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PubMedDate not supplied

[Computer-based rehabilitation of cognitive impairments and motor arm function of patients with hemiparesis after stroke].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the usefulness of the computer program made for the patients after stroke to treat their cognitive impairments and hemiparesis. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The experimental group involved 10 patients after stroke who were obliged to train on a computer every day during their three-week stay on the rehabilitation ward. The control group involved 10 patients after stroke who did not participate in any computer training during their rehabilitation process. The first part of the computer tasks trains the attention impairments and visual-motor co-ordination problems. We modified the joystick by adding special buttons to train movements of the wrist, thumb and forefinger of the impaired hand. Computer tasks are made in the way to stimulate both the cognitive functions and hand dexterity at the same time. RESULTS: This initial research shows a statistically significant improvement of the cognitive functions and hand dexterity among patients from the experimental group. According to these results we did not observe any significant improvement in the cognitive functions among patients who did not train on a computer (control group). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this research suggest the usefulness of this computer program in training cognitive impairments and visual-motor co-ordination as well as hand dexterity among the patients after stroke.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[The medical computer as a diagnostic aid in joint pain--attitude of patients and results].

409 unselected outpatients were asked standardized expert system questions on the medical history of joint complaints. An average number of 30.4 +/- 6.6 out of 60 questions with 346 different answers were asked in a mean time of 20.1 +/- 6.6 min. This time, required for the questions to be displayed on the computer screen and input assistance from a staff-member, proved to be comparable to the time required for a medical history to be taken on the same patients by a physician. In 75% of the cases the computer was able to predict the correct diagnosis on behalf of information of the medical history only. Using only medical history as a source of information, computer and physician had the same rate of wrong diagnoses. Before and after the standardized medical history on the computer screen all patients were asked about their opinion of the computer as a diagnostic aid. Male and younger patients more often appreciated computerized diagnosing. Just a few patients felt that their relation to the physician was disturbed by the computer or were inconvenienced themselves. Most patients stated they did not believe that physicians could ever be replaced by computers. Only a few of them had resignations about storage and statistical utilization of personal data.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

[Survey of attitudes among general practitioners regarding the introduction of a personal computer medical network system in community health care].

General practitioners (GPs) play an important part in community health care. Their opinion regarding introduction of a medical information network system using a personal computer and factors influencing the decision to introduce such a system were surveyed among 977 randomly sampled GPs. A response from 727 GPs was obtained. Based on a two stage selection method, 20 factors were selected as effective factors among the 73 factors surveyed, with the following results: (1) Responses to the question concerning the approval of system introduction were classified into three groups: "not necessary + too early to make a decision (DA)" (DA group), "approve (A)" (A group) and "undecided (UD)" (UD group). Each group had nearly equal numbers of respondees. (2) Significant effective factors were "experience with personal computers", "a desire to use a personal computer", "a desire to use a computer-diagnosis-system", "cost", and "a volition to operate a computer by himself". (3) The "A group" had high experience and affirmative opinions, while the "DA group" had low experience and negative opinions. The "UD group" also tended to respond with "do not know" regarding the factors. (4) Approval of system introduction requires providing basic knowledge on computers, opportunities for positive experience with computers, and practical examples of problem solutions in a general practitioner's work.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

[The effect of training with computer equipment on the visual analyzer of 1st-grade pupils].

Examination are carried out on 64 school children Ist class from school "104", town of Sofia where computer training on mathematics and mother tongue is introduced in the frames of pedagogic experiment. The studies are performed parallelly at traditional and computer lessons, realized in two variants (with one and two school hours daily). In order to establish the functional status of the visual analyzer during computer training the following methods are used: studying the distance of the nearest point for clear vision (punctum proximum), stability of clear vision, threshold of the electric eye sensitivity, critical frequency of fusing of the light flickerings. A full preliminary ophthalmological examination is made by "Vision test", as well as chronometric control of each student to establish the real time of work with computers. Taken into consideration are also the data for illumination of the working places in the computer studies and class rooms where the traditional school hours are held. The analysis of the data received shows that the computer training (1 and 2 computer lessons daily) with schoolchildren, Ist class, has no unfavourable effect on the functional status of the visual analyzer in the limits of study hours up to 25 minutes.

Accommodation, Ocular↗
PubMed1989

Dose computations for three-dimensional radiation treatment planning.

