A Comunicação Alternativa para além das Tecnologias Assistivas

The number of students with cerebral palsy and autism enrolled in traditional schools is growing each day.  Teachers frequently need to be trained to employ Alternative Communication resources with these students, who present severe difficulties in oral communication.  The studies conducted in traditional and special schools by the Language and Alternative Communication Research Group from the Graduate Program in Education of a public university will be briefly described. Alternative Communication resources will be presented. A description of how these resources facilitate the students’ linguistic, communicative, and social abilities will follow. Finally, issues related to the development of research in schools, the conception of communication, and the role of technology in Alternative Communication will be discussed. La presencia de alumnos con parálisis cerebral y autismo está creciendo cada día en las escuelas regulares. Los maestros a menudo necesitan entrenamiento en el uso de recursos alternativos de comunicación para los alumnos que presentan serias dificultades en la comunicación oral. Se describirán brevemente los estudios realizados  en escuelas regulares y especiales por el Grupo de Investigación: Lenguaje y Comunicación Alternativa del  Programa de Postgrado de Educación de una universidad pública. Se presentarán y se comentarán las características de medios alternativos de comunicación, diseñados con el propósito de promover las habilidades lingüísticas, comunicativas y sociales de estos estudiantes en sus interacciones durante la clase. Por último, serán discutidas las cuestiones relacionadas con la investigación realizada en las escuelas, con la concepción de la comunicación y con el papel de la tecnología de asistencia en la Comunicación AlternativaA presença de alunos com paralisia cerebral e com autismo é crescente no cotidiano das escolas regulares. Professores frequentemente necessitam de formação no emprego de recursos de comunicação alternativa junto a esse alunado que exibe graves dificuldades de comunicação oral.  Serão descritos estudos do Grupo de Pesquisa Linguagem e Comunicação Alternativa do Programa de Pós–Graduação em Educação de uma universidade publica conduzidos em escolas regulares e especiais. Serão apresentados e comentados recursos de Comunicação Alternativa elaborados com o propósito de favorecer as habilidades linguísticas, comunicativas e sociais desses alunos em suas interações em sala de aula. Finalmente, serão discutidas questões relativas à pesquisa em sala de aula, à concepção de comunicação e ao papel da tecnologia na Comunicação Alternativa.

O ensino de Língua portuguesa para a criança surda na Educação bilíngue

Este artigo é um recorte da dissertação de Mestrado em Educação – UERJ – intitulada Os desafios da inclusão de surdos no contexto escolar e a aquisição da Língua Portuguesa na proposta de Educação Bilíngue (2015). O foco da investigação foi o aprendizado da Língua Portuguesa como segunda língua (L2) em ambientes educacionais distintos. Os alunos surdos envolvidos foram crianças com idade de cinco a oito anos, filhos de pais ouvintes, matriculados em turmas dos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental. Foram visitados três ambientes educacionais distintos no município do Rio de Janeiro: uma escola especial, duas escolas públicas inclusivas e uma escola particular inclusiva. Os resultados demonstraram que a Educação Bilíngue é um caminho promissor para que as crianças surdas se desenvolvam plenamente e cresçam independentes e conscientes dos seus direitos e deveres como sujeitos participantes e ativos na sociedade à qual pertencem.</div

Avaliação dos efeitos de um programa de leitura e comunicação para crianças com autismo

Este estudo consiste em pesquisa experimental intrassujeito com delineamento de retirada conduzida com o propósito de averiguar os efeitos da aplicação do Programa de Leitura e Comunicação para Crianças com Autismo (PROLECA) em um menino não verbal de cinco anos de idade. As crianças com Transtorno do Espectro Autista (TEA) apresentam habilidades necessárias para decodificar as palavras, mas possuem dificuldades em compreensão leitora. Estudos de Hogan, Cain e Bridges (2013), Whalon, Delano e Hanline (2013), WIilliamson, Carnahan e Jacobs (2009) e Carnahan, Williamson e Christman, (2011), Patten e Watson (2011) e Medeiros (2015), entre outros, fundamentaram esta investigação desenvolvida durante 20 semanas. Os dados revelaram ganhos consideráveis no estabelecimento da atenção direcionada do participante, em seu interesse em ouvir pequenas histórias e em sua compreensão leitora. O PROLECA parece ser um programa promissor. Sugere-se, contudo, a necessidade de mais investigações acerca do uso de estratégias de leitura para crianças com autismo

Aided communication, mind understanding and co-construction of meaning

Mind understanding allows for the adaptation of expressive language to a listener and is a core element when communicating new information to a communication partner. There is limited knowledge about the relationship between aided language and mind understanding. This study investigates this relationship using a communication task. The participants were 71 aided communicators using graphic symbols or spelling for expression (38/33 girls/boys) and a reference group of 40 speaking children (21/19 girls/boys), aged 5;0-15;11 years. The task was to describe, but not name, drawings to a communication partner. The partner could not see the drawing and had to infer what was depicted from the child's explanation. Dyads with aided communicators solved fewer items than reference dyads (64% vs 93%). The aided spellers presented more precise details than the symbol users (46% vs 38%). In the aided group, number of correct items correlated with verbal comprehension and age.Peer reviewe

