Quality framework for semantic interoperability in health informatics: definition and implementation

Aligned with the increased adoption of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems, it is recognized that semantic interoperability provides benefits for promoting patient safety and continuity of care. This thesis proposes a framework of quality metrics and recommendations for developing semantic interoperability resources specially focused on clinical information models, which are defined as formal specifications of structure and semantics for representing EHR information for a specific domain or use case. This research started with an exploratory stage that performed a systematic literature review with an international survey about the clinical information modelling best practice and barriers. The results obtained were used to define a set of quality models that were validated through Delphi study methodologies and end user survey, and also compared with related quality standards in those areas that standardization bodies had a related work programme. According to the obtained research results, the defined framework is based in the following models: Development process quality model: evaluates the alignment with the best practice in clinical information modelling and defines metrics for evaluating the tools applied as part of this process. Product quality model: evaluates the semantic interoperability capabilities of clinical information models based on the defined meta-data, data elements and terminology bindings. Quality in use model: evaluates the suitability of adopting semantic interoperability resources by end users in their local projects and organisations. Finally, the quality in use model was implemented within the European Interoperability Asset register developed by the EXPAND project with the aim of applying this quality model in a broader scope to contain any relevant material for guiding the definition, development and implementation of interoperable eHealth systems in our continent. Several European projects already expressed interest in using the register, which will now be sustained by the European Institute for Innovation through Health Data

Far from the madding crowd: The molecular basis for immunological escape of plasmodium falciparum

Like Thomas Hardy’s famous novel Far from the Madding Crowd, Plasmodium falciparum parasites display their most relevant survival structures (proteins) involved in host cell invasion far away from the immune system’s susceptible regions, displaying tremendous genetic variability, to attract the immune response and escape immune pressure. The 3D structure localisation of the conserved amino acid sequences of this deadly parasite’s most relevant proteins involved in host cell invasion, as well as the location of the highly polymorphic, highly immunogenic regions, clearly demonstrates that such structures are far apart, sometimes 90° to 180° opposite, thereby rendering the immune response useless. It is also shown here that these conserved, functionally-relevant structures are immunologically silent, since no immune response has been induced. © 2017, Caister Academic Press. All rights reserved

Motivational analysis comparing three contexts of physical activity

El estudio analizó las diferencias motivacionales entre estudiantes de educación física, deportistas y practicantes de ejercicio físico no competitivo. Además, examinó el poder de predicción del clima motivacional percibido y de los tipos de motivación sobre la propensión a la experiencia autotélica en los tres contextos. Se utilizaron tres muestras diferentes: 895 estudiantes de educación física, 413 deportistas y 727 practicantes de ejercicio físico no competitivo. El análisis de regresión mostró que el clima tarea y la motivación intrínseca predijeron positivamente y de forma significativa la experiencia autotélica en los tres contextos, de ahí la importancia de fomentar este tipo de clima motivacional. No obstante, los resultados han mostrado diferencias motivacionales entre los contextos de educación física, deporte competitivo y ejercicio físico no competitivo. Los resultados son discutidos en relación al diferente carácter competitivo/lúdico y voluntariedad/obligatoriedad que rodea a la práctica física en cada uno de los contextos comparados en este estudioThe study analyzed the motivational differences between physical education students, athletes and non-competitive exercisers. Furthermore, the predictive power of perceived motivational climate and types of motivation on the autotelic experience propensity in the three contexts was examined. Three different samples were used: 895 physical education students, 413 athletes and 727 non-competitive exercisers. Regression analysis showed that task-involving climate and intrinsic motivation positively and significantly predicted the autotelic experience in the three contexts, hence the importance of promoting this type of motivational climate. However, the results revealed that there were motivational differences between the contexts of physical education, competitive sports and non-competitive exercise. The results are discussed in relation to the different features (e.g. competitive, recreational, voluntary or obligatory) surrounding the physical activity in each of the contexts compared in this studyLa realización de este trabajo fue posible gracias al proyecto de investigación "Evaluación y análisis comparativo de factores motivacionales relacionados con la adherencia a la práctica en diferentes contextos físico-deportivos: Educación física, deporte de competición y actividad física no competitiva" (Ref. DEP2007-73201-C03/ACTI), financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de Españ