The knowledge of radiation dose at all points of interest within a patient's body is essential for the evaluation of treatment plans and for the judicious selection of the best one from among a set of competing plans. This paper discusses the physical and geometric aspects of radiation dose distribution calculations necessary for three-dimensional treatment planning. A practical method of obtaining dose distributions for a given arrangement of beams and beam modifiers is with the aid of computer calculations based on mathematical formalisms derived from the principles of physics. The most accurate method of computing dose is by Monte Carlo stimulation of radiation transport. However, this method is extremely CPU time intensive and too complicated to implement for routine radiation treatment planning. Approximate semi-empirical methods have to be employed to compute dose distributions within reasonably short times. Conventional approximate methods do not yield results of adequate accuracy. Newer methods that are better able to take into account the three-dimensional nature of radiation transport have been introduced but require considerably greater computing capacity. Furthermore, computing power needs for dose calculations for three-dimensional treatment planning are one to two orders of magnitude greater than the corresponding needs of two-dimensional treatment planning. However, the concern for greater computing power requirements is being lessened somewhat with the advent of high speed computers and specialized hardware, and with the development of clever algorithms for speeding up dose calculations. For three-dimensional treatment planning some geometric issues, such as the calculation of dose at points in three-dimensional space, the incorporation of three-dimensional patient and beam geometry into a system for dose calculations, the choice of optimum grid spacing, radiological pathlength calculations, and algorithms for speeding up dose calculation, take on added importance compared to the corresponding issues for conventional two-dimensional planning. These issues are also discussed here briefly.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1986

Use of computers to test orthopedic knowledge.

Valid, reliable evaluation of orthopedic knowledge is an essential part of our efforts to maintain a high quality of orthopedic practice and education. Current methods of evaluation have made important contributions to the field of orthopedics and will continue to do so, but they have limitations. Computers currently help score and interpret test results as well as evaluate test items. With the development of item banks, computers can aid in test and item construction. Development of a central computer item bank with appropriate programming for specialized test construction would allow computerized test administration on home computers. The most exciting potential contribution of computers to evaluation of orthopedic knowledge will be in the development of computer simulations. Computer simulations can closely replicate the processes of making a diagnosis, directing treatment, or planning and guiding the performance of a procedure and thereby overcome some limitations of current tests. Developing methods of measuring student performance on simulations and establishing the validity and reliability of simulations as evaluation instruments will require considerable effort, but they offer the promise of providing an important method of assessing orthopedic knowledge.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed1995

[Computer systems in medical practice. I. The aims, difficulties and implementation of computerization in health care organizations].

Several phenomena accompanying the implementation of computer systems in polish health care are discussed. The initiatives of managers of health care organizations or individual hospitals, are directed toward the software supporting their financial and administration activities. On the other hand, the Ministry of Health initiatives deals mainly with registration of manpower (doctors, nurses, etc.), and registration of equipment of health care organizations. Several computer programs elaborated by the polish authors are adjusted to the needs and abilities of health care organizations, hospital and private practices of individual doctors. However, the possibilities of data exchange between different computer software systems are rather limited. Implementation of computer systems are accompanied by the resistance resulting from the fears personnel which uses computers in the health care organizations. The effectiveness of computer systems implementation depends mainly on the user's ability to define precisely his needs, and on approval the computer system by the personnel.

Attitude to Computers↗
PubMed1996

[NIHS information and computing infrastructure (NICI)].

We describe the information and computing infrastructure in National Institute of Health Sciences, which were constructed until May, 1996. The in house computer network and computing facilities for common usage in NIHS have been developed under the initiative of Division of Chem-Bio Informatics since 1989. The present LAN (Local Area Network) consists of coaxial cables and optic fibers which are connected by a LAN Switch. The LAN is connected to the Internet via IMnet, the inter ministry network back bone of the Science and Technology Agency. Various types of workstations and personal computers such as SUN WS, Silicon Graphics WS, IBM WS & PC, Macintosh, and NEC PC are connected to the LAN. This computing network environment which we named NICI (NIHS Information and Computing Infrastructure) not only provides network communications but also facilitates advanced computating systems for chemical safety research at NIHS as a COE.

Biological Science Disciplines↗
PubMed1996

DNA computing based on splicing: universality results.

The paper extends some of the most recently obtained results on the computational universality of specific variants of H systems (e.g. with regular sets of rules) and proves that we can construct universal computers based on various types of H systems with a finite set of splicing rules as well as a finite set of axioms, i.e. we show the theoretical possibility to design programmable universal DNA computers based on the splicing operation. For H systems working in the multiset style (where the numbers of copies of all available strings are counted) we elaborate how a Turing machine computing a partial recursive function can be simulated by an equivalent H system computing the same function; in that way, from a universal Turning machine we obtain a universal H system. Considering H systems as language generating devices we have to add various simple control mechanisms (checking the presence/absence of certain symbols in the spliced strings) to systems with a finite set of splicing rules as well as with a finite set of axioms in order to obtain the full computational power, i.e. to get a characterization of the family of recursively enumerable languages. We also introduce test tube systems, where several H systems work in parallel in their tubes and from time to time the contents of each tube are redistributed to all tubes according to certain separation conditions. By the construction of universal test tube systems we show that also such systems could serve as the theoretical basis for the development of biological (DNA) computers.

