bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Appreciation Level and Organizational Performance
Authors: Saito Murako
Published: May 2010

Corporate environment changing with the advent of information technology and with diversified organization has been inquired to redesign to transform into an intelligent and innovative organization, so that corporate vision and organizational goals in the subsystem of corporate are provided for being shared by multidisciplinary workers and other stakeholders, and corporate social responsibility can also be shared by all the participants. System matching between developing levels in technological systems, and also cognitive fit in the levels of individual, team/group and organization are required not only to maintain good balance, but also to enhance operational and organizational resilience in making appropriate shifts to adapt to changing social environment. To make the shift successfully, cognitive fit or value alignment between individuals and collectives in the environment of advanced technologies is to be studied, so that corporate social responsibility, or for corporate prosperity is to be shared by all the stakeholders.
Arrhythmia Detection and Classification Using Wavelet and ICA
Authors: Sabzevari Vahid R. , Azemi Asad , Khademi Morteza , Gholizade Hossein , Kiani Armin , Dastgheib Zeinab S.
Published: May 2010

The goal of this article is to optimize the feature extraction process by using ICA and wavelet transform, apply the obtained set to several different machine learning schemes, and compare their performances. The article is structured as follows. Section 2.0 describes our proposed method for cardiac arrhythmias detection. Section 3.0 covers an overview of different classifier types that were used in this work. Sections 4.0 and 5.0 summarize our simulation scheme and results. Finally, section 6.0 presents the concluding remarks.
ATM Networks
Authors: Dimitra Petroudi , Nikolaos Giannakakis , Efstratios Poravas , Periklis Robolas
Published: May 2010

Telephone companies are finding themselves confronted with a very basic problem: multiple networks. The solution that was devised is a unique new network for the future that will replace the entire telephone system and all the specialized networks with a unique completed network for all types of transport of information. This new network will support enormous rhythm of data compared to all the existing networks and services, and will render possible the offer of a large variety of new services. The new service network for a wide region is called Digital Network of Completed Services of Wide Area broadband integrated services digital network (B-ISDN). The technological infrastructure that renders it feasible is called asynchronous way of transport: asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) because the transmission is not modern; that is, attached in a being first clock.
Biomedical Data Warehouses
Authors: Darmont Jérôme , Olivier Emerson
Published: May 2010

In this context, the warehouse measures, though not necessarily numerical, remain the indicators for analysis, and analysis is still performed following different perspectives represented by dimensions. Large data volumes and their dating are other arguments in favor of this approach (Darmont et al., 2003). Data warehousing can also support various types of analysis, such as statistical reporting, on-line analysis (OLAP) and data mining. The aim of this article is to present an overview of the existing data warehouses for biomedical data and to discuss the issues and future trends in biomedical data warehousing. We illustrate this topic by presenting the design of an innovative, complex data warehouse for personal, anticipative medicine.
Biomedical Signal Compression
Authors: de A. Berger Pedro , de O. Nascimento Francisco A. , de Menezes Leonardo R.A.X. , da Rocha Adson F. , Carvalho Joao L.A.
Published: May 2010

Digitization of biomedical signals has been used in several areas. Some of these include ambulatory monitoring, phone line transmission, database storage, and several other applications in health and biomedical engineering. These applications have helped in diagnostics, patient care, and remote treatment. One example is the digital transmission of ECG signals, from the patient’s house or ambulance to the hospital. This has been proven useful in cardiac diagnoses. Biomedical signals need to be digitally stored or transmitted with a large number of samples per second, and with a great number of bits per sample, in order to assure the required fidelity of the waveform for visual inspection. Therefore, the use of signal compression techniques is fundamental for cost reduction and technical feasibility of storage and transmission of biomedical signals.
Biosensors
Authors: Bansal Sourabh
Published: May 2010

Biosensor1 is a diagnostic tool in which a biological element is used to sense a chemical and its amount in a given sample, and then the sensed information (i.e., data) is transferred to a transducer which converts this signal to electrical signal. In this way, it transforms a biological response into an electrical signal. It also detects, records, and transmits data generated due to physiological change or any chemicals presence in the area being analyzed. The analysis is accurate and reliable. In other words, biosensor can be termed as a device used in a biological derived sensing element2 integrated with a physiochemical transducer, producing an electrical signal (Turner, 1996). The resulting electrical signal is a measure of the amount of chemical or combination of chemicals being detected. Sometimes Biosensors are referred as the living organisms, which are used as a sensor to detect the environmental change.
Bone Strength Assessment Based on CT Images Using a Network Spring Model for Radiation Therapy Patients
Authors: Song Yan , Muller Boris , Burman Chandra , Mychalczak Borys , Song Yulin
Published: May 2010

In radiation therapy, especially using intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), a high dose of ionizing radiation is delivered to the patient and, therefore, the bone health is a major concern for young patients. What is more, many tumors, like soft tissue sarcomas, are located in close proximity to bone. High energy radiation unavoidably exerts negative impacts not only on bone physiological properties, but also on its mechanical and structural properties. As a result, bone fracture risk for these patients is increased significantly. Thus, it is necessary to develop a quantitative noninvasive screening technique to identify these high risk patients.
The Canadian Health Record Interoperability Infrastructure
Authors: Weber-Jahnke Jens H.
Published: May 2010

Countries around the globe are struggling with the rising cost of delivering health care. In the developed world, this trend is enforced by aging demographics and emerging forms of expensive medical interventions. Disease prevention, early disease detection, and evidence- based disease management are key for keeping health care systems sustainable. Electronic information management has been recognized as a central enabler for increasing the quality of health care while controlling the cost of delivering it. Secondary care facilities (e.g., hospitals) and laboratories have made use of electronic information systems for decades. However, the primary care sector has only recently begun to adopt such systems on a broader scale. The benefit provided by each system in isolation is limited since citizens generally receive their care from a multitude of providers. Health care information systems need to interoperate in order to enable integrated health information management and consequently attain the declared qualitative and economic objectives. Many industrial countries have begun to create common infrastructures for such an integrated electronic health record (EHR) (Blobel, 2006). Different approaches exist, ranging from centralized databases to highly distributed collections of mediated provider-based systems. This chapter describes the architecture of the Canadian infrastructure for health information management, which can be seen as a compromise between a fully centralized and a fully distributed solution. While in Canada the delivery of health care is a matter of provincial territorial authority, the health ministers of all provinces and the federation have created a joint organization called Health Canada Infoway with the mandate to develop an architecture for and foster implementation of a joint interoperability infrastructure for EHRs in Canada. The second major version of this architecture has now been released, and provinces have begun to implement it. The solution is based on the paradigm of a service-oriented architecture (SOA) (Erl, 2004) and embraces a range of domain-specific and technical standards. It leverages and integrates existing investments in health information systems by making them available through interface standards-conform interface adapters. The Canadian EHR architecture has received attention beyond the Canadian context. This chapter reports on this architecture, its enabling technology paradigms, experiences with its implementation, and its limitations.
Challenges with Adoption of Electronic Medical Record Systems
Authors: Radhakrishnan Abirami , David Dessa , Zaveri Jigish
Published: May 2010

Among health care information systems, past research has credited Electronic Medical Records (EMR) systems with offering the greatest potential for improving quality within health care environments. Benefits range from reducing errors to cutting overall health care costs. For instance, the utility of an EMR system will allow physicians’ enterprise wide access to a patient’s entire medical chart, monitor patients’ care for possible drug interaction, proactively prompt doctor(s) with recommended treatment, provide clinical decision support, simplify record keeping, e-prescription, documented referrals, and reminders to patients and health care providers. In this article, we present the results from our study. The next section highlights challenges associated with EMR adoption and use. We conclude by suggesting solutions geared towards lessening these challenges thereby clearing the path for successful EMR adoption and use.
Challenges, Systems and Applications of Wireless and Mobile Telemedicine
Authors: Gadish Moshe A. , Denko Mieso K.
Published: May 2010

There are many benefits which wireless and mobile telemedicine can provide to healthcare and medical applications. Some of the specific benefits are outlined as follows. First, it can provide rapid responses to critical medical care, regardless of geographical barriers. It can be quickly deployed in disaster recovery areas, where existing communication links may have been disrupted. Second, it can provide flexible and reliable access to expert opinion and advice at the point of care with insignificant delay, and with improved management of medical resources. Third, it can allow patients to remain in their communities and receive medical services. This significantly reduces the costs of healthcare through improved healthcare management systems and reduced travel expenses. Fourth, it can provide interactive medical consultation and communication of medical records, image and video data in mobility scenarios, and with global coverage and connectivity, and fifth, it can support the empowerment and management of medical expertise in rural and underserved areas through the use of wireless infrastructureless networking technologies.
A Collaborative Approach for Online Dementia Care Training
Authors: MacDonald Colla , Stodel Emma J. , Casimiro Lynn , Weaver Lynda
Published: May 2010

There are obvious benefits to working in collaboration. However, real collaboration takes time; time to engage in meetings, complete accountability processes, and resolve problems. The delicate balance between democracy and efficiency can be compromised when you have to choose between equal participation and looming deadlines (Stoecker, 2003). Weaver and Cousins (2004) described this dilemma as assessing manageability or having to make a choice between achieving complete diversity on the researcher-community team and the unwieldiness of working with a large committee. Compromise is often necessary. This article describes our experiences using a collaborative approach involving university-based researchers and community professionals—in this case, long-term care (LTC) managers, administrators, and hospital-based educators and researchers—to create an online dementia care training program.
Combining Technology with Tradition to Effect Superior Pain Management Strategies
Authors: Foo Choong Khean
Published: May 2010

Everybody knows what pain is but no one really knows how to switch it off especially when it becomes persistent and annoying. Have we lost sight of the real pathophysiology that underlies the phenomenon of pain? Are we concentrating on the end point rather than the cause of the malady? Drugs and physical therapies don’t have all the answers to pain management. Is there another way? Maybe we should take a broader look at why the pain started in the first place and then we can work out the solution to the health challenge!
A Comparison of Lossless Image Compression Algorithms for Colour Retina Images
Authors: Schaefer Gerald , Starosolski Roman
Published: May 2010

In this article, we present experiments aimed to identify a suitable compression algorithm for colour retina images (Schaefer & Starosolski, 2006). Such an algorithm, in order to prove useful in a real-life PACS, should not only reduce the file size of the images significantly but also has to be fast enough, both for compression and decompression. Furthermore, it should be covered by international standards such as ISO standards and, in particular for medical imaging, the Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) standard (Mildenberger, Eichelberg, & Martin, 2002; National Electrical Manufacturers Association, 2004). For our study, we therefore selected those compression algorithms that are supported in DICOM, namely TIFF PackBits (Adobe Systems Inc., 1995), Lossless JPEG (Langdon, Gulati, & Seiler, 1992), JPEG-LS (ISO/IEC, 1999), and JPEG2000 (ISO/IEC, 2002). For comparison, we also included CALIC (Wu, 1997), which is often employed for benchmarking compression algorithms. All algorithms were evaluated in terms of compression ratio which describes the reduction of file size and speed. For speed, we consider both the time it takes to encode an image (compression speed) and to decode (decompression speed), as both are relevant within a PACS.
Comparison of Step Length Estimators from Wearable Accelerometer Devices
Authors: Alvarez Diego , González Rafael C. , López Antonio , Alvarez Juan C.
Published: May 2010

Video-based gait analysis, and other measurement devices such as force-plates, electrogoniometers, or electrodes to measure EMG signals are adequate for laboratory studies but are not designed for usability in ambulatory applications. Conversely, accelerometers provide easily portable systems that supply real-time data, which is why they are widely used in ambulatory diagnostic devices. However, such systems do not provide direct measure of several spatio-temporal parameters of interest such as step length, walking distance, or walking velocity. Instead, they have to be estimated with a mathematical model from indirect sensor measurements. Specifically, in this chapter we are concerned with the accelerometry- based estimation of the step length in straight-line human walking.
Creating and Marketing a Dental Supply Online Store
Authors: Gadish David
Published: May 2010

The dental supply company is family owned and operated. It was founded in the 1940s and currently serves approximately 1,000 dental offices and offers over 16,000 different products from over 200 manufacturers. Management did not consider the importance of information technology solutions that other firms have implemented to increase efficiency and cut costs. A decision to modernize came in 2003 as revenues started falling and existing clients started ordering dental supplies from competitors. This analysis covers the first 2 years of marketing from November 2004 to November 2006. The process was preceded with a 2-month campaign planning phase.
Creating Patient Centered E-Health
Authors: Wilson E. Vance
Published: May 2010

As e-health applications have increased in number and variety, the generalized concept of e-health as “health services and information delivered or enhanced through the Internet” (Eysenbach, 2001) has lost much of its value as a mechanism for guiding development and research in this emerging field (Pagliari et al., 2005). E-health has expanded to comprise purely clinical applications (e.g., physicians consulting on a diagnosis) (Wiecha & Pollard, 2004), emergency health communication applications (e.g., for distributing information about SARS) (Rizo, Lupea, Baybourdy, Anderson, Closson & Jadad, 2005), disease-focused applications (e.g., diabetes self-management support) (McKay, Glasgow, Feil, Boles & Barrera, 2002), applications to support electronic communication between patients and physicians (Wilson, 2003), and commercial applications that have no association with a patient’s own health care provider (e.g., WebMD) (Itagaki, Berlin & Schatz, 2002). It is clear that the needs of both users and researchers vary widely across these diverse applications, and I argue that both groups would benefit from development of finer-grained approaches to thinking about e-health.
Critical Success Factors for Delivering M-health Excellence
Authors: Wickramasinghe Nilmini , Goldberg Steve
Published: May 2010

Medical science has made revolutionary changes in the past decades. Contemporaneously however, healthcare has made incremental changes at best. The growing discrepancy between the revolutionary changes in medicine and the minimal changes in healthcare processes is leading to inefficient and ineffective healthcare deliver and one if not the significant contributor to the exponentially increasing costs plaguing healthcare globally. Healthcare organizations can respond to these challenges by focusing on three key solution strategies (or the value propostion); namely, 1. access - caring for anyone, anytime, anywhere; 2. quality – offering world class care and establishing integrated information repositories; and 3. value – providing effective and efficient healthcare delivery. These three components are interconnected such that they continually impact on the other and all are necessary to meet the key challenges facing healthcare organizations today. The application of mobile commerce to healthcare; namely, m-health appears to offer a way for healthcare delivery to revolutionize itself. However, little if anything has been written regarding how to achieve excellence in m-health. This chapter serves to address this major void by presenting an integrative framework for achieving m-health, developed through the analysis of longitudinal applied research conducted by INET in conjunction with academe. After presenting this framework and discussing its key inputs we then illustrate how the mapping of case data to the model enable the attainment of a successful m-health application to ensue and the benefits of adopting such a methodology.
Dealing with the Primacy of Knowledge in an In-Patient Mental Health Setting
Authors: Perry Ivor
Published: May 2010

This article reviews the varieties of knowledge that have to be used in mental health care, and points out some of the unique features of knowledge management in this area. It focuses on the use of types of tacit knowledge—from know-how to emotion. It acknowledges the role played by mediated knowledge, which becomes part of the disposition and interplay of power in both staff-patient and interstaff relationships. Conventional information systems, based on transaction models (such as databases) do not always answer the needs of practitioners in this environment; consideration is given to process-based systems as a means of both generating knowledge and forming the pivotal point between technologically-mediated knowledge (largely explicit) and behaviorally or linguistically mediated knowledge (mostly tacit). As an exploratory study, primary data were obtained from mental health practitioners using a grounded theory approach and discourse analysis.
Enhanced Rheoencephalograhy
Authors: Perez Juan J. , Guijarro Enrique , Ortiz Pedro , Pons José M.
Published: May 2010

A close monitoring of the cerebrovascular parameters is essential in some neurological diseases to prevent secondary brain insults. Persistent rises in intracranial pressure caused by oedema, tumours, or haematomas may decrease the cerebral blood flow (CBF) to values below the minimum required for neuronal survival (Lang & Chesnut, 1994). As a method to evaluate CBF, Polzer and Schuhfried proposed in 1950 to apply the well-known impedance plethysmography techniques to the head, which was specifically referred to as Rheoencephalography (REG) (Polzer & Schuhfried, 1950). For this purpose, bipolar and tetrapolar electrode arrangements, named as REG I and REG II respectively, were used to measure the impedance changes of the head synchronized to the heartbeat. In REG I, a low-amplitude current is injected through two electrodes attached to the scalp, and the related electric potential difference is measured between these electrodes, whereas in REG II, a second pair of electrodes is used to measure the electric potential difference (Geddes & Baker, 1989). The latter technique reduces eventual artifacts caused by mechanical alterations in the electrode-skin interface of the current injection electrodes.
EONS an Online Synaptic Modeling Platform
Authors: Bouteiller Jean-Marie C. , Baudry Michel , Berger Theodore W.
Published: May 2010

The objective of the work presented here is to develop a computational tool designed specifically for the study of the complex mechanisms that occur at chemical synapses. This tool should enable students and researchers (biologists with very little training in computational biology, as well as experienced modelers) worldwide to study the roles of diverse parameters that impact synaptic transmission from presynaptic to postsynaptic depolarization in an integrated modeling platform, using an easy, user-friendly and modular graphical interface.
Ethical Decision-Making in Biomedical Engineering Research
Authors: Frize Monique , Zamboni Irena
Published: May 2010

To be ethical and professional are terms that are synonymous with being an engineer. The work of engineers frequently affects public safety and health, and can influence business, and even politics. Professional Engineering Associations provide ethical guidelines so that engineers will know how to avoid misconduct, negligence, incompetence, and corruption, which could lead to formal complaints and discipline. Knowledge about ethical decision-making guides engineers facing complex and difficult moral dilemmas (Andrews, 2005, pp. 46). Biomedical engineers doing research and development will undoubtedly be involved in projects that impact humans and/or animals, and thus must be informed on all aspects of ethics that guide such research. They should be particularly aware of the specific guidelines of the institution where the work is to be carried-out and be familiar with the application process to obtain a certificate, allowing the research to proceed. There is clearly a need to guide biomedical engineering students and practitioners in performing a balanced analysis of difficult questions and issues, while respecting societal values that may differ greatly from their own (Frize, 1996; Frize, 2005; Saha & Saha, 1997; Wueste, 1997). There exists a number of articles discussing biomedical engineering and ethics specifically aimed at clinical engineers (Goodman, 1989; Saha & Saha, 1986). These are helpful readings for anyone involved in biomedical research or clinical engineering.
Exploring Information Security Risks in Healthcare Systems
Authors: Ray Amy , Newell Sue
Published: May 2010

