Spatio-temporal evolution of mortality in Cape Verde: 1995-2018.

Located in West Africa, Cabo Verde is a low income country, with significant gains in health indicators. Mortality is an important demographic factor. Its analysis provides essential statistical data for the design, implementation and evaluation of public health programs. The propose of this work is to analyze the spatio-temporal evolution of mortality in Cabo Verde between 1995 to 2018. This is an observational, quantitative study that performs demographic analysis of mortality data from the Ministry of Health of Cabo Verde. Specific mortality rates from standardized causes were calculated considering the population of the country as a reference in the year 2010 and also the standardized rate for all causes on each island, aiming at comparing the islands. During the period under analysis, the number of deaths in men was always higher than that of women. The main causes of death were diseases of the circulatory system and with a higher incidence in women. São Nicolau, Brava, and Santo Antão islands have mortality rates, higher than the national level (2010-2018). The main cause of premature death in women as identified as diseases of the circulatory system, while in men it is injuries, trauma, poisoning and external causes. There was a 72% decrease in the mortality rate due to unclassified symptoms and clinical signs, and an increase in respiratory diseases and tumours. With the exception of diseases of the circulatory system, mortality rates in men are higher than in women for all the considered causes. A decrease in specific mortality rates by age group is expected for both sexes, with a greater gain in men in the younger age groups. With these data, it is intended to alert health decision-makers about the best strategies to be defined in the reduction of mortality in the country.

Sweet's syndrome complicating ulcerative colitis: a rare association.

Sweet's syndrome (SS) is a neutrophilic dermatosis disorder of unknown aetiology, characterised by acute fever, neutrophilia, painful erythematous papules, nodules and plaques, and an infiltrate consisting predominantly of mature neutrophils in the upper dermis. Classical SS is a rare extra-intestinal manifestation of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It is more common in Crohn's disease than in ulcerative colitis (UC). There is a predilection for women, and for patients with colonic disease and active IBD. We report the case of a 39-year-old woman with a flare of moderate severity UC treated with mesalazine who presented with a 5-day history of acute fever, painful papules and plaques on forearms and legs, episcleritis and cervical pain. Skin biopsies showed papillary dermis inflammatory cell infiltration composed mainly of neutrophils, without evidence of leukocytoclastic vasculitis or panniculitis, compatible with SS. The patient had an excellent response to systemic corticosteroids. Symptoms promptly improved and skin lesions resolved after 7 weeks.

Low resolution tool tracking for microsurgical training in a simulated environment.

In this work, we propose a method that detects and tracks the tip of tools used in microsurgical training. This method can be used to provide valuable metrics regarding the surgeon's hand movement. It can benefit the training of surgeons, given the steep learning curve in microsurgery. Unlike past research, our tool tracking algorithm does not rely on color based measurements. Thus, it can be used in a broader domain. Also, our approach is robust to surrounding environments with non-static background, where background subtraction techniques are not suitable. Experimental results show that the proposed tool localization method has high accuracy and is statistically reliable.

Colonoscopia sem sedaçäo / Colonoscopy without sedation

Este estudo prospectivo tem o objetivo de avaliar a necessidade de anestesia de rotina para a realizaçäo de colonoscopia e determinar as indicaçöes e vantagens desta técnica. No período de dezembro/89 a fevereiro/91 foram ralizados na Unidade de Colonsocopia do Serviço de Colo-Proctologia do Hospital do Andaraí 180 colonoscopias. Colonoscopia foi considerada completa em 161 paciente (89,5%) e incompleta em 19(10,5%). Em 140 (78%) näo foi usado medicamentos e em 40 (22%) foi utilizada anestesia. A taxa de complicaçäo foi 0,55 por cento. A maioria dos pacientes (76%) que näo usou medicamentos relatou somente desconforto ou dor de fraca intensidade e 80% dos que usaram referiram dor moderada ou forte. Concluímos que o uso de analgesia e/ou sedaçäo näo é necessário para a realizaçäo de colonoscopia na maioria dos pacientes