bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Limestone-producing bacteria make concrete self healing
Authors: Jonkers H.M.  , Wiktor V.A.C.  , Sierra-Beltran M.G.  , Mors R.M.  , Tziviloglou E.  , Palin D.
Published: February 2025

In a sequential number of IOP funded research projects the suitability of very specific but otherwise harmless bacteria are tested for their ability to repair cracks significantly improving the durability of concrete structures. Such a bacterial repair mechanism would be beneficial for the economy and the environment at the same time, as concrete is worldwide the most applied building material. This new type of ‘bio-concrete’ or ‘bacteria-based concrete’ could make costly manual repair unnecessary resulting in minimizing the use of raw materials, as structures will last much longer. In nature a huge number of different varieties of bacteria occur and some of these are well adapted to artificial man-made environments such as concrete. From a human perspective concrete may seem an extreme environment as the material is dry and rock-solid. However, this does not apply to a specialized group of bacteria, the ‘extremophiles’, named after their habit to love extreme conditions. Some of these bacterial species are not only known to love extremely dry conditions, but also to be able to produce copious amounts of limestone particularly under alkaline conditions. Limestone is from a physico-chemical viewpoint a concrete compatible material and therefore ideally suitable for durable repair of cracks in concrete. In a series of TU Delft based research projects three types of bacteria-based self-healing concrete products have been developed: 1. Self-healing concrete, 2. Self-healing repair mortar, and 3. A spray-able liquid repair system. Whereas for the first two products a granular ‘healing agent’ in form of encapsulated bacterial spores and feed is required, encapsulation of healing agent ingredients is not needed in the last product. While the focus in the early stage of the research projects was particularly on isolation of suitable bacteria and development of various forms of healing agents, the emphasis in the later stages of the projects was on practical outdoors applications. Full scale applications in collaboration with stakeholder parties involving casting of self-healing concrete irrigation canal elements in Ecuador, patch repair for elimination of leaking cracks of concrete walls using self-healing repair mortar, and reduction of frost damage sensitivity and sealing of cracks in concrete parking decks by application of bacteria-based liquid repair system, proofed the functionality and market potential of these products.
Unravelling of porous asphalt
Authors: Garcia Hernandez Alvaro  , Liu Quantao  , Schlangen Erik  , van de Ven Martin
Published: February 2025

Porous asphalt shows excellent performance in both noise reduction and water drainage. Although porous asphalt has these great qualities, its service life is much shorter (sometimes only half) compared to dense graded asphalt roads. Ravelling, which is the loss of aggregate particles from the surface layer, is the main damage mechanism of porous asphalt surface wearing courses. In this research, an induction healing approach (namely, activating the healing process of asphalt concrete through induction heating) was developed to enhance the durability of the porous asphalt roads. Steel fibres are added to a porous asphalt mixture to make it electrically conductive and suitable for induction heating. When micro cracks are expected to occur in the asphalt mastic of the pavement, the temperature of the mastic can be increased locally by induction heating of the steel fibres so that porous asphalt concrete can repair itself and close the cracks through the high temperature healing of the bitumen (diffusion and flow). The closure of micro cracks will prevent the formation of macro cracks. In such a way, ravelling can be avoided or delayed in the end.
Assistive Technologies along Supply Chains in Health Care and in the Social Services Sector
Authors: Mayer Peter  , Hauer Katharina  , Schloffer Evelyn  , Leyrer Barbara
Published: February 2025

Health care systems in Austria and Slovenia are currently facing challenges due to scarce resources and demographic change which can be seen especially along the supply chains. The main objective of this paper is to present an option to improve the use of assistive technologies. An extensive literature research for the theoretic part as well as a qualitative survey for the empiric part focusing on short-term care were carried out. Results show that there is a lack of information and training on assistive technologies. As a consequence, their full potential cannot be exploited. Therefore a guideline for nursing consultations was developed. To conclude, both the literature research and the qualitative survey show that assistive technologies have high potentials to improve the supply chains in the health care and social services sector, but there is a lot of information and training on them needed.
Effects of an Assistance Service on the Quality of Life of Elderly Users
Authors: Willner Victoria  , Schneider Cornelia  , Feichtenschlager Manfred
Published: February 2025

Background: The ‘Confidence’ smartphone application aims at supporting elderly people to stay independent as long as possible.
IMIA Dynamic Accreditation Procedure: Suggestions, Simplicity and Efficiency
Authors: Marcano-Cedeño Alexis  , Wageih Mohamed A.  , Gómez Enrique J.  , Mantas John
Published: February 2025

