SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Tools”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

PubMed1997

Automated planning target volume generation: an evaluation pitting a computer-based tool against human experts.

PURPOSE: Software tools are seeing increased use in three-dimensional treatment planning. However, the development of these tools frequently omits careful evaluation before placing them in clinical use. This study demonstrates the application of a rigorous evaluation methodology using blinded peer review to an automated software tool that produces ICRU-50 planning target volumes (PTVs). METHODS AND MATERIALS: Seven physicians from three different institutions involved in three-dimensional treatment planning participated in the evaluation. Four physicians drew partial PTVs on nine test cases, consisting of four nasopharynx and five lung primaries. Using the same information provided to the human experts, the computer tool generated PTVs for comparison. The remaining three physicians, designated evaluators, individually reviewed the PTVs for acceptability. To exclude bias, the evaluators were blinded to the source (human or computer) of the PTVs they reviewed. Their scorings of the PTVs were statistically examined to determine if the computer tool performed as well as the human experts. RESULTS: The computer tool was as successful as the human experts in generating PTVs. Failures were primarily attributable to insufficient margins around the clinical target volume and to encroachment upon critical structures. In a qualitative analysis, the human and computer experts displayed similar types and distributions of errors. CONCLUSIONS: Rigorous evaluation of computer-based radiotherapy tools requires comparison to current practice and can reveal areas for improvement before the tool enters clinical practice.

Expert Systems↗

PubMed2001

Validation of a nutrition screening tool: testing the reliability and validity.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to validate a nutrition screening tool for use in South Manchester University Hospitals Trust. METHOD: A sample of 100 patients was selected from medical, surgical and elderly care wards. To test the reliability of the screening tool, nurses and dietitians completed the screening tool on the same patient. These results were compared for interobserver error to determine whether the screening tool was reproducible with different observers. To ascertain if the screening tool identified malnutrition at ward level, four markers commonly used to assess nutritional status were collected. These included body mass index (BMI), mid upper arm circumference MUAC, percentage weight loss, and energy intake calculated from the patient's first full day in hospital and expressed as a percentage of their estimated average requirements (EAR). RESULTS: There was a 95% level of agreement between nurses and dietitians within +/-3. The screening tool had a sensitivity level of 78% and a specificity of 52% when compared to all patients who had one or more markers indicating malnutrition. This association was found to be statistically significant (P < 0.005). CONCLUSION: The screening tool is reliable when completed by different observers and is valid for wide scale nutritional assessment. The screening tool identifies an acceptable number of patients who are malnourished but overestimates patients at moderate risk.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Comparison of nutritional risk screening tools in patients on admission to hospital.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Under nutrition has been frequently reported in patients on admission to hospital. Because this is not always detected promptly, screening for nutritional risk on admission has been widely advocated. Although there is no universally accepted 'gold standard' for defining undernutrition, the definition used by McWhirter, J.P. & Pennington, C.R. [(1994) Br. Med. J.308, 945] has been widely used by clinical nutrition specialists. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of two frequently used nutritional risk screening tools in detecting undernutrition according to this definition. METHODS: Both the Nutrition Risk Index [Veterans Affairs Total Parenteral Nutrition Co-operative Study Group (1991) N. Engl. J. Med.325, 525] and the Nutrition Risk Score [Reilly H.M. et al. (1995) Clin. Nutr.14, 269] were used to screen for undernutrition in 359 admissions to two acute teaching hospitals in Dublin. Undernutrition was defined as a Body Mass Index below 20 kg m(-2) and a triceps skinfold thickness or mid-arm muscle circumference below the 15th percentile. Comparison of stratification of nutritional risk by the two screening tools was carried out. RESULTS: Both screening tools identified over 40% (Nutrition Risk Index, 44%; Nutrition Risk Score, 46%) of all patients assessed as at nutritional risk on admission. However, one-third of the undernourished patients were classified as at no nutrition risk by the Nutrition Risk Index, while almost one-fifth of those undernourished were classified as at low risk by the Nutrition Risk Score. The degree of nutritional risk differed with the screening tool used, the Nutrition Risk Score classifying 29% of all patients as high risk while the Nutrition Risk Index classified only 5% as in the high risk category. CONCLUSIONS: Although a large proportion of patients on admission were classified as being at nutritional risk, the degree of risk was significantly different depending on the screening tool used. Both nutritional risk screening tools evaluated in this study failed to recognize many cases of undernutrition. Evaluation of the efficacy of nutritional screening tools should be promoted as seriously as the development of such tools.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Vibration exposure for selected power hand tools used in automobile assembly.