Co-generation of hydrogen and power/current pulses from supercapacitive MFCs using novel HER iron-based catalysts

© 2016 The Author(s) In this work, four different supercapacitive microbial fuel cells (SC-MFCs) with carbon brush as the anode and an air-breathing cathode with Fe-Aminoantipyrine (Fe-AAPyr) as the catalyst have been investigated using galvanostatic discharges. The maximum power (Pmax) obtained was in the range from 1.7 mW to 1.9 mW for each SC-MFC. This in-series connection of four SC-MFCs almost quadrupled Pmax to an operating voltage of 3025 mV and a Pmax of 8.1 mW, one of the highest power outputs reported in the literature. An additional electrode (AdHER) connected to the anode of the first SC-MFC and placed in the fourth SC-MFC evolved hydrogen. The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) taking place at the electrode was studied on Pt and two novel platinum group metal-free (PGM-free) catalysts: Fe-Aminoantipyrine (Fe-AAPyr) and Fe-Mebendazole (Fe-MBZ). The amount of H2 produced was estimated using the Faraday law as 0.86 mMd−1cm−2 (0.132 L day−1) for Pt, 0.83 mMd−1cm−2 (0.127 L day−1) for Fe-AAPyr and 0.8 mMd−1cm−2 (0.123 L day−1) for Fe-MBZ. Hydrogen evolution was also detected using gas chromatography. While HER was taking place, galvanostatic discharges were also performed showing simultaneous H2 production and pulsed power generation with no need of external power sources

Gardnerella subgroup dominant microbiomes are associated with divergent cervicovaginal immune responses in a longitudinal cohort of Kenyan women

Most cervicovaginal microbiome-immunology studies to date have relied on 16S rDNA microbial profiling which does not resolve the molecular subgroups of Gardnerella, believed to be central to the pathogenesis of bacterial vaginosis (BV) and subsequent risk of HIV acquisition. Here we used the cpn60 universal target which in addition to other microbial taxa, resolves four Gardnerella subgroups, for cervicovaginal microbial profiling in a longitudinal cohort of Kenyan women to examine associations with cellular and soluble markers of inflammation and HIV susceptibility. Participants (N = 41) were sampled, contributing 362 samples for microbiome analysis. All non-Lactobacillus dominant microbial communities were associated with high pro-inflammatory cytokine levels. Divergent associations were observed among different Gardnerella subgroup dominated communities with respect to the chemokine IP-10. Specifically, Gardnerella subgroup A dominant and polymicrobial communities were associated with reduced concentrations of IP-10 in adjusted linear mixed models (p&lt;0.0001), compared to microbial communities dominated by Lactobacillus (non-iners) species. However, these associations did not translate to significant differences in the proportion or absolute number of CCR5, HLA-DR and CD38 expressed on cervical CD4+ T- cells. These findings suggest that some associations between Gardnerella subgroup dominant microbiomes and mucosal immunity differ and are relevant for the study of BV-pathogenesis and understanding the mechanisms of BV-associated HIV risk

Socializing One Health: an innovative strategy to investigate social and behavioral risks of emerging viral threats

In an effort to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and control infectious diseases in animals and people, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) PREDICT project funded development of regional, national, and local One Health capacities for early disease detection, rapid response, disease control, and risk reduction. From the outset, the EPT approach was inclusive of social science research methods designed to understand the contexts and behaviors of communities living and working at human-animal-environment interfaces considered high-risk for virus emergence. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, PREDICT behavioral research aimed to identify and assess a range of socio-cultural behaviors that could be influential in zoonotic disease emergence, amplification, and transmission. This broad approach to behavioral risk characterization enabled us to identify and characterize human activities that could be linked to the transmission dynamics of new and emerging viruses. This paper provides a discussion of implementation of a social science approach within a zoonotic surveillance framework. We conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups to better understand the individual- and community-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices that potentially put participants at risk for zoonotic disease transmission from the animals they live and work with, across 6 interface domains. When we asked highly-exposed individuals (ie. bushmeat hunters, wildlife or guano farmers) about the risk they perceived in their occupational activities, most did not perceive it to be risky, whether because it was normalized by years (or generations) of doing such an activity, or due to lack of information about potential risks. Integrating the social sciences allows investigations of the specific human activities that are hypothesized to drive disease emergence, amplification, and transmission, in order to better substantiate behavioral disease drivers, along with the social dimensions of infection and transmission dynamics. Understanding these dynamics is critical to achieving health security--the protection from threats to health-- which requires investments in both collective and individual health security. Involving behavioral sciences into zoonotic disease surveillance allowed us to push toward fuller community integration and engagement and toward dialogue and implementation of recommendations for disease prevention and improved health security

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat