SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “data accessibility”

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 325 records · Page 18Linked to original sources

PubMed1986

Problems in setting up an executing large-scale psychiatric epidemiological studies.

This paper focuses on problems that can be encountered in conceptualizing, executing and writing up large-scale psychiatric epidemiological studies. It makes no attempt to cover fundamental issues of design and analysis, rather it centers on problems associated with projects of considerable size. In the conceptual area, it discusses the prerequisites to be considered before deciding to launch such a study. It notes the administrative and scientific uses of epidemiological studies and considers the strengths and weaknesses of large-scale studies to address those concerns. Issues in carrying out such studies are discussed including decisions about study design, sampling method and instrumentation. All are dependent on the central purpose of the study but trade-offs between feasibility and scientific rigor are always present. Data collection and analysis problems highlighted in large-scale studies are examined. They include the difficulty, in the former, of adequately motivating and supervising field personnel and, in the latter, of dealing with problems that accompany missing data and complicated sampling strategies. Potential problems in data access and use and writing up the results are seen as arising from the presence of a large investigative team with diverse interests. Lastly, the comparative worth of these studies is considered.

Data Collection↗

PubMedDate not supplied

New data on toxic metal intoxication (Cd, Pb, and Hg in particular) and Mg status during pregnancy.

The technological revolution we witness today poses a threat to the homo sapiens species, and its biological results are unpredictable. Excess toxic metals in the environment and the deficiency of bio-elements are particularly harmful for developing organisms. Long-term fetal exposure during pregnancy to even lower concentrations of toxic metals, which have the ability to accumulate, often leads to irreversible developmental disorders, On the basis of accessible literature, the paper presents transplacental transmission of cadmium, lead and mercury to the fetus. The disadvantageous effects of cadmium and lead on ionic transmission, functional potential and submicroscopic amnion structure as well as the interdependence between the unfavorable effects of these two metals on the amniotic membrane and the competitive antagonistic activity of Mg ions are emphasized. This paper presents a hypothesis suggesting the involvement of cadmium in the etiopathogenesis of eclampsia based on the literature. It also considers the present state of knowledge of the toxic effects of Cd, Pb and Hg on the course of pregnancy and fetal development. Magnesium--an intracellular cation second in importance to potassium plays a significant biological role, though it has not been fully explored yet. The concentration of Mg in the placental and fetal tissues increases during pregnancy. The requirements for this element in a pregnant woman's organism generally exceed its supply; hence, pregnancy should be considered a condition of 'physiological hypomagnesemia'. The accessible data concerning the content of Mg during pregnancy in the blood as well as in the uterine muscular wall in physiological and pathological pregnancies are diverse. The prevailing opinion is that oral supplementation of magnesium during pregnancy makes up for its deficit in the organism of the pregnant woman and also positively influences fetal development. It is recommended to administer magnesium with food in the form of magnesium salts at the dose 5 mg/kg body mass daily. In clinical obstetric practice magnesium therapy is necessary in cases of imminent preterm birth and preeclampsia. This paper discusses the mechanism and therapeutic effectiveness of magnesium sulfate as used in complications of pregnancy. The contamination of the pregnant woman's organism by toxic metals--cadmium, lead and mercury--poses a serious risk of the same quantitative degree of contaminating the organism of the child developing in her womb. Qualitative changes may be much more serious in the fetus as they affect young structures, intensively developing, with no well-formed defense mechanisms. It is also worth mentioning that the complications in the course of pregnancy may result from toxic metal concentrations lower than those leading to fetal necrosis or premature termination of pregnancy.

Female↗

PubMed1998

A video data base system for studying animal behavior.

Classification of farm animal behavior is based on oral or written descriptions of the activity in which the animal is engaged. The quantification of animal behavior for research requires that individuals recognize and code the behavior of the animal under study. The classification of these behaviors can be subjective and may differ among observers. Illustrated guides to animal behavior do not convey the motion associated with most behaviors. Video-based guides offer a method of quantifying behaviors with real-time demonstrations of the components that make up a behavior. An animal behavior encyclopedia has been developed to allow searching and viewing of defined (video-recorded) behaviors on the Internet. This video data base is being developed to initiate a system that automatically extracts animal motion information from an input animal activity video clip using a multiobject tracking and reasoning system. Eventually, the extracted information will be analyzed and described using standard animal behavior definitions (the behavior encyclopedia). The intended applications of the behavior encyclopedia and video tracking system are 1) an accessible data base for defining and illustrating behaviors for both research and teaching and 2) to further automate the collection of animal behavior data.

Animals↗

PubMed1993

The patient problem/nursing diagnosis form: a computer-generated chart document.

The INFORMM (Information Network for Online Retrieval & Medical Management) patient problem/nursing diagnosis form is a computer-generated, patient record document of information related to identified patient conditions and patient outcomes. These patient and nursing data, accessible online as well as in paper copy, enhance continuity of care by providing, to all authorized clinicians, a list and history of identified patient problems/nursing diagnoses and the patient's status in terms of the achievement of projected patient outcomes. This cumulative, patient-centered documentation facilitates patient care effectiveness and provides mechanisms to capture and retrieve patient and outcome data for quality improvement and research purposes.

Computer Systems↗

PubMed1996

Estimating internal dose due to ingestion of radionuclides from Nevada Test Site fallout.

The U.S. Department of Energy initiated the Radiation Exposure Review Project to provide a critical reexamination of radiation doses to people resulting from testing nuclear devices at the Nevada Test Site. One part of this effort focused on the dose resulting from the ingestion of contaminated food. The PATHWAY radionuclide transport model was developed to provide estimates of food concentrations for 20 radionuclides for each of 86 test events and 15 agricultural scenarios. These results were then used as input to the Human Ingestion model to provide dose estimates for individuals and populations in 9 western states. The model considered the life-style and age of the people, and accounted for the transport of milk between locations. Estimates of uncertainty were provided for all doses using Monte Carlo simulation techniques. Propagation of uncertainty between the PATHWAY model and the Human Ingestion model required the development of special strategies to ensure that the inherent correlations between concentrations of the radionuclides in foods were handled properly. In addition, the size of the input data base (60 megabytes), the number of cases to consider (over 30,000), and the number of Monte Carlo simulations (over 6 million) required the development of efficient and reliable methods of data access and storage while running simulations concurrently on up to 14 UNIX workstations. The problems encountered in this effort are likely to be typical of any dose reconstruction involving geographically heterogeneous environmental conditions. This paper documents the methods used to disaggregate the system to achieve computation efficiency, the methods used to propagate uncertainty through the model system, and the techniques used to manage data in a distributed computing environment. The radionuclide- and age-specific dose factors used in the analysis are also provided.

Environmental Exposure↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Web portal to an image database for high-resolution three-dimensional reconstruction.

The exponential increase of image data in high-resolution reconstructions by electron cryomicroscopy (cryoEM) has posed a need for efficient data management solutions in addition to powerful data processing procedures. Although relational databases and web portals are commonly used to manage sequences and structures in biological research, their application in cryoEM has been limited due to the complexity in accomplishing the dual tasks of interacting with proprietary software and simultaneously providing data access to users without database knowledge. Here, we report our results in developing web portal to SQL image databases used by the Image Management and Icosahedral Reconstruction System (IMIRS) to manage cryoEM images for subnanometer-resolution reconstructions. Fundamental issues related to the design and deployment of web portals to image databases are described. A web browser-based user interface was designed to accomplish data reporting and other database-related services, including user authentication, data entry, graph-based data mining, and various query and reporting tasks with interactive image manipulation capabilities. With an integrated web portal, IMIRS represents the first cryoEM application that incorporates both web-based data reporting tools and a complete set of data processing modules. Our examples should thus provide general guidelines applicable to other cryoEM technology development efforts.

Cryoelectron Microscopy↗

PubMed2005

Researching income and income distribution as determinants of health in Canada: gaps between theoretical knowledge, research practice, and policy implementation.

