A Systematic Approach for Using DICOM Structured Reports in Clinical Processes: Focus on Breast Cancer

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10278-014-9728-6.This paper describes a methodology for redesigning the clinical processes to manage diagnosis, follow-up, and response to treatment episodes of breast cancer. This methodology includes three fundamental elements: (1) identification of similar and contrasting cases that may be of clinical relevance based upon a target study, (2) codification of reports with standard medical terminologies, and (3) linking and indexing the structured reports obtained with different techniques in a common system. The combination of these elements should lead to improvements in the clinical management of breast cancer patients. The motivation for this work is the adaptation of the clinical processes for breast cancer created by the Valencian Community health authorities to the new techniques available for data processing. To achieve this adaptation, it was necessary to design nine Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) structured report templates: six diagnosis templates and three summary templates that combine reports from clinical episodes. A prototype system is also described that links the lesion to the reports. Preliminary tests of the prototype have shown that the interoperability among the report templates allows correlating parameters from different reports. Further work is in progress to improve the methodology in order that it can be applied to clinical practice.We thank the subject matter experts for sharing their insights through this study. We are especially appreciative of the efforts of the Radiology Unit and Medical Oncology Unit teams at the University Hospital Dr. Peset. This work was partially supported by the Vicerectorat d'Investigacio de la Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPVLC) to develop the project "Mejora del proceso diagnostico del cancer de mama" with reference UPV-FE-2013-8.Medina, R.; Torres Serrano, E.; Segrelles Quilis, JD.; Blanquer Espert, I.; Martí Bonmatí, L.; Almenar-Cubells, D. (2015). A Systematic Approach for Using DICOM Structured Reports in Clinical Processes: Focus on Breast Cancer. Journal of Digital Imaging. 28(2):132-145. doi:10.1007/s10278-014-9728-6S132145282Ratib O: Imaging informatics: From image management to image navigation. Yearb Med Inform 2009; 167–172Oakley J. Digital Imaging: A Primer for Radiographers, Radiologists and Health Care Professionals. Cambridge University Press, 2003.Prokosch HU, Dudeck J: Hospital information systems: Design and development characteristics, impact and future architecture. Elsevier health sciences, 1995Foster I, Kesselman C, Tuecke S. 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Development of usable applications featuring QR codes for enhancing interaction and acceptance: a case study

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Behaviour & Information Technology on Jan 11, 2022, available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2021.2022209QR codes provide potential opportunities to improve interaction in different areas of application. Even so, this technology has been utilised in punctual and specific standalone applications, being barely applied to broader contexts, such as the educational one, where different scenarios can be considered to take advantage of the same QR-code approach. In this paper, key issues for the development of applications that utilise QR codes to improve sharing and availability of resources are presented, specifically focusing on improving interaction and acceptance. In this way, a holistic approach has been developed where the system is aimed at improving the interaction between educators and students. On the one hand, educators use a web interface to manage educational resources and announcements and automatically generate QR codes. On the other hand, students scan those QR codes using a mobile device, obtaining updated information related to their lectures. This scenario has been evaluated by educators and students, obtaining good results in terms of acceptance, cognitive burden, and overall usability. The approach provides development clues and the evaluation method that can be applied to different contexts, thus representing a generalisable solution.This work was supported by Madrid Research Council: [grant Number P2018/TCS-4314]; Spanish Government: [grant Number RTI2018-095255-B-I00]

Radiological Reports: A Comparison between the Transmission Efficiency of Information in Free Text and in Structured Reports

INTRODUCTION: This work proposes to improve the transmission of information between requiring physicians and radiologists. OBJECTIVES: Evaluate the implementation of a structured report (SR) in a university hospital. METHODS: A model of a structured report for thyroid sonography was developed according to information gathered from radiologists and endocrinologists working in this field. The report was based on a web platform and installed as a part of a Radiological Information System (RIS) and a Hospital Information System (HIS). The time for the report generation under the two forms was evaluated over a four-month period, two months for each method. After this period, radiologists and requiring physicians were questioned about the two methods of reporting. RESULTS: For free text, 98 sonograms were reported to have thyroids with nodules in an average time of 8.71 (+/-4.11) minutes, and 59 sonograms of thyroids without nodules were reported in an average time of 4.54 (+/- 3.97) minutes. For SR, 73 sonograms in an average time of 6.08 (+/-3.8) minutes for thyroids with nodules and 3.67 (+/-2.51) minutes for thyroids without nodules. Most of the radiologists (76.2%) preferred the SR, as originally created or with suggested changes. Among endocrinologists, 80% preferred the SR. DISCUSSION: From the requiring physicians' perspective, the SR enabled standardization and improved information transmission. This information is valuable because physicians need reports prepared by radiologists. CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of a SR in a university hospital, under an RIS/HIS system, was viable. Radiologists and endocrinologists preferred the SR when compared to free text, and both agreed that the former improved the transmission of information

Usability and expressiveness in database keyword search : bridging the gap

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Beyond Numbers: Creating Analogies to Enhance Data Comprehension and Communication with Generative AI

