Article • Stress-free data management
Coming your way: Vendor neutral archives
Vendor Neutral Archives (VNA) will become an integral part of every hospital in the near future. So what’s a VNA?
Data management
Article • Risks
Managing the threats of cybercrime
Cases of cybercrime are growing every year, demonstrating a threat scenario not just in the private area, for banks or companies, but also for insurance companies, because criminals steal data and whole databanks with private information. At this years’ HIMSS, Stephen Cobb, Senior Security Researcher at ESET North America, speaks about the growing risk and the need to manage such health IT…
Article • Security
We need to go into clouds
Cloud computing offers various benefits but also entails some risks. Nevertheless hospitals need to adopt new ways to simplify work processes and enhance care.
Article • Teamplay
Big data and computer-assisted diagnoses
One thing is certain in big data discussions: Intelligent machines will change our world considerably. What is less certain is exactly how these changes will look. Although networked data processing offers many opportunities, its development is still in the early stages.
Interview • Patient portal
‘It is happening now!’
Two years ago European Hospital spoke with Hans Vandewyngaerde, President for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for Agfa HealthCare, about a sweeping vision the company called ‘Images without Boundaries’. The idea was to build a capability to share images from anywhere to anyone involved in a patient’s care.
Article • Algorithm
Deep-learning software
MRI, CT, pathology: doctors have to consider medical image data – increasing in both amount and complexity – to perform diagnoses and monitor therapy. The Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS in Bremen is creating a new approach to provide effective assistance.
News • Real-life applications
Brain monitoring takes a leap out of the lab
Bioengineers and cognitive scientists have developed the first portable, 64-channel wearable brain activity monitoring system that’s comparable to state-of-the-art equipment found in research laboratories.
News • There's an app for that
An easy, fast and reliable way to record causes of death
Researchers from the University of Melbourne have developed a revolutionary new app to capture accurate global cause of death data on tablets and mobile phones.
News • VenomKB
World's first therapeutic venom database
What doesn't kill you could cure you. A growing interest in the therapeutic value of animal venom has led a pair of Columbia University data scientists to create the first catalog of known animal toxins and their physiological effects on humans.
News • RSNA 2015
Breast MRI after mammography may identify additional aggressive cancers
Additional breast cancers found with MRI are sometimes larger and potentially more aggressive than those found on mammography, according to a study published online in the journal Radiology.
News • Genetics
Big Data tool to reveal immune system role in diseases
Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Princeton University have designed a new online tool that predicts the role of key proteins and genes in diseases of the human immune system. Called “ImmuNet,” details of the publically available resource were published online in the journal Immunity.
Interview • Systems medicine
IT is a resource just like water or energy
Systems medicine – the interdisciplinary field incorporating biochemical, physiological and environmental interactions in the study of human body systems as part of an integrated whole – draws heavily on the technological advances in information technology (IT). New ways to use data impact on healthcare and society, says Professor Dr Heyo Kroemer, Dean of the Medical School, Georg August…
Article • Network science
Discovering what causes diseases
Systems biology allows the mathematical visualisation through graphs and networks of complex body processes such as disease development. The aim is to improve understanding processes and triggers of diseases, so as to access and repair a damaged network. ‘We are still approaching this issue with a lot of naivety and underestimate the complexity of biological systems, and therefore of…
Interview • Research
The future for big data in medicine
‘In IT we often casually say that Big Data is exactly what we can’t do yet,’ said Professor Christoph Meinel, President of Germany’s Hasso-Plattner-Institute, ruefully. We asked the computer science expert about the potential of big data in medicine and medical research.
Article • Danish experience
A national digital pathology system
A national digital pathology system across Denmark has helped to significantly improve efficiency and raise levels of patient safety. It has used advanced computer software systems and created a countrywide database to optimise the assessment of patients’ specimens. Report: Mark Nicholls
Article • Data sharing
The LAW of the Lab
First they fixed the cables to hard-wire a faster data transfer from laboratory instruments. Now a coalition of the largest manufacturers of lab equipment for patient diagnostic tests have agreed on shared protocols for how software should report results. This is the first update to international standards in 20 years.
News • Apple
New app to recruit and track patients in clinical study
By providing tools to allow users to be more productive in working with healthcare big data, several Silicon Valley giants hope to increase their presence in medical services. The latest company to enter the field is Apple Computers. In March it announced the availability of ResearchKit, an open-source software framework that turns the iPhone into a research tool.
Article • Prostate radiological
‘We need more feedback’
What you see is what you get - unfortunately, this doesn’t always apply in cancer imaging. Why is it that something which looks conspicuous on an image later turns out not to be a tumour? Why, on the other hand, are things overlooked that later turn out to be cancer? Pathological findings are extremely important to help improve diagnostic precision in radiology. Both disciplines therefore…
Article • Drawing radiology and nuclear medicine together
‘Let’s work as a team!’
Dr Gerald Antoch, professor of radiology and chairman of the department of diagnostic and interventional radiology at Düsseldorf University Hospital and active member of several scientific societies, delivered the prestigious Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen Honorary Lecture at ECR 2015 on ‘Hybrid imaging: Let the two worlds of radiology and nuclear medicine come together’. Report: Marcel Rasch
Article • Infectious diseases
Carrying home a nosocomial infection
About 6-8% of Spanish patients will develop an infection during or after a hospital stay. Can these infections be avoided? How is Spain facing up to the challenge? Dr Juan Pablo Horcajada, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, and spokesperson of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC), assessed the situation and…
News • Transformation
Interoperability among Connected Medical Devices Can Transform Healthcare
Connected health infrastructure is emerging as a binding agent for diverse devices and workflows, aiding diagnosis, monitoring and prevention in the healthcare industry. For such an infrastructure to be efficient, stakeholders must first ensure that interoperability and connectivity standards are in place.
News • Cancer research
New data analysis techniques
Patience and persistence are beginning to pay off for University of Montana Professor Mark Grimes, whose research about the behavior of cell proteins in childhood cancer recently was published by the Public Library of Science Computational Biology.
Sponsored • Automation
Scottish NHS group endorses automation
It’s thumbs up for Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics’ Aptio Automation, following a two-year deployment by Dundee-based National Health Service (NHS) Dundee, the first north European healthcare organisation to use the system to consolidate formerly siloed biochemistry, immunology, haematology and haemostasis testing onto a single automation track.
Article • HIMSS 2015
Education and Networking
Healthcare professionals looking at leveraging data to improve patient outcomes, as well as navigating tricky issues such as cybersecurity and patient engagement, will have plenty of information at their fingertips at HIMSS 2015, which takes place from April 12 to 16 in Chicago. Report: Lisa Chamoff
Researchers create 'Wikipedia' for neurons
The decades worth of data that has been collected about the billions of neurons in the brain is astounding. To help scientists make sense of this "brain big data," researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have used data mining to create a publicly available website that acts like Wikipedia, indexing physiological information about neurons.
