WorldWideScience

Sample records for biomedical research studies

  1. Biomedical research applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1982-01-01

    The biomedical research Panel believes that the Calutron facility at Oak Ridge is a national and international resource of immense scientific value and of fundamental importance to continued biomedical research. This resource is essential to the development of new isotope uses in biology and medicine. It should therefore be nurtured by adequate support and operated in a way that optimizes its services to the scientific and technological community. The Panel sees a continuing need for a reliable supply of a wide variety of enriched stable isotopes. The past and present utilization of stable isotopes in biomedical research is documented in Appendix 7. Future requirements for stable isotopes are impossible to document, however, because of the unpredictability of research itself. Nonetheless we expect the demand for isotopes to increase in parallel with the continuing expansion of biomedical research as a whole. There are a number of promising research projects at the present time, and these are expected to lead to an increase in production requirements. The Panel also believes that a high degree of priority should be given to replacing the supplies of the 65 isotopes (out of the 224 previously available enriched isotopes) no longer available from ORNL

  2. Are we studying what matters? Health priorities and NIH-funded biomedical engineering research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rubin, Jessica B; Paltiel, A David; Saltzman, W Mark

    2010-07-01

    With the founding of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) in 1999, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) made explicit its dedication to expanding research in biomedical engineering. Ten years later, we sought to examine how closely federal funding for biomedical engineering aligns with U.S. health priorities. Using a publicly accessible database of research projects funded by the NIH in 2008, we identified 641 grants focused on biomedical engineering, 48% of which targeted specific diseases. Overall, we found that these disease-specific NIH-funded biomedical engineering research projects align with national health priorities, as quantified by three commonly utilized measures of disease burden: cause of death, disability-adjusted survival losses, and expenditures. However, we also found some illnesses (e.g., cancer and heart disease) for which the number of research projects funded deviated from our expectations, given their disease burden. Our findings suggest several possibilities for future studies that would serve to further inform the allocation of limited research dollars within the field of biomedical engineering.

  3. The importance of Zebrafish in biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tavares, Bárbara; Santos Lopes, Susana

    2013-01-01

    Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is an ideal model organism for the study of vertebrate development. This is due to the large clutches that each couple produces, with up to 200 embryos every 7 days, and to the fact that the embryos and larvae are small, transparent and undergo rapid external development. Using scientific literature research tools available online and the keywords Zebrafish, biomedical research, human disease, and drug screening, we reviewed original studies and reviews indexed in PubMed. In this review we summarized work conducted with this model for the advancement of our knowledge related to several human diseases. We also focused on the biomedical research being performed in Portugal with the zebrafish model. Powerful live imaging and genetic tools are currently available for zebrafish making it a valuable model in biomedical research. The combination of these properties with the optimization of automated systems for drug screening has transformed the zebrafish into "a top model" in biomedical research, drug discovery and toxicity testing. Furthermore, with the optimization of xenografts technology it will be possible to use zebrafish to aide in the choice of the best therapy for each patient. Zebrafish is an excellent model organism in biomedical research, drug development and in clinical therapy.

  4. Publishing priorities of biomedical research funders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collins, Ellen

    2013-01-01

    Objectives To understand the publishing priorities, especially in relation to open access, of 10 UK biomedical research funders. Design Semistructured interviews. Setting 10 UK biomedical research funders. Participants 12 employees with responsibility for research management at 10 UK biomedical research funders; a purposive sample to represent a range of backgrounds and organisation types. Conclusions Publicly funded and large biomedical research funders are committed to open access publishing and are pleased with recent developments which have stimulated growth in this area. Smaller charitable funders are supportive of the aims of open access, but are concerned about the practical implications for their budgets and their funded researchers. Across the board, biomedical research funders are turning their attention to other priorities for sharing research outputs, including data, protocols and negative results. Further work is required to understand how smaller funders, including charitable funders, can support open access. PMID:24154520

  5. Biomedical Research Institute, Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana, Shreveport, Louisiana

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-01-01

    Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA), DOE/EA-0789, evaluating the environmental impacts of construction and operation of a Biomedical Research Institute (BRI) at the Louisiana State University (LSU) Medical Center, Shreveport, Louisiana. The purpose of the BRI is to accelerate the development of biomedical research in cardiovascular disease, molecular biology, and neurobiology. Based on the analyses in the EA, DOE has determined that the proposed action does not constitute a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). Therefore, the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement is not required

  6. Simbody: multibody dynamics for biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sherman, Michael A; Seth, Ajay; Delp, Scott L

    Multibody software designed for mechanical engineering has been successfully employed in biomedical research for many years. For real time operation some biomedical researchers have also adapted game physics engines. However, these tools were built for other purposes and do not fully address the needs of biomedical researchers using them to analyze the dynamics of biological structures and make clinically meaningful recommendations. We are addressing this problem through the development of an open source, extensible, high performance toolkit including a multibody mechanics library aimed at the needs of biomedical researchers. The resulting code, Simbody, supports research in a variety of fields including neuromuscular, prosthetic, and biomolecular simulation, and related research such as biologically-inspired design and control of humanoid robots and avatars. Simbody is the dynamics engine behind OpenSim, a widely used biomechanics simulation application. This article reviews issues that arise uniquely in biomedical research, and reports on the architecture, theory, and computational methods Simbody uses to address them. By addressing these needs explicitly Simbody provides a better match to the needs of researchers than can be obtained by adaptation of mechanical engineering or gaming codes. Simbody is a community resource, free for any purpose. We encourage wide adoption and invite contributions to the code base at https://simtk.org/home/simbody.

  7. Indicators for the dynamics of research organizations: A biomedical case study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Braam, R.; van den Besselaar, P.A.A.

    2014-01-01

    This paper reports results on a bibliometric case study of the long-term development of research organizations, using an internationally leading biomedical institute as example. Using scientometric concepts, small group theory, organizational ecology, and process-based organizational theory, we

  8. Archives of Medical and Biomedical Research

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Archives of Medical and Biomedical Research is the official journal of the International Association of Medical and Biomedical Researchers (IAMBR) and the Society for Free Radical Research Africa (SFRR-Africa). It is an internationally peer reviewed, open access and multidisciplinary journal aimed at publishing original ...

  9. Research evaluation support services in biomedical libraries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karen Elizabeth Gutzman

    2018-01-01

    Conclusions: Libraries can leverage a variety of evaluation support services as an opportunity to successfully meet an array of challenges confronting the biomedical research community, including robust efforts to report and demonstrate tangible and meaningful outcomes of biomedical research and clinical care. These services represent a transformative direction that can be emulated by other biomedical and research libraries.

  10. African Journal of Biomedical Research

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The African Journal of biomedical Research was founded in 1998 as a joint project ... of the journal led to the formation of a group (Biomedical Communications Group, ... analysis of multidrug resistant aerobic gram-negative clinical isolates from a ... Dental formula and dental abnormalities observed in the Eidolon helvum ...

  11. Archives: Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Research

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Items 1 - 19 of 19 ... Archives: Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Research. Journal Home > Archives: Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Research. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

  12. Statistics in biomedical research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    González-Manteiga, Wenceslao

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available The discipline of biostatistics is nowadays a fundamental scientific component of biomedical, public health and health services research. Traditional and emerging areas of application include clinical trials research, observational studies, physiology, imaging, and genomics. The present article reviews the current situation of biostatistics, considering the statistical methods traditionally used in biomedical research, as well as the ongoing development of new methods in response to the new problems arising in medicine. Clearly, the successful application of statistics in biomedical research requires appropriate training of biostatisticians. This training should aim to give due consideration to emerging new areas of statistics, while at the same time retaining full coverage of the fundamentals of statistical theory and methodology. In addition, it is important that students of biostatistics receive formal training in relevant biomedical disciplines, such as epidemiology, clinical trials, molecular biology, genetics, and neuroscience.La Bioestadística es hoy en día una componente científica fundamental de la investigación en Biomedicina, salud pública y servicios de salud. Las áreas tradicionales y emergentes de aplicación incluyen ensayos clínicos, estudios observacionales, fisología, imágenes, y genómica. Este artículo repasa la situación actual de la Bioestadística, considerando los métodos estadísticos usados tradicionalmente en investigación biomédica, así como los recientes desarrollos de nuevos métodos, para dar respuesta a los nuevos problemas que surgen en Medicina. Obviamente, la aplicación fructífera de la estadística en investigación biomédica exige una formación adecuada de los bioestadísticos, formación que debería tener en cuenta las áreas emergentes en estadística, cubriendo al mismo tiempo los fundamentos de la teoría estadística y su metodología. Es importante, además, que los estudiantes de

  13. Suitability of customer relationship management systems for the management of study participants in biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwanke, J; Rienhoff, O; Schulze, T G; Nussbeck, S Y

    2013-01-01

    Longitudinal biomedical research projects study patients or participants over a course of time. No IT solution is known that can manage study participants, enhance quality of data, support re-contacting of participants, plan study visits, and keep track of informed consent procedures and recruitments that may be subject to change over time. In business settings management of personal is one of the major aspects of customer relationship management systems (CRMS). To evaluate whether CRMS are suitable IT solutions for study participant management in biomedical research. Three boards of experts in the field of biomedical research were consulted to get an insight into recent IT developments regarding study participant management systems (SPMS). Subsequently, a requirements analysis was performed with stakeholders of a major biomedical research project. The successive suitability evaluation was based on the comparison of the identified requirements with the features of six CRMS. Independently of each other, the interviewed expert boards confirmed that there is no generic IT solution for the management of participants. Sixty-four requirements were identified and prioritized in a requirements analysis. The best CRMS was able to fulfill forty-two of these requirements. The non-fulfilled requirements demand an adaption of the CRMS, consuming time and resources, reducing the update compatibility, the system's suitability, and the security of the CRMS. A specific solution for the SPMS is favored instead of a generic and commercially-oriented CRMS. Therefore, the development of a small and specific SPMS solution was commenced and is currently on the way to completion.

  14. Mixed Methods in Biomedical and Health Services Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curry, Leslie A.; Krumholz, Harlan M.; O’Cathain, Alicia; Plano Clark, Vicki L.; Cherlin, Emily; Bradley, Elizabeth H.

    2013-01-01

    Mixed methods studies, in which qualitative and quantitative methods are combined in a single program of inquiry, can be valuable in biomedical and health services research, where the complementary strengths of each approach can yield greater insight into complex phenomena than either approach alone. Although interest in mixed methods is growing among science funders and investigators, written guidance on how to conduct and assess rigorous mixed methods studies is not readily accessible to the general readership of peer-reviewed biomedical and health services journals. Furthermore, existing guidelines for publishing mixed methods studies are not well known or applied by researchers and journal editors. Accordingly, this paper is intended to serve as a concise, practical resource for readers interested in core principles and practices of mixed methods research. We briefly describe mixed methods approaches and present illustrations from published biomedical and health services literature, including in cardiovascular care, summarize standards for the design and reporting of these studies, and highlight four central considerations for investigators interested in using these methods. PMID:23322807

  15. [Hospital biomedical research through the satisfaction of a Health Research Institute professionals].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olmedo, C; Plá, R; Bellón, J M; Bardinet, T; Buño, I; Bañares, R

    2015-01-01

    A Health Research Institute is a powerful strategic commitment to promote biomedical research in hospitals. To assess user satisfaction is an essential quality requirement. The aim of this study is to evaluate the professional satisfaction in a Health Research Institute, a hospital biomedical research centre par excellence. Observational study was conducted using a satisfaction questionnaire on Health Research Institute researchers. The explored dimensions were derived from the services offered by the Institute to researchers, and are structured around 4 axes of a five-year Strategic Plan. A descriptive and analytical study was performed depending on adjustment variables. Internal consistency was also calculated. The questionnaire was completed by 108 researchers (15% response). The most valued strategic aspect was the structuring Areas and Research Groups and political communication and dissemination. The overall rating was 7.25 out of 10. Suggestions for improvement refer to the need for help in recruitment, and research infrastructures. High internal consistency was found in the questionnaire (Cronbach alpha of 0.9). So far research policies in health and biomedical environment have not been sufficiently evaluated by professionals in our field. Systematic evaluations of satisfaction and expectations of key stakeholders is an essential tool for analysis, participation in continuous improvement and advancing excellence in health research. Copyright © 2015 SECA. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  16. Sierra Leone Journal of Biomedical Research

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The Sierra Leone Journal of Biomedical Research publishes papers in all fields of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences including Basic Medical Sciences, Clinical Sciences, Dental Sciences, Behavioural Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Molecular Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Biotechnology in relation to Medicine, ...

  17. Organization of Biomedical Data for Collaborative Scientific Research: A Research Information Management System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myneni, Sahiti; Patel, Vimla L

    2010-06-01

    Biomedical researchers often work with massive, detailed and heterogeneous datasets. These datasets raise new challenges of information organization and management for scientific interpretation, as they demand much of the researchers' time and attention. The current study investigated the nature of the problems that researchers face when dealing with such data. Four major problems identified with existing biomedical scientific information management methods were related to data organization, data sharing, collaboration, and publications. Therefore, there is a compelling need to develop an efficient and user-friendly information management system to handle the biomedical research data. This study evaluated the implementation of an information management system, which was introduced as part of the collaborative research to increase scientific productivity in a research laboratory. Laboratory members seemed to exhibit frustration during the implementation process. However, empirical findings revealed that they gained new knowledge and completed specified tasks while working together with the new system. Hence, researchers are urged to persist and persevere when dealing with any new technology, including an information management system in a research laboratory environment.

  18. Can informetrics shape biomedical research? A case study of the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Biomedical research is burgeoning as new dangerous diseases and healing methods emerge. Informetrics defined as methods or a research field that uses mathematical and statistical techniques and/or models to examine patterns that show up not only in publications but also in many aspects of life, as long as the patterns ...

  19. Translational Bioinformatics and Clinical Research (Biomedical) Informatics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sirintrapun, S Joseph; Zehir, Ahmet; Syed, Aijazuddin; Gao, JianJiong; Schultz, Nikolaus; Cheng, Donavan T

    2015-06-01

    Translational bioinformatics and clinical research (biomedical) informatics are the primary domains related to informatics activities that support translational research. Translational bioinformatics focuses on computational techniques in genetics, molecular biology, and systems biology. Clinical research (biomedical) informatics involves the use of informatics in discovery and management of new knowledge relating to health and disease. This article details 3 projects that are hybrid applications of translational bioinformatics and clinical research (biomedical) informatics: The Cancer Genome Atlas, the cBioPortal for Cancer Genomics, and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center clinical variants and results database, all designed to facilitate insights into cancer biology and clinical/therapeutic correlations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Technical editing of research reports in biomedical journals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wager, Elizabeth; Middleton, Philippa

    2008-10-08

    Most journals try to improve their articles by technical editing processes such as proof-reading, editing to conform to 'house styles', grammatical conventions and checking accuracy of cited references. Despite the considerable resources devoted to technical editing, we do not know whether it improves the accessibility of biomedical research findings or the utility of articles. This is an update of a Cochrane methodology review first published in 2003. To assess the effects of technical editing on research reports in peer-reviewed biomedical journals, and to assess the level of accuracy of references to these reports. We searched The Cochrane Library Issue 2, 2007; MEDLINE (last searched July 2006); EMBASE (last searched June 2007) and checked relevant articles for further references. We also searched the Internet and contacted researchers and experts in the field. Prospective or retrospective comparative studies of technical editing processes applied to original research articles in biomedical journals, as well as studies of reference accuracy. Two review authors independently assessed each study against the selection criteria and assessed the methodological quality of each study. One review author extracted the data, and the second review author repeated this. We located 32 studies addressing technical editing and 66 surveys of reference accuracy. Only three of the studies were randomised controlled trials. A 'package' of largely unspecified editorial processes applied between acceptance and publication was associated with improved readability in two studies and improved reporting quality in another two studies, while another study showed mixed results after stricter editorial policies were introduced. More intensive editorial processes were associated with fewer errors in abstracts and references. Providing instructions to authors was associated with improved reporting of ethics requirements in one study and fewer errors in references in two studies, but no

  1. 78 FR 22622 - Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-16

    ... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical... the panels of the Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research... biomedical, behavioral and clinical science research. The panel meetings will be open to the public for...

  2. Building a biomedical cyberinfrastructure for collaborative research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schad, Peter A; Mobley, Lee Rivers; Hamilton, Carol M

    2011-05-01

    For the potential power of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and translational medicine to be realized, the biomedical research community must adopt standard measures, vocabularies, and systems to establish an extensible biomedical cyberinfrastructure. Incorporating standard measures will greatly facilitate combining and comparing studies via meta-analysis. Incorporating consensus-based and well-established measures into various studies should reduce the variability across studies due to attributes of measurement, making findings across studies more comparable. This article describes two well-established consensus-based approaches to identifying standard measures and systems: PhenX (consensus measures for phenotypes and eXposures), and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). NIH support for these efforts has produced the PhenX Toolkit, an assembled catalog of standard measures for use in GWAS and other large-scale genomic research efforts, and the RTI Spatial Impact Factor Database (SIFD), a comprehensive repository of geo-referenced variables and extensive meta-data that conforms to OGC standards. The need for coordinated development of cyberinfrastructure to support measures and systems that enhance collaboration and data interoperability is clear; this paper includes a discussion of standard protocols for ensuring data compatibility and interoperability. Adopting a cyberinfrastructure that includes standard measures and vocabularies, and open-source systems architecture, such as the two well-established systems discussed here, will enhance the potential of future biomedical and translational research. Establishing and maintaining the cyberinfrastructure will require a fundamental change in the way researchers think about study design, collaboration, and data storage and analysis. Copyright © 2011 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Role of institutional climate in fostering diversity in biomedical research workforce: a case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Butts, Gary C; Hurd, Yasmin; Palermo, Ann-Gel S; Delbrune, Denise; Saran, Suman; Zony, Chati; Krulwich, Terry A

    2012-01-01

    This article reviews the barriers to diversity in biomedical research and describes the evolution of efforts to address climate issues to enhance the ability to attract, retain, and develop underrepresented minorities, whose underrepresentation is found both in science and medicine, in the graduate-school biomedical research doctoral programs (PhD and MD/PhD) at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. We also describe the potential beneficial impact of having a climate that supports diversity and inclusion in the biomedical research workforce. The Mount Sinai School of Medicine diversity-climate efforts are discussed as part of a comprehensive plan to increase diversity in all institutional programs: PhD, MD/PhD, and MD, and at the residency, postdoctoral fellow, and faculty levels. Lessons learned from 4 decades of targeted programs and activities at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine may be of value to other institutions interested in improving diversity in the biomedical science and academic medicine workforce. © 2012 Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

  4. 77 FR 64598 - Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-22

    ... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical...) that the panels of the Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science... areas of biomedical, behavioral and clinical science research. The panel meetings will be open to the...

  5. Should biomedical research be like Airbnb?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonazzi, Vivien R; Bourne, Philip E

    2017-04-01

    The thesis presented here is that biomedical research is based on the trusted exchange of services. That exchange would be conducted more efficiently if the trusted software platforms to exchange those services, if they exist, were more integrated. While simpler and narrower in scope than the services governing biomedical research, comparison to existing internet-based platforms, like Airbnb, can be informative. We illustrate how the analogy to internet-based platforms works and does not work and introduce The Commons, under active development at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and elsewhere, as an example of the move towards platforms for research.

  6. Radiation protection in medical and biomedical research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fuente Puch, A.E. de la

    2013-01-01

    The human exposure to ionizing radiation in the context of medical and biomedical research raises specific ethical challenges whose resolution approaches should be based on scientific, legal and procedural matters. Joint Resolution MINSAP CITMA-Regulation 'Basic Standards of Radiation Safety' of 30 November 2001 (hereafter NBS) provides for the first time in Cuba legislation specifically designed to protect patients and healthy people who participate in research programs medical and biomedical and exposed to radiation. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the need to develop specific requirements for radiation protection in medical and biomedical research, as well as to identify all the institutions involved in this in order to establish the necessary cooperation to ensure the protection of persons participating in the investigation

  7. Biomedical engineering for health research and development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, X-Y

    2015-01-01

    Biomedical engineering is a new area of research in medicine and biology, providing new concepts and designs for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of various diseases. There are several types of biomedical engineering, such as tissue, genetic, neural and stem cells, as well as chemical and clinical engineering for health care. Many electronic and magnetic methods and equipments are used for the biomedical engineering such as Computed Tomography (CT) scans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans, Electroencephalography (EEG), Ultrasound and regenerative medicine and stem cell cultures, preparations of artificial cells and organs, such as pancreas, urinary bladders, liver cells, and fibroblasts cells of foreskin and others. The principle of tissue engineering is described with various types of cells used for tissue engineering purposes. The use of several medical devices and bionics are mentioned with scaffold, cells and tissue cultures and various materials are used for biomedical engineering. The use of biomedical engineering methods is very important for the human health, and research and development of diseases. The bioreactors and preparations of artificial cells or tissues and organs are described here.

  8. Should biomedical research be like Airbnb?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vivien R Bonazzi

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The thesis presented here is that biomedical research is based on the trusted exchange of services. That exchange would be conducted more efficiently if the trusted software platforms to exchange those services, if they exist, were more integrated. While simpler and narrower in scope than the services governing biomedical research, comparison to existing internet-based platforms, like Airbnb, can be informative. We illustrate how the analogy to internet-based platforms works and does not work and introduce The Commons, under active development at the National Institutes of Health (NIH and elsewhere, as an example of the move towards platforms for research.

  9. Contrasting the ethical perspectives of biospecimen research among individuals with familial risk for hereditary cancer and biomedical researchers: implications for researcher training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quinn, Gwendolyn P; Koskan, Alexis; Sehovic, Ivana; Pal, Tuya; Meade, Cathy; Gwede, Clement K

    2014-07-01

    While ethical concerns about participating in biospecimen research have been previously identified, few studies have reported the concerns among individuals with familial risk for hereditary cancer (IFRs). At the same time, biomedical researchers often lack training in discussing such concerns to potential donors. This study explores IFRs' and biomedical researchers' perceptions of ethical concerns about participating in biobanking research. In separate focus groups, IFRs and biomedical researchers participated in 90-min telephone focus groups. Focus group questions centered on knowledge about laws that protect the confidentiality of biospecimen donors, understanding of informed consent and study procedures, and preferences for being recontacted about potential incidental discovery and also study results. A total of 40 IFRs and 32 biomedical researchers participated in the focus groups. Results demonstrated discrepancies between the perceptions of IFRs and researchers. IFRs' concerns centered on health information protection; potential discrimination by insurers and employers; and preferences for being recontacted upon discovery of gene mutations or to communicate study results. Researchers perceived that participants understood laws protecting donors' privacy and (detailed study information outlined in the informed consent process), study outcomes were used to create a training tool kit to increase researchers' understanding of IFRs' concerns about biobanking.

  10. Critical Contexts for Biomedical Research in a Native American Community: Health Care, History, and Community Survival

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahota, Puneet Chawla

    2012-01-01

    Native Americans have been underrepresented in previous studies of biomedical research participants. This paper reports a qualitative interview study of Native Americans' perspectives on biomedical research. In-depth interviews were conducted with 53 members of a Southwest tribal community. Many interviewees viewed biomedical research studies as a…

  11. Livestock in biomedical research: history, current status and future prospective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polejaeva, Irina A; Rutigliano, Heloisa M; Wells, Kevin D

    2016-01-01

    Livestock models have contributed significantly to biomedical and surgical advances. Their contribution is particularly prominent in the areas of physiology and assisted reproductive technologies, including understanding developmental processes and disorders, from ancient to modern times. Over the past 25 years, biomedical research that traditionally embraced a diverse species approach shifted to a small number of model species (e.g. mice and rats). The initial reasons for focusing the main efforts on the mouse were the availability of murine embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and genome sequence data. This powerful combination allowed for precise manipulation of the mouse genome (knockouts, knockins, transcriptional switches etc.) leading to ground-breaking discoveries on gene functions and regulation, and their role in health and disease. Despite the enormous contribution to biomedical research, mouse models have some major limitations. Their substantial differences compared with humans in body and organ size, lifespan and inbreeding result in pronounced metabolic, physiological and behavioural differences. Comparative studies of strategically chosen domestic species can complement mouse research and yield more rigorous findings. Because genome sequence and gene manipulation tools are now available for farm animals (cattle, pigs, sheep and goats), a larger number of livestock genetically engineered (GE) models will be accessible for biomedical research. This paper discusses the use of cattle, goats, sheep and pigs in biomedical research, provides an overview of transgenic technology in farm animals and highlights some of the beneficial characteristics of large animal models of human disease compared with the mouse. In addition, status and origin of current regulation of GE biomedical models is also reviewed.

  12. Globalization and changing trends of biomedical research output.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conte, Marisa L; Liu, Jing; Schnell, Santiago; Omary, M Bishr

    2017-06-15

    The US continues to lead the world in research and development (R&D) expenditures, but there is concern that stagnation in federal support for biomedical research in the US could undermine the leading role the US has played in biomedical and clinical research discoveries. As a readout of research output in the US compared with other countries, assessment of original research articles published by US-based authors in ten clinical and basic science journals during 2000 to 2015 showed a steady decline of articles in high-ranking journals or no significant change in mid-ranking journals. In contrast, publication output originating from China-based investigators, in both high- and mid-ranking journals, has steadily increased commensurate with significant growth in R&D expenditures. These observations support the current concerns of stagnant and year-to-year uncertainty in US federal funding of biomedical research.

  13. Figure mining for biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez-Esteban, Raul; Iossifov, Ivan

    2009-08-15

    Figures from biomedical articles contain valuable information difficult to reach without specialized tools. Currently, there is no search engine that can retrieve specific figure types. This study describes a retrieval method that takes advantage of principles in image understanding, text mining and optical character recognition (OCR) to retrieve figure types defined conceptually. A search engine was developed to retrieve tables and figure types to aid computational and experimental research. http://iossifovlab.cshl.edu/figurome/.

  14. 78 FR 28292 - Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-14

    ... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research and Development Services Scientific Merit Review Board; Notice of Meetings; Amendment The... Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research and Development...

  15. Research evaluation support services in biomedical libraries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gutzman, Karen Elizabeth; Bales, Michael E; Belter, Christopher W; Chambers, Thane; Chan, Liza; Holmes, Kristi L; Lu, Ya-Ling; Palmer, Lisa A; Reznik-Zellen, Rebecca C; Sarli, Cathy C; Suiter, Amy M; Wheeler, Terrie R

    2018-01-01

    The paper provides a review of current practices related to evaluation support services reported by seven biomedical and research libraries. A group of seven libraries from the United States and Canada described their experiences with establishing evaluation support services at their libraries. A questionnaire was distributed among the libraries to elicit information as to program development, service and staffing models, campus partnerships, training, products such as tools and reports, and resources used for evaluation support services. The libraries also reported interesting projects, lessons learned, and future plans. The seven libraries profiled in this paper report a variety of service models in providing evaluation support services to meet the needs of campus stakeholders. The service models range from research center cores, partnerships with research groups, and library programs with staff dedicated to evaluation support services. A variety of products and services were described such as an automated tool to develop rank-based metrics, consultation on appropriate metrics to use for evaluation, customized publication and citation reports, resource guides, classes and training, and others. Implementing these services has allowed the libraries to expand their roles on campus and to contribute more directly to the research missions of their institutions. Libraries can leverage a variety of evaluation support services as an opportunity to successfully meet an array of challenges confronting the biomedical research community, including robust efforts to report and demonstrate tangible and meaningful outcomes of biomedical research and clinical care. These services represent a transformative direction that can be emulated by other biomedical and research libraries.

  16. Globalization and changing trends of biomedical research output

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conte, Marisa L.; Liu, Jing; Omary, M. Bishr

    2017-01-01

    The US continues to lead the world in research and development (R&D) expenditures, but there is concern that stagnation in federal support for biomedical research in the US could undermine the leading role the US has played in biomedical and clinical research discoveries. As a readout of research output in the US compared with other countries, assessment of original research articles published by US-based authors in ten clinical and basic science journals during 2000 to 2015 showed a steady decline of articles in high-ranking journals or no significant change in mid-ranking journals. In contrast, publication output originating from China-based investigators, in both high- and mid-ranking journals, has steadily increased commensurate with significant growth in R&D expenditures. These observations support the current concerns of stagnant and year-to-year uncertainty in US federal funding of biomedical research. PMID:28614799

  17. 78 FR 66992 - Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-07

    ... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical... the panels of the Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research..., behavioral, and clinical science research. The panel meetings will be open to the public for approximately...

  18. 75 FR 57833 - Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-22

    ... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical... the panels of the Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research... Crowne Plaza Clinical Research Program December 3, 2010 *VA Central Office Mental Hlth & Behav Sci-A...

  19. [Biomedical research in Revista de Biologia Tropical].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gutiérrez, José María

    2002-01-01

    The contributions published in Revista de Biología Tropical in the area of Biomedical Sciences are reviewed in terms of number of contributions and scope of research subjects. Biomedical Sciences, particularly Parasitology and Microbiology, constituted the predominant subject in the Revista during the first decade, reflecting the intense research environment at the School of Microbiology of the University of Costa Rica and at Hospital San Juan de Dios. The relative weight of Biomedicine in the following decades diminished, due to the outstanding increment in publications in Biological Sciences; however, the absolute number of contributions in Biomedical Sciences remained constant throughout the last decades, with around 80 contributions per decade. In spite of the predominance of Parasitology as the main biomedical subject, the last decades have witnessed the emergence of new areas of interest in the Revista, such as Pharmacology of natural products, Toxinology, especially related to snake venoms, and Human Genetics. This retrospective analysis evidences that Biomedical Sciences, particularly those related to Tropical Medicine, were a fundamental component during the first years of Revista de Biología Tropical, and have maintained a significant presence in the scientific output of this journal, the most relevant scientific publication in biological sciences in Central America.

  20. 76 FR 19188 - Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-06

    ... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical... the panels of the Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research.... Neurobiology-D June 10, 2011 Crowne Plaza DC/Silver Spring. Clinical Research Program June 13, 2011 VA Central...

  1. 75 FR 23847 - Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-04

    ... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical... panels of the Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research and... & Behav Sci-A June 7, 2010 L'Enfant Plaza Hotel. Clinical Research Program June 9, 2010 *VA Central Office...

