252 research outputs found
Moddicom: a Complete and Easily Accessible Library for Prognostic Evaluations Relying on Image Features
Decision Support Systems (DSSs) are increasingly
exploited in the area of prognostic evaluations. For predicting
the effect of therapies on patients, the trend is now to use image
features, i.e. information that can be automatically computed by
considering images resulting by analysis. The DSSs application
as predictive tools is particularly suitable for cancer treatment,
given the peculiarities of the disease âwhich is highly localised
and lead to significant social costsâ and the large number of
images that are available for each patient.
At the state of the art, there exists tools that allow to handle
image features for prognostic evaluations, but they are not
designed for medical experts. They require either a strong
engineering or computer science background since they do not
integrate all the required functions, such as image retrieval and
storage. In this paper we fill this gap by proposing Moddicom,
a user-friendly complete library specifically designed to be
exploited by physicians. A preliminary experimental analysis,
performed by a medical expert that used the tool, demonstrates
the efficiency and the effectiveness of Moddicom
Higher risk of tuberculosis reactivation when anti-TNF is combined with immunosuppressive agents. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials
Objective. Treatment with tumour necrosis factor antagonists (anti-TNF) has been recognized as a risk factor for tuberculosis (TB) reactivation. Our aim was to evaluate risk of TB reactivation in rheumatologic and non-rheumatologic diseases treated with the same anti-TNF agents with and without concomitant therapies. Methods. We searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating infliximab, adalimumab, and certolizumab in both rheumatologic and non-rheumatologic diseases until 2012. Results were calculated as pooled rates and/or pooled odd ratios (OR). Results. Overall, 40 RCTs with a total of 14,683 patients (anti-TNF: 10,010; placebo: 4673) were included. TB reactivation was 0.26% (26/10,010) in the anti-TNF group and 0% (0/4673) in the control group, corresponding to an OR of 24.8 (95% CI 2.4-133). TB risk was higher when anti-TNF agents were combined with methotrexate or azathioprine as compared with either controls (24/4241 versus 0/4673; OR 54; 95% CI 5.3-88) or anti-TNF monotherapy (24/4241 versus 2/5769; OR 13.3; 95% CI 3.7-100). When anti-TNF was used as monotherapy, TB risk tended to be higher than placebo (2/5769 versus 0/4673; OR 4; 95% CI 0.2-15.7). Conclusions. TB risk with anti-TNF agents appeared to be increased when these agents were used in combination with methotrexate or azathioprine as compared with monotherapy regimen. TB risk seemed to be higher than placebo, even when monotherapy is prescribed
Development and validation of a machine learning-based predictive model to improve the prediction of inguinal status of anal cancer patients: A preliminary report
Introduction: The role of prophylactic inguinal irradiation (PII) in the treatment
of anal cancer patients is controversial. We developped an innovative algorithm based
on the Machine Learning (ML) allowing the tailoring of the prescription of PII.
Results: Once verified on the independent testing set, J48 showed the better
performances, with specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy rates in predicting relapsing
patients of 86.4%, 50.0% and 83.1% respectively (vs 36.5%, 90.4% and 80.25%,
respectively, for LR).
Methods: We classified 194 anal cancer patients with Logistic Regression (LR)
and other 3 ML techniques based on decision trees (J48, Random Tree and Random
Forest), using a large set of clinical and therapeutic variables. We tested obtained
ML algorithms on an independent testing set of 65 anal cancer patients. TRIPOD
(Transparent Reporting of a multivariable prediction model for Individual Prognosis
or Diagnosis) methodology was used for the development, the Quality Assurance and
the description of the experimental procedures.