A practical method for assessing vibration exposure for workers operating vibrating hand tools on an automobile assembly line is presented. Vibration exposure is difficult to assess directly using many fast Fourier transform (FFT) spectral analyzers because of long task cycle times. Exposure time cannot be accurately estimated using time standards because of the high variability between operators and work methods. Furthermore, because workers frequently move about and get into inaccessible spaces, it is difficult to record vibration without interfering with the operation. A work sampling method was used for determining vibration exposure time by attaching accelerometers to the tools and suspending a battery-operated digital data logger from the air hose. Vibration acceleration and frequency spectra for each tool were obtained off-line replicating actual working conditions and analyzed together with exposure time data for determining individual worker vibration exposure. Eight pneumatic vibrating power hand tools, representing tools commonly used in an automobile assembly plant, were studied. Spectra for the rotary and reciprocating power tools and had large distinct dominant fundamental frequencies occurring in a narrow frequency range between 35 Hz and 150 Hz. These frequencies corresponded closely to tool free-running speeds, suggesting that major spectral component frequencies may be predicted on the basis of speed for some tools.

Automobiles↗

PubMed2006

Development of an easy-to-handle range measurement tool using a plastic scintillator for proton beam therapy.

Proton beam therapy can concentrate the dose on a tumour. In order to offer high-precision proton beam therapy to the patient, it is important to confirm the range every day. At the National Cancer Center Hospital East (NCC), the range measurement tool consists of a water phantom and an ionization chamber. These large and heavy tools take a long time to set up. Therefore, we developed a simple and easy-to-handle range measurement tool for proton beam therapy. This tool consists of a plastic scintillator block and a CCD camera. We recorded visible scintillation light generated by proton irradiation on the scintillator, and could measure the range from the shape of light distribution by using a computer with automatic analysis software installed. We carried out proton irradiation experiments with this tool to examine its performance as a tool of daily range measurements. The precision of the range measurement is within 0.3 mm (sd). The tool can measure possible short-term range variation with 1 s sampling time during the time interval of a typical treatment in a few minutes. We conclude that this tool can measure the range with sufficient resolution in a short time, and is useful for range control in a clinical setting.

Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation↗

PubMed2026

PYRAMA: an open-source tool for advanced meta-analysis of genome wide association studies.

MOTIVATION: Genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis tools are essential for integrating summary statistics across multiple cohorts, thereby increasing statistical power and validating genetic associations. Widely cited tools, such as METAL, PLINK, and GWAMA, have facilitated numerous significant discoveries in the field of GWAS. Nevertheless, these tools offer a limited set of meta-analysis methods and typically require users to have prior experience with command-line tools to be executed. RESULTS: We present here PYRAMA, an open-source tool which is designed for meta-analysis of genome wide association studies. This work introduces an easy-to-use software package that includes several meta-analysis methods that are absent in similar software packages. PYRAMA is faster compared to other tools, supports robust methods for analysis and meta-analysis, fixed-effects, random-effects and Bayesian meta-analysis and it is currently the only tool that supports meta-analysis with imputation of summary statistics. It is available both as a standalone tool and as a freely available web server. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: https://github.com/pbagos/PYRAMA, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17830449.

Genome-Wide Association Study↗

PubMed2026

Assessing the influence of different alignment tools on the accuracy of a forensic epigenetic clock.

MOTIVATION: DNA methylation (DNAm) has long been a commonly investigated biomarker in biomedical research. The current gold standard for DNAm detection is bisulfite sequencing which requires dedicated alignment tools that can handle reduced sequence complexity. One commonly used application of DNAm are epigenetic clock measurements. These clocks have been adapted by many fields for their specific needs, including forensic genetics. Here, epigenetic clocks were designed to help estimate the chronological age of a biological stain donor for investigative purposes. RESULTS: In this study, data generated with a well-established forensic epigenetic clock is aligned with four different bisulfite-specific alignment tools: "Bwa-meth," "Abismal," "Bismark," and "BS-Seeker2." For each tool, we tested up to six different settings, altering parameters such as the maximum number of mismatches or the score function setting. The goal was to investigate whether the final predicted ages differed considerably between the tested alignment tools and settings. Quality controls such as read depth, precision, recall, F1 score, and alignment run time were also assessed. To allow other researchers to easily perform such methylation comparison analyses on their own data, a Shiny app called "MethylAge Explorer" was developed within this study. None of the tested settings for the three alignment tools "Abismal," "Bismark," and "BS-Seeker2" outperformed the originally used alignment tool "Bwa-meth" in terms of age prediction accuracy. However, differences in final age predictions were observed between the different alignment tools. Therefore, it is necessary to be aware of which alignment tool to use for particular epigenetic clocks. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The data underlying this article and the code for the shiny app are available on GitHub (https://github.com/charlsut/methylage_explorer).

DNA Methylation↗

PubMed2005

Implementation of a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) tool in a regional health organization in Sweden--a feasibility study.

During the last decade, Health Impact Assessment (HIA) has been discussed worldwide as being an important tool for the development of healthy public policy. In Sweden, the Swedish Federation of County Councils and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities have taken the initiative to and are responsible for the development of an HIA tool concerning proposed policy decisions at local and regional levels. The HIA tool was developed as three different templates to be adapted to local conditions and needs: the Health Question, the Health Matrix and the Health Impact Analysis. In this paper we present a feasibility study of the experiences of implementing this HIA tool at regional level in a Health Care District (SWHCD) of Stockholm County Council, based on an inductive approach and on principles of data triangulation. The main findings include the need for continuous revision of the HIA templates during the pilot period. The following factors were instrumental in successfully using the HIA tool in local policy making and management: political consensus, agreement between politicians and public officials on political intentions, a clear- cut decision from management, and offering an opportunity for training. Respondents felt that all public officials should use the HIA as part of their normal work routines. In conclusion, the HIA tool has to be locally adapted and the implementation process has to include close collaboration between politicians and public officials and be followed by continuing education, providing possibilities for a dialogue around the HIA tool, in order to ensure the quality of the instrument. Implications of the study are that the process of developing the tool has worked well but that the possible impacts of its use in this case remain an open question. However, this was not the focus of our study.

Feasibility Studies↗

PubMed2001

Enhancing learning through use of interactive tools on health-related websites.

The Internet offers a unique means of health promotion through the use of interactive tools like chat rooms, E-mail, hyperlinks and the like. This paper reports a study examining links between learning and interactivity of health-related websites. We address three research questions. First, are tools of interactivity present in health-related websites? Second, how prevalent is the occurrence of these interactive tools for three relevant top level domains (TLD) (e.g. .com, .gov and .org)? Finally, are there differences in how representative websites of diverse TLDs employ these interactive tools along nine dimensions of interactivity? A content analysis of 30 websites revealed that while the majority of sites in our sample do use interactive tools, overall the occurrence is quite low. An examination of the use of tools of interactivity across three different TLDs revealed that .com sites used a greater number of tools, followed by .gov sites and, lastly, .org sites. We also found support for our third research question, that different TLDs employ these tools of interactivity differently. How these differences may impact learning are discussed.

Attitude to Computers↗

PubMed2005

A systematic review of appraisal tools for clinical practice guidelines: multiple similarities and one common deficit.

OBJECTIVE: To identify a critical appraisal tool for clinical practice guidelines that could serve as a basis for the development of an appraisal tool for clinical pathways. DESIGN: Systematic review of the literature and personal contacts. Databases searched were: Medline, Embase, and Cinahl. Search terms were: practice guidelines, appraisal, and evaluation. The items of the identified appraisal tools were examined and thematically grouped into 10 guideline dimensions. Content analysis and scoring of these domains by the appraisal tools was evaluated. RESULTS: Twenty-four different appraisal tools of practice guidelines were identified. None scored the evidence base of the clinical content of guidelines. Four tools scored all the guideline dimensions. The Cluzeau instrument is the only one of these four that has been validated. Of the three instruments based on the Cluzeau instrument, the AGREE instrument is the only validated instrument that uses a numerical scale. CONCLUSIONS: Being a simplified version of the Cluzeau instrument, the AGREE instrument has the most potential to serve as a basis for the development of an appraisal tool for clinical pathways. However, important limitations will have to be dealt with when developing such a tool.

Critical Pathways↗

PubMed2005

Dcode.org anthology of comparative genomic tools.

Comparative genomics provides the means to demarcate functional regions in anonymous DNA sequences. The successful application of this method to identifying novel genes is currently shifting to deciphering the non-coding encryption of gene regulation across genomes. To facilitate the practical application of comparative sequence analysis to genetics and genomics, we have developed several analytical and visualization tools for the analysis of arbitrary sequences and whole genomes. These tools include two alignment tools, zPicture and Mulan; a phylogenetic shadowing tool, eShadow for identifying lineage- and species-specific functional elements; two evolutionary conserved transcription factor analysis tools, rVista and multiTF; a tool for extracting cis-regulatory modules governing the expression of co-regulated genes, Creme 2.0; and a dynamic portal to multiple vertebrate and invertebrate genome alignments, the ECR Browser. Here, we briefly describe each one of these tools and provide specific examples on their practical applications. All the tools are publicly available at the http://www.dcode.org/ website.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed2002

Macaque prefrontal activity associated with extensive tool use.

Macaques can utilize tools sequentially on a single object or they can modify functions effectively in a relevant context. Two Japanese macaques were scanned by positron emission tomography with H(2)15O during a tool combination task and two control tasks (single tool task and simple stick-waving task). In the tool combination task, monkeys were required to use two identical tools properly in different functions. We found increased activity in the bilateral prefrontal cortex (area 9/46), bilateral intraparietal sulcus regions, right cerebellum, and bilateral early visual cortices during the tool combination task with the right hand, compared with the single tool task. These results suggest that interactions between the fronto-cerebellar and the fronto-parietal circuit are responsible for appropriate and effective modifications of tools in their functions.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The measurement of leg ulcer pain: identification and appraisal of pain assessment tools.

OBJECTIVE: To identify and compare the psychometric, clinical sensibility, and pain-specific properties of leg ulcer pain assessment tools for use as a guide for clinicians and researchers. DESIGN: Pain assessment tools were selected for appraisal based on 4 inclusion criteria: (1) designed specifically to measure either quality and/or intensity of pain, (2) used in at least 2 different diseases and/or pain-inducing interventions in adults, (3) generic, and (4) patient self-reporting. The tools were appraised against psychometric properties, clinical sensibility attributes, and pain-specific issues. Two reviewers independently reviewed each abstract, with a third reviewer resolving any disagreements. Then the first 2 reviewers independently assessed the selected tools using the predetermined appraisal criteria. RESULTS: Of 54 identified pain assessment tools, 5 (the pain ruler, the numerical rating scale, the visual analogue scale, the verbal descriptor scale, and the short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire) met the inclusion criteria. Each tool met the appraisal criteria to varying degrees. CONCLUSIONS: The use of a pain assessment tool to measure leg ulcer pain is recommended. Clinicians must decide independently which factors are most important when selecting a tool. Although a specific pain assessment approach cannot yet be recommended, a 2-step pain assessment process is most practical. To optimize pain management, further study is needed to ensure that leg ulcer pain is accurately and reliably assessed.

Humans↗

PubMed2003

Aligning chemical assessment tools across the hazard-risk continuum.

With the growing number and diversity of hazard and risk assessment algorithms, models, databases, and frameworks for chemicals and their applications, risk assessors and managers are challenged to select the appropriate tool for a given need or decision. Some decisions require relatively simple tools to evaluate chemical hazards (e.g., toxicity), such as labeling for safe occupational handling and transport of chemicals. Others require assessment tools that provide relative comparisons among chemical properties, such as selecting the optimum chemical for a particular use among a group of candidates. Still other needs warrant full risk characterization, coupling both hazard and exposure considerations. Examples of these include new chemical evaluations for commercialization, evaluations of existing chemicals for novel uses, and assessments of the adequacy of risk management provisions. Even well-validated tools can be inappropriately applied, with consequences as severe as misguided chemical management, compromised credibility of the tool and its developers and users, and squandered resources. This article describes seven discrete categories of tools based on their information content, function, and the type of outputs produced. It proposes a systematic framework to assist users in selecting hazard and risk assessment tools for given applications. This analysis illustrates the importance of careful selection of assessment tools to achieve responsible chemical assessment communication and sound risk management.

Communication↗

PubMed2004

The Nurses' Global Assessment of Suicide Risk (NGASR): developing a tool for clinical practice.

Contemporary and established literature indicates that people with mental health problems are at a higher risk of suicide than the general population. Because suicide is a multifaceted, complex phenomenon, risk assessment within the mental health care system requires a pluralistic, multidimensional and multiprofessional response. While assessment tools may provide useful guidance, especially guarding against complacency and over confidence, the fundamental basis of risk assessment must involve a thorough examination of the personal, interpersonal and social circumstances of each individual. Such thorough and rigorous assessments, the authors of this paper would add, require a degree of 'clinical judgement'. As a rule, inexperienced members of mental health care staff should not be charged with the responsibility of conducting suicide risk assessments without sound mentorship. However, with the right support and assessment tool, the novice practitioner might develop the kind of clinical judgement necessary for this critical task. Accordingly, this paper traces the development of the Nurses' Global Assessment of Suicide Risk (NGASR). It illustrates the practice development context out of which the need for the tool arose; it outlines the key evidence that underpins the construction of the tool and it is described. It is important to point out that as yet, no wide scale, quantitative validation of the tool has been conducted. Therefore, at this point, the tool should be treated with a degree of appropriate caution. Nevertheless, the preliminary attempts that have been made to 'validate' or 'rate' the tool in practice are included. While acknowledging that any risk assessment tool represents only one aspect of the necessarily broader assessment of risk, the NGASR appears to provide a useful template for the nursing assessment of suicide risk, especially for the novice.

Humans↗

PubMed2002

Development and description of a decision analysis based decision support tool for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation.

BACKGROUND: There is an increasing move towards clinical decision making that engages the patient, which has led to the development and use of decision aids to support better decisions. The treatment of patients in atrial fibrillation (AF) with warfarin to prevent stroke is a decision that is sensitive to patient preferences as shown by a previous decision analysis. AIM: To develop a computerised decision support tool, building upon a previous decision analysis, which would engage individual patient preferences in reaching a shared decision on whether to take warfarin to prevent stroke. METHODS: The development process had two main phases: (1) the development phase which employed focus groups and repeated interviews with GPs/practice nurses and patients alongside an iterative development of a computerised tool; (2) the training and testing phase in which GPs and practice nurses underwent training in the use of the tool, including the use of simulated patients. The tool was then used in a feasibility study in a small number of patients with AF to inform the design of a subsequent randomised controlled trial. RESULTS: The prototype tool had three components: (1) derivation of an individual patient's values for relevant health states using a standard gamble; (2) presentation/discussion of a patient's risks of stroke using the Framingham equation and the benefits/risks of warfarin from a systematic literature review; and (3) decision making component incorporating the outcome of a Markov decision analysis model. Older patients could be taken through the decision analysis based computerised tool, and patients and clinicians welcomed information on risks and benefits of treatments. The tool required time and training to use. Patients' decisions in the feasibility phase did not necessarily coincide with the output of the decision analysis model, but decision conflict appeared to be reduced and both patients and GPs were satisfied with the process. CONCLUSIONS: It is feasible to develop a decision analysis based computer software package that is acceptable to elderly patients and clinicians, but it requires time and expertise to use. It is most likely that a tool of this type will best be used by a small number of clinicians who have developed experience of its use and can maintain their skills.

Aged↗

PubMed2006

Changing practice: implementing validated paediatric pain assessment tools.

This study attempted to address a lack of evidence-based pain management by implementing validated pain assessment tools across a children's hospital. The method used was action research. The first part of this study where nurses' views of pain tools was elicited has already been reported (Simons and Macdonald, 2004). An action research cycle of negotiation, assessment, diagnosing, planning, action, evaluation and withdrawal was utilized. Data collection occurred at two points in time. Three age-appropriate tools were implemented hospital-wide supported by education and clinical input. A survey of nurses was carried out six months and 12 months post implementation of the tools. At the same time evaluation of the use of the tool was performed. Six months after education and implementation 23 percent of children on 10 wards had a pain tool in use. This had increased to 40 percent six months later. There were many inconsistencies between the replies the nurses gave in relation to their reported use of the tools and the actual use of the tools.

Child↗

PubMed2006

SinicView: a visualization environment for comparisons of multiple nucleotide sequence alignment tools.

BACKGROUND: Deluged by the rate and complexity of completed genomic sequences, the need to align longer sequences becomes more urgent, and many more tools have thus been developed. In the initial stage of genomic sequence analysis, a biologist is usually faced with the questions of how to choose the best tool to align sequences of interest and how to analyze and visualize the alignment results, and then with the question of whether poorly aligned regions produced by the tool are indeed not homologous or are just results due to inappropriate alignment tools or scoring systems used. Although several systematic evaluations of multiple sequence alignment (MSA) programs have been proposed, they may not provide a standard-bearer for most biologists because those poorly aligned regions in these evaluations are never discussed. Thus, a tool that allows cross comparison of the alignment results obtained by different tools simultaneously could help a biologist evaluate their correctness and accuracy. RESULTS: In this paper, we present a versatile alignment visualization system, called SinicView, (for Sequence-aligning INnovative and Interactive Comparison VIEWer), which allows the user to efficiently compare and evaluate assorted nucleotide alignment results obtained by different tools. SinicView calculates similarity of the alignment outputs under a fixed window using the sum-of-pairs method and provides scoring profiles of each set of aligned sequences. The user can visually compare alignment results either in graphic scoring profiles or in plain text format of the aligned nucleotides along with the annotations information. We illustrate the capabilities of our visualization system by comparing alignment results obtained by MLAGAN, MAVID, and MULTIZ, respectively. CONCLUSION: With SinicView, users can use their own data sequences to compare various alignment tools or scoring systems and select the most suitable one to perform alignment in the initial stage of sequence analysis.

Algorithms↗