  2. Welcome to Biomedical Research and Therapy

    OpenAIRE

    Phuc Van Pham

    2014-01-01

    On behalf of the Laboratory of Stem Cell Research and Application (SCL) and the Biomedical Research and Therapy' editorial team, we would like to extend a warm welcome to you. [Biomed Res Ther 2014; 1(1.000): 1-1

  3. Characteristics desired in clinical data warehouse for biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shin, Soo-Yong; Kim, Woo Sung; Lee, Jae-Ho

    2014-04-01

    Due to the unique characteristics of clinical data, clinical data warehouses (CDWs) have not been successful so far. Specifically, the use of CDWs for biomedical research has been relatively unsuccessful thus far. The characteristics necessary for the successful implementation and operation of a CDW for biomedical research have not clearly defined yet. THREE EXAMPLES OF CDWS WERE REVIEWED: a multipurpose CDW in a hospital, a CDW for independent multi-institutional research, and a CDW for research use in an institution. After reviewing the three CDW examples, we propose some key characteristics needed in a CDW for biomedical research. A CDW for research should include an honest broker system and an Institutional Review Board approval interface to comply with governmental regulations. It should also include a simple query interface, an anonymized data review tool, and a data extraction tool. Also, it should be a biomedical research platform for data repository use as well as data analysis. The proposed characteristics desired in a CDW may have limited transfer value to organizations in other countries. However, these analysis results are still valid in Korea, and we have developed clinical research data warehouse based on these desiderata.

  4. Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Research

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Research is published by the College of Medical Sciences, University of Benin to encourage research into primary health care. The journal will publish original research articles, reviews, editorials, commentaries, case reports and letters to the editor. Articles are welcome in all ...

  5. Towards a 21st century roadmap for biomedical research and ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Decades of costly failures in translating drug candidates from preclinical disease models to human therapeutic use warrant reconsideration of the priority placed on animal models in biomedical research. Following an international workshop attended by experts from academia, government institutions, research funding bodies and the corporate and NGO sectors, this consensus report analyses, as case studies, five disease areas with major unmet needs for new treatments. In view of the scientifically driven transition towards a human pathways-based paradigm in toxicology, a similar paradigm shift appears to be justified in biomedical research. There is a pressing need for an approach that strategically implements advanced, human biology-based models and tools to understand disease pathways at multiple biological scales. We present recommendations to help achieve this. To discover and develop new therapies, we need 21-century roadmaps for biomedical research based on multiscale human disease pathways, and supported by policy and funding strategies that prioritise human relevance.

  6. Biomedical research applications of electromagnetically separated enriched stable isotopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lambrecht, R.M.

    1982-01-01

    The current and projected annual requirements through 1985 for stable isotopes enriched by electromagnetic separation methods were reviewed for applications in various types of biomedical research: (1) medical radiosotope production, labeled compounds, and potential radiopharmaceuticals; (2) nutrition, food science, and pharmacology; (3) metallobiochemistry and environmental toxicology; (4) nuclear magnetic resonance, electron paramagnetic resonance, and Moessbauer spectroscopy in biochemical, biophysical, and biomedical research; and (5) miscellaneous advances in radioactive and non-radioactive tracer technology. Radioisotopes available from commercial sources or routinely used in clinical nuclear medicine were excluded. Priorities and summaries are based on statements in the references and from answers to a survey conducted in the fall of 1981. Current requirements for enriched stable isotopes in biomedical research are not being satisfied. Severe shortages exist for 26 Mg, 43 Ca, 70 Zn, 76 Se, 78 Se, 102 Pd, 111 Cd, 113 Cd, and 190 Os. Many interesting and potentially important investigations in biomedical research require small quantities of specific elements at high isotopic enrichments

  7. Biomedical text mining and its applications in cancer research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Fei; Patumcharoenpol, Preecha; Zhang, Cheng; Yang, Yang; Chan, Jonathan; Meechai, Asawin; Vongsangnak, Wanwipa; Shen, Bairong

    2013-04-01

    Cancer is a malignant disease that has caused millions of human deaths. Its study has a long history of well over 100years. There have been an enormous number of publications on cancer research. This integrated but unstructured biomedical text is of great value for cancer diagnostics, treatment, and prevention. The immense body and rapid growth of biomedical text on cancer has led to the appearance of a large number of text mining techniques aimed at extracting novel knowledge from scientific text. Biomedical text mining on cancer research is computationally automatic and high-throughput in nature. However, it is error-prone due to the complexity of natural language processing. In this review, we introduce the basic concepts underlying text mining and examine some frequently used algorithms, tools, and data sets, as well as assessing how much these algorithms have been utilized. We then discuss the current state-of-the-art text mining applications in cancer research and we also provide some resources for cancer text mining. With the development of systems biology, researchers tend to understand complex biomedical systems from a systems biology viewpoint. Thus, the full utilization of text mining to facilitate cancer systems biology research is fast becoming a major concern. To address this issue, we describe the general workflow of text mining in cancer systems biology and each phase of the workflow. We hope that this review can (i) provide a useful overview of the current work of this field; (ii) help researchers to choose text mining tools and datasets; and (iii) highlight how to apply text mining to assist cancer systems biology research. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Information Retrieval in Biomedical Research: From Articles to Datasets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Wei

    2017-01-01

    Information retrieval techniques have been applied to biomedical research for a variety of purposes, such as textual document retrieval and molecular data retrieval. As biomedical research evolves over time, information retrieval is also constantly facing new challenges, including the growing number of available data, the emerging new data types,…

  9. Decision-making and motivation to participate in biomedical research in southwest Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osamor, Pauline E; Kass, Nancy

    2012-08-01

    Motivations and decision-making styles that influence participation in biomedical research vary across study types, cultures, and countries. While there is a small amount of literature on informed consent in non-western cultures, few studies have examined how participants make the decision to join research. This study was designed to identify the factors motivating people to participate in biomedical research in a traditional Nigerian community, assess the degree to which participants involve others in the decision-making process, and examine issues of autonomy in decision-making for research. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 100 adults (50 men, 50 women) in an urban Nigerian community who had participated in a biomedical research study. Subjects were interviewed using a survey instrument. Two-thirds of the respondents reported participating in the biomedical study to learn more about their illness, while 30% hoped to get some medical care. Over three-quarters (78%) of participants discussed the enrollment decision with someone else and 39% reported obtaining permission from a spouse or family member to participate in the study. Women were more than twice as likely as men to report obtaining permission from someone else before participating. More specifically, half of the female participants reported seeking permission from a spouse before enrolling. The findings suggest that informed consent in this community is understood and practised as a relational activity that involves others in the decision making process. Further studies are needed in non-Western countries concerning autonomy, decision-making, and motivation to participate in research studies. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  10. Artificial Sight Basic Research, Biomedical Engineering, and Clinical Advances

    CERN Document Server

    Humayun, Mark S; Chader, Gerald; Greenbaum, Elias

    2008-01-01

    Artificial sight is a frontier area of modern ophthalmology combining the multidisciplinary skills of surgical ophthalmology, biomedical engineering, biological physics, and psychophysical testing. Many scientific, engineering, and surgical challenges must be surmounted before widespread practical applications can be realized. The goal of Artificial Sight is to summarize the state-of-the-art research in this exciting area, and to describe some of the current approaches and initiatives that may help patients in a clinical setting. The Editors are active researchers in the fields of artificial sight, biomedical engineering and biological physics. They have received numerous professional awards and recognition for their work. The artificial sight team at the Doheny Eye Institute, led by Dr. Mark Humayun, is a world leader in this area of biomedical engineering and clinical research. Key Features Introduces and assesses the state of the art for a broad audience of biomedical engineers, biophysicists, and clinical...

  11. Practical radiation shielding for biomedical research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klein, R.C.; Reginatto, M.; Party, E.; Gershey, E.L.

    1990-01-01

    This paper reports on calculations which exist for estimating shielding required for radioactivity; however, they are often not applicable for the radionuclides and activities common in biomedical research. A variety of commercially available Lucite shields are being marketed to the biomedical community. Their advertisements may lead laboratory workers to expect better radiation protection than these shields can provide or to assume erroneously that very weak beta emitters require extensive shielding. The authors have conducted a series of shielding experiments designed to simulate exposures from the amounts of 32 P, 51 Cr and 125 I typically used in biomedical laboratories. For most routine work, ≥0.64 cm of Lucite covered with various thicknesses of lead will reduce whole-body occupational exposure rates of < 1mR/hr at the point of contact

  12. Ethical Medical and Biomedical Practice in Health Research in Africa

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Ethical Medical and Biomedical Practice in Health Research in Africa ... of research studies that do not conform with international ethical standards and ... Journal articles ... IDRC congratulates first cohort of Women in Climate Change Science ...

  13. A Study of the Information Literacy of Biomedical Graduate Students: Based on the Thesis Topic Discovery Process in Molecular Biology Research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jhao-Yen Huang

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The biomedical information environment is in a state of constant and rapid change due to the increase in research data and rapid technological advances. In Taiwan, few research has investigated the information literacy of biomedical graduate students. This exploratory study examined the information literacy abilities and training of biomedical graduate students in Taiwan. Semi-structured interviews based on the Association of College and Research Libraries Information Literacy Competency Standards for Science and Engineering/Technology were conducted with 20 molecular biological graduate students. The interview inquired about their information-seeking channels and information literacy education. The findings show that the biomedical graduate students developed a workable thesis topic with their advisors. Through various information-seeking channels and retrieval strategies, they obtained and critically evaluated information to address different information needs for their thesis research. Through seminars, annual conferences and papers, the interviewees were informed of current developments in their field. Subsequently, through written or oral communications, they were able to integrate and exchange the information. Most interviewees cared about the social, economic, legal, and ethical issues surrounding the use of information. College courses and labs were the main information literacy education environment for them to learn about research skills and knowledge. The study concludes four areas to address for the information literacy of biomedical graduate students, i.e., using professional information, using the current information, efficiency in assessing the domain information, and utilization of diverse information channels. Currently, the interviewees showed rather low usage of library resources, which is a concern for biomedical educators and libraries. [Article content in Chinese

  14. International Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Research

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The International Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Research (IJMBR) is a peer-reviewed ... useful to researchers in all aspects of Clinical and Basic Medical Sciences including Anatomical Sciences, Biochemistry, Dentistry, Genetics, ...

  15. The distribution of biomedical research resources and international justice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Resnik, David B

    2004-05-01

    According to some estimates, less than 10% of the world's biomedical research funds are dedicated to addressing problems that are responsible for 90% of the world's burden of disease. This paper explains why this disparity exists and what should be done about it. It argues that the disparity exists because: 1) multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies do not regard research and development investments on the health problems of developing nations to be economically lucrative; and 2) governmental agencies that sponsor biomedical research face little political pressure to allocate funds for the problems of developing nations. This paper argues that developed nations have an obligation to address disparities related to biomedical research funding. To facilitate this effort, developed countries should establish a trust fund dedicated to research on the health problems of developing nations similar to the Global AIDS Fund.

  16. Resolving complex research data management issues in biomedical laboratories: Qualitative study of an industry-academia collaboration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myneni, Sahiti; Patel, Vimla L; Bova, G Steven; Wang, Jian; Ackerman, Christopher F; Berlinicke, Cynthia A; Chen, Steve H; Lindvall, Mikael; Zack, Donald J

    2016-04-01

    This paper describes a distributed collaborative effort between industry and academia to systematize data management in an academic biomedical laboratory. Heterogeneous and voluminous nature of research data created in biomedical laboratories make information management difficult and research unproductive. One such collaborative effort was evaluated over a period of four years using data collection methods including ethnographic observations, semi-structured interviews, web-based surveys, progress reports, conference call summaries, and face-to-face group discussions. Data were analyzed using qualitative methods of data analysis to (1) characterize specific problems faced by biomedical researchers with traditional information management practices, (2) identify intervention areas to introduce a new research information management system called Labmatrix, and finally to (3) evaluate and delineate important general collaboration (intervention) characteristics that can optimize outcomes of an implementation process in biomedical laboratories. Results emphasize the importance of end user perseverance, human-centric interoperability evaluation, and demonstration of return on investment of effort and time of laboratory members and industry personnel for success of implementation process. In addition, there is an intrinsic learning component associated with the implementation process of an information management system. Technology transfer experience in a complex environment such as the biomedical laboratory can be eased with use of information systems that support human and cognitive interoperability. Such informatics features can also contribute to successful collaboration and hopefully to scientific productivity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Facilitating biomedical researchers' interrogation of electronic health record data: Ideas from outside of biomedical informatics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hruby, Gregory W; Matsoukas, Konstantina; Cimino, James J; Weng, Chunhua

    2016-04-01

    Electronic health records (EHR) are a vital data resource for research uses, including cohort identification, phenotyping, pharmacovigilance, and public health surveillance. To realize the promise of EHR data for accelerating clinical research, it is imperative to enable efficient and autonomous EHR data interrogation by end users such as biomedical researchers. This paper surveys state-of-art approaches and key methodological considerations to this purpose. We adapted a previously published conceptual framework for interactive information retrieval, which defines three entities: user, channel, and source, by elaborating on channels for query formulation in the context of facilitating end users to interrogate EHR data. We show the current progress in biomedical informatics mainly lies in support for query execution and information modeling, primarily due to emphases on infrastructure development for data integration and data access via self-service query tools, but has neglected user support needed during iteratively query formulation processes, which can be costly and error-prone. In contrast, the information science literature has offered elaborate theories and methods for user modeling and query formulation support. The two bodies of literature are complementary, implying opportunities for cross-disciplinary idea exchange. On this basis, we outline the directions for future informatics research to improve our understanding of user needs and requirements for facilitating autonomous interrogation of EHR data by biomedical researchers. We suggest that cross-disciplinary translational research between biomedical informatics and information science can benefit our research in facilitating efficient data access in life sciences. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Radiochemicals in biomedical research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Evans, E.A.; Oldham, K.G.

    1988-01-01

    This volume describes the role of radiochemicals in biomedical research, as tracers in the development of new drugs, their interaction and function with receptor proteins, with the kinetics of binding of hormone - receptor interactions, and their use in cancer research and clinical oncology. The book also aims to identify future trends in this research, the main objective of which is to provide information leading to improvements in the quality of life, and to give readers a basic understanding of the development of new drugs, how they function in relation to receptor proteins and lead to a better understanding of the diagnosis and treatment of cancers. (author)

  19. Repeat: a framework to assess empirical reproducibility in biomedical research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leslie D. McIntosh

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The reproducibility of research is essential to rigorous science, yet significant concerns of the reliability and verifiability of biomedical research have been recently highlighted. Ongoing efforts across several domains of science and policy are working to clarify the fundamental characteristics of reproducibility and to enhance the transparency and accessibility of research. Methods The aim of the proceeding work is to develop an assessment tool operationalizing key concepts of research transparency in the biomedical domain, specifically for secondary biomedical data research using electronic health record data. The tool (RepeAT was developed through a multi-phase process that involved coding and extracting recommendations and practices for improving reproducibility from publications and reports across the biomedical and statistical sciences, field testing the instrument, and refining variables. Results RepeAT includes 119 unique variables grouped into five categories (research design and aim, database and data collection methods, data mining and data cleaning, data analysis, data sharing and documentation. Preliminary results in manually processing 40 scientific manuscripts indicate components of the proposed framework with strong inter-rater reliability, as well as directions for further research and refinement of RepeAT. Conclusions The use of RepeAT may allow the biomedical community to have a better understanding of the current practices of research transparency and accessibility among principal investigators. Common adoption of RepeAT may improve reporting of research practices and the availability of research outputs. Additionally, use of RepeAT will facilitate comparisons of research transparency and accessibility across domains and institutions.

  20. How Do Interaction Experiences Influence Doctoral Students’ Academic Pursuits in Biomedical Research?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kong, Xiaoqing; Chakraverty, Devasmita; Jeffe, Donna B.; Andriole, Dorothy A.; Wathington, Heather D.; Tai, Robert H.

