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ITAB-ITIS 2000 Conference - Special Sessions |
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Special Invited Panel: Bioinformatics and the Web
Organizer and Panel Chair: Dr. Terence Critchlow Over the past few years, the Web has become the preferred method for disseminating biological data. It is simple to use, easy to set up, and provides thousands of scientists from around the world instant access to the data. Unfortunately, the same convenience that makes the Web a useful tool for disseminating data has made it almost impossible to understand the data that is being presented. Currently, there are over 500 sites listed at the Infogen Catalog of Databases (dbcat). Most of these sites were developed independently and, thus, use different terminology, underlying data formats, and access methods. Few have useful cross-database references. As a result, trying to identify all of the relevant information related to a particular protein or DNA sequence is extremely challenging. Users need to investigate each site independently and manually perform cross-database queries - usually by cutting and pasting between Netscape browser windows. There are several possible approaches to dealing with this problem. Ideally, all of the sites would use the same terminology to refer to their data, or provide a mapping to a standard vocabulary, thus removing the semantic inconsistencies that are present. Alternatively, within an organisation a single vocabulary can be defined, and mappings from source databases to this vocabulary can be created. A different approach is to delegate the semantic integration to the user, and focus on providing access to as many data sources as possible. In the real world, each of these approaches has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, with no single approach being clearly preferred. This panel has been organised to provide a better understanding of the advantages, disadvantages, and reasonability of these different approaches. We have invited speakers from prominent bioinformatics projects to spend 30 minutes describing their respective projects and addressing the question "How can bioinformatics realize the full potential offered by the Web?" These presentations will be immediately followed by a thirty minute question and answer period.
Special Session on Biomedical Informatics
Organizer and Panel Chair: Dr. Donna L. Hudson This session will focus on the emerging area of biomedical informatics, both from an educational and research prospective. An overview of the area will be followed by presentation of detailed research in diverse areas of biomedical informatics, including clinical informatics, medical imaging, bioinformatics (focusing on genomics and related areas), and biomedical computing. The formal presentations will be followed by a panel discussion focusing on the future of this broad field, interactions among components, and implications of human genome research. The presentations include the following topics:
Panel Discussion: Special Session: Ontologies and Terminologies in BiomedicineOrganizer and Chair: Prof. James GellerNew Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, USA E-mail: geller@homer.njit.edu Controlled medical vocabularies, terminologies, and ontologies have become important constructs in Medical Informatics. The importance of these knowledge repositories is supported by the integration efforts of NIH, as seen in the Metathesaurus of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS). Applications of medical vocabularies include coding of diagnoses and treatments, indexing of the medical literature, and integration of heterogeneous databases. Recently, the genomic community has embraced the use of ontologies for the purpose of standardization and interpretation support for genomic data. A number of research labs around the world have been producing large amounts of microarray data which are stored in private and public databases. However, because these databases differ in their schemas, meaningful retrieval of data from two or more databases is impeded. The development of a unified genomic ontology would aid in overcoming such differences after the fact, and, given the novelty of the field, provide a de facto standard for future genomic databases. The Ontologies and Terminologies Session invites submissions on ontologies and terminologies in biomedicine especially those relevant to genomics. Special Session: Telemedicine and Mobility - New Methodologies and Empowerment IssuesOrganizers and Chairs: Dr. Robert S. H. IstepanianBrunel University, Uxbridge, UK Dr. Swamy Laxminarayan New Jersey Institute of Technology, New Jersey, USA The current advances in information, mobile telecommunication and Internet technologies will change the way and mechanisms of current telemedicine systems. In compatibility with the current wireless and Internet revolution such as in areas of E-Commerce, E-Banking and others, the evolution of telemedicine to E-Med will be evident in the next few years. The speeding up of this evolutionary step will depend on the swift convergence and parallel developments of the next generation of IP and mobile technologies and the associated infrastructures geared for future E-MED applications. This session will address these technological challenges and recent development topics such as new mobile, Internet and other roaming technologies for telemedical applications. It will also discuss the potential of new approaches and access methodologies that will allow such integration and empowerment of the next generation of integrated telemedical systems. Special Session: Telemedicine - Homecare Evaluation of Diabetes Elderly Patients: A Coordinated Effort Between Government, Industry and AcademiaOrganizer and Panel Chair: Dr. Luis G. KunActing Chief Information Technology Officer National Immunization Program, CDC, USA
Edited from ABC News 3/20/2000:
Largest Government EffortThe grant from the Health Care Financing Administration is the largest telemedicine effort the federal government has ever funded. The project gives patients free personal computers, Internet access and health monitoring equipment. The study will recruit 1500 patients from northern Manhattan and parts of upstate, including Syracuse, Elmira, Watertown and Olean. Half of the participants will receive the computers and diagnostic equipment. The other half will continue with only the usual care from their doctors. The project includes a control group so doctors can compare health care costs and benefits between the two groups.
