Medical Informatics

Interactive Information Retrieval as a Step Towards Effective Knowledge Management in Healthcare

Abstract The topic shows how modern information retrieval methodologies can open up new possibilities to support knowledge management in healthcare. Recent advances in hospital information systems lead to the acquisition of huge quantities of data, often characterized by a high proportion of free narrative text embedded in the electronic health record. We point out how […]

Key Performance Indicators and Information Flow: The Cornerstones of Effective Knowledge Management for Managed Care

Abstract It is paradoxical that, although several major technological discoveries such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Nuclear Medicine and Digital Radiology, which facilitate improvement in patient care, have been satisfactorily embraced by the medical community, this has not been the case with Healthcare Informatics. Thus, it can be argued that issues such as Data Management, […]

Medical Decision Support Systems and Knowledge Sharing Standards

Abstract This topic discusses about the concept of medical decision support system and the knowledge sharing standards among medical decision support systems. The author discusses the evolution of decision support in the healthcare arena, the characteristics and components of a medical decision support system, the medical decision support problem domains, and the popular medical decision […]

Kernel Methods in Genomics and Computational Biology

abstract Support vector machines and kernel methods are increasingly popular in genomics and computational biology due to their good performance in real-world applications and strong modularity that makes them suitable to a wide range of problems, from the classification of tumors to the automatic annotation of proteins. Their ability to work in a high dimension […]

Information Extraction in Biomedical Literature

introduction Information extraction (IE) technology has been defined and developed through the US DARPA Message Understanding Conferences (MUCs). IE refers to the identification of instances of particular events and relationships from unstructured natural language text documents into a structured representation or relational table in databases. It has proved successful at extracting information from various domains, […]

Realizing Knowledge Assets in the Medical Sciences with Data Mining: An Overview

abstract This topic provides insight into various areas within the medical field that strive to take advantage of different data mining techniques in order to realize the full potential of their knowledge assets. Specifically, this is done by discussing many of the limitations associated with conventional methods of diagnosis and showing how data mining can […]

Data Mining Medical Digital Libraries

Introduction Given the exponential growth rate of medical data and the accompanying biomedical literature, more than 10,000 documents per week (Leroy et al., 2003), it has become increasingly necessary to apply data mining techniques to medical digital libraries in order to assess a more complete view of genes, their biological functions and diseases. Data mining […]

Building Better E-Health Through a Personal Health Informatics Pedagogy

ABSTRACT E-health use is increasing worldwide, but no current e-health paradigm fulfills the complete range of user needs for online health services. This dilemma clouds a number of issues surrounding e-health, as promoters of e-commerce, personal health records, and consumer health informatics paradigms attempt to create encompassing e-health within the constraints of each unique perspective. […]

Web Service Design Concepts and Structures for Support of Highly Interconnected E-Health Infrastructures: A Bottom-Up Approach

Abstract In this topic we present organizational aspects that appear when considering the case of interconnecting and integrating different compartments of a modern hospital. While the information and communication technologies provide advanced and powerful means for the creation of coherent information supply services, such as the Web service and ontology technologies, there is a lack […]

The PsyGrid Experience: Using Web Services in the Study of Schizophrenia

abstract The key aim of the PsyGrid project was the creation of an information system to ascertain and characterise a large, representative cohort of schizophrenics, beginning from their first episode of psychosis. The cohort was to be drawn from eight geographically dispersed regions of England, covering in total one-sixth of the entire population. In order […]