The Brazilian System for Monitoring Workers and General Population Exposed to Asbestos: Development, Challenges, and Opportunities for Workers' Health Surveillance.

The lack of safe levels of asbestos exposure and the long latency of asbestos-related disease (ARD) makes workers' health surveillance challenging, especially in lower-income countries. This paper aims to present the recently developed Brazilian system for monitoring workers and general population exposed to asbestos (Datamianto), and to discuss the main challenges and opportunities for workers' health surveillance. METHODS: a descriptive study of the Datamianto development process, examining all the stages of system planning, development, improvement, validation, availability, and training of health services for its use, in addition to presenting the main challenges and opportunities for its implementation. RESULTS: The system was developed by a group of software developers, workers' health specialists, and practitioners, and it was recently incorporated by the Ministry of Health to be used for workers' health surveillance. It can facilitate the monitoring of exposed individuals, epidemiological data analysis, promote cooperation between health services, and ensure periodical medical screening guaranteed to workers by labor legislation. Moreover, the system has a Business Intelligence (BI) platform to analyze epidemiologic data and produce near real-time reports. CONCLUSIONS: Datamianto can support and qualify the healthcare and surveillance of asbestos-exposed workers and ARD, promoting a better quality of life for workers and improving companies' compliance with legislation. Even so, the system's significance, applicability, and longevity will depend on the efforts aimed at its implementation and improvement.

Mapeamento terminológico no domínio da radiologia obstétrica: estudo estatístico a partir de ontologias / Terminological mapping in the domain of the obstetric radiology: a statistical study based on ontologies / Mapeamiento terminológico en el dominio de la radiología obstétrica: estudio estadístico a partir de ontologías

Este artigo tem como base um estudo em que foram levantados e organizados termos do domínio da radiologia obstétrica e, então, foi identificado se os mesmos estão compreendidos em quatro distintos vocabulários controlados: OntoNeo, RadLex, LOINC e SNOMED. É apresentado o Sistema Integrado Catarinense de Telemedicina e Telessaúde (STT/SC) e o projeto de estruturação de laudos de exames de radiologia obstétrica, bem como o contexto teórico da ciência da informação sobre vocabulários controlados.Foram realizadas uma pesquisa de campo para o levantamento dos termos junto a um especialista da área e uma pesquisa documental para o levantamento estatístico dos termos em vocabulários controlados.Constituiu-se uma hierarquia dos termos levantados e verificou-se a cobertura de cada um dos vocabulários controlados em relação aos termos. O SNOMED é o vocabulário controlado com maior potencial de uso para a indexação de laudos no domínio da radiologia obstétrica.(AU)

This article bases on a study in which terms of the obstetric radiology domain were collected and arranged, and then we identified whether they are comprised in four distinct controlled vocabularies: OntoNeo, RadLex, LOINC and SNOMED. We present the STT/SC ­ Sistema Integrado Catarinense de Telemedicina e Telessaúde (Santa Catarina's integrated system of telemedicine and tele health) and theproject of structuring diagnostic reports of tests in obstetric radiology, as well as the theoretical contextof information science about controlled vocabulary. We carried out a survey of the terms jointly an expertand a documentary research to the statistical survey of the terms from controlled vocabularies. A hierarchy of the terms collected was established and the coverage of each of the controlled vocabularies in relation to the terms was verified. The SNOMED is the controlled vocabulary with greater potential of use for theindexation of diagnostic reports in the field of obstetric radiology.

