Motion Sensors for Knee Angle Recognition in Muscle Rehabilitation Solutions.

The progressive loss of functional capacity due to aging is a serious problem that can compromise human locomotion capacity, requiring the help of an assistant and reducing independence. The NanoStim project aims to develop a system capable of performing treatment with electrostimulation at the patient's home, reducing the number of consultations. The knee angle is one of the essential attributes in this context, helping understand the patient's movement during the treatment session. This article presents a wearable system that recognizes the knee angle through IMU sensors. The hardware chosen for the wearables are low cost, including an ESP32 microcontroller and an MPU-6050 sensor. However, this hardware impairs signal accuracy in the multitasking environment expected in rehabilitation treatment. Three optimization filters with algorithmic complexity O(1) were tested to improve the signal's noise. The complementary filter obtained the best result, presenting an average error of 0.6 degrees and an improvement of 77% in MSE. Furthermore, an interface in the mobile app was developed to respond immediately to the recognized movement. The systems were tested with volunteers in a real environment and could successfully measure the movement performed. In the future, it is planned to use the recognized angle with the electromyography sensor.

Educating diabetic patients through an SMS intervention: a randomized controlled trial at a Brazilian public hospital

ABSTRACT Objective: Diabetes mellitus (DM) has a high healthcare system cost worldwide. Educational strategies are important to improve self-care and control this disease. This study aimed to evaluate satisfaction and clinical efficacy of a Short Message Service (SMS) educational intervention in self-care and nutrition at a Brazilian university hospital. Materials and methods: We conducted a trial of educational intervention and assigned eligible patients with DM to either receive weekly educational SMS for 6 months (intervention group [IG]) or no SMS at all (control group). A satisfaction questionnaire was applied before and after the intervention in both groups. Laboratory (fasting glucose, hemoglobin [Hb] A1c, total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein, and low-density lipoprotein) and clinical (blood pressure) data were also collected. Data were analyzed using nonparametric tests with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Results: We included 128 patients (64 in each group). Responses to the satisfaction questionnaire with self-care and healthcare professionals from 112 patients revealed an improvement in the perception of receiving information regarding helpful eating habits and in healthy eating behavior and an improvement in satisfaction with their diabetes care in the IG. In the post-intervention period, improved systolic blood pressure and HbA1c levels were observed in the IG as illustrated by delta % (post-intervention minus pre-intervention data divided by pre-intervention data multiplied by 100) reductions of 2.3% and 3.9%, respectively Conclusion: SMS intervention was useful as an educational tool for improving satisfaction and glycemic and blood pressure control of patients with DM observed at a Brazilian university hospital.

Educating diabetic patients through an SMS intervention: a randomized controlled trial at a Brazilian public hospital.

OBJECTIVE: Diabetes mellitus (DM) has a high healthcare system cost worldwide. Educational strategies are important to improve self-care and control this disease. This study aimed to evaluate satisfaction and clinical efficacy of a Short Message Service (SMS) educational intervention in self-care and nutrition at a Brazilian university hospital. METHODS: We conducted a trial of educational intervention and assigned eligible patients with DM to either receive weekly educational SMS for 6 months (intervention group [IG]) or no SMS at all (control group). A satisfaction questionnaire was applied before and after the intervention in both groups. Laboratory (fasting glucose, hemoglobin [Hb] A1c, total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein, and low-density lipoprotein) and clinical (blood pressure) data were also collected. Data were analyzed using nonparametric tests with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. RESULTS: We included 128 patients (64 in each group). Responses to the satisfaction questionnaire with self-care and healthcare professionals from 112 patients revealed an improvement in the perception of receiving information regarding helpful eating habits and in healthy eating behavior and an improvement in satisfaction with their diabetes care in the IG. In the post-intervention period, improved systolic blood pressure and HbA1c levels were observed in the IG as illustrated by delta % (post-intervention minus pre-intervention data divided by pre-intervention data multiplied by 100) reductions of 2.3% and 3.9%, respectively. CONCLUSION: SMS intervention was useful as an educational tool for improving satisfaction and glycemic and blood pressure control of patients with DM observed at a Brazilian university hospital.

Postgraduate education among family and community physicians in Brazil: the Trajetórias MFC project.

