Comparative Analysis of Power Consumption between MQTT and HTTP Protocols in an IoT Platform Designed and Implemented for Remote Real-Time Monitoring of Long-Term Cold Chain Transport Operations.

IoT platforms for the transportation industry are portable with limited battery life and need real-time and long-term monitoring operations. Since MQTT and HTTP are widely used as the main communication protocols in the IoT, it is imperative to analyze their power consumption to provide quantitative results that help maximize battery life in IoT transportation systems. Although is well known that MQTT consumes less power than HTTP, a comparative analysis of their power consumption with long-time tests and different conditions has not yet been conducted. In this sense, a design and validation of an electronic cost-efficient platform system for remote real-time monitoring is proposed using a NodeMCU module, in which experimentation is carried out for HTTP and MQTT with different QoS levels to make a comparison and demonstrate the differences in power consumption. Furthermore, we characterize the behavior of the batteries in the systems and compare the theoretical analysis with real long-time test results. The experimentation using the MQTT protocol with QoS 0 and 1 was successful, resulting in power savings of 6.03% and 8.33%, respectively, compared with HTTP, demonstrating many more hours in the duration of the batteries, which could be very useful in technological solutions for the transport industry.

Effects of motor imagery on strength, range of motion, physical function, and pain intensity in patients with total knee arthroplasty: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: In the early stages of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) rehabilitation, in which physical function in general can be affected, motor imagery (MI) might play a relevant role. OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of MI on strength, active range of motion (ROM), pain intensity, and physical function in patients with TKA. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Pooled effects were calculated as standardised mean differences (SMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the relevant outcomes using random effects model. The certainty of evidence was assessed with GRADE approach. RESULTS: This review included 7 articles. The addition of MI to standard therapy, based on low quality of evidence, showed a moderate increase in quadriceps strength (4 studies; SMD: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.42, 1.34) and a small reduction in pain intensity (SMD: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.08, 1.19). It is unclear whether MI can provide beneficial effects for active ROM and function. CONCLUSIONS: There is low to very low-quality evidence that adding an MI intervention to standard rehabilitation for patients with TKA may improve quadriceps strength and pain intensity, but the effects of MI on ROM and physical function is unclear.

Amygdala stimulation ameliorates memory impairments and promotes c-Fos activity in fimbria-fornix-lesioned rats.

Recently we provided data showing that amygdala stimulation can ameliorate spatial memory impairments in rats with lesion in the fimbria-fornix (FF). The mechanisms for this improvement involve early gene expression and synthesis of BDNF, MAP-2, and GAP43 in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Now we have studied which brain structures are activated by the amygdala using c-Fos as a marker of neural activation. First, we studied neuronal activation after tetanic stimulation to the amygdala in intact rats. We then carried out a second study in FF-lesioned rats in which the amygdala was stimulated 15 min after daily spatial memory training in the water maze. Our results showed that amygdala stimulation produces widespread brain activation, that includes cortical, thalamic, and brain stem structures. Activation was particularly intense in the dentate gyrus and the prefrontal cortex. Training in the water maze increased c-Fos positive nuclei in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus and in medial prefrontal cortex. Amygdala stimulation to trained FF-lesioned rats induced an increase of neural activity in the dentate gyrus and medial prefrontal cortex relative to the FF-lesioned, but not stimulated group, like the c-Fos activity seen in trained control rats. Based on these and previous results we explain the mechanisms of amygdala reinforcement of neural plasticity and the partial recovery of spatial memory deficits.

Conducta antitrombótica en pacientes con fibrilación auricular e ictus isquémico. Hospital Faustino Pérez. Año 2017 / Antithrombotic behavior in patients with auricular fibrillation and ischemic stroke. Hospital ¨Faustino Pérez¨. 2017

