Real-time quality control of nuchal translucency measurements using the exponentially weighted moving average chart.

Objective: The establishment of ongoing audits for first-trimester nuchal translucency (NT) measurements is of paramount importance. The exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) chart has been published as an efficient tool for NT quality control with the advantages of being suitable for real-time long-term monitoring. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of real-time NT quality control using EWMA charts.

[Data analysis: challenges and specifics in neuroscience and psychiatry].

The amount of available data relevant for clinical decision support is rising not only rapidly but at the same time much faster than our ability to analyze and interpret them. Thus, the potential of the data to contribute to determining the diagnosis, therapy and prognosis of an individual patient is not appropriately exploited. The hopes to obtain benefit from the data for an individual patient must be accompanied by a reliable and diligent biostatistical analysis which faces serious challenges not always clear to non-statisticians.

Tool-supported Interactive Correction and Semantic Annotation of Narrative Clinical Reports.

Objectives: Our main objective is to design a method of, and supporting software for, interactive correction and semantic annotation of narrative clinical reports, which would allow for their easier and less erroneous processing outside their original context: first, by physicians unfamiliar with the original language (and possibly also the source specialty), and second, by tools requiring structured information, such as decision-support systems. Our additional goal is to gain insights into the process of narrative report creation, including the errors and ambiguities arising therein, and also into the process of report annotation by clinical terms. Finally, we also aim to provide a dataset of ground-truth transformations (specific for Czech as the source language), set up by expert physicians, which can be reused in the future for subsequent analytical studies and for training automated transformation procedures.

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.

Exponentially weighted moving average chart as a suitable tool for nuchal translucency quality review.

Objectives: This study aimed to design an exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) chart for the quality review of nuchal translucency (NT) and to assess its performance compared with the methods currently in use: retrospective distribution-based methods and the cumulative sum (CUSUM) chart.

Methods: The EWMA model was designed for NT quality review using simulation. The NT measurements obtained during routine first-trimester screening in our centre over a two-and-a-half-year period were retrieved from the database.

Medical decision support and medical informatics education: roots, methods and applications in czechoslovakia and the czech republic.

The paper describes the history of medical informatics in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. It focuses on the topics of medical informatics education and decision support methods and systems. Several conferences held in Czechoslovakia and in the Czech Republic organized in cooperation with IMIA or EFMI are described.

System for selecting relevant information for decision support.

We implemented a prototype of a decision support system called SIR which has a form of a web-based classification service for diagnostic decision support. The system has the ability to select the most relevant variables and to learn a classification rule, which is guaranteed to be suitable also for high-dimensional measurements. The classification system can be useful for clinicians in primary care to support their decision-making tasks with relevant information extracted from any available clinical study.

Explaining the decline in coronary heart disease mortality in the Czech Republic between 1985 and 2007.

Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality has declined substantially in the Czech Republic over the last two decades.

Design: The purpose of this study was to determine what proportion of this CHD mortality decline could be associated with temporal trends in major CHD risk factors and what proportion with advances in medical and surgical treatments.

Methods: The validated IMPACT mortality model was used to combine and analyse data on uptake and effectiveness of CHD management and risk factor trends in the Czech Republic in adults aged 25-74 years between 1985 and 2007.

Multiple disciplines synergy tools for Ph.D. Students of biomedical informatics at Charles University in Prague.

The poster describes doctoral degree studies in biomedical informatics at Charles University in Prague. Particularly important in educational programmes and knowledge dissemination is the role of Internet. Therefore we also describe special activities concerned with the specific research at the First Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Prague.

Health data collecting and sharing: case studies of Czech e-health applications.

The paper shows the importance of e-health applications for electronic healthcare development. It describes several e-health applications for health data collecting and sharing that are running in the Czech Republic. These are IZIP system, electronic health record MUDR and K4CARE project applications.

Rare allelic variants determine folate status in an unsupplemented European population.

The role of folates as coenzymes in 1-carbon metabolism and the clinical consequences of disturbed folate metabolism are widely known. Folate status is a complex trait determined by both exogenous and endogenous factors. This study analyzed the association between 12 genetic variants and folate status in a Czech population with no folate fortification program.

Measuring diversity in medical reports based on categorized attributes and international classification systems.

Background: Narrative medical reports do not use standardized terminology and often bring insufficient information for statistical processing and medical decision making. Objectives of the paper are to propose a method for measuring diversity in medical reports written in any language, to compare diversities in narrative and structured medical reports and to map attributes and terms to selected classification systems.