    2014-01-01

    This exploratory qualitative study investigated how doctoral students reported their personal and professional interaction experiences that they believed might facilitate or impede their academic pursuits in biomedical research. We collected 19 in-depth interviews with doctoral students in biomedical research from eight universities, and we based our qualitative analytic approach on the work of Miles and Huberman. The results indicated that among different sources and types of interaction, academic and emotional interactions from family and teachers in various stages essentially affected students’ persistence in the biomedical science field. In addition, co-mentorship among peers, departmental environment, and volunteer experiences were other essential factors. This study also found related experiences among women and underrepresented minority students that were important to their academic pursuit. PMID:26166928

  1. How Do Interaction Experiences Influence Doctoral Students' Academic Pursuits in Biomedical Research?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kong, Xiaoqing; Chakraverty, Devasmita; Jeffe, Donna B; Andriole, Dorothy A; Wathington, Heather D; Tai, Robert H

    2013-01-01

    This exploratory qualitative study investigated how doctoral students reported their personal and professional interaction experiences that they believed might facilitate or impede their academic pursuits in biomedical research. We collected 19 in-depth interviews with doctoral students in biomedical research from eight universities, and we based our qualitative analytic approach on the work of Miles and Huberman. The results indicated that among different sources and types of interaction, academic and emotional interactions from family and teachers in various stages essentially affected students' persistence in the biomedical science field. In addition, co-mentorship among peers, departmental environment, and volunteer experiences were other essential factors. This study also found related experiences among women and underrepresented minority students that were important to their academic pursuit.

  2. NIH/NSF accelerate biomedical research innovations

    Science.gov (United States)

    A collaboration between the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health will give NIH-funded researchers training to help them evaluate their scientific discoveries for commercial potential, with the aim of accelerating biomedical in

  3. Biomedical engineering: A platform for research and innovation in ultrasound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holland, Christy K.

    2004-05-01

    An undergraduate or graduate degree in biomedical engineering prepares students to solve problems at the interface between engineering and medicine. Biomedical engineering encompasses evolving areas such as advanced medical imaging for diagnosis and treatment of disease, tissue engineering for designing and manufacturing biological implants for damaged or diseased tissues and organs, and bioinformatics for determining which genes play a major role in health and disease. Biomedical engineering academic programs produce graduates with the ability to pursue successful careers in the biomedical device industry or to obtain advanced degrees leading to careers in biomedical engineering research, medicine, law or business. Biomedical engineering majors take courses in biology, anatomy, physics, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and medical product design and value life-long learning. Students learn to work effectively in interdisciplinary teams comprised of individuals with diverse social, cultural and technical backgrounds. Biomedical engineering is becoming increasingly important in imaging and image-guided research. Some examples of innovative ultrasound technology under development are ultrasound devices to accelerate the dissolution of blood clots, advanced surgical instruments with ultrasound guidance and ultrasound contrast agents for targeted drug delivery. Biomedical engineering is a great career choice for technically minded individuals who endeavor to work on applied problems that are medically relevant.

  4. Defining Compensable Injury in Biomedical Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larkin, Megan E

    2015-01-01

    Biomedical research provides a core social good by enabling medical progress. In the twenty-first century alone, this includes reducing transmission of HIV/AIDS, developing innovative therapies for cancer patients, and exploring the possibilities of personalized medicine. In order to continue to advance medical science, research relies on the voluntary participation of human subjects. Because research is inherently uncertain, unintended harm is an inevitable part of the research enterprise. Currently, injured research participants in the United States must turn to the “litigation lottery” of the tort system in search of compensation. This state of affairs fails research participants, who are too often left uncompensated for devastating losses, and makes the United States an outlier in the international community. In spite of forty years’ worth of Presidential Commissions and other respected voices calling for the development of a no-fault compensation system, no progress has been made to date. One of the reasons for this lack of progress is the failure to develop a coherent ethical basis for an obligation to provide compensation for research related injuries. This problem is exacerbated by the lack of a clear definition of “compensable injury” in the biomedical research context. This article makes a number of important contributions to the scholarship in this growing field. To begin, it examines compensation systems already in existence and concludes that there are four main definitional elements that must be used to define “compensable injury.” Next, it examines the justifications that have been put forth as the basis for an ethical obligation to provide compensation, and settles on retrospective nonmaleficence and distributive and compensatory justice as the most salient and persuasive. Finally, it uses the regulatory elements and the justifications discussed in the first two sections to develop a well-rounded definition of “compensable injury

  5. Sierra Leone Journal of Biomedical Research

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    MHRL

    Sierra Leone Journal of Biomedical Research. (A publication of the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, University of Sierra Leone). ©Sierra Leone Journal .... was used to. She seemed to have had a change of mind after ingesting.

  6. The Impact of Regulating Social Science Research with Biomedical Regulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Durosinmi, Brenda Braxton

    2011-01-01

    The Impact of Regulating Social Science Research with Biomedical Regulations Since 1974 Federal regulations have governed the use of human subjects in biomedical and social science research. The regulations are known as the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects, and often referred to as the "Common Rule" because 18 Federal…

  7. Biomedical text mining for research rigor and integrity: tasks, challenges, directions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kilicoglu, Halil

    2017-06-13

    An estimated quarter of a trillion US dollars is invested in the biomedical research enterprise annually. There is growing alarm that a significant portion of this investment is wasted because of problems in reproducibility of research findings and in the rigor and integrity of research conduct and reporting. Recent years have seen a flurry of activities focusing on standardization and guideline development to enhance the reproducibility and rigor of biomedical research. Research activity is primarily communicated via textual artifacts, ranging from grant applications to journal publications. These artifacts can be both the source and the manifestation of practices leading to research waste. For example, an article may describe a poorly designed experiment, or the authors may reach conclusions not supported by the evidence presented. In this article, we pose the question of whether biomedical text mining techniques can assist the stakeholders in the biomedical research enterprise in doing their part toward enhancing research integrity and rigor. In particular, we identify four key areas in which text mining techniques can make a significant contribution: plagiarism/fraud detection, ensuring adherence to reporting guidelines, managing information overload and accurate citation/enhanced bibliometrics. We review the existing methods and tools for specific tasks, if they exist, or discuss relevant research that can provide guidance for future work. With the exponential increase in biomedical research output and the ability of text mining approaches to perform automatic tasks at large scale, we propose that such approaches can support tools that promote responsible research practices, providing significant benefits for the biomedical research enterprise. Published by Oxford University Press 2017. This work is written by a US Government employee and is in the public domain in the US.

  8. A smart modules network for real time data acquisition: application to biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Logier, R; De jonckheere, J; Dassonneville, A; Chaud, P; Jeanne, M

    2009-01-01

    Healthcare monitoring applications require the measurement and the analysis of multiple physiological data. In the field of biomedical research, these data are issued from different devices involving data centralization and synchronization difficulties. In this paper, we describe a smart hardware modules network for biomedical data real time acquisition. This toolkit, composed of multiple electronic modules, allows users to acquire and transmit all kind of biomedical signals and parameters. These highly efficient hardware modules have been developed and tested especially for biomedical studies and used in a large number of clinical investigations.

  9. Professional ethics in biomedical engineering practice and research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monzon, Jorge E; Monzon-Wyngaard, Alvaro

    2008-01-01

    This paper discusses some guidelines for use with the accepted fundamental canons of ethics for engineers. We present some rules of practice and professional obligations emerging from these canons. Basic recommendations for engineers dissenting on ethical grounds are also presented. Ethical issues relating to Biomedical Engineering research are illustrated. We mention some cases that could be used to further understanding the ethical implications of biomedical engineering practice.

  10. Important techniques in today's biomedical science research that ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    olayemitoyin

    Keywords: Techniques, Biomedical Science, PhD, Research. ©Physiological Society ..... in mind that to publish a good scientific research paper in a high ..... New. Table 6. Key statistical methods and software utilized in the 33 research articles ...

  11. Structural DNA Nanotechnology: Artificial Nanostructures for Biomedical Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ke, Yonggang; Castro, Carlos; Choi, Jong Hyun

    2018-04-04

    Structural DNA nanotechnology utilizes synthetic or biologic DNA as designer molecules for the self-assembly of artificial nanostructures. The field is founded upon the specific interactions between DNA molecules, known as Watson-Crick base pairing. After decades of active pursuit, DNA has demonstrated unprecedented versatility in constructing artificial nanostructures with significant complexity and programmability. The nanostructures could be either static, with well-controlled physicochemical properties, or dynamic, with the ability to reconfigure upon external stimuli. Researchers have devoted considerable effort to exploring the usability of DNA nanostructures in biomedical research. We review the basic design methods for fabricating both static and dynamic DNA nanostructures, along with their biomedical applications in fields such as biosensing, bioimaging, and drug delivery. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering Volume 20 is June 4, 2018. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

  12. Maximising value from a United Kingdom Biomedical Research Centre: study protocol

    OpenAIRE

    Greenhalgh, Trisha; Ovseiko, Pavel V.; Fahy, Nick; Shaw, Sara; Kerr, Polly; Rushforth, Alexander D.; Channon, Keith M.; Kiparoglou, Vasiliki

    2017-01-01

    Background Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs) are partnerships between healthcare organisations and universities in England. Their mission is to generate novel treatments, technologies, diagnostics and other interventions that increase the country’s international competitiveness, to rapidly translate these innovations into benefits for patients, and to improve efficiency and reduce waste in healthcare. As NIHR Oxford BRC (Oxford BRC) enters its third 5-year funding period, we seek to (1) a...

  13. DNA nanotechnology and its applications in biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Lifan; Yu, Lu; Shen, Wanqiu

    2014-09-01

    DNA nanotechnology, which uses DNA as a material to self-assemble designed nanostructures, including DNA 2D arrays, 3D nanostructures, DNA nanotubes and DNA nanomechanical devices, has showed great promise in biomedical applications. Various DNA nanostructures have been used for protein characterization, enzyme assembly, biosensing, drug delivery and biomimetic assemblies. In this review, we will present recent advances of DNA nanotechnology and its applications in biomedical research field.

  14. [The system of protection of scientific biomedical research participants in France and in Poland].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Czarkowski, Marek; Sieczych, Alicja

    2013-07-01

    Realizing scientific biomedical research conducted on human-beings demands obeying ample ethical rules. However, states keep independence in the means of implementing deontological guidelines to legislative acts. The aim of the article is to compare rules of law relative to protection of scientific biomedical research participants in two European Union member states--France and Poland. French regulations cover more types of scientific biomedical research than those in Poland. In France almost all types of interventional scientific biomedical research including research on human biological samples and research on cosmetics are covered by the rules of law. Polish regulations are limited to interventional research conducted by doctors and dentists. In both states projects of clinical trials of medicinal products demands double acceptance - from bioethics committee and from competent state authority. In protection of scientific biomedical research participants the role of state authority competent for personal data is more vital in France than it is in Poland. In France there is also National Ethics Advisory Committee whereas in Poland there is no such institution. The systems protecting scientific biomedical research participants differs therefore in both states in many vital aspects and French measures cover more types of scientific biomedical research, hence the level of participants protection in various types of research is more equitable.

  15. The aging of biomedical research in the United States.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kirstin R W Matthews

    Full Text Available In the past 30 years, the average age of biomedical researchers has steadily increased. The average age of an investigator at the National Institutes of Health (NIH rose from 39 to 51 between 1980 and 2008. The aging of the biomedical workforce was even more apparent when looking at first-time NIH grantees. The average age of a new investigator was 42 in 2008, compared to 36 in 1980. To determine if the rising barriers at NIH for entry in biomedical research might impact innovative ideas and research, we analyzed the research and publications of Nobel Prize winners from 1980 to 2010 to assess the age at which their pioneering research occurred. We established that in the 30-year period, 96 scientists won the Nobel Prize in medicine or chemistry for work related to biomedicine, and that their groundbreaking research was conducted at an average age of 41-one year younger than the average age of a new investigator at NIH. Furthermore, 78% of the Nobel Prize winners conducted their research before the age of 51, the average age of an NIH principal investigator. This suggested that limited access to NIH might inhibit research potential and novel projects, and could impact biomedicine and the next generation scientists in the United States.

  16. Accelerator mass spectrometry in biomedical research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vogel, J.S.; Turteltaub, K.W.

    1993-01-01

    Biological effects occur in natural systems at chemical concentrations of parts per billion (1:10 9 ) or less. Affected biomolecules may be separable in only milligram or microgram quantities. Quantification at attomole sensitivity is needed to study these interactions. AMS measures isotope concentrations to parts per 10 13--15 on milligram-sized samples and is ideal for quantifying long-lived radioisotopic labels that are commonly used to trace biochemical pathways in natural systems. 14 C-AMS has now been coupled to a variety of organic separation and definition technologies. The primary research investigates pharmacokinetics and genotoxicities of toxins and drugs at very low doses. Human subject research using AMS includes nutrition, toxicity and elemental balance studies. 3 H, 41 Ca and 26 Al are also traced by AMS for fundamental biochemical kinetic research. Expansion of biomedical AMS awaits further development of biochemical and accelerator technologies designed specifically for these applications

  17. Important techniques in today's biomedical science research that ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The need for best evidence has driven researchers into multidisciplinary, collaborative approaches which have become mainstay in today's biomedical science. The multidisciplinary and collaborative approaches to research in research-intensive academic medical centres in the USA and in other countries of affluence has ...

  18. e-Science platform for translational biomedical imaging research: running, statistics, and analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Tusheng; Yang, Yuanyuan; Zhang, Kai; Wang, Mingqing; Zhao, Jun; Xu, Lisa; Zhang, Jianguo

    2015-03-01

    In order to enable multiple disciplines of medical researchers, clinical physicians and biomedical engineers working together in a secured, efficient, and transparent cooperative environment, we had designed an e-Science platform for biomedical imaging research and application cross multiple academic institutions and hospitals in Shanghai and presented this work in SPIE Medical Imaging conference held in San Diego in 2012. In past the two-years, we implemented a biomedical image chain including communication, storage, cooperation and computing based on this e-Science platform. In this presentation, we presented the operating status of this system in supporting biomedical imaging research, analyzed and discussed results of this system in supporting multi-disciplines collaboration cross-multiple institutions.

  19. Tsinghua-Johns Hopkins Joint Center for Biomedical Engineering Research: scientific and cultural exchange in undergraduate engineering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wisneski, Andrew D; Huang, Lixia; Hong, Bo; Wang, Xiaoqin

    2011-01-01

    A model for an international undergraduate biomedical engineering research exchange program is outlined. In 2008, the Johns Hopkins University in collaboration with Tsinghua University in Beijing, China established the Tsinghua-Johns Hopkins Joint Center for Biomedical Engineering Research. Undergraduate biomedical engineering students from both universities are offered the opportunity to participate in research at the overseas institution. Programs such as these will not only provide research experiences for undergraduates but valuable cultural exchange and enrichment as well. Currently, strict course scheduling and rigorous curricula in most biomedical engineering programs may present obstacles for students to partake in study abroad opportunities. Universities are encouraged to harbor abroad opportunities for undergraduate engineering students, for which this particular program can serve as a model.

  20. Welfare assessment in porcine biomedical research – Suggestion for an operational tool

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Søndergaard, Lene Vammen; Dagnæs-Hansen, Frederik; Herskin, Mette S

    2011-01-01

    of the extent of welfare assessment in pigs used in biomedical research and to suggest a welfare assessment standard for research facilities based on an exposition of ethological considerations relevant for the welfare of pigs in biomedical research. The tools for porcine welfare assessment presented suggest...

  1. Mixed Methods in Biomedical and Health Services Research

    OpenAIRE

    Curry, Leslie A.; Krumholz, Harlan M.; O’Cathain, Alicia; Plano Clark, Vicki L.; Cherlin, Emily; Bradley, Elizabeth H.

