Intervención educativa grupal para incrementar el ejercicio físico en personal de salud y la prescripción de este en sus pacientes / Group educational intervention to increase physical exercise in healthcare personnel and promote its prescription for their patients / Intervenção educativa em grupo para aumentar o exercício físico em profissionais de saúde e sua prescrição em seus pacientes

Objetivo: el objetivo del estudio fue evaluar el impacto de una intervención educativa grupal en el personal de salud para mejorar su práctica de ejercicio físico y la prescripción de esta a sus pacientes. Metodología: diseño preexperimental con medidas repetidas en un solo grupo, compuesto por personal de la salud (n = 17). Resultados: en el personal de salud se encontró un incremento en la motivación hacia la práctica de ejercicio físico (Likert, pre: 56 vs. 3 meses: 61). La principal motivación fue mantener un buen estado de salud, con un incremento del 18 % a los 6 meses con respecto del inicio. Sin embargo, también se identificó una reducción en el tiempo de práctica semanal de ejercicio físico, en la intensidad moderada (mediana, pre 120 minutos [75 - 210], tres meses 105 minutos [45 - 180], seis meses 60 minutos [50 - 135]) y en la vigorosa (mediana, pre 300 minutos [121,5 - 360], tres meses 60 minutos [30 - 120], seis meses 30 minutos [30 - 60]). La prescripción de ejercicio físico mejoró en frecuencia (pre 23 %, tres meses 36 %, seis meses 30 %) y componentes, además se acompañó de una reducción de los minutos/semana que el paciente la practicaba. Conclusiones: una intervención educativa grupal para el personal de salud puede influenciar de manera positiva algunos componentes actitudinales a favor de su práctica de ejercicio físico y la prescripción de este en sus pacientes, pero afecta negativamente su práctica en ambos grupos.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the effects of a group-based educational intervention on healthcare professionals' engagement in physical exercise and their ability to prescribe it to their patients. Methodology: This study employed a pre-experimental design with repeated measures within a single group, comprising healthcare professionals (n = 17). Results: Among healthcare professionals, an increase in motivation towards engaging in physical exercise was observed (Likert scale, pre: 56 vs. 3 months: 61). The main motivation reported was maintaining good health, which showed an 18 % increase at the 6-month mark compared to the start of the study. However, a reduction was also identified in the weekly duration of moderate-intensity exercise (median, pre: 120 minutes [75-210], three months: 105 minutes [45-180], six months: 60 minutes [50-135]), as well as vigorous-intensity exercise (median, pre: 300 minutes [121.5-360], three months: 60 minutes [30-120], six months: 30 minutes [30-60]). The prescription of physical exercise improved in terms of frequency (pre: 23 %, three months: 36 %, six months: 30 %) and components, accompanied by a reduction in the number of minutes per week that patients engaged in exercise. Conclusions: A group-based educational intervention for healthcare professionals can positively influence certain attitudinal components in favor of their engaging in physical exercise and prescribing it to their patients. However, it negatively affects their actual exercise practice in both groups.

Objetivo: o objetivo do estudo foi avaliar o impacto de uma intervenção educativa em grupo no pessoal de saúde para melhorar sua prática de exercício físico e sua prescrição para seus pacientes. Metodologia: delineamento pré-experimental com medidas repetidas em grupo único, composto por profissionais de saúde (n = 17). Resultados: verificou-seum aumento da motivação para a prática de exercício físico nos profissionais de saúde (Likert, pré: 56 vs. 3 meses: 61). A principal motivação foi manter um bom estado de saúde, com aumento de 18 % aos 6 meses em relação ao início. No entanto, também foi identificada uma redução no tempo de prática semanal de exercício físico, em intensidade moderada (mediana, pré 120 minutos [75 - 210], três meses 105 minutos [45 - 180], seis meses 60 minutos [50 - 135] ) e vigoroso (mediana, pré 300 minutos [121,5 - 360], três meses 60 minutos [30 - 120], seis meses 30 minutos [30 - 60]). A prescrição de exercício físico melhorou na frequência (pré 23 %, três meses 36 %, seis meses 30 %) e componentes, também foi acompanhada por uma redução dos minutos/semana que o paciente o praticava. Conclusões: uma intervenção educativa em grupo para profissionais de saúde pode influenciar positivamente alguns componentes atitudinais a favor da prática de exercício físico e sua prescrição em seus pacientes, mas afeta negativamente sua prática em ambos os grupos.

