The mental mapping of space in an individual with visual disability may be viewed from several perspectives just as it is in any person, a bio-psycho-socio-spiritual being. On one hand mental mapping may be viewed in terms of the special pedagogy training in spatial orientation and independent movement in persons with visual disability and on the other hand the theme is closely related to typhlopsychology – meaning the process of the creation of a mental map. An important role is undoubtedly played by the lower and higher compensatory mechanisms. In a person with visual disability the hearing, the touch and partly also the smell and the taste together with mental processes participate at the information intake, its following processing and evaluation. The perceived is then processed using the concentration, the thought processes including analytic-synthetic activity, the memory and the imagination. The perception and the imagination, as parts of the conscious processes, form an integral part of the research on consciousness that is currently the target field of contemporary research tendencies.
BACKGROUND: Visual analytics aims to connect the processing power of information technologies and the user's ability of logical thinking and reasoning through the complex visual interaction. Moreover, the most of the data contain the spatial component. Therefore, the need for geovisual tools and methods arises. Either one can develop own system but the dissemination of findings and its usability might be problematic or the widespread and well-known platform can be utilized. The aim of this paper is to prove the applicability of Google Earth™ software as a tool for geovisual analytics that helps to understand the spatio-temporal patterns of the disease distribution. METHODS: We combined the complex joint spatio-temporal analysis with comprehensive visualisation. We analysed the spatio-temporal distribution of the campylobacteriosis in the Czech Republic between 2008 and 2012. We applied three main approaches in the study: (1) the geovisual analytics of the surveillance data that were visualised in the form of bubble chart; (2) the geovisual analytics of the disease's weekly incidence surfaces computed by spatio-temporal kriging and (3) the spatio-temporal scan statistics that was employed in order to identify high or low rates clusters of affected municipalities. The final data are stored in Keyhole Markup Language files and visualised in Google Earth™ in order to apply geovisual analytics. RESULTS: Using geovisual analytics we were able to display and retrieve information from complex dataset efficiently. Instead of searching for patterns in a series of static maps or using numerical statistics, we created the set of interactive visualisations in order to explore and communicate results of analyses to the wider audience. The results of the geovisual analytics identified periodical patterns in the behaviour of the disease as well as fourteen spatio-temporal clusters of increased relative risk. CONCLUSIONS: We prove that Google Earth™ software is a usable tool for the geovisual analysis of the disease distribution. Google Earth™ has many indisputable advantages (widespread, freely available, intuitive interface, space-time visualisation capabilities and animations, communication of results), nevertheless it is still needed to combine it with pre-processing tools that prepare the data into a form suitable for the geovisual analytics itself.
- MeSH
- Spatio-Temporal Analysis * MeSH
- Child MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Geographic Mapping * MeSH
- Geographic Information Systems statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Campylobacter Infections diagnosis epidemiology MeSH
- Infant MeSH
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Adolescent MeSH
- Young Adult MeSH
- Infant, Newborn MeSH
- Comprehension * MeSH
- Child, Preschool MeSH
- Aged, 80 and over MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Check Tag
- Child MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Infant MeSH
- Middle Aged MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Adolescent MeSH
- Young Adult MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Infant, Newborn MeSH
- Child, Preschool MeSH
- Aged, 80 and over MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Geographicals
- Czech Republic MeSH
Previous research on cross-cultural differences in visual attention has been inconclusive. Some studies have suggested the existence of systematic differences in global and local attention and context sensitivity, while others have produced negative or mixed results. The objective in this study was to examine the similarities and differences in holistic and analytic cognitive styles in a sample of Czech and Taiwanese university students. Two cognitive tasks were conducted: a Compound Figures Test and a free-viewing scene perception task which manipulated several focal objects and measured eye-movement patterns. An analysis of the reaction times in the Compound Figures Test showed no clear differences between either sample. An analysis of eye-movement metrics showed certain differences between the samples. While Czechs tended to focus relatively more on the focal objects measured by the number of fixations, the Taiwanese subjects spent more time fixating on the background. The results were consistent for scenes with one or two focal objects. The results of a correlation analysis of both tasks showed that they were unrelated. These results showed certain differences between the samples in visual perception but were not as systematic as the theory of holistic and analytic cognitive styles would suggest. An alternative model of cross-cultural differences in cognition and perception is discussed.
