A methodology based on openEHR archetypes and software agents for developing e-health applications reusing legacy systems.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: In Pervasive Healthcare, novel information and communication technologies are applied to support the provision of health services anywhere, at anytime and to anyone. Since health systems may offer their health records in different electronic formats, the openEHR Foundation prescribes the use of archetypes for describing clinical knowledge in order to achieve semantic interoperability between these systems. Software agents have been applied to simulate human skills in some healthcare procedures. This paper presents a methodology, based on the use of openEHR archetypes and agent technology, which aims to overcome the weaknesses typically found in legacy healthcare systems, thereby adding value to the systems. METHODS: This methodology was applied in the design of an agent-based system, which was used in a realistic healthcare scenario in which a medical staff meeting to prepare a cardiac surgery has been supported. We conducted experiments with this system in a distributed environment composed by three cardiology clinics and a center of cardiac surgery, all located in the city of Marília (São Paulo, Brazil). We evaluated this system according to the Technology Acceptance Model. RESULTS: The case study confirmed the acceptance of our agent-based system by healthcare professionals and patients, who reacted positively with respect to the usefulness of this system in particular, and with respect to task delegation to software agents in general. The case study also showed that a software agent-based interface and a tools-based alternative must be provided to the end users, which should allow them to perform the tasks themselves or to delegate these tasks to other people. CONCLUSIONS: A Pervasive Healthcare model requires efficient and secure information exchange between healthcare providers. The proposed methodology allows designers to build communication systems for the message exchange among heterogeneous healthcare systems, and to shift from systems that rely on informal communication of actors to a more automated and less error-prone agent-based system. Our methodology preserves significant investment of many years in the legacy systems and allows developers to extend them adding new features to these systems, by providing proactive assistance to the end-users and increasing the user mobility with an appropriate support.

The FAIRness of data management plans: an assessment of some European DMPs / FAIRness dos planos de gestão de dados: uma avaliação de alguns PGDs Europeus / FAIRness de los planes de gestión de datos: una evaluación de algunos PGDs Europeos

The FAIR principles have become a data management instrument for the academic and scientific community, since they provide a set of guiding principles to bring findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability to data and metadata stewardship. Since their official publication in 2016 by Scientific Data ­ Nature, these principles have received worldwide recognition and have been quickly endorsed and adopted as a cornerstone of data stewardship and research policy. However, when put into practice, they occasionally result in organisational, legal and technological challenges that can lead to doubts and uncertainty as to whether the effort of implementing them is worthwhile. Soon after their publication, the European Commission and other funding agencies started to require that project proposals include a Data Management Plan (DMP) based on the FAIR principles. This paper reports on the adherence of DMPs to the FAIR principles, critically evaluating ten European DMP templates. We observed that the current FAIRness of most of these DMPs is only partly satisfactory, in that they address data best practices, findability, accessibility and sometimes preservation, but pay much less attention to metadata and interoperability.

Os princípios FAIR tornaram-se um instrumento de gestão de dados para a comunidade acadêmica e científica, uma vez que fornecem um conjunto de princípios orientadores que facilitam a localização, acessibilidade, interoperabilidade e reutilização de dados e metadados. Desde sua publicação oficial em 2016 pela Scientific Data - Nature, esses princípios receberam reconhecimento mundial e foram rapidamente endossados e adotados como pilares da gestão de dados e das políticas de pesquisa. No entanto, quando postos em prática, apresentam ocasionalmente desafios organizacionais, jurídicos e tecnológicos que podem levar a dúvidas e incertezas quanto ao esforço em implementá-los. Logo após sua publicação, a Comissão Europeia e outras agências de financiamento começaram a exigir nas suas propostas de projetos um Plano de Gestão de Dados (PGD) com base nos princípios da FAIR. Este artigo relata a aderência dos PGDs aos princípios FAIR, avaliando criticamente dez modelos europeus de PGD. Observamos que o nível de FAIRness da maioria dos PGDs analisados ainda é parcialmente satisfatório, uma vez que abordam as melhores práticas de dados, localização, acessibilidade e, às vezes, preservação, mas dão pouca atenção aos metadados e a interoperabilidade.

