Apps for Research and Research with Apps - Taking Inventory.

Approaches for medical research involving apps are manifold. On the one hand, apps for various health related purposes, e.g.

Evaluation of mHealth Applications Security Based on Application Permissions.

The presented study covers the evaluation of ratings of a set of 1080 applications classified as "top apps" for the two categories "Medicine" and "Health & Fitness" as they are available on Google's Play Store. Within the evaluation, the manifest files and source code of the applications were analyzed in order to reveal whether the requested set of permissions correspond to the ones really utilized by the apps and whether they surpass what is necessary. For many apps, the declarations in the manifest file do not match what is specified in the source code, raising the question of whether this may be an indication of questionable app quality with a potentially negative impact on the safety and reliability of mHealth related apps.

Evaluation of mHealth Applications Quality Based on User Ratings.

The presented study covers the evaluation of ratings of a sample set of 46,430 medical applications available on Google's Play Store. It was discovered that the distribution of user ratings given to applications has a log-normal form and has a correlation with many application characteristics one would not expect to be directly related, among others the time of the last update of the app, the app vocabulary as well as descriptions. Popular applications with a large number of downloads and reviews tend to have average ratings, while the ratings of rarely downloaded apps tend to be either highly positive or negative.

mHealth Apps and Their Risks - Taking Stock.

Despite the popularity of health related apps and the great potential they hold for improving health care, the risks as well as potential hazards posed by such apps are often not adequately appreciated by users. Based on an analysis of scientific literature as well as anecdotal evidence, this contribution addresses the most common risks and pitfalls of health related apps (e.g.

Concepts for Quality Assurance of Health Related Apps.

The growing number and variety of available mobile health apps makes it increasingly difficult for users to identify apps that match their needs and are safe and trustworthy. Based on the results of a non-systematic search process (internet, PubMed) using terms related to quality and health apps, the presented work aims at giving a short overview over and categorizing existing approaches for assessing and rating the quality of apps to be used in health related contexts.

Classification of Health Related Applications.

Although there is a large number of health related apps available in the stores of the major mobile platforms, the stores do not really offer clear definitions of what health related apps are and how they can be categorized. A similar picture is found in literature. Here, many proposals covering different app related aspects have been published, but often, these only cover a narrow field.

My Home Is My Hospital on Recent Research on Health-Enabling Technologies.

During the last years there has been considerable progress in the area of health-enabling and ambient assistive technologies (HEAAT). Based on HEAAT, there is the chance that health care and preventive health will more and more take place again in a person's home. The objective of this essay is to report about this progress and to point out and discuss consequences, mainly by referring to a publication in the IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2016 about "Health-Enabling and Ambient Assistive Technologies: Past, Present, Future".

Use and Acceptance of Mobile Technology by Hospital Nurses in Germany.

Introduction: The aim of the study was to measure and describe user behavior, information and communication technology (ICT) competence and technology acceptance of hospital nurses.

Methods: 36 nurses received for six weeks a mobile phone or a tablet pc with mobile application and answered one questionnaire before and after the six weeks.

Results: The participating nurses show a high technology acceptance and private daily use of technologies.

Smart Glasses in Nursing Training - Redundant Gadget or Precious Tool? A Pilot Study.

Introduction: Heavy workloads in nursing care and high employee turnover call for efficient methods to support on-the-job training. Within the Witra Care project - aiming to develop mobile technologies to support knowledge transfer between experienced and inexperienced nurses - the objective was to investigate the feasibility and perceived usefulness of advanced smart glasses for an exemplary, specific activity in nursing training - preparation of a surgical instrument table in an operating room.

Methods: Four trainee nurses performed different tasks using speech-command operated smart glasses within an operating room setting and were asked for their expectations towards this technology, their experiences and perceptions.

Knowledge Transfer in Health Care Through Digitally Collecting Learning Experiences - Results of Witra Care.

Introduction: The goal of the project Witra Care was to investigate how far the use of mobile technology is suitable to collect experience-based knowledge of nurses.

Methods: Nine new employees and seven experienced nurses received for six weeks a mobile phone or a tablet pc with a mobile application that allowed them to collect learning object as pictures, videos, audio files or notes.

Results: In Witra Care the nurses created 303 learning objects.

Prevention strategies for blood-borne viruses-in the Era of vaccines, direct acting antivirals and antiretroviral therapy.

Blood-borne viruses, such as hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, human immunodeficiency virus, and the facultative blood-borne hepatitis E virus, are considered a major public health problem given that they are accountable for millions of deaths each year. Treatment options, including effective vaccine design, development of antiviral strategies and the implementation of antiretroviral therapy have improved substantially over the last couple of years and contribute to successful treatment and prevention of these infectious diseases. In this review, we summarise the current knowledge and concepts in prevention of transmission of these blood-borne viruses.

