Use of ICT as tool in the histology teaching in undergraduate degree in dentistry in the South and Southeast regions of Brazil

As Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC) podem auxiliar no processo de ensino, pois permitem maior interatividade que favorece o autoaprendizado. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a presença e utilização das TIC como ferramenta complementar no ensino da histologia nos cursos de odontologia das regiões Sul e Sudeste do Brasil. Foram realizadas avaliações em 126 sites de odontologia e enviados questionários online para os responsáveis pelas disciplinas de histologia dos cursos de odontologia. Observou-se que a maioria (88,1%) das universidades não apresentam sites de histologia e que subutilizam as ferramentas TIC. Dos 15 sites de histologia disponíveis foram encontradas figuras (33,3%), e-mail do professor (30,0%), textos (10,0%), hipertextos (6,7%), aulas (6,7%), outras ferramentas (6,7%), questionários (3,3%) e vídeos (3,3%). Dos questionários enviados, apenas 10,3% foram respondidos, dos quais dois professores asseguravam possuir site de ambiente restrito apenas aos seus alunos, e os demais, apesar de não possuírem sites da disciplina, consideravam as TIC como importantes ferramentas didáticas de apoio. Conclui-se que as instituições de ensino superior que possuem cursos de odontologia nas regiões Sul e Sudeste do Brasil apresentam potencial para a inclusão de TIC no ensino da histologia, entretanto a utilização destas ainda se encontra aquém do ideal.The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) may help in the teaching process because of the better interactivity, which encourage the self-learning. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence and use of ICT as a complementary tool in the histology teaching in undergraduate degree in dentistry in the South and Southeast regions of Brazil. Evaluations were performed in 126 dentistry websites and online questionnaires were sent to the responsible for histology courses of undergraduate degree in dentistry. It was observed that the majority (88.1%) of the universities do not have histology websites and underuse ICT tools. Among the 15 histology websites available were found figures (33.3%), professor’s e-mail (30.0%), texts (10.0%), hypertext (6.7%), assignment (6.7%), other tools (6.7%), questionnaires (3.3%) and videos (3.3%). Those questionnaires sent only 10.3% were answered, of which two professors had ensured restricted website only for their students, and the others, despite of do not have the course's websites, they considered the ICT as important teaching support tools. It is concluded that the Dental Schools in the South and Southeast regions of Brazil have potential for the inclusion of ICT in the teaching of histology, however the use of these still less than ideal.Facultad de Informátic

A qualitative analysis of a corpus of opinion summaries based on aspects

Aspect-based opinion summarization is the task of automatically generating a summary\ud for some aspects of a specific topic from a set of opinions. In most cases, to evaluate the quality of the automatic summaries, it is necessary to have a reference corpus of human\ud summaries to analyze how similar they are. The scarcity of corpora in that task has been a limiting factor for many research works. In this paper, we introduce OpiSums-PT, a corpus of extractive and abstractive summaries of opinions written in Brazilian Portuguese. We use this corpus to analyze how similar human summaries are and how people take into account the issues of aspect coverage and sentimento orientation to generate manual summaries. The results of these analyses show that human summaries are diversified and people generate summaries only for some aspects, keeping the overall sentiment orientation with little variation.Samsung Eletrônica da Amazônia Ltda

Prevention of hypertension in patients with pre-hypertension: protocol for the PREVER-prevention trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Blood pressure (BP) within pre-hypertensive levels confers higher cardiovascular risk and is an intermediate stage for full hypertension, which develops in an annual rate of 7 out of 100 individuals with 40 to 50 years of age. Non-drug interventions to prevent hypertension have had low effectiveness. In individuals with previous cardiovascular disease or diabetes, the use of BP-lowering agents reduces the incidence of major cardiovascular events. In the absence of higher baseline risk, the use of BP agents reduces the incidence of hypertension. The PREVER-prevention trial aims to investigate the efficacy, safety and feasibility of a population-based intervention to prevent the incidence of hypertension and the development of target-organ damage.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, with participants aged 30 to 70 years, with pre-hypertension. The trial arms will be chlorthalidone 12.5 mg plus amiloride 2.5 mg or identical placebo. The primary outcomes will be the incidence of hypertension, adverse events and development or worsening of microalbuminuria and of left ventricular hypertrophy in the EKG. The secondary outcomes will be fatal or non-fatal cardiovascular events: myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, evidence of new sub-clinical atherosclerosis, and sudden death. The study will last 18 months. The sample size was calculated on the basis of an incidence of hypertension of 14% in the control group, a size effect of 40%, power of 85% and P alpha of 5%, resulting in 625 participants per group. The project was approved by the Ethics committee of each participating institution.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The early use of blood pressure-lowering drugs, particularly diuretics, which act on the main mechanism of blood pressure rising with age, may prevent cardiovascular events and the incidence of hypertension in individuals with hypertension. If this intervention shows to be effective and safe in a population-based perspective, it could be the basis for an innovative public health program to prevent hypertension in Brazil.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>Clinical Trials <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00970931">NCT00970931</a>.</p