Influence of the starting temperature of calorimetric measurements on the accuracy of determined magnetocaloric effect

Availability of a restricted heat capacity data range has a clear influence on the accuracy of calculated magnetocaloric effect, as confirmed by both numerical simulations and experimental measurements. Simulations using the Bean-Rodbell model show that, in general, the approximated magnetocaloric effect curves calculated using a linear extrapolation of the data starting from a selected temperature point down to zero kelvin deviate in a non-monotonic way from those correctly calculated by fully integrating the data from near zero temperatures. However, we discovered that a particular temperature range exists where the approximated magnetocaloric calculation provides the same result as the fully integrated one. These specific truncated intervals exist for both first and second order phase transitions and are the same for the adiabatic temperature change and magnetic entropy change curves. The effect of this truncated integration in real samples was confirmed using heat capacity data of Gd metal and Gd5Si2Ge2 compound measured from near zero temperatures

Tailoring AA6063 for improving antibacterial properties

Aluminium alloy 6063 was subjected to two different surface treatments: anodizing in sulphuric acid (SA) and the deposition of cerium conversion coatings (CeCC), in order to evaluate the antibacterial properties of the new surfaces. The microstructure and composition of the anodized samples and the cerium conversion coatings were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM/EDS) and X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy (XPS). Roughness and wettability were measured for all new surfaces. Bacterial adherence studies were carried out using Pseudomonas aeruginosa, with promising results for the anodized sample

HEMIC Project: Design of a Clinical Information Modelling Tool Based on ISO13972 Technical Specification

The Andalusian Health Service is the public healthcare provider for 8.302.923 inhabitants in the South Spain. This organization coordinates primary and specialized care with an IT infrastructure composed by multiple Electronic Health Record Systems. According to the large volume of healthcare professionals involved, there is a need for providing a consistent management of information through multiple locations and systems. The HEMIC project aims to address this need developing and validating a methodology based on a software tool for standardizing information contained within EHR systems. The developed tool has been designed for supporting the participation of healthcare professionals the establishment of mechanisms for information governance. This research presents the requirements and designs for of a software tool focused on the adoption of recognized best practice in clinical information modeling. The designed tool has a Service Oriented Architecture that will be able to integrate terminology servers and repositories of clinical information models as part of the modeling process. Moreover, the defined tool organizes clinicians, IT developers and terminology experts involved in the modeling process in three levels to promote their coordination in the definition, specialization and validation of clinical information models. In order to ensure the quality of the developed clinical information models, the defined tool is based on the requirements defined in the ISO13972 Technical Specification

Desiderata for digital consent in genomic research

Herein, we describe the characterization of a Digital Consent (DC) System to support current ethical-legal issues associated with challenges posed by informed consent for genomic research. A potential solution to support ongoing interaction with patients and allow control over how their data and samples are being used in genomic research can be Digital Consent based. But there are other challenges that need to be addressed, such as incidental findings when analyzing the results of genomic tests (not expected). This paper addresses security and privacy recommendations for the development of precision medicine, and the interoperability references of Health Information Standardization Organizations such as HL7 and IHE, as well as recent research in the field of ethics in Genomic Medicine. As a result of this work, ten key features that need to be further explored have been identified in order to support the realization of DC in Genomic Research

Nanostructuring as a Procedure to Control the Field Dependence of the Magnetocaloric Effect

