2,747 research outputs found

    Developing the Quantitative Histopathology Image Ontology : A case study using the hot spot detection problem

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    Interoperability across data sets is a key challenge for quantitative histopathological imaging. There is a need for an ontology that can support effective merging of pathological image data with associated clinical and demographic data. To foster organized, cross-disciplinary, information-driven collaborations in the pathological imaging field, we propose to develop an ontology to represent imaging data and methods used in pathological imaging and analysis, and call it Quantitative Histopathological Imaging Ontology – QHIO. We apply QHIO to breast cancer hot-spot detection with the goal of enhancing reliability of detection by promoting the sharing of data between image analysts

    Doctor of Philosophy

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    dissertationThe use of the various complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) modalities for the management of chronic illnesses is widespread, and still on the rise. Unfortunately, tools to support consumers in seeking information on the efficacy of these treatments are sparse and incomplete. The goals of this work were to understand CAM information needs in acquiring CAM information, assess currently available information resources, and investigate informatics methods to provide a foundation for the development of CAM information resources. This dissertation consists of four studies. The first was a quantitative study that aimed to assess the feasibility of delivering CAM-drug interaction information through a web-based application. This study resulted in an 85% participation rate and 33% of those patients reported the use of CAMs that had potential interactions with their conventional treatments. The next study aimed to assess online CAM information resources that provide information on drug-herb interactions to consumers. None of the sites scored high on the combination of completeness and accuracy and all sites were beyond the recommended reading level per the US Department of Health and Human Services. The third study investigated information-seeking behaviors for CAM information using an existing cohort of cancer survivors. The study showed that patients in the cohort continued to use CAM well into survivorship. Patients felt very much on their own in dealing with issues outside of direct treatment, which often resulted in a search for options and CAM use. Finally, a study was conducted to investigate two methods to semi-automatically extract CAM treatment relations from the biomedical literature. The methods rely on a database (SemMedDB) of semantic relations extracted from PubMed abstracts. This study demonstrated that SemMedDB can be used to reduce manual efforts, but review of the extracted sentences is still necessary due to a low mean precision of 23.7% and 26.4%. In summary, this dissertation provided greater insight into consumer information needs for CAM. Our findings provide an opportunity to leverage existing resources to improve the information-seeking experience for consumers through high-quality online tools, potentially moving them beyond the reliance on anecdotal evidence in the decision-making process for CAM

    From Wearable Sensors to Smart Implants – Towards Pervasive and Personalised Healthcare

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    <p>Objective: This article discusses the evolution of pervasive healthcare from its inception for activity recognition using wearable sensors to the future of sensing implant deployment and data processing. Methods: We provide an overview of some of the past milestones and recent developments, categorised into different generations of pervasive sensing applications for health monitoring. This is followed by a review on recent technological advances that have allowed unobtrusive continuous sensing combined with diverse technologies to reshape the clinical workflow for both acute and chronic disease management. We discuss the opportunities of pervasive health monitoring through data linkages with other health informatics systems including the mining of health records, clinical trial databases, multi-omics data integration and social media. Conclusion: Technical advances have supported the evolution of the pervasive health paradigm towards preventative, predictive, personalised and participatory medicine. Significance: The sensing technologies discussed in this paper and their future evolution will play a key role in realising the goal of sustainable healthcare systems.</p> <p> </p

    Ontologies Applied in Clinical Decision Support System Rules:Systematic Review

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    BackgroundClinical decision support systems (CDSSs) are important for the quality and safety of health care delivery. Although CDSS rules guide CDSS behavior, they are not routinely shared and reused. ObjectiveOntologies have the potential to promote the reuse of CDSS rules. Therefore, we systematically screened the literature to elaborate on the current status of ontologies applied in CDSS rules, such as rule management, which uses captured CDSS rule usage data and user feedback data to tailor CDSS services to be more accurate, and maintenance, which updates CDSS rules. Through this systematic literature review, we aim to identify the frontiers of ontologies used in CDSS rules. MethodsThe literature search was focused on the intersection of ontologies; clinical decision support; and rules in PubMed, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Digital Library, and the Nursing & Allied Health Database. Grounded theory and PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) 2020 guidelines were followed. One author initiated the screening and literature review, while 2 authors validated the processes and results independently. The inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed and refined iteratively. ResultsCDSSs were primarily used to manage chronic conditions, alerts for medication prescriptions, reminders for immunizations and preventive services, diagnoses, and treatment recommendations among 81 included publications. The CDSS rules were presented in Semantic Web Rule Language, Jess, or Jena formats. Despite the fact that ontologies have been used to provide medical knowledge, CDSS rules, and terminologies, they have not been used in CDSS rule management or to facilitate the reuse of CDSS rules. ConclusionsOntologies have been used to organize and represent medical knowledge, controlled vocabularies, and the content of CDSS rules. So far, there has been little reuse of CDSS rules. More work is needed to improve the reusability and interoperability of CDSS rules. This review identified and described the ontologies that, despite their limitations, enable Semantic Web technologies and their applications in CDSS rules
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