- MeSH
- Asian People MeSH
- White People MeSH
- Cognition physiology MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Young Adult MeSH
- Fixation, Ocular physiology MeSH
- Eye Movements physiology MeSH
- Attention physiology MeSH
- Reaction Time physiology MeSH
- Cross-Cultural Comparison MeSH
- Students MeSH
- Universities MeSH
- Vision, Ocular physiology MeSH
- Visual Perception physiology MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Young Adult MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Geographicals
- Czech Republic MeSH
- Taiwan MeSH
Cieľ: Vyhodnotiť účinok crosslinking (CXL) terapie na zmenu kvality zrakovej ostrosti, zmenu topografických vlastností rohovky – zakrivenie, pachymetrie a zmenu výšky astigmatizmu, chyby koma a parametru CLMIaa (Cone Location and Magnitude Index). Metodika: Do retrospektívnej analytickej štúdie bolo zahrnutých 29 očí 24 pacientov, u ktorých bola pozorovaná progresia ochorenia v posledných 12 mesiacoch. Sledovanými parametrami boli najstrmšie, najplochšie a priemerné okamžité zakrivenie prednej (AICS, AICF, AICM) a najstrmšie, najplochšie a priemerné okamžité zakrivenie zadnej plochy (PICS, PICF, PICM) rohovky, hrúbka rohovky v najtenšom mieste (PACHT) a v centre rohovky (PACHC), astigmatizmus rohovky (ASTIG), chyba vyššieho rádu kóma (COMA), index veľkosti a lokalizácie konusu (Cone Localisation and Magnitude Index- CLMIaa) a nekorigovaná zraková ostrosť (NZO) s najlepšou korigovanou zrakovou ostrosťou (NKZO). Dáta boli analyzované pred zákrokom a 12 mesiacov po zákroku. Parametre AIC, COMA, CLMIaa a ASTIG boli analyzované párovým t testom. Nakoľko parametre NZO, KZO, PIC a PACH nesplnili podmienky normálneho rozdelenia, na skúmanie zmeny týchto parametrov po CXL bol použitý Wilcoxonov test. Výsledky: Dvanásť mesiacov po zákroku sme zaznamenali zlepšenie NZO (p = 0,371) a NKZO (p = 0,825), zväčšenie PICS, PICF a PICM (p = 0,902; p = 0,87 a p = 0,555), pokles PACHC (p = 0,294) a zmenšenie CLMIaa (p = 0,113), ktoré nedosiahli štatistickú významnosť. Pokles PACHT (p = 0,027), zníženie COMA (p = 0,037) a pokles zakrivenia prednej plochy rohovky AICS, AICF a AICM boli štatisticky významné (p = 0,019; p = 0,010 a p = 0,005). Pokles hodnoty astigmatizmu nepreukázal štatistickú významnosť, keďže p = 0,297. Záver: CXL terapia rohovky sa preukázala ako účinná metóda zabezpečujúca stabilizáciu rohovky pri progredujúcom keratokónuse, a prinášajúca aj zníženie chyby vyššieho rádu kómy. Tým prispieva k možnému zlepšeniu NZO a NKZO.
Aim: To evaluate the effect of crosslinking (CXL) therapy on the change in the quality of visual acuity and the change in the topographic properties of the cornea – curvature, pachymetry, and change of astigmatism, coma abberation and CLMIaa (Cone Localisation and Magnitude Index). Methods: A retrospective analytical study included 29 eyes of 24 patients who had progressed in the last 12 months and were suitable candidates for CXL surgery. The monitored parameters were the steepest, flatest and mean anterior instantaneous curvature (AICS, AICF, AICM) and the steepest, flatest and mean posterior instantaneous curvature (PICS, PICF, PICM) of the cornea, corneal thickness in the centre of the cornea (PACHC) and in the thinnest point of the cornea (PACHT), corneal astigmatism (ASTIG). coma (COMA), Cone Localization and Magnitude Index (CLMIaa) and uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA) with corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA). Data were analysed before surgery and 12 months after surgery. The AIC, COMA, CLMIaa and ASTIG parameters were analysed by paired t test. As the parameters of UDVA, CDVA, PIC and PACH did not meet the conditions of normal distribution, the Wilcoxon test was used to investigate the change in these parameters after CXL. Results: Twelve months after the procedure, we recorded an improvement in UDVA (p = 0.371) and CDVA (p = 0.825), an increase in PICS, PICF and PICM (p = 0.902; p = 0.87 and p = 0.555), a decrease in PACHCC (p = 0.294) and a decrease in CLMIaa (p = 0.113) that did not reach statistical significance. The decrease in PACHT (p = 0.027), decrease in COMA (p = 0.037) and decrease in anterior corneal curvature of AICS, AICF and AICM were statistically significant (p = 0.019; p = 0.010 and p = 0.005). The decrease in the value of astigmatism did not show statistical significance, as p = 0.297. Conclusion: CXL corneal therapy has been shown to be an effective method to stabilize the cornea in progressive keratoconus, and to improve the higher order of coma. This contributes to the possible improvement of UDVA and CDVA.
