Objective: To validate the educational board game “Drugs: playing fair” for visually impaired people in Brazil and Portugal. Methods: Study of apparent validation carried out in two associations for visually impaire...Objective: To validate the educational board game “Drugs: playing fair” for visually impaired people in Brazil and Portugal. Methods: Study of apparent validation carried out in two associations for visually impaired people in Fortaleza, Brazil, and in Porto, Portugal. Thirty-six visually impaired people, 18 from each country, participated in the study. An evaluation tool with 23 items on specifications, content and motivation of the game was applied. Results: The scores awarded in both countries were excellent, with means varying in Brazil from 9.0 to 9.6 and in Portugal, from 8.4 to 9.2. As for the categories and subcategories, the best means in Brazil were: content (9.5);theoretical and methodological consistency (9.6) and concepts/information (9.5). In Portugal, the best means were concepts/information (9.2) and curiosity (9.2). Only two items showed a significant difference: “it allows interaction” (p = 0.024) and “compatible degree of difficulty” (p = 0.012). Conclusion: The educational game on drugs was validated in Brazil and Portugal.展开更多
Cosmetics are used to improve physical appearance, but the benefits may be limited to people without visual impairment. The importance of attractiveness among blind persons has not been assessed. We investigated the i...Cosmetics are used to improve physical appearance, but the benefits may be limited to people without visual impairment. The importance of attractiveness among blind persons has not been assessed. We investigated the influence of makeup on brain activity of blind persons using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants were 7 blind females (BFs) who learned to fully apply makeup and 9 mostly age-matched normally sighted females (NSFs). Brain activity was measured using fMRI before and after application of makeup and during a makeup image task in each state. In the default mode network at rest, there was no difference between the BFs and NSFs. However, a lateral visual network to the opposite side was observed in the NSFs, whereas no such network was noted in the BFs. A weak network was noted in the BFs in the occipital fusiform gyrus and temporal occipital fusiform cortex, and an extensive visual area network defect was noted. Also, activity after makeup application was significantly higher in the nucleus accumbens, pallidum, and hippocampus. Activity in the right middle cingulate gyrus, right cerebral white matter, and right anterior cingulate gyrus was higher before makeup in both BFs and NSFs, and the activity was significantly higher and more extensive in the BFs. In conclusion, applying makeup is a personally rewarding activity, even for BFs, as it strongly activates the reward system and the reward/memory system network, even in the absence of a visual area network.展开更多
With an increasing incidence,diabetic retinopathy is one of the most important complications of diabetes mellitus (DM)and is also known as one of the major reasons of adult acquired blindness.It is widely accepted tha...With an increasing incidence,diabetic retinopathy is one of the most important complications of diabetes mellitus (DM)and is also known as one of the major reasons of adult acquired blindness.It is widely accepted that the visual impairment of diabetic patients results from retinal microvascular changes.However,recent clinical experimental and neuroimaging studies suggest that the visual impairment of diabetic patients is also related to the pathophysiological changes of different parts of the visual pathway in diabetic retinopathy.Therefore,the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)techniques have been widely used for evaluating the microstructural changes,white matter integrity,metabolite changes,and the whole or partial functional and anatomic changes in the diabetic retinopathy patients'brains in order to fully understand the mechanism of vision loss of the diabetic retinopathy patients.This review focuses on the research progress in application of MRI of the visual pathway in diabetic retinopathy.展开更多
Objective: To compare the learning of visually impaired individuals after the use of the educational game “Drugs: playing it clean”. Method: Quasi-experimental, comparative, before-after study. Results: The particip...Objective: To compare the learning of visually impaired individuals after the use of the educational game “Drugs: playing it clean”. Method: Quasi-experimental, comparative, before-after study. Results: The participants’ mean age in Brazil was lower than in Portugal;a significant difference in information acquisition was found between the pre and post-test for the low-complexity (Brazil p = 0.018 and Portugal p = 0.002), without a difference in the number of correct answers for the medium/high-complexity questions between the two countries (p = 0.655 and p = 0.0792);when comparing the number of correct answers before and after the game intervention, an increase was found in Brazil and Portugal, respectively (21.8% - 61.1%;11.2% - 38.9%);a significant difference was found in the number of correct answers between the low and medium/high-complexity questions (p = 0.030). Conclusion: The educational game permits information access and can be used as a teaching-learning strategy.展开更多