    2013-01-01

    Mixed methods studies, in which qualitative and quantitative methods are combined in a single program of inquiry, can be valuable in biomedical and health services research, where the complementary strengths of each approach can yield greater insight into complex phenomena than either approach alone. Although interest in mixed methods is growing among science funders and investigators, written guidance on how to conduct and assess rigorous mixed methods studies is not readily accessible to th...

  2. Facilities available for biomedical science research in the public universities in Lagos, Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    John, T A

    2010-03-01

    Across the world, basic medical scientists and physician scientists work on common platforms in state-of-the-arts laboratories doing translational research that occasionally results in bedside application. Biotechnology industries capitalise on useful findings for colossal profit.1 In Nigeria and the rest of Africa, biomedical science has not thrived and the contribution of publications to global high impact journals is low.2 This work investigated facilities available for modern biomedical research in Lagos public universities to extract culprit factors. The two public universities in Lagos, Nigeria were investigated by a cross sectional questionnaire survey of the technical staff manning biomedical science departments. They were asked about availability of 47 modern biomedical science research laboratory components such as cold room and microscopes and six research administration components such as director of research and grants administration. For convenient basic laboratory components such as autoclaves and balances, 50% responses indicated "well maintained and always functional" whereas for less convenient complex, high maintenance, state-of-the-arts equipment 19% responses indicated "well maintained and always functional." Respondents indicated that components of modern biomedical science research administration were 44% of expectation. The survey reveal a deficit in state-of the-arts research equipment and also a deficit in high maintenance, expensive equipment indicating that biomedical science in the investigated environment lacks the momentum of global trends and also lacks buoyant funding. In addition, administration supporting biomedical science is below expectation and may also account for the low contributions of research articles to global high impact journals.

  3. Adolescent Self-Consent for Biomedical Human Immunodeficiency Virus Prevention Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilbert, Amy Lewis; Knopf, Amelia S; Fortenberry, J Dennis; Hosek, Sybil G; Kapogiannis, Bill G; Zimet, Gregory D

    2015-07-01

    The Adolescent Medicine Trials Network Protocol 113 (ATN113) is an open-label, multisite demonstration project and Phase II safety study of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) preexposure prophylaxis with 15- to 17-year-old young men who have sex with men that requires adolescent consent for participation. The purpose of this study was to examine factors related to the process by which Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and researchers made decisions regarding whether to approve and implement ATN113 so as to inform future biomedical HIV prevention research with high-risk adolescent populations. Participants included 17 researchers at 13 sites in 12 states considering ATN113 implementation. Qualitative descriptive methods were used. Data sources included interviews and documents generated during the initiation process. A common process for initiating ATN113 emerged, and informants described how they identified and addressed practical, ethical, and legal challenges that arose. Informants described the process as responding to the protocol, preparing for IRB submission, abstaining from or proceeding with submission, responding to IRB concerns, and reacting to the outcomes. A complex array of factors impacting approval and implementation were identified, and ATN113 was ultimately implemented in seven of 13 sites. Informants also reflected on lessons learned that may help inform future biomedical HIV prevention research with high-risk adolescent populations. The results illustrate factors for consideration in determining whether to implement such trials, demonstrate that such protocols have the potential to be approved, and highlight a need for clearer standards regarding biomedical HIV prevention research with high-risk adolescent populations. Copyright © 2015 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. A community of practice: librarians in a biomedical research network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Jager-Loftus, Danielle P; Midyette, J David; Harvey, Barbara

    2014-01-01

    Providing library and reference services within a biomedical research community presents special challenges for librarians, especially those in historically lower-funded states. These challenges can include understanding needs, defining and communicating the library's role, building relationships, and developing and maintaining general and subject specific knowledge. This article describes a biomedical research network and the work of health sciences librarians at the lead intensive research institution with librarians from primarily undergraduate institutions and tribal colleges. Applying the concept of a community of practice to a collaborative effort suggests how librarians can work together to provide effective reference services to researchers in biomedicine.

  5. [Cluster analysis in biomedical researches].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akopov, A S; Moskovtsev, A A; Dolenko, S A; Savina, G D

    2013-01-01

    Cluster analysis is one of the most popular methods for the analysis of multi-parameter data. The cluster analysis reveals the internal structure of the data, group the separate observations on the degree of their similarity. The review provides a definition of the basic concepts of cluster analysis, and discusses the most popular clustering algorithms: k-means, hierarchical algorithms, Kohonen networks algorithms. Examples are the use of these algorithms in biomedical research.

  6. Women's mental health research: the emergence of a biomedical field.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blehar, Mary C

    2006-01-01

    This review surveys the field of women's mental health, with particular emphasis on its evolution into a distinct area of biomedical research. The field employs a biomedical disease model but it also emphasizes social and cultural influences on health outcomes. In recent years, its scope has expanded beyond studies of disorders occurring in women at times of reproductive transitions and it now encompasses a broader study of sex and gender differences. Historical and conceptual influences on the field are discussed. The review also surveys gender differences in the prevalence and clinical manifestations of mental disorders. Epidemiological findings have provided a rich resource for theory development, but without research tools to test theories adequately, findings of gender differences have begged the question of their biological, social, and cultural origins. Clinical depression is used to exemplify the usefulness of a sex/gender perspective in understanding mental illness; and major theories proposed to account for gender differences are critically evaluated. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary federal funding source for biomedical women's mental health research. The review surveys areas of emphasis in women's mental health research at the NIH as well as some collaborative activities that represent efforts to translate research findings into the public health and services arenas. As new analytic methods become available, it is anticipated that a more fundamental understanding of the biological and behavioral mechanisms underlying sex and gender differences in mental illness will emerge. Nonetheless, it is also likely that integration of findings predicated on different conceptual models of the nature and causes of mental illness will remain a challenge. These issues are discussed with reference to their impact on the field of women's mental health research.

  7. Importance of intellectual property generated by biomedical research at universities and academic hospitals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heus, Joris J; de Pauw, Elmar S; Leloux, Mirjam; Morpurgo, Margherita; Hamblin, Michael R; Heger, Michal

    2017-01-01

    Biomedical research has many different facets. Researchers and clinicians study disease biology and biochemistry to discover novel therapeutic targets, unravel biochemical pathways and identify biomarkers to improve diagnosis, or devise new approaches to clinically manage diseases more effectively. In all instances, the overall goal of biomedical research is to ensure that results thereof (such as a therapy, a device, or a method which may be broadly referred to as "inventions") are clinically implemented. Most of the researchers' efforts are centered on the advance of technical and scientific aspects of an invention. The development and implementation of an invention can be arduous and very costly. Historically, it has proven to be crucial to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) to an invention (i.e., a patent) to ensure that companies can obtain a fair return on their investment that is needed to develop an academic invention into a product for the benefit of patients. However, the importance of IPR is not generally acknowledged among researchers at academic institutions active in biomedical research. Therefore this paper aims to (1) raise IP awareness amongst clinical and translational researchers; (2) provide a concise overview of what the patenting trajectory entails; and (3) highlight the importance of patenting for research and the researcher. Adequate patent protection of inventions generated through biomedical research at academic institutions increases the probability that patients will benefit from these inventions, and indirectly enables the financing of clinical studies, mainly by opening up funding opportunities (e.g. specific grants aimed at start-ups, pre-seed and seed capital) that otherwise would not be accessible. As a consequence, patented inventions are more likely to become clinically tested and reach the market, providing patients with more treatment options.

  8. Maximising value from a United Kingdom Biomedical Research Centre: study protocol.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenhalgh, Trisha; Ovseiko, Pavel V; Fahy, Nick; Shaw, Sara; Kerr, Polly; Rushforth, Alexander D; Channon, Keith M; Kiparoglou, Vasiliki

    2017-08-14

    Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs) are partnerships between healthcare organisations and universities in England. Their mission is to generate novel treatments, technologies, diagnostics and other interventions that increase the country's international competitiveness, to rapidly translate these innovations into benefits for patients, and to improve efficiency and reduce waste in healthcare. As NIHR Oxford BRC (Oxford BRC) enters its third 5-year funding period, we seek to (1) apply the evidence base on how best to support the various partnerships in this large, multi-stakeholder research system and (2) research how these partnerships play out in a new, ambitious programme of translational research. Organisational case study, informed by the principles of action research. A cross-cutting theme, 'Partnerships for Health, Wealth and Innovation' has been established with multiple sub-themes (drug development, device development, business support and commercialisation, research methodology and statistics, health economics, bioethics, patient and public involvement and engagement, knowledge translation, and education and training) to support individual BRC research themes and generate cross-theme learning. The 'Partnerships' theme will support the BRC's goals by facilitating six types of partnership (with patients and citizens, clinical services, industry, across the NIHR infrastructure, across academic disciplines, and with policymakers and payers) through a range of engagement platforms and activities. We will develop a longitudinal progress narrative centred around exemplar case studies, and apply theoretical models from innovation studies (Triple Helix), sociology of science (Mode 2 knowledge production) and business studies (Value Co-creation). Data sources will be the empirical research studies within individual BRC research themes (who will apply separately for NHS ethics approval), plus documentary analysis and interviews and ethnography with research

  9. Molecular image in biomedical research. Molecular imaging unit of the National Cancer Research Center

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perez Bruzon, J.; Mulero Anhiorte, F.

    2010-01-01

    This article has two basic objectives. firstly, it will review briefly the most important imaging techniques used in biomedical research indicting the most significant aspects related to their application in the preclinical stage. Secondly, it will present a practical application of these techniques in a pure biomedical research centre (not associated to a clinical facility). Practical aspects such as organisation, equipment, work norms, shielding of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) Imaging Unit will be shown. This is a pioneering facility in the application of these techniques in research centres without any dependence or any direct relationship with other hospital Nuclear Medicine services. (Author) 7 refs.

  10. Enrolment and Retention of African Women in Biomedical Research ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Relevant biomedical research literatures on Human Research Participants from Scirus, Pubmed and Medline computerized search were critically evaluated and highlighted. Information was also obtained from research ethics training as well as texts and journals in the medical libraries of the research ethics departments of ...

  11. Biomedical engineering frontier research and converging technologies

    CERN Document Server

    Jun, Ho-Wook; Shin, Jennifer; Lee, SangHoon

    2016-01-01

    This book provides readers with an integrative overview of the latest research and developments in the broad field of biomedical engineering. Each of the chapters offers a timely review written by leading biomedical engineers and aims at showing how the convergence of scientific and engineering fields with medicine has created a new basis for practically solving problems concerning human health, wellbeing and disease. While some of the latest frontiers of biomedicine, such as neuroscience and regenerative medicine, are becoming increasingly dependent on new ideas and tools from other disciplines, the paradigm shift caused by technological innovations in the fields of information science, nanotechnology, and robotics is opening new opportunities in healthcare, besides dramatically changing the ways we actually practice science. At the same time, a new generation of engineers, fluent in many different scientific “languages,” is creating entirely new fields of research that approach the “old” questions f...

  12. Leveraging the national cyberinfrastructure for biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    LeDuc, Richard; Vaughn, Matthew; Fonner, John M; Sullivan, Michael; Williams, James G; Blood, Philip D; Taylor, James; Barnett, William

    2014-01-01

    In the USA, the national cyberinfrastructure refers to a system of research supercomputer and other IT facilities and the high speed networks that connect them. These resources have been heavily leveraged by scientists in disciplines such as high energy physics, astronomy, and climatology, but until recently they have been little used by biomedical researchers. We suggest that many of the 'Big Data' challenges facing the medical informatics community can be efficiently handled using national-scale cyberinfrastructure. Resources such as the Extreme Science and Discovery Environment, the Open Science Grid, and Internet2 provide economical and proven infrastructures for Big Data challenges, but these resources can be difficult to approach. Specialized web portals, support centers, and virtual organizations can be constructed on these resources to meet defined computational challenges, specifically for genomics. We provide examples of how this has been done in basic biology as an illustration for the biomedical informatics community.

  13. Death, cadavers and post-mortem biomedical research: a point of view from a Christian community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charlier, Philippe; Joly, Alain; Champagnat, Julie; Brun, Luc; de la Grandmaison, Geoffroy Lorin; Hervé, Christian

    2013-12-01

    Facing modern developments of medicine and biomedical researches, religious communities are a strong source of ethics principles and orientations. Human dignity does not disappear after life, in a context of biomedical research on cadavers. Moral, political, social and scientific aspects of research on human cadavers (mainly autopsies) have been widely discussed in biomedical publications, whereas the religious ones (which could be predominant for some) have rarely been analyzed and presented. This article will present the results of a survey carried out a French Benedictine Abbey (relative to death, cadaver's status and biomedical research) and subsequent Christian background according to canonic texts and practical cases from anthropological, historical, archeological and biomedical origin.

  14. Labor and skills gap analysis of the biomedical research workforce

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mason, Julie L.; Johnston, Elizabeth; Berndt, Sam; Segal, Katie; Lei, Ming; Wiest, Jonathan S.

    2016-01-01

    The United States has experienced an unsustainable increase of the biomedical research workforce over the past 3 decades. This expansion has led to a myriad of consequences, including an imbalance in the number of researchers and available tenure-track faculty positions, extended postdoctoral training periods, increasing age of investigators at first U.S. National Institutes of Health R01 grant, and exodus of talented individuals seeking careers beyond traditional academe. Without accurate data on the biomedical research labor market, challenges will remain in resolving these problems and in advising trainees of viable career options and the skills necessary to be productive in their careers. We analyzed workforce trends, integrating both traditional labor market information and real-time job data. We generated a profile of the current biomedical research workforce, performed labor gap analyses of occupations in the workforce at regional and national levels, and assessed skill transferability between core and complementary occupations. We conclude that although supply into the workforce and the number of job postings for occupations within that workforce have grown over the past decade, supply continues to outstrip demand. Moreover, we identify practical skill sets from real-time job postings to optimally equip trainees for an array of careers to effectively meet future workforce demand.—Mason, J. L., Johnston, E., Berndt, S., Segal, K., Lei, M., Wiest, J. S. Labor and skills gap analysis of the biomedical research workforce. PMID:27075242

  15. Labor and skills gap analysis of the biomedical research workforce.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mason, Julie L; Johnston, Elizabeth; Berndt, Sam; Segal, Katie; Lei, Ming; Wiest, Jonathan S

    2016-08-01

    The United States has experienced an unsustainable increase of the biomedical research workforce over the past 3 decades. This expansion has led to a myriad of consequences, including an imbalance in the number of researchers and available tenure-track faculty positions, extended postdoctoral training periods, increasing age of investigators at first U.S. National Institutes of Health R01 grant, and exodus of talented individuals seeking careers beyond traditional academe. Without accurate data on the biomedical research labor market, challenges will remain in resolving these problems and in advising trainees of viable career options and the skills necessary to be productive in their careers. We analyzed workforce trends, integrating both traditional labor market information and real-time job data. We generated a profile of the current biomedical research workforce, performed labor gap analyses of occupations in the workforce at regional and national levels, and assessed skill transferability between core and complementary occupations. We conclude that although supply into the workforce and the number of job postings for occupations within that workforce have grown over the past decade, supply continues to outstrip demand. Moreover, we identify practical skill sets from real-time job postings to optimally equip trainees for an array of careers to effectively meet future workforce demand.-Mason, J. L., Johnston, E., Berndt, S., Segal, K., Lei, M., Wiest, J. S. Labor and skills gap analysis of the biomedical research workforce. © FASEB.

