Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Database”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 433 records · Page 24Linked to original sources

Carcinogenicity evaluations and ongoing studies: the IARC databases.

Many thousands of chemicals are produced industrially and many more occur naturally. Information on the toxicology of these chemicals is often minimal or absent. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has published evaluations of the carcinogenic risk to humans of over 700 chemicals, groups of chemicals, and complex mixtures as a regular series of monographs. A database has been created containing summaries of all the relevant epidemiological, animal carcinogenicity, and other relevant biological data for each chemical or mixture evaluated. Additional databases have been created for ongoing epidemiological studies of cancer in humans and for long-term carcinogenicity studies in rodents, as well as a database containing information on genotoxic and related effects of chemicals. Some of these databases have been published in print form. IARC now plans to publish them electronically, together with other databases, in the form of a CDROM (compact disk, read-only memory). The objective will be to make the entire IARC database of cancer information as widely available as possible in an integrated format conducive to efficient and combined exploitation of all the component databases.

Animals↗

Flicker image comparison of 2-D gel images for putative protein identification using the 2DWG meta-database.

With the availability of two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis databases that have many characterized proteins, it may be possible to compare a researcher's gel images with those in relevant databases. This may lead to the putative identification of unknown protein spots in a researcher's gel with those characterized in a given database, saving the researcher time and money by suggesting monoclonal antibodies to try in confirming these identifications. We have developed two tools to help with this comparison: (1) Flicker, http:/(/)www.lecb.ncifcrf.gov/flicker/, a Java applet program running in the researcher's Web browser, to visually compare their gels against gels on the Internet; and (2) the 2DWG meta-database, http:/(/)www.lecb.ncifcrf.gov/2dwgDB /, a searchable database of locations of 2-D electrophoretic gel images found on the Internet. Recent additions to Flicker allow users to click on a protein spot in a gel that is linked to a federated 2D gel database, such as SWISS-2DPAGE, and have it retrieve a report from that Web database for that protein.

Data Display↗

Genome-wide evaluation of the public SNP databases.

The public SNP databases are an important resource for groups performing genetic association and linkage studies. Both academic and commercial groups are developing large numbers of genotyping assays for SNPs in candidate genes or spread across the genome. These databases now contain in excess of 6 million SNPs that have been generated using a large number of methods and cohorts. Today, however, only a small fraction of these SNPs are well characterized and validated. The latest release of dbSNP contains approximately 3.7 million non-redundant entries, only 0.5 million of which are validated, and 0.2 million of which have frequency information. Users of these databases have several common questions. How many of the SNPs are real? What is the frequency spectrum of the SNPs in these databases? What is the distribution picture of these SNPs across different ethnic and geographical populations? What fraction of the total number of SNPs is already captured by these databases? In order to address these questions, we compared the public SNPs against a well-characterized collection of gene-centric SNPs that we have developed. From this comparison, we find that > 50% of high frequency SNPs in the genome (> 20% minor allele frequency) have already been captured by these databases. The coverage drops dramatically below frequencies of 10%. At high frequencies, there is no sampling bias with respect to ethnicity or to regions of the genome. Finally, a relatively large fraction (> 40%) of SNPs in these databases were not seen in our study, which means that they are either of very low frequency, mismapped, or not polymorphic at all.

Databases, Genetic↗

The role of insurance claims databases in drug therapy outcomes research.

The use of insurance claims databases in drug therapy outcomes research holds great promise as a cost-effective alternative to post-marketing clinical trials. Claims databases uniquely capture information about episodes of care across healthcare services and settings. They also facilitate the examination of drug therapy effects on cohorts of patients and specific patient subpopulations. However, there are limitations to the use of insurance claims databases including incomplete diagnostic and provider identification data. The characteristics of the population included in the insurance plan, the plan benefit design, and the variables of the database itself can influence the research results. Given the current concerns regarding the completeness of insurance claims databases, and the validity of their data, outcomes research usually requires original data to validate claims data or to obtain additional information. Improvements to claims databases such as standardisation of claims information reporting, addition of pertinent clinical and economic variables, and inclusion of information relative to patient severity of illness, quality of life, and satisfaction with provided care will enhance the benefit of such databases for outcomes research.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗

Developing a computer database for registering and monitoring patients on chronic drug therapy to determine drug consumption: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: To develop a computerised database for monitoring actual drug consumption by a group of patients on chronic drug therapy and pilot the database to assess its effectiveness. SETTING: Community based in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe. SUBJECTS: 434 patients with asthma, hypertension, epilepsy, Diabetes mellitus or multiple conditions whose medical information was entered into the database. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Accessibility of information on the exact amount of drugs being utilised by patients. RESULTS: It was possible to determine the amount of drugs being consumed by the patients on chronic drug therapy from the database. Additional information on patient demographic data as well as adverse drug reactions could be compiled from that basic data. The database could also be used to follow up patients and record any changes in their treatment regimens and other relevant clinical information. CONCLUSION: It is feasible to create a database for monitoring actual drug consumption by patients on chronic drug therapy as a way of forecasting drug requirements accurately. Such a database has more advantages over the current methods used to estimate drug requirements. It could also be very useful as an information resource centre for nation-wide use.

Chronic Disease↗

The extraction of quality-of-care clinical indicators from State health department administrative databases.

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether three proposed quality-of-care indicators (unplanned readmissions, hospital-acquired bacteraemia, and postoperative wound infection) can be accurately identified from State health department databases. DESIGN: Algorithms were applied to State health department databases to maximise the identification of individuals potentially positive for each indicator. Records of these patients were then examined to determine the percentage of cases that met the precise indicator definitions. SETTING: 10 public, acute-care hospitals from Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. Data from the 1994-95 and 1995-96 financial years were collected. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals 18 years of age or older who were identified from State health department administrative databases as potentially meeting the indicator criteria. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The proportion of screened cases that met the precise indicator definitions, and the elements of the indicator definitions which could not be extracted from the administrative databases. RESULTS: The proportions of cases confirmed by medical record review to be positive for the indicator events were 76.3% for unplanned readmissions within 28 days, 20% for hospital-acquired bacteraemia, 43.5% for wound infections after clean surgery, and 34.8% for wound infections after contaminated surgery. The clinical elements of each indicator definition were not easily extracted from the administrative databases. CONCLUSIONS: The three proposed clinical indicators could not be extracted from current State health department databases without an extensive process of secondary medical record review. If administrative databases are to be used for assessing quality of care, more systematic recording of data is needed.

Algorithms↗

Identifying diabetes mellitus or heart disease among health maintenance organization members: sensitivity, specificity, predictive value, and cost of survey and database methods.

We conducted a study of the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and cost of two methods of identifying diagnosed diabetes mellitus or heart disease among members of a health maintenance organization (HMO). Among 3186 adult HMO members who were attending one primary care clinic, 2326 were reached for a telephone survey (efficiency = 0.73). Among these members, 1991 answered standardized questions to ascertain whether they had diabetes or heart disease (corrected response rate = 0.85). Linkage was then made to computerized diagnostic databases. By means of both a database method and a survey method, the 1976 members with complete data for analysis were classified as having or not having diabetes or heart disease. When results with the two methods disagreed, charts were reviewed to confirm the presence or absence of diabetes or heart disease. Diabetes was identified among 4.7% of adult members, and heart disease was identified among 3.7%. Identification of diabetes differed between the database method and the survey method (sensitivity 0.91 vs 0.98, specificity 0.99 vs 0.99, positive predictive value 0.94 vs 0.83). Identification of heart attach history was similar for the database method and the survey method (sensitivity 0.89 vs 0.95, specificity 0.99 vs 0.99, positive predictive value 0.79 vs 0.81). The cost of obtaining data was $13.50 per member for the survey method and $0.30 per member for the database method. Database methods or survey methods of identifying selected chronic diseases among HMO members may be acceptable for various purposes, but database identification methods appear to be less expensive and provide information on a higher proportion of HMO members than do survey methods. Accurate identification of chronic diseases among patients supports clinic-level measures for clinical improvement, research, and accountability.

