Searching natural language text by computer. Machine indexing and text searching offer an approach to the basic problems of library automation.
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A management system for a magnetic resonance imaging facility was developed to store pertinent patient data and to maintain a teaching file. The system was developed on a Digital PRO-350 microcomputer using a commercially available database software package. The cost of the system was about $7000. The patient data are entered at a terminal by a clerk typist. Input data are condensed or abbreviated to accommodate the limited data storage on the microcomputer. Cases can be rapidly retrieved and sorted on the basis of any of the 42 data fields available or any combination of these fields. The system has been successfully used for 18 months to create directories for a teaching file, for presentations, and for clinical research. Census-type data can be compiled, and the system can be used for word processing.
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A series of programs has been developed for the storage and retrieval of bibliographic references, which allow automatic cross-referencing of the stored entries. Reference retrieval becomes successively faster as more searches are performed and references are automatically sub-grouped under indexed terms allow complete sub-sets to be scanned independently. The indexing allows complete sub-collections of references to be printed, e.g. for a review, with no further searching requirements. This style of retrieval is conceptually similar to card systems in use by many scientists and should enable a rapid familiarization with the retrieval system. The editing features of the programs provide for the direct collection of references from large ONLINE databases (e.g. MEDLINE) and the automatic entering of the references into the personal data collection. The programs provide reliable storage of references for individual scientists, so that their collections from library databases, or from manual input may be updated and searched quickly.
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Digital imaging techniques are becoming increasingly accepted in radiation therapy, and they bring significant advantages when compared with film, especially the ease of storage and retrieval. A simple model is proposed for the estimation of digital data storage requirements in a typical department of radiation therapy. The model assumes that 100 patients are undergoing treatment at any given time, and their computed tomography (CT) images, treatment plans, digitized simulator films, and portal images are to be available at short notice ("on-line"). Off-line archival image storage is required after the completion of treatment, for 1,000 patients per year. Reasonable assumptions are postulated regarding image sizes and acquisition rates, and on-line storage requirements are estimated to be up to 300 megabytes (MB) for CT data, 170 MB for treatment plans, 200 MB for digitized simulator films, and 500 MB for digitized port films. If electronic portal imaging is used instead of port films, the on-line requirement becomes about 2 gigabytes (GB) for verification images, and 20 GB if portal movies are to be archived. Off-line storage requirements are a factor of ten larger. It is suggested that data compression may reduce these requirements by up to a factor of 20.
Peri-operative continuous pulse oximetric data were studied in healthy Chinese children randomly allocated to receive either pethidine 1 mg kg-1 and atropine 0.02 mg kg-1 intramuscularly 90 min prior to surgery (n = 10), or midazolam 0.5 mg kg-1 and atropine 0.02 mg kg-1 orally, 120 min before surgery (n = 10). Data were collected during the night before surgery, after premedication and for 8 h post-operatively. The pulse oximeter (Nellcor N-200E) output was retrospectively evaluated using Satmaster, a computer programme which permits storage, retrieval, signal evaluation and compilation of oximetric data. There was no significant difference in the frequency, duration, or magnitude ofdesaturation episodes recorded during the post-premedication period compared to the desaturation episodes which occurred in the same child during normal sleep, on the night before surgery. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the desaturation data between the two premedicant regimens. No child recorded a genuine desaturation less than 80% for longer than 15 s at any time during the study. Neither regimen significantly depressed saturation in otherwise healthy children presenting for minor surgical procedures.
End users at the University of Southern California (USC) have free access to the last ten years of MEDLINE through a local online system known as USCInfo. Librarians at USC Norris Medical Library provide documentation and offer formal and informal training on the use of the system to search MEDLINE. To assess the educational needs of the end users, 643 searches were analyzed. Although a high proportion (84%) of the searches were judged to be successful, the use of medical subject headings (MeSH) to obtain optimal results was low; only 20% of all successful subject searches employed MeSH. Also, the advanced features of the system were underutilized. While it is promising to learn that many end users are obtaining positive results, methods which will encourage end users improve their retrievals need to be developed.