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to describe the postgraduate education trajectories of family and community physicians in Brazil, where neither primary healthcare nor family and community medicine is recognised as a knowledge area for the purpose of research and postgraduate education (master's and PhD degrees). DESIGN: An observational, exploratory study, using administrative data. A nationwide list of family and community physicians as of late November 2018 was compiled from multiple sources. Data on the mode of specialisation was obtained from the same sources and were correlated with data on master's and PhD degrees, obtained from the curricula vitae on the Lattes Platform. SETTING: This study was set in Brazil. PARTICIPANTS: 6238 family and community physicians (58.3% female), of whom 2795 had earned a specialist certificate (identified from the list of physicians certified by Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina de Família e Comunidade) and 3957 had completed medical residency (identified from SisCNRM, the national information system for medical residency). RESULTS: A master's degree was held by 747 (12.0%) family and community physicians, and a PhD by 170 (2.7%); most degrees were in collective health (47.0% and 42%, respectively). Men were more likely than women to hold a master's degree (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.24, 95% uncertainty interval (UI) 1.07-1.45) and even more likely to a hold PhD (aOR 1.86, 95% UI 1.35-2.59). Family and community physicians were also less likely to hold a PhD degree if their master's degree was professional (oriented towards jobs outside academia) instead of academic (aOR 0.15, 95% UI 0.05-0.39) or in some area other than collective health or medicine (aOR 0.41, 95% UI 0.21-0.78, compared with a master's degree in collective health). The postgraduate degree was more likely to precede specialisation for family and community physicians specialising through certification (master's degree 39.9%, PhD 33%) than through medical residency (master's degree 9.1%, PhD 6%). CONCLUSION: Family and community physicians in Brazil increasingly earn academic and professional master's and PhD degrees, with an emphasis on collective health, even though women seemingly face barriers to advance their education. The consequences of different postgraduate trajectories should be critically examined.

Depression and excess mortality in the elderly living in low- and middle-income countries: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between depression and mortality in the elderly living in low- and middle-income countries. METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed. We searched in five electronic databases for observational studies investigating the association between mortality and depression. Two reviewers worked independently to select articles, extract data, and assess study quality. RESULTS: A total of 10 studies including 13 828 participants (2402 depressed and 11 426 nondepressed) from six countries (Brazil, four articles; China, two articles; Botswana, India, South Africa, and South Korea, one article) were included. The overall unadjusted relative risk (RR) of mortality in depressed relative to nondepressed participants was 1.62 (95% CI, 1.39-1.88; P < 0.001), with high heterogeneity (I2  = 66%; 95% CI, 33-83; P < 0.005). After adjustment for publication bias, the overall RR decreased to 1.60 (95% CI, 1.37-1.86; P < 0.001). No significant differences were observed between subgroups except those defined by study quality. The high-quality studies had a pooled RR of 1.48 (95% CI, 1.32-1.67; P < 0.001), while the low-quality studies resulted had a pooled RR of 1.82 (95% CI, 1.25-2.65; P < 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Depression is associated with excess mortality in the elderly living in low- and middle-income countries. In addition, this excess mortality does not differ substantially from that found in high-income countries. This suggests environmental factors occurring in low- and middle-income countries might not have a direct association with the excess mortality in the depressed elderly.

Uma proposta metodológica para a elaboração de revisões clínicas / A methodological proposal for the preparation of clinical reviews / Una propuesta metodológica para la elaboración de revisiones clínicas

As revisões clínicas são sumários de evidências com escopo amplo e orientação à prática profissional, ocupando um dos mais altos níveis da pirâmide da assistência à saúde baseada em evidências. Com base nessa pirâmide, refletimos sobre as instruções aos autores de periódicos em medicina de família e comunidade para propor instruções para a escrita de revisões clínicas. As instruções abrangem a busca, avaliação, síntese e análise das evidências clínicas, além do planejamento e redação da revisão. Esperamos que estas instruções ajudem a elevar a quantidade e qualidade das revisões clínicas em medicina de família e comunidade no país.

Clinical reviews are evidence summaries with broad scope and orientation to professional practice, occupying one of the highest levels in the pyramid of evidence-based health care. Based on this pyramid, we reflect on instructions to the authors of journals in family medicine to present instructions on how to write clinical reviews. The instructions cover how to search, appraise, synthesize and analyze clinical evidence, and how to plan and report the review. We hope these instructions will help improve the quantity and quality of clinical reviews in family medicine in Brazil.

Revisiones clínicas son resúmenes de evidencia con un amplio alcance y orientación a la práctica profesional, ocupando uno de los niveles más altos en la pirámide de la asistencia sanitaria basada en pruebas. Con base en esta pirámide, reflexionamos sobre las instrucciones de los autores de las revistas de medicina familiar para presentar instrucciones sobre cómo escribir revisiones clínicas. Las instrucciones cubren cómo buscar, evaluar, sintetizar y analizar evidencia clínica, y cómo planificar e reportar la revisión. Esperamos que estas instrucciones ayuden a mejorar la cantidad y calidad de las revisiones clínicas en medicina familiar y comunitaria en Brasil.

