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We report on a query language, called PROXIMAL, for the efficient specification of complex queries over biological sequences. We present a data model for asking complex and structured questions of biological sequences, and show how the query language can be used. In addition, we describe a visual query metaphor intended for a biologist-friendly front end to the PROXIMAL query language.
The paper describes a new object-oriented biomedical continuous system modelling language (OOBSML). It is fully object-oriented and supports model inheritance, encapsulation, and model component instantiation and behaviour polymorphism. Besides the traditional differential and algebraic equation expressions the language includes also formal expressions for documenting models and defining model quantity types and quantity units. It supports explicit definition of model input-, output- and state quantities, model components and component connections. The OOBSML model compiler produces self-contained, independent, executable model components that can be instantiated and used within other OOBSML models and/or stored within model and model component libraries. In this way complex models can be structured as multilevel, multi-component model hierarchies. Technically the model components produced by the OOBSML compiler are executable computer code objects based on distributed object and object request broker technology. This paper includes both the language tutorial and the formal language syntax and semantic description.
The Arden Syntax for Medical Logic Modules standard language for knowledge-based computer systems is described. Knowledge systems can use computerized patient data in decision-making. Although they have the potential to reduce adverse drug events and infection rates, improve drug dosing, and decrease the cost of care, knowledge systems have not yet reached the average patient. Arden Syntax for Medical Logic Modules is the standard language for defining clinical decision rules that drive alerts, reminders, clinical guidelines, and data interpretations. Each medical logic module (MLM) in an Arden Syntax knowledge base is designed to make one type of decision. MLMs usually represent either rules that can be encoded, such as generating a warning that the potassium concentration is decreasing in a patient taking digoxin, or complex decision trees for individual patient care plans and clinical protocols. An MLM contains maintenance slots (title, file name, version, originating institution, author, date, specialist, validation information), library slots (stating the MLM's purpose and providing keywords for searching), and knowledge slots (containing the "essence" of the MLM). Arden Syntax is receiving growing support from the medical and information systems communities as the standard language for medical knowledge systems, but legal, ethical, regulatory, and ownership issues remain. If pharmacy is to grow and prosper as a knowledge profession, it should adopt an accepted standard language for representing active, applied knowledge in computer systems.
1. The use of standardized nursing language is important to the advancement of nursing knowledge and practice. The standardization of nursing diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes provides a means for collecting and analyzing large clinical databases. 2. The occupational health nurse has a clear role in developing health and safety programs. Standardized language using North American Nursing Diagnosis Association diagnoses, nursing outcomes classification, and nursing intervention classification can be incorporated into these programs. 3. The use of standardized taxonomies in the primary prevention of cumulative trauma disorders demonstrates how these systems are integrated into the documentation of the nursing process in a nursing care plan.
LabVIEW is a graphic object-oriented computer language developed to facilitate hardware/software communication. LabVIEW is a complete computer language that can be used like Basic, FORTRAN, or C. In LabVIEW one creates virtual instruments that aesthetically look like real instruments but are controlled by sophisticated computer programs. There are several levels of data acquisition VIs that make it easy to control data flow, and many signal processing and analysis algorithms come with the software as premade VIs. In the classroom, the similarity between virtual and real instruments helps students understand how information is passed between the computer and attached instruments. The software may be used in the absence of hardware so that students can work at home as well as in the classroom. This article demonstrates how LabVIEW can be used to control data flow between computers and instruments, points out important features for signal processing and analysis, and shows how virtual instruments may be used in place of physical instrumentation. Applications of LabVIEW to the teaching laboratory are also discussed, and a plausible course outline is given.
Early experiences at Wisconsin with analog and analog-hybrid modeling of physiological systems (particularly cardiovascular systems) were successful in arousing student interest and led to later applications of modeling in research work by these students. Beginning in the early '80s, all-digital modeling was used in the senior-grad course ECE 620, using the ACSL language, and applications were included in compartment modeling of pharmacokinetics, modeling of cardiovascular and respiratory pressure-flow and transport, thermoregulation, and prosthetic systems. In this course initial model programs of some complexity (up to 30 differential equations, some of them nonlinear) were provided to the students so that they could easily begin to work with models of meaningful size. The use of module and "multiple model" schemes appear to make this approach successful, and extension to more advanced models is possible.
Pictures often are used in language intervention programs to elicit selected linguistic constructions or to teach concepts to children below the age of 5 years. However,, preschool children frequently are egocentric in their perceptions and in their language, and are unable to view a situation from a perspective other than their own. This study presented children who were in Piaget's preoperational period of development with pictures accompanied by a one-word descriptive phrase and asked the children to explain what was meant by the utterance. It was found that the younger child generally was more egocentric in his interpretations, and his responses reflected less attention to the situational cues present in the picture. The results are discussed in light of common clinical practices of using pictorial stimuli for children with language problems.
For the purpose of calculation of NMR and other physiocochemical properties of nucleic acids, a computer program in FORTRAN language has been written. This program provides the printout of the Cartesian and cylindrical coordinates of all atoms of a double-stranded helix of nucleic acid in either A, A' or B conformation with any specified base sequence up to 50 nucleotides or longer. In addition, the interatomic distances between any two atoms or distances (with both perpendicular and parallel components) from the centers of the base rings to any atom in the helix can be calculated. This information has been used for the calculation of the ring current effects of the 1H chemical shift of two short helices. Satisfactory agreement has been found in the comparison between the present data and that obtained from model construction and from the table prepared by Arter and Schmidt. The structure of the helix can also be illustrated in graphic form on a Tektronix 4006 CRT terminal. The presentation can be manipulated, such as selection, enlargement, translation and rotation.