Physical Activity, Decision-Making Abilities, and Eating Disturbances in Pre- and Postbariatric Surgery Patients.

Background: Physical activity (PA) is considered to have a beneficial influence on executive functioning, including decision-making. Enhanced decision-making after bariatric surgery may strengthen patients' ability to delay gratification, helping to establish appropriate eating behavior. The objectives of this study were to (1) compare a preoperative group with a postoperative group with regard to daily PA, decision-making, and eating disturbances; and (2) investigate the relationship between these variables.

Automated Transformation of openEHR Data Instances to OWL.

Standard-based integration and semantic enrichment of clinical data originating from electronic medical records has shown to be critical to enable secondary use. To facilitate the utilization of semantic technologies on clinical data, we introduce a methodology to enable automated transformation of openEHR-based data to Web Ontology Language (OWL) individuals. To test the correctness of the implementation, de-identified data of 229 patients of the pediatric intensive care unit of Hannover Medical School has been transformed into 2.

Improving Bridging from Informatics Theory to Practice.

Background: In 1962, Methods of Information in Medicine (MIM) began to publish papers on the methodology and scientific fundamentals of managing data, information, and knowledge in biomedicine and health care. Meeting an increasing demand for research about practical implementation of health information systems, the journal Applied Clinical Informatics (ACI) was launched in 2009. Both journals are official journals of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA).

Activators and stimulators of soluble guanylate cyclase counteract myofibroblast differentiation of prostatic and dermal stromal cells.

Background: Fibrotic diseases encompass numerous systemic and organ-specific disorders characterized by the development and persistence of myofibroblasts. TGFβ1 is considered the key inducer of fibrosis and drives myofibroblast differentiation in cells of diverse histological origin by a pro-oxidant shift in redox homeostasis associated with decreased nitric oxide (NO)/cGMP signaling. Thus, enhancement of NO/cGMP represents a potential therapeutic strategy to target myofibroblast activation and therefore fibrosis.

The Night Eating Syndrome (NES) in Bariatric Surgery Patients.

The night eating syndrome (NES) has been included into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 as an example of an 'other-specified feeding or eating disorder'. The prevalence of NES has found to be higher in obese populations than in the general population and seems to rise with increasing body mass index. Recent studies suggest a prevalence of 2%-20% in bariatric surgery samples.

An HL7-FHIR-based Object Model for a Home-Centered Data Warehouse for Ambient Assisted Living Environments.

Current AAL environments focus on assisting a single person with seperated technologies. There is no interoperability between sub-domains in home environments, like building energy management or housing industry services. BASIS (Building Automation by a Scalable and Intelligent System) aims to integrate all sensors and actuators into a single, efficient home bus.

iSignIT - Communication App and Concept for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

In medical settings, those who are deaf or hard of hearing and have to rely on sign language are often at a disadvantage when they want to communicate with doctors or other caretakers. Professional translators are not always available. To alleviate the problems, a mobile phrasebook for communication between affected patients and their caretakers was designed and implemented in form of the iSignIT-app.

Do Ethics Need to be Adapted to mHealth?

Available codes of ethics do not always adequately address questions arising from the contingent use of new technologies. In medical and health related settings, this manifests itself in the context of mHealth projects, where often, devices not specifically designed for such purposes, e.g.

AppFactLib - A Concept for Providing Transparent Information about Health Apps and Medical Apps.

Users often have to rely on incomplete or marketing oriented information sources when they have to decide whether they trust an app they are interested in or not since official quality seals are lacking. While various tools exist that aim at aiding users with assessing an app's quality, using them is often cumbersome; also, the available information is often insufficient for applying these tools and making an informed decision. Based on an approach we previously described, i.

Benefits and Barriers of E-Learning for Staff Training in a Medical University.

Learning Management Systems (LMS) are a feasible solution to fulfill the various requirements for e-learning based training in a medical university. Using the LMS ILIAS, the Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology has designed an e-learning unit about data protection, which has been used by 73% of the department's employees in the first three months. To increase the use of e-learning for staff training, it is necessary to identify barriers and benefits, which encourage the use of e-learning.

What is the optimal rate of caesarean section at population level? A systematic review of ecologic studies.

In 1985, WHO stated that there was no justification for caesarean section (CS) rates higher than 10-15% at population-level. While the CS rates worldwide have continued to increase in an unprecedented manner over the subsequent three decades, concern has been raised about the validity of the 1985 landmark statement. We conducted a systematic review to identify, critically appraise and synthesize the analyses of the ecologic association between CS rates and maternal, neonatal and infant outcomes.

Developing a mobile application for recording learning experiences in nursing practice.

Objective: In complex clinical on-the-job training a seamless and target-oriented incorporation is crucial to assure a good medical care. The reliable transmission of specific and relevant facts, besides education knowledge, is a key factor to ensure sustainable quality in care processes.

Materials And Methods: We present the clinical field study WITRA care.