Documentos de gestión en las sociedades científicas de estudiantes de medicina de Latinoamérica, 2014

Para determinar si las sociedades científicas afiliadas a la Federación Latinoamericana de Sociedades Científicas de Estudiantes de Medicina (FELSOCEM) poseen documentos de gestión y sus características según el tipo de sociedad, se realizó un estudio transversal analítico, durante la asamblea anual FELSOCEM, Córdoba-Argentina, 2014. Se obtuvo resultados estadísticos según dos características (tipo de universidad: pública/privada o el ser o no Federada -máxima categoría de la sociedad científica ante FELSOCEM-). De las 58 respuestas, muy pocos contaban con asesores específicos (25%), reglamentación para sus asesores (35%) y actividades societarias (43%). Al realizar en análisis, las sociedades de universidades privadas tuvieron menos frecuencia de reglamentación de los asesores (p=0,044) y de revisar periódicamente las funciones de los directivos (p=0,011). Las sociedades federadas tenían con más frecuencia asesores generales (p=0,012), revisaban periódicamente sus estatutos (p=0,038) y reglamentos (p=0,047). Las sociedades científicas estudiantiles evaluadas tienen deficiencias en su sistema de administración interna

On the Use of Conformal Models and Methods in Dosimetry for Nonuniform Field Exposure

Numerical artifacts affect the reliability of computational dosimetry of human exposure to low-frequency electromagnetic fields. In the guidelines of the International Commission of Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), a reduction factor of 3 was considered to take into account numerical uncertainties when determining the limit values for human exposure. However, the rationale for this value is unsure. The IEEE International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety has published a research agenda to resolve numerical uncertainties in low-frequency dosimetry. For this purpose, intercomparison of results computed using different methods by different research groups is important. In previous intercomparison studies for low-frequency exposures, only a few computational methods were used, and the computational scenario was limited to a uniform magnetic field exposure. This study presents an application of various numerical techniques used: different Finite Element Method (FEM) schemes, Method of Moments (MoM) and Boundary Element Method (BEM) variants and finally by using a hybrid FEM/BEM approach. As a computational example, the induced electric field in the brain by the coil used in transcranial magnetic stimulation is investigated. Intercomparison of the computational results are presented qualitatively. Some remarks are given for the effectiveness and limitations of application of the various computational methods

Recuperación de un lienzo destrozado de Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Vrlika (Croacia)

This study is related to the major recovery project of an 18th century oil painting on canvas depicting Our Lady of the Rosary, the patron saint of the parish community of Vrlika and its surroundings. During the Croatian War of Independence in 1992 it was taken off the main altar and vandalized by the paramilitary units. This resulted in termination of a century long tradition of annual feasts in Vrlika in which the painting was publicly displayed and carried by the townsmen. Based on the available visual materials: a high resolution old black and white photograph and the low resolution coloured one, respectfully, using the computer colorization algorithm, and also relying on detailed visual analysis of the original paint layer, a major reconstruction was carried out in 2017. This research has demonstrated that the recovery of the artworks with dramatic losses is an extremely complex social phenomenon difficult to characterize by any general factor or based on any general approach.Este estudo está relacionado com o grande projeto de recuperação de uma pintura a óleo sobre tela do século XVIII que representa a Nossa Senhora do Rosário, padroeira da comunidade paroquial de Vrlika e arredores. Durante a Guerra da Independência da Croácia em 1992, foi removida do altar principal e destruída pelas unidades paramilitares. Isso resultou no fim de uma tradição centenária de festivais anuais em Vrlika, nos quais a pintura era exibida publicamente e carregada pelos cidadãos. Com base nos materiais visuais disponíveis: uma fotografia antiga a preto e branco de alta resolução e uma a cores de baixa resolução, respeitosamente, utilizando o algoritmo de coloração do computador, e contando também com uma análise visual detalhada da camada pictórica original, uma grande reconstrução foi realizada em 2017. Esta pesquisa mostrou que a recuperação de obras de arte com perdas dramáticas é um fenómeno social extremamente complexo, difícil de caracterizar por qualquer fator geral ou com base em qualquer abordagem geral.Este estudio está relacionado con el gran proyecto de recuperación de una pintura al óleo sobre lienzo del siglo XVIII que representa a Nuestra Señora del Rosario, la patrona de la comunidad parroquial de Vrlika y sus alrededores. Durante la Guerra de Independencia de Croacia en 1992 fue retirado del altar principal y destrozado por las unidades paramilitares. Esto dio lugar a la terminación de una tradición centenaria de fiestas anuales en Vrlika en las que la pintura era exhibida públicamente y llevada por los ciudadanos. Tiendo por base los materiales visuales disponibles: una fotografía antigua en blanco y negro de alta resolución y la de color de baja resolución, respetuosamente, utilizando el algoritmo de coloración por ordenador, y confiando también en un análisis visual detallado de la capa de pintura original, se llevó a cabo una reconstrucción importante en 2017. Esta investigación ha demostrado que la recuperación de las obras de arte con pérdidas dramáticas es un fenómeno social extremadamente complejo, difícil de caracterizar por cualquier factor general o en base a cualquier perspectiva general

Management documents in medical students scientific societies in Latin America, 2014