The International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) is the world body for biomedical and health informatics (BMHI). IMIA accreditation program allows the health and medical informatics programs around the world to reach to an international level. Staffs (professors, students, education programmes directors, others) that work on the accredited BMHI programs will have the opportunity to be engaged with organizations that possess a world-class research and education profile from other countries, which will have great impacts on their field at their institutions, within their country providing the high quality overall health services. IMIA accreditation procedure is usually a long process and slightly complicated. The goal of this paper is to illustrate and to simplify the IMIA accreditation process to increase the success of the applicants. Toward more dynamic IMIA accreditation procedure, the paper presents 4 steps: translation, IMIA-Accreditation Step by Step Guideline, Questions and Answers, and finally the (new) Labelling System.
Clinical Pathways: Identifying Development, Implementation and Evaluation Challenges
Authors: Khalifa Mohamed  , Alswailem Osama
Published: February 2025

Clinical pathways are comprehensive methods of planning, delivering and monitoring different healthcare services provided to patients. The main goal of using a clinical pathway is to build clinical decisions on medical evidence specific to each individual patient in addition to standardizing care provided to patients throughout different departments and healthcare services. At King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Saudi Arabia, much effort has been done over the last few years to develop, implement and evaluate different clinical pathways and for years these efforts achieved less than expected success. The Health Information Technology Affairs (HITA) decided to analyze the challenges that we faced and should overcome by working on identifying these challenges and classifying them into the three main stages. The information about these challenges were both gathered from relevant departments, services and staff members as well as validated against published literature and research work.
Understanding and De-risking the Dependencies between Operator and Manufacturer of Clinical IT
Authors: Despotou George  , Arvanitis Theodoros N.  , White Sean
Published: February 2025

Health IT, in addition to benefits can also have unintended consequences both in terms of operational and business risks. Understanding the dependencies between operator and manufacturer as well as issues that need to be addressed during procurement is essential to increase confidence in the operation of health IT. The paper provides the context, and a number of issues health IT operators such as clinical organisations, need to investigate during acquisition of health IT.
Health Professionals' Use of Computer Databases to Utilize Research for Practice: A Pilot Study
Authors: Lialiou Paschalina  , Mantas John
Published: February 2025

Factors associated with information retrieval have been tested in the present pilot project, suggested an appropriate instrument chosen from previous research. The purpose of this paper is to access the internal validity and the internal consistency reliability of the research instrument. The questionnaire determine the information needs, information seeking behavior, the adequacy of online information sources, examine access, training received, barriers in using information technology and research utilization. The pilot questionnaire was distributed to nurses and physicians working in Greek hospitals and was tested for its validity and reliability coefficients.
Computerized Insulin Order Sets Can Lead to Unanticipated Consequences
Authors: Bedra McKenzie  , Hill Golder Sherita  , Cha Eunme  , Jeong In cheol  , Finkelstein Joseph
Published: February 2025

Computerized order sets for medication management were recently shown to be associated with increased patient safety risks in primary care setting. This study was aimed at demonstrating similar phenomenon in a hospital setting. After introduction of computerized order set targeting hypoglycemia, the frequency of hypoglycemia significantly decreased from 1/1/07 to 12/31/08. However, the frequency of hyperglycemia also increased at the same time from 1/1/07 to 12/31/07. Only after subsequent introduction of a hospital-wide standardized insulin order set including hyperglycemia policies, the frequency of hyperglycemic episodes declined. Hypo/hyperglycemia is associated with adverse clinical outcomes in the inpatient setting. Retroactive analysis showed that if hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic policies were introduced simultaneously, unexpected increase in frequency of hyperglycemic episodes could have been avoided. These data are informative in identifying unanticipated consequences of an insulin management order sets focused entirely on hypoglycemia. A balanced approach in implementing insulin management EMR order sets that concurrently addresses both hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia policies is warranted.
Chat-Bots for People with Parkinson's Disease: Science Fiction or Reality?
Authors: Ireland David  , Liddle Jacki  , McBride Simon  , Ding Hang  , Knuepffer Christina
Published: February 2025

People with Parkinson's disease are known to have difficulties in language and communication. This paper proposes the use of an artificial conversational agent, commonly known as a chat-bot that runs on a smart-phone device and performs two-way conversation with the user. In this paper, initial work on a Parkinson's disease themed chat-bot that interacts with the user relative to their symptoms is presented. Potential dialogues are provided to illustrate the various roles chat-bots can play in the management of Parkinson's disease. The chat-bot can be used for measuring voice and communication outcomes during the daily life of the user, and for gaining information about challenges encountered. Moreover, it is anticipated that it may also have an educational and support role. The chat-bot is now ready for usability testing with a clinical population.
The Smart Floor: How a Public-Private Partnership co-developed a heterogeneous healthcare technology system
Authors: Brodersen Søsser  , Lindegaard Hanne
Published: February 2025

