A Platform for Innovation and Standards Evaluation: a Case Study from the OpenMRS Open-Source Radiology Information System

Open-source development can provide a platform for innovation by seeking feedback from community members as well as providing tools and infrastructure to test new standards. Vendors of proprietary systems may delay adoption of new standards until there are sufficient incentives such as legal mandates or financial incentives to encourage/mandate adoption. Moreover, open-source systems in healthcare have been widely adopted in low- and middle-income countries and can be used to bridge gaps that exist in global health radiology. Since 2011, the authors, along with a community of open-source contributors, have worked on developing an open-source radiology information system (RIS) across two communities-OpenMRS and LibreHealth. The main purpose of the RIS is to implement core radiology workflows, on which others can build and test new radiology standards. This work has resulted in three major releases of the system, with current architectural changes driven by changing technology, development of new standards in health and imaging informatics, and changing user needs. At their core, both these communities are focused on building general-purpose EHR systems, but based on user contributions from the fringes, we have been able to create an innovative system that has been used by hospitals and clinics in four different countries. We provide an overview of the history of the LibreHealth RIS, the architecture of the system, overview of standards integration, describe challenges of developing an open-source product, and future directions. Our goal is to attract more participation and involvement to further develop the LibreHealth RIS into an Enterprise Imaging System that can be used in other clinical imaging including pathology and dermatology

IT Value in Public Administrations: a Model Proposal for E-Procurement

Recent studies have affirmed the necessity of a discontinuity in the method of investigating the value produced in organisations by IT. Existing studies have in common a prevailing (when not exclusive) attention paid to the private sector, as testified by the frequent use of income or financial indicators to measure benefits. These approaches however cannot be directly applied to public utility organisations like public administrations. Taking into account this scenario, the present exploratory work looks at the analysis of IT investments in the public sector by identifying a viable approach to research in this domain. To move towards this objective, procurement management has been taken as the field to be observed, and an Italian publich Local Healthcare Agency which has managed several e-procurement projects has been analysed. This case represents a valuable context for examination and discussion because the outcomes of each project were evaluated in details. A riche IT Value Model devoted to the private secotr has been adopted and discussed, and later some resulting adaptations are suggested, together with some hints and limitations.Recent studies have affirmed the necessity of a discontinuity in the method of investigating the value produced in organisations by IT. Existing studies have in common a prevailing (when not exclusive) attention paid to the private sector, as testified by the frequent use of income or financial indicators to measure benefits. These approaches however cannot be directly applied to public utility organisations like public administrations. Taking into account this scenario, the present exploratory work looks at the analysis of IT investments in the public sector by identifying a viable approach to research in this domain. To move towards this objective, procurement management has been taken as the field to be observed, and an Italian publich Local Healthcare Agency which has managed several e-procurement projects has been analysed. This case represents a valuable context for examination and discussion because the outcomes of each project were evaluated in details. A riche IT Value Model devoted to the private secotr has been adopted and discussed, and later some resulting adaptations are suggested, together with some hints and limitations.Monograph's chapter

Antiangiogenic Effects and Therapeutic Targets of Azadirachta indica Leaf Extract in Endothelial Cells

Azadirachta indica (common name: neem) leaves have been found to possess immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties. The present study evaluates anti-angiogenic potential of ethanol extract of neem leaves (EENL) in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Treatment of HUVECs with EENL inhibited VEGF induced angiogenic response in vitro and in vivo. The in vitro proliferation, invasion and migration of HUVECs were suppressed with EENL. Nuclear fragmentation and abnormally small mitochondria with dilated cristae were observed in EENL treated HUVECs by transmission electron microscopy. Genome-wide mRNA expression profiling after treatment with EENL revealed differentially regulated genes. Expression changes of the genes were validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Additionally, increase in the expression of HMOX1, ATF3 and EGR1 proteins were determined by immunoblotting. Analysis of the compounds in the EENL by mass spectrometry suggests the presence of nimbolide, 2′,3′-dehydrosalannol, 6-desacetyl nimbinene and nimolinone. We further confirmed antiproliferative activity of nimbolide and 2′,3′-dehydrosalannol in HUVECs. Our results suggest that EENL by regulating the genes involved in cellular development and cell death functions could control cell proliferation, attenuate the stimulatory effects of VEGF and exert antiangiogenic effects. EENL treatment could have a potential therapeutic role during cancer progression

Multi-Poly-Silicon-Layer-Based Spot-Size Converter for Efficient Coupling Between Silicon Waveguide and Standard Single-Mode Fiber

A novel spot-size converter (SSC) incorporating a phase-matched polycrystalline-silicon (Poly-Si) multilayer is proposed and optimized for efficient nanophotonic coupling, which can be fabricated by using the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible process and can be directly integrated. An efficient algorithm, combining the rigorous H-field-based full-vectorial finite-element method and the least square boundary residual method, is developed for the design optimization of the SSC. The use of simple single-layer and multilayer Poly-Si-based SSCs is investigated, in which the coupling process and phase matching for isolated and composite waveguides are also carried out. The coupling loss can be reduced to 2.72 dB by using an 11-Poly-Si-layer-based SSC. The on-chip integrated SSC opens up the feasibility of a low-cost passive-aligned fiber-pigtailed electronic-photonic integrated-circuit (PIC) platform

Elastic constants of nematic liquid crystals of uniaxial symmetry

We study in detail the influence of molecular interactions on the Frank elastic constants of uniaxial nematic liquid crystals composed of molecules of cylindrical symmetry. A brief summary of the status of theoretical development for the elastic constants of nematics is presented. Considering a pair potential having both repulsive and attractive parts numerical calculations are reported for three systems MBBA, PAA and 8OCB. For these systems the length-to-width ratio ${x_0}$ is estimated from the experimentally proposed structure of the molecules. The repulsive interaction is represented by a repulsion between hard ellipsoids of revolution (HER) and the attractive potential is represented by the quadrupole and dispersion interactions. From the numerical results we observe that in the density range of nematics the contribution of the quadrupole and dispersion interactions are small as compared to the repulsive HER interaction. The inclusion of attractive interaction reduces the values of elastic constants ratios. The temperature variation of elastic constants ratios are reported and compared with the experimental values. A reasonably good agreement between theory and experiment is observed

The importance of the minimum dosage necessary for UVC decontamination of N95 respirators during the COVID-19 pandemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently released a press report highlighting the severe shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) that is endangering healthcare workers worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic.(1) To meet this urgent need, healthcare institutions across the world have begun to utilize the germicidal properties of ultraviolet C (UVC) to decontaminate N95 respirators so that they can be reused.(2) It is clearly crucial that the dose of UVC delivered is sufficient to kill any viable SARS-CoV-2, the causative virus of the COVID-19 pandemic, that may be present on the respirators