J. Artur Serrano

Tweet content related to sexually transmitted diseases: no joking matter.

Background Online social media, such as the microblogging site Twitter, have become a space for speedy exchange of information regarding sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), presenting a potential risk environment for how STDs are portrayed. Examining the types of “tweeters” (users who post messages on Twitter) and the nature of “tweet” messages is important for identifying how information related to STDs is posted in online social media. Objective The intent of the study was to describe the types of message emitters on Twitter in relation to two different STDs—chlamydia and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)—as well as the nature of content tweeted, including how seriously the topic was treated. Methods We used the Twitter search engine to look for tweets posted worldwide from August 1-7, 2013, and from September 1-7, 2013, containing the words “chlamydia” or “HIV”, and the hashtags “#chlamydia” or “#HIV”. Tweeters were classified by two independent reviewers according to the type of avatar of the user (human, logo, or fantasy), the identification of the emitter (identifiable, semi-identifiable, or non-identifiable), and the source (private company, general media, scientific media, non-governmental, individual account, academic institution, government department, or undefined). Tweet messages were also independently classified according to their nature (serious or jokes/funny), and whether their main message was factual or of a personal nature/experience. Results A total of 694 tweets were posted by 426 different users during the first 7 days of August and September, containing the hashtags and/or simple words “chlamydia” and/or “HIV”. Jokes or funny tweets were more frequently posted by individual users (89%, 66/74), with a human avatar (81%, 60/74), from a non-identifiable user (72%, 53/74), and they were most frequently related to chlamydia (76%, 56/74). Serious tweets were most frequently posted by the general media (20.6%, 128/620), using a logo avatar (66.9%, 415/620), and with identifiable accounts (85.2%, 528/620). No government departments, non-governmental organizations, scientific media, or academic institutions posted a joke on STDs. A total of 104 of these analyzed tweets were re-tweeted messages, belonging to 68 unique tweets. The content was serious (99%, 67/68), factual (90%, 52/58), and about HIV (85%, 58/68). Conclusions Social media such as Twitter may be an important source of information regarding STDs provided that the topic is presented appropriately. Reassuringly, the study showed that almost 9/10 of tweets on STDs (chlamydia and HIV) were of serious content, and many of the tweets that were re-tweeted were facts. The jokes that were tweeted were mainly about chlamydia, and posted by non-identifiable emitters. We believe social media should be used to an even larger extent to disseminate correct information about STDs.

Clinical Parameters and Tools for Home-Based Assessment of Parkinson's Disease: Results from a Delphi study

BACKGROUND Parkinsons disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with fluctuating symptoms. To aid the development of a system to evaluate people with PD (PwP) at home (SENSE-PARK system) there was a need to define parameters and tools to be applied in the assessment of 6 domains: gait, bradykinesia/hypokinesia, tremor, sleep, balance and cognition. OBJECTIVE To identify relevant parameters and assessment tools of the 6 domains, from the perspective of PwP, caregivers and movement disorders specialists. METHODS A 2-round Delphi study was conducted to select a core of parameters and assessment tools to be applied. This process included PwP, caregivers and movement disorders specialists. RESULTS Two hundred and thirty-three PwP, caregivers and physicians completed the first round questionnaire, and 50 the second. Results allowed the identification of parameters and assessment tools to be added to the SENSE-PARK system. The most consensual parameters were: Falls and Near Falls; Capability to Perform Activities of Daily Living; Interference with Activities of Daily Living; Capability to Process Tasks; and Capability to Recall and Retrieve Information. The most cited assessment strategies included Walkers; the Evaluation of Performance Doing Fine Motor Movements; Capability to Eat; Assessment of Sleep Quality; Identification of Circumstances and Triggers for Loose of Balance and Memory Assessment. CONCLUSIONS An agreed set of measuring parameters, tests, tools and devices was achieved to be part of a system to evaluate PwP at home. A pattern of different perspectives was identified for each stakeholder.

Participatory Design in Parkinson's Research with Focus on the Symptomatic Domains to be Measured

BACKGROUND There is a growing interest in the objective assessment of health related outcomes using technology providing quality measurements to be applied not only in daily clinical practice, but also in scientific research. Differences in the understandings of the condition and the terminology used between people with Parkinsons (PwPs), clinicians and technical developers may influence the progress of a participatory design process. OBJECTIVE This paper reports on a participatory design process to achieve a consensus among PwPs, clinicians and technologists over the selection of a set of symptomatic domains to be continuously assessed, in order to provide results relevant to both PwPs and clinicians. METHODS The methods used were a Web based user survey, end-user focus groups, ranking by combined methods, a Delphi process performed among clinicians and scientists, and prioritization of the results in a concertation workshop for PwPs, clinicians and technologists. RESULTS The following symptomatic domains were commonly agreed by PwPs and clinicians to be of central importance in a system of continuous assessment: hypokinesia/bradykinesia, tremor, sway, gait, sleep and cognition. This list satisfied both the needs of the PwPs and the concerns of the clinicians regarding the means of advancing new strategies in assessment and interventions in PD. CONCLUSIONS A participatory design strategy allowed the definition of a consensual list of symptomatic domains. Both the strategy and the achieved results may be of relevance for similar interdisciplinary approaches in the field of PD using a participatory design involving patients, clinicians and technologists.