Currently, a wide variety of healthcare technologies are being implemented in private homes, hospitals, nursing homes, etc. with the triple aim of improving people's health, improving the quality of care, and reducing costs related to healthcare services. In this chapter, we discuss how different actors in a public-private partnership co-developed a heterogeneous system around the Smart Floor to ensure that both new healthcare practices and residents' routines were inscribed into the new healthcare technology. We argue that implementing the Smart Floor was not just a question of buying a technology and integrating it during construction—it required co-development with the healthcare staff. The floor is more than a technology placed under the floor surface in a resident's apartment; rather, it is a heterogeneous network of human and non-human actors communicating with each other. In this chapter, we illustrate how the heterogeneous technological system was co-developed and redesigned during knowledge sharing processes with companies, lead-users, and healthcare staff. We also discuss how care practices have changed as a result of the Smart Floor system. In particular, healthcare staff members no longer feel a need to disturb elderly residents with routine in-person checks. Domesticating the technologies for different groups of actors required not only coordinating communication among sensors, the interface, the portable nurse call (smartphones), and alarms, but also accepting the use of surveillance technology.
Patient Centred Systems: Techno-Anthropological reflections on the challenges of ‘meaningfully engaging’ patients within health informatics research
Authors: Wong Ming-Chao  , Almond Helen  , Cummings Elizabeth  , Roehrer Erin  , Showell Chris  , Turner Paul
Published: February 2025

This chapter explores how Techno-Anthropology can contribute to more explicitly professional and ethically responsible reflections on the socio-technical practices involved in meaningfully engaging patients in health informatics research. The chapter draws on insights from health informatics research projects focused on chronic disease and self-management conducted in Tasmania during the last 10 years. Through these projects the paper explores three topics of relevance to ‘meaningful engagement’ with patients: (i) Patient Self-Management and Chronic Disease (ii) Patients as Users in Health Informatics research, and, (iii) Evaluations of outcomes in Health and Health Informatics Interventions. Techno-Anthropological reflections are then discussed through the concepts of liminality, polyphony and power. This chapter argues that beyond its contribution to methodology, an important role for Techno-Anthropology in patient centred health informatics research may be its capacity to support new ways of conceptualising and critically reflecting on the construction and mediation of patients' needs, values and perspectives.
An Open Access E-journal: How to Find Out Readers' Preferences? The Case of the “Sciences Eaux & Territoires” Journal
Authors: Martin Caroline  , Pagneux Valérie  , Henaut Alain
Published: February 2025

How may we best evaluate an open access e-journal that is not intended to be cited in rank “A” scientific journals? In this study, we took the example of a journal that connects research and professionals workers in the environmental sciences. We compared information from downloads with readership surveys. The main finding was that readers remember the best articles from a given issue and classify the issues based on this memory. A clear dichotomy can be observed: some readers are particularly interested in the management of biodiversity and pollution and others reject all that links to it.
Interpreting Medical Information Using Machine Learning and Individual Conditional Expectation
Authors: Nohara Yasunobu  , Wakata Yoshifumi  , Nakashima Naoki
Published: February 2025

Recently, machine-learning techniques have spread many fields. However, machine-learning is still not popular in medical research field due to difficulty of interpreting. In this paper, we introduce a method of interpreting medical information using machine learning technique. The method gave new explanation of partial dependence plot and individual conditional expectation plot from medical research field.
DServO: A Peer-to-Peer-based Approach to Biomedical Ontology Repositories
Authors: Mambone Zakaria  , Savadogo Mahamadi  , Some Borlli Michel Jonas  , Diallo Gayo
Published: February 2025

We present in this poster an extension of the ServO ontology server system, which adopts a decentralized Peer-To-Peer approach for managing multiple heterogeneous knowledge organization systems. It relies on the use of the JXTA protocol coupled with information retrieval techniques to provide a decentralized infrastructure for managing multiples instances of Ontology Repositories.
Trigger Development for the Improvement of Neurological Patient Care
Authors: Kivekäs Eija  , Kinnunen Ulla-Mari  , Haatainen Kaisa  , Kälviäinen Reetta  , Saranto Kaija
Published: February 2025

By analyzing medical records, we developed triggers for epilepsy patients' care coordination. Thirteen triggers with potential to affect patient care outcomes and safety were found.
Web-based auditory self-training system for adult and elderly users of hearing aids
Authors: Vitti Simone Virginia  , Blasca Wanderléia Quinhoneiro  , Sigulem Daniel  , Torres Pisa Ivan
Published: February 2025

