Technology alone may not win user acceptance and subsequent marketability. The user experience, or how the user experiences the end product, is the key to acceptance. And that is where user interface design enters the design process. While product engineers focus on the technology, usability specialists focus on the user interface. For greatest efficiency and cost effectiveness, this working re...

A tangible user interface for designers changes the way in which the designers perceive and interact with a digital model. We studied the changes a specific tangible user interface has on designers’ spatial cognition through the comparison of designers using tangible user interface and graphical user interface environments. The results reveal that TUIs change designers’ spatial cognition, and t...

Semiotic Engineering perceives interfaces as messages designers send to users. This message has an interaction model for syntax and the application’s functionality for semantics. In order to create these messages, designers need models, tools and techniques that allow them to express themselves. In this article, we propose that User Interface Design Languages (UIDL’s) in which designers can des...

Tricuspid valve (TV) endocarditis is known to be predominant among intravenous drug users (IDU) commonly due to staphylococcus species. Isolation of Klebsiella species from a TV endocarditis is an uncommon finding. Endocarditis leading to heart failureportends a worse prognosis and is an indication for surgical intervention. In this report, a 20 year old female non-intravenous drug user (NIDU) ...

Tricuspid valve infective endocarditis (TVIE) is rare in Japan, though many reports of it in intravenous drug users are found in other countries. We experienced 3 surgical cases of isolated TVIE in 2 nonintravenous drug users and 1 intravenous user, and we presented successful results. The surgical options for TVIE are vegetectomy and valvulectomy, valve repair, and valve replacement, which are...

Clinicians of all specialties need to be aware of a recent, nationwide increase in the number of Actinomyces bloodstream infections. We report a case of bimicrobial bloodstream infection with Actinomyces odontolyticus and Escherichia coli in an intravenous drug user. A 36-year-old, male intravenous drug user was admitted with acute-onset pleuritic chest pain, back pain, pyrexia, tachycardia, ta...

BACKGROUND China has witnessed a remarkable increase in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV. The study is to assess the prevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV and syphilis and related risk factors among drug users in mandatory detoxification center Qingyuan, Guangdong, China. METHOD A cross-sectional study on drug use behaviors, sex behaviors, and presence of antibodies to HIV, HCV, Treponema...

Background: Positive perfectionism helps the individual to experience fewer worries and less anxiety. The aim of the present study was to assess the value of coping strategies to predict perfectionism in drug-user women. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 361 consecutive drug-user women who were randomly selected from a total of 6237 women referring to the Drug Abuse Centers o...