bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Healthcare Applications based on Software Agents
Authors: Mazzi Christian  , Ganguly Pronab  , Kidd Michael
Published: February 2025

Healthcare has been recognised as one of the most important areas for enterprise applications and services. Presently, information technologists and systems engineers all over the world are working towards achieving better efficiency and quality of service in various sectors of healthcare, such as telemedicine, hospital management, patient-care, and treatment. This paper addresses the issue of more effective and efficient handling of doctor patient relationship. The idea is to use Software Agent technology to extend the patient-doctor relationship beyond the physical and logistical limitation of face-to-face consultations in patient management. Software agents can provide an extension of the doctor by interacting with the patient via a computer and the Internet. The agent is visualised as an anthropomorphic figure to further enhance the patient interaction.
Nonparametric Techniques to Extract Fuzzy Rules for Breast Cancer Diagnosis Problem
Authors: Sarkar Manish  , Leong Tze-Yun
Published: February 2025

This paper addresses breast cancer diagnosis problem as a pattern classification problem. Specifically, the problem is studied using Wisconsin-Madison breast cancer data set. Fuzzy rules are generated from the input-output relationship so that the diagnosis becomes easier and transparent for both patients and physicians. For each class, at least one training pattern is chosen as the prototype, provided (a) the maximum membership of the training pattern is in the given class, and (b) among all the training patterns, the neighborhood of this training pattern has the least fuzzy-rough uncertainty in the given class. Using the fuzzy-rough uncertainty, a cluster is constructed around each prototype. Finally, these clusters are interpreted as the fuzzy rules that relate the prognostic factors and the diagnosis results. The advantages of the proposed algorithm are, (a) there is no need to know the structure of the training data, (b) the number of fuzzy rules does not increase with the increase of the number of input dimensions, and (c) small number of fuzzy rules is generated. With the three generated fuzzy rules, 96.20% classification efficiency is achieved, which is comparable to other rule generation techniques.
Consumer Satisfaction with Telehealth Advice-nursing
Authors: Chang Betty L.  , Mayo Ann  , Omery Anna
Published: February 2025

An increase in interest in the establishment of telephone advice services has resulted in the proliferation of call centers. Despite their wide usage, research for the most part has not addressed the quality of care in relation to consumer satisfaction. This paper examines consumer outcomes of satisfaction, and follow-up with recommendations, within a framework of the nursing process and its associated components of assessment (including problem identification), care planning, intervention, and evaluation.
Information Processing in Hospitals: State, Requirements, and the Need for a Modern Theory of Information System Architectures
Authors: Haux Reinhold  , Ammenwerth Elske  , Brigl Birgit  , Winter Alfred
Published: February 2025

Almost all professionals in a hospital need a vast amount of information. At the beginning of the 21st century it has become clear that efficient information processing and appropriately applied information and communication technology (ICT) is essential for the quality of patient care and for the quality of hospital management. Hospital information systems have to fulfill these information needs and have to support lean processes for patient care.
The Patient Record in Cancer Care
Authors: Ball Marion J.  , Silva John S.  , Peterson Hans  , Chute Christopher G.
Published: February 2025

In clinical trials, the traditional paper-based system is timeconsuming and cumbersome. To facilitate this process, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is advocating the development of a cancer information infrastructure (CII) capable of supporting both patient care and clinical research. This vision is dependent upon the development of standards, and it resonates with the evolution of the information society and the health record in health care.
The International Nursing Minimum Data Set (i-NMDS) & The International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP$^{\reg}$): Next Steps
Authors: Delaney Connie  , Hovenga Evelyn  , Coenen Amy  , Park Hyeoun-Ae
Published: February 2025

Discipline-specific and interdisciplinary knowledge building and evidence-based best practices depend on data acquisition, storage, retrieval, and analysis-extraction tools that are useful and compatible across national boundaries. Essential aspect of the data-infrastructure for the electronic patient record includes identification of both data sets to support practice and terminology to represent data elements. Development of an International Nursing Minimum Data Set (i-NMDS) has been initiated through the collaborative efforts of the International Medical Informatics Association, Nursing Informatics Special Interest Group (IMIA-NI) and the International Council of Nurses (ICN). The ICN also published the Beta Version of the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP®, a combinatorial terminology for nursing practice, in 1999. The purpose of this panel is to provide an update on i-NMDS and ICNP® development activities.
Nursing Language: International Terminologies, Classifications, & Standards
Authors: Saba Virginia K.
Published: February 2025

This workshop addresses the activities of the IMIA Nursing Informatics Special Interest Group (IMIA/NI-SIG) regarding nursing language in its member countries. The presenters will focus on all aspects of nursing language, namely its terminologies, nomenclatures, coding, and classification systems. The workshop is designed to focus on the Data Infrastructure Related Aspects congress topic.
Comparing General and Medical Texts for Information Retrieval Based on Natural Language Processing: An Inquiry into Lexical Disambiguation
Authors: Ruch Patrick  , Baud Robert  , Geissbühler Antoine  , Rassinoux Anne-Marie
Published: February 2025

