No abstract available.
Information Dissemination*

No abstract available.
Information Dissemination*

This study was performed to develop the basic technique for standardization that will be used in the medical environment. The following paper describes the design and implementation of a software framework that could be used to construct an HL7 message server. HL7 message server is combined with existing HIS and generates the corresponding HL7 messages automatically whenever the predefined events occur. We developed HL7 message server modules which can automatically link patient data to the appropriate message component in order to populate ADT and ORU messages. The key modules are UIT monitor, message generator and TCP/IP connection module. UIT is designed to integrate all data items needed to create a message in this HIS database table. The UIT monitor module checks regularly the occurrences of predefined events in HIS. The message generator module links the UIT data to the appropriate message generating functions to create a message. And the TCP/IP connection module works as a socket module for the stable network connection. The prototype of HL7 message server showed the performance of creating 100 messages in a second. This evaluation result confirmed that our HL7 message server presents a promising model for the incorporation of HL7 standard into existing Korean HIS.
Humans ; Information Dissemination*

OBJECTIVE: Clinical trials are the most time-consuming and expensive part of the drug development process. Clinical Trial Management Systems (CTMSs) help sponsors of clinical trials manage all aspects of planning, performance, and reporting. Most conventional systems provide data processing functions using database management system (DBMS) procedures, which cause DBMS dependency problems. Thus, it is hard to handle the system by researchers who are unfamiliar with database. It is also difficult to share Electronic Case Report Forms (eCRFs) between institutions because conventional systems rely on specific software. METHODS: PhactaManager was developed for solving these problems by introducing an XML Layer in the application tier using an Entity-Attribute-Value model in the database tier. RESULTS: PhactaManager is a three-tier clinical trial management system that has an XML layer. The XML Layer provides a common DBMS independent eCRF document processing platform. Also we developed XML based eCRF Grammar to describe eCRF documents. The XML data elements described by eCRF grammar was constitute to eCRF by PhactaDesigner which an eCRF document design program. CONCLUSION: We achieved DBMS independency by implementing the XML Layer in PhactaManager. The Development of the eCRF Grammar enables the standardization of eCRF design, data correction and data sharing in multicenter clinical trial.
Database Management Systems ; Information Dissemination

Recently many domestic hospitals computerize and automatize the process to manage their own medical data. These medical data should be shared among the departments in the hospital and be held in common in case of patients transfers or references to the remote hospitals. However, there is no simple method to share data among the management systems to be shared due to their heterogeneous platforms. Schema sharing with systems and standard format data transfer could be a solution. In this paper, we propose HIES(Hospital Information Exchange System), which uses XML as a standard medical data transfer method. HIES uses XML, which is currently recognized as the standard of electronic documents, for integrating and managing heterogeneous and distributed medical data. Information Sharing Manager to maintain consistent schema information for heterogeneous database systems in hospital systems as well as Image Compression/Partition Manager for efficient image data transfer and reemergence among the systems are implemented.
Data Compression ; Humans ; Information Dissemination

OBJECTIVE: Gene expression microarrays become a widely used tool in biomedicine. With growing needs of microarray data sharing, there are efforts for the development of microarray standards. MAGE-OM(Microarray Gene Expression Object Model) is a data exchange model and MAGE-ML is an XML-based data exchange format. Most database, however, do not have a suitable structure for MAGE-ML storage and maximum use of the data. Therefore, we have created relational database implementing MAGE-OM for the storage of MAGE-ML with importing and exporting capabilities. METHODS: A relational schema is derived from MAGE-OM with simple object-relational mapping strategy to reduce complexity of MAGE-OM. Data transfer between database and MAGE-ML document is performed via MAGE-OM using the MAGE Software Toolkit(MAGEstk). RESULTS: Our database accepts microarray data as MAGE-ML files through web-based interface, classifying into two types of submission, array or experiment. MAGE-ML import-export function is flexible to accommodate changing data model by separating model definition and implementation layers. CONCLUSION: Standard-based implementation of gene expression database enhances the collection and the structured storage of large-scale gene expression data from heterogeneous data sources.
Information Storage and Retrieval ; Gene Expression* ; Information Dissemination