INTRODUCTION. Adults and elderly users of hearing aids suffer psychosocial reactions as a result of hearing loss. Auditory rehabilitation is typically carried out with support from a speech therapist, usually in a clinical center. For these cases, there is a lack of computer-based self-training tools for minimizing the psychosocial impact of hearing deficiency. OBJECTIVE. To develop and evaluate a web-based auditory self-training system for adult and elderly users of hearing aids. METHODS. Two modules were developed for the web system: an information module based on guidelines for using hearing aids; and an auditory training module presenting a sequence of training exercises for auditory abilities along the lines of the auditory skill steps within auditory processing. We built aweb system using PHP programming language and a MySQL database .from requirements surveyed through focus groups that were conducted by healthcare information technology experts. The web system was evaluated by speech therapists and hearing aid users. An initial sample of 150 patients at DSA/HRAC/USP was defined to apply the system with the inclusion criteria that: the individuals should be over the age of 25 years, presently have hearing impairment, be a hearing aid user, have a computer and have internet experience. They were divided into two groups: a control group (G1) and an experimental group (G2). These patients were evaluated clinically using the HHIE for adults and HHIA for elderly people, before and after system implementation. A third web group was formed with users who were invited through social networks for their opinions on using the system. A questionnaire evaluating hearing complaints was given to all three groups. The study hypothesis considered that G2 would present greater auditory perception, higher satisfaction and fewer complaints than G1 after the auditory training. It was expected that G3 would have fewer complaints regarding use and acceptance of the system. RESULTS. The web system, which was named SisTHA portal, was finalized, rated by experts and hearing aid users and approved for use. The system comprised auditory skills training along five lines: discrimination; recognition; comprehension and temporal sequencing; auditory closure; and cognitive-linguistic and communication strategies. Users needed to undergo auditory training over a minimum period of 1 month: 5 times a week for 30 minutes a day. Comparisons were made between G1 and G2 and web system use by G3. CONCLUSION. The web system developed was approved for release to hearing aid users. It is expected that the self-training will help improve effective use of hearing aids, thereby decreasing their rejection.
Design, Implementation and Evaluation of an Architecture based on the CDA R2 Document Repository to Provide Support to the Contingency Plan
Authors: Campos Fernando  , Luna Daniel  , Sittig Dean F.  , González Bernaldo de Quirós Fernán
Published: February 2025

The pervasive use of electronic records in healthcare increases the dependency on technology due to the lack of physical backup for the records. Downtime in the Electronic Health Record system is unavoidable, due to software, infrastructure and power failures as well as natural disasters, so there is a need to develop a contingency plan ensuring patient care continuity and minimizing risks for health care delivery. To mitigate these risks, two applications were developed allowing healthcare delivery providers to retrieve clinical information using the Clinical Document Architecture Release 2 (CDA R2) document repository as the information source. In this paper we describe the strategy, implementation and results; and provide an evaluation of effectiveness.
Archetype based patient data modeling to support treatment of pituitary adenomas
Authors: Chalopin Claire  , Lindner Dirk  , Kropf Stefan  , Denecke Kerstin
Published: February 2025

The treatment of patients with pituitary adenoma requires the assessment of various patient data by the clinician. Because of their heterogeneity, they are stored in different sub-information systems, limiting a fast and easy access. The objective of this paper is to apply and test the tools provided by the openEHR Foundation to model the patient data relevant for diagnosis and treatment of the disease with the future intention to implement a centralised standard-based information platform. This platform should support the clinician in the treatment of the disease and improve the information exchange with other healthcare institutions. Some results of the domain modeling, so far obtained, are presented, and the advantages of openEHR emphasized. The free tools and the large database of existing structured and standard archetypes facilitated the modeling task. The separation of the domain modeling from the application development will support the next step of development of the information platform.
The Role of Hospital Information Systems in Universal Health Coverage Monitoring in Rwanda
Authors: Karara Gustave  , Verbeke Frank  , Nyssen Marc
Published: February 2025

In this retrospective study, the authors monitored the patient health coverage in 6 Rwandan hospitals in the period between 2011 and 2014. Among the 6 hospitals, 2 are third level hospitals, 2 district hospitals and 2 private hospitals. Patient insurance and financial data were extracted and analyzed from OpenClinic GA, an open source hospital information system (HIS) used in those 6 hospitals. The percentage of patients who had no health insurer globally decreased from 35% in 2011 to 15% in 2014. The rate of health insurance coverage in hospitals varied between 75% in private hospitals and 84% in public hospitals. The amounts paid by the patients for health services decreased in private hospitals to 25% of the total costs in 2014 (−7.4%) and vary between 14% and 19% in public hospitals. Although the number of insured patients has increased and the patient share decreased over the four years of study, the patients' out-of-pocket payments increased especially for in-patients. This study emphasizes the value of integrated hospital information systems for this kind of health economics research in developing countries.
Usability Testing of PROCEnf-USP: A Clinical Decision Support System
Authors: Ciqueto Peres Heloisa Helena  , de Almeida Lopes Monteiro da Cruz Diná  , Tellez Michelle  , de Cassia Gengo e Silva Rita  , Cardoso Franco Ortiz Diley  , dos Santos Diogo Regina Celia
Published: February 2025