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"The major problems inherent to the operation, improvement and development of the Unified System for Civil Registration and Administrative Servicing of the Population (USCRASP) over the period of preparation for the integration with the 1985 [Bulgarian] census are discussed.... Analysed are the results from the experiment for solving problems of [organization], software, hardware and [methodology]...with respect to defining the information base of USCRASP and increasing the possibilities [of using] the information of the system in future censuses and sociological surveys." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND RUS)
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Preweaning rats 10 to 15 days of age were given passive avoidance training in a circular chamber in which the floor comprised one shock electrode and the wall the other. All ages showed acquisition of the response, but both rate of learning and asymptotic performance increased with age. Yoked-shock controls, adaption controls, and naive controls did not demonstrate passive avoidance on subsequent test trials, ruling out alternative interpretations based on sensitization to shock, fatique, familiarity with the apparatus, and handling. From 10 to 15 days of age, improved performance was due in part to the transition from stereotyped shock-elicited behavior in the younger pups to discrete withdrawal from shock in the older pups. A paradoxical deterioration of performance with observed from 20 to 25 days of age, attributable to the development of species-typical defense reactions which were incompatible with the avoidance response. Retention of the avoidance response was found to increase from about 6 hr in the 10-day-old to at least 5 days in the 15-day-old. The data suggest that maturation of storage and/or retrieval mechanisms, rather than perceptual or experiential changes induced by development, is responsible for improved retention during ontogeny.
This article describes our experience in developing and using several web-based tools to facilitate access to and management of images from inside and outside of our department. Having recently eliminated film in ultrasound, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a simple method was required to access imaging from computers already existing throughout the hospital. The success of the World Wide Web (WWW), the familiarity of endusers with web browsers, and the relative ease of developing user interfaces virtually dictated that such an approach be pursued in our case. The resulting web-based tools allow validated users to search our Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM)-compliant archive servers for specific exams; to download image data from a remote site; to request the retrieval of data from long-term storage; to view images, and to perform certain DICOM routing operations. The existing infrastructure of the internet has allowed us to develop a low-cost system capable of being used for teleradiology. Since low-level, machine-specific interface programming was avoided, these tools were developed rapidly and are easily adapted. The familiarity of browser-based interfaces has facilitated user acceptance, and the benefit of platform independence minimizes software portability concerns.
The contribution of structures in the limbic diencephalon to spatial memory function was investigated. Rats with lesions of either the anteroventral thalamus, anteromedial thalamus, dorsomedial thalamus or mammillary bodies were compared in their ability to perform a delayed alternation task. The results indicate the ablation of the thalamic nuclei did not impair delayed-alternation memory, but there was impairment following damage to the mammillary bodies. Placement of the discrete lesions was verified using Nissl sections and by tracing the pattern of projections using a silver degeneration stain. The results suggest that individual thalamic nuclei are not essential in the storage and/or retrieval of spatial memory. The data are discussed in terms of spatial deficits resulting from damage to the hippocampus proper or to the pathways connecting it to other brain structures.
The storage, retrieval and analysis of hospital infection data is best performed by using computers. Many laboratory mainframe systems have infection control modules and there are some commercial programs for personal computers (PCs). An alternative is to use business and statistical PC software. Because of their large customer base these programs are reliable and easy to use yet extremely sophisticated and flexible, and they can be easily customized for use in infection control. Many combinations of software and hardware are available but the ones described here have been used successfully for several years at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong.
One might take the exploration of sensory cortex in the first decades of the last century as the opening chapter of modern neuroscience. The combined approaches of (i) measuring effects of restricted ablation on functional capacities, both in the clinic and the laboratory, together with (ii) anatomical investigations of cortical lamination, arealization, and connectivity, and (iii) the early physiological probing of sensory representations, led to a fundamental body of knowledge that remains relevant to this day. In our time, there can be little doubt that its organization as a mosaic of columnar modules is the pervasive functional property of mammalian sensory cortex [Brain 120 (1997) 701]. If one accepts the assertion that columns and maps must improve the functioning of the brain (why else would they be the very hallmark of neocortex?), then the inevitable question is: exactly what advantages do they permit? In this review of our recent presentation at the workshop on Homeostasis, plasticity and learning at the Institut Henri Poincaré, we will outline a systematic approach to investigating the role of modular, map-like cortical organization in the processing of sensory information. We survey current evidence concerning the functional significance of cortical maps and modules, arguing that sensory cortex is involved not solely in the online processing of afferent data, but also in the storage and retrieval of information. We also show that the topographic framework of primary sensory cortex renders the encoding of sensory information efficient, fast and reliable.