The volume and severity of information security breaches encountered continues to increase as organizations, including healthcare organizations, struggle to identify more effective security policies and procedures. Publicly available guidelines such as GASSP or ISO17799 that are designed to facilitate development of effective security policies and procedures have been criticized for, among other things, inadequate attention to differences in organizational security needs (Baskerville & Siponen, 2002), and for inadequate attention to the social dimensions of security problems (Dhillon & Backhouse, 2001). In this contribution, we argue that the diversity of organizational security needs, as well as the need to recognize the social dimensions to security problems, will continue to grow as companies move away from employing unique, proprietary approaches to software and network development, in favor of adopting standards-based plug-and-play applications, and related standards-based methods and technologies designed to enable interorganizational as well as local systems interoperability.
Fractal Dimension of the EEG in Alzheimer's Disease
Authors: Abásolo Daniel , Escudero Javier , Hornero Roberto , Espino Pedro , Gómez Carlos
Published: May 2010

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most frequent cause of dementia in western countries, and is characterized by progressive impairments in cognition and memory, whose course lasts several years prior to death (Jeong, 2004). These clinical features are accompanied by histological changes in the brain, which include widespread cortical atrophy, intracellular deposition of neurofibrillary tangles, and extracellular deposition of senile plaques, particularly in the hippocampus and the cerebral cortex. Although a definite diagnosis is only possible by necropsy, a differential diagnosis with other types of dementia and with major depression should be attempted. Magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography can be normal in the early stages of AD, but a diffuse cortical atrophy is the main sign in brain scans. Mental status tests are also useful.
Generating Simulated DT-MRI Dataset
Authors: Duru Dilek Goksel , Ozkan Mehmed
Published: May 2010

Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTMRI), also known as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), needs post processing by adequate image analysis and visualization tools. White matter tractography using DTI is becoming a routine MR technique to study white matter properties, connectivity, and alterations of fiber integrity due to pathology. The success of the method depends on the accuracy of the tracking algorithms. The disadvantage on the evaluation of such methods is that there is no gold standard regarding the true geometry of the brain anatomy or fiber bundles reconstructed in each particular case.
Health Systems Simulation
Authors: Lyell David , Sadsad Rosemarie , Georgiou Andrew
Published: May 2010

Most problems arising from the operation of the health system are studied and addressed using conventional reductionist methods, which reduce, isolate, and freeze aspects of the system at a given time. This fails to deal with the dynamic complexity inherent in the health system and which is often the source of the problem. The result is that all too often, well intentioned interventions make the original problem worse by failing to fully understand the complexities involved in the origin of a problem (Sterman, 2000). In this article, we introduce system simulation as a means of exposing the underlying causes and systemic structures of problems within the health care system, as well as providing a tool for assessing the likely impact of new interventions. The following sections will examine the advantages of simulation, areas of application, how simulation experiments can overcome some of the limitations of randomised control trials (RCTs), and various simulation methodologies as well as the challenges of conducting simulation experiments.
A Historical Overview of Health Disparities and the Potential of eHealth Solutions
Authors: Gibbons Michael Christopher
Published: May 2010

Over the past decade, a rapidly expanding body of scientific evidence has been put forth documenting differences in health status among U.S. racial and ethnic groups. Evidence has also mounted suggesting that these differences may be related to both medical and nonmedical determinants. Internationally, however, neither the evidence nor the realization of a link between nonmedical sociobehavioral factors and health outcomes is new. The earliest reported observation of a hypothesized association between socioenvironmental risk factors and health outcomes occurred in Italy over three centuries ago when Bernardino Ramazzini detailed an unusually high frequency of breast cancer in Catholic nuns (Wilson, Jones, Coussens, & Hanna, 2002). Not long thereafter, in 1775, British surgeon Sir Percival Pott reported a cluster of scrotal cancer cases among British chimney sweeps (Wilson et al., 2002).
Information Technology in Brain Intensive Therapy
Authors: Liberati Diego
Published: May 2010