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study is to analyse the appropriateness of using standardized patients' (SPs) assessment scores of medical students in clinical performance examination (CPX). METHODS: 110 fourth year medical students in year four were divided into two large groups (group A and group B). Each group of students performed four different cases and overall, eight cases were tested. The examination were done by professors and the SPs using the same examination paper. Test scores were analysed per station and per each test domain. The differences between the two examiners were studied using paired t-test. RESULTS: There were significant differences in the scores given out by the professors' and the SP' s in four out of the eight stations. According to the examination results of each domain, four cases showed significant differences in the history taking category, three cases in the physical examination, one case in the information sharing, four cases in clinical courtesy, and two cases in physician-patient relationship category. Cronbach' s alpha scores of all stations were over 0.6, reflecting that the test items were appropriate for the examination. CONCLUSION: From the result of this study and according to many preceding studies, using SPs' evaluation scores in CPX is appropriate. Some limitation of this study and ideas for improvement in using SPs in CPX are suggested.
Humans ; Information Dissemination ; Physical Examination ; Students, Medical

With growing needs of microarray data sharing, there are efforts for the development of microarray standards. The standard data exchange model, MAGE-OM (Microarray Gene Expression Object Model) is an object-oriented conceptual model for microarray expression data. MAGE-OM database system is applicable for storage of the associated XML data exchange format MAGE-ML (Microarray Gene Expression Markup Language) and for higher level analysis and integration with biomedical resources. We have implemented MAGE-OM in both frame-based ontology and relational database to exploit the great modeling power of MAGE-OM and compared them in terms of consistency, efficiency and flexibility to the data model. Two implementations showed considerable difference in representing relationships among classes. The ontology in the frame-based system nearly matched the object-oriented model, but performance may become problematic as the database grows. The relational database schema was preferable for performance but it is difficult to guarantee the consistency to the conceptual object level. Our relational schema is also shown to be simplified and provide improved efficiency in comparison with recently published database Array Express at the European Bioinformatics Institute. These design approaches would be helpful to understand the suitability and limitations of each implementation in the context of building standard-compliant database for microarray.
Computational Biology ; Gene Expression ; Information Dissemination ; Pliability

Cohort study is one of the important epidemiological methods which plays an irreplaceable status and role in etiological study. Using cohort study design, we can accurately and continuously collect genetic and environmental information, and identify and validate omics biomarkers to provide evidences for precision public health and medicine. However, results from a new cohort would not be available for at least ten years, as five years would be needed for funding, planning and enrolment, and another five for following up even the earliest analyses of the most common diseases; results for most cancers would take longer, with an unaffordable budget for many research investigators or institutions. That brings an alternative strategy of using existing cohort studies by sharing data between each other. Data sharing of cohort studies would be beneficial in many ways. Data sharing of cohort studies has the potential to make large samples unattainable in a single study, increase statistical power, enable more accurate and detailed subgroup analysis, increase the generalizability of results. It would also facilitate exchange of experiences and learning from each other, avoid for duplicated research and effectively promote the second use of existing data (i.e. using old data to discover new results). The data sharing would save staff recruitment, follow-up, laboratory analysis of the cost, with a high cost-benefit returns and economies of scale. Data sharing enables cross-validation and repeated verification across different data. Many international research funding agencies or leading research groups have also reached consensus on the principles and goals for promoting the sharing of medical research data. Due to rapid development of cohort studies in the past decades, China already has the basis for data sharing of cohort studies. Unfortunately, most of the existing cohort studies are self-contained, independent, lack of visibility, with insufficient co-operation and data sharing between each other. The academic value of the existing data collected in these cohort studies have not been fully exploited and utilized so far. Therefore, the China Cohort Consortium is trying to establish a multi-level three-dimensional cooperation and data sharing strategy. We hope that it will encourage researchers from public health, clinical and other related fields to work more closely through providing data management, data integration, data interaction, tools development, data repositories and other functions.
China ; Cohort Studies ; Information Dissemination ; Neoplasms

By analyzing the East-West difference in psychology and thinking patterns, the author compared the frequency of conventional words applied and the usage of subtitle, as well as the selection of sentence structure in title of articles, and thus advocated that the differences of attention psychology and thinking patterns, linear in the West and spiral in China, were the primary causes for different expressions of articles' title.
China ; Information Dissemination ; Language ; Periodicals as Topic ; Translations