Unfamiliar measurements usually hinder readers from grasping the scale of the numerical data, understanding the content, and feeling engaged with the context. To enhance data comprehension and communication, we leverage analogies to bridge the gap between abstract data and familiar measurements. In this work, we first conduct semi-structured interviews with design experts to identify design problems and summarize design considerations. Then, we collect an analogy dataset of 138 cases from various online sources. Based on the collected dataset, we characterize a design space for creating data analogies. Next, we build a prototype system, AnalogyMate, that automatically suggests data analogies, their corresponding design solutions, and generated visual representations powered by generative AI. The study results show the usefulness of AnalogyMate in aiding the creation process of data analogies and the effectiveness of data analogy in enhancing data comprehension and communication

A Semantics-based User Interface Model for Content Annotation, Authoring and Exploration

The Semantic Web and Linked Data movements with the aim of creating, publishing and interconnecting machine readable information have gained traction in the last years. However, the majority of information still is contained in and exchanged using unstructured documents, such as Web pages, text documents, images and videos. This can also not be expected to change, since text, images and videos are the natural way in which humans interact with information. Semantic structuring of content on the other hand provides a wide range of advantages compared to unstructured information. Semantically-enriched documents facilitate information search and retrieval, presentation, integration, reusability, interoperability and personalization. Looking at the life-cycle of semantic content on the Web of Data, we see quite some progress on the backend side in storing structured content or for linking data and schemata. Nevertheless, the currently least developed aspect of the semantic content life-cycle is from our point of view the user-friendly manual and semi-automatic creation of rich semantic content. In this thesis, we propose a semantics-based user interface model, which aims to reduce the complexity of underlying technologies for semantic enrichment of content by Web users. By surveying existing tools and approaches for semantic content authoring, we extracted a set of guidelines for designing efficient and effective semantic authoring user interfaces. We applied these guidelines to devise a semantics-based user interface model called WYSIWYM (What You See Is What You Mean) which enables integrated authoring, visualization and exploration of unstructured and (semi-)structured content. To assess the applicability of our proposed WYSIWYM model, we incorporated the model into four real-world use cases comprising two general and two domain-specific applications. These use cases address four aspects of the WYSIWYM implementation: 1) Its integration into existing user interfaces, 2) Utilizing it for lightweight text analytics to incentivize users, 3) Dealing with crowdsourcing of semi-structured e-learning content, 4) Incorporating it for authoring of semantic medical prescriptions

Node-Based Native Solution to Procedural Game Level Generation

A Geração Procedural de Conteúdo (PCG) aplicada ao domínio do desenvolvimento de jogos tem se tornado um tópico proeminente, com um número crescente de implementações e aplicações. Soluções de PCG standalone e plugin, regidas por interfaces baseadas em nós e outros modelos de alto nível, enfrentam limitações em termos de integração, interatividade e responsividade quando inseridas no processo de desenvolvimento de jogos. Essas limitações afetam a experiência do utilizador e inibem o verdadeiro potencial que estes sistemas podem oferecer. Adotando uma metodologia de Action-Research, realizou-se um estudo preliminar com entrevistas a especialistas da área. A avaliação da pertinência desta metodologia nativa e da abordagem visual mais adequada para a sua interface foi efetuada através de uma série de protótipos. Posteriormente, foi implementado um protótipo funcional e conduzido um estudo de caso com uma amostra constituída por um grupo de especialistas em PCG e de desenvolvedores de jogos. Os participantes realizaram uma série de exercícios que estavam documentados com os respetivos tutoriais. Após a conclusão dos exercícios propostos, os participantes avaliaram a relevância da solução e da experiência do utilizador através de um questionário. No desenvolvimento de uma metodologia nativa de PCG baseado em nós, integrado no motor de jogo, identificamos limitações e concluímos que existem diversos desafios ainda por superar no que diz respeito a uma implementação completa de um sistema complexo e amplo.Procedural Content Generation (PCG) applied to game development has become a prominent topic with increasing implementations and use cases. However, existing standalone and plugin PCG solutions, which use Node-based interfaces and other high-level approaches, face limitations in integration, interactivity, and responsiveness within the game development pipeline. These limitations hinder the overall user experience and restrain the true potential of PCG systems. Adopting an Action-Research methodology, a preliminary interview was conducted with experts in the field. The relevance assessment of this native methodology and the most suitable visual approach for its interface was carried out through a series of prototypes. Subsequently, a functional prototype was implemented, and a case study was conducted using a sample consisting of a group of PCG experts and game developers. The participants performed a series of exercises documented with the respective tutorials. After completing the exercises, the solution's relevancy and user experience were evaluated through a questionnaire. In developing a native node-based PCG methodology integrated into the game engine, we identified limitations. We concluded that several challenges are yet to be overcome regarding fully implementing a complex and extensive system

Development and Specification of Virtual Environments

This thesis concerns the issues involved in the development of virtual environments (VEs). VEs are more than virtual reality. We identify four main characteristics of them: graphical interaction, multimodality, interface agents, and multi-user. These characteristics are illustrated with an overview of different classes of VE-like applications, and a number of state-of-the-art VEs. To further define the topic of research, we propose a general framework for VE systems development, in which we identify five major classes of development tools: methodology, guidelines, design specification, analysis, and development environments. Of each, we give an overview of existing best practices