Los principios FAIR se han convertido en una herramienta de gestión de datos para la comunidad académica y científica, ya que proporcionan un conjunto de principios rectores que facilitan la localización, accesibilidad, interoperabilidad y reutilización de la gestión de datos y metadatos. Desde su publicación oficial en 2016 por Scientific Data - Nature, estos principios han recibido reconocimiento mundial y fueron rápidamente respaldados y adoptados como pilares de la política de investigación y gestión de datos. Sin embargo, cuando se ponen en práctica, ocasionalmente presentan desafíos organizativos, legales y tecnológicos que pueden generar dudas e incertidumbres sobre el esfuerzo para implementarlos. Poco después de su publicación, la Comisión Europea y otras agencias de financiación comenzaron a exigir en sus propuestas de proyectos un Plan de Gestión de Datos (PGD) basado en los principios de FAIR. Este artículo informa sobre la adherencia de los PGD a los principios FAIR, evaluando críticamente diez modelos europeos de PGD. Observamos que el nivel de FAIRness de la mayoría de los PGD analizados sigue siendo parcialmente insatisfactorio, ya que abordan las mejores prácticas de datos, ubicación, accesibilidad y, a veces, preservación, pero prestan poca atención a los metadatos y la interoperabilidad.

A Methodology for the Development of RESTful Semantic Web Services for Gene Expression Analysis.

Gene expression studies are generally performed through multi-step analysis processes, which require the integrated use of a number of analysis tools. In order to facilitate tool/data integration, an increasing number of analysis tools have been developed as or adapted to semantic web services. In recent years, some approaches have been defined for the development and semantic annotation of web services created from legacy software tools, but these approaches still present many limitations. In addition, to the best of our knowledge, no suitable approach has been defined for the functional genomics domain. Therefore, this paper aims at defining an integrated methodology for the implementation of RESTful semantic web services created from gene expression analysis tools and the semantic annotation of such services. We have applied our methodology to the development of a number of services to support the analysis of different types of gene expression data, including microarray and RNASeq. All developed services are publicly available in the Gene Expression Analysis Services (GEAS) Repository at http://dcm.ffclrp.usp.br/lssb/geas. Additionally, we have used a number of the developed services to create different integrated analysis scenarios to reproduce parts of two gene expression studies documented in the literature. The first study involves the analysis of one-color microarray data obtained from multiple sclerosis patients and healthy donors. The second study comprises the analysis of RNA-Seq data obtained from melanoma cells to investigate the role of the remodeller BRG1 in the proliferation and morphology of these cells. Our methodology provides concrete guidelines and technical details in order to facilitate the systematic development of semantic web services. Moreover, it encourages the development and reuse of these services for the creation of semantically integrated solutions for gene expression analysis.

Uma arquitetura para troca de mensagens no cuidado de saúde pervasivo baseada no uso de agentes inteligentes / An architecture for message exchange in pervasive healthcare based on the use of intelligent agents

Objetivos: Este trabalho propoe uma arquitetura para a troca de mensagens ciente de contexto em ambientes de Cuidado de Saude Pervasivo. Materiais e métodos: No Cuidado de Saude Pervasivo, novas tecnologias de informacao e comunicacao sao aplicadas para apoiar a prestacao de servicos de saude em qualquer lugar, a qualquer momento e a qualquer pessoa. Tecnologias de Computacao Ubiqua possibilitam a troca de informacao eficiente e segura entre cuidadores de saude e seus pacientes em hospitais, lares e comunidades. Uma vez que os sistemas de informacao de saude disponibilizam os registros de saude em varios formatos eletronicos, a Fundacao openEHR propos um modelo dual para garantir a interoperabilidade semantica entre esses sistemas. Agente Inteligente e uma tecnologia que foi aplicada para simular habilidades humanas em procedimentos de saude. Resultados: Esta arquitetura foi demonstrada e avaliada em um experimento controlado que foi realizado no departamento de Cardiologia de um hospital localizado na cidade de Marilia (Sao Paulo, Brasil). Conclusão: Um aplicativo foi desenvolvido para avaliar essa arquitetura, e os resultados mostraram que a arquitetura e apropriada para facilitar o desenvolvimento de sistemas informacao de saude, fornecendo recursos genericos e uma poderosa solucao para integracao destes sistemas.