Decision support systems (DSSs) are recognized as important tools, capable of processing high volumes of data and increasing productivity. The usability of these tools affects their effectiveness. By evaluating the interactions between registered nurses (RNs) and the DSSs, this study explores how they impact RN decision-making. This study analyzed 24 months (2011–2012) of data collected in Brazil in two units of a large, public, urban hospital in São Paulo that uses a nurse documentation system with an embedded DSS based on NANDA-I. Using mixed effects logistic regression, this study analyzed the agreement between RNs and a DSS when selecting nursing diagnoses. Results suggest that the agreement is mediated by characteristics of the RNs (education and experience) as well as units and year of encounter. Surprisingly, disagreement between RN and DSS when selecting defining characteristics (DC) had positive effects on the odds of agreement on diagnoses. Our results suggest that DSSs support nurses' clinical decision making, but the nurse's clinical judgment is the mediating factor. More research is necessary.
An Ontology-Based Clinical Decision Support System for the Management of Patients with Multiple Chronic Disorders
Authors: Galopin Alexandre  , Bouaud Jacques  , Pereira Suzanne  , Seroussi Brigitte
Published: February 2025

Decision support systems, as means of disseminating clinical practice guidelines, are powerful software that may lead to an improvement of medical practices. However, they are not always efficient and may suffer from limitations among which are lack of flexibility and weaknesses in the integration of several clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for the management of patients with multiple chronic disorders. We propose a framework based on an ontological modeling of CPG contents as rules. The ontology provides the required flexibility to adapt patient data and enable the provision of appropriate recommendations expressed at various levels of abstraction. To solve decisional conflicts that occur when combining multiple sources of recommendations, we proposed a method based on the subsumption graph of the patient profiles corresponding to the rules. A prototype CDSS implementing this approach has been developed. Results are given on a clinical case to illustrate the assets of ontological reasoning in increasing the number of issued recommendations and thereby the reliability of decision support.
Analysis of Hospital Processes with Process Mining Techniques
Authors: Orellana García Arturo  , Pérez Alfonso Damián  , Larrea Armenteros Osvaldo Ulises
Published: February 2025

Process mining allows for discovery, monitoring, and improving processes identified in information systems from their event logs. In hospital environments, process analysis has been a crucial factor for cost reduction, control and proper use of resources, better patient care, and achieving service excellence. This paper presents a new component for event logs generation in the Hospital Information System or HIS, developed at University of Informatics Sciences. The event logs obtained are used for analysis of hospital processes with process mining techniques. The proposed solution intends to achieve the generation of event logs in the system with high quality. The performed analyses allowed for redefining functions in the system and proposed proper flow of information. The study exposed the need to incorporate process mining techniques in hospital systems to analyze the processes execution. Moreover, we illustrate its application for making clinical and administrative decisions for the management of hospital activities.
Evaluating a Proof-of-Concept Approach of the German Health Telematics Infrastructure in the Context of Discharge Management
Authors: Hübner Ursula  , Schulte Georg  , Sellemann Björn  , Quade Matthias  , Rottmann Thorsten  , Fenske Matthias  , Egbert Nicole  , Kuhlisch Raik  , Rienhoff Otto
Published: February 2025

Although national eHealth strategies have existed now for more than a decade in many countries, they have been implemented with varying success. In Germany, the eHealth strategy so far has resulted in a roll out of electronic health cards for all citizens in the statutory health insurance, but in no clinically meaningful IT-applications. The aim of this study was to test the technical and organisation feasibility, usability, and utility of an eDischarge application embedded into a laboratory Health Telematics Infrastructure (TI). The tests embraced the exchange of eDischarge summaries based on the multiprofessional HL7 eNursing Summary standard between a municipal hospital and a nursing home. All in all, 36 transmissions of electronic discharge documents took place. They demonstrated the technical-organisation feasibility and resulted in moderate usability ratings. A comparison between eDischarge and paper-based summaries hinted at higher ratings of utility and information completeness for eDischarges. Despite problems with handling the electronic health card, the proof-of-concept for the first clinically meaningful IT-application in the German Health TI could be regarded as successful.
Monitoring Telemedicine Implementation in Denmark
Authors: Nøhr Christian  , Villumsen Sidsel  , Bernth Ahrenkiel Stephanie  , Hulbæk Lars
Published: February 2025

According to the literature, Denmark has a leading position in the dissemination and use of health informatics. However, there is a lack of systematically collected and documented experience of telemedicine solutions in Denmark. This evidence is being established with a new project, which maps out all telemedicine initiatives in Denmark. Data on all the initiatives is collected in a single database and some of the data is analyzed in this paper. It is shown that there are a very large number of telemedicine initiatives in Denmark and that the elements from the national strategy for telemedicine are clearly visible in the telemedicine map. The very large number of projects could, however, also indicate a lack of national coordination of initiatives and a need for evaluation activities to systematically collect and communicate the learning outcomes from all the new projects.
Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI): Opportunities for Observational Researchers
Authors: Hripcsak George  , Duke Jon D.  , Shah Nigam H.  , Reich Christian G.  , Huser Vojtech  , Schuemie Martijn J.  , Suchard Marc A.  , Park Rae Woong  , Wong Ian Chi Kei  , Rijnbeek Peter R.  , van der Lei Johan  , Pratt Nicole  , Norén G. Niklas  , Li Yu-Chuan  , Stang Paul E.  , Madigan David  , Ryan Patrick B.
Published: February 2025

