bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An Experiment to Measure the Performance of Phonetic Key Compression Retrieval Schemes
Authors: Greenfield R. H.
Published: March 2018

The results of an experiment to measure the performance of the Davidson and Soundex phonetic key compression schemes in finding sets of records representing the same individual in a moderately large radiology patient file, as compared to exact surname matches, are presented. This is similar to the problem of retrieving a record by name under the assumption that neither the search key nor the recorded key is accurately known. Both phonetic schemes perform similarly in obtaining extra matches and both outperform by a large margin the exact, name match. The results also indicate that the Davidson scheme is superior to the Soundex because it produces significantly fewer mismatches.
Some Problems Arising in the Statistical Treatment of Diagnosis
Authors: Zentgraf R. , Victor N.
Published: March 2018

For the most frequently used model of a one-step diagnostic process, where a patient can be allocated to exactly one disease, a mathematical formulation is presented. Possible criticism of the model is discussed. Statistical problems arising from the determination of the allocation rules are outlined with special emphasis on plug-in-rules. Finally, mention is made of some problems occurring in the practical application of diagnostic algorithms.
The Design of Quality Control
Authors: Wagner G.
Published: March 2018

Quality control of medical data and judgements plays an essential part in the efforts to put medicine on a sounder basis. In the past, control procedures have been neglected because of the bulky work often connected with them; now, however, modern mechanical and electronic equipment opens up the possibility to check thoroughly with a justifiable expenditure of time and effort. Profound checking of the data is especially necessary if statistical analyses are to be carried out, because even extremely sophisticated calculations will in reality be of little value if they rest on uncertain foundations.

Scientific quality control makes use of different methods. Formal errors (e. g., slips of the pen, mistakes in coding, etc.) can often be detected by comparing the data with confidence limits or by testing for incompatibility. Such controls can very well be made by computers. Frequency distributions can occasionally be checked for plausibility. For this sort of control analysis, the probability paper is best suited. The most effective possibility to avoid or to find errors is repeated or multiple examination. Statistical models can be used to estimate the effects of defined errors on the results of an investigation. Possibilities of quality control should already be envisaged in the planning stage of an investigation.
Systematic Outline of Errors of Statistical Inference
Authors: Koller S.
Published: March 2018

A systematic outline is given of the errors and mistakes which can affect statistical inference. This study starts from the subject matter question and discusses the possibilities of errors during all steps of work up to the wording of the statistical result and the inference to the original problem.
Creation of Realistic Appearing Simulated Patient Cases Using the INTERNIST-1/QMR Knowledge Base and Interrelationship Properties of Manifestations
Authors: Parker R. , Miller R.
Published: March 2018

The Internist-1/0uick Medical Reference (OMR) knowledge base (KB) describes the clinical manifestations of some 600 diseases in the domain of internal medicine. This KB, while not representing deep causal modelling of disease processes, is nonetheless effective iri providing medical diagnostic assistance through the OMR medical decision support system. One potential application ofthis extensive KB is the generation of simulated patient cases for use in educating health professionals. However, the “flat” KB is not adequate for this because the clinical manifestations used in the disease descriptions are not mutually independent. While it is theoretically possible to construct disease descriptions which embody pathophysiologic mechanisms of disease causality, it is not practical from the standpoint of resource utilization. Short of constructing a causal knowledge base, the authors herein describe the generation of realistic appearing simulated patient case data using existing information in the knowledge base. This existing information in the KB is in the form of properties which represent a shallow form of interrelationships of the manifestations. The authors conclude that this ability to generate simulated cases represents another view in which to look at an extensive knowledge base, as well as having application to constructing intelligent tutoring systems for health professionals in training.
Factors Affecting Computer-Mediated Instruction in Medical Education
Authors: Levy A.
Published: March 2018

Although computer technology has progressed rapidly in the last decade, the use of computer mediated instruction as an adjunct to medical education has made only limited progress. This paper will attempt to analyze some of the major factors bearing on this limitation, will review those areas where computer based´instruction is potentially of greatest use, and will suggest means by which medical education can make greater use of the rapidly evolving information technologies. The Medical PLATO project at the University of Illinois will be used as an example to illustrate many of the points relating to the development of this field.
Informatics in Dental Education: A Horizon of Opportunity
Authors: Abbey L.
Published: March 2018

Computers have presented society with the largest array of opportunities since the printing press. More specifically in dental education they represent the path to freedom from the memory-based curriculum. Computers allow us to be constantly in touch with the entire scope of knowledge necessary for decision making in every aspect of the process of preparing young men and women to practice dentistry. No longer is it necessary to spend the energy or time previously used to memorize facts, test for retention of facts or be concerned with remembering facts when dealing with our patients. Modern information management systems can assume that task allowing dentists to concentrate on understanding, skill, judgement and wisdom while helping patients deal with their problems within a health care system that is simultaneously baffling in its complexity and overflowing with options. This paper presents a summary of the choices facing dental educators as computers continue to afford us the freedom to look differently at teaching, research and practice. The discussion will elaborate some of the ways dental educators must think differently about the educational process in order to utilize fully the power of computers in curriculum development and tracking, integration of basic and clinical teaching, problem solving, patient management, record keeping and research. Some alternative strategies will be discussed that may facilitate the transition from the memory-based to the computer-based curriculum and practice.
Interactive Videodisc as an Instructional Tool in Medical Education
Authors: Culbert A. , Cantelmo Nancy , Stafford Mary , Allan D.
Published: March 2018

