Biomedical subjects

Michael E Bales

Publications and source records attributed to Michael E Bales.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Human and automated coding of rehabilitation discharge summaries according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health.

OBJECTIVE: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) is designed to provide a common language and framework for describing health and health-related states. The goal of this research was to investigate human and automated coding of functional status information using the ICF framework. DESIGN: The authors extended an existing natural language processing (NLP) system to encode rehabilitation discharge summaries according to the ICF. MEASUREMENTS: The authors conducted a formal evaluation, comparing the coding performed by expert coders, non-expert coders, and the NLP system. RESULTS: Automated coding can be used to assign codes using the ICF, with results similar to those obtained by human coders, at least for the selection of ICF code and assignment of the performance qualifier. Coders achieved high agreement on ICF code assignment. CONCLUSION: This research is a key next step in the development of the ICF as a sensitive and universal classification of functional status information. It is worthwhile to continue to investigate automated ICF coding.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2005

Graph theoretic modeling of large-scale semantic networks.

During the past several years, social network analysis methods have been used to model many complex real-world phenomena, including social networks, transportation networks, and the Internet. Graph theoretic methods, based on an elegant representation of entities and relationships, have been used in computational biology to study biological networks; however they have not yet been adopted widely by the greater informatics community. The graphs produced are generally large, sparse, and complex, and share common global topological properties. In this review of research (1998-2005) on large-scale semantic networks, we used a tailored search strategy to identify articles involving both a graph theoretic perspective and semantic information. Thirty-one relevant articles were retrieved. The majority (28, 90.3%) involved an investigation of a real-world network. These included corpora, thesauri, dictionaries, large computer programs, biological neuronal networks, word association networks, and files on the Internet. Twenty-two of the 28 (78.6%) involved a graph comprised of words or phrases. Fifteen of the 28 (53.6%) mentioned evidence of small-world characteristics in the network investigated. Eleven (39.3%) reported a scale-free topology, which tends to have a similar appearance when examined at varying scales. The results of this review indicate that networks generated from natural language have topological properties common to other natural phenomena. It has not yet been determined whether artificial human-curated terminology systems in biomedicine share these properties. Large network analysis methods have potential application in a variety of areas of informatics, such as in development of controlled vocabularies and for characterizing a given domain.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2005

Qualitative assessment of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health with respect to the desiderata for controlled medical vocabularies.

BACKGROUND: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF), a classification system published in 2001 by the World Health Organization (WHO), provides a common language and framework for describing functional status information (FSI) in health records. METHODS: Informed by ongoing research in coding FSI in patient records, this paper qualitatively assesses the ICF framework with respect to the desiderata for controlled medical vocabularies, an enumerated a list of desirable qualities for controlled medical vocabularies proposed by Cimino [J.J. Cimino, Desiderata for controlled medical vocabularies in the twenty-first century, Meth. Inform. Med. 37 (1998) 394-403]. RESULTS: The ICF satisfies 5 of the 12 desiderata. Five points were not satisfied and two points could not be evaluated. CONCLUSION: The ICF is a rich source of relevant terms, concepts, and relationships, but it was not developed in consideration of requirements for formal terminologies. Therefore, it could serve as a base from which to develop a formal terminology of functioning and disability. This assessment is a key next step in the development of the ICF as a sensitive, universal measure of functional status.

Decision Support Techniques↗

PubMed2003

Planning against biological terrorism: lessons from outbreak investigations.

We examined outbreak investigations conducted around the world from 1988 to 1999 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Epidemic Intelligence Service. In 44 (4.0%) of 1,099 investigations, identified causative agents had bioterrorism potential. In six investigations, intentional use of infectious agents was considered. Healthcare providers reported 270 (24.6%) outbreaks and infection control practitioners reported 129 (11.7%); together they reported 399 (36.3%) of the outbreaks. Health departments reported 335 (30.5%) outbreaks. For six outbreaks in which bioterrorism or intentional contamination was possible, reporting was delayed for up to 26 days. We confirmed that the most critical component for bioterrorism outbreak detection and reporting is the frontline healthcare profession and the local health departments. Bioterrorism preparedness should emphasize education and support of this frontline as well as methods to shorten the time between outbreak and reporting.

Bioterrorism↗

PubMed2002

Epidemiologic response to anthrax outbreaks: field investigations, 1950-2001.

We used unpublished reports, published manuscripts, and communication with investigators to identify and summarize 49 anthrax-related epidemiologic field investigations conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1950 to August 2001. Of 41 investigations in which Bacillus anthracis caused human or animal disease, 24 were in agricultural settings, 11 in textile mills, and 6 in other settings. Among the other investigations, two focused on building decontamination, one was a response to bioterrorism threats, and five involved other causes. Knowledge gained in these investigations helped guide the public health response to the October 2001 intentional release of B. anthracis, especially by addressing the management of anthrax threats, prevention of occupational anthrax, use of antibiotic prophylaxis in exposed persons, use of vaccination, spread of B. anthracis spores in aerosols, clinical diagnostic and laboratory confirmation methods, techniques for environmental sampling of exposed surfaces, and methods for decontaminating buildings.

Animals↗