In this paper we compare two types of corpus, focusing on the lexical ambiguity of each of them. The first corpus consists mainly of general newspaper articles and literature excerpts, while the second belongs to the medical domain. To conduct the study, we have used two different disambiguation tools. First, each tool was validated in its respective application area. We then use these systems in order to assess and compare both the general ambiguity rate and the particularities of each domain. Quantitative results show that medical documents are lexically less ambiguous than unrestricted documents. Our conclusions emphasize the importance of the application area in the design of NLP tools.
NGI and Internet2: Accelerating the Creation of Tomorrow's Internet
Authors: Kratz Mary  , Ackerman Michael  , Hanss Ted  , Corbato Steve
Published: February 2025

Internet2 is a consortium of leading U.S. universities working in partnership with industry and the U.S. government’s Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative to develop a faster, more reliable Internet for research and education including enhanced, high-performance networking services and the advanced applications that are enabled by those services [1]. By facilitating and coordinating the development, deployment, operation, and technology transfer of advanced, network-based applications and network services, Internet2 and NGI are working together to fundamentally change the way scientists, engineers, clinicians, and others work together. [http://www.internet2.edu]
Enhancing Retrieval of Best Evidence for Health Care from Bibliographic Databases: Calibration of the Hand Search of the Literature
Authors: Wilczynski Nancy L.  , McKibbon K. Ann  , Haynes R. Brian
Published: February 2025

Background: Medical practitioners have unmet information needs. Health care research dissemination suffers from both “supply” and “demand” problems. One possible solution is to develop methodologic search filters (“hedges”) to improve the retrieval of clinically relevant and scientifically sound study reports from bibliographic databases. To develop and test such filters a hand search of the literature was required to determine directly which articles should be retrieved, and which not retrieved. Objective: To determine the extent to which 6 research associates can agree on the classification of articles according to explicit research criteria when hand searching the literature.
Is the Internet an Integral Part of General Practice in Australia?
Authors: Williams P.A.H.  , Maj S.P.
Published: February 2025

Computerisation has seen significant changes in information management and procedures in General Practice. Whilst the majority of changes to date, have been apparent in administration, the clinical aspect of primary care is now increasingly taking advantage of the computer and significantly, the Internet. The professional obligation to maintain currency in medical developments has provided an opportunity to use the Internet as a low cost method to access a wide range of medical research information worldwide. Furthermore traditional methods of communication within the medical community have the potential to be transformed by the availability and use of electronic communication techniques such as email. The incorporation of these new technologies in clinical practice is not without its challenges, and includes quality, timeliness, information management and attitudes to Internet based information. This paper presents the results of a preliminary study of GP's undertaken in Western Australia analysing the usage of and attitude to, the Internet in clinical practice.
“THE PILOT”: A Tool for Connecting Existing HIS to an Extranet Quickly, Easily and Smoothly
Authors: Spahnia Stéphane  , Scherrer Jean-Raoul  , Andany José  , Labussière Sylvain  , Sauquet Dominique
Published: February 2025

Migrations and expansions of information systems are constantly at the front line of all the computer science problems to be overcome in medical / health informatics systems. It is shown here that one effective way to open the communication between heterogeneous systems is depending upon the ease of putting all the systems at work together using the middleware level to facilitate the interconnection between heterogeneous applications. However the most difficult application to migrate is certainly the ADT. It is shown here how the Pilot could facilitate the migration of applications namely with the migration of the ADT itself from a centralized platform to a full scale distributed system. Indeed the Pilot has been developed up to the stage of a pre-product and is on sale already. It has been experienced satisfactorily and is presented here.
Combining Decision Support and Image Processing: A PROforma Model
Authors: Sordo M.  , Fox J.  , Blum C.  , Taylor Paul  , Lee Richard  , Alberdi Eugenio
Published: February 2025

This paper addresses two important problems in medical image interpretation: (1) integration of numeric and symbolic information, (2) access to external sources of medical knowledge. We have developed a prototype in which image processing algorithms are combined with symbolic representations for reasoning, decision making and task management in an integrated, platformindependent system for the differential diagnosis of abnormalities in mammograms. The prototype is based on PROforma, a generic technology for building decision support systems based on clinical guidelines. The PROforma language defines a set of tasks, one of which, the enquiry, is used as means of interaction with the outside world. However, the current enquiry model has proved to be too limited for our purposes. In this paper we outline a more general model, which can be used as an interface between symbolic functions and image or other signal data.
Supporting Medical Decisions with Vector Decision Trees
Authors: Šprogar Matej  , Kokol Peter  , Zorman Milan  , Podgorelec Vili  , Yamamoto Ryuichi  , Masuda Gou  , Sakamoto Norihiro
Published: February 2025