At a time when medical educators are actively revising the undergraduate medical school curriculum to make it more responsive to exigencies ofthe 21st century, the use of interactivevide.odisc technology may well prove to be a significant addition. Using interactive videodisc technology may be instrumental in reducing the amount of a large lecture didactic learning and improving small group problem-solving sessions that better synthesize factual knowledge. It also provides important and valuable exposure to varieties of computer technology that play an increasingly important role in training and medical practice.
Medical Informatics and Education: The Profession as Gate-Keeper
Authors: Kluge E.-H.
Published: March 2018

Modern health care systems, both at the policy as well as the delivery level, are becoming increasingly data-dependent. The profession of Medical Informatics is beginning to emerge as a distinctive discipline that functions as the point of entry of the relevant data into the systems and as the medium of their manipulation. Medical Informatics therefore finds itself in a gate-keeper position: i. e., in the position of someone who effectively controls the use of these data and whose actions set the parameters of what will be done with them. This position, in turn, places special ethical obligations on the profession as a whole as well as on the individual professionals. It is unlikely that the nature of these obligations, or indeed their very scope, will be appreciated without some training in ethics; and it is also unlikely that the ethical problems that arise in the conduct of the profession can be handled smoothly without some ethical education. Medical Informatics, as a profession, should therefore insist that the education of its members involve not only technical parameters but also include some education in ethics. The pay-off for this would come not only in terms of an integrated functioning of the profession as a whole, but also in a much more firmly established legal and social position.
Teaching Hospital Information Systems by Simulating What Really Happens
Authors: Protti D.
Published: March 2018

This paper discusses the teaching of a course which simulates what a hospital goes through when it conceptualizes the need for a Hospital Information System, identifies its goals and objectives for the system, prepares a Request for Proposal (RFP), and selects a particular system. The course is. taught entirely in simulation and role playing modes. Students are taken on site visits, vendors come to the University to demonstrate their systems, and consultants are brought in to give advice. The pros and cons of this particular style of teaching are discussed.
The Role of Biometry in the Training of Medical Informaticians
Authors: Victor N.
Published: March 2018

Medical informatics and medical biometry, as well as the medical biometrician´s and medical informatician´s fields of activity, overlap significantly. The affinity between the two disciplines can be illustrated by a comparison of the definitions of both disciplines, by examples of research projects for which the application of methods from both fields is necessary in order to complete the project successfully, and by an analysis of the professional fields of medical informatics graduates working in their occupation. Therefore, a stronger integration of both disciplines is advocated.
The German Syndrome Identification and Information System (DOFONOS)
Authors: Leiber B.
Published: March 2018

This is a report on origin, aims and purpose of a unique service for physicians of all specialties and nationalities.

Since 1969, the system DOFONOS, in a largely computerized manner, stores all relevant facts about rare or newly described syndromes about which it gives information upon request free of charge. This information center may also assist in diagnostic identification of patterns. In addition, the information center will develop basic models for computer-aided medical diagnosis. Thereby it attempts to standardize the syndrome and symptom nomenclature in such a way as to be suitable for computer processing. Presently the physician deals with about 30,000 different syndromes the number of whichincreases continuously. This results in an »explosion of information« that shall be relieved by DOFONOS. If a physician needs help in the diagnosis of a disease of unknown type, he may request information about it, provided he supplies an exact description of the symptoms observed.
Entrainment and Annihilation of Reentrant Excitation in a Periodically Stimulated Ring of Excitable Media
Authors: Glass L. , Nomura T.
Published: March 2018

Excitable media, such as nerve, heart and the Belousov-Zhabo- tinsky reaction, exhibit a large excursion from equilibrium in response to a small but finite perturbation. Assuming a one-dimensional ring geometry of sufficient length, excitable media support a periodic wave of circulation. As in the periodic stimulation of oscillations in ordinary differential equations, the effects of periodic stimuli of the periodically circulating wave can be described by a one-dimensional Poincaré map. Depending on the period and intensity of the stimulus as well as its initial phase, either entrainment or termination of the original circulating wave is observed. These phenomena are directly related to clinical observations concerning periodic stimulation of a class of cardiac arrhythmias caused by reentrant wave propagation in the human heart.
Multivariate Analysis of Multichannel Surface Myoelectric Signals to Determine Muscular Fatigue
Authors: Nakamura Y. , Kiryu T. , Saitoh Y.
Published: March 2018

