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At least 595 records · Page 33Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Detection of Epstein-Barr virus-specific antibodies by an automated enzyme immunoassay. Performance evaluation and cost analysis.

Detection of antibodies to specific antigens of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been conventionally performed by an immunofluorescence assay (IFA). The procedure is labor intensive and expensive, and interpretation of results is subjective. We evaluated an automated enzyme immunoassay (EIA) (INC-STAR Corp., Stillwater, MN, USA) using 290 serum specimens submitted for the diagnosis of acute infection with EBV. Antibodies (IgG, IgM) to EBV capsid antigen and IgG class antibodies to the nuclear antigen of the virus were obtained using the LABOTECH Automated Microplate Analyzer (BioChem ImmunoSystems Inc., Allentown, PA, USA) and were compared to the antibody profile results obtained by IFA and Western blot as the "gold standard." For detection of acute infection with EBV (presence of IgM and IgG antibodies to the capsid antigen; absence of antibodies to the nuclear antigen), the EIA had 100% sensitivity (11 of 11) and 99% specificity (275 of 279) compared to IFA and Western blot results. A cost analysis of IFA and EIA procedures, based on an estimated annual volume of 12,000 procedures, indicated that $236,000 direct cost and 1,400 h technologist time could be saved with the automated compared with immunofluorescence procedure. The automated EIA for determination of antibodies provides cost-effective, accurate diagnosis of EBV infections in laboratories processing high numbers of specimens now processed by IFA.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed2003

Which clinical decisions benefit from automation? A task complexity approach.

OBJECTIVE: To describe a model for analysing complex medical decision making tasks and for evaluating their suitability for automation. METHOD: Assessment of a decision task's complexity in terms of the number of elementary information processes (EIPs) and the potential for cognitive effort reduction through EIP minimisation using an automated decision aid. RESULTS: The model consists of five steps: (1) selection of the domain and relevant tasks; (2) evaluation of the knowledge complexity for tasks selected; (3) identification of cognitively demanding tasks; (4) assessment of unaided and aided effort requirements for this task accomplishment; and (5) selection of computational tools to achieve this complexity reduction. The model is applied to the task of antibiotic prescribing in critical care and the most complex components of the task identified. Decision aids to support these components can provide a significant reduction of cognitive effort suggesting this is a decision task worth automating. CONCLUSION: We view the role of decision support for complex decision to be one of task complexity reduction, and the model described allows for task automation without lowering decision quality and can assist decision support systems developers.

Artificial Intelligence↗
PubMed2005

Use of a fully automated injector for self-administration of follitropin alpha in an IVF/ICSI programme.

Recombinant FSH (r-FSH) used for ovarian stimulation can currently be self-administered either by a conventional syringe or by a pen device. This randomized controlled trial compares the efficacy and convenience of a new, more sophisticated and fully automated injection device (Softinject(trade mark)) with the conventional syringe for r-FSH self-administration. A total of 300 women needing ovarian stimulation for IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection were randomized to the automated injector or the conventional syringe group. Patients of both groups had ovarian stimulation with follitropin alpha after pituitary desensitization with a gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonist. State anxiety score, overall pain score and pregnancy rate were chosen as the main outcome measures. Patients in the automated injector group showed lower state anxiety (P < 0.01) and overall pain (P < 0.01) scores and a comparable pregnancy rate per started cycle as compared with the conventional syringe group. They needed lower doses of r-FSH (P < 0.05) and their stimulation was shorter (P < 0.05). It is concluded that the use of a fully automated injector for r-FSH self-administration reduces pain and stress as compared with the conventional syringe. This device can be used for any subcutaneously administered drug employed in ovarian stimulation.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Microbiology of beef carcasses before and after slaughterline automation.