The research identified gaps in Canadian knowledge and research activity concerning the roles that income and its distribution play in Canadians' population health. 241 Canadian research studies on income and health were considered along eight taxonomies: conceptualization of income or its proxies; theoretical underpinnings; income distribution measures; health measures; who/what was studied, pathways mediating between income and health; complexity of these pathways; research design; and presence of policy implications. The study identified the following areas of weakness: (a) poor conceptualization of income and the means by which it influences health; (b) lack of longitudinal studies of the impact of income-related issues upon health across the life-span; (c) lack of linked data bases that allow complex analyses of how income and related issues contribute to health and well-being, and (d) little inter-disciplinary work in identifying pathways mediating the income and health relationship. Advances in health policy to address the health effects of income and its distribution requires a research infrastructure that draws upon recent theoretical developments in the area and is able to access data sources to test these advanced conceptualizations.

Canada↗

PubMed2005

SIMAP--the similarity matrix of proteins.

MOTIVATION: Sequence similarity searches are of great importance in bioinformatics. Exhaustive searches for homologous proteins in databases are computationally expensive and can be replaced by a database of pre-calculated homologies in many cases. Retrieving similarities from an incrementally updated database instead of repeatedly recalculating them should provide homologs much faster and frees computational resources for other purposes. RESULTS: We have implemented SIMAP-a database containing the similarity space formed by almost all amino acid sequences from public databases and completely sequenced genomes. The database is capable of handling very large datasets and allows incremental updates. We have implemented a powerful backbone for similarity computation, which is based on FASTA heuristics. By providing WWW interfaces as well as web services, we make our data accessible to the worldwide community. We have also adapted procedures to detect putative orthologs as example applications. AVAILABILITY: The SIMAP portal page providing links to SIMAP services is publicly available: http://mips.gsf.de/services/analysis/simap/. The web services can be accessed under http://mips.gsf.de/proj/hobitws/services/RPCSimapService?wsdl and http://mips.gsf.de/proj/hobitws/services/DocSimapService?wsdl

Algorithms↗

PubMed2005

COMPARE/Radiology, an interactive Web-based radiology teaching program evaluation of user response.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to assess user benefits of COMPARE/Radiology, a highly interactive World Wide Web-based training program for radiology, as perceived by its users. MATERIALS AND METHODS: COMPARE/Radiology (http://www.idr.med.uni-erlangen.de/compare.htm), an interactive training program based on 244 teaching cases, was created by the authors and made publicly available on the Internet. An anonymous survey was conducted among users to investigate the composition of the program's user base and assess the acceptance of the training program. In parallel, Web access data were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The group of responding users (n = 1370) consisted of 201 preclinical medical students (14.7%), 314 clinical medical students (22.9%), 359 residents in radiology (26.2%), and 205 users of other professions (14.9%). A majority of respondents (1230; 89%) rated the interactivity of COMPARE/Radiology as good or excellent. Many respondents use COMPARE/Radiology for self-study (971; 70%) and for teaching others (600; 43%). Web access statistics show an increase in number of site visits from 1248 in December 2002 to 4651 in April 2004. CONCLUSION: Users appreciate the benefits of COMPARE/Radiology. The interactive instructional design was rated positively by responding users. The popularity of the site is growing, evidenced by the number of network accesses during the observation period.

Computer-Assisted Instruction↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Voronoi s Diagram for defining catchment areas for public hospitals in the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro].

One of the most important pieces of information for health resources planning is the definition of catchment areas for health units. Voronoi Diagrams are a potential technique for this purpose. They are polygons with the property whereby adjacent polygons have their borders located within the same distance of the respective generator points. One possible adjustment to the catchment areas thus defined is the use of weighted Voronoi Diagrams, which result in an improved representation of a health unit's actual capacity. In this study, the 21 public general hospitals in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were used as generator points for Voronoi Diagrams. Non-weighted Voronoi Diagrams were initially implemented and then used as the basis for obtaining weighted Voronoi Diagrams, using as weights the annual admission rates estimated for each unit. In the classic Voronoi Diagram case, some catchment areas had similar sizes, although their respective health units had different characteristics. In the weighted case the areas were modified in a way that appeared closer to the actual functioning of the units. The method appeared simple to implement, used easy-to-access data, and did not rely on geopolitical considerations such as existing administrative areas. It thus provided a more realistic picture of a unit's capacity to support basic health programs.

