Browsing by Author "Lopes, Filipa"
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- Automatic quality assessment of a forced expiratory manoeuvre acquired with the tablet microphonePublication . Almeida, Rute; Bernardo, Pinho; Jácome, Cristina; Teixeira, João Fonseca; Amaral, Rita; Gonçalves, Ivânia; Lopes, Filipa; Pinheiro, Ana Catarina; Jacinto, Tiago; Paixão, Cátia; Pereira, Mariana; Marques, Alda; Fonseca, João AlmeidaEvaluation of lung function is central to the management of chronic obstructive respiratory diseases. It is typically evaluated with a spirometer by a specialized health professional, who ensures the correct execution of a forced expiratory manoeuvre (FEM). Audio recording of a FEM using a smart device embedded microphone can be used to self-monitor lung function between clinical visits. The challenge of microphone spirometry is to ensure the validity and reliability of the FEM, in the absence of a health professional. In particular, the absence of a mouthpiece may allow excessive mouth closure, leading to an incorrect manoeuvre. In this work, a strategy to automatically assess the correct execution of the FEM is proposed and validated. Using 498 FEM recordings, both specificity and sensitivity attained were above 90%. This method provides immediate feedback to the user, by grading the manoeuvre in a visual scale, promoting the repetition of the FEM when needed.
- Microbiological and Chemical Quality of Portuguese Lettuce—Results of a Case StudyPublication . Ferreira, Catarina; Lopes, Filipa; Costa, Reginaldo; Komora, Norton; Ferreira, Vânia; Cruz Fernandes, Virgínia; Delerue-Matos, Cristina; Teixeira, PaulaIn addition to environmental pollution issues, social concerns about the sustainability, safety, and quality of conventionally grown fruits and vegetables have been increasing. In order to evaluate if there were any microbiological differences between samples of organic and conventional lettuce, a wide range of parameters were tested, including pathogens and indicator organisms: the enumeration of Escherichia coli; the detection of Salmonella spp.; the detection/enumeration of Listeria monocytogenes; the enumeration of lactic acid bacteria, Pseudomonas spp. yeasts and molds, and Enterobacteriaceae. This study also evaluated the chemical safety of the lettuce samples, quantifying the nitrate concentration and 20 pesticides (14 organochlorine and 6 organophosphorus pesticides). Significant differences (p < 0.05) between the conventional and organic samples were only detected for the counts of total microorganisms at 30 °C. Pathogens were absent in all the samples. The analytical method, using the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) approach for pesticide extraction, was suitable for detecting the targeted analytes; the limit of quantification (LOQ) was between 0.6 and 1.8 µg/kg (lower than the Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) established by EU legislation). In three organic lettuce samples, one organochlorine pesticide (α-HCH) was observed below the MRLs. For the samples analyzed and for the parameters investigated, except for the total mesophilic counts, the organic and conventional lettuces were not different.
- Quality assessment and feedback of Smart Device Microphone Spirometry executed by childrenPublication . Almeida, Rute; Pinho, Bernardo; Jácome, Cristina; Teixeira, Joao Fonseca; Amaral, Rita; Lopes, Filipa; Jacinto, Tiago; Guedes, Rui; Pereira, Mariana; Goncalves, Ivania; Fonseca, Joao AlmeidaSmart device microphone spirometry, based on the audio recording of forced expiratory maneuver (FEM), can be a simple, ubiquitous and easy tool for patients to self-monitor their asthma. Automatic validity assessment is crucial to guarantee that the global effort of the FEM fulfil the admissible minimum or if the maneuver needs to be repeated. In this work an automatic method to classify the sounds from FEM with respect to global effort was developed and evaluated using data from 54 children (5-10 years). The method proposed was able to correctly classify the microphone spirometry with respect to admissible minimum of effort with an accuracy of 86% (specificity 87% and sensitivity 86%). This method can be used to provide immediate feedback of the correct execution of the maneuver, improving the clinical value and utility of this self-monitoring tool.