Seizure Prophylaxis in Traumatic Brain Injury: A Comparative Study of Levetiracetam and Phenytoin Cerebrospinal Fluid Levels in Trauma Patients with Signs of Increased Intracranial Pressure Requiring Ventriculostomy.

Background One of the most common life-threatening injuries to trauma patients arriving in the emergency department (ED) is traumatic brain injury (TBI). Traditionally, intravenous medications have been given as seizure prophylaxis in patients demonstrating signs of increased intracranial pressure (ICP), as post-traumatic seizures in trauma patients are associated with higher morbidity and mortality. Medications traditionally given for this indication such as phenytoin have been established to reach therapeutic levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) quickly and are effective in preventing post-traumatic seizures but often have a large side-effect profile. A newer medication that is being used for seizure prophylaxis in patients with epilepsy is levetiracetam. Levetiracetam typically has a better side effect profile, but it has not been demonstrated that the drug reaches therapeutic levels in the CSF as quickly as phenytoin. Studies have shown levetiracetam and phenytoin to be equivocal in the prevention of post-TBI seizure prophylaxis. Methods This was a prospective, randomized, case-control study at a Level II trauma center of adult patients (age >/= 18 years) who suffered severe TBI (sTBI) requiring the placement of an external ventricular drain (EVD) from May 2017 to June 2018. Twelve patients were randomly placed into one of two groups for the administration of antiepileptic medication (either levetiracetam or phenytoin), allowing for the subsequent serial collection of CSF for the analysis of therapeutic levels of antiepileptic medications. Levetiracetam or phenytoin was administered at standardized fixed doses per our neurosurgical center standard protocol. CSF was collected before either drug was administered, 60 minutes after completion of administration and 360 minutes after completion of drug administration. Data analysis was performed to compare the time frame for which therapeutic levels of the medications were achieved in the CSF. The published steady-state and therapeutic CSF level of levetiracetam is 32 mcg/ml and phenytoin is 2 mcg/ml. Results A trend was observed in which the closer the fixed dosage approximated the weight-based dosing of phenytoin, the more their CSF phenytoin level increased (and approximated the therapeutic range) with an associated R-squared value of 0.6274. This trend was not found in patients receiving levetiracetam. Conclusions Levetiracetam does not reach levels needed for seizure prophylaxis in human CSF when loaded at standard dosing regimens in the acute setting. Phenytoin does reach levels needed for seizure prophylaxis in human CSF with standardized regimen dosing when dosages approximate weight-based dosing. If needed, in the acute setting phenytoin should have additional doses given prior to six hours after the loading dose to achieve therapeutic CSF levels.

A Systematic Review on Recent Advances in mHealth Systems: Deployment Architecture for Emergency Response.

The continuous technological advances in favor of mHealth represent a key factor in the improvement of medical emergency services. This systematic review presents the identification, study, and classification of the most up-to-date approaches surrounding the deployment of architectures for mHealth. Our review includes 25 articles obtained from databases such as IEEE Xplore, Scopus, SpringerLink, ScienceDirect, and SAGE. This review focused on studies addressing mHealth systems for outdoor emergency situations. In 60% of the articles, the deployment architecture relied in the connective infrastructure associated with emergent technologies such as cloud services, distributed services, Internet-of-things, machine-to-machine, vehicular ad hoc network, and service-oriented architecture. In 40% of the literature review, the deployment architecture for mHealth considered traditional connective infrastructure. Only 20% of the studies implemented an energy consumption protocol to extend system lifetime. We concluded that there is a need for more integrated solutions specifically for outdoor scenarios. Energy consumption protocols are needed to be implemented and evaluated. Emergent connective technologies are redefining the information management and overcome traditional technologies.

[Profiles of high-frequency users of primary care services and associations with depressive anxiety disorders in Cali, Colombia]. / Perfil del paciente hiperfrecuentador y su asociación con el trastorno ansioso depresivo en servicios de atención primaria de Cali, Colombia.

OBJECTIVES.: To determine the profiles of highly frequent users of primary care services and the associations of these profiles with depressive anxiety disorders in Cali, Colombia. MATERIALS AND METHODS.: A case-control study, high-frequency cases were defined as those involving patients with a percentile >75 with regard to the frequency of spontaneous use of outpatient facilities in the last 12 months; controls were defined as those with a percentile <25. A multiple correspondence analysis was used to describe patient profiles, and the influences of depression and anxiety on frequent attendance was determined via logistic regression. RESULTS.: Among the 780 participating patients, differences in the profiles among frequent users and controls were related to predisposing factors such as sex, age, and education, capacity factors such as the time required to visit the institution and the means of transport used, and need factors such as health perceptions, social support, family function, and the presence of anxiety or depressive disorders. A depression or anxiety disorder was found to associate positively with frequent attendance (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.99, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.19-3.31) and a referral system (aOR: 1.61, 95% CI: 1.01-2.76), but negatively with mild or no family dysfunction (aOR: 0.79; 95% CI: 0.48-0.88) after adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, and health service-providing institutions. CONCLUSIONS.: The profiles of high-frequency patients differ from control patients with respect to factors related to capacity, need, and willingness; in particular, the latter were independently associated with frequent attendance. Notably, the presence of an anxious or depressive disorder doubled the risk of highfrequency attendance at a primary care facility.