Language is initially a social or communicative event that develops from the nonverbal communication system existing between caretaker and child. While language in an adult speaker is used for reasons other than social communication, the communication function is the primary source for language acquistion, other language functions being derivatives of this basic function. A few studies were cited which suggest that the normal process of language acquisition may be conceived heuristically in terms of an ethological or psychosoical framework. This ethological approach to language acquisition suggests that noncognitive, interpersonal factors may be major contributors to the slow pace of language development among mentally retarded and autistic children. The implications of this approach were discussed in terms of the design of language-intervention programs.
The relationship of symbolic play behavior, general cognitive functioning and language in 108 mentally retarded children was studied. Correlations between play and language measures were found with mental age partialed out. Clinical implications for planning language facilitation programs with mentally retarded children are discussed.
Munsinger and Douglass (Child Development, 1976, 47, 40-50) used the Assessment of Children's Language Comprehension and the Northwestern Syntax Screening Test as measures of syntactic ability to investigate the heritability factor in language acquisition. By comparing the concordance of scores of twins and siblings, they concluded that heritability was the important variable in test performance (h2 = .79) and that environmental influences were not much over, 10. In the present critique, weaknesses regarding test measures are pointed out, and the validity of these measures for the ages of the children used in the study is questioned. It is also emphasized that the question of environmental effects in normal circumstances remains unquantified, and research indicates that language intervention programs with deficient populations can be beneficial.
UNLABELLED: Software is presented for the calculation of packing angles and geometry of helical secondary structure elements in protein structures. AVAILABILITY: C language source code and documentation is available from http://www.bioinformatics.leeds.ac.uk.
In this paper, the authors describe a biomedical digital-signal interchange format. The format supports both raw and processed data, multiple segments, several signal structures and representations, and an open architecture. Its versatility and adaptability allows the software to take advantage of any particular features of the acquisition hardware. The format has been used and improved in routine work during a five-year period involving the cooperation between two hospitals and one engineering research center. In order to support the format, an object oriented C language library has been developed and is also shortly described.
Java, a new object-oriented computing language related to C++, is receiving considerable attention due to its use in creating network-sharable, platform-independent software modules (known as "applets") that can be used with the World Wide Web. The Web has rapidly become the most commonly used information-retrieval tool associated with the global computer network known as the Internet, and Java has the potential to further accelerate the Web's application to medical problems. Java's potentially wide acceptance due to its Web association and its own technical merits also suggests that it may become a popular language for non-Web-based, object-oriented computing.
We have developed a graphic format for the display of pulmonary function test results. Patient test results appear as a series of horizontal bar graphs. Each bar length is proportional to the test result and is printed over the normal ranges. This format allows rapid recognition of individually abnormal values. We have also grouped bars to create distinctive patterns characteristic of obstructive or restrictive lung disease. A computer program generates a custom form for each patient, displaying the results and ranges only for the specific test performed on that individual. No preprinting of forms is required. Written in the BASIC computer language, this program was designed to be flexible. A change of program parameters requires only minor program modification. In addition, because of its simplicity, our program can be implemented on almost any computer printer.
OBJECTIVES: To test the clinical nature and diversity of specific language impairment (SLI) in Spanish individuals, in the framework of the neuropsycholinguistic model of Chevrie-Muller and the classification of Rapin and Allen. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty two language impaired children with normal intelligence and audition have been followed during a mean period of 3 years 7 months in preschool and school ages; all of them have participated in an intervention program for language abilities. The evolutive neuropsychological evaluation at our hospital has comprised measurement of general cognitive abilities, formal (phonology, vocabulary, syntax) and pragmatic aspects of language. RESULTS: Phonological and syntactic abilities are the better evolutive predictors. The group clinical profiles, in general, fill into the clustering system proposed by Rapin and Allen, but mixed transitional forms are observed in individuals. Also in six patients a transition from one to another clinical form have been observed; in these subjects, mixed phonological syntactical syndrome is an obligate step during their evolutive changes; these changes can be attributed to natural evolutive processes and/or to effects of intervention. CONCLUSION: Our results permit hypothesize that the spectrum of SLI is an unique basic disorder whose clinical manifestations (interindividual and intraindividual during evolution) can be diverse in form and severity. This clinical interpretation is reinforced by the results of recent publications showing that members of the same familial group with identical genetic mutation had different forms of SLI.
The use of manual communication systems with individuals classified as mentally retarded is increasing; the extent to which that therapy is guided by systematic practices and principles was investigated. An analysis of the research literature suggested that a variety of sign systems have been used with retarded individuals of varying ages. The application or success or failure of that therapy does not seem to be determined by a particular treatment model and/or set of guidelines. Implications for development of language-training programs were discussed.
Recent research has focused on increasing the power of medical information systems by incorporating time into the database system. A problem with much of this research is that it fails to differentiate between historical time and future time. The concept of bitemporal lifespan presented in this paper overcomes this deficiency. Bitemporal lifespan supports the concepts of valid time and transaction time and allows the integration of past, current, and future information in a unified model. The concept of bitemporal lifespan is presented within the framework of the Extended Entity-Relationship model. This model permits the characterization of temporal properties of entities, relationships, and attributes. Bitemporal constraints are defined that must hold between entities forming "isa" hierarchies and between entities and relationships. Finally, bitemporal extensions are presented for database query languages in order to provide natural high-level operators for bitemporal query expressions.