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The FEL-EXPERT was used to improve the diagnosis of brain tumors. Basic structure and decision process of the system were characterized. In a group of 70 testing cases the correct diagnosis was established at the 1st possibility in 83%, as the 1st or 2nd possibility in 91% and as the 1st or 2nd or 3rd possibility in 17%.
We describe the further development of a widely used package of DNA/protein sequence analysis programs (1). Important revisions have been made based on user experience, and new features, multi-user capability, and a set of large scale homology programs have been added. The programs are very user friendly, economical of time and memory, and extremely transportable. They are written in a version of FORTRAN which will compile, with a few defined changes, as FORTRAN 66, FORTRAN 77, FORTRAN IV, FORTRAN IV+, and others. They are running on a variety of microcomputers, minicomputers, and mainframes, in both single user and multi-user configurations.
A statistical program named CompuTOD has been written which calculates the time since death of white-tailed deer. The data used for the regression analysis (n = 378) was obtained from a controlled hunt in 1982. The results obtained compare favorably with previous studies but additionally gives upper and lower confidence limits for the calculated time interval since death.
A decision analytic model (a decision tree) was constructed for use in the labor room. Probabilities and (dis)utilities were estimated by obstetricians and computerized. A sensitivity analysis on six branches of the decision tree uses estimates of four obstetricians and proves that the decisions resulting from the model are stable and insensitive to differences in probability estimates within reasonable limits. Therefore it is concluded that we can construct a decision tree that is a practical, valuable, and stable tool for consistent decision making.
Evaluations of toxic potential of drugs and chemicals often involve statistical comparisons of effects between treatment groups. Such comparisons are valid and permit elucidation of spontaneous versus treatment effects only if the sampling population is obtained without selection bias. Selection bias is routinely minimized or controlled by random sampling or unbiased allocation of animals to treatment groups. A systematic approach using a computerized procedure is described that fulfills these requirements in a simple and efficient fashion.
An interactive program for the analysis of nystagmus is presented, and some results obtained by processing postrotational responses are reported. The program is provided with a special subroutine which gives a quantification of the rhythm and regularity of the response through the histograms of the ratios between the duration of successive intersaccadic intervals and between the amplitudes of successive fast components. The consideration of these histograms has been proved to be highly significant in discriminating between normal and pathological responses.
Cardiovascular diseases remain the main cause of death among adult population; their incidence can be reduced only using an effective system of primary and secondary prevention. The aim of our study was to develop software for automated recognition of cardiovascular risk factors, prognosis, and evaluation of dyslipoproteinemia phenotypes in lipid centers. Prognostic indexes, lipidogram values are estimated, and the program detects the risk factors (overweight, poor physical training, irrational nutrition, tobacco smoking, etc.) and predicts the summary risk of coronary disease. Neuronal network was used for evaluating the types of dyslipoproteinemias and for cardiovascular prognosis. The input vectors were lipid and lipoprotein concentrations. Output neurons were diagnostic signs of dislipoproteinemia phenotypes or cardiovascular prognosis.
A method and associated algorithm are presented which allow a simple and accurate determination to be made of the location of small symmetric areas presented in roentgenological images. The method utilizes an operator to visually spot object positions but eliminates the need for critical positoning accuracy on the operator's part. The rapidity of measurement allows results to be evaluated on-line. Parameters associated with the algorithm have been analyzed, and methods to facilitate an optimum choice for any particular experimental setup are presented.
A FORTRAN IV program is developed for simple and quick estimation of LD50 and its confidence intervals from quantal dose-response data. The algorithm is based on a modification of the Behrens-Reed-Muench cumulant method. Under ideal experimental design, the method produces results comparable to the ones by statistically more accurate maximum likelihood method using the Logit or the Probit transformation. The procedure, as implemented, can also be easily performed on a small hand-held calculator.
SieScape is a novel method that enables the investigator to obtain continuous ultrasonographic images of extensive structures. Its ease of use and rapidity of deployment make SieScape the method of choice for the documentation and monitoring of large superficial lesions, for example hematomas following arterial puncture. With the aid of Color Sie Scape, not only views can be obtained in any desired plane, but also the relationship of the hematoma to the vascular structures can be documented.
It has been suggested that the physician would be aided in his interpretation of clinical laboratory results if the data were reported in terms of percentile ranking in a reference population as well as in conventional units. This paper describes a FORTRAN porgram for estimating the necessary reference percentile values by means of regression over 20% of the distribution rather than by interpolation between adjacent points. The regression estimates are shown to have a negligible bias and to be somewhat more stable than those obtained by interpolation.