Conclusion: In an internationally approved quality assurance framework, ML
seems promising in predicting the outcome of patients that would benefit or not of
the PII. Once confirmed in larger and/or multi-centric databases, ML could support
the physician in tailoring the treatment and in deciding if deliver or not the PII
Process Mining Dashboard in Operating Rooms: Analysis of Staff Expectations with Analytic Hierarchy Process
[EN] The widespread adoption of real-time location systems is boosting the development of software applications to track persons and assets in hospitals. Among the vast amount of applications, real-time location systems in operating rooms have the advantage of grounding advanced data analysis techniques to improve surgical processes, such as process mining. However, such applications still find entrance barriers in the clinical context. In this paper, we aim to evaluate the preferred features of a process mining-based dashboard deployed in the operating rooms of a hospital equipped with a real-time location system. The dashboard allows to discover and enhance flows of patients based on the location data of patients undergoing an intervention. Analytic hierarchy process was applied to quantify the prioritization of the dashboard features (filtering data, enhancement, node selection, statistics, etc.), distinguishing the priorities that each of the different roles in the operating room service assigned to each feature. The staff in the operating rooms (n = 10) was classified into three groups: Technical, clinical, and managerial staff according to their responsibilities. Results showed different weights for the features in the process mining dashboard for each group, suggesting that a flexible process mining dashboard is needed to boost its potential in the management of clinical interventions in operating rooms. This paper is an extension of a communication presented in the Process-Oriented Data Science for Health Workshop in the Business Process Management Conference 2018.This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 812386.Martinez-Millana, A.; Lizondo, A.; Gatta, R.; Vera, S.; Traver Salcedo, V.; FernĂĄndez Llatas, C. (2019). Process Mining Dashboard in Operating Rooms: Analysis of Staff Expectations with Analytic Hierarchy Process. International Journal of Environmental research and Public Health. 16(2):1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16020199S114162Agnoletti, V., Buccioli, M., Padovani, E., Corso, R. M., Perger, P., Piraccini, E., ⊠Gambale, G. (2013). Operating room data management: improving efficiency and safety in a surgical block. BMC Surgery, 13(1). doi:10.1186/1471-2482-13-7Marques, I., Captivo, M. E., & Vaz Pato, M. (2011). An integer programming approach to elective surgery scheduling. 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Will information and communication technology disrupt the health system and deliver on its promise? Medical Journal of Australia, 193(7), 399-400. doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb03968.xFisher, J. A., & Monahan, T. (2012). Evaluation of real-time location systems in their hospital contexts. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 81(10), 705-712. doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2012.07.001Bath, P. A., Pendleton, N., Bracale, M., & Pecchia, L. (2011). Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for Examining Healthcare Professionalsâ Assessments of Risk Factors. Methods of Information in Medicine, 50(05), 435-444. doi:10.3414/me10-01-0028Lee, V. S., Kawamoto, K., Hess, R., Park, C., Young, J., Hunter, C., ⊠Pendleton, R. C. (2016). Implementation of a Value-Driven Outcomes Program to Identify High Variability in Clinical Costs and Outcomes and Association With Reduced Cost and Improved Quality. JAMA, 316(10), 1061. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.12226Sloane, E. B., Liberatore, M. J., Nydick, R. L., Luo, W., & Chung, Q. B. (2003). Using the analytic hierarchy process as a clinical engineering tool to facilitate an iterative, multidisciplinary, microeconomic health technology assessment. Computers & Operations Research, 30(10), 1447-1465. doi:10.1016/s0305-0548(02)00187-9Saaty, T. L. (1977). A scaling method for priorities in hierarchical structures. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 15(3), 234-281. doi:10.1016/0022-2496(77)90033-5Bridges, J. F. P., Hauber, A. B., Marshall, D., Lloyd, A., Prosser, L. A., Regier, D. A., ⊠Mauskopf, J. (2011). Conjoint Analysis Applications in Healthâa Checklist: A Report of the ISPOR Good Research Practices for Conjoint Analysis Task Force. Value in Health, 14(4), 403-413. doi:10.1016/j.jval.2010.11.013Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI â11. (2011). doi:10.1145/1978942Anual Report 2014http://chguv.san.gva.es/documents/10184/81032/Informe_anual2014.pdf/713c6559-0e29-4838-967c-93380c24eff9Ratwani, R. M., Fairbanks, R. J., Hettinger, A. Z., & Benda, N. C. (2015). Electronic health record usability: analysis of the user-centered design processes of eleven electronic health record vendors. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 22(6), 1179-1182. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocv050Van der Aalst, W. M. P., Reijers, H. A., Weijters, A. J. M. M., van Dongen, B. F., Alves de Medeiros, A. K., Song, M., & Verbeek, H. M. W. (2007). Business process mining: An industrial application. Information Systems, 32(5), 713-732. doi:10.1016/j.is.2006.05.00
Breast ultrasound in the management of gynecomastia in PeutzâJeghers syndrome in monozygotic twins: two case reports
Survival of European adolescents and young adults diagnosed with cancer in 2000–07: population-based data from EUROCARE-5
Crohn's Disease Imaging: A Review
Crohn's disease is a chronic granulomatous inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract, which can involve almost any segment from the mouth to the anus. Typically, Crohn's lesions attain segmental and asynchronous distribution with varying levels of seriousness, although the sites most frequently involved are the terminal ileum and the proximal colon. A single gold standard for the diagnosis of CD is not available and the diagnosis of CD is confirmed by clinical evaluation and a combination of endoscopic, histological, radiological, and/or biochemical investigations. In recent years, many studies have been performed to investigate the diagnostic potential of less invasive and more patient-friendly imaging modalities in the evaluation of Crohn's disease including conventional enteroclysis, ultrasonography, color-power Doppler, contrast-enhanced ultrasonography, multidetector CT enteroclysis, MRI enteroclysis, and 99mTc-HMPAO-labeled leukocyte scintigraphy. The potential diagnostic role of each imaging modality has to be considered in different clinical degrees of the disease, because there is no single imaging technique that allows a correct diagnosis and may be performed with similar results in every institution. The aim of this paper is to point out the advantages and limitations of the various imaging techniques in patients with suspected or proven Crohn's disease
Targeting Food Allergy with Probiotics.