Patients Initiated Timeline Marking of Events in Parkinson’s Disease: Visualization of Time Correlation between Patients Marked Events and Acquired Data from Sensors

The reality of a Parkinson’s Disease patient involves coping with the condition 24 hours a day for the rest of her or his life. A continuous decay of physical and sometimes cognitive functions makes activities of daily life progressively more difficult to accomplish. Many keep a diary where they take note of feelings, relevant events related to the daily routines, reaction to the medication, etc. Such diaries may prove extremely useful for a better understanding of the disease progression, both by the patient and by the doctor. The SENSE-PARK project went a step forward: it combines the patient diary notes (self-reported) with information gathered from movement sensors (automatic measurement) and a visualization mechanism combining the two. A system has been designed, prototyped and tested. Parkinson’s medical specialists, user experience experts, technologists and most important the patients themselves, were involved in this process.

Teaching computer science in higher education: Enabling learning roadmaps for post secondary courses

This paper tends to present how eLearning strategies and policies used, in a Portuguese district (Aveiro), are enhancing learning and knowledge for heterogeneous audiences with constraints that are beyond the usual. Besides time to learn and physical distance, they face new challenges like, the need to get specialized in areas where economy is growing; where companies need to adapt to new markets; where the technology revolution is a priority. Experience achieved tells the professionals observed have shown great interest in eLearning actions and for a hybrid methodology. By a simple empirical evaluation, professionals agree that information and communication technologies (ICT) are, in fact, very helpful for those who have several constraints to learn. The use of Learning Management Systems (LMS) tends to accomplish the learning assessments and skills, although there are a lot of improvements that can be done through ICT, especially to promote self-study. The paper presents experiences done with a new learning application that enables a more intelligent and friendly content organization and promotes actors participation powering efficient learning.

Impact of Facebook Ads for Sexual Health Promotion Via an Educational Web App: A Case Study

Background: The authors present a case study of a public health campaign, including social media, and aiming at maximizing the use of web app on sexual health. Objective: To analyze the impact of a Facebook fan page, Facebook advertisements, and posters to maximize the number of visits to the educational web app. Methods: The campaign is assessed for 1 year, using data tracked through Facebook statistics and Google Analytics. Results: The site had 3670 visits 10.1 visitors/day, 95%CI 8.7-11.4. During the one-month Facebook Ads campaign, the site received 1263 visits 42.1 visitors/day, 95%CI 37.3-46.9, multiplying by over four the average number of visitors/day. 34.4% of all the participants were recruited during the one-month Facebook ads campaign. Conclusions: Facebook advertisements seem to be a good tool to promote an educational web app on sexual health targeting youth, and to reach a huge number of users rapidly and at a low cost.

Methods for User Experience Design of AAL Services

This paper presents the approach followed to design the Ambient Assisted Living Services considered for its implementation and validation during PERSONA project. A methodology based on Goal Oriented Design have been followed in iterative cycles to incorporate insights from different stakeholders to the selected services, enriching and refining them through the development of mock-ups and interview assessment.

Learning Roadmap Studio: eLearning 2.0 Based Web Platform for Deploying and Editing Learning Roadmaps

Technologies and learning platforms approaches are changing each day, one of the reasons for it is that organizations, enterprises and institutions are growing and producing more knowledge, whereas workers are becoming knowledge workers and need to be adapted for the fast change and share of information.From past experience, it has been denoted that strategies and pedagogical processes are tasks that can be created, enriched and boosted by actors who participate in learning and training processes: course managers, teachers and students. The challenge posed to the different actors involved also accelerates the changes that have been happening in education and training, empowering a society based on knowledge. Thus, it has been developed a new platform, Learning Roadmap Studio, which powers eLearning 2.0 concepts, that tends to promote more efficient learning and training. For teachers and course managers, it enables the creation, edition and deployment of learning roadmaps, that can be edit by students in order to communicate and share their knowledge among the learning community. For the students, the learning roadmap aims at promoting self-study and supervised study, endowing the pupil with the capabilities to find the relevant information and to capture the concepts in the study materials. The outcome will be a stimulating learning process together with an organized management of those materials.It is not intended to create new learning management systems. Instead, it is presented as an application that enables the edition and creation of learning processes and strategies, giving primary relevance to teachers, instead of focusing on tools, features and contents.