Adult↗

Designing an international industrial hygiene database of exposures among workers in the asphalt industry.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this project was to construct a database of exposure measurements which would be used to retrospectively assess the intensity of various exposures in an epidemiological study of cancer risk among asphalt workers. METHODS: The database was developed as a stand-alone Microsoft Access 2.0 application, which could work in each of the national centres. Exposure data included in the database comprised measurements of exposure levels, plus supplementary information on production characteristics which was analogous to that used to describe companies enrolled in the study. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The database has been successfully implemented in eight countries, demonstrating the flexibility and data security features adequate to the task. The database allowed retrieval and consistent coding of 38 data sets of which 34 have never been described in peer-reviewed scientific literature. We were able to collect most of the data intended. As of February 1999 the database consisted of 2007 sets of measurements from persons or locations. The measurements appeared to be free from any obvious bias. CONCLUSIONS: The methodology embodied in the creation of the database can be usefully employed to develop exposure assessment tools in epidemiological studies.

Data Collection↗

[Surveillance of communicable diseases using a computer database of reported cases].

Epidemiology services during the surveillance of communicable diseases collects of different sorts of data, which are used for an analysis of epidemiologic situation. Those data are the starting point for timeline control and preventive activities. Data processing of notified communicable diseases cases provides information on types of diseases, number of cases, time and place of their occurrence. Manual data processing, used till 1993, was slow, unreliable and considerably decreased the efficiency of epidemiology service activities. In this paper we have set the hypothesis that is possible to form a computerized database with the following aims: to form user friendly computerized database model for those without knowledge in using computers: to get output spread sheets with information needed for epidemiologic situation analyses at any time. Database was developed in 1993 and has been used as source of the information in epidemiologic diagnosis process. The significant accuracy, reliability, timelines, and shortening of the time of data processing was achieved. The database can also serve as the initial component for designing an epidemiologic services information network in Belgrade county. In designing such a network it is necessary to form the additional databases of isolated infectious agents and their drug resistance, database of health status of persons under surveillance and database of environmental and sanitary condition in children and youth facilities.

Communicable Disease Control↗

The Southern Alberta Renal Program database: a prototype for patient management and research initiatives.

The Southern Alberta Renal Program (SARP) database was developed to respond to an urgent need for local information on clinical outcomes, laboratory information, and health care costs, and to enable our local renal program to monitor the implementation of established clinical practice guidelines. The database captures detailed demographic, clinical, and laboratory information and is unique by also capturing comorbidity, health-related quality of life and costing information for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in southern Alberta, storing the information in one common database. By collecting information on patient comorbidity, health outcomes and costs, the SARP database has enabled many quality assurance initiatives as well as research opportunities for projects involving patients with ESRD. Due to the availability of links with other available local clinical and administrative databases, information is collected with a minimal need for manual data entry. This type of database is a method by which health programs could improve the quality of patient care. Programs caring for patients with chronic medical conditions such as ESRD should examine how computer databases could assist in clinical care and improve the efficiency with which that care is delivered to their patients.

Acute Kidney Injury↗

Data, knowledge and method bases in chemical sciences. Part IV. Current status in databases.

Computer readable databases have become an integral part of chemical research right from planning data acquisition to interpretation of the information generated. The databases available today are numerical, spectral and bibliographic. Data representation by different schemes--relational, hierarchical and objects--is demonstrated. Quality index (QI) throws light on the quality of data. The objective, prospects and impact of database activity on expert systems are discussed. The number and size of corporate databases available on international networks crossed manageable number leading to databases about their contents. Subsets of corporate or small databases have been developed by groups of chemists. The features and role of knowledge-based or intelligent databases are described.

Artificial Intelligence↗

Evaluation of five full-text drug databases by pharmacy students, faculty, and librarians: do the groups agree?