Algorithms↗

PubMed1998

A mobile system for recording examination data of the analysis of functional disorders of the masticatory system.

Simplifying and streamlining data access and recording tasks in medical settings is an important and successful application area for mobile computing technology. An interesting research topic in this area are user-interface design concepts that allow for an optimal integration of system operation into working situations where the user is tightly involved in interactions with his physical surroundings. We describe an ongoing project that aims at developing a mobile information system which uses pen-computers for recording data of the analysis of functional disorders of the masticatory system during examination. Long-term goal of this project is the design of an interaction concept that allows for an optimal integration of the system operation into the established examination procedures. A comprehensive questionnaire for the analysis of functional disorders of the masticatory system has been developed. This questionnaire then has been structured with respect to established examination procedures and coded into a pen-computer. Experiences with a first system prototype within the scope of a limited field trial show that our approach is viable and simplifies the recording task. Future work will concentrate on a further streamlining of the user interface by providing additional task-specific graphics interaction techniques and by a detailed study of usage patterns.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗

PubMed2004

First results of Liguria-Trento transplant network project: a model for a macroregional network and real-time registry in Italy.

In Italy, health-care telematic is funded and supported at the level of national government or regional institutions. In 1999, the Italian Ministry of Health started to fund the Liguria-Trento Transplant Network (LTTN) project, a health research project with the aim to build an informative system for donor management and transplantation activity in a macroregional area. At the time of LTTN project proposal, no published Transplant Network Informative System fulfilled Italian rules on telematic management of electronic documentation concerning transplantation activity. Partnership of LTTN project were two Regional Transplant Coordinating Centres, Nord Italia Transplant Interregional Coordinating Centre and the Italian Institute of Health/National Transplant Coordinating Centre. Project Total Quality Management methods were adopted. Technological and case analysis followed ANSI-HL7, CEN-TC251, and Object-Oriented Software Engineering standards. A low-tech prototype powered by a web access relational database is running on a transplant network including web-based clients located in 17 intensive care units, in Nord Italia Transplant Interregional Coordinating Centre, and at the Italian Institute of Health/National Transplant Coordinating Centre. LTTN registry includes pretransplant, surgical, and posttransplant phases regarding liver, kidney, pancreas, and kidney-pancreas transplantation in adult and pediatric recipients. Clinical specifications were prioritized in agreement with the RAND/UCLA appropriateness method. Further implementation will include formal rules for data access and output release, fault tolerance, and a continuous registry evolution plan.

Humans↗

PubMed2004

Rurality and mental health: the role of accessibility.

OBJECTIVE: The absence of an agreed definition of "rural" limits the utility of existing research into a possible relationship between rurality of residence and mental health. The present study investigates the bipolar dimension accessibility/remoteness as a possible correlate of mental health. METHOD: A continuous area of non-metropolitan Australia was selected to provide a range of scores on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA). A questionnaire measuring demographics, the five-factor model of personality and three aspects of mental health (distress, disability and wellbeing) was mailed to 20 000 adults selected randomly from electoral rolls. RESULTS: Responses were received from 7615 individuals (response rate = 40.5%; 57.1% female). ARIA was not associated with either distress or disability measures, but a small negative association was found between accessibility and two measures of wellbeing. Individuals residing in locales with better access to services and opportunities for interaction reported higher levels of satisfaction with life (SWL) and positive affect (PA). Adjusting statistically for a range of demographic and personality correlates did not alter the effect of ARIA on SWL. The effect on PA remained significant after adjusting for demographics, but not once personality correlates entered the model. CONCLUSIONS: By sampling across a single proposed parameter of rurality, a novel profile of correlations was identified. In accord with existing data, accessibility was not associated with distress or disability. In contrast, accessibility was positively associated with the wellbeing aspect of mental health. Further attention to the measurement of rural place and the exploration of accessibility as a parameter with mental health relevance, is warranted.