  16. A Brief History of Biomedical Research Ethics in Iran: Conflict of Paradigms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aramesh, Kiarash

    2015-08-01

    During the past two decades, Iran has experienced a noteworthy growth in its biomedical research sector. At the same time, ethical concerns and debates resulting from this burgeoning enterprise has led to increasing attention paid to biomedical ethics. In Iran, Biomedical research ethics and research oversight passed through major periods during the past decades, separated by a paradigm shift. Period 1, starting from the early 1970s, is characterized by research paternalism and complete reliance on researchers as virtuous and caring physicians. This approach was in concordance with the paternalistic clinical practice of physicians outside of research settings during the same period. Period 2, starting from the late 1990s, was partly due to revealing of ethical flaws that occurred in biomedical research in Iran. The regulatory and funding bodies concluded that it was not sufficient to rely solely on the personal and professional virtues of researchers to safeguard human subjects' rights and welfare. The necessity for independent oversight, emphasized by international declarations, became obvious and undeniable. This paradigm shift led to the establishment of research ethics committees throughout the country, the establishment of academic research centers focusing on medical ethics (MEHR) and the compilation of the first set of national ethical guidelines on biomedical research-one of the first and most important projects conducted by and in the MEHR. Although not yet arrived, 'period 3' is on its way. It is predictable from the obvious trends toward performance of high-quality clinical research and the appearance of a highly educated new generation, especially among women. Published 2014. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

  17. Development and Validation of the Biomedical Research Trust Scale (BRTS) in English and Spanish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baik, Sharon H; Arevalo, Mariana; Gwede, Clement; Meade, Cathy D; Jacobsen, Paul B; Quinn, Gwendolyn P; Wells, Kristen J

    2016-10-01

    This study developed and validated the Biomedical Research Trust Scale (BRTS), a 10-item measure of global trust in biomedical research, in English and Spanish (BRTS-SP). In total, 85 English- and 85 Spanish-speaking participants completed the BRTS or BRTS-SP, as well as measures of biobanking attitudes, self-efficacy, receptivity, and intentions to donate blood or urine. Results indicated the BRTS and BRTS-SP showed adequate internal consistency in both English and Spanish. In addition, greater levels of trust in biomedical research were significantly associated with greater self-efficacy, receptivity, attitudes, and intentions to donate blood and urine in English-speaking participants, and self-efficacy and intention to donate urine in Spanish-speaking participants. These results support the use of the BRTS and BRTS-SP among English- and Spanish-speaking community members.

  18. Knowledge of the Nigerian Code of Health Research Ethics Among Biomedical Researchers in Southern Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogunrin, Olubunmi A; Daniel, Folasade; Ansa, Victor

    2016-12-01

    Responsibility for protection of research participants from harm and exploitation rests on Research Ethics Committees and principal investigators. The Nigerian National Code of Health Research Ethics defines responsibilities of stakeholders in research so its knowledge among researchers will likely aid ethical conduct of research. The levels of awareness and knowledge of the Code among biomedical researchers in southern Nigerian research institutions was assessed. Four institutions were selected using a stratified random sampling technique. Research participants were selected by purposive sampling and completed a pre-tested structured questionnaire. A total of 102 biomedical researchers completed the questionnaires. Thirty percent of the participants were aware of the National Code though 64% had attended at least one training seminar in research ethics. Twenty-five percent had a fairly acceptable knowledge (scores 50%-74%) and 10% had excellent knowledge of the code (score ≥75%). Ninety-five percent expressed intentions to learn more about the National Code and agreed that it is highly relevant to the ethical conduct of research. Awareness and knowledge of the Code were found to be very limited among biomedical researchers in southern Nigeria. There is need to improve awareness and knowledge through ethics seminars and training. Use of existing Nigeria-specific online training resources is also encouraged.

  19. Drug knowledge bases and their applications in biomedical informatics research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Yongjun; Elemento, Olivier; Pathak, Jyotishman; Wang, Fei

    2018-01-03

    Recent advances in biomedical research have generated a large volume of drug-related data. To effectively handle this flood of data, many initiatives have been taken to help researchers make good use of them. As the results of these initiatives, many drug knowledge bases have been constructed. They range from simple ones with specific focuses to comprehensive ones that contain information on almost every aspect of a drug. These curated drug knowledge bases have made significant contributions to the development of efficient and effective health information technologies for better health-care service delivery. Understanding and comparing existing drug knowledge bases and how they are applied in various biomedical studies will help us recognize the state of the art and design better knowledge bases in the future. In addition, researchers can get insights on novel applications of the drug knowledge bases through a review of successful use cases. In this study, we provide a review of existing popular drug knowledge bases and their applications in drug-related studies. We discuss challenges in constructing and using drug knowledge bases as well as future research directions toward a better ecosystem of drug knowledge bases. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  20. Immune-deficient animals in biomedical research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rygaard, J.; Brunner, N.; Groem, N.; Spang-Thomsen, M.

    1987-01-01

    This book presents paper given at a workshop on immune-dificient animals in biomedical research. Topics presented included the following: differential recovery of antibody production potential after sublethal whole-body irradiation of mice; increased levels of plasma DNA in nude mice transplanted with human tumors; and transplantation of exocrine pancreatic carcinomas to nude mice: A model to investigate immunoscintigraphy, radioimmunotherapy and drug sensitivity

  1. Biomedical databases: protecting privacy and promoting research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wylie, Jean E; Mineau, Geraldine P

    2003-03-01

    When combined with medical information, large electronic databases of information that identify individuals provide superlative resources for genetic, epidemiology and other biomedical research. Such research resources increasingly need to balance the protection of privacy and confidentiality with the promotion of research. Models that do not allow the use of such individual-identifying information constrain research; models that involve commercial interests raise concerns about what type of access is acceptable. Researchers, individuals representing the public interest and those developing regulatory guidelines must be involved in an ongoing dialogue to identify practical models.

  2. A research education program model to prepare a highly qualified workforce in biomedical and health-related research and increase diversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crockett, Elahé T

    2014-09-24

    continued their research experiences beyond the program. The combination of carefully providing standard basics of research education and mentorship has been successful and instrumental for training these students/learners and their success in finding biomedical/health-related jobs and/or pursuing graduate/medical studies. All experiences have been positive and highly promoted. This approach has the potential to train a highly qualified workforce, change lives, enhance biomedical research, and by extension, improve national health-care.

  3. Annual tendency of research papers used ICR mice as experimental animals in biomedical research fields

    OpenAIRE

    Kim, Ji Eun; Nam, Jung Hoon; Cho, Joon Young; Kim, Kil Soo; Hwang, Dae Youn

    2017-01-01

    Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice have been widely used in various research fields including toxicology, oncology, pharmacology, and pharmaceutical product safety testing for decades. However, annual tendency of research papers involving ICR mice in various biomedical fields has not been previously analyzed. In this study, we examined the numbers of papers that used ICR mice as experimental animals in the social science, natural science, engineering, medicine-pharmacy, marine agricultur...

  4. ETHICAL REVIEW OF BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH IN BELARUS: CURRENT STATUS, PROBLEMS AND PERSPECTIVES.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Famenka, Andrei

    2011-04-01

    The paper provides description of the system of ethical review for biomedical research in Belarus, with special emphasis on its historical background, legal and regulatory framework, structure and functioning. It concludes that the situation with research ethics in Belarus corresponds to the tendency of bureaucratic approach to establishment of systems of ethical review for biomedical research, observed in a number of countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Different social, economical and political factors of transition have major impact on capacities of the Belarusian RECs to ensure adequate protection of human subjects. Among the main problems identified are non-equivalent stringency of ethical review for different types of biomedical research; lack of independence, multidisciplinarity, pluralism and lay representation experienced by RECs; low level of research ethics education and transparency of RECs activities. Recommendations are made to raise the issue of research ethics on the national agenda in order to develop and maintain the research ethics system capable to effectively protect research participants and promote ethical conduct in research.

  5. [International regulation of ethics committees on biomedical research as protection mechanisms for people: analysis of the Additional Protocol to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, concerning Biomedical Research of the Council of Europe].

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Lecuona, Itziar

    2013-01-01

    The article explores and analyses the content of the Council of Europe's Additional Protocol to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine concerning Biomedical Research regarding the standard legal instrument in biomedical research, issued by an international organization with leadership in bioethics. This implies ethics committees are mechanisms of protection of humans in biomedical research and not mere bureaucratic agencies and that a sound inescapable international regulatory framework exists for States to regulate biomedical research. The methodology used focuses on the analysis of the background, the context in which it is made and the nature and scope of the Protocol. It also identifies and analyses the characteristics and functions of ethics committees in biomedical research and, in particular, the information that should be provided to this bodies to develop their functions previously, during and at the end of research projects. This analysis will provide guidelines, suggestions and conclusions for the awareness and training of members of these committees in order to influence the daily practice. This paper may also be of interest to legal practitioners who work in different areas of biomedical research. From this practical perspective, the article examines the legal treatment of the Protocol to meet new challenges and classic issues in research: the treatment of human biological samples, the use of placebos, avoiding double standards, human vulnerability, undue influence and conflicts of interest, among others. Also, from a critical view, this work links the legal responses to develop work procedures that are required for an effective performance of the functions assigned of ethics committees in biomedical research. An existing international legal response that lacks doctrinal standards and provides little support should, however, serve as a guide and standard to develop actions that allow ethics committees -as key bodies for States- to advance in

  6. From biomedical-engineering research to clinical application and industrialization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taguchi, Tetsushi; Aoyagi, Takao

    2012-12-01

    The rising costs and aging of the population due to a low birth rate negatively affect the healthcare system in Japan. In 2011, the Council for Science and Technology Policy released the 4th Japan's Science and Technology Basic Policy Report from 2011 to 2015. This report includes two major innovations, 'Life Innovation' and 'Green Innovation', to promote economic growth. Biomedical engineering research is part of 'Life Innovation' and its outcomes are required to maintain people's mental and physical health. It has already resulted in numerous biomedical products, and new ones should be developed using nanotechnology-based concepts. The combination of accumulated knowledge and experience, and 'nanoarchitechtonics' will result in novel, well-designed functional biomaterials. This focus issue contains three reviews and 19 original papers on various biomedical topics, including biomaterials, drug-delivery systems, tissue engineering and diagnostics. We hope that it demonstrates the importance of collaboration among scientists, engineers and clinicians, and will contribute to the further development of biomedical engineering.

  7. Sierra Leone Journal of Biomedical Research: Submissions

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    AFRICAN JOURNALS ONLINE (AJOL) · Journals · Advanced Search · USING ... Sierra Leone Journal of Biomedical Research (SLJBR) publishes papers in all ... An original article should give sufficient detail of experimental procedures for .... For references cited in a paper which has been accepted for publication but not ...

  8. Archives of Medical and Biomedical Research: Submissions

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Author Guidelines. INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS This information can also be accessed at http://www.iambr.info/AMBR/author_guidelines.html Articles to Archives of Medical and Biomedical Research are submitted under the condition that the work described has not been published or is not being considered for ...

  9. Seven layers of security to help protect biomedical research facilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mortell, Norman

    2010-04-01

    In addition to risks such as theft and fire that can confront any type of business, the biomedical research community often faces additional concerns over animal rights extremists, infiltrations, data security and intellectual property rights. Given these concerns, it is not surprising that the industry gives a high priority to security. This article identifies security threats faced by biomedical research companies and shows how these threats are ranked in importance by industry stakeholders. The author then goes on to discuss seven key 'layers' of security, from the external environment to the research facility itself, and how these layers all contribute to the creation of a successfully secured facility.

  10. Maximizing the return on taxpayers' investments in fundamental biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lorsch, Jon R

    2015-05-01

    The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health has an annual budget of more than $2.3 billion. The institute uses these funds to support fundamental biomedical research and training at universities, medical schools, and other institutions across the country. My job as director of NIGMS is to work to maximize the scientific returns on the taxpayers' investments. I describe how we are optimizing our investment strategies and funding mechanisms, and how, in the process, we hope to create a more efficient and sustainable biomedical research enterprise.

  11. A roadmap for caGrid, an enterprise Grid architecture for biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saltz, Joel; Hastings, Shannon; Langella, Stephen; Oster, Scott; Kurc, Tahsin; Payne, Philip; Ferreira, Renato; Plale, Beth; Goble, Carole; Ervin, David; Sharma, Ashish; Pan, Tony; Permar, Justin; Brezany, Peter; Siebenlist, Frank; Madduri, Ravi; Foster, Ian; Shanbhag, Krishnakant; Mead, Charlie; Chue Hong, Neil

    2008-01-01

    caGrid is a middleware system which combines the Grid computing, the service oriented architecture, and the model driven architecture paradigms to support development of interoperable data and analytical resources and federation of such resources in a Grid environment. The functionality provided by caGrid is an essential and integral component of the cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) program. This program is established by the National Cancer Institute as a nationwide effort to develop enabling informatics technologies for collaborative, multi-institutional biomedical research with the overarching goal of accelerating translational cancer research. Although the main application domain for caGrid is cancer research, the infrastructure provides a generic framework that can be employed in other biomedical research and healthcare domains. The development of caGrid is an ongoing effort, adding new functionality and improvements based on feedback and use cases from the community. This paper provides an overview of potential future architecture and tooling directions and areas of improvement for caGrid and caGrid-like systems. This summary is based on discussions at a roadmap workshop held in February with participants from biomedical research, Grid computing, and high performance computing communities.

  12. Canine as a biomedical research model: immunological, hematological, and oncological aspects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shifrine, M.; Wilson, F.D.

    1980-01-01

    The canine has been used as a biomedical research model in radiation studies by a number of laboratories supported primarily by the US Department of Energy and its predecessors. These studies were unique in that they covered the life spans of the canines and permitted the collection of data from birth to death under controlled conditions. Since these were multiparametric studies, an extensive data base has been established, not the least of which are normative values covering all biologic systems, including immunohematology. The canine model has also been extensively used by other groups, such as transplantation biologists. The virtues of the canine as a model in these and many other endeavors are becoming increasingly more apparent with the passing of time. One of the primary goals of this volume was to compile the knowledge and experience of researchers using the canine model and to focus their expertise on furthering the use of the canine for studies in immunology, hematology, and oncology. We have attempted to present some of the contemporary, diverse uses of the canine in biomedical research, emphasizing immunologic endpoints, and also to present in detail some of the latest technology used in such studies

  13. Eli Lilly and Company's bioethics framework for human biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Campen, Luann E; Therasse, Donald G; Klopfenstein, Mitchell; Levine, Robert J

    2015-11-01

    Current ethics and good clinical practice guidelines address various aspects of pharmaceutical research and development, but do not comprehensively address the bioethical responsibilities of sponsors. To fill this void, in 2010 Eli Lilly and Company developed and implemented a Bioethics Framework for Human Biomedical Research to guide ethical decisions. (See our companion article that describes how the framework was developed and implemented and provides a critique of its usefulness and limitations.) This paper presents the actual framework that serves as a company resource for employee education and bioethics deliberations. The framework consists of four basic ethical principles and 13 essential elements for ethical human biomedical research and resides within the context of our company's mission, vision and values. For each component of the framework, we provide a high-level overview followed by a detailed description with cross-references to relevant well regarded guidance documents. The principles and guidance described should be familiar to those acquainted with research ethics. Therefore the novelty of the framework lies not in the foundational concepts presented as much as the attempt to specify and compile a sponsor's bioethical responsibilities to multiple stakeholders into one resource. When such a framework is employed, it can serve as a bioethical foundation to inform decisions and actions throughout clinical planning, trial design, study implementation and closeout, as well as to inform company positions on bioethical issues. The framework is, therefore, a useful tool for translating ethical aspirations into action - to help ensure pharmaceutical human biomedical research is conducted in a manner that aligns with consensus ethics principles, as well as a sponsor's core values.