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to assess the usefulness of five full-text drug databases as evaluated by medical librarians, pharmacy faculty, and pharmacy students at an academic health center. Study findings and recommendations are offered as guidance to librarians responsible for purchasing decisions. METHODS: Four pharmacy students, four pharmacy faculty members, and four medical librarians answered ten drug information questions using the databases AHFS Drug Information (STAT!Ref); DRUGDEX (Micromedex); eFacts (Drug Facts and Comparisons); Lexi-Drugs Online (Lexi-Comp); and the PDR Electronic Library (Micromedex). Participants noted whether each database contained answers to the questions and evaluated each database on ease of navigation, screen readability, overall satisfaction, and product recommendation. RESULTS: While each study group found that DRUGDEX provided the most direct answers to the ten questions, faculty members gave Lexi-Drugs the highest overall rating. Students favored eFacts. The faculty and students found the PDR least useful. Librarians ranked DRUGDEX the highest and AHFS the lowest. The comments of pharmacy faculty and students show that these groups preferred concise, easy-to-use sources; librarians focused on the comprehensiveness, layout, and supporting references of the databases. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the importance of consulting with primary clientele before purchasing databases. Although there are many online drug databases to consider, present findings offer strong support for eFacts, Lexi-Drugs, and DRUGDEX.

Academic Medical Centers↗

[The 'Beijing clinical database' on severe acute respiratory syndrome patients: its design, process, quality control and evaluation].

OBJECTIVE: To develop a large database on clinical presentation, treatment and prognosis of all clinical diagnosed severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases in Beijing during the 2003 "crisis", in order to conduct further clinical studies. METHODS: The database was designed by specialists, under the organization of the Beijing Commanding Center for SARS Treatment and Cure, including 686 data items in six sub-databases: primary medical-care seeking, vital signs, common symptoms and signs, treatment, laboratory and auxiliary test, and cost. All hospitals having received SARS inpatients were involved in the project. Clinical data was transferred and coded by trained doctors and data entry was carried out by trained nurses, according to a uniformed protocol. A series of procedures had been taken before the database was finally established which included programmed logic checking, digit-by-digit check on 5% random sample, data linkage for transferred cases, coding of characterized information, database structure standardization, case reviewe by computer program according to SARS Clinical Diagnosis Criteria issued by the Ministry of Health, and exclusion of unqualified patients. RESULTS: The database involved 2148 probable SARS cases in accordant with the clinical diagnosis criteria, including 1291 with complete records. All cases and record-complete cases showed an almost identical distribution in sex, age, occupation, residence areas and time of onset. The completion rate of data was not significantly different between the two groups except for some items on primary medical-care seeking. Specifically, the data completion rate was 73% - 100% in primary medical-care seeking, 90% in common symptoms and signs, 100% for treatment, 98% for temperature, 90% for pulse, 100% for outcomes and 98% for costs in hospital. CONCLUSION: The number of cases collected in the Beijing Clinical Database of SARS Patients was fairly complete. Cases with complete records showed that they could serve as excellent representatives of all cases. The completeness of data was quite satisfactory with primary clinical items which allowed for further clinical studies.

China↗

A comparative study of six European databases of medically oriented Web resources.

OBJECTIVES: The paper describes six European medically oriented databases of Web resources, pertaining to five quality-controlled subject gateways, and compares their performance. METHOD: The characteristics, coverage, procedure for selecting Web resources, record structure, searching possibilities, and existence of user assistance were described for each database. Performance indicators for each database were obtained by means of searches carried out using the key words, "myocardial infarction." RESULTS: Most of the databases originated in the 1990s in an academic or library context and include all types of Web resources of an international nature. Five databases use Medical Subject Headings. The number of fields per record varies between three and nineteen. The language of the search interfaces is mostly English, and some of them allow searches in other languages. In some databases, the search can be extended to Pubmed. Organizing Medical Networked Information, Catalogue et Index des Sites Médicaux Francophones, and Diseases, Disorders and Related Topics produced the best results. CONCLUSIONS: The usefulness of these databases as quick reference resources is clear. In addition, their lack of content overlap means that, for the user, they complement each other. Their continued survival faces three challenges: the instability of the Internet, maintenance costs, and lack of use in spite of their potential usefulness.