Perfil del paciente hiperfrecuentador y su asociación con el trastorno ansioso depresivo en servicios de atención primaria de Cali, Colombia / Profiles of high-frequency users of primary care services and associations with depressive anxiety disorders in Cali, Colombia

RESUMEN Objetivos. Determinar el perfil de los pacientes hiperfrecuentadores en servicios de atención primaria y su asociación con el trastorno ansioso depresivo en Cali, Colombia. Materiales y métodos. Estudio de casos y controles. Se definió como caso hiperfrecuentador a aquellos pacientes con un percentil >75 en la frecuencia de uso de consulta externa por demanda espontánea en los últimos 12 meses y como controles a aquellos con percentil <25. Se utilizó el análisis de correspondencias múltiples para describir los perfiles de los pacientes y mediante regresión logística se determinó la influencia de la depresión y ansiedad en la hiperfrecuentación. Resultados. Participaron 780 pacientes; las diferencia en los perfiles entre los hiperfrecuentadores y controles se observaron en los factores de predisposición: sexo, edad, escolaridad; de capacidad: tiempo en acudir a la institución y el medio de transporte que utilizan; y de necesidad: percepción de salud, apoyo social, función familiar, y la presencia de trastornos ansiosos o depresivos. Tener depresión o ansiedad se asoció con la hiperfrecuentación (ORa 1,99; IC 95%: 1,19-3,31) así como tener un sistema de referencias (ORa 1,61; IC 95%: 1,01-2,76), la disfunción familiar leve o buena se asoció de manera negativa (ORa: 0,79; IC 95%: 0,48-0,88) después de ajustar por edad, sexo, etnia e institución prestadora de servicios de salud. Conclusiones. Los pacientes hiperfrecuentadores tienen diferentes perfiles de capacidad, necesidad y predisposición que los controles, los últimos se asociaron de manera independiente a la hiperfrecuentación. En particular, lo trastornos ansioso depresivos duplicaron el riesgo de hiperfrecuentar en atención primaria.

ABSTRACT Objectives. To determine the profiles of highly frequent users of primary care services and the associations of these profiles with depressive anxiety disorders in Cali, Colombia. Materials and Methods. A case-control study, high-frequency cases were defined as those involving patients with a percentile >75 with regard to the frequency of spontaneous use of outpatient facilities in the last 12 months; controls were defined as those with a percentile <25. A multiple correspondence analysis was used to describe patient profiles, and the influences of depression and anxiety on frequent attendance was determined via logistic regression. Results. Among the 780 participating patients, differences in the profiles among frequent users and controls were related to predisposing factors such as sex, age, and education, capacity factors such as the time required to visit the institution and the means of transport used, and need factors such as health perceptions, social support, family function, and the presence of anxiety or depressive disorders. A depression or anxiety disorder was found to associate positively with frequent attendance (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.99, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.19-3.31) and a referral system (aOR: 1.61, 95% CI: 1.01-2.76), but negatively with mild or no family dysfunction (aOR: 0.79; 95% CI: 0.48-0.88) after adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, and health service-providing institutions. Conclusions. The profiles of high-frequency patients differ from control patients with respect to factors related to capacity, need, and willingness; in particular, the latter were independently associated with frequent attendance. Notably, the presence of an anxious or depressive disorder doubled the risk of highfrequency attendance at a primary care facility.

A Data Hiding Technique to Synchronously Embed Physiological Signals in H.264/AVC Encoded Video for Medicine Healthcare.