Australia↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Rights to information access under the Data Protection Act.

A patient has a legal right to access personal information held by health professionals on the basis of statutory provisions, such as the Data Protection Act 1998 and the regulations made under that Act, the Access to Health Reports Act 1988 (which is considered in a later article), and also on the basis of the common law, i.e. judge made or case law. Neither legal rights, however, give the patient an absolute right, but are qualified.

Computer Security↗

PubMed2000

Design and evolution of the data management systems in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial.

This paper describes the design and evolution of the data management systems developed in support of the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial. These systems span platforms from stand-alone computers to distributed systems on local area networks to mainframes. Allowing all of these systems to share appropriate information electronically introduces integration, synchronization, testing, and support challenges. For each platform, applications were developed to handle data entry, editing, trial management, reporting, telecommunications, and data sharing. Approaches to issues such as level of data access, integration with other, existing applications, and handling the expansion of the protocol are discussed.

Colorectal Neoplasms↗

PubMed1993

Research review: use of keyless data entry in medical record departments.

This survey indicates that, although substantial computerization of MRD functions was found among survey respondents, use of KDE technologies is very limited. Opportunities exist for medical record practitioners to selectively exploit KDE technology where it can speed data entry and improve data accessibility and availability for patient care, billing, and the like while maintaining or improving accuracy. Appropriate incorporation of KDE technologies into medical record processing could thus benefit all participants in patient care--including MRDs, hospitals, patients, payors--a win-win situation found too infrequently in any setting.

Decision Making, Organizational↗

PubMed2000

Gene discovery using the maize genome database ZmDB.

Zea mays DataBase (ZmDB) is a repository and analysis tool for sequence, expression and phenotype data of the major crop plant maize. The data accessible in ZmDB are mostly generated in a large collaborative project of maize gene discovery, sequencing and phenotypic analysis using a transposon tagging strategy and expressed sequence tag (EST) sequencing. ESTs constitute most of the current content. Database search tools, convenient links to external databases, and novel sequence analysis programs for spliced alignment are provided and together serve as an efficient protocol for gene discovery by sequence inspection. ZmDB can be accessed at http://zmdb. iastate.edu. ZmDB also provides web-based ordering of materials generated in the project, including EST and genomic DNA clones, seeds of mutant plants and microarrays of amplified EST and genomic DNA sequences.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1998

Irregularities and power law distributions in the breathing pattern in preterm and term infants.

Unlike older children, young infants are prone to develop unstable respiratory patterns, suggesting important differences in their control of breathing. We examined the irregular breathing pattern in infants by measuring the time interval between breaths ("interbreath interval"; IBI) assessed from abdominal movement during 2 h of sleep in 25 preterm infants at a postconceptional age of 40.5 +/- 5.2 (SD) wk and in 14 term healthy infants at a postnatal age of 8.2 +/- 4 wk. In 10 infants we performed longitudinal measurements on two occasions. We developed a threshold algorithm for the detection of a breath so that an IBI included an apneic period and potentially some periods of insufficient tidal breathing excursions (hypopneas). The probability density distribution (P) of IBIs follows a power law, P(IBI) approximately IBI-alpha, with the exponent alpha providing a statistical measurement of the relative risk of insufficient breathing. With maturation, alpha increased from 2.62 +/- 0.4 at 41. 2 +/- 3.6 wk to 3.22 +/- 0.4 at 47.3 +/- 6.4 wk postconceptional age, indicating a decrease in long hypopneas (for paired data P = 0.002). The statistical properties of IBI were well reproduced in a model of the respiratory oscillator on the basis of two hypotheses: 1) tonic neural inputs to the respiratory oscillator are noisy; and 2) the noise explores a critical region where IBI diverges with decreasing tonic inputs. Accordingly, maturation of infant respiratory control can be explained by the tonic inputs moving away from this critical region. We conclude that breathing irregularities in infants can be characterized by alpha, which provides a link between clinically accessible data and the neurophysiology of the respiratory oscillator.

Abdominal Muscles↗