Alternative Splicing↗
PubMed1998

A survey of computer technology utilization in school nursing.

Computer technology offers a solution to problems associated with paper-based health records. The purposes of this descriptive study were to identify the utilization of and support for computer technology in managing student health data and documenting school nurse practice. Findings from a sample of school nurse respondents to the Computer Technology and School Nursing Survey (CTSNS) indicated that of the 65% that used computers, nearly two-third used computers for three years or less. Although there was an increase in computer use when compared with an earlier study, more training, financial support, and research are needed for optimal utilization of computer technology.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sharing digital micrographs and other data files between computers.

It ought to be easy to exchange digital micrographs and other computer data files with a colleague even on another continent. In practice, this often is not the case. The advantages and disadvantages of various methods that are available for exchanging data files between computers are discussed. When possible, data should be transferred through computer networking. When data are to be exchanged locally between computers with similar operating systems, the use of a local area network is recommended. For computers in commercial or academic environments that have dissimilar operating systems or are more widely spaced, the use of FTPs is recommended. Failing this, posting the data on a website and transferring by hypertext transfer protocol is suggested. If peer to peer exchange between computers in domestic environments is needed, the use of Messenger services such as Microsoft Messenger or Yahoo Messenger is the method of choice. When it is not possible to transfer the data files over the internet, single use, writable CD ROMs are the best media for transferring data. If for some reason this is not possible, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, 100 MB ZIP disks and USB flash media are potentially useful media for exchanging data files.

Computer Communication Networks↗
PubMed2000

A novel mechatronic tool for computer-assisted arthroscopy.

This paper describes a novel mechatronic tool for arthroscopy, which is at the same time a smart tool for traditional arthroscopy and the main component of a system for computer-assisted arthroscopy. The mechatronic arthroscope has a cable-actuated servomotor-driven multi-joint mechanical structure, is equipped with a position sensor measuring the orientation of the tip and with a force sensor detecting possible contact with delicate tissues in the knee, and incorporates an embedded microcontroller for sensor signal processing, motor driving and interfacing with the surgeon and/or the system control unit. When used manually, the mechatronic arthroscope enhances the surgeon's capabilities by enabling him/her to easily control tip motion and to prevent undesired contacts. When the tool is integrated in a complete system for computer-assisted arthroscopy, the trajectory of the arthroscope is reconstructed in real time by an optical tracking system using infrared emitters located in the handle, providing advantages in terms of improved intervention accuracy. The computer-assisted arthroscopy system comprises an image processing module for segmentation and three-dimensional reconstruction of preoperative computer tomography or magnetic resonance images, a registration module for measuring the position of the knee joint, tracking the trajectory of the operating tools, and matching preoperative and intra-operative images, and a human-machine interface that displays the enhanced reality scenario and data from the mechatronic arthroscope in a friendly and intuitive manner. By integrating preoperative and intra-operative images and information provided by the mechatronic arthroscope, the system allows virtual navigation in the knee joint during the planning phase and computer guidance by augmented reality during the intervention. This paper describes in detail the characteristics of the mechatronic arthroscope and of the system for computer-assisted arthroscopy and discusses experimental results obtained with a preliminary version of the tool and of the system.

Arthroscopes↗
PubMed1998

Pediatric residents: are they ready to use computer-aided instruction?

OBJECTIVE: To assess pediatric residents' readiness to use computer-aided instruction (CAI). DESIGN: Survey. SETTING: Pediatric residency program based in a tertiary care children's hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Four pediatric residency classes. ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT: Self-administered questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Residents' access to computers and the Internet, experience with CD-ROM and World Wide Web computer tutorials, and attitudes toward CAI. Responses were stratified by age, training level, sex, and previous computer education. RESULTS: Fifty-one (69%) of the residents owned a computer. Men were more likely than women to own a computer (20 [87%] of 23 men vs 31 [61%] of 51 women; P=.02). Medical education software was used by 18 (28%) of 65, but only 2 (4%) of 74 had ever purchased CAI. Twenty-seven (36%) of 74 regularly accessed medical education World Wide Web sites. Nineteen (26%) of 74 had never accessed the Internet. Of those who had, 50 (91%) of 55 continued to do so at least weekly. Eighteen (95%) of the 19 residents who had never accessed the Internet were female (P=.005). Men were twice as likely to have Internet access at home (P=.01) and were more likely to regularly visit medical education World Wide Web sites (P=.02). Attitudes toward CAI were positive. Most respondents would be willing to use CAI developed at their institution. Most residents ranked CAI ahead of printed teaching materials but behind personal teaching by a pediatrician. Attitudes did not differ by sex. CONCLUSION: Despite positive attitudes toward CAI, pediatric residents are not yet universally ready to use CAI.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

An overview of human-computer interaction.