The bacterial status of beef carcasses at a commercial abattoir was monitored before and after slaughterline automation. Bacterial counts did not differ significantly overall (P greater than 0.05) between the original manual line and the automated line for either morning or afternoon slaughter. On the manual line counts in the morning were lower than those from carcasses slaughtered in the afternoon, but on the automated line there was no difference between morning and afternoon counts. Due to highly significant line X sample site interaction for both morning and afternoon counts, overall differences among sample sites were not found by analysis of variance. However, principal components analysis revealed a significant shift in bacterial contamination among some sites due to slaughterline changes. The incidence of Enterobacteriaceae increased marginally following automation.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1997

Automation of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry using fuzzy logic feedback control.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry is a sensitive and versatile method for biomolecular analysis which has potential for high-throughput screening in many applications. To obtain mass spectra of optimal quality, however, laser fluence is continuously adjusted during data acquisition to be close to the threshold level of ion production, requiring a skilled operator and several minutes of acquisition time per sample. Using real-time fuzzy logic control of the laser fluence, we here demonstrate that the acquisition of MALDI spectra can be automated without reduction of data quality. The control algorithm evaluates signal intensity and mass resolution of the base peak. It then regulates the laser fluence to keep the ion signal intensity within the dynamic range of the data acquisition hardware while maintaining high mass resolution. This fuzzy logic control system allows unattended data acquisition using either static ion extraction or delayed ion extraction MALDI. Even for difficult samples such as femtomole-level peptide mixtures, no significant reduction in data quality is observed, as compared to manually obtained spectra. Automated analysis of 78 chromatographic fractions with high mass accuracy demonstrates the utility of the method. The control algorithm has been combined with other software modules to completely automate database identification of proteins by their peptide mass maps. The success of fuzzy logic in MALDI automation suggests wider uses of this technique in mass spectrometry.

Automation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Maximizing automation in LC/MS high-throughput analysis and purification.

Here, we describe a system for LC/MS-based analysis and purification of compounds aiming at the minimization of manual interference in the overall process. Key elements of the concept are automated identification of the target compounds, automated assignment of optimized preparative gradients for purification of the target compounds, and automated purity assessment of fractions with subsequent pooling of validated product fractions. Additional support is provided by an automated solvent and waste management system. One person can easily process 100-200 compounds on a 150-mg scale per day on that system, while still the maximization of purity and yield after purification is guaranteed. Reduced demands with respect to purity or yield can lead to significantly higher throughput numbers.

Automation↗
PubMed1998

Automation of patient dependency systems.

One of the most challenging decisions in resource allocations in hospitals is: how to allocate nursing duties on the basis of patients' needs? Patient Dependency Systems, in different forms, can be used to provide information for staffing decisions and budgetary developments. That is why Patient Dependency Systems are emerging as powerful tools in hospital management. It is anticipated that their use will grow, as hospitals everywhere come under pressure to reduce cost and improve the delivery and quality of health care to patients. Experience has shown that manual Patient Dependency Systems lack the ability to process and provide information fast enough to handle crisis situations. In addition, manual calculations are inefficient and are not free from human errors. However, the utilization of current advances in computing technology can overcome these disadvantages. Patient Dependency Systems are suitable for automation since their essence is too complex to handle manually. Furthermore, it is essential to automate the Patient Dependency Systems because of their critical role and their inherent complexity. In this paper, the automation of Patient Dependency Systems is presented. The development of Patient Dependency Automated Systems is shown to provide reliable and valid methods for evaluating the needs of patients in terms of the nursing effort required.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2000

A connectionist model of complacency and adaptive recovery under automation.

Automation is intended to reduce the demands on operators in complex environments, thereby enhancing overall system performance. Although automation usually reduces workload, it is often accompanied by a decline in monitoring performance, an effect known as complacency. The circumstances under which complacency occurs and how it can be prevented, for example by intermittently returning control to the operator, are empirically well understood. To date, that empirical knowledge has not been accompanied by strong psychological theory. This article presents a computational model of human performance under automation based on connectionist principles. The model is shown to explain several benchmark findings, among them the basic complacency effect; the effect of the variability of automation reliability on complacency; the effect of task complexity; and the effect of intermittently returning control to the operator.

Attention↗
PubMed1995

Systems used to automate medical libraries--analysis by type of library.

Analysis of data recorded in 626 questionnaires on systems used to automate medical libraries by type of library showed that academic and industrial libraries automated all serial and book functions to a greater degree that the other types of medical libraries (hospital, governmental, institutional and medical centre). Almost 75% of the academic libraries had automated some or all serial functions; 80% had automated some or all book functions. Half of the hospital, institutional and medical centre libraries (50-51%) performed all serial functions manually; 29-40% performed all book functions manually. No software was used consistently by all types of libraries to process serials or books. Mainframe or minicomputers were used more by academic libraries to process serials and books than personal computers.

Computer Systems↗
PubMed1999

Traditional ribotyping shows a higher discrimination than the automated RiboPrinter system in typing Vibrio cholerae O1.

Sixteen clinical Vibrio cholerae O1 strains from four different countries were selected for comparison by traditional ribotyping and an automated RiboPrinter system for identification and discrimination purposes. Automated ribotyping, which routinely uses the restriction enzyme EcoRI for typing all bacterial species, produced only five different ribotypes compared with 10 different EcoRI ribotypes obtained by the traditional method. Traditional and automated ribotyping using the restriction enzyme BglI, which is recommended for the ribotyping of V. cholerae, produced 10 and seven different ribotypes, respectively. The lower discrimination shown by the RiboPrinter system was caused mainly by an inability to differentiate closely located fragments due to a lower resolution and electrophoresis conditions, a parameter which cannot be changed in the automated system. The RiboPrinter system includes a database for bacterial identification. However, none of the V. cholerae O1 strains studied showed EcoRI ribotype patterns which matched any of the patterns included in the database. In conclusion, the existing RiboPrinter system is not adequate for taxonomic identification and classification of V. cholerae O1.

Automation↗
PubMed1998

Automated and manual assays for urinary crosslinks of collagen: which assay to use?

With the increasing demand for clinically useful biomarkers of bone turnover, a number of assays for the measurement of bone resorption markers have been developed. In the present study, automated (ACS: 180 DPD, Chiron Diagnostics, USA) and manual (DPD-ELISA, Pyrilinks-D, Metra Biosystems, USA) immunoassays for free DPD, and a manual immunoassay for the aminoterminal telopeptide of type I collagen (NTX, Osteomark, Ostex International, USA) were compared to the automated HPLC method for free DPD. Urine samples from a total of 538 healthy and diseased subjects aged 20 to 80 years were analyzed. The age and sex stratified reference ranges were essentially identical for the HPLC, ACS: 180 and the DPD-ELISA, but differed from the NTX assay. Individual values for free DPD as generated by HPLC and immunoassay techniques were highly correlated with each other, whereas correlations between assays measuring free and peptide-bound crosslink components were less pronounced. Precision of the automated techniques (HPLC and ACS: 180) was superior to that of the manual immunoassays. Disease-specific changes in crosslink excretion were similar for all assays and most pronounced in metastatic osteopathy, primary hyperparathyroidism and untreated Paget's disease of bone. We conclude that the automated assays for free DPD in urine, i.e. the HPLC and the ACS: 180 assay, show better analytical performance than the manual immunoassays studied. All techniques used in the present study appear to provide similar or identical clinical information. Therefore, the decision which assay to use largely depends on the laboratory set-up, the number of samples to be analysed, the turn-around time required, and the application for which the test should be used.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Use of an automated sequencer to determine the sequence specificity of DNA damage.

