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Biomedical subjects

Celia Boyer

Publications and source records attributed to Celia Boyer.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Using argumentation to extract key sentences from biomedical abstracts.

PROBLEM: key word assignment has been largely used in MEDLINE to provide an indicative "gist" of the content of articles and to help retrieving biomedical articles. Abstracts are also used for this purpose. However with usually more than 300 words, MEDLINE abstracts can still be regarded as long documents; therefore we design a system to select a unique key sentence. This key sentence must be indicative of the article's content and we assume that abstract's conclusions are good candidates. We design and assess the performance of an automatic key sentence selector, which classifies sentences into four argumentative moves: PURPOSE, METHODS, RESULTS and CONCLUSION METHODS: we rely on Bayesian classifiers trained on automatically acquired data. Features representation, selection and weighting are reported and classification effectiveness is evaluated on the four classes using confusion matrices. We also explore the use of simple heuristics to take the position of sentences into account. Recall, precision and F-scores are computed for the CONCLUSION class. For the CONCLUSION class, the F-score reaches 84%. Automatic argumentative classification using Bayesian learners is feasible on MEDLINE abstracts and should help user navigation in such repositories.

Abstracting and Indexing↗
PubMed2005

Health search engine with e-document analysis for reliable search results.

OBJECTIVE: After a review of the existing practical solution available to the citizen to retrieve eHealth document, the paper describes an original specialized search engine WRAPIN. METHOD: WRAPIN uses advanced cross lingual information retrieval technologies to check information quality by synthesizing medical concepts, conclusions and references contained in the health literature, to identify accurate, relevant sources. Thanks to MeSH terminology [1] (Medical Subject Headings from the U.S. National Library of Medicine) and advanced approaches such as conclusion extraction from structured document, reformulation of the query, WRAPIN offers to the user a privileged access to navigate through multilingual documents without language or medical prerequisites. RESULTS: The results of an evaluation conducted on the WRAPIN prototype show that results of the WRAPIN search engine are perceived as informative 65% (59% for a general-purpose search engine), reliable and trustworthy 72% (41% for the other engine) by users. But it leaves room for improvement such as the increase of database coverage, the explanation of the original functionalities and an audience adaptability. CONCLUSION: Thanks to evaluation outcomes, WRAPIN is now in exploitation on the HON web site (http://www.healthonnet.org), free of charge. Intended to the citizen it is a good alternative to general-purpose search engines when the user looks up trustworthy health and medical information or wants to check automatically a doubtful content of a Web page.

Europe↗
PubMed2005

A decade devoted to improving online health information quality.

Created in 1995 in response to consumer enthusiasm for the World Wide Web, Health On the Net FoundationHealth On the Net Foundation: http://www.healthonnet.org/ has developed solutions to address the problem of potentially dangerous online health and medical information. Then as now, no international legal framework regulated online content, and consumers needed to be given the means to check the reliability and the relevance of health information [[1]]. HON was first to introduce a code of conduct for online health and medical publishers, the HONcode [[2],[3],[4]], which was readily adopted by webmasters aware of the need for credibility in the new, competitive online space. HON went on to develop Web applications to enhance access to reliable information, making use of innovative NLP-based and semantic search technologies.This paper describes the implementation of a quality standard for online information (HONcode) based on the information production process; its evolution through nearly 10 years of effectiveness, its challenges and results. Today, over 4,700 HON-accredited websites, respecting minimum standards for disclosure and responsibility in online medical publishing, constitute the largest voluntary accreditation network on the Web.

Consumer Health Information↗
PubMed2004

Realizing the potential of the internet for health and medical information.

The latest advances in information technologies have allowed for the development of applications that have had tremendous repercussions in the healthcare field. Along with access, means must be provided to ensure that information is trustworthy and relevant. This article examines some of the problems arising from unprecedented access to vast quantities of health information made possible by the Internet. The role of search engines is explored and some of their associated problems are mentioned. We then presents the most mature of these initiatives to protect the Internet citizen, the HONcode, developed by the Health On the Net Foundation. Finally, we conclude on the concrete result of the Health On the Net Foundation initiatives since 1997.

Health Education↗
PubMed2003

Opinions and e-health behaviours of patients and health professionals in the U.S.A. and Europe.

BACKGROUND: There exists a gap in the use of Internet for health purposes between patients and health professionals and between various countries. The Internet has the potential to be a global tool for health professionals and their patients but, as seen in other fields, cultural differences may lead to divergent opinions and preferences. OBJECTIVE: To identify the opinions, preferences and types of behaviours regarding the use of Internet for health purposes, for health professionals and patients in selected regions of the United States and Europe. METHODS: An announcement of an online survey was posted on more than 100 web sites during May and June of 2002. Members of HONnewsletter were also invited via email. The online questionnaire consisted of 28 questions with sections designed specifically for patients or health professionals. Sub-samples of respondents were created based on their geographic location. RESULTS: 2621 respondents mainly from the United States (38%, n = 984) and Europe (29%, n = 739) completed the survey. For the USA, the majority of respondents were patients (68.7%), while in Europe, the majority were health care professionals (63.6%). In both regions, health professionals preferred using medical search tools but patients preferred general search tools. Concerns about the accuracy of information and trustworthiness were shared by all groups. The majority of respondents reported that they preferred certified web sites. The patients from USA (69%) and Europe (47%) have discussed the results of their Internet searches with their doctors, while health professionals are receptive to the discussion and find it helpful. Other e-health behaviours are also reported by both parties. CONCLUSION: Based on the self- reported e-health behaviours noted in this study it appears that the use of the Internet for health purposes is growing in importance to the patient-physician relationship in Europe and the USA.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