Aims: This paper proposes an architecture for the exchange of context-aware messages in Pervasive Healthcare environments. Materials and methods: In Pervasive Healthcare, novel information and communication technologies are applied to support the provision of health services anywhere, at anytime, and to anyone. Ubiquitous Computing technologies allow efficient and safe information exchange amongst caregivers and their patients in communities, homes and hospitals. Since health systems may offer their health records in various electronic formats, the openEHR foundation has proposed a dual model to achieve semantic interoperability between such systems. Intelligent Agents is a technology that has been applied to simulate human skills in healthcare procedures. This architecture is based on technologies from Ubiquitous Computing and Intelligent Agents, and complies with the openEHR dual model. Results: This architecture was demonstrated and evaluated in a controlled experiment that we conducted in the cardiology department of a hospital located in the city of Marília (São Paulo, Brazil). Conclusion: An application was developed to evaluate this architecture, and the results showed that the architecture is suitable for facilitating the development of healthcare systems by offering generic resources and powerful solution to integrate these systems.

Uma abordagem para o desenvolvimento de aplicações no cuidado de saúde pervasivo através do uso de arquétipos / An approach to developing applications in the pervasive healthcare environmentthrough the use of archetypes

Objetivos: Este trabalho propoe uma abordagem para o desenvolvimento de aplicacoes no ambiente de Cuidado de Saude Pervasivo, atraves do uso de arquetipos. Materiais e Métodos: O Cuidado de Saude Pervasivo foca o uso de novas tecnologias, ferramentas e servicos, para ajudar os pacientes a ter um papel mais ativo no tratamento de suas condicoes. Ambientes de Cuidado de Saude Pervasivo exigem uma grande de troca de informacoes, e tecnologias especificas tem sido propostas para prover interoperabilidade entre os sistemas que compoem tais ambientes. No entanto, a complexidade dessas tecnologias faz com que seja dificil adota-las amplamente, bem como migrar Ambientes de Cuidado de Saude centralizados para Ambientes de Cuidado de Saude Pervasivo. Resultados: A abordagem foi demonstrada e avaliada em um experimento controlado realizado no departamento de cardiologia de um hospital localizado na cidade de Marilia (Sao Paulo, Brasil). Conclusão: Um aplicativo foi desenvolvido para avaliar a abordagem, e os resultados mostraram que a abordagem e adequada para facilitar o desenvolvimento de sistemas de cuidado de saude, oferecendo solucoes de abordagem genericas e poderosas.

Aims: This paper proposes an approach to develop applications in the Pervasive Healthcare environment, through the use of Archetypes. Materials and Methods: Pervasive Healthcare focuses on the use of new technologies, tools, and services, to help patients to play a more active role in the treatment of their conditions. Pervasive Healthcare environments demand a huge amount of information exchange, and specific technologies have been proposed to provide interoperability between the systems that comprise such environments. However, the complexity of these technologies makes it difficult to fully adopt them and to migrate Centered Healthcare Environments to Pervasive Healthcare Environments. Results: This approach was demonstrated and evaluated in a controlled experiment that we conducted in the cardiology department of a hospital located in the city of Marília (São Paulo, Brazil). Conclusion: An application was developed to evaluate this approach, and the results showed that the approach is suitable for facilitating the development of healthcare systems by offering generic and powerful approach capabilities.

Uma abordagem para troca de mensagens usando arquétipos / An approach for message exchange using archetypes

A aplicação das TICs na área de cuidado de saúde, conhecida como e-Health, pode facilitar o acesso aos serviços de cuidado de saúde e só será aceitável se permitir a troca de informação eficiente e segura entre os cuidadores de saúde e pacientes. O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar uma abordagem para troca de mensagens em cenários realísticos.

The application of ICT in healthcare sector activities, known as e-Health, can simplify the access to healthcare services and will only be acceptable for realistic scenarios if it supports efficient and secure information exchange amongst the caregivers and their patients. The aim of this paper is to present an approach for message exchange to realistic scenarios.