We present EndoCyte, a user friendly interactive program for quantitative analysis of receptor-mediated endocytosis. The data, comprised of time-dependent concentrations of the ligand at the cell surface and the ligand internalized by cells, are analyzed by the application of a set of nested mathematical models of endocytosis. EndoCyte reduces data to parameters conventional in description of receptor-mediated endocytosis and a parameter which describes the non-linear effects. The performance of EndoCyte is documented by the analysis of applications to synthetic data.
BACKGROUND: The goal of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) screening is complete detection of all preterm infants with threshold ROP. AIM: We wanted to develop software to facilitate registration of ROP findings, checking due dates of re-examination, and evaluation of screening data. By means of complete and faultless registration and evaluation of the data of preterm infants, the effectiveness and safety of the screening should increase. METHODS: We developed software that runs under Microsoft Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 and is programmed in Microsoft Access Basic and Microsoft Visual Basic. The software allows all screening data to be registered and evaluated. Intuitive handling, third level of normalization in database architecture, and automatic plausibility checks guarantee the utmost integrity of data and efficacy of database. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: To date, the software has been used routinely in 2000 examinations in 1000 preterm infants. Our software facilitates clinical management and evaluation of ROP screening, which therefore becomes more safe.
The algorithm grouping the patients into natural subsets, according to their psychopathological features or results of laboratory examinations, was extended by a software enabling the allowance of a new patient to the nearest subset taking into account any features describing the representative set. Apart from that the system was extended by a software of multi-criterion assessment of drug usability in empirical subsets of patients. It was found out that the developed information system makes it possible to assess such relations between the features of the examined phenomenon that would not be noticeable without using the system.
The exponential model for a regulatory enzyme describes the relationship between the initial velocity of the catalysed reaction and the concentration of two ligands. A program, entitled 'INDEXP' has been devised to analyse rate data in terms of the model (Kinderlerer et al., 1981) and, in this report, its performance is examined when presented with experimental initial velocity data taken from the literature. It is shown that the two-ligand exponential model can satisfactorily rationalise experimental data with five linked constants (Ainsworth and Gregory, 1978); as a result the influence of ligand concentrations on the catalysed reactions can be described in rather simple terms.
A microcomputer program ('EXREG') in GW BASIC was developed for fitting experimental data of A(T) to the equation A = A0 + A1.exp(-K.T) by exponential regression. In an iterative procedure K-values are tested to yield the maximum coefficient of determination. The accuracy of K is further improved in consecutive steps. The program is used to obtain the fractional turnover rate K of radiolabelled very low density lipoprotein (VLDL)-triglycerides in patients suffering from disturbances of lipid metabolism. A is the radioactivity of VLDL-triglycerides which is measured after isolation from blood. Seventeen consecutive blood samples are taken within a period of 24 h after injection of radioactive glycerol. T is the time after injection. The production rate of VLDL-triglycerides is calculated using K, the VLDL-triglyceride concentration, the body weight and height.
We present a program, mhghseq, for designing a clinical trial to compare two treatments. For a user-specified hypothesis and a user-specified alternative, mhghseq finds the number of subjects required to achieve a given size and power. It permits each treatment to have an arbitrary survival curve and it allows for group sequential testing. It provides solutions for small samples as well as for large samples. There may be a follow-up period after accrual is completed. Tests may be one or two-sided, either the log-rank or the Gehan test may be used, and either of two commonly used boundary forms--the O'Brien-Fleming or Pocock boundary forms--may be specified. Although mhghseq relies primarily on simulation to produce results, the large sample sequential boundary for the log-rank test optionally may be computed with an algorithm given here that is different from ones used in the past for this purpose.
For 10 years, a computerized gastrointestinal endoscopy database was promoted as necessary and desirable. At least 2 endoscopy societies, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) and the World Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (OMED), devoted considerable effort to develop appropriate terminology and structure. Numerous vendors and individuals developed software conforming, to various degrees, with the ASGE and OMED recommendations, and hundreds of institutions in the United States and an equal number worldwide have computerized their endoscopy paperwork. Dozens of articles and several large multicenter research efforts signal the usefulness of the database concept. Although desired, and apparently needed, endoscopy databases have not, however, caught the attention of a majority of physicians who could benefit from them--probably because of perceived difficulty with user interface. Whereas the keyboard has succeeded in virtually every other discipline, it is an enigma why there is so much anathema to this ubiquitous device among the majority of the medical community. Attempts at alternate input modalities, such as voice, resulted in several commercially available report-writers; however, the original database concept is insignificant in these current products. The international experience with this subject is reviewed with an optimistic prediction that a satisfactory doctor-computer interface will be developed, perhaps with totally new technology, and that continued interest, use, and development of an endoscopy database is justified.