Introducción: se realizó un estudio observacional transversal en pacientes con fibrilación auricular ingresados con ictus isquémico en la sala de neurología del Hospital Faustino Pérez el año 2017. Objetivo: describir la conducta antitrombótica en estos pacientes previa al ingreso en relación con: riesgo de embolismo y sangrado, factores de riesgo de sangrado, tratamiento antitrombótico indicado. Materiales y métodos: el universo del estudio fue de 40 pacientes con fibrilación auricular e ictus isquémico. Durante el ingreso a los pacientes y/o familiares se les aplicó una encuesta para la obtención de la información. Se determinó el riesgo de embolismo y sangrado según las escalas CHA2DS2-VASc y HAS-BLED respectivamente. Resultados: predominó el grupo de edades de 75-84 años con 50%, 95% de los pacientes presentó alto riesgo de embolismo, los factores de riesgo de sangrado más frecuente fueron la edad > 65 años y la hipertensión arterial con 95% y 85% respectivamente, 70 % presentó bajo riesgo de sangrado y en pacientes con alto riesgo de sangrado el 20% presentó puntuación de 3 puntos, 60% de los pacientes no presentó tratamiento antitrombótico antes del ingreso con ictus isquémico asociado a fibrilación auricular, 35 % fue tratado con antiagregantes plaquetario y solo 5% con tratamiento anticoagulante. Conclusiones: la mayoría de los pacientes fueron mayores de 75 años con alto riesgo de embolismo y bajo riesgo de sangrado por lo cual era recomendada la anticoagulación. Los anticoagulantes orales son poco indicados en pacientes con fibrilación auricular a pesar de asociarse a mayor supervivencia (AU).

Introduction: it was carried out a transversal observational study in the hospitalized patients with atrial fibrillation and ischemic stroke in the neurology service of Faustino Pérez Hospital in 2017. Objective: To delineate the antithrombotic management in these patients prior to be admitted in the hospital in regard to embolism risk and bleeding risk, bleeding risk factors, antithrombotic therapy indicated. Materials and methods: The universe of the study was 40 patients with AF and ischemic stroke. During the hospitalization of the patients were applied a survey to patients and/or their relatives for getting the information. The embolism risk and bleeding risk were defined according to CHA2DS2-VASc and HAS-BLED scales respectively. Results: The most prevalence ages group was of the 75-84 year-old, in 95% of the patients the embolism risk was high, the most frequent bleeding risk factors for bleeding were age over 65 years and arterial hypertension with 95% y 85% respectively, in 70% bleeding risk was low and in patients with high bleeding risk the 20% carried a score of 3 points, 60% of the patients hadn't antithrombotic therapy prior to be hospitalized with ischemic stroke, 35 % used antiplatelet Agents and only 5% used anticoagulants therapy. Conclusion: The most hospitalized patients with ischemic stroke and AF had high embolism risk and low bleeding risk and should be treated with oral anticoagulant therapy. Oral anticoagulants are underused patients with atrial fibrillation despite of being associated with more survival (AU).

Fibrilación auricular en pacientes con ictus isquémico en Hospital Universitario Comandante Faustino Pérez. 2017 / Atrial fibrillation in patients with ischemic stroke in the University Hospital Comandante Faustino Pérez. 2017

Introducción: se realizó un estudio observacional transversal en pacientes con fibrilación auricular ingresados con ictus isquémico en la sala de neurología en el Hospital Universitario Comandante Faustino Pérez el año 2017. Objetivo: caracterizar la fibrilación auricular en estos pacientes en relación con edad y sexo, factores de riesgo, tipo de fibrilación y factores de riesgo de embolismo. Materiales y métodos: el universo del estudio fue de 40 pacientes con fibrilación auricular e ictus isquémico. Durante el ingreso a los pacientes y/o sus familiares se les aplicó una encuesta para la obtención de la información. Resultados: predominó el grupo de edades de 75-84 años y el sexo masculino con el 50 % y 70 % respectivamente. Los factores de riesgo más frecuentes en los pacientes con fibrilación auricular e ictus isquémico fueron la hipertensión arterial y edad mayor de 75 años con 85 % y la insuficiencia cardiaca con 70 %. La fibrilación auricular más frecuente fue la diagnosticada por primera vez con 55 %. Según la respuesta ventricular predominó la fibrilación auricular con respuesta ventricular rápida con 75 %. Los factores de riesgo de embolismo predominantes fueron la hipertensión arterial y la edad ≥ 75 años con 85 % seguida de la insuficiencia cardiaca con 70 %. Conclusiones: la fibrilación auricular en los pacientes con ictus isquémico predominó en hombres mayores de 75 años, hipertensos con insuficiencia cardiaca y en la mayoría de los pacientes se realizó el diagnóstico de la fibrilación auricular durante el ingreso con ictus isquémico (AU).