Current clinical pathology
[1st ed.] xiv, 220 s. : il. + 1 CD-ROM
- MeSH
- Hematology MeSH
- Flow Cytometry MeSH
- Conspectus
- Patologie. Klinická medicína
- NML Fields
- hematologie a transfuzní lékařství
- cytologie, klinická cytologie
BACKGROUND: No universal solution, based on an approved pedagogical approach, exists to parametrically describe, effectively manage, and clearly visualize a higher education institution's curriculum, including tools for unveiling relationships inside curricular datasets. OBJECTIVE: We aim to solve the issue of medical curriculum mapping to improve understanding of the complex structure and content of medical education programs. Our effort is based on the long-term development and implementation of an original web-based platform, which supports an outcomes-based approach to medical and healthcare education and is suitable for repeated updates and adoption to curriculum innovations. METHODS: We adopted data exploration and visualization approaches in the context of medical curriculum innovations in higher education institutions domain. We have developed a robust platform, covering detailed formal metadata specifications down to the level of learning units, interconnections, and learning outcomes, in accordance with Bloom's taxonomy and direct links to a particular biomedical nomenclature. Furthermore, we used selected modeling techniques and data mining methods to generate academic analytics reports from medical curriculum mapping datasets. RESULTS: We present a solution that allows users to effectively optimize a curriculum structure that is described with appropriate metadata, such as course attributes, learning units and outcomes, a standardized vocabulary nomenclature, and a tree structure of essential terms. We present a case study implementation that includes effective support for curriculum reengineering efforts of academics through a comprehensive overview of the General Medicine study program. Moreover, we introduce deep content analysis of a dataset that was captured with the use of the curriculum mapping platform; this may assist in detecting any potentially problematic areas, and hence it may help to construct a comprehensive overview for the subsequent global in-depth medical curriculum inspection. CONCLUSIONS: We have proposed, developed, and implemented an original framework for medical and healthcare curriculum innovations and harmonization, including: planning model, mapping model, and selected academic analytics extracted with the use of data mining.
- MeSH
- Curriculum * MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Models, Statistical * MeSH
- Education, Medical * MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
Distance-based detection (DbD) on paper-based microfluidic analytical devices (μPADs) has emerged as a promising, cost-effective, simple, and instrumentation-free assay method. Broadening the applicability of a new way of immobilization of reagent for DbD on μPADs (DμPADs) is presented, employing an ion exchange (IE) interaction of an anionic metallochromic reagent, 2-(5-bromo-2-pyridylazo)-5-[N-n-propyl-N-(3-sulfopropyl)amino]phenol (5-Br-PAPS), on the anion-exchange filter paper. The IE DμPADs demonstrate superiority over standard cellulose filter paper in terms of the degree of reagent immobilization, detection sensitivity, and clear detection endpoints due to the strong retention of 5-Br-PAPS. The study investigated various parameters influencing DbD, including 5-Br-PAPS concentrations (0.25-1 mM), buffer types (acetic acid-Tris, MES), buffer concentrations (20-500 mM), and auxiliary complexing agents (acetic, formic, and glycolic acids). Subsequently, the performance of 17 metals (Ag+, Cd2+, Co2+, Cr3+, Cu2+, Fe2+, Hg2+, La2+, Mn2+, Ni2+, Pb2+, Ti2+, Zn2+, Al3+, As3+, Fe3+, and V4+) was evaluated, with color formation observed for 12 metals. Additionally, the paper surface was examined using SEM and SEM-EDX to verify the suitability of certain areas in the detection channel for reagent immobilization and metal binding. This method demonstrates quantitation limits of metals in the low μg mL-1 range, showing great potential for the rapid screening of toxic metals commonly found in herbal supplements and cosmetics regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Thus, it holds promise for enhancing safety and regulatory compliance in product quality assessment. Furthermore, this method offers a cost-effective, environmentally sustainable, and user-friendly approach for the rapid visual quantification of heavy metals for in-field analysis, eliminating the need for complex instrumentation.
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
