Focusing on dissociated motor development in Brazilian children

Dissociated motor development (DMD) is considered when the baby starts independent walking late, with normality of the other fields of development. There is evidence that babies with DMD present an atypical crawling pattern and hypotonia. To investigate the frequency and characteristics of DMD, neurological examination was performed monthly in 177 healthy full-term babies from 6 months age, in urban and rural zone samples in Brazil. Among 20 children with atypical crawling, none presented hypotonia neither did they start independent walking late. The means of the ages at the begining of atypical crawling and independent walking acquisitions, 7.40mo (SD 1.4) and 12.76mo (SD 2.5) respectively, did not differ from the group with crossed crawling pattern. Thus, in this sample of Brazilian healthy children we did not find cases with DMD

Using Machine Learning Classifiers to Assist Healthcare-Related Decisions: Classification of Electronic Patient Records

Surveillance Levels (SLs) are categories for medical patients (used in Brazil) that represent different types of medical recommendations. SLs are defined according to risk factors and the medical and developmental history of patients. Each SL is associated with specific educational and clinical measures. The objective of the present paper was to verify computer-aided, automatic assignment of SLs. The present paper proposes a computer-aided approach for automatic recommendation of SLs. The approach is based on the classification of information from patient electronic records. For this purpose, a software architecture composed of three layers was developed. The architecture is formed by a classification layer that includes a linguistic module and machine learning classification modules. The classification layer allows for the use of different classification methods, including the use of preprocessed, normalized language data drawn from the linguistic module. We report the verification and validation of the software architecture in a Brazilian pediatric healthcare institution. The results indicate that selection of attributes can have a great effect on the performance of the system. Nonetheless, our automatic recommendation of surveillance level can still benefit from improvements in processing procedures when the linguistic module is applied prior to classification. Results from our efforts can be applied to different types of medical systems. The results of systems supported by the framework presented in this paper may be used by healthcare and governmental institutions to improve healthcare services in terms of establishing preventive measures and alerting authorities about the possibility of an epidemic.FAPESPFAPESPRUSPRUS

DYSLIPIDEMIA AMONG OBESE ADOLESCENTS FOLLOWED IN A HEBIATRY PROGRAM

To determine and describe the lipid profile ofobese adolescents followed in a Hebiatry program. This is a retrospective observational study with obese adolescents enrolled in the Hebiatry program ofthe “Vila Lobato” Community and Social Center (C.M.S.C.V.L.), Faculty of Medicine ofRibeirão Preto. We analyzed weight, height and laboratory results (triglycerides, total cholesterol and fractions) obtained from the medical records. The cut-off points for abnormal lipid levels were used according to the guidelines ofthe Brazilian Society ofCardiology (2005). To compare the variables among sex we used the Student t- test, Fisher exact test and chi-square test, with the level of significance set at 5%. We studied 178 obese adolescents, 91 (51%) males and 87 (49%) females. Age ranged from 10 years and 6 months to 19 years and 10 months for females and from 10 years and 3 months to 19 years and 6 months for males. The frequency ofdyslipidemia was 90.5%. Only the average concentrations ofLow Density LipoproteinCholesterol were within normal limits. The frequency of changes observed in laboratorial determinations to males and females were distributed as follows: total cholesterol (28.9%/24.4%), Low Density Lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-c) (7.2%/2.2%), triglycerides (25.3%/24.4%) and High Density Lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-c) (69.8%/ 60.4%). The diagnosis ofdyslipidemia in obese adolescents requires immediate individual and family action in order to modify eating habits and to encourage physical activity, eliminating factors that may contribute to the emergence of chronic degenerative diseases