The article presents the extension of a common decision tree concept to a multidimensional - vector - decision tree constructed with the help of evolutionary techniques. In contrary to the common decision tree the vector decision tree can make more than just one suggestion per input sample. It has the functionality of many separate decision trees acting on a same set of training data and answering different questions. Vector decision tree is therefore simple in its form, is easy to use and analyse and can express some relationships between decisions not visible before. To explore and test the possibilities of this concept we developed a software tool - DecRain - for building vector decision trees using the ideas of evolutionary computing. Generated vector decision trees showed good results in comparison to classical decision trees. The concept of vector decision trees can be safely and effectively used in any decision making process.
Decisions at Hand: A Decision Support System on Handhelds
Authors: Zupan Blaz  , Porenta Ales  , Vidmar Gaj  , Aoki Noriaki  , Bratko Ivan  , Beck J. Robert
Published: February 2025

One of the applications of clinical information systems is decision support. Although the advantages of utilizing such aids have never been theoretically disputed, they have been rarely used in practice. The factor that probably often limits the utility of clinical decision support systems is the need for computing power at the very site of decision making - at the place where the patient is interviewed, in discussion rooms, etc. The paper reports on a possible solution to this problem. A decision-support shell LogReg is presented, which runs on a handheld computer. A general schema for handheld-based decision support is also proposed, where decision models are developed on personal computers/workstations, encoded in XML and then transferred to handhelds, where the models are used within a decision support shell. A use case where LogReg has been applied to clinical outcome prediction in crush injury is presented.
Recording Clinical Data – From a General Set of Record Items to Case Report Forms (CRF) for Clinics
Authors: Merzweiler Angela  , Knaup Petra  , Weber Ralf  , Ehlerding Hartmut  , Haux Reinhold  , Wiedemann Timm
Published: February 2025

Standardising a documentary language makes only sense if we use it for documentation consequently. Using an example of Paediatric Oncology in Germany we have developed a procedure that generates CRFs from a documentary language. The introduced procedure has proved to be feasible in practice. With it we can support developers of documentation systems in creating their CRFs; through the guarantied use of the documentation terminology we further achieve that information recorded with the created CRFs may be statistically analysed across different institutions.
Patient Empowerment and the Electronic Health Record
Authors: Munir Samina  , Boaden Ruth
Published: February 2025

This paper presents the results of an investigation into the issue of patients viewing and controlling their Electronic Health Record (EHR), and some of the issues that an EHR would raise in terms of patient empowerment. The research was carried out with a random sample of patients from the Hadfield Medical Centre (HMC), Derbyshire and utilised a survey methodology supplemented by a few interviews. The research investigated the nature and scope of demand from patients for empowerment in terms of their own health, and the EHR. It took into account demographics. It was found that a majority of patients wish to be empowered through viewing their health record, though most prefer to use paper rather than an electronic medium. A significant majority of patients do not want to control their health record. It was found that of the demographic variables investigated, age and level of education were the only ones that had a significant impact on a patient's desire to be empowered and their desire to view their health records. The results have implications both locally and nationally for the development of electronic health records and the ultimate acceptance of such records may be linked to the general extent of computer literacy within the population rather than the views of individuals about their health.
Why Implementing EPR’s Does Not Bring about Organizational Changes – A Qualitative Approach
Authors: Nikula Rolf E
Published: February 2025

Politicians and hospital management in Sweden and Denmark focus on IT and especially Electronic Patient Record, EPR as a tool for changes that will lead to better economy as well as better quality and service for the patients. These changes are not direct effects of the new medium for patient records but indirect effects due to the possibilities embedded in the new technology. This paper describes how clinicians as well as management in two hospitals interpret and uses the EPR. The findings clearly show that the intended changes i.e. the objectives for the implementation, never occurred. The interpretation of the interviews makes it possible to understand that one of the reasons is the lack of correlation between the conception and use of the EPR on one hand and the fact that the management and the clinicians do not share the same vision and mental picture of the future organization on the other.
How the Open-Source Development Model Can Improve Medical Software
Authors: Yackel Thomas R.
Published: February 2025

The current system of proprietary software development for healthcare applications is inadequate to meet the needs of providers, administrators, and patients. A recent advance in the field of Internet programming is the release of largescale software projects as "open-source. " The advantages of this method of development include higher quality, lower cost, and increased adherence to established standards. There are several hurdles to be overcome before the healthcare field can take full advantage of this development model. The implementation of open-source development of medical software could greatly improve clinical and research software and elevate the academic standards of the field of medical informatics.
A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to a User Interface for Structured Data Entry
Authors: van Ginneken Astrid M.  , Verkoijen Michiel J.
Published: February 2025