Methods: A new method based on a general concept of f-diversity is proposed for measuring diversity of medical reports in any language.

EuroMISE Center: research and education in biomedical and healthcare informatics.

EuroMISE Center was established in the year 1994bas the joint workplace of Charles University in Prague and Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic with the support of the European project focused on higher education in methodology field of healthcare. Nowadays, the EuroMISE Center is working as the joint workplace of five organizations. We describe in more details history and nowadays activities of the EuroMISE Center in the field of research, higher education and e3 Health applications.

Dental implants and improvement of oral health-related quality of life.

Objectives: Oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) is a multifaceted field involving many factors. The aim of our study was to assess whether implant therapy improves OHRQoL in dental patients.

Methods: Patients receiving at least one implant completed a health-related questionnaire before and after the implantation (minimum 1.

Evaluation of possibilities in demographic data exchange support in Czech healthcare.

This paper summarizes the evaluation of two standardized approaches to implementation of messages for demographic data exchange between the preventive cardiology outpatient department located at the Institute of Computer Science AS CR, v.v.i.

Anatomical study of position of the TVT-O to the obturator nerve influenced by the position of the legs during the procedure: based upon findings at formalin-embalmed and fresh-frozen bodies.

Purpose: Groin pain is one of the complications after TVT-O procedure. The aim was to examine the position and safety of the tape after TVT-O procedure.

Methods: We inserted TVT-O in 14 formalin-embalmed bodies with legs malpositioned (group 1) and in 5 fresh-frozen bodies with legs malpositioned (group 2) and in 5 fresh-frozen bodies with legs correctly positioned (group 3).

TVT-S in the U position--anatomical study.

Introduction And Hypothesis: The objective is to describe the anatomical position of tension-free vaginal tape Secur (TVT-S) in the U position regarding possible injury and fixation site.

Methods: We placed TVT-S inserters bilaterally in 13 embalmed and five fresh frozen female bodies. After dissection, we measured distances from the obturator bundle.

Challenges of interoperability using HL7 v3 in Czech healthcare.

The paper describes several classification systems that could improve patient safety through semantic interoperability among contemporary electronic health record systems (EHR-Ss) with support of the HL7 v3 standard. We describe a proposal and a pilot implementation of a semantic interoperability platform (SIP) interconnecting current EHR-Ss by using HL7 v3 messages and concepts mappings on most widely used classification systems. The increasing number of classification systems and nomenclatures requires designing of various conversion tools for transfer between main classification systems.

Allele frequency data for 17 short tandem repeats in a Czech population sample.

Allele frequencies for 17 short tandem repeats (STRs) autosomal loci (D2S1338, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D19S433, D21S11, CSF1PO, FGA, PentaD, PentaE, TH01, TPOX, vWA) were studied in an extensive sample (max. N=1411) of unrelated individuals originating from the Czech Republic. Population and forensic parameters were estimated.

Task force of the EFMI journals: background, rationale and purpose.

The paper presents an analysis of how EFMI disseminates new knowledge and the active medical informatics journals in EFMI member countries was carried out as an outcome of the EFMI Council meeting in London in 2008. The analysis identifies eight active major informatics journals and a several other publications. Most are subscription-based and are published at least quarterly.

Empowering clinicians by eHealth technologies in decision-making tasks.

We present three types of eHealth applications that can enhance quality of clinical decision-making. Formalized electronic medical guidelines are bringing medical knowledge close to clinicians. eHealth tools for evaluation knowledge and competency in a given clinical decision-making problem are demonstrated by systems ExaMe and TECOM.

Anatomical relationship and fixation of tension-free vaginal tape Secur.

Objective: The objective is to describe the anatomical localisation of tension-free vaginal tape Secur (TVT-S) in the H-position regarding possible injury of vessels and fixation site.

Methods: We placed TVT-S inserters bilaterally in 14 embalmed and five fresh frozen female bodies. After dissection, we measured distances from the obturator bundle (obturator nerve and obturator vessels).

Effect of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2,-bis (4-chlorophenyl)-ethane (DDT) in follicular fluid on the results of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) programs.

Objective: To establish the effect of chlorinated organic compounds on fertility.

Design: We analyzed the influence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and pesticides in follicular fluid on the number of fertilized oocytes, the quality of oocytes and embryos, pregnancy rate, and number of embryos cryoconserved in IVF-ET program.

Setting: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Charles University, First Faculty of Medicine and General Teaching Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic.