas na capacitação, essas podem ser úteis para outras intervenções em saúde

Ulceration of the oral mucosa induced by antidepressant medication: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Ulcers are frequent lesions of the oral mucosa. Generally, they are circumscribed round or elliptical lesions surrounded by an erythematous halo and covered with an inflammatory exudate in their central portion, and are accompanied by painful symptoms. Oral ulcers affect 20% of the population, especially adolescents and young adults. The etiopathogenesis includes immunological alterations, infections, nutritional deficiency, trauma, food and contact allergies, autoimmune diseases, neoplasms, and psychosomatic, genetic and environmental factors.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 78-year-old Caucasian woman was referred by her dentist to our outpatient clinic with a 4-week history of an oral ulceration after using an antidepressant (sertraline hydrochloride). On the basis of the clinical findings and anamnesis, the occurrence of the lesion was attributed to the use of the drug. Exfoliative cytology was performed, to reassure the patient that it was not oral cancer, which revealed the presence of a nonspecific inflammatory reaction. The drug was replaced and resolution of symptoms was observed.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Exfoliative cytology should be the complementary examination of choice in cases of oral ulcers with a suspicion of drug interaction. Although this is a rare event in dental practice, dentists should be aware of the diagnostic possibility of drug-induced ulcers and should cooperate with the clinician to adjust the prescribed medication to resolve the symptoms.</p