Calibration Assessment of Low-Cost Carbon Dioxide Sensors Using the Extremely Randomized Trees Algorithm.

As the monitoring of carbon dioxide is an important proxy to estimate the air quality of indoor and outdoor environments, it is essential to obtain trustful data from CO2 sensors. However, the use of widely available low-cost sensors may imply lower data quality, especially regarding accuracy. This paper proposes a new approach for enhancing the accuracy of low-cost CO2 sensors using an extremely randomized trees algorithm. It also reports the results obtained from experimental data collected from sensors that were exposed to both indoor and outdoor environments. The indoor experimental set was composed of two metal oxide semiconductors (MOS) and two non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) sensors next to a reference sensor for carbon dioxide and independent sensors for air temperature and relative humidity. The outdoor experimental exposure analysis was performed using a third-party dataset which fit into our goals: the work consisted of fourteen stations using low-cost NDIR sensors geographically spread around reference stations. One calibration model was trained for each sensor unit separately, and, in the indoor experiment, it managed to reduce the mean absolute error (MAE) of NDIR sensors by up to 90%, reach very good linearity with MOS sensors in the indoor experiment (r2 value of 0.994), and reduce the MAE by up to 98% in the outdoor dataset. We have found in the outdoor dataset analysis that the exposure time of the sensor itself may be considered by the algorithm to achieve better accuracy. We also observed that even a relatively small amount of data may provide enough information to perform a useful calibration if they contain enough data variety. We conclude that the proper use of machine learning algorithms on sensor readings can be very effective to obtain higher data quality from low-cost gas sensors either indoors or outdoors, regardless of the sensor technology.

Anaesthetic Management of a Foramen Magnum Meningioma Resection Surgery: A Case Report.

The foramen magnum meningioma (FMM) is one of the most threatening tumours among the meningiomas because of its specific location, clinical course, subtle onset, and relatively big dimensions at presentation. Tumour size may mandate careful airway management to avoid further brainstem compression. The surgical management of these complex tumours in the posterior fossa can be performed with the patient in several positions. A lot of surgeons believe the sitting position provides important advantages, yet this remains controversial. We report a successful approach to a large FMM resection surgery performed in the sitting position.

Collection of a Continuous Long-Term Dataset for the Evaluation of Wi-Fi-Fingerprinting-Based Indoor Positioning Systems.

Indoor positioning and navigation have been attracting interest from the research community for quite some time. Nowadays, new fields, such as the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, and augmented reality, are increasing the demand for indoor positioning solutions capable of delivering specific positioning performances not only in simulation but also in the real world; hence, validation in real-world environments is essential. However, collecting real-world data is a time-consuming and costly endeavor, and many research teams lack the resources to perform experiments across different environments, which are required for high-quality validation. Publicly available datasets are a solution that provides the necessary resources to perform this type of validation and to promote research work reproducibility. Unfortunately, for different reasons, and despite some initiatives promoting data sharing, the number and diversity of datasets available are still very limited. In this paper, we introduce and describe a new public dataset which has the unique characteristic of being collected over a long period (2+ years), and it can be used for different Wi-Fi-based positioning studies. In addition, we also describe the solution (Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) + mobile unit) developed to collect this dataset, allowing researchers to replicate the method and collect similar datasets in other spaces.

Applications and Innovations on Sensor-Enabled Wearable Devices.

Multiple sensors are embedded in wearable devices [...].

Off-Line Evaluation of Mobile-Centric Indoor Positioning Systems: The Experiences from the 2017 IPIN Competition.

The development of indoor positioning solutions using smartphones is a growing activity with an enormous potential for everyday life and professional applications. The research activities on this topic concentrate on the development of new positioning solutions that are tested in specific environments under their own evaluation metrics. To explore the real positioning quality of smartphone-based solutions and their capabilities for seamlessly adapting to different scenarios, it is needed to find fair evaluation frameworks. The design of competitions using extensive pre-recorded datasets is a valid way to generate open data for comparing the different solutions created by research teams. In this paper, we discuss the details of the 2017 IPIN indoor localization competition, the different datasets created, the teams participating in the event, and the results they obtained. We compare these results with other competition-based approaches (Microsoft and Perf-loc) and on-line evaluation web sites. The lessons learned by organising these competitions and the benefits for the community are addressed along the paper. Our analysis paves the way for future developments on the standardization of evaluations and for creating a widely-adopted benchmark strategy for researchers and companies in the field.

