Development of Software for Obtaining Image Attributes for Evaluation of the Wound Healing Process.

The biological process of wound healing is one of the most complex occurrences during our lives turning a serious public health problem. The rate of healing chronic wounds in humans is relatively uniform, regardless of etiologies, and is estimated to be 0.63-0.65 mm/week for diabetics and non- diabetics [1], respectively, being visually unnoticeable throughout the daily care of a wound. A ruler designed for this purpose using a decal for setting the wound limits, however an area with a lot of irregularity requires a tool that carries out this measurement autonomously through image recognition, making the process feasible for the medical teams responsible for the treatment. The digitized images undergo morphological processes sing on the polygonal line that delimits the wound region. With the region delimited by the polygonal, the area and the perimeter are determined. A comparison with analytical methods demonstrates that this tool has the potential to become gold standard for estimating to estimate the area and the perimeter of wounds in the healing process.

A model for foramen ovale puncture training: Technical note.

BACKGROUND: Trigeminal neuralgia is a common cause of facial pain, characterized by shock-like pain affecting one or more branches of the trigeminal nerve. When conservative treatment fails and microdecompression is not indicated, percutaneous procedures are helpful. This percutaneous approach is done by a puncture up to the Gasserian ganglion, through the foramen ovale. Although simple and safe, this puncture demands some expertise from neurosurgeons. For that, a partnership between neurosurgeons and bio-engineers has developed a model for foramen ovale puncture, allowing practice for residents and young neurosurgeons. METHOD: A model for foramen ovale puncture has been created by interposition of synthetic materials over a skull, simulating the human face. FINDINGS: This model has shown great similarity with that found in conventional surgeries, even upon repeated testing by experienced functional neurosurgeons and young residents. CONCLUSION: This model for foramen ovale puncture training has demonstrated valuable help for initial practicing of this common neurosurgical procedure, particularly in centers where there are not many cadavers available for training.

Development of a telemedicine model for emerging countries: a case study on pediatric oncology in Brazil.

This article discusses a telemedicine model for emerging countries, through the description of ONCONET, a telemedicine initiative applied to pediatric oncology in Brazil. The ONCONET core technology is a Web-based system that offers health information and other services specialized in childhood cancer such as electronic medical records and cooperative protocols for complex treatments. All Web-based services are supported by the use of high performance computing infrastructure based on clusters of commodity computers. The system was fully implemented on an open-source and free-software approach. Aspects of modeling, implementation and integration are covered. A model, both technologically and economically viable, was created through the research and development of in-house solutions adapted to the emerging countries reality and with focus on scalability both in the total number of patients and in the national infrastructure.