Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2009-02"
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- iiBOARD - Development of a low-cost interactive whiteboard using the wiimote controllerPublication . Silva, Marco; Reis, Luís Paulo; Sousa, Armando; Faria, Brígida Mónica; Costa, A. PedroInteractive whiteboards are gaining importance in our society, both at a business level and, especially, at an educational level. However, the products offered by the major manufacturers have a major barrier to their acquisition: very high prices. There is an urgent need to use new technologies in order to provide solutions that present the same performance levels than typical interactive whiteboards, but with a significantly reduced cost. Throughout this paper the steps taken for the development of an innovative low-cost interactive whiteboard are described. The proposed system is based on the Wii Remote command of the Nintendo Wii video-game console. This command, although very inexpensive has an infrared camera, and supports Bluetooth communication. The system control is based on a wireless device, based on infrared emitters, which supports most of the mouse events. A complete whiteboard application was also developed using Borland Delphi for Windows. This application may be used with either one or two Wiimotes and has a very simple and efficient calibration method. The application also includes viewing capabilities of some of the Wiimote characteristics, as well as a flexible Notebook to increase its range of possible uses. The results obtained through a survey conducted to a small set of whiteboard users were very positive indicators about the acceptance of the inexpensive solution proposed.
- High resistance to fourth-generation cephalosporins among clinical isolates of Enterobacteriaceae producing extended-spectrum β-lactamases isolated in PortugalPublication . Prudêncio, Cristina; Gestoso, Álvaro; Freitas, José Mota; Santos, Perpétua; Prudêncio, Cristina; Fernandes, Ruben; Fernandes, RúbenHere we report the molecular and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing strains found in the Portuguese northern occidental coast region (Minho). For this purpose, bacteria isolated from clinical hospitalised and non-hospitalised patients over a period of 2 years were identified and minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined by microdilution methods according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (formerly the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards) guidelines on Enterobacteriaceae. Additionally, ESBL phenotypic identification was confirmed by the Etest (AB BIODISK, Solna, Sweden). Various methods of molecular identification of the β-lactamase (bla) genes, involving polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing strategies, were used in this study. The ESBL-producing strains (n = 193) were isolated from urine (n = 127), sputum (n = 42), bronchoalveolar lavage (n = 14), blood (n = 7) and ascitic fluid (n = 3). The most frequent ESBL-producing organism isolated in the present study was Escherichia coli (67.9%; n = 131), followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (30.6%; n = 59), Klebsiella oxytoca (0.5%; n = 1), Enterobacter aerogenes (0.5%; n = 1) and Citrobacter freundii (0.5%; n = 1). The ESBL detected in the present studywere the TEM type (40.4%), CTX-M type (36.8%) and SHV type (22.8%). TEM-52 and TEM-24 were the most frequent TEM types (20.2% and 12.9%, respectively). Members of TEM-10 (4.1%) and TEM-116 (2.1%) were also detected. Within the CTX-M family, CTX-M-9 group was represented by CTX-M-9 (13.5%) and CTX-M-14 (8.4%). In the CTX-M-1 group, CTXM-15 was the most frequent type (12.4 %), followed by CTX-M-1 (2.1%), CTX-M-3 (0.5%) and CTX-M-32 (0.5%). Regarding CTX-M types, it appears that CTX-M-14 is widespread among the northwestern Iberian Peninsula [1]. Klebsiella pneumoniae harbouring a CTX-M-15 enzyme was described for the first time in Portugal in 2005 [2] in the Lisbon area, but CTX-M-15 enzyme has also recently been found by us in the north of Portugal in another Enterobacteriaceae member, isolated from bloodstream infections [3] among seven patients in two different hospitals. Other ESBL-producing species (not E. coli or K. pneumoniae)were also found. This is the first time that C. freundii has been described as a producer of CTX-M-32 in this country. The SHV enzymes occurred only in 23.3% of all ESBL-producing organisms. Within this type, the most frequent type was SHV-12 (12.4%), followed by SHV-5 (8.8%) and finally SHV-2 (2.1%). Some isolates co-produced more than one ESBL type: TEM-52/CTX-M-14 (0.5%); TEM-116/CTX-M-14 (0.5%); and TEM-116/CTX-M-15 (0.5%). MIC testing showed that isolates producing ESBLs were mostly susceptible to carbapenems (100%) and amikacin (99.5%). In contrast, ESBL-producing strains presented low susceptibility rates to cefepime and quinolones. Indeed, 98.9% of the ESBL-producing strains were cefepime-resistant and 85.4% were resistant to quinolones (ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin). In the generality, these high levels of resistance to quinolones were more conspicuous in members of the CTX-M family (98.1%) than TEM and SHV types (80.8% and 72.1%, respectively). In this study, cefepime presented a surprisingly low activity against ESBL-producing microorganisms. Recent literature refers to the inoculum effect exhibited by cefepime [4]. Nevertheless, we believe that this should not be pointed out as a single explanation once MIC determination is performed using inoculum concentrations of 0.5 McFarland standard. In our sample, only two K. pneumoniae harbouring SHV-2 ESBL were susceptible to cefepime. All the other clinical isolates (98.9%) expressing the ESBL phenotype were resistant to cefepime. It seems interesting that a recent study showed that cefepimewas successfully administered to three patients (two females and one male) aged between 47 years and 87 years carrying a Gram-negative ESBL-positive strain [5]. Nevertheless, other studies worldwide have begun to describe the emergence of high resistance to cefepime among Gram-negative ESBL-producers [6]. The present work showed a high diversity of ESBL enzymes occurring in the north of Portugal. In this country, the most prevalent type is still the TEM type, but CTX-M is growing rapidly [7]. The emergence of ESBL-producers resistant to cefepime in Portugal is a matter of concern. We believe that the uncontrolled use of cephalosporins may have an important role in the acquisition of resistance mechanisms, particularly the production of ESBL enzymes. Establishment of policies to monitor drug delivery in hospital and ambulatory pharmacies as well as implementation of public health defence strategies towards health promotion and drug resistance prevention appear to be urgent.
- Um Laboratório Remoto, Múltiplas PotencialidadesPublication . Sousa, Nuno; Gericota, Manuel G.; Alves, Gustavo R.O ensino à distância padeceu, durante longos anos, de várias limitações ao nível da interacção entre alunos, professores e material didáctico. Essas limitações foram sendo ultrapassadas com recurso aos novos meios de comunicação, de que a internet é, neste caso concreto, exemplo máximo. No entanto, uma das limitações que se tem mostrado mais difícil de superar é a do acesso remoto dos alunos a laboratórios reais. As várias propostas apresentadas até ao momento implicam normalmente um conjunto de recursos próprios e pouco flexíveis para cada trabalho, com um elevado tempo de aprendizagem para a sua implementação. O laboratório remoto apresentado neste artigo tem por base uma plataforma flexível que permite a realização de múltiplos trabalhos sem necessidade de alterações da sua estrutura de base. A sua utilização é bastante simples, não implicando longos ciclos de configuração. A interface com o utilizador é genérica, não necessitando de ser configurada, qualquer que seja a montagem efectuada.