Multivariate analysis would be effective in finding the functional change from several variables obtained from multivariate biological signals. We applied this idea to the discrimination of sustained fatiguing contraction from negative ramp contraction. The time-series of eigenvalues were obtained from multidimensional biological variables by the Karhunen-Loève expansion. The results showed that, the first and second eigenvalues came close to each other during fatiguing contraction, whereas only the first eigenvalue was dominant during negative ramp contraction. Moreover, the factor loadings showed considerable difference between fatiguing contraction and negative ramp contraction. As a result, the muscular-fatigue-related functional change could be represented clearly by the time-series of proportions and factor loadings.
The Whale Forgetting Factor in Recursive AR Spectral Analysis of Heart Rate Variability Signals
Authors: Mainardi L. T. , Cerutti S. , Bianchi A. M.
Published: March 2018

Spectral parameters extracted from the heart rate variability signal are obtained on a beat-to-beat basis by means of autoregressive recursive identification. In this paper a whale forgetting window is introduced, instead of the classical exponential one, in order to reduce the noise influence on the estimated parameters. After proper simulation it was found that the whale forgetting window markedly reduces the noise in the identification, but maintains a good response to abrupt changes in the signal. The algorithm was thus applied to the analysis of the HRV data recorded during differenttransient situations in physiological and pathological conditions. The spectral parameters were obtained on a beat-to-beat basis and their trends were smoother and more accurate with respect to the traditional exponential window also in presence of noise or artifacts in the time series (sudden and short time changes, ectopic beats, etc.), without losing the signal variations of physiological interest.
Leveraging IT to Improve Patient Safety
Authors: Garets D.E. , Handler T.J. , Ball M.J.
Published: March 2018

Medical errors and issues of patient safety are hardly new phenomena. Even during the dawn of medicine, Hippocrates counselled new physicians “to above all else do no harm.” In the United States, efforts to improve the quality of healthcare can be seen in almost every decade of the last century. In the early 1900s, Dr. Ernest Codman failed in his efforts to get fellow surgeons to look at the outcomes of their cases. In the 1970s, there was an outcry that the military allowed an almost blind surgeon to continue to practice and even transferred him to the prestigious Walter Reed Hospital. More recently, two reports by the Institute of Medicine caught the attention of the media, the American public, and the healthcare industry. To Err Is Human highlights the need to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety, and Crossing The Quality Chasm calls for a new health system to provide quality care for the 21st century.
Quality of health care: informatics foundations
Authors: Safran C. , Takeda H. , Hasman A.
Published: March 2018

In this article we will discuss in what ways computer systems can contribute to the quality of healthcare and on which principles of informatics successful systems are founded. Section 2 presents an overview of studies that investigate the usefulness of decision support, and Section 3 discusses factors that determine the success of decision support systems. The foundations of guideline systems are presented in Section 4. Section 5 offers a brief review of physician order entry, and Section 6 presents a discussion of medical risk management and the results of Japanese studies in this area.
Achievements after Six Years of The International Partnership for Health Informatics Education
Authors: Gardner R. M. , Gatewood L. C. , Haux R. , Schmidt D. , Wetter T. , Jaspers M. W. M.
Published: March 2018

To inform the medical and health informatics community on the rational, goals, and the achievements of the International Partnership for Health Informatics Education – IPHIE, (IΦE), that was established at six universities in 1999: The University of Amsterdam, the Universities of Heidelberg and Heilbronn, the University of Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology at Innsbruck, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Utah.

We elaborate on the overall goals of IΦE and describe the current state of affairs: the activities undertaken and faculty and student experience related to these activities. In addition we outline the lessons we have learned over these past six years and our plans for the future.

IΦE seeks to maintain, improve and promote medical and health informatics education through international collaboration of graduate and baccalaureate programs in medical and health informatics. IΦE members first started to collaborate by supporting and encouraging the exchange of talented students and faculty and by establishing joint master classes for honors students. Following the success of these activities, new initiatives were undertaken such as the organization of student workshops at Medical Informatics conferences and a joint course on strategic information management in hospitals in Europe.

International partnerships such as IΦE take time to establish, and, if they are to be successful, maintaining leadership continuity is critically important. We are convinced that IΦE promotes professionalism of future medical informatics specialists. There will be a continuing growth of globalization in higher education. It will therefore become increasingly important to offer educational programs with international components.
Section 6: Education and Consumer Informatics: The Path towards eHealth: Obstacles along the Way
Authors: Enkin M. W. , Jadad A. R.
Published: March 2018

The two authors of this article share both a strong interest in, and deep concerns about, the use of eHealth (electronic information and communication technologies for improving or maintaining health). In this article, we identify some unanticipated obstacles to effective use of eHealth.

We reflected upon the potential of information and communication technologies to transform the health system and its failure to achieve that potential.

