O Laboratório Virtual, enquanto estratégia de ensino, tem a finalidade de complementar a ação docente em sala de aula, a fim de trabalhar conceitos abstratos de maneira experimental. Para isso, filmamos sistemas reais com o objetivo de observar todo o movimento do objeto em estudo junto com um instrumento que possibilitou a medida de sua posição. Posteriormente, incorporou-se ao vídeo um código de tempo, de modo que, ao transformar-se o filme em quadros independentes, as imagens extraídas permitiram medir a posição ocupada pelo corpo em instantes sucessivos e conhecidos. Com a tabela de posição por tempo, toda a evolução dinâmica do sistema pode ser obtida. O projeto foi desenvolvido e aplicado em disciplinas de mecânica no curso de Licenciatura do Instituto de Física da Universidade de São Paulo. O Laboratório conta com experimentos sobre movimentos de translação, rotação e de fluidos, dois dos quais foram usados para exemplificar a proposta de construção desse laboratório, suas motivações iniciais, o processo de concepção de um experimento, suas etapas de filmagem, edição e disponibilização em um ambiente virtual, que pode ser acessado em http://www.fep.if.usp.br/~fisfoto. Explicaremos o uso pedagógico do laboratório virtual fornecendo detalhes sobre o modo de acesso aos dados e guias de estudo, a etapa de coleta dos dados pelos estudantes e a proposta de análise. Mostraremos resultados típicos obtidos dos experimentos, tanto do ponto de vista de interpretação dos fenômenos em si quanto da maneira como os estudantes internalizaram os diversos conteúdos envolvidos, que vão dos princípios físicos e interpretação estatística das informações obtidas ao uso de planilhas de cálculo, métodos de redução de dados e redação de sínteses e relatórios.
Computer technologies have been increasingly used in distance education but they also have important role in face-to-face teaching. The present work investigates the implementation of virtual laboratory activities in the place of real didactic laboratories in classroom context. These virtual laboratories make use of digital
BackgroundProgress towards malaria elimination has stagnated, partly because infections persisting at low parasite densities comprise a large reservoir contributing to ongoing malaria transmission and are difficult to detect. We compared the performance of an ultrasensitive rapid diagnostic test (uRDT) designed to detect low density infections to a conventional RDT (cRDT), expert microscopy using Giemsa-stained thick blood smears (TBS), and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) during a controlled human malaria infection (CHMI) study conducted in malaria exposed adults (NCT03590340). MethodsBlood samples were collected from healthy Equatoguineans aged 18-35 years beginning on day 8 after CHMI with 3.2x103 cryopreserved, infectious Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) sporozoites (PfSPZ Challenge, strain NF54) administered by direct venous inoculation. qPCR (18s ribosomal DNA), uRDT (AlereTM Malaria Ag P.f.), cRDT (Carestart Malaria Pf/PAN (PfHRP2/pLDH)), and TBS were performed daily until the volunteer became TBS positive and treatment was administered. qPCR was the reference for the presence of Pf parasites. Results279 samples were collected from 24 participants; 123 were positive by qPCR. TBS detected 24/123 (19.5% sensitivity [95% CI 13.1% – 27.8%]), uRDT 21/123 (17.1% sensitivity [95% CI 11.1% – 25.1%], cRDT 10/123 (8.1% sensitivity [95% CI 4.2% – 14.8%]; all were 100% specific. qPCR was the most sensitive test (p<0.001); TBS and uRDT were more sensitive than cRDT (TBS vs. cRDT p=0.015; uRDT vs. cRDT p=0.053), detecting parasitemias as low as 3.7 parasites/mL (p/mL) (TBS and uRDT) compared to 5.6 p/mL (cRDT) based on TBS density measurements. TBS, uRDT and cRDT did not detect any of the 70/123 samples positive by qPCR below 5.86 p/mL, the qPCR density corresponding to 3.7 p/mL by TBS. The median prepatent periods in days (ranges) were 14.5 (10-20), 18.0 (15-28), 18.0 (15-20) and 18.0 (16-24) for qPCR, TBS, uRDT and cRDT, respectively; qPCR detected parasitemia significantly earlier (3.5 days) than the other tests.ConclusionsTBS and uRDT had similar sensitivities, both were more sensitive than cRDT, and neither matched qPCR for detecting low density parasitemia. uRDT could be considered an alternative to TBS in selected applications such as CHMI or field diagnosis where qualitative, dichotomous results for malaria infection might be sufficient.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.