In order to control a process, especially in a computer and instrumented assisted way, like in Brain Intensive Therapy (IT), a model of its behavior is needed. In order to do that, a first point is to be able to select the best set of a few (thus understandable and manageable) truly relevant variables. In manufactured systems, also used in Brain IT, physics is in fact often quite known, with a manageable number of degrees of freedom: for instance, in robots kinematics, natural state variables may be (angular) positions and velocities. Some natural systems are also as well easily characterized by state variables with physical meaning: for instance reservoirs, like lakes, but also body organs with respect to soluble substances, may be characterized by volumes, concentrations, fluxes, gradients among compartments (Liberati and Turkheimer 1999). In other cases, the "natural" variables of the systems are not the best ones for identifying and control a process: a transformation of some of them may be needed: for instance, in the autonomous nervous control of the hearth system, the differential inter-beat measure is the one that almost linearly interact with baro-reflex in the feedback control loop (Baselli et al., 1986). In many cases, mainly for natural, especially neural processes, it is not easy to formulate a model based on variables whose physical meaning is a-priori known: for instance the electroencephalogram (EEG) is a very far field shielded measure of the interacting activity of billions of neurons: many actors are thus playing, each one with many meaningful state variables, also depending on the investigated level, but with high reciprocal correlation. It would not be efficient to model every single variable for global monitoring, like it is not useful to take into account the kinetics of every single molecule of a gas when only global effects of pressure are of interest. A quest of some higher level variables, even without a direct physical meaning, is thus natural, in order to easily manage the complexity of the problem. Once such salient variables are found, the problem often arises to correlate in logical and/or mathematical sense their dynamics, in order to properly model, forecast and control the patient features. Such interrelated problems will be briefly addressed in the present contribution, where Intensive Therapy is chosen as a paradigmatic application because of its critical conditions, while the approaches described in the following, and whose rationale is better analyzed in the referred bibliography, are of a quite general use in health information systems.
Integrating Medication and Health Monitoring Systems
Authors: Karkaria Burges , Zimmer Vincent
Published: May 2010

Current Health Care Providers (Medical Practitioners, Insurance, Pharmacies) have disjointed proprietary systems. This makes data sharing and collaboration very difficult. Further consumers (Patients) have no abilities to interact directly with these systems. This paper discusses an eco system for patient medication and health monitoring named PMHMS (Patient Medication and Health Monitoring System). PMHMS proposes global and ongoing collaboration of data between the patient, various Medical Practitioners and pharmacies. Existence of this eco system helps enable some of the following scenarios - Medical Practitioners can view the patients current medication (from other Medical Practitioners as well) to ensure current prescription will not conflict with other medication - Medical Practitioner’s office can monitor if chronic patient is skipping medication (e.g.: no refills ordered). Medical Practitioner’s office can also monitor patients stats (patient uses PC to upload say blood sugar levels, or blood pressure etc) - Pharmacies will be able to automatically send refills to the patients - Patients can get a quick offsite consultation from the Medical Practitioner’s office (using video conferencing to show some visual symptoms as needed by the Medical Practitioner) - Patients get Automated Dosage Reminders
Integration of Clinical and Genomic Data for Decision Support in Cancer
Authors: Goletsis Yorgos , Exarchos Themis P. , Giannakeas Nikolaos , Tsipouras Markos G. , Fotiadis Dimitrios I.
Published: May 2010

In this article, we address decision support for cancer by exploiting clinical data and identifying mutations on tumour suppressor genes. The goal is to perform data integration between medicine and molecular biology by developing a framework where clinical and genomic features are appropriately combined in order to handle cancer diseases. The constitution of such a decision support system is based on (a) cancer clinical data and (b) biological information that is derived from genomic sources. Through this integration, real time conclusions can be drawn for early diagnosis, staging and more effective cancer treatment.
An Intelligent Wearable Platform for Real Time Pilot's Health Telemonitoring
Authors: Papadelis Christos , Kourtidou-Papadeli Chrysoula , Lazaridou Fotini , Perantoni Eleni
Published: May 2010

Aviators engage in a variety of outdoor activities where their health status, the environment, and the degree of workload and fatigue affect their performance. An innovative tool has been developed, which supports the real-time health monitoring of pilots using new algorithms based on intelligent clustering techniques for the recognition of possible health problems in flight. The Smart Profiler and the Intelligent Advisor modules of this system exploit the use of knowledge based expert systems and intelligent classification techniques. Coupled with the Portal, which also exploits the use of intelligent clustering techniques, it estimates the pilot’s performance in unknown environments. The new system targets recognizing possible problems at the time of flying, but it can also be used for the monitoring of the pilot performance and progress throughout a period of time, as it stores information from different flying sessions. The system was applied in 20 private pilots during the flight of a Cessna 152 aerobatic. The device was reliable and user-friendly, enabling us to monitor real-time health status of aviators in order to detect possible problems caused by the actual environmental conditions to which individuals are exposed, thus contributing to their health and safety in their working environments. Despite the automation and increasing technological complexity of modern aircrafts, the human operator still plays an important role in controlling those demanding systems. Piloting an aircraft is a highly complex task that requires the pilot to be proficient in numerous skills (Wilson & Eggemeier, 1991) in a hostile environment of cabin pressure changes and circadian rhythm disturbances particularly in long duration flights. The resulting overload of the pilots mandates the need for real time health telemonitoring (Charles, Winget, Charles, De- Roshia, Markley, & Holley, 1984; Denison, Ledwith, & Poulton, 1966; U.S. National Research Council, 2002; Ustinaviciene, Obelenis, & Ereminas, 2004). Real time health telemonitoring would be crucial to early detect and prevent conditions affecting aviator’s vital signs and cognitive performance.
Issues, Claims and Concerns of Different Stakeholders of Healthcare Systems
Authors: Ostermann Herwig , Staudinger Bettina , Thöni Magdalena , Staudinger Roland
Published: May 2010

