Mapping SNOMED CT Codes to Semi-Structured Texts via an NLP Pipeline

In the project presented here, we used NLP tools for annotating German medical trainings documents with SNOMED CT codes. Following research question was addressed: Is it possible to automate the annotation of training documents with an NLP pipeline especially designed for this task but requiring translation into English? The goal of our stakeholder, an institution responsible for the continuing education of physicians, was to facilitate the switch between different medical trainings programs by coding the same requirement with the same SNOMED CT code, even if the wording is different. We first describe how we chose the concrete NLP tools, after which the concrete steps for implementing our prototype are outlined: the NLP pipeline construction, the implementation, and the validation. We infer three important lessons from our results: (i) self-supervision is no free lunch and should be based on a sophisticated task, (ii) the translation via DeepL can be too context-dependent for a peculiar use case, and (iii) ontology extraction can increase efficiency as well as accuracy

Wundballistische Untersuchungen über die Wirkung und Wirksamkeit von Geschossen nach Durchdringen einer PKW – Seitenscheibe aus Verbundglas unter verschiedenen Schusswinkeln

Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist der experimentelle Vergleich verschiedener Munitionsarten bezüglich ihrer wundballistischen Wirkung und Wirksamkeit nach Durchschuss von Verbundglasseitenscheiben eines Personenkraftfahrzeuges unter Schusswinkeln von 30, 45 und 90. Im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchungsreihe stand vor allem die Geschosswirkung unter den jeweiligen Schusswinkeln und in diesem Zusammenhang die Frage nach einer eventuellen Handlungsunfähigkeit einer nach Durchschuss der Glasscheibe getroffenen Person. Es wurden folgende 9 mm Luger Munitionen zur wundballistischen Untersuchung verwendet: die Deformationsmunitionen A1, A4, A5, ST, GS, GSb, P.E.P., SeCa, .45ACP HP,PTP/s und die Nicht – Deformationsmunitionen .45 ACP VM, MsVG, DM41, PTP und SX2

Wundballistische Untersuchungen über die Wirkung und Wirksamkeit von Geschossen nach Durchdringen einer PKW – Seitenscheibe aus Verbundglas unter verschiedenen Schusswinkeln

Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist der experimentelle Vergleich verschiedener Munitionsarten bezüglich ihrer wundballistischen Wirkung und Wirksamkeit nach Durchschuss von Verbundglasseitenscheiben eines Personenkraftfahrzeuges unter Schusswinkeln von 30, 45 und 90. Im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchungsreihe stand vor allem die Geschosswirkung unter den jeweiligen Schusswinkeln und in diesem Zusammenhang die Frage nach einer eventuellen Handlungsunfähigkeit einer nach Durchschuss der Glasscheibe getroffenen Person. Es wurden folgende 9 mm Luger Munitionen zur wundballistischen Untersuchung verwendet: die Deformationsmunitionen A1, A4, A5, ST, GS, GSb, P.E.P., SeCa, .45ACP HP,PTP/s und die Nicht – Deformationsmunitionen .45 ACP VM, MsVG, DM41, PTP und SX2

Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol for nighttime agitation in severe dementia

Rationale: Nighttime agitation occurs frequently in patients with dementia and represents the number one burden on caregivers today. Current treatment options are few and limited due to substantial side effects. Objectives: The aim of the study was to measure the effect of the cannabinoid dronabinol on nocturnal motor activity. Methods: In an open-label pilot study, six consecutive patients in the late stages of dementia and suffering from circadian and behavioral disturbances—five patients with Alzheimer's disease and one patient with vascular dementia—were treated with 2.5mg dronabinol daily for 2weeks. Motor activity was measured objectively using actigraphy. Results: Compared to baseline, dronabinol led to a reduction in nocturnal motor activity (P=0.028). These findings were corroborated by improvements in Neuropsychiatric Inventory total score (P=0.027) as well as in subscores for agitation, aberrant motor, and nighttime behaviors (P<0.05). No side effects were observed. Conclusions: The study suggests that dronabinol was able to reduce nocturnal motor activity and agitation in severely demented patients. Thus, it appears that dronabinol may be a safe new treatment option for behavioral and circadian disturbances in dementi

COMMUNICATION ANONYMIZERS: PERSONALITY, INTERNET PRIVACY LITERACY AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE

Despite the fact that many individuals are concerned about privacy issues on the Internet and know about the existence of communication anonymizers, very few individuals actually use them. This discrepancy can only partially be explained by evident factors such as a small degree of knowledge about Internet privacy issues, or the latency of the Internet connection caused by communication anonymizers. In this study, we determine factors that influence the acceptance of communication anonymizers: the role of personality traits of individuals, the actual knowledge about privacy issues on the Internet and how much individuals really know about them, as well as the time an individual is willing to wait when using a communication anonymizer. Our study shows that the personality traits ?Agreeableness,? ?Extroversion? and ?Conscientiousness? do not influence an individual?s acceptance of communication anonymizers. Further, we can show that individuals with a strong personality trait of neuroticism are more likely to have strong privacy concerns and that individuals that can be characterized as ?open? are more likely to use communication anonymizers. With regard to the knowledge about privacy issues on the Internet, we find that individuals generally possess a low knowledge. Surprisingly, we find a negative correlation between an individual?s ?stated? and his/her ?actual? knowledge of privacy issues. Last, we find that individuals are willing to wait slightly longer (3.5 seconds) when using communication anonymizers

ARE YOU WILLING TO WAIT LONGER FOR INTERNET PRIVACY?

