Factors Influencing the Evolution of Topics in Biomedical Informatics.

Our study contributes to the history of international medical informatics through investigating the thematic evolution of the MEDINFO conferences during a period of consolidation and expansion of the discipline. The themes are examined and potential factors influencing the evolutionary developments are discussed.

Adding Sound to Medical Data.

Medical data can be represented in various forms. The most common is visualization, but recent work started to also add sonic representation - sonification. In this study we start with a theoretical background, then focus on medical applications.

Evolution of Interdisciplinarity in Medical Informatics in Europe: Patterns from Intertwining Histories.

The IMIA History project book we are co-editing with colleagues from the IMIA History Working Group includes histories of early contributions to medical and healthcare informatics, as described by a sample of pioneers and experts, detailing how their own ideas developed from their work on various topics in the field at the beginnings of their contributions to the field. Its contents serve as a preliminary guide for meta-analyses of how the different contributors state their personal interdisciplinary origins from today's perspectives. In this short article we provide a brief preview of how an analysis of disciplinary characteristics from individual histories can begin to shed light on processes of interdisciplinary evolution of medical informatics in Europe.

Roots of Interdisciplinarity in European Medical Informatics.

The roots of interdisciplinary of medical informatics are sought through the analysis of the themes approached by the pioneers of this field. The data included in the study comes mostly from "personal stories" of European these scientists collected by IMIA WG History as well as from some biographical notes. Most researchers came from the technical-scientific field, but the double specialization was very common.

50th Anniversary International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) History Working Group and Its Projects.

The IMIA History Working Group has as its first goal the editing of a volume of contributions from pioneers and leaders in the field of biomedical and health informatics (BMHI) to commemorate the 50th anniversary of IMIA's predecessor IFIP-TC4. This paper describes how the IMIA History WG evolved from an earlier Taskforce, and has focused on producing the edited book of original contributions. We describe its proposed outline of objectives for the personal stories, and national and regional society narratives, together with some comments on the evolution of Medinfo meeting contributions over the years, to provide a reference source for the early motivations of the scientific, clinical, educational, and professional changes that have influenced the historical course of our field.

Adding Sound to ECG.

This poster presents preliminary results of a project aiming to develop tools for adding sound associated to medical data for potential medical applications. Sonification procedures, the methodology used for testing various sonic representations of ECG, and the results are presented.

Methods for Sonic Representation of ST Depression During Exercise.

Sonic display of ST depression during exercise helps both the patient and the investigator to better identify the transition from normal values to "attention" region and reaching the "alert" threshold. Two types of sonic display were tested, based on combinations of saccadic sounds and different pitch.

Open Innovation Challenge in Healthcare. Role for Education.

The vision of this paper is that collaboration creates new openings for engagement of non-commercial actors, such as universities, in innovation networks on the one hand, while opening up for collaborative innovation, and getting valuable real life anchors on the other hand, all these underpinned by greater connectivity and globalization. We present our approach in re-designing the courses on medical informatics and data processing to meet these challenges by employing public Internet services and media facilitation.

Methods for sonic representation of heart rate during exercise.

Sonic display of HR changes during exercise helps both the patient and the investigator to better identify the transition from rest values to "exercise" zone. then crossing the "attention" threshold and reaching the "alert" threshold. Three types of sonic display were tested, based on combinations of saccadic sounds, different intensities and different pitch.

Teaching bioinformatics to engineers.

The paper refers to our methodology and experience in establishing the content of the course in bioinformatics introduced to the school of "Information Systems in Healthcare" (SIIS), master level. The syllabi of both lectures and laboratory works are presented and discussed.

A Short Factography About IMIA and EFMI.

International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) and European Federation of Medical Informatics are scientific associations which represents Health/Medical informatics as scientific and profesional disciplines. Those associations have long tradition in spreading knowledge, experiences and strategies in organization, practical applications and education within Health, Medical and Biomedical informatics in approximately 60 countries the world. In this review we present basic facts about IMIA and EFMI.

History of medical informatics in europe - a short review by different approach.

The panel intended to collect data, opinions and views for a systematic and multiaxial approach for a comprehensive presentation of "History of Medical Informatics", treating both general (global) characteristics, but emphasizing the particular features for Europe. The topic was not only a subject of large interest but also of great importance in preparing a detailed material for celebration of forty years of medical informatics in Europe. The panel comprised a list of topics, trying to cover all major aspects to be discussed.

Tempolenses with variable magnification for sonic representation of medical data. Application for cardiac signals.

The purpose of this study was to develop the tools and the methodology for a systematic analysis of usefulness of adding sonic representation of data, supplementary to visualization. This paper is mainly dedicated various temporal lenses, including the newly developed lenses with variable magnification, proposed as a tool for a better perception of short events combined with a compression of irrelevant intervals. Sonification procedures are also briefly presented.

EFMI initiatives for inter-regional cooperation: the TrEHRT project.

The paper refers to EFMI's initiatives to develop an international cooperation with different regional groups of IMIA. More details are presented about the successful project "TrEHRT - Traveler's Electronic Health Record Template". Its potential applicability, compact structure and functional simplicity turned this product into a template capable to become an international standard, using mobile phones.

A global travelers' electronic health record template standard for personal health records.

Tourism as well as international business travel creates health risks for individuals and populations both in host societies and home countries. One strategy to reduce health-related risks to travelers is to provide travelers and relevant caregivers timely, ongoing access to their own health information. Many websites offer health advice for travelers.

Developing an interactive approach in teaching medical informatics.

A new masters program in medical informatics is proposed for development at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Timisoara. Given the rapidly changing technology itself and its deployment in biomedical science, the master's program curriculum has to be multidisciplinary, comprehensive and coherent in conveying the concepts, as well as the interdisciplinary character, of medical informatics (MI). We describe the rationale and methods for a pilot study to develop a new, interactive approach in teaching MI.

Building strategies for healthcare information systems.

An overview of the Romanian health information system development at a national scale is presented. A critical analysis of anterior phases tries to explain some of the differences between the expected results and real achievements. A set of principles for the "updated" strategy is proposed and each of them is associate a comment supporting its importance within the frame of present trends.

Milestones in Romanian medical informatics.

The paper concerns the major activities in the field of medical informatics in Romania: education, computer technology, implementation in healthcare, role of industry, IT use in medical applications and research.

Criteria for classification of medical information.

Medical information, which is the central notion in medical informatics, covers a large scale of structures and forms. Several classifications are possible and two criteria have been used in this paper: structural level and informational level. According to structural level we can distinguish three major areas: bioinformatics and neuroinformatics for molecular/cellular level, medical informatics for individual level and health informatics for community level and healthcare units.