  14. The Aotus nancymaae erythrocyte proteome and its importance for biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreno-Pérez, D A; García-Valiente, R; Ibarrola, N; Muro, A; Patarroyo, M A

    2017-01-30

    The Aotus nancymaae species has been of great importance in researching the biology and pathogenesis of malaria, particularly for studying Plasmodium molecules for including them in effective vaccines against such microorganism. In spite of the forgoing, there has been no report to date describing the biology of parasite target cells in primates or their biomedical importance. This study was thus designed to analyse A. nancymaae erythrocyte protein composition using MS data collected during a previous study aimed at characterising the Plasmodium vivax proteome and published in the pertinent literature. Most peptides identified were similar to those belonging to 1189 Homo sapiens molecules; >95% of them had orthologues in New World primates. GO terms revealed a correlation between categories having the greatest amount of proteins and vital cell function. Integral membrane molecules were also identified which could be possible receptors facilitating interaction with Plasmodium species. The A. nancymaae erythrocyte proteome is described here for the first time, as a starting point for more in-depth/extensive studies. The data reported represents a source of invaluable information for laboratories interested in carrying out basic and applied biomedical investigation studies which involve using this primate. An understanding of the proteomics characteristics of A. nancymaae erythrocytes represents a fascinating area for research regarding the study of the pathogenesis of malaria since these are the main target for Plasmodium invasion. However, and even though Aotus is one of the non-human primate models considered most appropriate for biomedical research, knowledge of its proteome, particularly its erythrocytes, remains unknown. According to the above and bearing in mind the lack of information about the A. nancymaae species genome and transcriptome, this study involved a search for primate proteins for comparing their MS/MS spectra with the available information for

  15. Nano-biotechnology for biomedical and diagnostic research

    CERN Document Server

    Zahavy, Eran; Yitzhaki, Shmuel

    2011-01-01

    The title ""Nano Biotechnology for Biomedical and Diagnostics Research"" will address research aspects related to nanomaterial in imaging and biological research, nanomaterials as a biosensing tool, DNA nanotechnology, nanomaterials for drug delivery, medicinal and therapeutic application and cytotoxicity of nanomaterials. These topics will be covered by 16 different manuscripts. Amongst the authors that will contribute to the book are major scientific leaders such as S. Weiss - UCLA, I. Willner, and G. Golomb -- HUJI, S. Esener - UCSD, E.C. Simmel - Tech. Univ. Munchen, I. Medintz -- NRL, N.

  16. 77 FR 26069 - Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-05-02

    ... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research and Development Services Scientific Merit Review Board, Notice of Meeting Amendment The... Development and Clinical Science Research and Development Services Scientific Merit Review Board have changed...

  17. Cyclotrons for clinical and biomedical research with PET

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wolf, A.P.

    1987-01-01

    The purpose of this commentary is to present some background material on cyclotrons and other particle accelerators particularly with a view toward the considerations behind acquiring and installing such a machine for purely clinical and/or biomedical research use

  18. Commercializing biomedical research through securitization techniques.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernandez, Jose-Maria; Stein, Roger M; Lo, Andrew W

    2012-10-01

    Biomedical innovation has become riskier, more expensive and more difficult to finance with traditional sources such as private and public equity. Here we propose a financial structure in which a large number of biomedical programs at various stages of development are funded by a single entity to substantially reduce the portfolio's risk. The portfolio entity can finance its activities by issuing debt, a critical advantage because a much larger pool of capital is available for investment in debt versus equity. By employing financial engineering techniques such as securitization, it can raise even greater amounts of more-patient capital. In a simulation using historical data for new molecular entities in oncology from 1990 to 2011, we find that megafunds of $5–15 billion may yield average investment returns of 8.9–11.4% for equity holders and 5–8% for 'research-backed obligation' holders, which are lower than typical venture-capital hurdle rates but attractive to pension funds, insurance companies and other large institutional investors.

  19. Cross-Cultural Communication Training for Students in Multidisciplinary Research Area of Biomedical Engineering

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shigehiro Hashimoto

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Biomedical Engineering makes multidisciplinary research area, which includes biology, medicine, engineering and others. Communication training is important for students, who have a potential to develop Biomedical Engineering. Communication is not easy in a multidisciplinary research area, because each area has its own background of thinking. Because each nation has its own background of culture, on the other hand, international communication is not easy, either. A cross-cultural student program has been designed for communication training in the multidisciplinary research area. Students from a variety of backgrounds of research area and culture have joined in the program: mechanical engineering, material science, environmental engineering, science of nursing, dentist, pharmacy, electronics, and so on. The program works well for communication training in the multidisciplinary research area of biomedical engineering. Foreign language and digital data give students chance to study several things: how to make communication precisely, how to quote previous data. The experience in the program helps students not only understand new idea in the laboratory visit, but also make a presentation in the international research conference. The program relates to author's several experiences: the student internship abroad, the cross-cultural student camp, multi PhD theses, various affiliations, and the creation of the interdisciplinary department.

  20. 76 FR 79273 - Joint Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development and Clinical Science Research and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-21

    ... Science Research and Development Services Scientific Merit Review Board Panel for Eligibility, Notice of... and Clinical Science Research and Development Services Scientific Merit Review Board will meet on... medical specialties within the general areas of biomedical, behavioral, and clinical science research. The...

  1. Science communication in the field of fundamental biomedical research (editorial).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Illingworth, Sam; Prokop, Andreas

    2017-10-01

    The aim of this special issue on science communication is to inspire and help scientists who are taking part or want to take part in science communication and engage with the wider public, clinicians, other scientists or policy makers. For this, some articles provide concise and accessible advice to individual scientists, science networks, or learned societies on how to communicate effectively; others share rationales, objectives and aims, experiences, implementation strategies and resources derived from existing long-term science communication initiatives. Although this issue is primarily addressing scientists working in the field of biomedical research, much of it similarly applies to scientists from other disciplines. Furthermore, we hope that this issue will also be used as a helpful resource by academic science communicators and social scientists, as a collection that highlights some of the major communication challenges that the biomedical sciences face, and which provides interesting case studies of initiatives that use a breadth of strategies to address these challenges. In this editorial, we first discuss why we should communicate our science and contemplate some of the different approaches, aspirations and definitions of science communication. We then address the specific challenges that researchers in the biomedical sciences are faced with when engaging with wider audiences. Finally, we explain the rationales and contents of the different articles in this issue and the various science communication initiatives and strategies discussed in each of them, whilst also providing some information on the wide range of further science communication activities in the biomedical sciences that could not all be covered here. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  2. [Big Data: the great opportunities and challenges to microbiome and other biomedical research].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Zhenjiang

    2015-02-01

    With the development of high-throughput technologies, biomedical data has been increasing exponentially in an explosive manner. This brings enormous opportunities and challenges to biomedical researchers on how to effectively utilize big data. Big data is different from traditional data in many ways, described as 3Vs - volume, variety and velocity. From the perspective of biomedical research, here I introduced the characteristics of big data, such as its messiness, re-usage and openness. Focusing on microbiome research of meta-analysis, the author discussed the prospective principles in data collection, challenges of privacy protection in data management, and the scalable tools in data analysis with examples from real life.

  3. Social Media and Mentoring in Biomedical Research Faculty Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teruya, Stacey Alan; Bazargan-Hejazi, Shahrzad

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: To determine how effective and collegial mentoring in biomedical research faculty development may be implemented and facilitated through social media. Method: The authors reviewed the literature for objectives, concerns, and limitations of career development for junior research faculty. They tabularized these as developmental goals, and…

  4. [Metrology research on biomedical engineering publications from China in recent years].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Lu; Su, Juan; Wang, Ying; Sha, Xianzheng

    2014-12-01

    The present paper is to evaluate the scientific research level and development trends of biomedical engineering in China using metrology analysis on Chinese biomedical engineering scientific literatures. Pubmed is used to search the biomedical engineering publications in recent 5 years which are indexed by Science Citation Index, and the number and cited times of these publications and the impact factor of the journals are analyzed. The results show that comparing with the world, although the number of the publication in China has increased in recent 5 years, there is still much room for improvement. Among Chinese mainland, Hongkong and Taiwan, Chinese mainland maintains the obvious advantage in this subject, but Hongkong has the highest average cited number. Shanghai and Beijing have better research ability than other areas in Chinese mainland.

  5. Education and research in biomedical engineering of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benyó, Z

    2006-03-01

    Biomedical Engineering is a relatively new interdisciplinary science. This review paper presents the biomedical engineering activity, which is carried out at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BUTE) and its partner institutions. In the first parts the main goals and the curriculum of the Biomedical Engineering Education Program is presented. The second part of the paper summarizes the most important biomedical engineering researches most of them carried out in the Biomedical Engineering Laboratory of BUTE.

  6. Use of Laboratory Animals in Biomedical and Behavioral Research

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    1988-01-01

    ... of Laboratory Animals in Biomedical and Behavioral Research Commission on Life Sciences National Research Council Institute of Medicine NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1988 Copyrightoriginal retained, the be not from cannot book, paper original however, for version formatting, authoritative the typesetting-specific created from the as publ...

  7. ChE Undergraduate Research Projects in Biomedical Engineering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stroeve, Pieter

    1981-01-01

    Describes an undergraduate research program in biomedical engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Includes goals and faculty comments on the program. Indicates that 58 percent of projects conducted between 1976 and 1980 have been presented at meetings or published. (SK)

  8. Proposal for a new LEIR Slow Extraction Scheme dedicated to Biomedical Research

    CERN Document Server

    Garonna, A; Carli, C

    2014-01-01

    This report presents a proposal for a new slow extraction scheme for the Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) in the context of the feasibility study for a biomedical research facility at CERN. LEIR has to be maintained as a heavy ion accumulator ring for LHC and for fixed-target experiments with the SPS. In parallel to this on-going operation for physics experiments, an additional secondary use of LEIR for a biomedical research facility was proposed [Dosanjh2013, Holzscheiter2012, PHE2010]. This facility would complement the existing research beam-time available at other laboratories for studies related to ion beam therapy. The new slow extraction [Abler2013] is based on the third-integer resonance. The reference beam is composed of fully stripped carbon ions with extraction energies of 20-440 MeV/u, transverse physical emittances of 5-25 µm and momentum spreads of ±2-9•10-4. Two resonance driving mechanisms have been studied: the quadrupole-driven method and the RF-knockout technique. Both were made compatible...

  9. Awareness of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the US presidential apology and their influence on minority participation in biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katz, Ralph V; Kegeles, S Stephen; Kressin, Nancy R; Green, B Lee; James, Sherman A; Wang, Min Qi; Russell, Stefanie L; Claudio, Cristina

    2008-06-01

    We compared the influence of awareness of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the presidential apology for that study on the willingness of Blacks, non-Hispanic Whites, and Hispanics to participate in biomedical research. The Tuskegee Legacy Project Questionnaire was administered to 1133 adults in 4 US cities. This 60-item questionnaire addressed issues related to the recruitment of minorities into biomedical studies. Adjusted multivariate analysis showed that, compared with Whites, Blacks were nearly 4 times as likely to have heard of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, more than twice as likely to have correctly named Clinton as the president who made the apology, and 2 to 3 times more likely to have been willing to participate in biomedical studies despite having heard about the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (odds ratio [OR]=2.9; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.4, 6.2) or the presidential apology (OR=2.3; 95% CI=1.4, 3.9). These marked differences likely reflect the cultural reality in the Black community, which has been accustomed to increased risks in many activities. For Whites, this type of information may have been more shocking and at odds with their expectations and, thus, led to a stronger negative impact.

  10. [The relevance of qualitative techniques in biomedical research].

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Camargo, Kenneth Rochel

    2008-01-01

    On observing how qualitative and quantitative studies are reported in the biomedical literature it becomes evident that, besides the virtual absence of the former, they are presented in different ways. Authors of qualitative studies seem to need almost invariably to explain why they choose a qualitative approach whereas that does not occur in quantitative studies. This paper takes Ludwik Fleck's comparative epistemology as a means of exploring those differences empirically, illustrating on the basis of two studies dealing with different aspects of biomedical practices how qualitative methods can elucidate a variety of questions pertaining to this field. The paper concludes presenting some structural characteristics of the biomedical field which on one hand, would not be explored properly without employing qualitative methods and, on the other hand, can help understanding the little value given to qualitative techniques in this area.

  11. Applying environmental product design to biomedical products research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Messelbeck, J; Sutherland, L

    2000-12-01

    The principal themes for the Biomedical Research and the Environment Conference Committee on Environmental Economics in Biomedical Research include the following: healthcare delivery companies and biomedical research organizations, both nonprofit and for-profit, need to improve their environmental performance; suppliers of healthcare products will be called upon to support this need; and improving the environmental profile of healthcare products begins in research and development (R&D). The committee report begins with requirements from regulatory authorities (e.g., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], the U.S. Food and Drug Administration), and the healthcare delivery sector). The 1998 American Hospital Association and EPA Memorandum of Understanding to reduce solid waste and mercury from healthcare facilities is emblematic of these requirements. The dominant message from the requirements discussion is to ensure that R&D organizations do not ignore customer, environmental, and regulatory requirements in the early stages of product development. Several representatives from healthcare products manufacturers presented their companies' approaches to meeting these requirements. They reported on efforts to ensure that their R&D processes are sensitive to the environmental consequences from manufacturing, distributing, using, and disposing of healthcare products. These reports describe representatives' awareness of requirements and the unique approaches their R&D organizations have taken to meet these requirements. All representatives reported that their R&D organizations have embraced environmental product design because it avoids the potential of returning products to R&D to improve the environmental profile. Additionally, several reports detailed cost savings, sustainability benefits, and improvements in environmental manufacturing or redesign, and increased customer satisfaction. Many companies in healthcare delivery are working to improve environmental

  12. Patterns of biomedical science production in a sub-Saharan research center

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agnandji Selidji T

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Research activities in sub-Saharan Africa may be limited to delegated tasks due to the strong control from Western collaborators, which could lead to scientific production of little value in terms of its impact on social and economic innovation in less developed areas. However, the current contexts of international biomedical research including the development of public-private partnerships and research institutions in Africa suggest that scientific activities are growing in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aims to describe the patterns of clinical research activities at a sub-Saharan biomedical research center. Methods In-depth interviews were conducted with a core group of researchers at the Medical Research Unit of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital from June 2009 to February 2010 in Lambaréné, Gabon. Scientific activities running at the MRU as well as the implementation of ethical and regulatory standards were covered by the interview sessions. Results The framework of clinical research includes transnational studies and research initiated locally. In transnational collaborations, a sub-Saharan research institution may be limited to producing confirmatory and late-stage data with little impact on economic and social innovation. However, ethical and regulatory guidelines are being implemented taking into consideration the local contexts. Similarly, the scientific content of studies designed by researchers at the MRU, if local needs are taken into account, may potentially contribute to a scientific production with long-term value on social and economic innovation in sub-Saharan Africa. Conclusion Further research questions and methods in social sciences should comprehensively address the construction of scientific content with the social, economic and cultural contexts surrounding research activities.

