Treatment of estrogen-induced dermatitis with omalizumab

In 1945, Drs Bernhard Zondek and Yehuda Bromberg demonstrated intradermal treatment with estrone and estradiol benzoate induced urticarial lesions in some patients.1 Fifty years later, Shelley et al,2 who introduced the concept of progesterone dermatitis several decades prior, defined estrogen dermatitis based on studies of 7 women with premenstrual flares of skin eruptions including papulovesicular, urticarial, or eczematous lesions or generalized pruritus. Previously described therapies for estrogen dermatitis include estrogen desensitization, tamoxifen, leuprolide, and oophorectomy.3 Here we report a case of estrogen-induced dermatitis successfully treated with omalizumab

Approach to integrate product conceptual design information into a computer-aided design system

Commercial computer-aided design systems support the geometric definition of product, but they lack utilities to support initial design stages. Typical tasks such as customer need capture, functional requirement formalization, or design parameter definition are conducted in applications that, for instance, support ?quality function deployment? and ?failure modes and effects analysis? techniques. Such applications are noninteroperable with the computer-aided design systems, leading to discontinuous design information flows. This study addresses this issue and proposes a method to enhance the integration of design information generated in the early design stages into a commercial computer-aided design system. To demonstrate the feasibility of the approach adopted, a prototype application was developed and two case studies were executed

Deteção remota aplicada à rega dos espaços verdes urbanos

A nova cultura da água visa a conservação dos recursos naturais e o aumento do rendimento produtivo da água nos espaços verdes públicos e privados. Estes espaços assumem uma relevância no bem-estar e na qualidade de vida das populações urbanas. No entanto, o aumento da área verde em climas mediterrâneos estará inevitavelmente associado ao aumento do consumo em água. A rega surge com a finalidade de fazer face às necessidades hídricas das plantas em função das caraterísticas climáticas da região. Esta situação é mais relevante quando a escolha das plantas não recai sobre as autóctones e a água para a rega tem origem na rede de distribuição de água potável. Nos últimos anos, alguns municípios em Portugal têm vindo a implementar a instalação de dois tipos distintos de contadores de água: consumo doméstico e rega. Assim, garante-se água para rega com tarifário de menor custo, visto não incluir tratamento de água residual. Desde 2012, que a vila de São Brás de Alportel implementou este sistema de rega para os jardins privados. O presente trabalho tem como objetivos o estudo da evolução dos consumos de água na rega dos espaços verdes privados que aderiram a este sistema e a monitorização da rega nos espaços verdes públicos, para uma gestão sustentável da água. A monitorização será realizada pela avaliação da qualidade dos espaços verdes através da deteção remota, integrada com a informação dos dados climáticos e dos consumos de água.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Biomedical Cyber-Physical Systems in the Light of Database as a Service (DBaaS) Paradigm

Background: A database (DB) to store indexed information about drug delivery, test, and their temporal behavior is paramount in new Biomedical Cyber-Physical Systems (BCPSs). The term Database as a Service (DBaaS) means that a corporation delivers the hardware, software, and other infrastructure required by companies to operate their databases according to their demands instead of keeping an internal data warehouse. Methods: BCPSs attributes are presented and discussed.  One needs to retrieve detailed knowledge reliably to make adequate healthcare treatment decisions. Furthermore, these DBs store, organize, manipulate, and retrieve the necessary data from an ocean of Big Data (BD) associated processes. There are Search Query Language (SQL), and NoSQL DBs.  Results: This work investigates how to retrieve biomedical-related knowledge reliably to make adequate healthcare treatment decisions. Furthermore, Biomedical DBaaSs store, organize, manipulate, and retrieve the necessary data from an ocean of Big Data (BD) associated processes. Conclusion: A NoSQL DB allows more flexibility with changes while the BCPSs are running, which allows for queries and data handling according to the context and situation. A DBaaS must be adaptive and permit the DB management within an extensive variety of distinctive sources, modalities, dimensionalities, and data handling according to conventional ways

Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) in Big Histological Image Databases