The recognition of clinical manifestations in both video images and physiological-signal waveforms is an important aid to improve the safety and effectiveness in medical care. Physicians can rely on video-waveform (VW) observations to recognize difficult-to-spot signs and symptoms. The VW observations can also reduce the number of false positive incidents and expand the recognition coverage to abnormal health conditions. The synchronization between the video images and the physiological-signal waveforms is fundamental for the successful recognition of the clinical manifestations. The use of conventional equipment to synchronously acquire and display the video-waveform information involves complex tasks such as the video capture/compression, the acquisition/compression of each physiological signal, and the video-waveform synchronization based on timestamps. This paper introduces a data hiding technique capable of both enabling embedding channels and synchronously hiding samples of physiological signals into encoded video sequences. Our data hiding technique offers large data capacity and simplifies the complexity of the video-waveform acquisition and reproduction. The experimental results revealed successful embedding and full restoration of signal's samples. Our results also demonstrated a small distortion in the video objective quality, a small increment in bit-rate, and embedded cost savings of -2.6196% for high and medium motion video sequences.

Survey of WBSNs for Pre-Hospital Assistance: Trends to Maximize the Network Lifetime and Video Transmission Techniques.

This survey aims to encourage the multidisciplinary communities to join forces for innovation in the mobile health monitoring area. Specifically, multidisciplinary innovations in medical emergency scenarios can have a significant impact on the effectiveness and quality of the procedures and practices in the delivery of medical care. Wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) are a promising technology capable of improving the existing practices in condition assessment and care delivery for a patient in a medical emergency. This technology can also facilitate the early interventions of a specialist physician during the pre-hospital period. WBSNs make possible these early interventions by establishing remote communication links with video/audio support and by providing medical information such as vital signs, electrocardiograms, etc. in real time. This survey focuses on relevant issues needed to understand how to setup a WBSN for medical emergencies. These issues are: monitoring vital signs and video transmission, energy efficient protocols, scheduling, optimization and energy consumption on a WBSN.

A programmable and configurable multi-port System-on-Chip for stimulating electrokinetically-driven microfluidic devices.

Recent research has demonstrated the use of microfluidic devices and electro-kinetics in areas such as medicine, genetics, embryology, epidemiology and pollution analysis, where manipulation of particles suspended in liquid media is required. Micro-fabrication technology has made it possible to increase system complexity and functionality by allowing integration of different processing and analysis stages in a single chip. However, fully integrated and autonomous microfluidic systems supporting ad-hoc stimulation have yet to be developed. This paper presents a flexible, configurable and programmable stimulator for electro-kinetically driven microfluidic devices. The stimulator is a dedicated System-on-Chip (SoC) architecture that generates sine, triangle, and sawtooth signals within a frequency range of 1 Hz to 20 MHz, capable of delivering single, dual, and superimposed waveforms, in a user defined test sequence for a selected time period. The system is designed to be integrated into complete, autonomous Lab-on-Chip, portable or implantable devices. As such, it is expected to help significantly advance current and future research on particle manipulation.

Holoprosencefalia (arrinencefalia): espectro morfologico en seis (6) casos de autopsia / Holoprosencephaly (arhinencephaly): morphologic spectrum in six (6) autopsy cases

El síndrome malformativo de la holoprosencefalia (arrinencefalia), caracterizado por anomalías de variable severidad de cerebro y cara, es consecuencia de la morfogénesis incompleta del prosencéfalo y un déficit en el desarrollo de la línea medio-facial. En su etiopatogenia se han incriminado factores genéticos, tóxicos, metabólicos, infecciosos y parasitarios. Describimos 6 casos de autopsia estudiados en el Hospital "Dr. Adolfo Pons", IVSS, de Maracaibo, durante el período 1984-1987. La incidencia general de la malformación para 12.878 nacimientos fue de 0,04%. La edad materna promedio fue de 23 años. La serie se caracterizó por un espectro malformativo cerebro-facial proteiforme: 4 casos correspondieron a malformación cerebral severa, tipo holoprosencefalia alobar en 3 y semilobar en 1. Los encéfalos compartieron las siguientes características: falta de desarrollo de ambos hemiferios cerebrales, ausencia del cuerpo calloso, septum pellucidum y pilares anteriores del fornix, fusión de extructuras diencefálicas y aplasia olftoria. La malformación facial correspondió en 2 casos al tipo III de las categorías de DeMyer (Cebocefalia), nacidos de una misma madre en un mismo año, en otros 2 correspondió al tipo V (labio hendido lateral). Hubo un caso tipo I (ciclopia) y otro tipo IV (labio hendido media). A los casos de aplasia olfatiria (Holoprosencefalia lobar), se asociaron hidrocefalia por estenosis de acueducto de Silvio, bazo accesorio y/o fusión pancreato-esplénica, displasia suprarrenal, estenosis ureteral, vagina doble y polidactilia, anomalias que suguieren alteraciones cromosócas..