Databases, Bibliographic↗

[A new database system for radiological reports].

We have designed and developed a new database system to facilitate automatic feedback of the content of radiology reports to radiologists. The prototype of this database system has been implemented in the RGSS-IDJ, a developmental computer system that applies artificial intelligence methods to a reporting system. This prototype system was constructed to test the feasibility of overcoming the limitations of conventional database systems. The new database system is based on our semantic model for radiology reports and is able to treat data with unnormalized relations. Operations specific to our database system include the ability to acquire information about a set of reports that contains any semantic expression included in the lexicon and the ability to obtain the expressions that belong to a set of several semantic expressions in the reports. Thus, our new database system will offer a more powerful tool for analyzing the content of reports than conventional database systems.

Databases, Bibliographic↗

A virtual repository approach to clinical and utilization studies: application in mammography as alternative to a national database.

A national mammography database was proposed, based on a centralized architecture for collecting, monitoring, and auditing mammography data. We have developed an alternative architecture relying on Internet-based distributed queries to heterogeneous databases. This architecture creates a "virtual repository", or a federated database which is constructed dynamically, for each query and makes use of data available in legacy systems. It allows the construction of custom-tailored databases at individual sites that can serve the dual purposes of providing data (a) to researchers through a common mammography repository and (b) to clinicians and administrators at participating institutions. We implemented this architecture in a prototype system at the Brigham and Women's Hospital to show its feasibility. Common queries are translated dynamically into database-specific queries, and the results are aggregated for immediate display or download by the user. Data reside in two different databases and consist of structured mammography reports, coded per BIRADS Standardized Mammography Lexicon, as well as pathology results. We prospectively collected data on 213 patients, and showed that our system can perform distributed queries effectively. We also implemented graphical exploratory analysis tools to allow visualization of results. Our findings indicate that the architecture is not only feasible, but also flexible and scaleable, constituting a good alternative to a national mammography database.

Computer Communication Networks↗

[The organization of the database and data flow in mass screening for cervical cancer].

Mass screening, because of very many potential patients, requires storing and processing a great deal of medical and population information. That is why it should be supported not only by human resources but by computer techniques as well. The example of a computer science application in medicine is Populations Database System (PDB) which was designed and implemented in the Department of Institute of Mother and Child in Białystok. The aim of this work is to evaluate PDB System's effectiveness in mass screening for cervical cancer. Population database contains several standard database files (DBF) and indexes. All the data is organized as a relational database. Every data relationship is at least in 1NF (first normal form). Functional dependency holds for the structures of database. Because of great variety of stored data it was essential to design how to enter information and how to combine database files to avoid redundancy. It has particular importance for the special functions of system, for example printing and sending individual invitation for an examination. In addition the system can realize all standard database functions and some statistical analysis. Special attention was paid to the problem of data security which is particularly important for medical information. Thanks to PDB system we could realize mass and active screening for cervical cancer in Białystok. Without computer techniques it would be impossible to store, process and interpret so much data.

Databases as Topic↗

DBGET/LinkDB: an integrated database retrieval system.

The integrated database retrieval system DBGET/LinkDB is the backbone of the Japanese GenomeNet service. DBGET is used to search and extract entries from a wide range of molecular biology databases, while LinkDB is used to search and compute links between entries in different databases. DBGET/LinkDB is designed to be a network distributed database system with an open architecture, which is suitable for incorporating local databases or establishing a specialized server environment. It also has an advantage of simple architecture allowing rapid daily updates of all the major databases. The WWW version of DBGET/LinkDB at GenomeNet is integrated with other search tools, such as BLAST, FASTA and MOTIF, and with local helper applications, such as RasMol. In addition to factual links between database entries, LinkDB is being extended to included similarity links and biological links toward computerization of logical reasoning processes.

Databases, Factual↗