It becomes increasingly common for governments, service providers and specialized data aggregators to systematically collect traces of personal communication on the Internet without the user’s knowledge or approval. An analysis of these personal traces by data mining algorithms can reveal sensitive personal information, such as location data, behavioral patterns, or personal profiles including preferences and dislikes. Recent studies show that this information can be used for various purposes, for example by insurance companies or banks to identify potentially risky customers, by governments to observe their citizens, and also by repressive regimes to monitor political opponents. Online anonymity software, such as Tor, can help users to protect their privacy, but often comes at the prize of low usability, e.g., by causing increased latency during surfing. In this exploratory study, we determine factors that influence the usage of Internet anonymity software. In particular, we show that Internet literacy, Internet privacy awareness and Internet privacy concerns are important antecedents for determining an Internet user’s intention to use anonymity software, and that Internet patience has a positive moderating effect on the intention to use anonymity software, as well as on its perceived usefulness

Crowdsourcing for Creating a Dataset for Training a Medication Chatbot

To facilitate interaction with mobile health applications, chatbots are increasingly used. They realize the interaction as a dialog where users can ask questions and get answers from the chatbot. A big challenge is to create a comprehensive knowledge base comprising patterns and rules for representing possible user queries the chatbot has to understand and interpret. In this work, we assess how crowdsourcing can be used for generating examples of possible user queries for a medication chatbot. Within one week, the crowdworker generated 2'738 user questions. The examples provide a large variety of possible formulations and information needs. As a next step, these examples for user queries will be used to train our medication chatbot

Distributed Performance Measurement and Usability Assessment of the Tor Anonymization Network

While the Internet increasingly permeates everyday life of individuals around the world, it becomes crucial to prevent unauthorized collection and abuse of personalized information. Internet anonymization software such as Tor is an important instrument to protect online privacy. However, due to the performance overhead caused by Tor, many Internet users refrain from using it. This causes a negative impact on the overall privacy provided by Tor, since it depends on the size of the user community and availability of shared resources. Detailed measurements about the performance of Tor are crucial for solving this issue. This paper presents comparative experiments on Tor latency and throughput for surfing to 500 popular websites from several locations around the world during the period of 28 days. Furthermore, we compare these measurements to critical latency thresholds gathered from web usability research, including our own user studies. Our results indicate that without massive future optimizations of Tor performance, it is unlikely that a larger part of Internet users would adopt it for everyday usage. This leads to fewer resources available to the Tor community than theoretically possible, and increases the exposure of privacy-concerned individuals. Furthermore, this could lead to an adoption barrier of similar privacy-enhancing technologies for a Future Internet. View Full-Tex

Reliable and effective novel home-based training set-up for application of an evidence-based high-loading stimulus to improve triceps surae function

High-loading interventions aiming for muscle-tendon adaptations were so far implemented in on-site facilities. To make this evidence-based stimulus more accessible, we developed an easy-to-use sling-based training set-up for home-based Achilles tendon and triceps surae muscle strength training and assessed its reliability and effectiveness in healthy men. To assess reliability (n=11), intra-class correlation (ICC) and root mean square (RMS) differences of isometric maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) of the plantar flexors were used. Effectiveness was tested in a controlled intervention trial (n=12), applying one-legged high-loading intervention for 3 months with our mobile set-up, while the contralateral/untrained leg served as control, and assessing plantar flexor MVC, drop (DJ) and countermovement jump (CMJ) height. Reliability was excellent between (ICCB=0.935) and within session (ICCWs=0.940–0.967). The mean RMS difference between and within sessions was 5.3% and 4.7%, respectively. MVCs of the trained/intervention leg increased by 10.2±7% (P=0.004) (dynamometry) and 30.2±22.5% (mobile set-up) (P=0.012). MVC of the untrained/control leg did not change (P>0.05). DJ height increased (P=0.025; Dz=2.13) by 2.37±2.9cm. CMJ height (P>0.05) did not change. We recommend the evidence-based high-loading application with our novel home-based training set-up as reliable and effective improving strength and jump performance of the plantar flexor muscle-tendon unit.Peer Reviewe