We chose seven obstacles: the insufficient emphasis on health in eHealth, the lack of time for reflection, the development of a fortress mentality, poor evaluation of efforts, lack of involvement of youth, inequity, and a parochial attitude that precludes economies of scale. Whenever possible, we provided examples of innovative initiatives that illustrate potential ways to meet our current challenges.

We believe that the obstacles we describe in this article can be overcome. The impediments are not only technological, but also cognitive, financial and political. To succeed will require a major shift from our ethic of competition to one of generosity, commitment, and collaboration; enlightened, as opposed to narrow, self-interest.
Section 3: Health Information Systems: Expanding the Scope of Health Information Systems
Authors: Wurst S. H. R. , Bott O. J. , Giuse D. A. , Kuhn K. A.
Published: March 2018

To identify current challenges and developments in health information systems.

Reports on HIS, eHealth and process support were analyzed, core problems and challenges were identified.

Health information systems are extending their scope towards regional networks and health IT infrastructures. Integration, interoperability and interaction design are still today’s core problems. Additional problems arise through the integration of genetic information into the health care process. There are noticeable trends towards solutions for these problems.
Nursing Care Systems: Enhancing Care Processes in Practice and Management
Authors: Carr R. , Marin H.F.
Published: March 2018

ObjectiveTo summarize aspects of nursing informatics application and introduces challenges that are currently being addressed by nurses around the world.

MethodsKey contributions in the field are surveyed and put in the perspective of the IMIA Nursing Informatics Strategic Plan.

Results As a discipline, nursing informatics offers real and practical instruments and opportunities to delivery nursing care across settings, units of care and specialties. A variety of patient care systems are managed by nurses who are introduced to this link during their training embracing information networks, communication skills together with an ability to work both in practice and administrative positions in a variety of clinical and community settings.

Conclusion At a time when the tendency is toward a computer-based patient record, nurses must be able to identify what kind of nursing data and information will construct useable and useful nursing knowledge. There are many options for each area of application and the selection must be done carefully, considering the enhancement for organizational, technological and local requirements.
Biomedical Ontologies in Action: Role in Knowledge Management, Data Integration and Decision Support
Authors: Bodenreider O.
Published: March 2018

Objectives To provide typical examples of biomedical ontologies in action, emphasizing the role played by biomedical ontologies in knowledge management, data integration and decision support.

MethodsBiomedical ontologies selected for their practical impact are examined from a functional perspective. Examples of applications are taken from operational systems and the biomedical literature, with a bias towards recent journal articles.

Results The ontologies under investigation in this survey include SNOMED CT, the Logical Observation Identifiers, Names, and Codes (LOINC), the Foundational Model of Anatomy, the Gene Ontology, RxNorm, the National Cancer Institute Thesaurus, the International Classification of Diseases, the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS). The roles played by biomedical ontologies are classified into three major categories: knowledge management (indexing and retrieval of data and information, access to information, mapping among ontologies); data integration, exchange and semantic interoperability; and decision support and reasoning (data selection and aggregation, decision support, natural language processing applications, knowledge discovery).

Conclusions Ontologies play an important role in biomedical research through a variety of applications. While ontologies are used primarily as a source of vocabulary for standardization and integration purposes, many applications also use them as a source of computable knowledge. Barriers to the use of ontologies in biomedical applications are discussed.

Geissbuhler A, Kulikowski C, editors. IMIA Year book of Medical Informatics 2008.
Biomedical Informatics in the Desert - A New and Unique Program at Arizona State University
Authors: Panchanathan S. , Patel V. , Silverman H. , Shortliffe E. H. , Greenes R. A.
Published: March 2018

Objectives A new academic Biomedical Informatics (BMI) Program in Phoenix, Arizona, embodies a unique organizational structure to draw on the strengths of a computer science and informatics school and the biomedical and clinical strengths of a college of medicine, in an effort to infuse informatics approaches broadly.

MethodsThe program reflects a partnership of two state universities that situates the Arizona State University (ASU) Department of BMI on a new downtown Phoenix Biomedical Campus with the University of Arizona (UA) College of Medicine in partnership with ASU (COMPHX). Plans call for development of faculty and expertise in the four major subdomains of BMI, as well as in various cross-cutting capabilities.

Results Coming into existence in a state that is investing significantly in biomedical science and technology, BMI has already developed Masters and PhD degree programs, is working with COMPHX to integrate informatics intensively into the education of the medical students, and has been authorized to plan for an undergraduate program in BMI. Reflecting the statewide emphasis on the biomedical and health sector, the growing faculty are engaged in a number of research partnerships and collaborative centers.

Conclusions As one of the newest academic BMI programs is taking shape in Arizona, it is embarking on a wide-ranging educational program and a broad research agenda that are now in their earliest stages.
STARE-HI -Statement on Reporting of Evaluation Studies in Health Informatics
Authors: Ammenwerth E. , Brender J. , de Keizer N. , Nykänen P. , Rigby M. , Talmon J.
Published: March 2018

Objective Development of guidelines for publication of evaluation studies of Health Informatics applications.

