Using Immersive Virtual Reality to Reduce Work Accidents in Developing Countries.

Thousands of people die or are injured in work accidents every year. Although the lack of safety equipment is one of the causes, especially in developing countries, behavioral issues caused by psychosocial factors are also to blame. This article introduces the use of immersive VR simulators to preventively reduce accidents in the workplace by detecting behavioral patterns that may lead to an increased predisposition to risk exposure. The system simulates day-to-day situations, analyzes user reactions, and classifies the behaviors according to four psychosocial groups. The results of a user study support the effectiveness of this approach.

Avaliação clínica e nutricional de idosos cadastrados na estratégia saúde da família Warislândia, estado do Pará / Nutritional and clinical evaluation of elderly people registered with the family health strategy, Warislândia, state of Pará

quado ou eutrófico) para o IMC e uma quantidade expressivados entrevistados (44, 6%) estava com sobrepeso, oque fornece indicadores para o planejamento de ações deprevenção de doenças e agravos e a busca pela promoçãoda saúde dos idosos nas microáreas da Estratégia Saúdeda Família.

Increasingly, the proportion of elderly people in the world is growing. People are living longer and causing major changes in various sectors of society. This approaching critical limit is due mainly to the technological advancement of medicine and to changes in lifestyle. Therefore, the description of the nutritional and clinical profile of elderly people offers support for the local planning of health actions, and consequently, support for active and healthy aging. This is a cross-sectional study conducted with 83 elderly people at a Family Health Strategy location in the city of Ananindeua, Pará, from September 2010 to January 2011. A research protocol was applied that contained information about social, demographic, and clinical variables, lifestyle (alcoholism, smoking, and sedentary) and medication use. Epi Info 3.5.2 software was used for statistical analysis. Of the elderly people evaluated, 62.6% were female and the mean age was 69.3 years, 37.3% were married and 27.7% were widowed. Considering their origins, 77.1% were from Pará and just 13.3% from Maranhão. The diseases reported more frequently were systemic arterial hypertension (60.2%), arthrosis (32.5%), CVA (16.9%), and osteoporosis (14.4%). Regarding lifestyle, 13.2% were alcoholics, 18.1% were smokers, and 73.8% did no physical exercise. Among these elderly people, 68.7% regularly took medications. A significant number of the seniors had systemic arterial hypertension. It was found that 38.5% of the seniors were in the normal range for BMI, and a significant number (44.6%) were overweight. This data provides indicators for planning disease and disorder prevention actions and those promoting the health of elderly people in the microareas of the Family Health Strategy.