2 nd Brazilian Consensus on Chagas Disease, 2015

Abstract Chagas disease is a neglected chronic condition with a high burden of morbidity and mortality. It has considerable psychological, social, and economic impacts. The disease represents a significant public health issue in Brazil, with different regional patterns. This document presents the evidence that resulted in the Brazilian Consensus on Chagas Disease. The objective was to review and standardize strategies for diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and control of Chagas disease in the country, based on the available scientific evidence. The consensus is based on the articulation and strategic contribution of renowned Brazilian experts with knowledge and experience on various aspects of the disease. It is the result of a close collaboration between the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine and the Ministry of Health. It is hoped that this document will strengthen the development of integrated actions against Chagas disease in the country, focusing on epidemiology, management, comprehensive care (including families and communities), communication, information, education, and research

Exercise testing in hypertensive patients taking different angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors

OBJECTIVE: To compare blood pressure response to dynamic exercise in hypertensive patients taking trandolapril or captopril. METHODS: We carried out a prospective, randomized, blinded study with 40 patients with primary hypertension and no other associated disease. The patients were divided into 2 groups (n=20), paired by age, sex, race, and body mass index, and underwent 2 symptom-limited exercise tests on a treadmill before and after 30 days of treatment with captopril (75 to 150 mg/day) or trandolapril (2 to 4 mg/day). RESULTS: The groups were similar prior to treatment (p<0.05), and both drugs reduced blood pressure at rest (p<0.001). During treatment, trandolapril caused a greater increase in functional capacity (+31%) than captopril (+17%; p=0.01) did, and provided better blood pressure control during exercise, observed as a reduction in the variation of systolic blood pressure/MET (trandolapril: 10.7±1.9 mmHg/U vs 7.4±1.2 mmHg/U, p=0.02; captopril: 9.1±1.4 mmHg/U vs 11.4±2.5 mmHg/U, p=0.35), a reduction in peak diastolic blood pressure (trandolapril: 116.8±3.1 mmHg vs 108.1±2.5 mmHg, p=0.003; captopril: 118.2±3.1 mmHg vs 115.8±3.3 mmHg, p=0.35), and a reduction in the interruption of the tests due to excessive elevation in blood pressure (trandolapril: 50% vs 15%, p=0.009; captopril: 50% vs 45%, p=0.32). CONCLUSION: Monotherapy with trandolapril is more effective than that with captopril to control blood pressure during exercise in hypertensive patients

Avaliação de repertórios brasileiros em agricultura, ciência da informação e direito: uma análise de conteúdo Evaluation of the brazilian repertories in agriculture, information science and law: the quality of content analysis

Avaliação da análise de conteúdo que apresentam repertórios brasileiros em Agricultura (Agrobase e Base de Dados da Pesquisa Agropecuária), Ciência da Informação (Lici), e Direito (Bibliografia Brasileira de Direito). Após identificar os antecedentes, natureza, usuários potenciais e tipo de produto oferecido por cada um dos repertórios, mediu-se a percentagem da exaustividade de sua cobertura. As tarefas relativas à avaliação da indexação e do resumo se fizeram a partir da seleção de 20 registros de cada um deles, que foram comparados mediante inspeção direta com os correspondentes originais. Utilizou-se também um questionário para determinar a linguagem documental e os critérios utilizados para fazer a análise. Atendeu-se especialmente ao exame da indexação e do resumo feitos no original, assim como sua profundidade e pertinência, medindo-se inclusive o índice de consistência quando possível. Os resumos foram estudados de acordo com o translado da superestrutura do original e a sua qualidade técnica, medindo-se os seus fatores de legibilidade. Os resultados foram apresentados por meio de dados comparativos.Evaluation of content analysis which the Brazilian repertories in Agriculture (Agrobase and the Data Base of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Research), Information Science (LICI), and Law (Brazilian Bibliography of Law) present. After identifying the antecedents, nature, potential users and type of product offered by each of these repertories, a percentage measure of the exhaustive breadth of their coverage was carried out. The tasks related to the evaluation of the indexing and abstracts were made based on a selection of twenty cases for each, which were compared by means of direct inspection with the corresponding originals. A questionnaire was also used to determine the documentary language and the criteria employed to carry out the analysis. Special attention was given to an examination of the indexing and abstract presented in the original, as well as their depth and relevance, measuring where possible the index of consistency. The abstracts were studied in accordance with the transcription of the superstructure of the original and its technical quality, measuring the factors of legibility. The results were presented by means of comparative tables