Adopting a holistic sociotechnical perspective, healthcare systems do not merely exhibit complex structures and functionalities but are also affected by the differing expectations, claims, and concerns of the systems’ stakeholders (Guba & Lincoln, 1989; Haux, Winter, & Ammenwerth, 2004). Furthermore, the issues addressed at healthcare systems are not limited to the concerns and requirements of health service providers, whose primary and most fundamental concerns in general terms represent the assurance of their own economic well-being and ability to proactively operate as well as the development of sustainable strategies in order to realize their own interests whatever they may be (Carsten, Hankeln, & Lohmann, 2004; Kappler, 1994). Furthermore, the objectives of other health systems stakeholders such as hospital operators and financiers as well as (health) politicians, which may well be in contradiction to the objectives of mere health service providers, have to be incorporated when systematically analyzing healthcare systems (Horev & Babad, 2005; Peltier, Kleimenhagen, & Neidu, 1996; Staudinger, 2004a ).
IT-Standards and Standardization Approaches in Healthcare
Authors: Sunyaev Ali , Leimeister Jan Marco , Schweiger Andreas , Krcmar Helmut
Published: May 2010

E-health basically comprises health services and information delivered or enhanced through the Internet and related technologies (Eysenbach, 2001). The future healthcare system and its services, enabling e-health, are based on the communication between all information systems of all participants of an integrated treatment. Connecting the elements of each healthcare system (general practitioners, hospitals, health insurance companies, pharmacies, and so on)—even across national boarders—is an important issue for information systems research in healthcare. Current developments, such as upcoming or already-deployed electronic healthcare chip cards (that are to be used across Europe), show the need for Europe-wide standards and norms (Schweiger, Sunyaev, Leimeister, & Krcmar, 2007). In this article, we first outline the advantages of the standards, and then describe their main characteristics. After the introduction of communication standards, we present their comparison with the aim to support the different functions in the healthcare information systems. Subsequently, we describe the documentation standards, and discuss the goals of existing standardization approaches. Implications conclude the article.
Judging the Value of Mobile Healthcare Solutions for Improving Outpatient Adherence
Authors: Cocosila Mihail , Archer Norm , Yuan Yufei
Published: May 2010

The problem of low adherence in outpatient conditions on one side and the ubiquity of mobile communications and data services on the other side suggests an innovative idea: improve some forms of outpatient adherence through the use of mobile information technology (IT). This idea springs from the general approaches recommended for improving adherence in relevant medical literature (Haynes, Yao, Degani, Kripalani, Garg, & McDonald, 2005; McDonald, Garg, & Haynes, 2002). Although the philosophy of using the newest technology for promoting wellbeing may seem attractive, various human, technological, and financial issues must be considered first (Cocosila & Archer, 2005b). On the adoption of mobile technology, an important aspect that has not been addressed adequately in the literature is the business perspective. The objective of this study is to introduce a framework for determining the business case for mobile information technology (IT) solutions that will help to increase outpatient adherence.
Managing Paramedic Knowledge for Treatment of Acute Myocardial Infarction
Authors: Quinn Tom , Bali Raj K. , Katherine Dale , Gregory Pete
Published: May 2010

The objective of this paper is to examine the efficacy of the Knowledge Management (KM) paradigm in the context of UK paramedics’ assessment and treatment of patients with suspected acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) or ‘heart attack’. We outline the role of thrombolytic therapy and other aspects of emergency cardiac care and discuss how contemporary KM tools and techniques can be used to support the development and retention of key clinical skills and knowledge in this emerging field of practice. The paper examines some of the key issues posed by the increasing skill base and associated knowledge of Health Professionals such as paramedics and why any KM approach needs to be aware of this in order to ensure optimal clinical practice.
Medical Search Engines
Authors: Badgett Bob , Chalasani Suresh , Boppana Rajendra V. , Pugh Jacqueline A.
Published: May 2010

Twenty years ago, researchers identified the difficulties physicians have in answering the clinical questions that arise during medical care (Covell, Uman, & Manning, 1985). Fifteen years ago, the “Evidence-based medicine” movement arose (Cohen, 2001) and exhorted clinicians to use computers to look up the answers to questions as they arise during clinical care. Fortuitously for the proponents of evidence-based medicine the Internet matured in the 1990s{Hersh 1996 #3370}, epitomized by the launching of PubMed by Al Gore in June, 1997. PubMed, developed by the National Institutes of Health, provided the first free access to millions of biomedical research articles at MEDLINE. Unfortunately, the Internet has not fulfilled its potential to assist physicians in answering clinical questions. A recent study found that physicians obtain answers to only 40% of questions that arise during patient care (Ely, Osheroff, Chambliss, Ebell, & Rosenbaum, 2004); this rate is not much different than the rate of 30% reported 20 years ago (Covell et al., 1985).
A Model for the Discussion of Medical Tourism
Authors: Keogh Hoss Mary Ann , Steenhuis Harm-Jan
Published: May 2010

