Combination of molecular similarity measures using data fusion

Many different measures of structural similarity have been suggested for matching chemical structures, each such measure focusing upon some particular type of molecular characteristic. The multi-faceted nature of biological activity suggests that an appropriate similarity measure should encompass many different types of characteristic, and this article discusses the use of data fusion methods to combine the results of searches based on multiple similarity measures. Experiments with several different types of dataset and activity suggest that data fusion provides a simple, but effective, approach to the combination of individual similarity measures. The best results were generally obtained with a fusion rule that sums the rank positions achieved by each molecule in searches using individual measures

The Long-term Coercive Effect of State Community Benefit Laws on Hospital Community Health Orientation

This study is an examination of the long-term coercive effect of state community benefit laws (CB Laws) on the provision of community health activities in U.S. acute care hospitals. The sample included all the not-for-profit and investor owned acute care hospitals for which 1994 and 2006 AHA Annual Survey data were available. A panel design was used to longitudinally examine the effect that state CB Laws had on hospital community health orientation activities and the provision of health promotion services, after controlling for the influence of other organizational and environmental variables that might affect these activities and services. The authors found that both CB Law state and non CB Law state hospitals increased their number of orientation activities and promotion services from 1994 to 2006. However, there was no significant difference in the gains in these activities and services between these two groups of hospitals. These results suggest that other environmental and organizational factors may mediate the effect of the state CB Laws over time