This article presents an overview of the field of human-computer interaction. This branch of computer science concerns the design, implementation and analysis of interactive computer systems. We show that this field is multidisciplinary in essence, involving social scientists as well as computer scientists, experts of application domains, graphics designers, etc. Once the fundamental aspects of human-computer interaction are presented, we take a practical approach in order to introduce the methods, tools and techniques that are available today for the design and implementation of interactive computer systems. Finally, we present the main directions of research in this domain.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed2004

Simulation of emission tomography using grid middleware for distributed computing.

SimSET is Monte Carlo simulation software for emission tomography. This paper describes a simple but effective scheme for parallel execution of SimSET using NetSolve, a client-server system for distributed computation. NetSolve (version 1.4.1) is "grid middleware" which enables a user (the client) to run specific computations remotely and simultaneously on a grid of networked computers (the servers). Since the servers do not have to be identical machines, computation may take place in a heterogeneous environment. To take advantage of diversity in machines and their workloads, a client-side scheduler was implemented for the Monte Carlo simulation. The scheduler partitions the total decay events by taking into account the inherent compute-speeds and recent average workloads, i.e., the scheduler assigns more decay events to processors expected to give faster service and fewer decay events to those expected to give slower service. When compute-speeds and sustained workloads are taken into account, the speed-up is essentially linear in the number of equivalent "maximum-service" processors. One modification in the SimSET code (version 2.6.2.3) was made to ensure that the total number of decay events specified by the user is maintained in the distributed simulation. No other modifications in the standard SimSET code were made. Each processor runs complete SimSET code for its assignment of decay events, independently of others running simultaneously. Empirical results are reported for simulation of a clinical-quality lung perfusion study.

Computer Communication Networks↗
PubMed2006

The presence of mathematics and computer anxiety in nursing students and their effects on medication dosage calculations.

AIM: To determine if the presence of mathematical and computer anxiety in nursing students affects learning of dosage calculations. METHOD: The quasi-experimental study compared learning outcomes at differing levels of mathematical and computer anxiety when integrative and computer based learning approaches were used. Participants involved a cohort of second year nursing students (n=97). RESULTS: Mathematical anxiety exists in 20% (n=19) of the student nurse population, and 14% (n=13) experienced mathematical testing anxiety. Those students more anxious about mathematics and the testing of mathematics benefited from integrative learning to develop conditional knowledge (F(4,66)=2.52 at p<.05). Computer anxiety was present in 12% (n=11) of participants, with those reporting medium and high levels of computer anxiety performing less well than those with low levels (F(1,81)=3.98 at p<.05). CONCLUSION: Instructional strategies need to account for the presence of mathematical and computer anxiety when planning an educational program to develop competency in dosage calculations.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2004

Comparative analysis of conventional and an adaptive computer-based hypoglycaemia education programs.

Adaptive interactive computer-based education programs which can be personalized to patients' needs and skills might be more suitable for patients' training as compared to conventional ones. We tested whether there are differences between an adaptive and a conventional version of a computer-based hypoglycaemia education program concerning successful training and user friendliness. One hundred and twenty randomized diabetic patients were enrolled in this study. The two different programs were compared by using the following criteria: (1) the number of actions needed to get out of or prevent hypoglycaemia, (2) the need for external help, (3) the average time needed for completing one task and (4) user friendliness as determined by a questionnaire. Patients using the adaptive computer-based hypoglycaemia education program needed less actions to get out of or prevent hypoglycaemia, less external help and less time to finish tasks. Furthermore, the user friendliness of the adaptive computer program received a significantly better rating by the patients. The adaptive computer-based hypoglycaemia education program shows significantly better results as compared to a conventional one. Therefore, using adaptive computer-based programs might be helpful for education of patients.

Attitude to Computers↗
PubMed1998

Computerized self-assessment in psychiatric in-patients: acceptability, feasibility and influence of computer attitude.

In recent years various approaches using computerized assessments and tests in psychiatry have been published. In our study, the acceptability and feasibility of computerized self-assessments and attitude to computers were examined in psychiatric in-patients, using an improved interactive schedule, the Interactive Self-Assessment Scale (ISAS), based on the Windows operating system. In general we found a good level of acceptability and feasibility of the computerized self-assessment. Our results confirm the influence of attitude to computers on acceptability, and indicate a lack of self-confidence in interacting with computers, accompanied by a less positive attitude to computers than reported by healthy subjects and psychiatric out-patients. Computerized self-assessment is suitable for psychiatric in-patients. Nevertheless, further research is necessary in order to improve attitude to computers and the patient-computer interaction.

Adult↗