Analysis of Sources of Large Positioning Errors in Deterministic Fingerprinting.

Wi-Fi fingerprinting is widely used for indoor positioning and indoor navigation due to the ubiquity of wireless networks, high proliferation of Wi-Fi-enabled mobile devices, and its reasonable positioning accuracy. The assumption is that the position can be estimated based on the received signal strength intensity from multiple wireless access points at a given point. The positioning accuracy, within a few meters, enables the use of Wi-Fi fingerprinting in many different applications. However, it has been detected that the positioning error might be very large in a few cases, which might prevent its use in applications with high accuracy positioning requirements. Hybrid methods are the new trend in indoor positioning since they benefit from multiple diverse technologies (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Inertial Sensors, among many others) and, therefore, they can provide a more robust positioning accuracy. In order to have an optimal combination of technologies, it is crucial to identify when large errors occur and prevent the use of extremely bad positioning estimations in hybrid algorithms. This paper investigates why large positioning errors occur in Wi-Fi fingerprinting and how to detect them by using the received signal strength intensities.

A Behaviour Monitoring System (BMS) for Ambient Assisted Living.

Unusual changes in the regular daily mobility routine of an elderly person at home can be an indicator or early symptom of developing health problems. Sensor technology can be utilised to complement the traditional healthcare systems to gain a more detailed view of the daily mobility of a person at home when performing everyday tasks. We hypothesise that data collected from low-cost sensors such as presence and occupancy sensors can be analysed to provide insights on the daily mobility habits of the elderly living alone at home and to detect routine changes. We validate this hypothesis by designing a system that automatically learns the daily room-to-room transitions and permanence habits in each room at each time of the day and generates alarm notifications when deviations are detected. We present an algorithm to process the sensors' data streams and compute sensor-driven features that describe the daily mobility routine of the elderly as part of the developed Behaviour Monitoring System (BMS). We are able to achieve low detection delay with confirmation time that is high enough to convey the detection of a set of common abnormal situations. We illustrate and evaluate BMS with synthetic data, generated by a developed data generator that was designed to mimic different user's mobility profiles at home, and also with a real-life dataset collected from prior research work. Results indicate BMS detects several mobility changes that can be symptoms of common health problems. The proposed system is a useful approach for learning the mobility habits at the home environment, with the potential to detect behaviour changes that occur due to health problems, and therefore, motivating progress toward behaviour monitoring and elder's care.

Impact of postoperative cognitive decline in quality of life: a prospective study / Impacto do declínio cognitivo pós-operatório na qualidade de vida: estudo prospectivo

Abstract Background Regardless the progress in perioperative care postoperative cognitive decline (PCD) has been accepted unequivocally as a significant and frequent complication of surgery in older patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of postoperative cognitive decline and its influence on quality of life three months after surgery. Methods Observational, prospective study in a Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) in patients aged above 45 years, after elective major surgery. Cognitive function was assessed with Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA); Quality of life (QoL) was assessed using SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36). Assessments were performed preoperatively (T0) and 3 months after surgery (T3). Results Forty-one patients were studied. The incidence of PCD 3 months after surgery was 24%. At T3 MOCA scores were lower in patients with PCD (median 20 vs. 25, p = 0.009). When comparing the median scores for each of SF-36 domains, there were no differences between patients with and without PCD. In patients with PCD, and comparing each of SF-36 domains obtained before and three months after surgery, had similar scores for every of the 8 SF-36 areas while patients without PCD had better scores for six domains. At T3 patients with PCD presented with higher levels of dependency in personal activities of daily living (ADL). Conclusion Three months after surgery patients without PCD had significant improvement in MOCA scores. Patients with PCD obtained no increase in SF-36 scores but patients without PCD improved in almost all SF-36 domains. Patients with PCD presented higher rates of dependency in personal ADL after surgery.