Este artículo se basa en un estudio en el cual fueron levantados y arreglados términos del dominio de la radiología obstétrica, y entonces fue identificado si los mismos están comprendidos en cuatro distintos vocabularios controlados: el OntoNeo, el RadLex, el LOINC y el SNOMED. Presentamos el STT/SC ­ Sistema Integrado Catarinense de Telemedicina e Telessaúde (sistema integrado catarinense de telemedicina y telesalud) y el proyecto de estructuración de resultados de exámenes de radiología obstétrica, así como el contexto teórico de la ciencia de la información sobre vocabularios controlados. Una investigación de campo fue realizada para el levantamiento de los términos junto a un especialista y una investigación documental para el levantamiento estadístico de los términos en vocabularios controlados. Se ha constituido una jerarquía de los términos levantados y se ha verificado la cobertura de cada uno de los vocabularios controlados en relación a los términos. El SNOMED es el vocabulario controlado con mayor potencial deuso para la indexación de los resultados de exámenes en el dominio de la radiología obstétrica.

GISTelemed: an online-based GIS approach to epidemiological analysis in telemedicine systems.

Large-scale telemedicine systems provide extensive amounts of data that can be used to gather epidemiological information. Epidemiologists have been using GIS systems for the easy and quick visualization of data and to perform georeferenced epidemiological analysis. This paper presents GISTelemed, a georeferenced epidemiological analysis tool developed as part of the Santa Catarina State Integrated Telemedicine and Telehealth System (STT/SC), a statewide telemedicine infrastructure in Brazil. The GISTelemed module offers an architecture supporting real-time recovery, information visualization and epidemiological analysis from structured and semi-structured data. The architecture uses controlled vocabularies for data catalogization and a specially developed ETL process that allows sending and receiving data on a large number of protocols, including DICOM SR and SQL. We performed a case study with users that indicates good perceived ease of use and usefulness of GISTelemed by both medical staff and health care managers.

Telediagnóstico para eletroencelografia em Santa Catarina / Telediagnóstico for electroencephalogram in Santa Catarina

No Brasil, estima-se que em torno de 5 a 7% da população apresentará uma crise epiléptica ao longo da vida. O Eletroencefalograma é um método fundamental para diagnóstico de epilepsia. Este artigo apresenta o desenvolvimento de um protótipo integrado ao Sistema Catarinense de Telemedicina e Telessaúde, com o objetivo de dar suporte a exames de Eletroencefalograma com envio, emissão de laudos e visualização a distância. São utilizados CID-10 e Descritores em Ciências da Saúde como linguagem de indexação de laudos a fim de gerar estatísticas em pesquisas futuras. O sistema está implantado em quatro unidades de saúde no município de Florianópolis. Os laudos são emitidos por um médico especialista da própria rede municipal e os exames são enviados à rede de Telemedicina. Com o uso desta metodologia é possível facilitar o dia-a-dia dos médicos, técnicos e pacientes com acessos mais rápidos e eficientes, melhorando a qualidade de vida dos pacientes.

In Brazil is estimated that around 5-7% of the population will have an epileptic seizure lifelong. The electroencephalogram is a fundamental method for the diagnosis of epilepsy. This paper presents the development of an integrated prototype called Santa Catarina Telemedicine System, in order to support electroencephalogram exams with sending, issuing reports and online viewing. We used ICD-10 and Health Sciences Descriptors as reports indexing language, in order to generate statistics in future research. The system is deployed in four health units in the Florianopolis city. A medical specialist that works in own municipal network issues the reports and the exams are sent to the Telemedicine network. Using this new methodology we can facilitate the day-to-day lives of doctors, technicians and patients with faster and more efficient, Improving Quality of Life for Patients.

Criando uma infra-estrutura web para suporte a protocolos e condutas clínicas: um exemplo em Teledermatologia / Creating a web Infrastructure to support protocols and clinical conduct: an example in teledermatology

Este trabalho apresenta uma infra-estrutura de teledermatologia construída para prover suporte integral a protocolos e condutas clínicas, além do telediagnóstico e triagem de pacientes, apoiando tanto o profissional da atenção primária quanto o especialista no processo de atendimento ao paciente. A infra-estrutura é descrita em termos da tecnologia utilizada para sua construção e dos resultados e experiências obtidos durante sua implantação e operação, mostrando que a mesma contribui não só para resolutividade, mas também para a melhora progressiva da qualidade técnica dos exames dermatológicos executados na atenção primária.