Physician data entry (PDE) is still an obstacle to the adoption of a CPR that replaces the paper chart. Most interfaces have been designed primarily on the basis of the functional requirements. Few studies document methods to elicit interface preferences from the clinician-user. We used insights from the fields of both medicine and Human Computer Interfaces to explore interface alternatives for structured data entry (SDE).
The Early Days of Health Computing in the UK
Authors: Richards Bernard
Published: February 2025

The invention of RAM in Manchester, UK, in 1948 and the subsequent commercial production of computers paved the way for their wide-spread use in industry and commerce.
Zora: A Pilot Virtual Community in the Pediatric Dialysis Unit
Authors: Bers Marina U.  , Gonzalez-Heydrich Joseph  , Raches Darcy  , Demaso David Ray
Published: February 2025

We describe a five-month pilot project conducted in the dialysis unit at Boston's Children's Hospital. Pediatric patients with renal disease used the Zora therapeutic community program while undergoing hemodialysis. Zora is a 3D multi-user computer environment designed at the MIT Media Laboratory to help young people explore issues of identity, while engaging in a virtual community. Users build “virtual rooms” and populate them with objects and characters, program them with storytelling behaviors, and converse with other young people in real-time through a virtual character representing themselves. It was specifically designed to help young people explore issues of identity, while engaging in a participatory virtual community. This paper presents the experience and evaluates the feasibility and safety of using Zora in a hospital setting. It describes how Zora facilitated explorations of identity and mutual patient support and interaction. Finally it also presents design recommendations for future interventions of this kind. More generally, this paper explores the potential of technology specifically designed with therapeutic purposes to help patients cope with their illness.
Ambulatory Monitoring of Behavior in Daily Life by Accelerometers Set at Both-Near-Sides of the Joint
Authors: Makikawa Masaaki  , Kurata Satoshi  , Higa Yoshiki  , Araki Yoshiyasu  , Tokue Rinzo
Published: February 2025

In this paper we examined a new joint motion monitoring method by use of accelerometers to monitor subjects’ detailed motion in daily activities. In this method two accelerometers are set at as near points of both sides around the joint as possible. The difference between these two sensors' outputs mainly depend on the joint angle because the centrifugal and the turning acceleration occurred by the rotation around the joint can be neglected. In the experiments we tried to monitor various subject's behaviors of his upper and lower extremities and whole body motion, and could show this method is useful for the ambulatory monitoring of behavior in daily life.
Survey and Analysis of Satellite-based Telemedicine Projects Involving Japan and Developing Nations: Investigation of Transmission Rates, Channel Numbers, and Node Numbers
Authors: Nakajima Isao  , Natori Michiya  , Takizawa Masaomi  , Kaihara Shigekoto
Published: February 2025

We surveyed interactive telemedicine projects via telecommunications satellite (AMINE-PARTNERS, Post-PARTNERS, and Shinshu University Project using Inmarsat satellites) offered by Japan as assistance to developing countries. The survey helped clarify channel occupation time and data transfer rates. Using our survey results, we proposed an optimized satellite model with VSATs simulating the number of required channels and bandwidth magnitude. For future implementation of VSATs for medical use in developing nations, design of telecommunication channels should take into consideration TCP/IP-based operations. We calculated that one hub station with 30 - 76 VSATs in developing nation can be operated on bandwidth 6 Mbps using with 128 Kbps videoconferencing system for teleconsultation and teleconference, and linking with Internet.
EMR-based TeleGeriatric System
Authors: Pallawala P.M.D.S.  , Lun K.C.
Published: February 2025

Introduction: As medical services improve due to new technologies and breakthroughs, it has lead to an increasingly aging population. There has been much discussion and debate on how to solve various aspects such as psychological, socio-economic and medical problems related to aging.
Semantic Features of an Enterprise Interface Terminology for SNOMED RT
Authors: Campbell James R.
Published: February 2025

Objective: To evaluate the utility of SNOMED RT© in support of a natural language interface for encoding of clinical assessments.
An Estimation of Economic Effects of Tele-home-care: Hospital Cost-savings of the Elderly
Authors: Tsuji Masatsugu  , Miyahara Shoichi  , Taoka Fumio  , Teshima Masaaki
Published: February 2025

Tele-home-care (or tele-medicine) is being implemented by the application of multimedia such as CATV and ISDN. In this paper, by focusing on the so-called “social hospitalization of the aged,” we carry out an estimation of the extent to which tele-home-care based on multimedia can help in saving the cost of hospitalization of the aged in the future. Estimation consists of the following two parts. First, we estimate the trends of the aged population and their hospital expenses using the regression analysis. Second, we assume that new technology such as multimedia and new medical instruments develop according to a logistic curve. Thus, we estimate the rate of diffusion of CATV and ISDN by logistic curves. Then, by multiplying this number by hospital costs per elderly patient as estimated previously, we have been able to calculate the extent to which hospitalization costs can be saved in the entire economy. Our results indicated that in the year 2050, US$257.3 billion, or nearly 7.4% of total hospitalization costs of the aged could be saved by tele-home-care.
HEAL (Hospital & Emergency Ambulance Link): Using IT to Enhance Emergency Pre-hospital Care
Authors: Lim Swee Han  , Anantharaman V
Published: February 2025