文摘Objective: To validate the educational board game “Drugs: playing fair” for visually impaired people in Brazil and Portugal. Methods: Study of apparent validation carried out in two associations for visually impaired people in Fortaleza, Brazil, and in Porto, Portugal. Thirty-six visually impaired people, 18 from each country, participated in the study. An evaluation tool with 23 items on specifications, content and motivation of the game was applied. Results: The scores awarded in both countries were excellent, with means varying in Brazil from 9.0 to 9.6 and in Portugal, from 8.4 to 9.2. As for the categories and subcategories, the best means in Brazil were: content (9.5);theoretical and methodological consistency (9.6) and concepts/information (9.5). In Portugal, the best means were concepts/information (9.2) and curiosity (9.2). Only two items showed a significant difference: “it allows interaction” (p = 0.024) and “compatible degree of difficulty” (p = 0.012). Conclusion: The educational game on drugs was validated in Brazil and Portugal.
文摘Cosmetics are used to improve physical appearance, but the benefits may be limited to people without visual impairment. The importance of attractiveness among blind persons has not been assessed. We investigated the influence of makeup on brain activity of blind persons using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants were 7 blind females (BFs) who learned to fully apply makeup and 9 mostly age-matched normally sighted females (NSFs). Brain activity was measured using fMRI before and after application of makeup and during a makeup image task in each state. In the default mode network at rest, there was no difference between the BFs and NSFs. However, a lateral visual network to the opposite side was observed in the NSFs, whereas no such network was noted in the BFs. A weak network was noted in the BFs in the occipital fusiform gyrus and temporal occipital fusiform cortex, and an extensive visual area network defect was noted. Also, activity after makeup application was significantly higher in the nucleus accumbens, pallidum, and hippocampus. Activity in the right middle cingulate gyrus, right cerebral white matter, and right anterior cingulate gyrus was higher before makeup in both BFs and NSFs, and the activity was significantly higher and more extensive in the BFs. In conclusion, applying makeup is a personally rewarding activity, even for BFs, as it strongly activates the reward system and the reward/memory system network, even in the absence of a visual area network.
文摘With an increasing incidence,diabetic retinopathy is one of the most important complications of diabetes mellitus (DM)and is also known as one of the major reasons of adult acquired blindness.It is widely accepted that the visual impairment of diabetic patients results from retinal microvascular changes.However,recent clinical experimental and neuroimaging studies suggest that the visual impairment of diabetic patients is also related to the pathophysiological changes of different parts of the visual pathway in diabetic retinopathy.Therefore,the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)techniques have been widely used for evaluating the microstructural changes,white matter integrity,metabolite changes,and the whole or partial functional and anatomic changes in the diabetic retinopathy patients'brains in order to fully understand the mechanism of vision loss of the diabetic retinopathy patients.This review focuses on the research progress in application of MRI of the visual pathway in diabetic retinopathy.
文摘Objective: To compare the learning of visually impaired individuals after the use of the educational game “Drugs: playing it clean”. Method: Quasi-experimental, comparative, before-after study. Results: The participants’ mean age in Brazil was lower than in Portugal;a significant difference in information acquisition was found between the pre and post-test for the low-complexity (Brazil p = 0.018 and Portugal p = 0.002), without a difference in the number of correct answers for the medium/high-complexity questions between the two countries (p = 0.655 and p = 0.0792);when comparing the number of correct answers before and after the game intervention, an increase was found in Brazil and Portugal, respectively (21.8% - 61.1%;11.2% - 38.9%);a significant difference was found in the number of correct answers between the low and medium/high-complexity questions (p = 0.030). Conclusion: The educational game permits information access and can be used as a teaching-learning strategy.