The vision of creating accessible, reliable clinical evidence by accessing the clincial experience of hundreds of millions of patients across the globe is a reality. Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) has built on learnings from the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership to turn methods research and insights into a suite of applications and exploration tools that move the field closer to the ultimate goal of generating evidence about all aspects of healthcare to serve the needs of patients, clinicians and all other decision-makers around the world.
Automatically Expanding the Synonym Set of SNOMED CT using Wikipedia
Authors: Schlegel Daniel R.  , Crowner Chris  , Elkin Peter L.
Published: February 2025

Clinical terminologies and ontologies are often used in natural language processing/understanding tasks as a method for semantically tagging text. One ontology commonly used for this task is SNOMED CT. Natural language is rich and varied: many different combinations of words may be used to express the same idea. It is therefore essential that ontologies and terminologies have a rich set of synonyms. One source of synonyms is Wikipedia. We examine methods for aligning concepts in SNOMED CT with articles in Wikipedia so that newly-found synonyms may be added to SNOMED CT. Our experiments show promising results and provide guidance to researchers who wish to use Wikipedia for similar tasks.
TCGA4U: A Web-Based Genomic Analysis Platform To Explore And Mine TCGA Genomic Data For Translational Research
Authors: Huang Zhenzhen  , Duan Huilong  , Li Haomin
Published: February 2025

Large-scale human cancer genomics projects, such as TCGA, generated large genomics data for further study. Exploring and mining these data to obtain meaningful analysis results can help researchers find potential genomics alterations that intervene the development and metastasis of tumors. We developed a web-based gene analysis platform, named TCGA4U, which used statistics methods and models to help translational investigators explore, mine and visualize human cancer genomic characteristic information from the TCGA datasets. Furthermore, through Gene Ontology (GO) annotation and clinical data integration, the genomic data were transformed into biological process, molecular function, cellular component and survival curves to help researchers identify potential driver genes. Clinical researchers without expertise in data analysis will benefit from such a user-friendly genomic analysis platform.
A Cloud-Based Infrastructure for Feedback-Driven Training and Image Recognition
Authors: Abedini Mani  , von Cavallar Stefan  , Chakravorty Rajib  , Davis Matthew  , Garnavi Rahil
Published: February 2025

Advanced techniques in machine learning combined with scalable “cloud” computing infrastructure are driving the creation of new and innovative health diagnostic applications. We describe a service and application for performing image training and recognition, tailored to dermatology and melanoma identification. The system implements new machine learning approaches to provide a feedback-driven training loop. This training sequence enhances classification performance by incrementally retraining the classifier model from expert responses. To easily provide this application and associated web service to clinical practices, we also describe a scalable cloud infrastructure, deployable in public cloud infrastructure and private, on-premise systems.
Fusing Heterogeneous Data for Alzheimer's Disease Classification
Authors: Pillai Parvathy Sudhir  , Leong Tze-Yun  , Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
Published: February 2025

In multi-view learning, multimodal representations of a real world object or situation are integrated to learn its overall picture. Feature sets from distinct data sources carry different, yet complementary, information which, if analysed together, usually yield better insights and more accurate results. Neuro-degenerative disorders such as dementia are characterized by changes in multiple biomarkers. This work combines the features from neuroimaging and cerebrospinal fluid studies to distinguish Alzheimer's disease patients from healthy subjects. We apply statistical data fusion techniques on 101 subjects from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. We examine whether fusion of biomarkers helps to improve diagnostic accuracy and how the methods compare against each other for this problem. Our results indicate that multimodal data fusion improves classification accuracy.
Syndromic Surveillance of Infectious Diseases meets Molecular Epidemiology in a Workflow and Phylogeographic Application
Authors: Janies Daniel  , Witter Zachary  , Gibson Christian  , Kraft Thomas  , Senturk Izzet F.  , Çatalyürek Ümit
Published: February 2025

Traditionally, epidemiologists have counted cases and groups of symptoms. Modeling on these data consists of predicting expansion or contraction in the number of cases over time in epidemic curves or compartment models. Geography is considered a variable when these data are presented in choropleth maps. These approaches have significant drawbacks if the cases counted are not accurately diagnosed. For example, most regional public health authorities count influenza like illnesses (ILI). Cases of these diseases are designated as ILI if the patient exhibits fever, respiratory symptoms, and perhaps gastrointestinal symptoms. Several molecular epidemiological studies have shown that there are many pathogens that cause these symptoms and the relative proportions of these pathogens change over time and space. One way to bridge the gap between syndromic and genetic surveillance of infectious diseases is to compare signals of symptoms to pathogens recorded in molecular databases. We present a web-based workflow application that uses chief complaints found in the public Twitter feed as a syndromic surveillance tool and connects outbreak signals in these data to pathogens historically known to circulate in the same area. For the pathogen(s) of interest, we provide Genbank links to metadata and sequences in a workflow for phylogeographic analysis and visualization. The visualizations provide information on the geographic traffic of the spread of the pathogens and places that are hubs for their transport.
An Architecture for Continuous Data Quality Monitoring in Medical Centers
Authors: Endler Gregor  , Schwab Peter K.  , Wahl Andreas M.  , Tenschert Johannes  , Lenz Richard
Published: February 2025