The HEAL pilot project was launched on Oct 1998. The objective of HEAL was to improve emergency patient care rendered by the public Emergency Ambulance Service (EAS) and Emergency Departments (ED) of public hospitals, with the use of wireless and information technology.
Medical Color Imaging - Present Status and Future
Authors: Nishibori Masahiro
Published: February 2025

Intensive medical use of the multimedia technology is rapidly progressing without sufficient attention to the risk that inappropriately reproduced colors may incidentally cause erroneous diagnoses. In this paper, present status of medical color imaging, targeted problems and possible solutions are reviewed.
A Haptic Virtual Environment for Tele-Echography
Authors: Guerraz Agnès  , Gonzalez Adriana Vilchis  , Troccaz Jocelyne  , Cinquin Philippe  , Hennion Bernard  , Pellissier Franck  , Thorel Pierre
Published: February 2025

Having a haptic virtual environment for tele-echography will enable the medical expert with faster adaptation and especially facilitated immersion in what we could call a “virtual echographic examination cabinet”. The innovation of this haptic control is to preserve medical expert proprioception and gesture feelings, which provide the users with indications that are synchronized with the echographic images. In this paper, we will focus on the telegesture module: we will detail several issues and solutions related to this particular problem of tele-robotic scan examination.
3D Structure from Endoscopic Images
Authors: Kübler Carsten  , Heinze Peter  , Raczkowsky Jörg  , Wörn Heinz
Published: February 2025

Endoscopy is an important procedure for the diagnostic and therapy of various pathologies. In 2000, the Institute for Process Control and Robotics/Universitat Karlsruhe (TH) has developed a basic framework for reconstructing 3D models from image sequences. The framework is able to realise automatic navigation for new colonoscopes with own driving system and on the other hand to offer a virtual 3D endoscopic view during bad visibility conditions caused by e.g. abrupt bleeding. This method generates a 3D-model intraoperatively compared to preoperatively generated 3D-models in virtual endoscopy.
Visualization and Attributation of Vascular Structures for Diagnostics and Therapy Planning
Authors: Kunert Tobias  , Thorn Matthias  , Meinzer Hans-Peter
Published: February 2025

In various medical fields vascular structures have to be examined with usually two-dimensional views which present imaging techniques produce. The interpretation of the data can be supported by 3-dimensional visualization techniques. The further analysis requires often the attributation of the particular functional or anatomical entities. To attribute these interactively we developed two different visualization strategies. In the first one the shape of the structures is modelled with OpenGL achieving very fast response times, most notably during the navigation. The second strategy, the direct rendering of the volume, benefits from the accurate reproduction of the vascular structures. Although the rendering needs much more time, the strategy provides similar response times for the attributation. Thus, the strategies complement one another.
Real-time Soft Tissue Modelling for Webbased Surgical Simulation: SurfaceChainMail
Authors: Li Ying  , Brodlie Ken  , Phillips Nicholas
Published: February 2025

The Web provides a useful environment for simple surgical training simulations. A combination of VRML for 3D rendering, and Java code for the simulation engine, has been used for a range of simple neurosurgical demonstrators. However the elements in these simulators are rigid, to avoid the computational complexity of deformable modelling. In this paper we describe a variation of the ChainMail technique that allows us to provide real-time deformable modelling, even in a Web browser environment on a PC. Our new algorithm, SurfaceChainMail, has been used to develop a simulator for the cutting of two layers of tissue, and separating the layers by pulling them apart.
In vivo measurement of solid organ viscoelastic properties
Authors: Ottensmeyer Mark P.
Published: February 2025

To support the ongoing development of software-based surgical simulation systems, work is underway to acquire the mechanical properties of living tissue. When such simulations include force feedback, visco-elastic properties must be evaluated over a range of frequencies relevant to human perception and motor control. A minimally invasive instrument has been developed which can perform normal indentation on solid organs, and apply and measure deformations over a frequency range from DC to approximately 100Hz. Measurement performance was validated on a series of objects and materials with known properties, and the device was subsequently used in in vivo tests on porcine liver. Results of these validation tests as well as the data extracted from the in vivo experiments are presented. Testing in ongoing, and will be expanded to more completely characterize liver, as well as porcine spleen and other solid organ tissues. While these animal tissue property tests are valuable in and of themselves, they pave the way for the development of instruments and experimental protocols suitable for the measurement of human tissue properties.
Stroke Rehabilitation at Home using Virtual Reality, Haptics and Telemedicine
Authors: Rydmark Martin  , Broeren Jörgen  , Pascher Ragnar
Published: February 2025