In this work, the field dependence of the magnetocaloric effect of Gd bulk samples has been enhanced through nanostructuring of the material. Nanostructuring consists in multilayers preparation by alternative rf-sputtering deposition of Gd layers and Ti spacers onto glass substrates. The results obtained for the multilayers were compared to those obtained for the Gd bulk. Assuming a power law for the field dependence of the magnetic entropy change (ΔSM ∝ Hn), higher field dependences close to the transition in a wider temperature range are obtained for the multilayer material (n = 1.0) with respect to the bulk counterpart (n = 0.78). The effect of a Curie temperature distribution in the multilayer material (due to variations of the layer thickness) has been studied through numerical simulations to explain the observed field dependence of the magnetocaloric effect, obtaining a remarkable agreement between experiments and results. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd.This work was supported by the Spanish MINECO and EU- FEDER (projects MAT2013-45165-P and MAT2016-77265-R ), the PAI of the Regional Government of Andalucía, and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Project No. 2582 ). L.M. Moreno-Ramírez acknowledges a FPU fellowship from the Spanish MECD. Selected measurements were performed at SGIker service of UPV-EHU. We thank A. Larrañaga for excellent technical support

Analyzing the Role of Fe0 and Fe3+ in the Formation of Expanded Clay Aggregates

The effect of the addition of Fe0 and Fe3+ on the formation of expanded clay aggregates was studied using iron-free kaolin as an aluminosilicates source. Likewise, the incorporation of cork powder as a source of organic carbon and Na2CO3 as a flux in the mixtures was investigated in order to assess its effect in combination with the iron phases. An experimental protocol, statistically supported by a mixture experiments/design of experiments approach, was applied to model and optimize the bloating index, density, absorption capacity, and mechanical strength. The process of expansion and pore generation and the associated decrease in density required the addition of iron, such that the optimum mixtures of these properties presented between 25 and 40 wt.% of Fe0 or Fe3+, as well as the incorporation of 3.5–5 wt.% of organic carbon. The addition of Fe3+ produced a greater volumetric expansion (max. 53%) than Fe0 (max. 8%), suggesting that the formation of the FeO leading to this phenomenon would require reducing and oxidizing conditions in the former and the latter, respectively. The experimental and model-estimated results are in good agreement, especially in the aggregates containing Fe0. This reinforces the application of statistical methods for future investigations.Many thanks for Mark Tyrer (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3327-895X, accessed on 20 June 2023) that help us to improve the english for our research work. This research was conducted as a part of the ECO-MET-AL Project, PID2019-109520RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, “Can industrial and mining metalliferous wastes produce green lightweight aggregates? Applying the Circular Economy” funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and ERDF funds, framed in the “Ayudas a “Proyectos I+D+i” en el marco de los Programas Estatales de Generación de Conocimiento y Fortalecimiento Científico y Tecnológico del Sistema de I+D+i y de I+D+i orientada a los Retos de la Sociedad, Convocatoria 2019”. We also wish to thank the SCAI of the University of Jaén, the University of Castilla-La Mancha and the University of Málaga for their services

Mutations in the ND2 subunit of mitochondrial complex I are sufficient to confer increased tumorigenic and metastatic potential to cancer cells

Multiprotein complexes of the mitochondrial electron transport chain form associations to generate supercomplexes. The relationship between tumor cell ability to assemble mitochondrial supercomplexes, tumorigenesis and metastasis has not been studied thoroughly. The mitochondrial and metabolic differences between L929dt cells, which lost matrix attachment and MHC-I expression, and their parental cell line L929, were analyzed. L929dt cells have lower capacity to generate energy through OXPHOS and lower respiratory capacity than parental L929 cells. Most importantly, L929dt cells show defects in mitochondrial supercomplex assembly, especially in those that contain complex I. These defects correlate with mtDNA mutations in L929dt cells at the ND2 subunit of complex I and are accompanied by a glycolytic shift. In addition, L929dt cells show higher in vivo tumorigenic and metastatic potential than the parental cell line. Cybrids with L929dt mitochondria in L929 nuclear background reproduce all L929dt properties, demonstrating that mitochondrial mutations are responsible for the aggressive tumor phenotype. In spite of their higher tumorigenic potential, L929dt or mitochondrial L929dt cybrid cells are sensitive both in vitro and in vivo to the PDK1 inhibitor dichloroacetate, which favors OXPHOS, suggesting benefits for the use of metabolic inhibitors in the treatment of especially aggressive tumors