(Press-News.org) The current edition of JAMIA, today's top-ranked journal in biomedical and health informatics, features new scientific research—in print and online—on some of healthcare's most hotly discussed HIT-related topics, written by prominent experts working in health and biomedicine:
"The case for randomized controlled trials to assess the impact of clinical information
systems" Joseph L. Y. Liu of The University of Dundee and The University of Edinburgh, UK; and Jeremy C. Wyatt of University of Warwick and The University of Dundee, UK, provide a perspective on the critical role of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) in the assessment of clinical information systems. The authors make a compelling case that clinical information systems can be very influential in determining clinical outcomes; therefore, they should be subject to the same rigorous evaluation standards as other types of clinical interventions, such as medications and procedures.
"The military health system's personal health record pilot with Microsoft HealthVault and Google Health" Lead author Nhan V. Do of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and co-authors describe the encouraging results of a pilot study on the usage of personal health records (PHRs) and users' perceptions. The results show that concerns about privacy are not an impediment for use, and that patients perceive benefits in using PHRs that are not tied to a particular healthcare system.
"Use of electronic clinical documentation: time spent and team interactions" Lead author George Hripcsak of Columbia University Medical Center and co-authors report on whether notes from an electronic health records are utilized—and how—by members of clinical teams. Clinicians spent an average of 54 min/day authoring and 21 min/day viewing notes at one academic medical center, yet research indicates that a significant number of these notes were never viewed. The authors speculate that oral communication at turn of shifts may obviate the role of certain written notes for immediate care.
Editor-in-Chief Lucila Ohno-Machado says, "We have broadened the scope of the journal to encompass all areas of biomedical and health informatics and look forward to receiving submissions which represent research, applications, reviews, and perspectives in a variety of topics."
Associate Editor Harold Lehmann adds that, "Our collective contributions in biomedical and health informatics can have a strong impact on health care in the U.S. and abroad."
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JAMIA is interested in under-represented topics, say the two editors, such as those related to public health, and those meant to inform, educate, and empower people about health issues. "Certainly more research exists about public health informatics beyond what is currently published," Drs. Ohno-Machado and Lehmann agree.
JAMIA is jointly published by AMIA and the BMJ Group. It has the highest impact factor of any journal in its category. Its content appears online at www.jamia.org
AMIA, as the voice of the biomedical and health informatics community, plays an important role in medicine, health care, and science, encouraging the use of data, information and knowledge to improve both human health and delivery of healthcare services. AMIA is an unbiased, authoritative source of information within the professional informatics community and the health care industry, committed to driving health improvements and improving health care delivery.
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Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Weill Cornell Medical College have designed artificial "protocells" that can lure, entrap and inactivate a class of deadly human viruses—think decoys with teeth. The technique offers a new research tool that can be used to study in detail the mechanism by which viruses attack cells, and might even become the basis for a new class of antiviral drugs.
A new paper* details how the novel artificial cells achieved a near 100 percent success rate in deactivating experimental analogs of Nipah ...
Bruce Ramsey, CEO of Heirloom Fund Management Ltd. (the "Manager") is pleased to announce the launch of the Heirloom Caribbean Real Estate Fund (the "Fund").
The Fund's principal investment objective is to provide investors with capital appreciation and income by investing in a diversified portfolio of real estate projects and assets in the Caribbean Region and in Latin American countries whose shores are bounded on the Caribbean Sea.
The Fund focuses on investing in a diversified portfolio of income properties and development properties of varying risk profiles and ...
Before you can build that improved turbojet engine, before you can create that longer-lasting battery, you have to ensure all the newfangled materials in it will behave the way you want—even under conditions as harsh as the upper atmosphere at supersonic speed, or the churning chemistry of an ion cell. Now computer scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have improved software* that can take much of the guesswork out of tough materials problems like these.
The software package, OOF (Object-Oriented Finite element analysis) is a specialized ...
A powerful scientific tool for selecting cost-effective and environmentally preferable building products is now available as a free, web-based application. Developed and maintained by the National Institute Standards and Technology (NIST), BEES (Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability) Online is based on consensus standards and designed to be practical, flexible and transparent.
bees onlineThe web-based version allows easier access for users and will enable new building products to be added to the database as the information becomes available.
BEES originally ...
A new mouse model closely resembles how the human body reacts to early HIV infection and is shedding light on nerve cell damage related to the disease, according to researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The study in today's Journal of Neuroscience demonstrates that HIV infection of the nervous system leads to inflammatory responses, changes in brain cells, and damage to neurons. This is the first study to show such neuronal loss during initial stages of HIV infection in a mouse model.
The study was conducted by a team of scientists from the University ...
It takes just 10 new paid members to win your choice of an Apple iPad, a stripper pole and stage, or a trip for two to the annual Vegas swingers takeover. Kasidie.com's "Spring Promotion and Membership Drive" gives a bonus to the recently launched affiliate program.
"We are excited to launch this contest, especially since everyone can win," said Darren Hurst, Kasidie's VP of Affiliate Programs, "and of course the prizes are in addition to the high paying revenue share program so our partners can get these great prizes along with their affiliate payments." Contest details ...
BOZEMAN, Mont. –- Solar scientists from around the world were puzzled when sunspots recently disappeared for more than two years, but a former Montana State University physics graduate student and two collaborators have solved the mystery.
In the process, they found a way to predict the next lapse in solar activity, which will help people who oversee communication systems or plan long trips into space, said MSU solar physicist Piet Martens.
Dibyendu Nandi, Andres Munoz-Jaramillo and Martens published a paper in the March 3 issue of Nature that they said explained for ...
Lower potassium levels in the blood may help explain why African-Americans are twice as likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes as whites, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers.
The findings, if confirmed, suggest that part of diabetes prevention may someday prove as easy as taking a cheap potassium supplement.
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A retrovirus that inserted itself into the human genome thousands of years ago may be responsible for some cases of the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gherig's disease. The finding, made by Johns Hopkins scientists, may eventually give researchers a new way to attack this universally fatal condition.
While roughly 20 percent of ALS cases appear to have a genetic cause, the vast majority of cases appear to arise sporadically, with no known trigger. Research groups searching for a cause of this so-called sporadic form had ...
An international consortium of researchers led by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) genetically characterises almost all Spanish patients and studies the clinical impact of the mutations.
The study describes over 130 pathogenic mutations and the origins and world distribution of some of the most frequent mutations.
The predominant genetic mutation originated in Europe thousands of years ago and later migrated to America. The Canary island of La Palma and Brazil, with a high prevalence of the disease, were two areas in which the mutation spread widely.
A consortium ...