Medical tourism has been around for quite some time but only recently has it become more of a factor to be considered for US hospitals. Many patients are now traveling overseas to get their medical treatments and procedures not only at cheaper prices but also in a more pleasant and relaxing environment. In this paper, the issue of medical tourism from a US perspective is explored. Why people become medical tourists, where they get their treatments and how this medical tourism trend may affect the US healthcare system is examined. The US healthcare system is currently un-prepared to deal with this new challenge.
Monitoring and Controlling of Healthcare Information Systems (HIS)
Authors: Graeber Stefan M. , Kutscha Ansgar
Published: May 2010

Information management (IM) at a health care institution encompasses the management of information, the management of application systems, and the management of information and communication technology whether computer supported or not, that is, IM provides function, performance, and quality of HIS. Management means, as well, the responsible persons and organizational units as the tasks of planning, directing, and monitoring HIS. IM has to be done systematically to enable an orderly processing of information coherent with the goals of the health care institution. While planning and directing are supported comprehensively by basic methods of strategic planning and project management (Brigl, Ammenwerth, Dujat et al., 2005; Haux, Winter, Ammenwerth, & Brigl, 2004; Winter, Ammenwerth, Bott et al., 2001), the monitoring is neglected sometimes and thus insufficiently supported (Ammenwerth, Ehlers, Hirsch, & Gratl, 2007). As nevertheless a continuous and careful monitoring is a very important task in interaction with all other management tasks, we will define the relevant terms and describe the most significant concepts and methods.
A Novel Blind Wavelet Base Watermarking of ECG Signals on Medical Images Using EZW Algorithm
Authors: Nambakhsh Mohammad Saleh , Shiva M.
Published: May 2010

Exchange of databases between hospitals needs efficient and reliable transmission and storage techniques to cut down the cost of health care. This exchange involves a large amount of vital patient information such as biosignals and medical images. Interleaving one form of data such as 1-D signal over digital images can combine the advantages of data security with efficient memory utilization (Norris, Englehart & Lovely, 2001), but nothing prevents the user from manipulating or copying the decrypted data for illegal uses. Embedding vital information of patients inside their scan images will help physicians make a better diagnosis of a disease. In order to solve these issues, watermark algorithms have been proposed as a way to complement the encryption processes and provide some tools to track the retransmission and manipulation of multimedia contents (Barni, Podilchuk, Bartolini & Delp, 2001; Vallabha, 2003). A watermarking system is based on an imperceptible insertion of a watermark (a signal) in an image. This technique is adapted here for interleaving graphical ECG signals within medical images to reduce storage and transmission overheads as well as helping for computer-aided diagnostics system. In this chapter, we present a new wavelet-based watermarking method combined with the EZW coder. The principle is to replace significant wavelet coefficients of ECG signals by the corresponding significant wavelet coefficients belonging to the host image, which is much bigger in size than the mark signal. This chapter presents a brief introduction to watermarking and the EZW coder that acts as a platform for our watermarking algorithm.
Optimization of Medical Supervision, Management, and Reimbursement of Contemporary Home Care
Authors: Spyropoulos B. , Botsivaly M. , Tzavaras A. , Koutsourakis K.
Published: May 2010

Adapting medical and managerial decision-making (Spyropoulos, 2006a) in the modern home care environment is a cardinal prerequisite, in order to ensure, first, an economically sustainable development of the aging population healthcare (Scarcelli, 2001); second, the rehabilitation services required for impaired persons; and finally, the psychosomatic support necessary in the developed countries, during the next decades. Thus, a strategic question emerges that is how home care will be medically supervised and financially reimbursed. The present study attempts to describe the present situation and the contemporary technological trends in home care; more specific, it is focused on a system developed by our team that intends first, to enable the optimal documentation of the provided home care, and second, to facilitate the acquisition of all relevant financial data, leading to a fair remuneration of the services offered.
PACS Contribution to Hospital Strategy via Improved Workflow
Authors: Lederman Reeva , van de Wetering Rogier , Firth Lucy
Published: May 2010

This chapter investigates the adequacy of BSC for a holistic evaluation of the workflow impacts of a PACS implementation. It asks whether a theoretical model such as BSC adequately captures the reality of how such technology is used. The approach taken is radical in that it is built on a consideration of the fundamentals of hospital strategy. The BSC is then modified to incorporate qualitative themes rather than performance measures to reflect the fundamentally qualitative nature of the clinical values of hospital strategy. In so doing, this chapter develops a framework that is relevant to a hospital’s not-for-profit and clinical strategies.