The health care of patients in rural or isolated areas is challenged by the scarcity of local resources, limited patient access to doctors and hospitals, and the lack of specialized professionals. This has led to a new concept in telemedicine: teleultrasonography (or teleultrasound), which permits ultrasonographic diagnoses to be performed remotely. Telemedicine and teleultrasonography are effective in providing diagnostic imaging services to these populations and reduce health care costs by decreasing the number and duration of hospitalizations and reducing unnecessary surgical procedures. This is a narrative review to present the potential clinical applications of teleultrasonography in clinical practice. The results indicate that although barriers persist for implementing teleultrasonography in a more universal and routine way, advances in telecommunications, Internet bandwidth, and the high resolution currently available for portable ultrasonography suggest teleultrasonography applications will continue to expand. Teleultrasound appears to be a valuable addition to remote medical care for isolated populations with limited access to tertiary healthcare facilities and also a useful tool for education and training.

Neste artigo é descrito um relato de experiência de como foi- trabalhado o raciocínio computacional integrando os conteúdos curriculares da educação básica (ensino fundamental e médio) de uma escola pública, por meio da computação desplugada, trazendo uma possibilidade metodológica de construção interdisciplinar dos conhecimentos da Ciência da Computação incorporados nas disciplinas escolares, de maneira dialógica. Ao longo do texto é apresentado um sumário das atividades, conteúdos e turmas que foram trabalhadas, bem como as opiniões dos professores a respeito das intervenções na escola.

BackgroundMental practice (MP) through motor imagery is a cognitive training strategy used to improve locomotor skills during rehabilitation programs. Recent works have used MP tasks to investigate the neurophysiology of human gait; however, its effect on functional performance has not been evaluated. In the present study, the influence of gait-oriented MP tasks on the rehabilitation process of gait in transtibial amputees was investigated by assessing the vertical (V), anterior-posterior (AP), and medio-lateral (ML) ground reaction forces (GRFs) and the time duration of the support phase of the prosthetic limb.MethodsUnilateral transtibial amputees, who were capable of performing motor imagination tasks (MIQ-RS score ≥4), were randomly divided into two groups: Group A (n = 10), who performed functional gait-oriented MP combined with gait training, and Group B (n = 5), who performed non-motor task MP. The MP intervention was performed in the first-person perspective for 40 min, 3 times/week, for 4 weeks. The GRF outcome measures were recorded by a force platform to evaluate gait performance during 4 distinct stages: at baseline (BL), 1 month before the MP session; Pre-MP, 1–3 days before the MP session; Post-MP, 1–3 days after the MP session; and follow-up (FU), 1 month after MP session. The gait variables were compared inter- and intra-group by applying the Mann-Whitney and Friedman tests (alpha = 0.05).ResultsAll volunteers exhibited a homogenous gait pattern prior to MP intervention, with no gait improvement during the BL and Pre-MP stages. Only Group A showed significant improvements in gait performance after the intervention, with enhanced impact absorption, as indicated by decreased first V and AP peaks; propulsion capacity, indicated by increasing second V and AP peaks; and balance control of the prosthetic limb, indicated by decreasing ML peaks and increasing duration of support. This gait pattern persisted until the FU stage.ConclusionsMP combined with gait training allowed transtibial amputees to reestablish independent locomotion. Since the effects of MP were preserved after 1 month, the improvement is considered related to the specificity of the MP tasks. Therefore, MP may improve the clinical aspect of gait rehabilitation when included in a training program.

No abstract

No abstract

Neste artigo é descrita uma iniciativa de integração curricular do raciocínio computacional aos conteúdos disciplinares da educação básica (ensino fundamental e médio) em uma escola pública estadual por meio da computação desplugada, apresentando a possibilidade de forma metodológica da construção interdisciplinar e, fundamentalmente, dialógica dos conteúdos da Ciência da Computação incorporando-os às disciplinas escolares regulares.

We evaluated the diagnostic quality of first-trimester ultrasound images transmitted in realtime using low-cost telecommunications. A prospective sample of fetal ultrasound images from 11 weeks to 13 weeks and six days of pregnancy was obtained from pregnant women over 18 years old. The examinations were transmitted in realtime to three independent examiners who carried out a qualitative assessment based on parameters established by the Fetal Medicine Foundation. All fetal structures could be viewed and the quality of images received by the examiners was considered normal. There were significant differences for crown-rump length and nuchal translucency in the transmitted images but the loss in definition was acceptable. Thus the quality of images transmitted via the Internet through the use of low-cost software appeared suitable for screening for chromosomal abnormalities in the first trimester of pregnancy.

The paradigm shift in education brings new challenges for teachers like the inclusion of mobile technologies in the classroom. Startign from this context, the article describes the application of an experiment with two different topics of higher education in Computer courses at the Federal University of Bahia: Laboratory of Informatcs in Education and Human-Computer Interaction. This experience aimed to integrate WhatsApp application as didactic and pedagogic communication tool to help the mediatization of knowledge. Through this intervention we concluded that the use of WhatsApp contributed to a better exploitation of the topics by the teacher and by the students involved, and that such practices strengthen the effective use of technology in teaching and learning. Resumo.A mudança de paradigmas na educação traz novos desafios para os professores, como a inclusão de tecnologias móveis em sala de aula. A partir desse contexto, o artigo relata a aplicação de um experimento realizado com duas disciplinas distintas do ensino superior em cursos de Computação da