In the medical domain, data quality is very important. Since requirements and data change frequently, continuous and sustainable monitoring and improvement of data quality is necessary. Working together with managers of medical centers, we developed an architecture for a data quality monitoring system. The architecture enables domain experts to adapt the system during runtime to match their specifications using a built-in rule system. It also allows arbitrarily complex analyses to be integrated into the monitoring cycle. We evaluate our architecture by matching its components to the well-known data quality methodology TDQM.
The e-NutriHS: a web-based system for a Brazilian cohort study
Authors: Folchetti Luciana D.  , da Silva Isis T.  , de Almeida Pititto Bianca  , Ferreira Sandra R.G.
Published: February 2025

The e-NutriHS is a web-based system developed to gather online information on health of a cohort of college students and graduates in nutrition. It consists of six validated and internationally recognized questionnaires regarding demographic and socioeconomic data, dietary habits, physical activity level, alcohol and tobacco use, anti-fat attitudes and personal and family histories. Our software and respective database is hosted in the School of Public Health server and is based on free programming languages. An e-NutriHS prototype was created preceding online deployment. An improved version of the website was released based on 20 volunteers' opinions. A total of 503 users were registered. Considering that web-based systems produce reliable data, are easy to use, less costly and are less time-consuming, we conclude that our experience deserves to be shared, particularly with middle income economy countries.
Secretaries' role in EHR Documentation and the Implications of Establishing a Structured EHR System
Authors: Johansen Monika Alise  , Pedersen Åse-Merete  , Ellingsen Gunnar
Published: February 2025

Secretaries play an important quality assurance role in today's medical record production. This study aimed to identify quality assurance tasks that a future system cannot easily compensate for when developing a new structured EHR in which the physicians do the writing themselves. The study identified two tasks, which we suggest should also be performed by secretaries in the future.
Application of Barcoding to Reduce Error of Patient Identification and to Increase Patient's Information Confidentiality of Test Tube Labelling in a Psychiatric Teaching Hospital
Authors: Liua Hsiu-Chu  , Li Hsing  , Chang Hsin-Fei  , Lu Mei-Rou  , Chen Feng-Chuan
Published: February 2025

Learning from the experience of another medical center in Taiwan, Kaohsiung Municipal Kai-Suan Psychiatric Hospital has changed the nursing informatics system step by step in the past year and a half . We considered ethics in the original idea of implementing barcodes on the test tube labels to process the identification of the psychiatric patients. The main aims of this project are to maintain the confidential information and to transport the sample effectively. The primary nurses had been using different work sheets for this project to ensure the acceptance of the new barcode system. In the past two years the errors in the blood testing process were as high as 11,000 in 14,000 events per year, resulting in wastage of resources. The actions taken by the nurses and the new barcode system implementation can improve the clinical nursing care quality, safety of the patients, and efficiency, while decreasing the cost due to the human error.
Digital Imaging and Electronic Data Capture in Multi-Center Clinical Trials
Authors: Deserno Thomas M.  , Deserno Verena  , Haak Daniel  , Kabino Klaus
Published: February 2025

While medical image data is managed in picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) via the digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) protocol, electronic data capture systems (EDCS) in clinical trials lack PACS interfacing. This complicates the trial workflow and increases errors, time, and costs. In this work, four system architectures of image integration for multi-center trials are analyzed with respect to data, function, visual, and context integration levels. We propose an open source-based architecture composed of OpenClinica, DCM4CHE, and Weasis for EDCS, PACS, and Viewer, respectively.
Development of the eHealth Literacy Assessment Toolkit, eHLA
Authors: Furstrand Dorthe  , Kayser Lars
Published: February 2025

In a world with rising focus on the use of eHealth, the match between the competences of the individual and the demands of eHealth systems becomes increasingly important, thus making assessment of eHealth literacy as a measure of user competences a vital element.
Improvement of Hemoglobin with Repeated Health Checks Among Women in Bangladesh
Authors: Nishikitani Mariko  , Nohara Yasunobu  , Ghosh Partha  , Islam Maruf Rafiqul  , Ahmed Ashir  , Nakashima Naoki
Published: February 2025