Resumo Justificativa e objetivo Independente do progresso do tratamento no período perioperatório, o declínio cognitivo no pós-operatório (DCPO) é inequivocamente aceito como uma complicação importante e frequente da cirurgia em pacientes mais velhos. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a incidência de DCPO e sua influência na qualidade de vida três meses após a cirurgia. Métodos Estudo prospectivo observacional conduzido em Sala de Recuperação Pós-anestesia (SRPA) com pacientes de idade superior a 45 anos, após cirurgia eletiva de grande porte. A função cognitiva foi avaliada com o teste de Avaliação Cognitiva de Montreal (MOCA) e a qualidade de vida (QV) com o Questionário sobre Qualidade de Vida (SF-36). As avaliações foram realizadas no pré-operatório (T0) e três meses após a cirurgia (T3). Resultados Foram avaliados 41 pacientes. A incidência de DCPO três meses após a cirurgia foi de 24%. Em T3, os escores MOCA foram menores nos pacientes com DCPO (mediana 20 vs. 25, p = 0,009). Ao comparar as medianas dos escores para cada um dos domínios do SF-36, não observamos diferenças entre os pacientes com e sem DCPO. Ao comparar cada um dos domínios do SF-36 obtidos antes e após três meses de cirurgia, os pacientes com DCPO apresentaram resultados semelhantes para cada uma das oito áreas do SF-36, enquanto pacientes sem DCPO apresentaram resultados melhores em seis domínios. Em T3, os pacientes com DCPO apresentaram níveis mais elevados de dependência na realização de atividades cotidianas. Conclusão Três meses após a cirurgia, os pacientes sem DCPO apresentaram melhora significativa dos escores MOCA. Os pacientes com DCPO não apresentaram aumento dos escores SF-36, mas os pacientes sem DCPO apresentaram melhora em quase todos os domínios do SF-36. Os pacientes com DCPO apresentaram taxas mais elevadas de dependência na realização de atividades cotidianas após a cirurgia.

[Impact of postoperative cognitive decline in quality of life: a prospective study]. / Impacto do declínio cognitivo pós­operatório na qualidade de vida: estudo prospectivo.

BACKGROUND: Regardless the progress in perioperative care postoperative cognitive decline (PCD) has been accepted unequivocally as a significant and frequent complication of surgery in older patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of postoperative cognitive decline and its influence on quality of life three months after surgery. METHODS: Observational, prospective study in a Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) in patients aged above 45 years, after elective major surgery. Cognitive function was assessed with Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA); Quality of life (QoL) was assessed using SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36). Assessments were performed preoperatively (T0) and 3 months after surgery (T3). RESULTS: Forty-one patients were studied. The incidence of PCD 3 months after surgery was 24%. At T3 MOCA scores were lower in patients with PCD (median 20 vs. 25, p=0.009). When comparing the median scores for each of SF-36 domains, there were no differences between patients with and without PCD. In patients with PCD, and comparing each of SF-36 domains obtained before and three months after surgery, had similar scores for every of the 8 SF-36 areas while patients without PCD had better scores for six domains. At T3 patients with PCD presented with higher levels of dependency in personal activities of daily living (ADL). CONCLUSION: Three months after surgery patients without PCD had significant improvement in MOCA scores. Patients with PCD obtained no increase in SF-36 scores but patients without PCD improved in almost all SF-36 domains. Patients with PCD presented higher rates of dependency in personal ADL after surgery.

The Smartphone-Based Offline Indoor Location Competition at IPIN 2016: Analysis and Future Work.

This paper presents the analysis and discussion of the off-site localization competition track, which took place during the Seventh International Conference on Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation (IPIN 2016). Five international teams proposed different strategies for smartphone-based indoor positioning using the same reference data. The competitors were provided with several smartphone-collected signal datasets, some of which were used for training (known trajectories), and others for evaluating (unknown trajectories). The competition permits a coherent evaluation method of the competitors' estimations, where inside information to fine-tune their systems is not offered, and thus provides, in our opinion, a good starting point to introduce a fair comparison between the smartphone-based systems found in the literature. The methodology, experience, feedback from competitors and future working lines are described.