An automated sequencer was used to determine the sequence specificity of DNA damage caused by hedamycin in the plasmid pUC19 using a linear amplification/Taq DNA polymerase method. Previously, manual DNA sequencers have been in widespread use to investigate the sequence specificity of a DNA damaging agent. Manual DNA sequencers are restricted in the length of DNA sequence that can be read at base pair resolution for densitometry. An automated sequencer can greatly expand on the length of analysable DNA sequence. An additional important capability of the automated sequencer, is the ability to quantitate the intensity of damage at each base pair site. Thus we have used the automated sequencer to elucidate the sequence specificity of DNA damage for 300 bp. We have carried out an extended analysis of the sequence specificity of hedamycin DNA damage and found that the sequence 5'-cGt-3', tGt and cGg are preferentially damaged. The sequence specificity of cisplatin was also investigated.

Alkylating Agents↗
PubMed2001

A fully automated microscope bacterial enumeration system for studies of oral microbial ecology.

A fast and fully automated image analysis technique for the enumeration of fluorescence-labeled bacteria in oral sampleswas developed. This paper describes the system configuration, application strategy, automated operation, and initial validation experiments using fluorescent microspheres, bacterial cultures, in vitro grown biofilms and human dental plaque. Following a series of brief operator-controlled calibration steps, the technique automatically performs all necessary microscope operations (stage translation, focus, sampling and analysis) on slides with up to 48 wells for as many different samples. It quantifies bacteria from differential interference contrast images, images showing cells that had been labeled by immunofluorescence with monoclonal antibodies, or images with cells labeled by a fluorescent DNA stain. With all evaluated samples, close agreement between the automated system and the assessor's visual counts was observed. This novel automated image grabbing and analysis procedure is applicable to the enumeration of specific taxa in clinical samples by both immunofluorescence and fluorescent in situ hybridization.

Automation↗
PubMed1991

Effect of an automated sink on handwashing practices and attitudes in high-risk units.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of an automated sink on handwashing practices and attitudes of staff. DESIGN: Quasi-experimental crossover design. SETTING: Two high-risk patient care areas, one postanesthesia recovery room (Site 1), and one neonatal intensive care unit (Site 2) in two tertiary care hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: All patient care staff on study units; approximately 55 individuals. INTERVENTIONS: An automated sink was installed to replace one handwashing sink for about five weeks; the sink was then crossed-over for an equivalent time period to the other location. Handwashing practices of all unit staff were observed in three two-hour observation periods/week. Questionnaires were distributed to staff two weeks after sink installation and at the study's end. RESULTS: One thousand, six hundred ten handwashes were observed. Handwashing practices differed significantly by site. For both sites, hands were washed significantly better but significantly less often with the automated sink (all p less than .001). Staff expressed negative attitudes, however, about certain features of the sink, and these negative attitudes increased over the study period. CONCLUSIONS: Automated devices must be flexible enough to allow adjustments based on staff acceptance. Application of new technology to improve hand hygiene requires a multifaceted approach to behavior change.

Anesthesia Recovery Period↗
PubMed2003

Why people download the freeware AIDA v4.3a diabetes software program: a proof-of-concept semi-automated analysis.