The residents of several cities and villages in Bangladesh underwent e-health checkups. The distribution of Hb increased from the first hemoglobin (Hb) measurement to the second, and some women recovered from severe anemia. A strong effect was observed in subjects who were prescribed iron supplements. The mean blood pressure improved after the first health examination, and the blood sugar level increased. In countries with shortages of health practitioners and health care providers, e-health examinations and instructions may be useful interventions because they make people health conscious and improve their health status.
Machine Assisted Translation of Health Materials to Chinese: An Initial Evaluation
Authors: Turner Anne M.  , Desai Loma  , Dew Kristin  , Martin Nathalie  , Kirchhoff Katrin
Published: February 2025

There is an unmet need for Chinese language health materials in the USA. We investigated the use of machine translation (MT) plus human post-editing (PE) to produce Chinese translations of public health materials. We collected 60 documents that had been manually translated from English to traditional Chinese. The English versions were translated to Chinese using MT and assessed for errors and time required to correct via PE. Results suggest poor initial translation may explain the lack of quality translations despite PE.
The influence of dry eye and office environment on visual functioning
Authors: van Tilborg Mirjam  , Kort Helianthe  , Murphy Paul  , Evans Katharine
Published: February 2025

Environmental factors, such as high airflow and low relative humidity, are known to promote dry eye symptoms during reading tasks in office workers. These symptoms are associated with an adverse impact on daily activities at work. This study reports on the relationship between eye symptoms and environmental factors in 294 employees at one office location.
PONS – Mobility Assistance on Footpaths for Public Transportation
Authors: Koutny Reinhard  , Miesenberger Klaus
Published: February 2025

This paper presents an ongoing project targeting mobility support for users of public transportation including people with limited mobility. Existing approaches in this field mostly offer non-continuous guidance during the whole journey including multiple rides with different vehicles and footpaths in between at transfer points. Especially people with limited mobility, like people with disabilities and elderly people, or travelers who are not familiar with the specific route or transfer point, like tourists, often struggle with public transportation. They crave for a seamless approach covering all links of the mobility chain – the sequence of sections of the whole route – and providing comprehensive assistance throughout the whole journey. Previous projects and widespread experiences of project partners revealed that especially footpath sections are lacking proper support. In particular, the consortium identified three problem areas in existing approaches when dealing with footpath sections: (1) A lack of information, (2) a lack of orientation and (3) a lack of provision of services. In order to bridge (lat. PONS) these gaps in the mobility chain, new paradigms and technology concepts are developed to tackle the shortcomings on footpaths and combined in a toolkit to help developers of applications with focus on pedestrian navigation and public transport to improve their solutions with sustainable and state-of-the-art approaches.
Evidence-based development and first usability testing of a social serious game based multi-modal system for early screening for atypical socio-cognitive development
Authors: Gyori Miklos  , Borsos Zsófia  , Stefanik Krisztina
Published: February 2025

At current, screening for, and diagnosis of, autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are based on purely behavioral data; established screening tools rely on human observation and ratings of relevant behaviors. The research and development project in the focus of this paper is aimed at designing, creating and evaluating a social serious game based multi-modal, interactive software system for screening for high functioning cases of ASD at kindergarten age. The aims of this paper are (1) to summarize the evidence-based design process and (2) to present results from the first usability test of the system. Game topic, candidate responses, and candidate game contents were identified via an iterative literature review. On this basis, the 1stpartial prototype of the fully playable game has been created, with complete data recording functionality but without the decision making component. A first usability test was carried out on this prototype (n=13). Overall results were unambiguously promising. Although sporadic difficulties in, and slightly negative attitudes towards, using the game occasionally arose, these were confined to non-target-group children only. The next steps of development include (1) completing the game design; (2) carrying out first large-n field test; (3) creating the first prototype of the decision making component.
Usability of a New Writing Assistive Device for Persons with Cervical Spinal Cord Injury
Authors: Lim MyungJoon  , Park Jiyoung  , Lee Kuem Ju  , Kweon Hyosun  , Kim Byungchul  , Cho Kyujin  , Choi Hyun
Published: February 2025

The hand function for persons with cervical spinal cord injury (PCSCI) is most frequently cause difficulties in leading normal lives. The purpose of this study was to test the usability of a new writing assistive device (NWAD) for PCSCI. To access its usability, the authors design usability testing method and test the NWAD to five individuals with cervical spinal cord injury. From the usability testing, we have found number of issues that lead us to key design concept about developing the NWAD. The NWAD will be redesigned based on the result of the present study. We expect that the NWAD will help PCSCI use their affected hand better and improve the level of independence and quality of life.
Eye-tracking and EMG supported 3D Virtual Reality – an integrated tool for perceptual and motor development of children with severe physical disabilities: a research concept
Authors: Pulay Márk Ágoston
Published: February 2025

Letting children with severe physical disabilities (like Tetraparesis spastica) to get relevant motional experiences of appropriate quality and quantity is now the greatest challenge for us in the field of neurorehabilitation. These motional experiences may establish many cognitive processes, but may also cause additional secondary cognitive dysfunctions such as disorders in body image, figure invariance, visual perception, auditory differentiation, concentration, analytic and synthetic ways of thinking, visual memory etc.