[Accidental Dural Puncture and Post-dural Puncture Headache in the Obstetric Population: Eight Years of Experience]. / Punção Acidental da Dura e Cefaleia Pós-punção da Dura na População Obstétrica: Oito Anos de Experiência.

INTRODUCTION: Accidental dural puncture is an important complication of regional anesthesia and post-dural puncture headache remains a disable outcome in obstetric population. The aim of our study was to calculate the incidence of accidental puncture and post-puncture headache and evaluate its management among obstetric anesthesiologists. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective audit, between January 2007 and December 2014. We reviewed the record sheets of patients who experienced either accidental puncture or post-puncture headache. We excluded the patients undergoing spinal block. We use the SPSS 22.0 for statistical analyses. RESULTS: We obtained 18497 neuro-axial blocks and 58 accidental dural punctures (0.3%). After detected puncture, in 71.4% epidural catheter was re-positioned and 21.4% had intra-thecal catheters. Forty-five (77.6%) developed headache and the prophylactic measures were established in 76.1%. Conservative treatment was performed in all patients. The epidural blood patch was performed in 32.8% with a 84.2% of success. DISCUSSION: The incidence of post-dural puncture headache is unrelated to the type of delivery or insertion of intrathecal catheter. The re-placement of the epidural catheter remains the main approach after puncture. The institution of prophylactic measures is a common practice, despite the low level of evidence. We performed epidural blood patch after failure of conservative treatment. CONCLUSION: The incidence of accidental dural puncture and post-dural puncture headache was similar to the literature. Despite being a common complication, there remains lack of consensus on its approach.

Introdução: A punção acidental da dura é uma importante complicação da anestesia regional e a cefaleia pós-punção continua a ser causa de morbilidade na população obstétrica. O objetivo do nosso estudo foi calcular a incidência de punção acidental e cefaleia pós-punção no nosso Centro Hospitalar e avaliar a sua abordagem entre os anestesiologistas obstétricos. Material e Métodos: Realizámos uma auditoria retrospetiva, entre janeiro de 2007 e dezembro de 2014. Revimos as folhas de registo das doentes em que ocorreu punção inadvertida da dura ou cefaleia pós-punção. Excluímos as doentes submetidas a bloqueio subaracnoideu. Utilizámos o SPSS 22.0 no tratamento estatístico dos dados. Resultados: Obtivémos 18 497 bloqueios neuro-axiais e 58 punções acidentais da dura (0,3%). Após punção detetada, em 71,4% o cateter epidural foi re-posicionado e 21,4% tiveram cateteres intra-tecais. Quarenta e cinco (77,6%) desenvolveram cefaleia e a instituição de medidas profiláticas ocorreu em 76,1%. O tratamento conservador foi efetuado em todas as doentes. O blood patch epidural foi realizado em 32,8% com um sucesso de 84,2%. Discussão: A incidência de cefaleia pós-punção não está relacionada com o tipo de parto ou a inserção do cateter intra-tecal. A re-colocação do cateter epidural mantém-se a abordagem de eleição após punção. A instituição de medidas profiláticas é uma prática comum, apesar do baixo grau de eficácia. Realizámos blood patch epidural após falência do tratamento conservador. Conclusão: A incidência de punção inadvertida e cefaleia pós-punção foi semelhante à da literatura. Apesar de ser uma complicação comum, existe falta de consenso na sua abordagem.

Assessment of the densities of local anesthetics and their combination with adjuvants: an experimental study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The relative density of a local anesthetic in relation to that of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) at 37 degrees C is one of the most important physical properties that affect the level of analgesia obtained after the subarachnoid administration of the drug. The objective of this study was to determine the density of local anesthetic solutions, with and without glucose, and the combination of the local anesthetic with adjuvants at 20 degrees C, 25 degrees C, and 37 degrees C. METHODS: The density (g.mL(-1)) was determined by using a DMA 450 densimeter with a sensitivity of +/- 0.00001 g.mL(-1). The densities, and variations, according to the temperature were obtained for all local anesthetics and their combination with opioids at 20 degrees C, 25 degrees C, and 37 degrees C. The solution is hyperbaric if its density exceeds 1.00099, hypobaric when its density is lower than 1.00019, and isobaric when its density is greater than 1.00019 and lower than 1.00099. RESULTS: The densities of both local anesthetics and adjuvants decrease with the increase in temperature. At 37 degrees C, all glucose-containing solutions are hyperbaric. In the absence of glucose, all solutions are hypobaric. At 37 degrees C, morphine, fentanyl, sufentanil, and clonidine are hypobaric. CONCLUSIONS: The densities of local anesthetics and adjuvants decrease with the increase in temperature and increase when glucose is added. The knowledge of the relative density helps select the most adequate local anesthetic to be administered in the subarachnoid space.