Para determinar si las sociedades científicas afiliadas a la Federación Latinoamericana de Sociedades Científicas de Estudiantes de Medicina (FELSOCEM) poseen documentos de gestión y sus características según el tipo de sociedad, se realizó un estudio transversal analítico, durante la asamblea anual FELSOCEM, Córdoba-Argentina, 2014. Se obtuvo resultados estadísticos según dos características (tipo de universidad: pública/privada o el ser o no Federada -máxima categoría de la sociedad científica ante FELSOCEM-). De las 58 respuestas, muy pocos contaban con asesores específicos (25%), reglamentación para sus asesores (35%) y actividades societarias (43%). Al realizar en análisis, las sociedades de universidades privadas tuvieron menos frecuencia de reglamentación de los asesores (p=0,044) y de revisar periódicamente las funciones de los directivos (p=0,011). Las sociedades federadas tenían con más frecuencia asesores generales (p=0,012), revisaban periódicamente sus estatutos (p=0,038) y reglamentos (p=0,047). Las sociedades científicas estudiantiles evaluadas tienen deficiencias en su sistema de administración interna

Case studies

Information and Communication Technologies—as analyzed in this book—could allow a radical change in the way healthcare services are delivered to the citizens and could represent an effective tool to cope with the today’s healthcare challenges.In this chapter we introduce two European research projects where large part of the concepts addressed in this book are applied; they are the MICHELANGELO project of the seventh Framework Program and CHIRON of the ARTEMIS JU Program.The CHIRON project (Cyclic and person-centric health management: Integrated approach for home, mobile and clinical environments) focuses on prevention i.e. on a move away from ‘health care’ towards ‘health management’, from ‘how to treat patients’ to ‘how to keep people healthy’, from a “reactive care” to a “proactive care”. CHIRON designed a system’s architecture making possible a “continuum of care” i.e. an integrated health management approach in which health is patient-centric at home, in the hospital and in nomadic environments. Care is moved from the hospital to the home and the healthcare staff is enlarged by adding informal carers to the medical professionals and by motivating and empowering the patient himself to manage his own health. Moreover the CHIRON system builds a personalized risk assessment of the patient by integrating personal information, data gathered at home and in a mobile environment through an innovative set of wearable sensors and data available at the hospital including outcomes of image-based tests. The expected results are a reduction of the healthcare costs and a better quality of care.MICHELANGELO addresses a specific category of patients i.e. the autistic children; the aim is to use ICT to promote and facilitate the assessment of autism within the home setting, away from the traditional clinical environments and to provide personalized “home-based” intervention strategies. This is achieved through the provision of cost-effective, patient-centric home-based intervention remotely controlled by the therapist (remote rehabilitation). The proposed method aims at enhancing the effectiveness of the treatment through its “intensiveness” and “personalization” matching the individual characteristics of autistic children and the involvement of the parents in their “natural” home environment in the role of “co-therapists”.Both projects offer interesting inputs on how Information and Communication Technology could help in “revolutionizing” healthcare. It is worthwhile to highlight that both projects keep the doctors at the core of the healthcare process and in both of them technology is not replacing the experience and the competences of the medical professionals and is not removing the needed physical contact between them and the patients but it supports the doctors in executing their tasks in a more effective and better way.This chapter is split into two parts: in the first we will introduce the two projects mainly from a strategic perspective in line with the current efforts towards “radical changes” needed to cope with the heavy challenges the healthcare system is facing.The second part gives a technological insight of the CHIRON project and shows how this project is deploying several of the concepts analyzed in the previous chapters of this book.This part presents the architecture of an integrated continuous monitoring system for Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) patients in nomadic settings developed under the ARTEMIS-JU CHIRON Project. The proposed sensor platform constitutes of commercially available subsystems effectively integrated into a single multi-sensor non-invasive wearable solution. To enable medical experts to assess the patient’s condition remotely, a number of analysis algorithm were developed and implemented into an Android application in order to provide the desired medical information. The key challenge in the development of these algorithmic solutions, was to balance the expected performance while maintaining a low level of power consumption, thus facilitating the continuous monitoring purpose of the system. Furthermore, a web-server based framework provides medical experts with an interactive analysis and monitoring interface and provides the infrastructure for storing the obtained data.<br/

Supporting clinical professionals in decision-making for patients with chronic diseases

Abstract. To deal with the large amount of data produced by telemonitoring of patients with chronic diseases, a decision support system (DSS) was developed. The DSS uses sensor data and the data from a patient’s electronic health record as the input. It assesses the risk to the patient’s health using three approaches. The first approach exploits the existing medical knowledge, the second approach uses supervised machine learning, and the third approach simply detects anomalies in the values of the monitored parameters. The risk assessment can show the contribution of the individual monitored parameters to the risk, and can be tailored by the doctor to each individual patient. The assessed risk and the raw input data can be used to trigger alerts. Finally, following the principles of evidence-based medicine, the DSS facilitates the consultation of medical literature when needed

Guidelines for the use of flow cytometry and cell sorting in immunological studies (second edition)

These guidelines are a consensus work of a considerable number of members of the immunology and flow cytometry community. They provide the theory and key practical aspects of flow cytometry enabling immunologists to avoid the common errors that often undermine immunological data. Notably, there are comprehensive sections of all major immune cell types with helpful Tables detailing phenotypes in murine and human cells. The latest flow cytometry techniques and applications are also described, featuring examples of the data that can be generated and, importantly, how the data can be analysed. Furthermore, there are sections detailing tips, tricks and pitfalls to avoid, all written and peer-reviewed by leading experts in the field, making this an essential research companion