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Object-oriented design of medical imaging software.

A special software package for interactive display and manipulation of medical images was developed at the University Hospital of Geneva, as part of a hospital wide Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS). This software package, called Osiris, was especially designed to be easily usable and adaptable to the needs of noncomputer-oriented physicians. The Osiris software has been developed to allow the visualization of medical images obtained from any imaging modality. It provides generic manipulation tools, processing tools, and analysis tools more specific to clinical applications. This software, based on an object-oriented paradigm, is portable and extensible. Osiris is available on two different operating systems: the Unix X-11/OSF-Motif based workstations, and the Macintosh family.

Computer Communication Networks↗

Immunology resources on the World Wide Web.

The power of the World Wide Web (WWW) lies in its ability to disseminate up-to-date information that may not be available by other means. Increasing exposure of research scientists and clinicians, amongst others, to the Internet has, in turn, stimulated the available resources to multiply and become more accessible and useful. Here, we review WWW sites of particular interest to immunologists.

Academic Medical Centers↗

In silico ADME modelling 2: computational models to predict human serum albumin binding affinity using ant colony systems.

Modelling of in vitro human serum albumin (HSA) binding data of 94 diverse drugs and drug-like compounds is performed to develop global predictive models that are applicable to the whole medicinal chemistry space. For this aim, ant colony systems, a stochastic method along with multiple linear regression (MLR), is employed to exhaustively search and select multivariate linear equations, from a pool of 327 molecular descriptors. This methodology helped us to derive optimal quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) models based on five and six descriptors with excellent predictive power. The best five-descriptor model is based on Kier and Hall valence connectivity index--Order 5 (path), Auto-correlation descriptor (Broto-Moreau) weighted by atomic masses--Order 4, Auto-correlation descriptor (Broto-Moreau) weighted by atomic polarizabilities--Order 5, AlogP98, SklogS (calculated buffer water solubility) [R=0.8942, Q=0.86790, F=62.24 and SE=0.2626]; the best six-variable model is based on Kier and Hall valence connectivity index of Order 3 (cluster), Auto-correlation descriptor (Broto-Moreau) weighted by atomic masses--Order 4, Auto-correlation descriptor (Broto-Moreau) weighted by atomic polarizabilities--Order 5, Atomic-Level-Based AI topological descriptors--AIdsCH, AlogP98, SklogS (calculated buffer water solubility) [R=0.9128, Q=0.89220, F=64.09 and SE=0.2411]. From the analysis of the physical meaning of the selected descriptors, it is inferred that the binding affinity of small organic compounds to human serum albumin is principally dependent on the following fundamental properties: (1) hydrophobic interactions, (2) solubility, (3) size and (4) shape. Finally, as the models reported herein are based on computed properties, they appear to be a valuable tool in virtual screening, where selection and prioritisation of candidates is required.

Algorithms↗

Design and implementation of a smart card based healthcare information system.

Smart cards are used in information technologies as portable integrated devices with data storage and data processing capabilities. As in other fields, smart card use in health systems became popular due to their increased capacity and performance. Their efficient use with easy and fast data access facilities leads to implementation particularly widespread in security systems. In this paper, a smart card based healthcare information system is developed. The system uses smart card for personal identification and transfer of health data and provides data communication via a distributed protocol which is particularly developed for this study. Two smart card software modules are implemented that run on patient and healthcare professional smart cards, respectively. In addition to personal information, general health information about the patient is also loaded to patient smart card. Health care providers use their own smart cards to be authenticated on the system and to access data on patient cards. Encryption keys and digital signature keys stored on smart cards of the system are used for secure and authenticated data communication between clients and database servers over distributed object protocol. System is developed on Java platform by using object oriented architecture and design patterns.

Computer Communication Networks↗

Providing longitudinal health care information with the new German Health Card--a pilot system to track patient pathways.

The paper describes an application system that employs the new German Health Card to provide a technical solution for tracking patient pathways. The aim is to improve the flow and availability of health care information. We used standard software components and technologies in order to facilitate interoperability with multiple system platforms and allow for customizing as the specification process for the German Health Card is not yet completed. Every health care provider contact is recorded on the card and associated medical documents are stored in a central database and can be retrieved via Web Services running on a central application server. The patient pathway can thus be chronologically tracked by the clinician and relevant longitudinal information is made accessible quickly. Our system for tracking patient pathways with the new German Health Card can be regarded as a first example of its great future potential.

Computer Communication Networks↗

W3MAMCAT: a world wide web based tool for mammillary and catenary compartmental modeling and expert system distinguishability.