AIDA is a diabetes-computing program freely available at www.2aida.org on the Web. The software is intended to serve as an educational support tool and can be used by anyone who has an interest in diabetes, whether they be patients, relatives, health-care professionals, or students. In previous "Diabetes Information Technology & WebWatch" columns various indicators of usage of the AIDA program have been reviewed, and various comments from users of the software have been documented. The purpose of this column is to overview a proof-of-concept semi-automated analysis about why people are downloading the latest version of the AIDA educational diabetes program. AIDA permits the interactive simulation of plasma insulin and blood glucose profiles for teaching, demonstration, self-learning, and research purposes. It has been made freely available, without charge, on the Internet as a noncommercial contribution to continuing diabetes education. Since its launch in 1996 over 300,000 visits have been logged at the main AIDA Website-www.2aida.org-and over 60,000 copies of the AIDA program have been downloaded free-of-charge. This column documents the results of a semi-automated analysis of comments left by Website visitors while they were downloading the AIDA software, before they had a chance to use the program. The Internet-based survey methodology and semi-automated analysis were both found to be robust and reliable. Over a 5-month period (from October 3, 2001 to February 28, 2002) 400 responses were received. During the corresponding period 1,770 actual visits were made to the Website survey page-giving a response rate to this proof-of-concept study of 22.6%. Responses were received from participants in over 54 countries-with nearly half of these (n = 194; 48.5%) originating from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada; 208 responses (52.0%) were received from patients with diabetes, 50 (12.5%) from doctors, 49 (12.3%) from relatives of patients, with fewer responses from students, diabetes educators, nurses, pharmacists, and other end users. The semi-automated analysis adopted for this study has re-affirmed the feasibility of using the Internet to obtain free-text comments, at no real cost, from a substantial number of medical software downloaders/users. The survey has also offered some insight into why members of the public continue to turn to the Internet for medical information. Furthermore it has provided useful information about why people are actually downloading the AIDA v4.3a interactive educational "virtual diabetes patient" simulator.

Automation↗
PubMed2004

An inexpensive, automated instrument for laser irradiation of cultured cells.

OBJECTIVE: Laser irradiation of cultured cells is a valuable technique for elucidating the mechanisms of low-level laser therapy, but is often tedious because of the need to manually change the position of the laser beam. Consequently, we developed a computer-based system that automatically moves a cell culture plate over a laser beam and times the exposure. BACKGROUND DATA: There are presently no commercial devices available for automated laser irradiation of cultured cells. Many investigators thus manually aim and time laser exposure, a time-consuming task that is prone to errors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used outdated, surplus computer components to construct a system for automated laser exposure of cultured cells. This design strategy makes the system quite inexpensive. RESULTS: Construction and operation of the system is described and an example of its use is presented. Alternate means of accomplishing automated laser irradiation are also presented. CONCLUSION: Inexpensive and relatively simple devices can be constructed for automated laser irradiation of cultured cells. These devices can eliminate the tedium and errors of manual laser exposure.

Automation↗
PubMed1994

Evaluation of automated reticulocyte counts and their reliability in the presence of Howell-Jolly bodies.

An automated reticulocyte procedure using a flow cytometer and the fluorescent dye thiazole orange was evaluated for clinical use. The mean reticulocyte count on 118 hematologically healthy adults was 1.56% (standard deviation [SD] 0.54), with virtually no difference in percentage between women and men. The mean absolute values were 68.4 x 10(9)/L (SD 24.6) and 75.7 x 10(9)/L (SD 27.2), respectively. When compared with the standard microscopic technique, the automated method showed excellent correlation (r = 0.98) and greatly improved precision (coefficient of variation [CV] 4.1%) over the manual method (CV 22.8%). Preanalytic storage of blood samples at 4 degrees C for up to 48 hours did not significantly affect results, nor did varying the incubation time of diluted samples from 1/2 to 2 hours. In a group of patients with appreciable numbers of Howell-Jolly bodies, automated reticulocyte counts were spuriously elevated. The difference between the manual and automated counts on these patients approximated the percentage of Howell-Jolly bodies observed on their Wright-Giemsa stained blood smears.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

The cost of production in cervical cytology: comparison of conventional and automated primary screening systems.

To thrive in a world of managed care and capitation, knowing the cost of production is critical, especially in cervical cytology. The relative costs of production for preparation and interpretation of cervical cytology for conventional manually read smears and a primary automated screening method were calculated in a university practice setting. The components were disposables, processing, screening, pathologist review, capital equipment, and facilities cost. The production cost for a conventional smear in our laboratory is $9.75, and the comparable production cost by a primary screening automated method would be $12.07, if it were approved for primary screening. Based on these calculations, an interactive automated method approved for primary screening would cost slightly more than conventional testing. Combinations of conventional and automated examinations (secondary screening systems) are not cost feasible unless the additional production expense can be passed through to the payers.

Automation↗