Avaliação da Densidade dos anestésicos locais e da combinação com adjuvantes: estudo em laboratório / Assessment of the densities of local anesthetics and their combination with adjuvants: an experimental study / Evaluación de la densidad de los anestésicos locales y de la combinación con adyuvantes: estudio en laboratorio

JUSTIFICATIVA E OBJETIVOS: Uma das mais importantes propriedades físicas que afetam o nível da analgesia obtida após a injeção subaracnoidea de um anestésico local é sua densidade relativa à densidade do líquido cefalorraquidiano (LCR) a 37ºC. O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar a densidade das soluções de anestésicos locais com e sem glicose e a combinação de anestésico local com adjuvantes a 20ºC, 25ºC e 37ºC em avaliação laboratorial. MÉTODO: A densidade (g.mL-1) foi medida como auxílio de um densímetro DMA 450, sensível a ± 0,00001 g.mL-1. A densidade e suas variações com a temperatura foram obtidas de todos os anestésicos locais e suas combinações com opioides a 20ºC, 25ºC e 37ºC. A solução é hiperbárica se sua densidade excede a 1,00099, a solução é hipobárica quando a densidade está abaixo de 1,00019 e é isobárica quando a densidade é maior que 1,00019 e menor que 1,00099. RESULTADOS: Ambos, anestésicos locais e adjuvantes, exibem diminuição da densidade quando se aumenta a temperatura. A 37ºC, todas as soluções que contêm glicose são hiperbáricas. Na ausência de glicose, todas as soluções são hipobáricas. A 37ºC, morfina, fentanil, sufentanil e clonidina são hipobáricas. CONCLUSÕES: A densidade dos anestésicos locais e adjuvantes diminui com o aumento da temperatura e aumenta com a adição de glicose. O conhecimento da baricidade, densidade relativa, ajuda na seleção do anestésico local mais adequado e dos adjuvantes para uso subaracnoideo.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The relative density of a local anesthetic in relation to that of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) at 37º C is one of the most important physical properties that affect the level of analgesia obtained after the subarachnoid administration of the drug. The objective of this study was to determine the density of local anesthetic solutions, with and without glucose, and the combination of the local anesthetic with adjuvants at 20º C, 25º C, and 37º C. METHODS: The density (g.mL-1) was determined by using a DMA 450 densimeter with a sensitivity of ± 0.00001 g.mL-1. The densities, and variations, according to the temperature were obtained for all local anesthetics and their combination with opioids at 20ºC, 25ºC, and 37ºC. The solution is hyperbaric if its density exceeds 1.00099, hypobaric when its density is lower than 1.00019, and isobaric when its density is greater than 1.00019 and lower than 1.00099. RESULTS: The densities of both local anesthetics and adjuvants decrease with the increase in temperature. At 37º C, all glucose-containing solutions are hyperbaric. In the absence of glucose, all solutions are hypobaric. At 37ºC, morphine, fentanyl, sufentanil, and clonidine are hypobaric. CONCLUSIONS: The densities of local anesthetics and adjuvants decrease with the increase in temperature and increase when glucose is added. The knowledge of the relative density helps select the most adequate local anesthetic to be administered in the subarachnoid space.