Health at HomeTelemedicine offers two advantages for patients. They will have access to comprehensive information from an expanded American Diabetes Association Web site and limitless chances to receive treatment. Patients with computers will have use of a blood-sugar monitoring device, an automatic blood pressure cuff and a camera hooked up to the computer. The camera will allow doctors to look at patients' skin lesions without requiring patients to leave their homes. After receiving training, patients will check their blood sugar, blood pressure and other factors and enter the data into a secure Web site for analysis by doctors at Upstate. Patients will receive information through their computers on how to manage their disease. If a patient's data falls outside of an acceptable range, an automatic alert will be sent via the Internet to a doctor or nurse. In New York alone, nearly 1 million people over the age of 40 suffer from diabetes. It is estimated that the federal government could save more than $250 million yearly in health care costs through early intervention in diabetes treatment. The project will be used as a model to develop more effective treatments for other diseases, such as depression, obesity, asthma and heart failure.
Panelists Round Table: Research Networks in Biomedical Sciences (RNBS)Organizer and Panel Chair: Sandor Vari, M.D.Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA During the World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, on July 26, 2000 in the Special Session "Towards Global Information Infrastructure: Facilitating International Partnerships and Collaborations", the participants agreed to continue the discussions that transpired, for implementing Research Networks in Biomedical Sciences (RNBS) using state of the art information technologies. The available information technologies (WWW, Internet, e-mail) are rapidly changing our traditional research collaboration and opening new opportunities for individual scholars and organizations to collaborate in the virtual way, without physically moving from his or her laboratories or study rooms. The Round Table is moderated by Dr. Sandor Vari who has extensive experience in project management and research administration in the European Union Research and Technology Development, NIH and DoD SBIR projects. A recommendation will be presented for further discussions as to how we could move from the particular agency awards to the team or network type collaboration and thematic awards based on networks among US and non-US universities, organizations and scholars. Presentations:
Round Table Discussion
Moderator: Sandor G. Vari Invited Panelists:
Round Table: NeuroinformaticsOrganizer and Panel Chair: Francesco BeltrameProfessor of Biomedical Enginering DIST - University of Genoa, Genoa, ITALY
Participants: Stephan Koslow, Ph.D, NIH, USA Over the past few years, in the context of the OECD Megascience Forum, the topic of Neuroinformatics was tackled by the Working Group on Biological Informatics. The group was established in 1996, and provided its defining report (http://www.oecd.org.dsti/mega) to the Forum in January 1999. In the report, the new field of Neuroinformatics (NI) was defined as "the combination of neuroscience and information sciences to develop and apply advanced tools and approaches essential for a major advancement in understanding the structure and function of the brain". The report concluded with several recommendations and a work plan to further nurture this field. The ultimate goal is to create a global Knowledge Management (KM) system for all data relating to nervous system function. The January 1999 Forum meeting affirmed NI as a highly important emerging field. The Forum also requested a clearer justification and a more precise plan for the continued work of the NI Subgroup under the Global Science Forum (GSF). In January 2000 this plan was submitted to the OECD Global Science Forum and a Working Group on Neuroinformatics, named GSF-NI, was approved and established by the OECD with a two year mandate. GSF-NI will focus on the following three main objectives:
The Round Table will provide the opportunity to disseminate this international effort to the ITAB-ITIS 2000 scientific community and promote the Neuroinformatics area in all its aspects (scientific, socio-economic, health-related, industrial and educational ones). In particular, the Internet gateway planned for neuroinformatic data (the Neuroinformatics Portal), which will give researchers access to data and applications at various level of detail and sophistication, will be introduced and discussed, with the aim to devise common standards and procedures for the various neuroinformatics databases and software programs scattered around the world. Special Workshop: Networking the Evaluation of Surgical SimulationOrganizer and Chair: Dr. Simon Grange MB ChB, FRCS, European Research Fellow in EducationThe Royal College of Surgeons of England, London, UNITED KINGDOM Tel: +44 (0) 1173 778 109 Fax: +44 (0) 1179 044 970 E-mail: simon@virtualsurgery.com Advances in technologies are creating many new possibilities for the development of systems for Surgical Simulation. These systems could potentially revolutionize methods of surgical training in medical schools and professional practice. In parallel with these technical developments there are emerging calls for the establishment of quantifiable standards of surgical skill. Surgical Simulation Environments are often seen as playing a key role within the development and testing of such standards. A further important area of interest for these technologies is the exploration of the limitations of practical surgical skill. The understanding of such limitations will potentially play a significant role in the development of advanced devices to assist in increasingly sophisticated surgical procedures. The evolution of surgical simulation is calling on experiences from many different disciplines. Research involves the skills of clinicians, computer scientists and engineers, educators and psychologists. At this important time in the development of these systems it is especially important to foster links between interested academic and industrial communities. Tentative Workshop Topics:
Tentative Plenary Speakers:
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