W(3)MAMCAT is a new web-based and interactive system for building and quantifying the parameters or parameter ranges of n-compartment mammillary and catenary model structures, with input and output in the first compartment, from unstructured multiexponential (sum-of-n-exponentials) models. It handles unidentifiable as well as identifiable models and, as such, provides finite parameter interval solutions for unidentifiable models, whereas direct parameter search programs typically do not. It also tutorially develops the theory of model distinguishability for same order mammillary versus catenary models, as did its desktop application predecessor MAMCAT+. This includes expert system analysis for distinguishing mammillary from catenary structures, given input and output in similarly numbered compartments. W(3)MAMCAT provides for universal deployment via the internet and enhanced application error checking. It uses supported Microsoft technologies to form an extensible application framework for maintaining a stable and easily updatable application. Most important, anybody, anywhere, is welcome to access it using Internet Explorer 6.0 over the internet for their teaching or research needs. It is available on the Biocybernetics Laboratory website at UCLA: www.biocyb.cs.ucla.edu.

Algorithms↗

Adaptive properties of living beings: proposal for a generic mechanism. (Self-programming machines III).

Living systems are capable to have appropriate responses to unpredictable environment. This kind of self-organization seems to operate as a self-programming machine, i.e. an organization able to modify itself. Until now the models of self-organization of living beings proposed are functions solutions of differential systems or transition functions of automata. These functions are fixed and these models are therefore unable to modify their organization. On the other hand, computer science propose a lot of models having the properties of adaptive systems of living beings, but all these models depend on the comparison between a goal and the results and ingenious choices of parameters by programmers, whereas there are no programmer's intention nor choice in the living systems. From two best known examples of adaptive systems of living beings, nervous system and immune system that have in common that the external signals modify the rewriting of their organization and therefore work as self-organizing machines, we devised machines with a finite set of inputs, based upon a recurrence, are able to rewrite their organization (Self-programming machines or m(sp)) whenever external conditions vary and have striking properties of adaptation. M(sp) have similar properties whatever the operation defining the recurrence maybe. These results bring us to make the following statement: adaptive properties of living systems can be explained by their ability to rewrite their organization whenever external conditions vary under the only assumption that the rewriting mechanism be a deterministic constant recurrence in a finite state set.

Artificial Intelligence↗

Patient data security in the DICOM standard.

The DICOM committee added the section "Security Profiles" to the DICOM standard, in order to provide the opportunity of safe communication between health care system partners. Data complying with the DICOM standard--e.g. pictures, signals or reports of examinations can be provided with one or more digital signatures. Attention should be paid to the fact that these possibilities of the DICOM standard are available or can be supplied subsequently by new acquisitions of radiological modalities. The required information to check these prerequisites are given.

Algorithms↗

Information governance--a view from the NHS.

In this paper, a range of issues influencing and affecting NHS information governance policy and practice will be considered. The expansion of electronic information services within the NHS and with its other information partners has reinforced the need for effective security and confidentiality arrangements to apply at multiple levels and in a variety of different business contexts. Added to these, the need to consistently address issues of data protection, records management and data quality, has resulted in a NHS information governance initiative. This initiative is intended to provide approved tools, methods and guidance that may be applied consistently throughout the NHS and that will be underpinned through appropriate support and helpdesk services. This paper emphasises the need to consider a range of applicable topics when determining a responsible and extensible approach to the governance of information collected, used and shared by healthcare organisations.

Computer Communication Networks↗

Flexible information storage in MUDR(II) EHR.

An important research task of the EuroMISE Centre is the applied research in the field of electronic health record (EHR) design including electronic medical guidelines and intelligent systems for data mining and decision support. The research in this field was inspired by several European projects. We have proposed a mathematical meta-description of a flexible information storage model based on the experience gathered in cooperation in those projects. In this model, we use two basic structures called a knowledge base and data files. We describe those two structures using the graph theory concepts. Furthermore, we use logical formulas to express conditions that should be valid. Additionally, we present a description of a global system architecture of a 3-tier EHR application with interfaces based on the latest technologies; predominately on Web Services, SOAP, XML, HTTP, CORBA, etc. According to our experience and test results gained from the MUDR EHR usage, we describe an open universal solution, which can be applied as the EHR kernel of hospital information systems. To realize this approach in a daily practice for health professionals we have started a co-operative project with clinical information systems developers. Within that project we are developing a new system for continual shared health care.

Biomedical Research↗

The need to know the history of the use of digital patient data, in particular the EHR.

The purpose of this article is to explore the need for the possibility to reconstruct electronic medical data, in particular the electronic health record (EHR) as they have been or could have been presented to a specified health care professional at a specified moment in the past. The approach taken is that first the need for such functionality is discussed with attention to the differences between electronic records and paper records in this respect. Next the architectural and technical consequences of the implementation of the functionality are considered. The article concludes that such functionality is needed for medical audit, self assessment and handling of complaints. It further concludes that it is far from easy to implement the functionality. If the health care community underwrites the need for such functionality this will have a significant impact on the architecture of medical information systems and the (distributed) EHR. It is recommended that the professional associations and the governments, in collaboration with WHO, take a position on the need to be able to reconstruct the contents of the EHR. IMIA could take the lead in that process.