JUSTIFICATIVA Y OBJETIVOS: Una de las más importantes propiedades físicas que afectan el nivel de la analgesia obtenida después de la inyección subaracnoidea de un anestésico local, es su densidad relativa a la densidad del líquido cefalorraquídeo (LCR) a 37ºC. El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar la densidad de las soluciones de anestésicos locales con y sin glucosa y la combinación de anestésico local con adyuvantes a 20ºC, 25ºC y 37ºC en evaluación laboratorial. MÉTODO: La densidad (g.mL-1) se midió con la ayuda de un densímetro DMA 450 sensible a ± 0.00001 g.mL-1. La densidad y sus variaciones con la temperatura se obtuvieron de todos los anestésicos locales y de sus combinaciones con opioides a 20ºC, 25ºC y 37ºC. La solución es hiperbárica si su densidad excede a 1.00099, la solución es hipobárica cuando la densidad está por debajo de 1,00019 y es isobárica cuando la densidad es mayor que 0,00019 y menor que 1,00099. RESULTADOS: Ambos anestésicos locales y los adyuvantes, arrojan una reducción de la densidad cuando se aumenta la temperatura. A 37ºC, todas las soluciones que contienen glucosa son hiperbáricas. Con la falta de glucosa, todas las soluciones son hipobáricas. A 37ºC, morfina, fentanil, sufentanil y clonidina son hipobáricas. CONCLUSIONES: La densidad de los anestésicos locales y adyuvantes se reduce con el aumento de la temperatura y aumenta con la adición de glucosa. El conocimiento de la baricidad, densidad relativa, ayuda a la selección del anestésico local más adecuado y de los adyuvantes para uso subaracnoideo.

Cobalt tetrasulphonated phthalocyanine immobilized on poly-L-lysine film onto glassy carbon electrode as amperometric sensor for cysteine.

The present work describes the development of a simple and efficient method for the amperometric determination of cysteine (CySH) in wild medium at an applied potential of 0.150 V versus Ag/AgCl. In this sense, the electrocatalytic oxidation of cysteine (CySH) was carried out on a glassy carbon electrode modified with cobalt tetrasulphonated phthalocyanine (CoTSPc) and poly-L-lysine (PLL) film. The immobilization of CoTSPc in PLL film was performed by a simple evaporation of the solvent. The CoTSPc/PLL film, formed on the GC electrode showed an electrocatalytic activity to the CySH oxidation. The sensor presented its best performance in 0.1 mol l(-1) Pipes at pH 7.5. Under optimized operational conditions, the sensor provided a wide linear response range for CySH from 0.50 up to 216.0 micromol l(-1) with a sensitivity and detection limit of 157 nA cm(-2) l micromol(-1) and 150 nmol l(-1), respectively. The proposed sensor presented higher sensitivity when compared to the other modified electrodes described in the literature and showed a stable response for at least 200 successive determinations. The repeatability of the measurements with the same sensor and different sensors, evaluated in term of relative standard deviation, were 4.1 and 5.2%, respectively, for n=10. The developed sensor was applied for the CySH determination in food supplement samples and the results were statistically the same to those obtained by a comparative method described in the literature at a confidence level of 95%.

Educação em saúde como ferramenta fundamental no diagnóstico precoce de câncer bucal na população idosa

Este Trabalho de conclusão de curso de Especialização destaca, embasado em revisão bibliográfica, a importância de diagnóstico precoce na prevenção do câncer bucal em pacientes Idosos de uma unidade de Saúde da Família de Monte Santo de Minas. Demonstra a Importância da educação em saúde como ferramenta fundamental na valorização de ações de Saúde Bucal e na valorização da saúde bucal. Demonstra que atividades simples como essa pode mudar realidades em pequenas comunidades do interior do Estado com baixo custo. A metodologia utilizada foi a pesquisa bibliográfica na Biblioteca Virtual de Saúde, na base Scielo, na biblioteca virtual do NESCON, e, também, no Portal do INCA e livros-texto citados nas referências. A pesquisa Bibliográfica foi realizada baseada em publicações nacionais nos últimos dez anos. Após esta fase foi construída uma proposta de intervenção para ser aplicada na Unidade Básica de Saúde com objetivo de promover saúde dos idosos e informá-los sobre câncer bucal. O Objetivo da pesquisa foi facilitar o acesso ao serviço de prevenção de câncer bucal e tornar o diagnóstico precoce pratica comum nas unidades de saúde da família.