An ontology-based tool for modeling and documenting events in neurosurgery.

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IOM) plays a pivotal role in enhancing patient safety during neurosurgical procedures. This vital technique involves the continuous measurement of evoked potentials to provide early warnings and ensure the preservation of critical neural structures. One of the primary challenges has been the effective documentation of IOM events with semantically enriched characterizations. This study aimed to address this challenge by developing an ontology-based tool. METHODS: We structured the development of the IOM Documentation Ontology (IOMDO) and the associated tool into three distinct phases. The initial phase focused on the ontology's creation, drawing from the OBO (Open Biological and Biomedical Ontology) principles. The subsequent phase involved agile software development, a flexible approach to encapsulate the diverse requirements and swiftly produce a prototype. The last phase entailed practical evaluation within real-world documentation settings. This crucial stage enabled us to gather firsthand insights, assessing the tool's functionality and efficacy. The observations made during this phase formed the basis for essential adjustments to ensure the tool's productive utilization. RESULTS: The core entities of the ontology revolve around central aspects of IOM, including measurements characterized by timestamp, type, values, and location. Concepts and terms of several ontologies were integrated into IOMDO, e.g., the Foundation Model of Anatomy (FMA), the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) and the ontology for surgical process models (OntoSPM) related to general surgical terms. The software tool developed for extending the ontology and the associated knowledge base was built with JavaFX for the user-friendly frontend and Apache Jena for the robust backend. The tool's evaluation involved test users who unanimously found the interface accessible and usable, even for those without extensive technical expertise. CONCLUSIONS: Through the establishment of a structured and standardized framework for characterizing IOM events, our ontology-based tool holds the potential to enhance the quality of documentation, benefiting patient care by improving the foundation for informed decision-making. Furthermore, researchers can leverage the semantically enriched data to identify trends, patterns, and areas for surgical practice enhancement. To optimize documentation through ontology-based approaches, it's crucial to address potential modeling issues that are associated with the Ontology of Adverse Events.

Developing an Ontology for Documenting Adverse Events While Avoiding Pitfalls.

Ontologies promise more benefits than terminologies in terms of data annotation and computer-assisted reasoning, by defining a hierarchy of terms and their relations within a domain. Here, we present central insights related to the development of an ontology for documenting events during interoperative neuromonitoring (IOM), for which we used the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) as an upper-level ontology. This work has the following two goals: to describe the development of the IOM ontology and to guide the practice with respect to documenting of biomedical events, as available ontologies pose difficulties on certain issues. We address the following issues: (i) differentiate between the sets documentation, identification, continuant and explanation, understanding, occurrent as we had problems in applying the available ontology of adverse events, (ii) covering diseases and injuries in a consistent way, and (iii) deciding on which level to define relations.

Cerebrospinal fluid hypotension following fall in a child: Case report.

CSF hypotension arises in the context of a leak of CSF which causes negative intracranial pressure. Sacral fractures result from high-energy trauma which are frequently underdiagnosed. A ten-year-old boy presented with hip pain, after a fall. He mobilized both lower limbs, reported no leg pain, irradiation nor lack of sphincter control. The neurological examination was normal. When asked to stand, he began biparietal headache, nausea and vomiting, which improved laying down. CT scan showed an occult intrasacral meningocele; the MRI revealed collections of CSF along the spine, a S3 fracture with potential laceration of the meningocele and opening of a CSF fistula. Our diagnosis was the CSF hypotension, secondary to the fistula opening. The diagnosis was challenging. The child first presented with symptoms of CSF hypotension without evident cause. The discovery of the meningocele led us to hypothesize the opening of a fistula, a rare diagnosis, later confirmed by MRI.

Digital Health Intervention to Support Refugees in Switzerland.

Experiences of war and persecution often lead to mental health problems, resulting in post-traumatic stress disorders. In this work, we design a digital platform that aims at helping refugees coming to Switzerland by providing exercises for their mental health and information about daily life in Switzerland. In collaboration with the Swiss Red Cross (SRC), we collected requirements and developed a concept for information provision through in this platform. The architecture of a progressive web application (PWA) was identified as to best fulfill the given requirements. Based on the collected requirements mockups were created. In user interviews, we received feedback regarding the future system. We learned that the platform should include an avatar, which guides the user through the entire platform and asks questions. All texts should be accessible by a read-aloud function and exercises should be provided as videos. In summary, we learned that it is essential to involve the future user group in the development process since it is characterized by cultural diversity that has to be considered in the development and design. Enriched by this input, the next step is to realize the application in terms of a prototype.

Cerebrospinal fluid hypotension following fall in a child: Case report.

CSF hypotension arises in the context of a leak of CSF which causes negative intracranial pressure. Sacral fractures result from high-energy trauma which are frequently underdiagnosed. A ten-year-old boy presented with hip pain, after a fall. He mobilized both lower limbs, reported no leg pain, irradiation nor lack of sphincter control. The neurological examination was normal. When asked to stand, he began biparietal headache, nausea and vomiting, which improved laying down. CT scan showed an occult intrasacral meningocele; the MRI revealed collections of CSF along the spine, a S3 fracture with potential laceration of the meningocele and opening of a CSF fistula. Our diagnosis was the CSF hypotension, secondary to the fistula opening. The diagnosis was challenging. The child first presented with symptoms of CSF hypotension without evident cause. The discovery of the meningocele led us to hypothesize the opening of a fistula, a rare diagnosis, later confirmed by MRI.

Are mothers always right? When acute meningitis is something more.

