Evaluation of techniques for the study of electromyographic signals.

The objective of this work was the study and the development of techniques for acquiring and processing electromyographic signals that can be used for analysis of the behavior of electromyographic variables during fatiguing dynamic activities. Two of the techniques were the RMS value and the MPF, which are commonly used for the analysis of electromyographic signals measured during isometric contractions. A new technique, called MAEC, was proposed, based on the domain of the Wavelet transform. The results showed that the combination of the three techniques together with the protocol for recording electromyographic signals lead to a useful characterization of the behavior of electromygraphic variables.

[Action-oriented information systems: subsidies for activities by workers' health programs at the local level]. / Sistema de informação para a ação: subsídios para a atuação prática dos programas de saúde dos trabalhadores a nível local.

Over the course of recent decades, Brazil has become an industrialized society. From an epidemiological perspective and considering changes that have been occurring in the Brazilian population, particularly concerning demographic and epidemiological transitions, this paper discusses the need to adapt the epidemiological surveillance system in order to incorporate the surveillance of non-transmissible diseases. The authors analyze the information system for work-related accidents in the Workers' Health Program, under SUDS (the Unified Decentralized Health System) for the Mandaqui Region (in the Northern part of the city of São Paulo), based on data from a local metalworking industry identified by the information system as a high-risk site for work-related accidents. The article also focuses on the importance of organized workers participating in actions to control work-related accidents. Although such participation is not always possible, the health sector must incorporate the workers' own concrete experience in order to develop more effective actions to prevent accidents at the workplace.

[Epidemiological surveillance system for occupational accidents: experience in the northern area of the municipality of São Paulo (Brazil)]. / Sistema de vigilância epidemiológica para acidentes do trabalho: experiência na zona norte do município de São Paulo (Brasil).

The epidemiological approach to occupational accidents and diseases adopted in Brazil is inadequate for many reasons, among them being: 1) the fact that only employers may notify work accidents, thus permitting notorious undernotification of these occupational hazards; 2) the available information does not permit a better understanding of the causal relationship between work accidents and diseases; 3) the official policy exists only for purposes of insurance compensation. The official documents for occupational disease and accident registration are the CTA (Work accident report) and FTA (Casualty treatment card). The Worker's Health Program of SUDS-R-6 proposed, in October, 1988 a method for the codification, registration in a micro-computer data bank and analysis of this information, based on the records presently in use (CAT) for public health service planning and accident prevention purposes. The major interest was in identifying the most common types of accidents in the region and the work environments in which they most frequently occur. The target population were the workers who attended the health units lisenced to deal with work accidents and diseases, in the Northern region of S. Paulo City. The data presented below refer to the months of October, November and December, 1988, the first three months of the project. During that period a total of 2,339 accidents were registered. They were classified as: typical work accidents - 87%: commuting accidents which occurred between the home and the work-place--18% and work diseases (only 2 cases). The majority of workers (50%) were between 25 and 45 years of age, approximately 7% were under 18. Male workers represented 83.2% of accident cases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)