Investigation of the antimicrobial action of carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCh) is among the alternative approaches in the control of pathogenic microorganisms. This study aimed to screen the toxicity using the brine shrimp lethality assay and to investigate the inhibitory activity of carboxymethyl in isolation or in combination with silver nitrate, copper sulfate and zinc sulfate on biofilm formation by Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 12228, Kocuria rhizophila ATCC 9341, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027, Escherichia coli ATCC 25312, and Burkholderia cepacia ATCC 17759. The CMCh was obtained by reacting chitosan with monochloroacetic acid under alkaline conditions, and the occurrence of carboxymethylation was evidenced by FTIR and H NMR spectroscopy. The CMCh was combined with metallic salts (AgNO, CuSO·5HO and ZnSO) to perform the bioassays to screen the toxicity, to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration and the impact of sub-inhibitory concentrations against biofilm formation. Although CMCh did not show inhibitory activity against bacterial growth, it had an interesting level of inhibition of bacterial biofilm. The results suggest that sub-inhibitory concentrations of compounds were effective against biofilm formation.

It is known that the phytochemical identification and assessment of biological effects caused by the constituent speciesPsidium cattleianum, which belongs to family Myrtaceae, are poorly held in the literature. The aim of the current study is to investigate the composition of secondary metabolites, the toxicity, and the antimicrobial activity ofP. cattleianumleaves. The crude ethanolic extract of the plant was obtained through maceration and fractionated with hexane, dichloromethane, and ethyl acetate. The crude ethanol extract and the fractions were subjected to phytochemical screening and tested against the microcrustaceanArtemia salinafor toxicological assessment. Antimicrobial tests with crude ethanol extract and the fractions were carried out through the agar diffusion method using broth microdilution againstStaphylococcus aureus,S. epidermidis,Burkholderia cepacia,andEscherichia colistrains. A variety of secondary metabolite groups such as catechins, steroids, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and saponins was detected. Regarding toxicity, hexane and dichloromethane fractions were considered nontoxic, whereas the crude ethanol extract and the ethyl acetate fraction showed low toxicity. The crude ethanol extract and the fractions, except for the hexane fraction, showed activity against the tested strains. Therefore, the composition of the secondary metabolites, the low toxicity, and the antimicrobial activity suggest that this species is promising in the search and development of new drugs.

This paper presents a computer game developed to assist children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to recognize facial expressions associated with the four basic emotions: joy, sadness, anger, and surprise. This game named ALTRIRAS is a role-playing game (RPG), a kind of game pointed out by the literature as the most suitable for these children for being more social than competitive. It has recreational settings built with 2D graphic interface to keep the children’s attention and an access control and a register mechanism to allow the monitoring of the child’s progress. The data collection of the functional, nonfunctional, psychological, and educational requirements, as well as the evaluation of its consistency and usability, was made by a multidisciplinary team consisting of five experts in each of the following expertises: pedagogy, psychology, psychopedagogy, and game development. The effectiveness test of the game was performed by 10 children with ASD and 28 children with neurotypical development, which were separated into control and experimental groups, respectively. All experts and children with neurotypical development answered the System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire after playing the game. The results were positive, between experts and volunteers regarding their acceptance. However, the time of exposure to the game in children with ASD should be increased to effective assistance in the recognition of facial expressions.

Introduction: Communication is a fundamental element for the development of human beings, promoting their coexistence in society. However, changes in muscle tone, associated with cerebral palsy (CP), among other conditions, cause phono-articulatory dysfunctions hindering speech capabilities. Although there are resources for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), most of them do not completely satisfy the needs of individuals with motor impairment. Therefore, this study proposes a tool based on mobile technology for AAC, which can be adapted to the characteristics of the motor limitations of CP users. Methods: Mobile system development was conducted employing user-centered design and development methods. Functions were developed allowing the communication of phrases through pictographic resources and a mechanism of speech synthesis, that can be customized according to specific communication needs. To validate this system, 20 CP volunteers with speech difficulties and motor impairment were recruited from two institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. They operated the system following a pre-defined test protocol, and they answered a system usability scale (SUS) questionnaire, to rate the ease of learning, memorization, efficiency, occurrence of runtime errors, and the level of user satisfaction. Results: The results showed a score of 85.85 ± 2.28 above the average SUS scale, for each one of the quality components assessed by the volunteers. Conclusion: The developed software is user-friendly, representing a new option for AAC, and is customized according to the communication needs of people with speech disorder and motor impairment.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Resumo </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">– O uso discriminado de agrotóxicos acarreta em uma grande prejuízo a saúdes das pessoas e do meio ambiente. O uso de novos métodos de combate a pragas se faz necessário para o equilíbrio da cadeia produtiva. A utilização de microrganismos no combate a pragas se faz como uma boa alternativa. O trabalho objetivou-se em avaliar o potencial de antagonismo de isolados de <em>Trichoderma sp. </em>contra o patógeno <em>Fusarium sp. in vitro</em>. Para isso foi utilizado os métodos de confronto direto, pareamento de culturas e de metabólitos voláteis. Os experimentos foram realizados na incubadora de empresas da Universidade Federal do Tocantins – UFT Campus de Gurupi, seguiram com três repetições. Foram testados 15 isolados do antagonista em confronto direto com o patógeno e os mesmos isolados e patógeno foram testados em metabólitos voláteis ambos utilizando o meio de cultura BDA. Todos os isolados apresentaram antagonismo in vitro contra o patógeno.</span></p>