Confiabilidade e validade da codificação CIAP-2 por estudantes de medicina / Reliability and validity of ICPC-2-R encoding by medical students / Confiabilidad y validez de la codificación CIAP-2 por estudiantes de medicina

Objetivo: Estimar a confiabilidade e a validade da codificação de motivos de consulta e problemas por estudantes utilizando a Classificação Internacional da Atenção Primária, 2ª edição (CIAP-2). Métodos: Para cada encontro supervisionado durante todo um semestre, três professores médicos de família e comunidade registraram os motivos de consulta e problemas em um questionário usando texto livre. Dois de quatro estudantes de medicina e um professor codificaram cada motivo de consulta ou problema usando a CIAP-2. No começo do estudo, houve duas seções de padronização com três horas de duração, até os professores julgarem que os estudantes estavam prontos para a codificação. Após todos os motivos de consulta e problemas terem sido codificados independentemente, os sete codificadores resolveram os códigos definitivos por consenso. Definiu-se confiabilidade como concordância entre estudantes, e validade como a concordância destes com os códigos definitivos; essa concordância foi estimada com o AC1 de Gwet. Resultados: Após a exclusão dos encontros codificados antes da última sessão de padronização, a amostra consistiu em 149 encontros consecutivos, somando 262 motivos de consulta e 226 problemas. A codificação teve confiabilidade moderada a substancial (AC1 0,805; IC 95% 0,767­0,843) e validade substancial (AC1 0,864; IC 95% 0,833­0,891). C

Objective: To estimate how reliably and validly can medical students encode reasons for encounter and diagnoses using the International Classification of Primary Care, revised 2nd edition (ICPC-2-R). Methods: For every encounter they supervised during an entire semester, three family and community physician teachers entered the reasons for encounter and diagnoses in free text into a form. Two of four medical students and one teacher encoded each reason for encounter or diagnosis using the ICPC-2-R. In the beginning of the study, two three-hour workshops were held, until the teachers were confident the students were ready for the encoding. After all the reasons for encounter and the diagnoses had been independently encoded, the seven encoders resolved the definitive codes by consensus. We defined reliability as agreement between students and validity as their agreement with the definitive codes, and used Gwet's AC1 to estimate this agreement. Results: After exclusion of encounters encoded before the last workshop, the sample consisted of 149 consecutive encounters, comprising 262 reasons for encounter and 226 diagnoses. The encoding had moderate to substantial reliability (AC1 , 0.805; 95% CI, 0.767­0.843) and substantial validity (AC1 , 0.864; 95% CI, 0.833­0.891). Conclusion: Medical students can encode reasons for encounter and diagnoses with the ICPC-2-R if they are adequately trained.

Objetivo: Estimar la confiabilidad y la validez de la codificación de motivos de consulta y problemas de salud por estudiantes utilizando la Clasificación Internacional de Atención Primaria, 2ª edición (CIAP-2). Métodos: Para cada encuentro supervisado durante todo un semestre, tres profesores médicos de familia y comunidad registraron los motivos de consulta y los problemas de salud en un formulario usando texto libre. Dos de cuatro estudiantes de medicina y un profesor codificaron cada motivo de consulta o problema de salud utilizando la CIAP-2. En el comienzo del estudio, se llevaron a cabo dos sesiones de estandarización de tres horas, hasta que los profesores estuvieron seguros de que los estudiantes estaban listos para la codificación. Después de que todos los motivos de consulta y problemas de salud fueran codificados independientemente, los siete codificadores resolvieron los códigos definitivos por consenso. Se definió confiabilidad como concordancia entre los estudiantes y validez como la concordancia de éstos con los códigos definitivos; se estimó esta concordancia con el AC1 de Gwet. Resultados: Después de la exclusión de los encuentros codificados antes de la última sesión de estandarización, la muestra consistió en 149 encuentros consecutivos, que comprendían 262 motivos de consulta y 226 problemas de salud. La codificación tuvo una confiabilidad moderada a sustancial (AC1 0,805; IC 95% 0,767­0,843) y validez sustancial (AC1 0,864; IC 95% 0,833­0,891). Conclusión: Los estudiantes de medicina pueden codificar los motivos de consulta y los problemas de salud con la CIAP-2 si fueran adecuadamente capacitados.

Amazon forest carbon dynamics predicted by profiles of canopy leaf area and light environment.

Tropical forest structural variation across heterogeneous landscapes may control above-ground carbon dynamics. We tested the hypothesis that canopy structure (leaf area and light availability) - remotely estimated from LiDAR - control variation in above-ground coarse wood production (biomass growth). Using a statistical model, these factors predicted biomass growth across tree size classes in forest near Manaus, Brazil. The same statistical model, with no parameterisation change but driven by different observed canopy structure, predicted the higher productivity of a site 500 km east. Gap fraction and a metric of vegetation vertical extent and evenness also predicted biomass gains and losses for one-hectare plots. Despite significant site differences in canopy structure and carbon dynamics, the relation between biomass growth and light fell on a unifying curve. This supported our hypothesis, suggesting that knowledge of canopy structure can explain variation in biomass growth over tropical landscapes and improve understanding of ecosystem function.