Background: Automatic analysis of Histopathological Images (HIs) demands image processing and Computational Intelligence (CI) techniques. Both Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) and Content-Based Image-Retrieval (CBIR) systems assist diagnosis, disease discovery, and biological decision-making. Classical tests comprise screening examinations and biopsy. Histopathology slides offer more ample diagnosis data. However, manual examination of microscopic images is labor-intensive and time-consuming and may depend on a subjective assessment by the pathologist, which can be a challenge. Methods: This work discusses a CBIR framework to extract and handle histological data, histological metadata, integrated patient records, specimen metadata, attributes, and similar stored files. This work presents a scalable image-retrieval framework for intelligent HI analysis with real-time retrieval. The potential applications of this framework include image-guided diagnosis, decision support, healthcare education, and efficient biological data management. Results: The considerable amount of biological-related data prompted the development and deployment of large-scale databases and data-driven techniques to bridge the semantic gap between images and diagnostic information. The new cloud computing technologies and the concept of cyber-physical systems have improved the CBIR architectures considerably. The proposed scalable architecture relies on CI and validates performance on several HIs acquired from microscopic tissues. Extensive assessments show improvements in terms of disease classification and retrieval tests. Conclusion: This research effort significant contributions are twofold. 1) Defining a  comprehensive and large-scale CBIR framework to analyze HIs with high-dimensional features and CI methods successfully. 2) high-performance updating and optimization strategies improve the querying while better handling new training samples than traditional methods

SDR-Based High-Definition Video Transmission for Biomedical Engineering

Background: Software-Defined Radio (SDR) frameworks from cellular telephone base stations, e.g., Multiservice Distributed Access System (MDAS) and small cells, employ extensively integrated RF agile transceivers. The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is the collection of medical devices and applications that connect to healthcare IT systems through online computer networks. Medical devices equipped with Wi-Fi allow M2M communication, which is the backbone of IoMT and associated devices linked to cloud platforms containing stored data to be analyzed. Examples of IoMT include remote patient monitoring of people with chronic or long-term conditions, tracking patient medication orders and the location of patients admitted to hospitals, and patients' wearables to send info to caregivers. Infusion pumps connected to dashboards and hospital beds rigged with sensors measuring patients' vital signs are medical devices that can be converted to or deployed as IoMT technology. Methods: This work proposes an SDR architecture to allow wireless High-Definition (HD) video broadcast for biomedical applications. This text examines a Wideband Wireless Video (WWV) signal chain implementation using the transceivers, the data transmitted volume, the matching occupied RF bandwidth, the communication distance, the transmitter’s power, and the implementation of the PHY layer as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with test results to evade RF interference. Results: As the IoMT grows, the amount of possible IoMT uses increases. Many mobile devices employ Near Field Communication (NFC) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags allowing them to share data with IT systems. RFID tags in medical equipment and supplies allow hospital staff can remain aware of the quantities they have in stock. The practice of using IoMT devices to observe patients in their homes remotely is also known as telemedicine. This kind of treatment spares patients from traveling to healthcare facilities whenever they have a medical question or change in their condition. Conclusion: An SDR-based HD biomedical video transmission is proposed, with its benefits and disadvantages for biomedical WWV are discussed. The security of IoMT sensitive data is a developing concern for healthcare providers

Exploring Deviation in Inquiry Learning: Degrees of Freedom or Source of Problems?

The European Go-Lab project aims to promote Inquiry-based Learning (IBL) with online laboratories. To support teachers and students in this endeavor, the project provides an IBL model (a sequence of inquiry phases) as well as the technological infrastructure to implement it: the Graasp platform and the Golabz repository. Using these technologies, teachers create Inquiry Learning Spaces (ILSs) where they adapt the proposed IBL model to their needs, and enrich each one of its phases with online resources, apps or labs to build a web-based learning environment and distribute it to the students. The aim of this paper is to reflect on the deviations from the model proposed within the project on the teacher model and the way students adapt it. For that purpose, we analyzed the 102 most frequently used ILSs with respect to the perspectives of teachers and students. The results show deviations of the authored spaces from the pedagogical model of inquiry learning as well as deviations in the actual learning process models from the teachers’ specifications. Additionally, the analysis points out best practices for the learning design, particularly the inclusion of resources and apps into the spaces