Methods An initial list of issues to be addressed in reports on evaluation studies was drafted based on experiencesas editorsand reviewers and as authors of systematic reviews , taking into account guidelines for reporting of medical research. This list has been discussed in several rounds by an increasing number of experts in Health Informatics evaluation during conferences and by using e-mail.

ResultsA set of STARE-HI principles to be addressed in papers describing evaluations of Health Informatics interventions is presented. These principles include formulation of title and abstract, of introduction (e.g. scientific background, study objectives), study context (e.g. organizational setting, system details), methods (e.g. study design, outcome measures), results (e.g. study findings, unexpected observations)and discussion and conclusion.

Conclusion Acomprehensivelistofprinciplesrelevantforproperlydescribing Health Informatics evaluations has been developed. When manuscripts submitted to Health Informatics journals and general medical journals adhere to these aspects, readers will be better positioned to place the studies in a proper context and judge their validity and generalisability. STARE-HI may also be used for study planning and hence positively influence the quality of evaluation studies in Health Informatics. We believe that better publication of (both quantitative and qualitative) evaluation studies is an important step toward the vision of evidence-based Health Informatics.

Limitations This study is based on experiences from editors, reviewers, authors of systemati c reviews and readers of the scientific literature. The applicability of the principles has not been evaluated in real practice. Only when authors start to use these principles for reporting, shortcomings in the principles will emerge.
Smart Homes and Ambient Assisted Living Applications: From Data to KnowledgeEmpowering or Overwhelming Older Adults?
Authors: Thompson H. , Demiris G.
Published: March 2018

As health care systems face limited resources and workforce shortages to address the complex needs of older adult populations, innovative approaches utilizing information technology can support aging. Smart Home and Ambient Assisted Living (SHAAL) systems utilize advanced and ubiquitous technologies including sensors and other devices that are integrated in the residential infrastructure or wearable, to capture data describing activities of daily living and health related events. This paper highlights how data from SHAAL systems can lead to information and knowledge that ultimately improves clinical outcomes and quality of life for older adults as well as quality of health care services.

We conducted are view of personal health record applications specifically for older adults and approaches to using information to improve elder care. We present a framework that show cases how data captured from SHAAL systems can be processed to provide meaningful information that becomes part of a personal health record.

Synthesis and visualization of information resulting from SHAAL systems can lead to knowledge and support education, delivery of tailored interventions and if needed, transitions in care. Such actions can involve multiple stakeholders as part of shared decision making.

SHAAL systems have the potential to support aging and improve quality of life and decision making for older adults and their families. The framework presented in this paper demonstrates how emphasis needs to be placed into extracting meaningful information from new innovative systems that will support decision making. The challenge for informatics designers and researchers is to facilitate an evolution of SHAAL systems expanding beyond demonstration projects to actual interventions that will improve health care for older adults.
Education in Biomedical and Health Informatics in the Web 3.0 Era: Standards for Data, Curricula, and Activities
Authors: Hersh W. , Otero P.
Published: March 2018

Web 3.0 is transforming the World Wide Web by allowing knowledge and reasoning to be gleaned from its content.

Describe a new scenario in education and training known as “Education 3.0” that can help in the promotion of learning in health informatics in a collaborative way.

Review of the current standards available for curricula and learning activities in in Biomedical and Health Informatics (BMHI) for a Web 3.0 scenario.

A new scenario known as “Education 3.0” can provide open educational resources created and reused throughout different institutions and improved by means of an international collaborative knowledge powered by the use of E-learning. Currently there are standards that could be used in identifying and deliver content in education in BMHI in the semantic web era such as Resource Description Format (RDF), Web Ontology Language (OWL) and Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM). In addition, there are other standards to support healthcare education and training. There are few experiences in the use of standards in e-learning in BMHI published in the literature.

Web 3.0 can propose new approaches to building the BMHI workforce so there is a need to build tools as knowledge infrastructure to leverage it. The usefulness of standards in the content and competencies of training programs in BMHI needs more experience and research so as to promote the interoperability and sharing of resources in this growing discipline.
Documenting the Use of Computers in Swedish Health Care up to 1980
Authors: Peterson H. E. , Lundin P.
Published: March 2018

This paper describes a documentation project to create, collect and preserve previously unavailable sources on informatics in Sweden (including health care as one of 16 subgroups), and mak- ing them available on the Web. Time was critical as the personal docu- mentation and artifacts of early pioneers could be irretrievablylost. The criteria for participation were that a person had developed a system in a clinical environment which was used by others prior to 1980.

Participants were interviewed and asked for early docu- mentation such as notes, minutes from meetings, drawings, test results and early models – together with related artifacts. The ap- proach included traditional oral history interviews, collection of au- tobiographies and new self-structuring and time saving methods, such as witness seminars and an Internet-based repository of their recollections (the Writers’ Web).

The combination of methods obtained new information on system errors, and challenges in reaching the goals due partly to inadequacies of the early technology, and partly to the insufficient understanding of the complexity of the many problems which needed to be solved before a useful electronic patient record could be realized. A very important result was the development of a method to collect information in an easier, faster and much less expensive way than using the traditional scientific method, and still reach results that are qualitative and quantitative for the purpose of documenting the early period of computer-based health care technology. The wit- ness seminars and the Writers’ Web yielded especially large amounts of hitherto-unknown information. With all material in one database available to everyone on the Web, it is accessed very frequently - es- pecially by students, researchers, journalists and teachers.

Study of the materials explains and clarifies the reasons behind the delays and difficulties that have been encountered in de- veloping electronic patient records, as described in an article [3] published in the IMIA Yearbook 2006.
Gut gefüllte Hersteller-Pipeline
Authors: Bubenzer Rainer
Published: March 2018

Die hohe Zahl gerade oder in Kürze auslaufender Patente von biologischen Arzneimitteln animiert zahlreiche (potenzielle) Nachahmer, sich mit Folgeprodukten auf diesem Markt zu positionieren. In anderen ärztlichen Fachgruppen haben sich die Biosimilars schon seit 2006 mit ihren vielfältigen Auswirkungen auf die Patientenversorgung oder das ärztliche Handeln etabliert. In der Onkologie werden seit einigen Jahren bereits biosimilare Wirkstoffe wie Epoetin alfa/zeta und Filgrastim eingesetzt. Diese spielten jedoch, gemessen an dem seit Jahren steigenden Verordnungsanteil von Biologika nur eine untergeordnete Rolle. Mit dem ersten, jetzt EU-weit zugelassenen RituximabBiosimilar kommen jetzt auch die onkologischen Antikörpertherapien ins Blickfeld der Biosimilarhersteller und -vermarkter.
Therapieoptimierung bei gastrointestinalen Tumoren
Authors: Schmale Ine
Published: March 2018

Für eine verbesserte Behandlung von Patienten mit gastrointestinalen Tumoren sind nicht immer neue Therapien notwendig. Manchmal bringt schon die richtige Einschätzung der Lebensqualität Hinweise auf einen Progress oder die Lage des Primärtumors hat einen Einfluss auf Therapiestrategien, wo kein Einfluss erwartet wurde. Lesen Sie im Folgenden mehr über Neuigkeiten zu gastrointestinalen Tumoren, die beim WCGC in Barcelona präsentiert wurden.
Link zwischen Ernährung, Darmflora und Tumorentstehung
Authors: Krome Susanne
Published: March 2018

Fusobacterium nucleatum kommt in Adenomen und Kolonkarzinomen teilweise angereichert vor Sein Nachweis war mit einer erhöhten Tumoraggressivität assoziiert. Eine Langzeitstudie weist nun darauf hin, dass eine ballaststoffarme Ernährung mit viel rotem Fleisch die Besiedlung mit F. nucleatum fördert. Das Bakterium ist eine wahrscheinliche Schnittstelle zwischen Ernährungstyp und F. nucleatum-positiven Kolonkarzinomen, so die Autoren.
Kollagenose-Therapie und Leukämierisiko
Authors: Krome Susanne
Published: March 2018

Patienten mit Autoimmunerkrankungen (AID) haben durch die aktivierte Immunkaskade ein gesteigertes Risiko für hämatologische Neoplasien. Außerdem erhalten sie Substanzen, die im Verdacht stehen eine Leukämie zu begünstigen. In einer Studie wurde untersucht, welche Medikamente die Wahrscheinlichkeit für ein myelodysplastisches Syndrom und eine akute myeloische Leukämie erhöhen.
Fortschritte bei der Therapie – ein Update
Authors: Braitmaier Helmine
Published: March 2018

Die akute lymphatische Leukämie (ALL) ist die häufigste bösartige Erkrankung im Kindesalter. Auf dem DGHO-Kongress beschäftigte sich ein Symposium mit den aktuellen Therapiekonzepten – von der Chemotherapie bis zur CART-Zelle.
Zwei Phase-III-Studien setzen neue Therapiestandards
Authors: Arnheim Katharina
Published: March 2018

Auf dem ESMO 2017 in Madrid war beim lokal fortgeschrittenen nicht-kleinzelligen Lungenkarzinom (NSCLC) im Stadium III nach langer therapeutischer Stagnation wieder ein Fortschritt zu verzeichnen: In der PACIFIC-Studie führte die Erhaltungstherapie mit dem PD-L1-Inhibitor Durvalumab nach Radiochemotherapie (RCT) zu einer Verlängerung des progressionsfreien Überlebens (PFS) um fast ein Jahr. Auch in der Erstlinientherapie des metastasierten EGFR-mutierten NSCLC gibt es eine Verbesserung: Mit Osimertinib gelingt eine erhebliche PFS-Verlängerung; auch beim Gesamtüberleben zeichnet sich ein positiver Trend ab.
Development of an air flow calorimeter prototype for the measurement of thermal power released by large radioactive waste packages
Authors: Razouk R. , Beaumont O. , Failleau G. , Hay B. , Plumeri S.
Published: March 2018

The estimation and control of the thermal power released by the radioactive waste packages are a key parameter in the management of radioactive waste geological repository sites. In the framework of the European project “Metrology for decommissioning nuclear facilities,” the French National Agency of Radioactive Waste Management (ANDRA) collaborates with Laboratoire National de Métrologie et D’essais in order to measure the thermal power up to 500 W of typical real size radioactive waste packages (of at least 0.175 m3) with an uncertainty better than 5% by using a measurement method traceable to the international system of units. One of the selected metrological approaches is based on the principles of air flow calorimetry. This paper describes in detail the development of the air flow calorimeter prototype as well as the design of a radioactive waste package simulator used for its calibration. Results obtained from the calibration of the calorimeter and from the determination of thermal powers are presented here with an investigation of the measurement uncertainties.
Multiplexed direct-frequency-comb Vernier spectroscopy of carbon dioxide 2ν1 + ν3 ro-vibrational combination band
Authors: Siciliani de Cumis M. , Eramo R. , Coluccelli N. , Galzerano G. , Laporta P. , Cancio Pastor P.
Published: March 2018

We investigated a set of nineteen 12C16O2 transitions of the 2ν1 + ν3 ro-vibrational band in the spectral region from 5064 to 5126 cm−1 at different pressures, using frequency-comb Vernier spectroscopy. Our spectrometer enabled the systematic acquisition of molecular absorption profiles with high precision. Spectroscopic parameters, namely, transition frequency, linestrength, and self-pressure broadening coefficient, have been accurately determined by using a global fit procedure. These data are in agreement with theoretical values contained in HITRAN2016 database [I. E. Gordon et al., J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer 203, 3–69 (2017)] at the same precision level. A moderate improvement of the line intensity determinations, by a factor 1.5 in the best case [P(10) transition at 5091.6 cm−1], should be noticed, projecting direct-comb-Vernier-spectroscopy as an adequate tool for spectral intensity calibration.
Direct femtosecond laser surface structuring of crystalline silicon at 400 nm
Authors: Nivas Jijil JJ , Anoop K. K. , Bruzzese Riccardo , Philip Reji , Amoruso Salvatore
Published: March 2018

We have analyzed the effects of the laser pulse wavelength (400 nm) on femtosecond laser surface structuring of silicon. The features of the produced surface structures are investigated as a function of the number of pulses, N, and compared with the surface textures produced by more standard near-infrared (800 nm) laser pulses at a similar level of excitation. Our experimental findings highlight the importance of the light wavelength for the formation of the supra-wavelength grooves, and, for a large number of pulses (N ≈ 1000), the generation of other periodic structures (stripes) at 400 nm, which are not observed at 800 nm. These results provide interesting information on the generation of various surface textures, addressing the effect of the laser pulse wavelength on the generation of grooves and stripes.
In situ observation of carbon nanotube layer growth on microbolometers with substrates at ambient temperature
Authors: Svatoš Vojtěch , Gablech Imrich , Ilic B. Robert , Pekárek Jan , Neužil Pavel
Published: March 2018

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have near unity infrared (IR) absorption efficiency, making them extremely attractive for IR imaging devices. Since CNT growth occurs at elevated temperatures, the integration of CNTs with IR imaging devices is challenging and has not yet been achieved. Here, we show a strategy for implementing CNTs as IR absorbers using differential heating of thermally isolated microbolometer membranes in a C2H2 environment. During the process, CNTs were catalytically grown on the surface of a locally heated membrane, while the substrate was maintained at an ambient temperature. CNT growth was monitored in situ in real time using optical microscopy. During growth, we measured the intensity of light emission and the reflected light from the heated microbolometer. Our measurements of bolometer performance show that the CNT layer on the surface of the microbolometer membrane increases the IR response by a factor of (2.3 ± 0.1) (mean ± one standard deviation of the least-squares fit parameters). This work opens the door to integrating near unity IR absorption, CNT-based, IR absorbers with hybrid complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor focal plane array architectures.
Gauge-origin independent formalism of two-component relativistic framework based on unitary transformation in nuclear magnetic shielding constant
Authors: Hayami Masao , Seino Junji , Nakai Hiromi
Published: March 2018

This article proposes a gauge-origin independent formalism of the nuclear magnetic shielding constant in the two-component relativistic framework based on the unitary transformation. The proposed scheme introduces the gauge factor and the unitary transformation into the atomic orbitals. The two-component relativistic equation is formulated by block-diagonalizing the Dirac Hamiltonian together with gauge factors. This formulation is available for arbitrary relativistic unitary transformations. Then, the infinite-order Douglas-Kroll-Hess (IODKH) transformation is applied to the present formulation. Next, the analytical derivatives of the IODKH Hamiltonian for the evaluation of the nuclear magnetic shielding constant are derived. Results obtained from the numerical assessments demonstrate that the present formulation removes the gauge-origin dependence completely. Furthermore, the formulation with the IODKH transformation gives results that are close to those in four-component and other two-component relativistic schemes.
Plasma particle sources due to interactions with neutrals in a turbulent scrape-off layer of a toroidally confined plasma
Authors: Thrysøe A. S. , Løiten M. , Madsen J. , Naulin V. , Nielsen A. H. , Rasmussen J. Juul
Published: March 2018

The conditions in the edge and scrape-off layer (SOL) of magnetically confined plasmas determine the overall performance of the device, and it is of great importance to study and understand the mechanics that drive transport in those regions. If a significant amount of neutral molecules and atoms is present in the edge and SOL regions, those will influence the plasma parameters and thus the plasma confinement. In this paper, it is displayed how neutrals, described by a fluid model, introduce source terms in a plasma drift-fluid model due to inelastic collisions. The resulting source terms are included in a four-field drift-fluid model, and it is shown how an increasing neutral particle density in the edge and SOL regions influences the plasma particle transport across the last-closed-flux-surface. It is found that an appropriate gas puffing rate allows for the edge density in the simulation to be self-consistently maintained due to ionization of neutrals in the confined region.
Efficient sampling of reversible cross-linking polymers: Self-assembly of single-chain polymeric nanoparticles
Authors: Oyarzún Bernardo , Mognetti Bortolo Matteo
Published: March 2018

We present a new simulation technique to study systems of polymers functionalized by reactive sites that bind/unbind forming reversible linkages. Functionalized polymers feature self-assembly and responsive properties that are unmatched by the systems lacking selective interactions. The scales at which the functional properties of these materials emerge are difficult to model, especially in the reversible regime where such properties result from many binding/unbinding events. This difficulty is related to large entropic barriers associated with the formation of intra-molecular loops. In this work, we present a simulation scheme that sidesteps configurational costs by dedicated Monte Carlo moves capable of binding/unbinding reactive sites in a single step. Cross-linking reactions are implemented by trial moves that reconstruct chain sections attempting, at the same time, a dimerization reaction between pairs of reactive sites. The model is parametrized by the reaction equilibrium constant of the reactive species free in solution. This quantity can be obtained by means of experiments or atomistic/quantum simulations. We use the proposed methodology to study the self-assembly of single-chain polymeric nanoparticles, starting from flexible precursors carrying regularly or randomly distributed reactive sites. We focus on understanding differences in the morphology of chain nanoparticles when linkages are reversible as compared to the well-studied case of irreversible reactions. Intriguingly, we find that the size of regularly functionalized chains, in good solvent conditions, is non-monotonous as a function of the degree of functionalization. We clarify how this result follows from excluded volume interactions and is peculiar of reversible linkages and regular functionalizations.
Structure of the first order reduced density matrix in three electron systems: A generalized Pauli constraints assisted study
Authors: Theophilou Iris , Lathiotakis Nektarios N. , Helbig Nicole
Published: March 2018

We investigate the structure of the one-body reduced density matrix of three electron systems, i.e., doublet and quadruplet spin configurations, corresponding to the smallest interacting system with an open-shell ground state. To this end, we use configuration interaction (CI) expansions of the exact wave function in Slater determinants built from natural orbitals in a finite dimensional Hilbert space. With the exception of maximally polarized systems, the natural orbitals of spin eigenstates are generally spin dependent, i.e., the spatial parts of the up and down natural orbitals form two different sets. A measure to quantify this spin dependence is introduced and it is shown that it varies by several orders of magnitude depending on the system. We also study the ordering issue of the spin-dependent occupation numbers which has practical implications in reduced density matrix functional theory minimization schemes, when generalized Pauli constraints (GPCs) are imposed and in the form of the CI expansion in terms of the natural orbitals. Finally, we discuss the aforementioned CI expansion when there are GPCs that are almost “pinned.”
Tuning anomalous Hall effect in bilayers films by the interfacial spin-orbital coupling
Authors: Wang G. L. , Wu S. X. , Meng M. , Li H. W. , Li D. , Hu P. , Li S. W.
Published: March 2018

The anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in the Mn4N/Au bilayers with various Au thicknesses has been investigated. The new scaling including multiple competing mechanisms is employed to analyze the contributions to the AHE. The obvious variations in the skew scattering coefficient α and the two scattering coefficients (β0 + β1 − γ) and (γ − 2β1) in the bilayers reveal that the skew scattering term and the side-jump contribution are dramatically modified, implying that the mechanisms in the bilayers are different from those in the single Mn4N. On further analysis, we find that the coefficient β0 involving the intrinsic mechanism and side-jump contribution also varies, which confirms the experimental results. It is proposed that the modification of the AHE is induced by the spin-orbital coupling from the heavy metal, providing a practical way to tune the AHE.