This work presents a teledermatology infrastructure built to provide integral support to examination and clinical management protocols, including tele-diagnostic and patient triage, supporting both the primary care physician and the specialist during the patient care process. The infrastructure is described in terms of the adopted technology and in terms of results obtained during its deployment and operation, showing that it contributes not only to the case-resolving capacity, but also to the progressive improvement of the technical quality of dermatological examinations in the primary healthcare.

Avaliação de single-board computers como estações de telemedicina e telessaúde / Evaluation of single-board computers as telemedicine and telehealth stations

Telemedicina e Telessaúde são disciplinas dedicadas a prover cuidados com saúde e uma conscientização sobre esses cuidados quando distância é um problema. Atualmente, Estações de Telemedicina e Telessaúde (ETTs) são utilizadas para prover a médicos e educadores ferramentas que concentram e integram diferentes tecnologias. A fim de suportar cenários envolvendo características relacionadas a teleconsultorias e tele-educação, as ETTs adotar plataformas de hardware robustas o bastante para alcançar os mínimos requerimentos enquanto provêm o determinado serviço de forma contínua e deliberada. Normalmente criada para ser executada em laptops, é possível que as ETTs sejam reorganizadas para utilizar Single-Board Computers (SBCs) como uma solução portátil e com custos mais baixos. Objetivando avaliar essa possibilidade,este trabalho apresenta um estudo de performance de cinco dos mais populares SBCs disponíveis no mercado brasileiro.Usando análise descritiva, concluiu-se que o Android TV Box foi a melhor opção a ser adotada, considerando seus resultados referentes a uso de CPU, memória e atraso de vídeo.

Telemedicine and Telehealth are disciplines dedicated to provide health care and health care education when distance is an issue. Nowadays, Telemedicine and Telehealth Stations (TTSs) are used to provide physicians and educator stools that concentrate and integrate different technologies. To support scenarios involving features related to teleconsultationand tele-education, TTSs must consider the adoption of hardware platforms robust enough to reach minimal requirements while providing service deliverability and continuity. Despite being usually built for execution on laptops, itis possible that TTSs be reorganized to use Single-Board Computers (SBCs) as a most portable- and cost-effective solution.Aiming to evaluate such possibility, this work presents a performance study of five of the most popular SBCs available on the Brazilian market. Using descriptive statistics, we concluded that the Android TV Box SBC is the best option to be adopted, considering its results regarding CPU consumption, memory utilization, and video delay.

DCMDSM: a DICOM decomposed storage model.

OBJECTIVE: To design, build, and evaluate a storage model able to manage heterogeneous digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) images. The model must be simple, but flexible enough to accommodate variable content without structural modifications; must be effective on answering query/retrieval operations according to the DICOM standard; and must provide performance gains on querying/retrieving content to justify its adoption by image-related projects. METHODS: The proposal adapts the original decomposed storage model, incorporating structural and organizational characteristics present in DICOM image files. Tag values are stored according to their data types/domains, in a schema built on top of a standard relational database management system (RDBMS). Evaluation includes storing heterogeneous DICOM images, querying metadata using a variable number of predicates, and retrieving full-content images for different hierarchical levels. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: When compared to a well established DICOM image archive, the proposal is 0.6-7.2 times slower in storing content; however, in querying individual tags, it is about 48.0% faster. In querying groups of tags, DICOM decomposed storage model (DCMDSM) is outperformed in scenarios with a large number of tags and low selectivity (being 66.5% slower); however, when the number of tags is balanced with better selectivity predicates, the performance gains are up to 79.1%. In executing full-content retrieval, in turn, the proposal is about 48.3% faster. CONCLUSIONS: DCMDSM is a model built for the storage of heterogeneous DICOM content, based on a straightforward database design. The results obtained through its evaluation attest its suitability as a storage layer for projects where DICOM images are stored once, and queried/retrieved whenever necessary.