Biomedical subjects

P Staccini

Publications and source records attributed to P Staccini.

42 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

PubMed1998

ARIANE: integration of information databases within a hospital intranet.

Large information systems handle massive volume of data stored in heterogeneous sources. Each server has its own model of representation of concepts with regard to its aims. One of the main problems end-users encounter when accessing different servers is to match their own viewpoint on biomedical concepts with the various representations that are made in the databases servers. The aim of the project ARIANE is to provide end-users with easy-to-use and natural means to access and query heterogeneous information databases. The objectives of this research work consist in building a conceptual interface by means of the Internet technology inside an enterprise Intranet and to propose a method to realize it. This method is based on the knowledge sources provided by the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) project of the US National Library of Medicine. Experiments concern queries to three different information servers: PubMed, a Medline server of the NLM; Thériaque, a French database on drugs implemented in the Hospital Intranet; and a Web site dedicated to Internet resources in gastroenterology and nutrition, located at the Faculty of Medicine of Nice (France). Accessing to each of these servers is different according to the kind of information delivered and according to the technology used to query it. Dealing with health care professional workstation, the authors introduced in the ARIANE project quality criteria in order to attempt a homogeneous and efficient way to build a query system able to be integrated in existing information systems and to integrate existing and new information sources.

Computer Communication Networks↗

PubMed1998

The natural history of hereditary chronic pancreatitis: a study of 12 cases compared to chronic alcoholic pancreatitis.

The aim of this study was to document the natural history of chronic hereditary pancreatitis and to compare its evolution to that of chronic alcoholic pancreatitis. Twelve subjects with chronic hereditary pancreatitis were followed up for a mean duration of 15.8 years (range, 1-23) and compared to subjects with chronic alcoholic pancreatitis who were followed up from 1972 to 1980. The subjects with chronic hereditary pancreatitis, when compared to those with chronic alcoholic pancreatitis, were found to have an earlier onset of symptoms (10.5 vs. 46.0 years, p < 0.05); a significant delay in diagnosis (14.3 vs. 3 years); a similar prevalence of pancreatic calcification (58 vs. 57%); a similar amount of pancreatic insufficiency; both endocrine (50 vs. 70%) and exocrine 42 vs. 38%); and a higher prevalence of pseudocysts (33 vs. 10%, p < 0.05). Only one pancreatic adenocarcinoma was diagnosed in a patient with chronic alcoholic pancreatitis. Apart from the earlier onset and the delay in diagnosis, chronic hereditary pancreatitis has a natural history similar to that of chronic alcoholic pancreatitis. The disease is progressive with a high incidence of complications, but all subjects were alive after follow-up.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Towards semantic integration within an existing medical information system.

Talking about the problems of integration in medical information systems, the necessity to provide end users with a consistent and coherent view of patient's data, has been largely reported. In order to attempt this goal, systems need to perform semantic integration. We propose a pragmatic way to describe the semantics of the elements of a database, based on a bottom-up three steps process: 1. a back documentation of the elements of the system from their description contained in the data catalog of the database 2. a first semantic extension to transform a data catalog into a data dictionary 3. a second semantic extension to create a dictionary of the medical concepts from a data dictionary. This dictionary of concepts can be considered as the final result of "semantic integration". It contains a set of entities directly understandable by the end users. These entities are deduced or built from the elements collected and characterized in the data dictionary. This work reports the conceptual analysis and the implementation of such a data dictionary.

Database Management Systems↗

PubMed1997

[Implementation of a continuous quality improvement program in transfusion medicine].

The transfusion safety is one of the themes of National Quality Assurance Programme 1995/1996 (National Agency for the Promotion of Medical Evaluation-ANDEM/Direction des Hôpitaux (National Hospital Authority)). The Quality Assurance Programme (QAP) in transfusion medicine of our University Hospital has been selected. The QAP is a prospective and normative programme, in which all the actors of the transfusion process are involved. The goals are: i) to assure the quality and the safety of the blood products delivered all along the chain leading to blood or blood components transfusion; ii) the guarantee of the exhaustiveness and the quality of information about the transfusion process that are used to mark out blood products; iii) the standardization of the different steps and the creation of "tools" in order to control the application of written procedures.

Blood Transfusion↗

PubMed1997

[Public health education integrated in hospital. An internship proposal, "Medical information and pharmacology"].

According to a recent circular reforming french medical studies, we propose a teaching of medical information and pharmacology in situ within hospital instructions. Students could acquire an investigation methodology on the medicine economy. It will cover in four sessions the succeeding stages of medical information processing and be subject to an assessment: case studies and appreciation on student's, instruction record. By combining public health teaching with clinical practice, our project promotes its development in contact with other learnings and activities such as clinical research.

Electronic Data Processing↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Gallbladder volume in adults and its relationship to age, sex, body mass index, body surface area and gallstones. An epidemiologic study in a nonselected population in France.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The role of a large gallbladder volume with regard to a predisposition for gallstones is unknown. It is possible that an increase in gallbladder volume could result in impaired gallbladder motility and bile stasis. We looked for factors affecting gallbladder volume in a random population in the southeast of France. METHODS: To assess the relationship between gallbladder volume and gallstones, 528 subjects over the age of 30 were studied (72 with lithiasis). Age, sex, body mass index, body surface area and gallbladder volume were collected for each subject. A linear regression analysis was performed to look for significant variables. RESULTS: The overall adjusted prevalence of cholelithiasis was 13.9% in our population. On linear regression analysis, two variables (age and surface area) were found to be independently correlated with gallbladder volume. Gallbladder volume was significantly increased in subjects over 50 years (p < 0.001). There was a positive correlation between gallbladder volume and body surface area (r = 0. 33, p < 0.001). In this study, the presence or absence of gallstones did not significantly affect the gallbladder volume. CONCLUSIONS: We report that there is dilatation of the gallbladder with age and with an increase in body surface area. Whether this could represent risk factors for the occurrence of gallstone remains uncertain.

Adult↗