Introduction: it was carried out a transversal observational study in the in-patients with atrial fibrillation and ischemic stroke in the neurology ward of the Faustino Pérez Hospital in 2017. Objective: to characterize the atrial fibrillation in these patients taking into account age, sex, risk factors, fibrillation type and embolic risk. Materials and methods: the universe of the study was 40 patients with atrial fibrillation and ischemic stroke. During the hospitalization, a survey was applied to patients and/or their relatives for collecting the information. Results: The 75-84 age group predominated and male patients predominated. With 50 % and 70 % respectively. The most frequent risk factors in patients with atrial fibrillation and ischemic stroke were arterial hypertension and being more than 75 years old with 85 % and heart failure with 70 %. The most frequent atrial fibrillation was the one diagnosed for the first time with 55 %. According to the ventricular answer, atrial fibrillation with fast ventricular answer predominated, with 75 %. The predominant embolic risk factors were arterial hypertension and patients aged ≥ 75 years with 85 %, followed by heart failure with 70 %. Conclusions: atrial fibrillation in in-patients with ischemic stroke was predominant in male hypertensive patients aged 75 years and more with cardiac failure; in most of the patients the atrial fibrillation was made during the hospitalization with ischemic stroke (AU).

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.

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.

Infarto agudo del miocardio en centros de diagnóstico integral: municipio San Francisco, Zulia, Venezuela, 2007 / Acute myocardial infarct in centers of integral diagnosis: municipality of San Francisco, Zulia, Venezuela, 2007

Se realizó un estudio observacional descriptivo transversal, con el objetivo de describir el comportamiento de infarto agudo del miocardio en los pacientes ingresados en las unidades de cuidados intensivos de los cuatro centros de diagnóstico integral en funcionamiento del municipio de San Francisco, en el estado Zulia, durante el año 2007. El universo del estudio fue de 51 pacientes, y la muestra quedó conformada por 40 pacientes que cumplieron criterios de inclusión, y no tenían criterios de exclusión. Para la recolección de la información se utilizó la historia clínica individual. A los resultados obtenidos se les aplicó el método estadístico de análisis porcentual simple. El 72,5 por ciento de los pacientes infartados correspondió al sexo masculino y el grupo de edades de 50-59 años predominó en el total de pacientes, con un 37,5 por ciento, el factor de riesgo más frecuente fue la hipertensión arterial, con un 67,5 por ciento, seguida del hábito de fumar, con un 22,5 por ciento. El infarto agudo del miocardio más frecuente según su localización topográfica fue el anteroseptal, con un 35 por ciento. Las complicaciones más frecuente fueron las eléctricas, lideradas por los extrasístoles ventriculares, con un 40 por cientoAU)

We carried out a cross-sectional descriptive observational study, with the objective of describing the behavior of the acute myocardial infarct in the patients entering the intensive care units in the four centers of integral diagnosis working in the municipality of San Francisco, in the state of Zulia, during 2007. The universe of the study was 51 patients, and the sample was formed by 40 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria, and not having exclusion criteria. To collect the information we used the individual clinical records. We applied the statistic method of simple percentual analysis to the obtained results 72,5 percent of the patients with myocardial infarction were of the male sex and the age group of the 50-59-years-old ones predominated in the total of the patients, with 37,5 percent. The most frequent risk factor was the arterial hypertension, with 67,5 percent, followed by smoking, with 22,5 per cent. The most frequent acute myocardial infarct according to its localization was the anteroseptal one, with 35 percent. The most frequent complications were the electric ones, led by the ventricular extrasystoles, with 40 percent

El problema del bocio endémico y su profilaxis en el Paraguay / Endemic goitre and its prevention in Paraguay

After a review of the problem of endemic goitre and its prevention in Paraguay, the following conclusions are reached: The situation in Paraguay demands a general prevention campaign based on the use of iodized table salt, either in the country as a whole or at least in certain areas. The same method should be applied to salt intended for cattle in the endemic areas. Special attention should be given to school children and pregnant women. A National Committee for the Study and Control of Endemic Goitre should be established jointly by the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare and the Schools of Medical Sciences and of Chemistry and Pharmacy. This would permit the necessary studies and development of a practical program. Until the necessary measures are taken, experimental prevention tests could be carried out in school children, especially in cities or villages where health centers operate. The control of endemic goitre in the country by means of iodine is a health measure which cannot be postponed and which will improve health conditions in Paraguay(AU)