The objective of this pilot study is to identify the level of difficulty in which subjects with left hemisphere damage in the acute phase after stroke can start practicing in a virtual environment. Second, to test an application of Virtual Reality technology to existing occupational treatment methods in stroke rehabilitation and develop a platform for home rehabilitation controlled telemedically. The findings indicate that the system shows potential as an assessment and training device. The feasibility study setup is working well likewise the assessment method. Developing and increasing the complexity of the tasks must be based on the patient individual neurology, and that the cinematic motion patterns of the patient’s are the basis for exercise design.
Automatic patient registration in computer assisted maxillofacial surgery
Authors: Schermeier O.  , Lueth T.  , Glagau J.  , Szymanski D.  , Tita R.  , Hildebrand D.  , Klein M.  , Nelson K.  , Bier J.
Published: February 2025

In this paper, a new approach for patient registration in computer assisted maxillofacial surgery is presented. The method uses a unique structure of markers embedded in a reference frame for the automatic detection of the coordinate system of the medical imaging data during the surgical intervention. With the new method, the inaccurate and time consuming process of manually identifying markers in the data volume and manually teaching them to a navigation system can be replaced. The method and algorithms for the automatic marker detection are described in this paper. Experiments with 45 data sets of patients proove the robustness, usability and safety of the new method. The method has been integrated into the navigation system RoboDent for dental implant surgery.
Calibration and Accuracy Testing for Image-Enhanced Endoscopy
Authors: Bax Michael R.  , Khadem Rasool  , Johnson Jeremy A.  , Wilkinson Eric P.  , Shahidi Ramin
Published: February 2025

New surgical navigation techniques may combine the use of live video from a surgical endoscope with 3D volumetrically-reconstructed images of a patient's anatomy. This image-enhanced endoscopy requires calibration of the endoscope to ensure that the mapping of the real endoscope image to its virtual counterpart is properly performed. The application of a technique to calibrate an endoscope prior to use in a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure is described, as well as a simple yet effective linear method for lens-distortion compensation. The results of accuracy testing of the calibration technique using a dedicated testing apparatus are reported.
Dextrous and Shared Interaction with Medical Data: stereoscopic vision is more important than hand-image collocation
Authors: Waterworth John A.
Published: February 2025

The current experiment was carried out to extend our knowledge about the relative importance of stereoscopic. display and hand-image collocation for dextrous interaction. We devised a new task, the Volumetric Dexterity Test (VDT), which quite accurately duplicates the way professional personnel such as surgeons and radiologists interact with detailed medical data in a VR environment. Our results were surprising. Stereo vision was very important to both accuracy and speed of task completion, as we found previously. But the presence of hand-image collocation did not improve accuracy, despite the fact that this was a truly three-dimensional task. If this finding is borne out it has important implications for the volumetric presentation of medical data to individual practitioners and in group settings.
Information Architecture for a Federated Health Record Server
Authors: Kalra D  , Lloyd D  , Austin T  , O'Connor A  , Patterson D  , Ingram D
Published: February 2025

This paper describes the information models that have been used to implement a federated health record server and to deploy it in a live clinical setting. The authors, working at the Centre for Health Informatics and Multiprofessional Education (University College London), have built up over a decade of experience within Europe on the requirements and information models that are needed to underpin comprehensive multi-professional electronic health records. This work has involved collaboration with a wide range of health care and informatics organisations and partners in the healthcare computing industry across Europe though the EU Health Telematics projects GEHR, Synapses, EHCR-SupA, SynEx and Medicate. The resulting architecture models have fed into recent European standardisation work in this area, such as CEN TC/251 ENV 13606. UCL has implemented a federated health record server based on these models which is now running in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Whittington Hospital in North London. The information models described in this paper reflect a refinement based on this implementation experience.
Semi-Automatic Landmark Detection in Digital X-Ray Images of the Spine
Authors: Gerard Olivier  , Lelong Pierre  , Planells-Rodriguez Milena  , Makram-Ebeid Sherif  , Verdonck Bert  , Breeuwer Marcel  , Nulunsing Rutger  , Cheung John  , Veldhuizen Albert
Published: February 2025

Quantitative diagnosis of 3D scoliotic deformities depends on a number of dedicated measurements. Existing methods rely on the manual determination of a series of anatomical landmarks in X-ray images. We have developed an automatic method to alleviate the burden of this tedious task. Our method looks for a compromise between local image information and global prior constraints and finds the most probable points using dynamic programming optimization. Remaining errors can be quickly corrected by effective user interaction. The first results are promising.
Monitoring of Side Shift Exercise Using an Electromagnetic Three-Dimensional Measuring Device
Authors: Maruyama Toru  , Takahashi Masato  , Mochizuki Keiichi  , Nakamura Kozo
Published: February 2025