Access to Information↗

Social, ethical and legal barriers to e-health.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Information technology such as electronic medical records (EMRs), electronic prescribing and decision support systems are recognized as essential tools in Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. But significant barriers impede wide-scale adoption of these tools, especially EMR systems. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to investigate the present status of information technology in health care, the perceived benefits and barriers by primary care physicians. METHODS: Literature analysis and survey data from primary care physicians on adoption of information technology are reviewed. RESULTS: The U.S. trails European countries as well as Canada, Australia and New Zealand in the use of information technology in primary care. The results of the study indicate that physicians in general perceive benefits to information technology, but also cite major barriers to its implementation in their practices. These barriers include lack of access to capital by health care providers, complex systems and lack of data standards that permit exchange of clinical data, privacy concerns and legal barriers. CONCLUSIONS: Overcoming these barriers will require subsidies and performance incentives by payers and government; certification and standardization of vendor applications that permit clinical data exchange; removal of legal barriers; and greater security of medical data to convince practitioners and patients of the value of EMRs.

Computer Communication Networks↗

A framework for a distributed, hybrid, multiple-ontology clinical-guideline library, and automated guideline-support tools.

Clinical guidelines are a major tool in improving the quality of medical care. However, most guidelines are in free text, not in a formal, executable format, and are not easily accessible to clinicians at the point of care. We introduce a Web-based, modular, distributed architecture, the Digital Electronic Guideline Library (DeGeL), which facilitates gradual conversion of clinical guidelines from text to a formal representation in chosen target guideline ontology. The architecture supports guideline classification, semantic markup, context-sensitive search, browsing, run-time application, and retrospective quality assessment. The DeGeL hybrid meta-ontology includes elements common to all guideline ontologies, such as semantic classification and domain knowledge; it also includes four content-representation formats: free text, semi-structured text, semi-formal representation, and a formal representation. These formats support increasingly sophisticated computational tasks. The DeGeL tools for support of guideline-based care operate, at some level, on all guideline ontologies. We have demonstrated the feasibility of the architecture and the tools for several guideline ontologies, including Asbru and GEM.

Computer Communication Networks↗

A software solution for the control of visual behavioral experimentation.

Psychophysical and neurophysiological research requires precise control of experimental devices for the purpose of delivering stimuli and monitoring behavioral and neural responses. This has previously been accomplished by complex, often proprietary, programmable systems, interfacing with a limited range of hardware. We have developed a software solution entirely within the Matlab environment that can achieve high-speed control of experimental and behavioral variables. We make this Wake-Forest Visual Experimentation (WaVE) software freely available under the GNU public license, and demonstrate how to customize it to individual laboratory needs. WaVE takes advantage of existing Matlab libraries and toolboxes to present visual stimuli, collect experimental data, update behavioral variables, and communicate with other computers. Although we have developed it for use in a Windows-based Personal Computer, the portability of the Matlab code makes possible its customization for use in a variety of other systems. We present simulation results showing sub-millisecond sampling rate and updating precision, running on single-processor, desktop PCs. The WaVE software offers a simple, flexible and powerful solution that compares favorably with many of its costly alternatives.

Animals↗

Use of the Internet for teaching in nuclear medicine.

The Internet provides several new capabilities for education in nuclear medicine, including learning at a distance, facilitation of collaboration, increased availability of training resources, and ability to develop interactive teaching materials. Dedicated case-authoring software aided development of digital teaching files at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology and the Joint Program in Nuclear Medicine. Accesses to these two teaching files from sites around the world have grown rapidly. Improvements in the speed of the Internet will allow inclusion of more images at higher resolution and more extensive use of cine. Development of server-based software will allow simulation of the actual image-reading environment. A better understanding of how to use this new media will spur continued expansion in use of the Internet for nuclear medical education.

CD-ROM↗

Improving dietetics education with interactive communication technology.

Changes occurring in health care, education, and technology are altering dietetics education. A model of learnercentered, cooperative, distance education based on interactive online technology is described for use in a dietetic internship. Evaluation of this model includes review of key-feature exams, results of computer attitudes surveys, use of the technology by interns, exit interviews, and performance on the examination for registered dietitians. In a pilot study of the model with 8 subjects, comfort using the Internet improved significantly. Use of interactive communication technology in dietetics education has the potential to improve competency, technological aptitude, professional partnering skills, and lifelong learning skills.

CD-I↗