A 22-month-old girl with a history of a congenital occipital cutaneous cyst was brought to the paediatric emergency department for lethargy and occipital headache. She had been discharged 5 days before for acute meningitis without bacterial isolates. At physical observation, she presented with irritability and neck hyperextension, with negative meningeal signs. CT scan revealed a vermian cyst and hydrocephalus. She was submitted to neurosurgery with removal of an infected midline dermoid cyst with a fistulous track to the skin. Surgery was successful and without complications. During follow-up, the child was asymptomatic with normal psychomotor development.

[Acute gastroenteritis by Cambylobacter spp: a retrospective study of a paediatric emergency department]. / Gastroenterite Aguda por Campylobacter Spp: Casuística de uma Urgência Pediátrica.

INTRODUCTION: Infection by Cambylobacter occurs worldwide and represents the main cause of acute bacterial gastroenteritis within the European Union. AIMS: Determine the prevalence of Campylobacter in stool cultures from patients with gastroenteritis and study their microbiological, epidemiological, clinical, and therapeutic profiles, as well as associated complications. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Review of clinical files of patients presenting to the paediatric emergency department of a general district hospital over a 30 month period with an acute gastroenteritis and a Campylobacter isolated in a stool specimen. RESULTS: Out of 216 stool cultures, 98 (45%) were positive. We identified Campylobacter in 49 (50%) cases; 30 (61%) were female. Median age was 23 months. Fourteen patients were under one year of age, 25 between one and five years old and 10 patients were over five years old. Watery diarrhea was identified in 5 (10%) patients, bloody diarrhea in 44 (90%) and mucosanguineous in 14 (29%), while 23 (47%) had fever, 14 (29%) complained of abdominal pain and 11 (22%) presented with vomiting. One patient was septic. Five patients were admitted as inpatients. Eight patients were treated with azithromycin. DISCUSSION: This is the largest published national series on gastroenteritis by Campylobacter in children and the first in the south region. Campylobacter was the main bacteria isolated. Infection was self-resolving in the majority of cases. Nevertheless, severe forms of this infection should be considered. Increased resistance to quinolones is worrisome. CONCLUSION: Judicious use of stool cultures allows etiological identification of bacterial gastroenteritis. The increase in Campylobacter cases reinforces the need for better control of hygiene measures in handling food products.

Introdução: A infeção por Campylobacter é a principal causa de gastroenterite aguda bacteriana pediátrica na União Europeia.Objetivos: Conhecer a prevalência de isolamento deste agente nas crianças admitidas na urgência com gastroenterite aguda que realizaram coprocultura, caracterizando a microbiologia, epidemiologia, clínica, terapêutica e complicações associadas.Material e Métodos: Casuística por consulta dos processos dos doentes admitidos na Urgência Pediátrica dum hospital distrital, durante 30 meses, com o diagnóstico de gastroenterite aguda e isolamento em coprocultura de Campylobacter.Resultados: Das 216 coproculturas efetuadas, 98 (45%) foram positivas. Identificámos Campylobacter spp. em 49 (50%) doentes. Destes, 30 (61%) eram do género feminino. A mediana de idades foi 23 meses. Catorze doentes tinham idade inferior a um ano, 25 entre um e cinco anos e 10 idade superior a cinco anos. Verificámos diarreia aquosa em cinco (10%) doentes, diarreia com sangue em 44 (90%), sangue e muco em 14 (29%), febre em 23 (47%), dor abdominal em 14 (29%) e vómitos em 11 (22%). Registámos um caso de sépsis. Internámos cinco doentes. Oito doentes foram medicados com azitromicina.Discussão: Esta é a maior casuística nacional publicada de gastroenterite aguda a Campylobacter em idade pediátrica e a primeira no sul do país. Campylobacter foi a principal bactéria identificada, associada maioritariamente a doença auto-limitada. Contudo, há a considerar formas de infeção graves. O aumento da resistência às quinolonas é preocupante.Conclusão: A utilização criteriosa da coprocultura permite a identificação etiológica na gastrenterite aguda bacteriana. O crescente aumento dos casos de Campylobacter diagnosticados reforça a necessidade de maior controlo das medidas de higiene na manipulação dos alimentos.

Percepção e conscientização de universitários sobre o sistema único de saúde / Perception and conscience-raising of undergraduates on the brazilian health care system

O objetivo desse estudo foi avaliar a percepção dos acadêmicos participantes do Programa de Educação Tutorial (PET) da Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM) sobre o Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) e elucidá-los sobre os serviços disponibilizados pelo sistema, bem como seus direitos e deveres enquanto usuários. Um questionário semiestruturado foi aplicado e simultaneamente desenvolveu-se um processo de conscientização dos acadêmicos sobre a importância e funções do sistema para o Brasil por meio de dinâmicas e debates. Ao final do processo de conscientização, 97,97% dos petianos afirmaram ser usuário do SUS, comparado aos 72,97% que inicialmente declararam fazer uso do sistema. O conhecimento dos acadêmicos do PET-UEM sobre o SUS, embora satisfatório, é ainda limitado e carece de informações a respeito dos direitos e deveres enquanto usuários, sendo influenciado pela perspectiva midiática.

The perception of undergraduates participating in the Program for Tutorial Education (PET) of the State University of Maringá on the Brazilian Health Care System (SUS) was evaluated. The discussion also includes information on services available and on the rights and duties of clients. A half-structured questionnaire was applied and a conscience-raising process was developed with undergraduates on the system´s importance and functions through several discussions and debates. At the end of the process, 97.97% of the participants stated they were SUS clients when compared with 72.97% who initially stated they used the system. Knowledge on SUS by PET-UEM undergraduates, although satisfactory, is still limited and lacks information on clients´ rights and duties, influenced by social media.