In order to investigate the usefulness of an electromagnetic three- dimensional measuring device as a monitor for the side shift exercise, the evaluation by the well-trained physical therapist as to whether the exercise was properly performed or not was compared with the evaluation using data obtained by the device. The side shift exercises performed by twenty-four female patients with idiopathic scoliosis were classified as "good," "rotation," or "bend" by the well- trained physical therapist. By the use of the data obtained by the electromagnetic three-dimensional measuring device, whether the exercise was "rotation" or not could be predicted with 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity, and whether the exercise was "bend" or not could be predicted with 83% sensitivity and 100% specificity. These results suggested that the electromagnetic three-dimensional measuring device could be a useful monitor for the side shift exercise.
Outcome of In-patient Rehabilitation in Patients with M. Scheuermann Evaluated by Surface Topography
Authors: Weiß Hans-Rudolf  , Dieckmann Jörg  , Gerner Hans-Jürgen
Published: February 2025

For the follow-up of patients with sagittal spinal deformities and postural disorders, we do not have well validated measuring systems at our disposal. All clinical measuring parameters are liable to a high margin of error. With a growing number of patients suffering from postural disorders and kyphoses, we have to look for other possibilities to monitor changes of the back, as well as in the short term, without the support of X-rays.
Scoliosis and Leg Asymmetries: a Reliable Approach to Assess Wedge Solutions Efficacy
Authors: D'Amico Moreno
Published: February 2025

The aetiological aspects as well as postural attitude implications represent an open question in the evaluation and in the treatment to be applied in scoliosis. Legs asymmetry is often recognized in scoliotic patients, but still controversial is the use of underfoot wedges in order to compensate pelvis tilt. This could be due to the great uncertainty and intrinsic error level of the traditional clinical and visual measurements methods that present limitations in the assessment of all the 3D involved postural and morphological parameters. This is especially true given the clinical difficulty in the estimation of pelvic torsion usually coupled to leg asymmetry. In such a topic, a significant helpful tool has been demonstrated to be the opto-electronic measurement approach proposed by D'Amico et al., particularly given the innocuousness of the analysis and the speed of the clinical parameter extraction procedure. The present investigation demonstrates on a sample of 220 patients the efficacy of under-foot wedge use in leg asymmetry correction, posture re-balancing and spine deformities reduction, pointing out the significant contribution of the 3D opto-electronic measurement approach in the critical process of assessing the correct under-foot wedge size, therapy monitoring and follow-up.
Morphometric Analysis of one Anatomic Scoliotic Specimen
Authors: Parent Stefan  , Labelle Hubert  , Mitulescu Anca  , Latimer Bruce  , Skalli Wafa  , Lavaste François  , de Guise Jacques
Published: February 2025

Idiopathic scoliosis is a 3-D deformation affecting the position of the spine in space. The regional deformity has been studied extensively but the local changes have not been widely investigated and this being mainly due to the rarity of anatomical specimens. The objective of this study was to identify a deformation pattern for idiopathic scoliosis. We thus studied one complete scoliotic specimen using a digitizing protocol developed by our research group. The anatomical specimen was selected from the Hamann-Todd Osteology Collection at the Cleveland Natural History Museum, which contains over 1 300 skeletons. We were also able to match this scoliotic specimen with one normal specimen for age, sex, race, height and weight. Each vertebra was measured by taking approximately 200 points on each surface. Parameters for each vertebra were then calculated from these sets of points. Each scoliotic vertebra was then compared with a corresponding normal vertebra of the matched specimen. We present the first findings of these measurements, which show pedicle and posterior elements changes that are thought to be secondary to the scoliotic deformation.
Relation between Patient Positioning, Trunk Flexibility and Surgical Correction of the Scoliotic Spine
Authors: Petit Y.  , Aubin C.-É.  , Labelle H.
Published: February 2025

The purpose of this work is to investigate the relations between the correction of idiopathic scoliosis obtained by surgical instrumentation and the positioning of the patient on the surgical table as well as the curve reduction following the bending test. A retrospective study of preoperative standing, supine and lateral bending films as well as postoperative standing films was made using multiple regressions in order to identify the most significant parameters and define linear statistical models to predict the surgical correction. Postoperative thoracic Cobb angle is significantly associated to left and right bending Cobb angles and the post-op lumbar Cobb is associated to the supine and the left bending Cobb angles. This preliminary study suggests that such parameters should be considered in the pre-operative planning of surgery as well as in biomechanical models to obtain more adequate predictive values of the surgical outcome and to better understand the biomechanics of scoliosis surgical correction.
A proposed Referral Centre Based on HL7/XML
Authors: Chen T.S.  , Liao B.S.  , Lee C.H.  , Gough T.G.
Published: February 2025

With the growth of the Internet, hospitals have also applied HL7 (Health Level Seven) to exchange data between them. The referral system is identified as an appropriate application system. The effect of referral is to transfer the patient to a suitable hospital in a timely fashion, and to arrange appropriate treatment for the patient. Taking advantage of the Internet to exchange referral data can, not only accelerate the process of patient referral, but also avoid the unnecessary repeat examinations to decrease the waste of medical resources. This article builds up a referral-related message according to the HL7 standard, and develops a referral centre using the Internet environment, making use of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) standard to transform the referral-related data to XML format and exchange referral data between platforms. This electronic referral mechanism is expected to offer other hospitals experience of improved referral practice.
Knowledge engineering for a Database between botany and art
Authors: Giacomini Mauro  , Bruzzo Laura  , Bertone Stefania  , Ruggiero Carmelina
Published: February 2025

We present the knowledge organisation of a database, which aims to collect information for the project “Plants in European Masterpieces”. This project is financed by the European Union within the Culture 2000 program. The project is aimed to link art with plants within the frame of a common European history and to make it accessible to a wide public. The informatics aspect of this project is focused on the creation of a data base which collects detailed information on selected plants and masterpieces in which these plants are presented. The main efforts in the design phase have been devoted to knowledge organisation in order to retain the taxonomic structure of the botanical knowledge, and to minimise data structure redundancies by linking some features which can be applied to the plants at different levels of their taxonomy to the correct level without repeating it. At present the database is installed in the Pc of all the experts that in the 5 involved countries collaborate to collect data for this project. This data is weekly merged in a central database, using a specific automatic procedure that avoids possible duplications of data inserted and checks for possible inconsistencies among data inserted in different temporal databases. The multi-language and easy to use features of this data base make it an interesting prototype for the spreading of scientific information to common public.
Towards a PropeR combination of patient records and protocols
Authors: Tange Huibert  , Talmon Jan  , Van Der Linden Helma  , Van Oosterhout Eugénie  , Hasman Arie
Published: February 2025

The combination of a computer-based patient record system with a decision support system may give physicians the decisive push they need to accept such systems. In the PropeR-project we determine the requirements for a generic interface between both such systems and measure its potential impact on patient care. In this overview we describe the objectives, the experimental approach, and the current state of the PropeR-project. We also discuss the original positions behind the project.
Implementation of a publication-subscription environment within a multi-agents paradigm
Authors: Sievering Johann  , Lovis Christian  , Geissbühler Antoine
Published: February 2025

Information management and workflow are one of the most important challenges to be met in hospitals. This challenge is even more important when having to deal with getting the right information at the right place, including such tools as alerts and notification. Open distributed intelligent agents constitute one of the most promising ways to explore, providing both ability to work in heterogeneous environment, and dealing with highly structured semantic knowledge. The paradigm proposed in this work is to consider a publication/subscription system as collaborative procedures network organized in workflows modelled by Petri nets. Each stage of workflow is carried out by a set of agent units having placed their competences in a workspace with a semantic description. Finally, robustness and tolerance are implicit properties of such agents; two mandatory characteristics of healthcare information systems.
Access Control Administration in Healthcare Applications
Authors: Andreas MATTAS K.  , Ioannis MAVRIDIS K.  , George PANGALOS I.
Published: February 2025

The interconnection of information systems of different parties involved in healthcare applications leads to the need for information sharing across large-scale and highly distributed database systems. Applying appropriate access control policies in an effective and flexible way is a specific task for a number of local security officers that must operate according to a high-level access control administration system. The particular security requirements of healthcare information systems are reflected to the access control system, which must be flexible and dynamically adaptable to the daily activities. Decentralizing access control administration can be achieved in a uniform and consistent way when applying appropriate administrative rules and constraints. In this paper are presented the basic features of an access control administration model for interconnected information systems, as in the healthcare environment.
Security in the French-speaking Virtual Medical University
Authors: Renard Jean Marie  , Brunetaud Jean Marc  , Dufresne E.  , Beuscart R.
Published: February 2025

The Medical Virtual French-Speaking University (UMVF) is a government sponsored program. The participating medical schools will share Web accessible scientific contents and develop their own teaching strategies and learner-trainer interactions. An e-learning platform will manage the access to the UMVF and its various resources. This access will require a unique identification / authentication. Users will then be guided toward those resources adapted to their profile. We recommend the use of a smart card for the identification / authentication. The connection should be secured via a SSL protocol when using critical resources such as assessment of a student, discussion between a student and a teacher and creation or modification of resources by a teacher. In other cases, secure connection will not be required. Usage rights of resources will be explicated. Critical data will be ciphered.
Development of Universal Electronic Health Record in Cardiology
Authors: Hanzlicek Petr
Published: February 2025

In the paper we discuss the vision and experiences in development of electronic health record based on universal structure of collectable data, multimedia objects, all equipped by supporting systems for data verification and medical guidelines connection. This development is based on existing European and international standards in the field of medical informatics.