The dramatic increase in food allergy prevalence
and severity globally is demanding
effective strategies. Food allergy derives from
a defect in immune tolerance mechanisms.
Immune tolerance is modulated by gut
microbiota composition and function, and gut
microbiota dysbiosis has been associated with
the development of food allergy. Selected probiotic
strains could act on immune tolerance
mechanisms. The mechanisms are multiple
and still not completely defined. Increasing
evidence is providing useful information on
the choice of optimal bacterial species/strains,
dosage, and timing for intervention. The
increased knowledge on the crucial role played
by gut microbiota-derived metabolites, such as
butyrate, is also opening the way to a postbiotic
approach in the stimulation of immune
tolerance
Sequence-specific transcription factor NF-Y displays histone-like DNA binding and H2B-like ubiquitination
SummaryThe sequence-specific transcription factor NF-Y binds the CCAAT box, one of the sequence elements most frequently found in eukaryotic promoters. NF-Y is composed of the NF-YA and NF-YB/NF-YC subunits, the latter two hosting histone-fold domains (HFDs). The crystal structure of NF-Y bound to a 25 bp CCAAT oligonucleotide shows that the HFD dimer binds to the DNA sugar-phosphate backbone, mimicking the nucleosome H2A/H2B-DNA assembly. NF-YA both binds to NF-YB/NF-YC and inserts an α helix deeply into the DNA minor groove, providing sequence-specific contacts to the CCAAT box. Structural considerations and mutational data indicate that NF-YB ubiquitination at Lys138 precedes and is equivalent to H2B Lys120 monoubiquitination, important in transcriptional activation. Thus, NF-Y is a sequence-specific transcription factor with nucleosome-like properties of nonspecific DNA binding and helps establish permissive chromatin modifications at CCAAT promoters. Our findings suggest that other HFD-containing proteins may function in similar ways
A Process Mining Approach to Statistical Analysis: Application to a Real-World Advanced Melanoma Dataset
AbstractThanks to its ability to offer a time-oriented perspective on the clinical events that define the patient's path of care, Process Mining (PM) is assuming an emerging role in clinical data analytics. PM's ability to exploit time-series data and to build processes without any a priori knowledge suggests interesting synergies with the most common statistical analyses in healthcare, in particular survival analysis. In this work we demonstrate contributions of our process-oriented approach in analyzing a real-world retrospective dataset of patients treated for advanced melanoma at the Lausanne University Hospital. Addressing the clinical questions raised by our oncologists, we integrated PM in almost all the steps of a common statistical analysis. We show: (1) how PM can be leveraged to improve the quality of the data (data cleaning/pre-processing), (2) how PM can provide efficient data visualizations that support and/or suggest clinical hypotheses, also allowing to check the consistency between real and expected processes (descriptive statistics), and (3) how PM can assist in querying or re-expressing the data in terms of pre-defined reference workflows for testing survival differences among sub-cohorts (statistical inference). We exploit a rich set of PM tools for querying the event logs, inspecting the processes using statistical hypothesis testing, and performing conformance checking analyses to identify patterns in patient clinical paths and study the effects of different treatment sequences in our cohort
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