Towards an understanding of the semantic web opportunities, usages, affordances and challenges in health research

The semantic web (SW) offers tools for supporting data integration and sharing across disparate resources in the web. Meanwhile, health research needs an efficient approach for handling heterogenous data integration for the massive amounts of available health-related data to help discovering new scientific breakthroughs. In this thesis, the current and potential relationships between the semantic web and health research are aimed to be understood and identified through systematically reviewing the literature and examining the SW features in a proof-ofconcept health-related demonstrator. Firstly, a systematic literature review of 447 articles addressing health questions and using the SW standards was conducted to map the literature and identify any gaps or opportunities. The results of the review were analysed in a mixed approach of quantitative and qualitative methods producing two taxonomies: 1) the health aims and 2) the SW features taxonomies. The review revealed the most and least addressed health questions as well as the used SW features in the literature. Secondly, a semantic web-based demonstrator was developed to represent the NHS dispensed prescriptions topic and examine some of the identified SW features. The prescriptions demonstrator consists of three interlinked OWL ontologies: the BNF, NHS and prescriptions ontologies along with their converted RDF instances. Moreover, two health questions, inspired from the traditional health literature and suggested by health experts in a focus group, were translated into SPARQL queries and ran across the ontologies to test more of the SW features. It has been learned that the SW has a potential in supporting health research and accelarting research findings in the areas of: data representaion, data integration and knowledge discovery. However, there are some challenges need resolving for a better result such as: data accessibility, security, quality, heterogeneity and lack of user-friendly tools

Beverage Consumption and Ulcerative Colitis: A Case-Control Study from Saudi Arabia

Background: The association between beverage intake and ulcerative colitis (UC) is not well-established, with no available data from Arab countries. Herein, we investigated the potential association of consuming coffee, tea, and carbonated soft drinks with UC among a population from Saudi Arabia. Methods: This hospital-based case-control study used data of 171 newly diagnosed UC patients and 400 patients with other gastrointestinal conditions who served as controls. All UC cases were ascertained by endoscopy, while beverage intake was assessed by a questionnaire that was completed before diagnosis. We computed odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) of UC and UC extension for frequent versus infrequent intakes of coffee, tea, and carbonated soft drinks using logistic regression. Results: Overall, 23.4% of UC patients had pancolitis, 21.1% extensive, 51.4% left-sided, and 4.1% proctitis. UC patients had a similar sex distribution to the controls but were older and had a lower BMI. After adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, and smoking history, frequent intakes of coffee and tea were associated with lower odds of UC: 0.62 (0.42, 0.91) and 0.53 (0.35, 0.79), respectively. On the other hand, frequent intakes of carbonated soft drinks were associated with increased odds of UC: 9.82 (6.12, 15.76). The frequency of beverage consumption was not associated with UC extension. Conclusion: UC was negatively associated with frequent coffee and tea consumption but positively associated with frequent carbonated soft drink intake in Saudi people. More population-based prospective cohort studies are needed to confirm our findings

Association between coffee, tea, and soft drinks consumption and Crohn's disease in Arab populations: A case-control study

Summary: Aim: Crohn's disease (CD) is a complex inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) characterized by persistent inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). While the impact of beverage consumption on various chronic conditions is recognized, its connection with CD remains a subject of debate, particularly with limited research among Arab populations. To address this, we conducted a case-control study to explore potential links between coffee, tea, and soft drink consumption and the prevalence of CD among individuals in Saudi Arabia. Methods: We assessed beverage consumption in 251 patients newly diagnosed with CD and 400 controls with GIT illnesses other than IBD, malignancy, polyposis, and diverticulosis. The diagnosis was established via colonoscopy and biopsies by gastroenterologists, and beverage intake was assessed via a self-administered questionnaire. We used logistic regression to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of CD based on beverage consumption frequency. Results: After adjusting for age and sex, frequent consumption of coffee and tea was inversely associated with CD: ORs (95% CIs) = 0.68 (0.49, 0.95) and 0.65 (0.46, 0.92), respectively. Further adjustment for body mass index and smoking attenuated these associations: ORs (95% CIs) = 0.77 (0.54, 1.08) and 0.71 (0.50, 1.03), respectively. In contrast, frequent consumption of soft drinks was positively associated with CD in both models: ORs (95% CIs) = 4.57 (3.17, 6.59) and 4.99 (3.38, 7.39), respectively. Conclusions: Frequent consumption of coffee and tea was negatively associated with CD, while the reverse was true for soft drinks