  13. Biomedical research, a tool to address the health issues that affect African populations

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Traditionally, biomedical research endeavors in low to middle resources countries have focused on communicable diseases. However, data collected over the past 20 years by the World Health Organization (WHO) show a significant increase in the number of people suffering from non-communicable diseases (e.g. heart disease, diabetes, cancer and pulmonary diseases). Within the coming years, WHO predicts significant decreases in communicable diseases while non-communicable diseases are expected to double in low and middle income countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The predicted increase in the non-communicable diseases population could be economically burdensome for the basic healthcare infrastructure of countries that lack resources to address this emerging disease burden. Biomedical research could stimulate development of healthcare and biomedical infrastructure. If this development is sustainable, it provides an opportunity to alleviate the burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases through diagnosis, prevention and treatment. In this paper, we discuss how research using biomedical technology, especially genomics, has produced data that enhances the understanding and treatment of both communicable and non-communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. We further discuss how scientific development can provide opportunities to pursue research areas responsive to the African populations. We limit our discussion to biomedical research in the areas of genomics due to its substantial impact on the scientific community in recent years however, we also recognize that targeted investments in other scientific disciplines could also foster further development in African countries. PMID:24143865

  14. Ethical Medical and Biomedical Practice in Health Research in Africa

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Ethical Medical and Biomedical Practice in Health Research in Africa. African countries have an urgent need for research to battle the diseases that ravage their populations and hamper their economic and social development. This research entails both benefits and risks for the people involved. Particular effort must be ...

  15. Engineering and Application of Zinc Finger Proteins and TALEs for Biomedical Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Moon-Soo; Kini, Anu Ganesh

    2017-08-01

    Engineered DNA-binding domains provide a powerful technology for numerous biomedical studies due to their ability to recognize specific DNA sequences. Zinc fingers (ZF) are one of the most common DNA-binding domains and have been extensively studied for a variety of applications, such as gene regulation, genome engineering and diagnostics. Another novel DNA-binding domain known as a transcriptional activator-like effector (TALE) has been more recently discovered, which has a previously undescribed DNA-binding mode. Due to their modular architecture and flexibility, TALEs have been rapidly developed into artificial gene targeting reagents. Here, we describe the methods used to design these DNA-binding proteins and their key applications in biomedical research.

  16. Balanced program plan. Volume 10. Fusion: analysis for biomedical and environmental research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hungate, F.P.

    1976-06-01

    Development of the Balanced Program Plan for analysis for biomedical and environmental research was initiated in the spring of 1975. The goal was a redefinition of research efforts and priorities to meet ERDA's requirements for a program of health and environmental research to support the development and commercialization of energy technologies. As part of the Balanced Program planning effort the major ERDA-supported multidisciplinary laboratories were assigned responsibility for analyzing the research needs of each of nine energy technologies and describing a research program to meet these needs. The staff of the Division of Biomedical and Environmental Research was assigned the task of defining a research program addressed to each of five biomedical and environmental research categories (characterization, measurement and monitoring; physical and chemical processes and effects; health effects; ecological effects; and integrated assessment and socioeconomic processes and effects) applicable to all energy technologies. The first drafts of these documents were available for a work-shop in June 1975 at which the DBER staff and scientists from the laboratories developed a comprehensive set of program recommendations. Pacific Northwest Laboratory was assigned responsibility for defining research needs and a recommended research program for fusion and fission technologies. This report, Volume 10, presents the input for fusion

  17. Research groups in biomedical sciences. Some recommendations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ricardo Cardona

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Despite the growing number of scientific publications reflecting a greater number of people interested in the biomedical sciences, many research groups disappear secondary to poor internal organization. From the review of the available literature, we generate a series of recommendations that may be useful for the creation of a research group or to improve the productivity of an existing group. Fluid communication between its members with a common overall policy framework allows the creation of a good foundation that will lead to the consolidation of the group.

  18. High level radiation dosimetry in biomedical research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Inada, Tetsuo

    1979-01-01

    The physical and biological dosimetries relating to cancer therapy with radiation were taken up at the first place in the late intercomparison on high LET radiation therapy in Japan-US cancer research cooperative study. The biological dosimetry, the large dose in biomedical research, the high dose rate in biomedical research and the practical dosimeters for pulsed neutrons or protons are outlined with the main development history and the characteristics which were obtained in the relating experiments. The clinical neutron facilities in the US and Japan involved in the intercomparison are presented. Concerning the experimental results of dosimeters, the relation between the R.B.E. compared with Chiba (Cyclotron in National Institute of Radiological Sciences) and the energy of deuterons or protons used for neutron production, the survival curves of three cultured cell lines derived from human cancers, after the irradiation of 250 keV X-ray, cyclotron neutrons of about 13 MeV and Van de Graaff neutrons of about 2 MeV, the hatchability of dry Artemia eggs at the several depths in an absorber stack irradiated by 60 MeV proton beam of 40, 120 and 200 krad, the peak skin reaction of mouse legs observed at various sets of average and instantaneous dose rates, and the peak skin reaction versus three instantaneous dose rates at fixed average dose rate of 7,300 rad/min are shown. These actual data were evaluated numerically and in relation to the physical meaning from the viewpoint of the fundamental aspect of cancer therapy, comparing the Japanese measured values to the US data. The discussion record on the high dose rate effect of low LET particles on biological substances and others is added. (Nakai, Y.)

  19. A possible biomedical facility at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dosanjh, M; Jones, B; Myers, S

    2013-05-01

    A well-attended meeting, called "Brainstorming discussion for a possible biomedical facility at CERN", was held by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics on 25 June 2012. This was concerned with adapting an existing, but little used, 78-m circumference CERN synchrotron to deliver a wide range of ion species, preferably from protons to at least neon ions, with beam specifications that match existing clinical facilities. The potential extensive research portfolio discussed included beam ballistics in humanoid phantoms, advanced dosimetry, remote imaging techniques and technical developments in beam delivery, including gantry design. In addition, a modern laboratory for biomedical characterisation of these beams would allow important radiobiological studies, such as relative biological effectiveness, in a dedicated facility with standardisation of experimental conditions and biological end points. A control photon and electron beam would be required nearby for relative biological effectiveness comparisons. Research beam time availability would far exceed that at other facilities throughout the world. This would allow more rapid progress in several biomedical areas, such as in charged hadron therapy of cancer, radioisotope production and radioprotection. The ethos of CERN, in terms of open access, peer-reviewed projects and governance has been so successful for High Energy Physics that application of the same to biomedicine would attract high-quality research, with possible contributions from Europe and beyond, along with potential new funding streams.

  20. Biomedical research leaders: report on needs, opportunities, difficulties, education and training, and evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, S H; Merkle, S; Brown, D; Moskowitz, J; Hurley, D; Brown, D; Bailey, B J; McClain, M; Misenhimer, M; Buckalew, J; Burks, T

    2000-12-01

    The National Association of Physicians for the Environment (NAPE) has assumed a leadership role in protecting environmental health in recent years. The Committee of Biomedical Research Leaders was convened at the recent NAPE Leadership Conference: Biomedical Research and the Environment held on 1--2 November 1999, at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. This report summarizes the discussion of the committee and its recommendations. The charge to the committee was to raise and address issues that will promote and sustain environmental health, safety, and energy efficiency within the biomedical community. Leaders from every important research sector (industry laboratories, academic health centers and institutes, hospitals and care facilities, Federal laboratories, and community-based research facilities) were gathered in this committee to discuss issues relevant to promoting environmental health. The conference and this report focus on the themes of environmental stewardship, sustainable development and "best greening practices." Environmental stewardship, an emerging theme within and outside the biomedical community, symbolizes the effort to provide an integrated, synthesized, and concerted effort to protect the health of the environment in both the present and the future. The primary goal established by the committee is to promote environmentally responsible leadership in the biomedical research community. Key outcomes of the committee's discussion and deliberation were a) the need for a central organization to evaluate, promote, and oversee efforts in environmental stewardship; and b) immediate need to facilitate efficient information transfer relevant to protecting the global environment through a database/clearinghouse. Means to fulfill these needs are discussed in this report.

  1. Annual tendency of research papers used ICR mice as experimental animals in biomedical research fields.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Ji Eun; Nam, Jung Hoon; Cho, Joon Young; Kim, Kil Soo; Hwang, Dae Youn

    2017-06-01

    Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice have been widely used in various research fields including toxicology, oncology, pharmacology, and pharmaceutical product safety testing for decades. However, annual tendency of research papers involving ICR mice in various biomedical fields has not been previously analyzed. In this study, we examined the numbers of papers that used ICR mice as experimental animals in the social science, natural science, engineering, medicine-pharmacy, marine agriculture-fishery, and art-kinesiology fields by analyzing big data. Numbers of ICR mouse-used papers gradually increased from 1961 to 2014, but small decreases were observed in 2015 and 2016. The largest number of ICR-used papers were published in the medicine-pharmacy field, followed by natural science and art-kinesiology fields. There were no ICR mouse-used papers in other fields. Furthermore, ICR mice have been widely employed in cell biology studies within the natural science field as well as in biochemistry and pathology in the medicine-pharmacy field. Few ICR mouse-used papers were published in exercise biochemistry and exercise nutrition in the art-kinesiology field. Regardless in most fields, the total numbers of published papers involving ICR mice were higher in 2014 than in other years, although the numbers in some fields including dentistry, veterinary science, and dermatology were high in 2016. Taken together, the present study shows that various ICR stocks, including Korl:ICR mice, are widely employed as experimental animals in various biomedical research fields.

  2. Biomedical Engineering and Cognitive Science Secondary Science Curriculum Development: A Three Year Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein, Stacy S.; Sherwood, Robert D.

    2005-01-01

    This study reports on a multi-year effort to create and evaluate cognitive-based curricular materials for secondary school science classrooms. A team of secondary teachers, educational researchers, and academic biomedical engineers developed a series of curriculum units that are based in biomedical engineering for secondary level students in…

  3. Strategies for Disseminating Information on Biomedical Research on Autism to Hispanic Parents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lajonchere, Clara M.; Wheeler, Barbara Y.; Valente, Thomas W.; Kreutzer, Cary; Munson, Aron; Narayanan, Shrikanth; Kazemzadeh, Abe; Cruz, Roxana; Martinez, Irene; Schrager, Sheree M.; Schweitzer, Lisa; Chklovski, Tara; Hwang, Darryl

    2016-01-01

    Low income Hispanic families experience multiple barriers to accessing evidence-based information on Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This study utilized a mixed-strategy intervention to create access to information in published bio-medical research articles on ASD by distilling the content into parent-friendly English- and Spanish-language ASD…

  4. Scientific Reproducibility in Biomedical Research: Provenance Metadata Ontology for Semantic Annotation of Study Description.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahoo, Satya S; Valdez, Joshua; Rueschman, Michael

    2016-01-01

    Scientific reproducibility is key to scientific progress as it allows the research community to build on validated results, protect patients from potentially harmful trial drugs derived from incorrect results, and reduce wastage of valuable resources. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently published a systematic guideline titled "Rigor and Reproducibility " for supporting reproducible research studies, which has also been accepted by several scientific journals. These journals will require published articles to conform to these new guidelines. Provenance metadata describes the history or origin of data and it has been long used in computer science to capture metadata information for ensuring data quality and supporting scientific reproducibility. In this paper, we describe the development of Provenance for Clinical and healthcare Research (ProvCaRe) framework together with a provenance ontology to support scientific reproducibility by formally modeling a core set of data elements representing details of research study. We extend the PROV Ontology (PROV-O), which has been recommended as the provenance representation model by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), to represent both: (a) data provenance, and (b) process provenance. We use 124 study variables from 6 clinical research studies from the National Sleep Research Resource (NSRR) to evaluate the coverage of the provenance ontology. NSRR is the largest repository of NIH-funded sleep datasets with 50,000 studies from 36,000 participants. The provenance ontology reuses ontology concepts from existing biomedical ontologies, for example the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT), to model the provenance information of research studies. The ProvCaRe framework is being developed as part of the Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) data provenance project.

  5. Data Analysis in Experimental Biomedical Research

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Markovich, Dmitriy

    This thesis covers two non-related topics in experimental biomedical research: data analysis in thrombin generation experiments (collaboration with Novo Nordisk A/S), and analysis of images and physiological signals in the context of neurovascular signalling and blood flow regulation in the brain...... to critically assess and compare obtained results. We reverse engineered the data analysis performed by CAT, a de facto standard assay in the field. This revealed a number of possibilities to improve its methods of data analysis. We found that experimental calibration data is described well with textbook...

  6. The Biomedical Resource Ontology (BRO) to enable resource discovery in clinical and translational research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tenenbaum, Jessica D; Whetzel, Patricia L; Anderson, Kent; Borromeo, Charles D; Dinov, Ivo D; Gabriel, Davera; Kirschner, Beth; Mirel, Barbara; Morris, Tim; Noy, Natasha; Nyulas, Csongor; Rubenson, David; Saxman, Paul R; Singh, Harpreet; Whelan, Nancy; Wright, Zach; Athey, Brian D; Becich, Michael J; Ginsburg, Geoffrey S; Musen, Mark A; Smith, Kevin A; Tarantal, Alice F; Rubin, Daniel L; Lyster, Peter

    2011-02-01

    The biomedical research community relies on a diverse set of resources, both within their own institutions and at other research centers. In addition, an increasing number of shared electronic resources have been developed. Without effective means to locate and query these resources, it is challenging, if not impossible, for investigators to be aware of the myriad resources available, or to effectively perform resource discovery when the need arises. In this paper, we describe the development and use of the Biomedical Resource Ontology (BRO) to enable semantic annotation and discovery of biomedical resources. We also describe the Resource Discovery System (RDS) which is a federated, inter-institutional pilot project that uses the BRO to facilitate resource discovery on the Internet. Through the RDS framework and its associated Biositemaps infrastructure, the BRO facilitates semantic search and discovery of biomedical resources, breaking down barriers and streamlining scientific research that will improve human health. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Biomedical Informatics Research and Education at the EuroMISE Center

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Zvárová, Jana

    2006-01-01

    Roč. 45, Suppl. (2006), s. 166-173 ISSN 0026-1270 Grant - others:Evropské sociální fondy CZ04307/42011/0013 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : biomedical informatics * research * education * healthcare * information society Subject RIV: BJ - Thermodynamics Impact factor: 1.684, year: 2006

  8. Astonishing advances in mouse genetic tools for biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaczmarczyk, Lech; Jackson, Walker S

    2015-01-01

    The humble house mouse has long been a workhorse model system in biomedical research. The technology for introducing site-specific genome modifications led to Nobel Prizes for its pioneers and opened a new era of mouse genetics. However, this technology was very time-consuming and technically demanding. As a result, many investigators continued to employ easier genome manipulation methods, though resulting models can suffer from overlooked or underestimated consequences. Another breakthrough, invaluable for the molecular dissection of disease mechanisms, was the invention of high-throughput methods to measure the expression of a plethora of genes in parallel. However, the use of samples containing material from multiple cell types could obfuscate data, and thus interpretations. In this review we highlight some important issues in experimental approaches using mouse models for biomedical research. We then discuss recent technological advances in mouse genetics that are revolutionising human disease research. Mouse genomes are now easily manipulated at precise locations thanks to guided endonucleases, such as transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) or the CRISPR/Cas9 system, both also having the potential to turn the dream of human gene therapy into reality. Newly developed methods of cell type-specific isolation of transcriptomes from crude tissue homogenates, followed by detection with next generation sequencing (NGS), are vastly improving gene regulation studies. Taken together, these amazing tools simplify the creation of much more accurate mouse models of human disease, and enable the extraction of hitherto unobtainable data.

  9. Reaping the benefits of biomedical research: partnerships required.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Portilla, Lili M; Alving, Barbara

    2010-06-09

    Reaping the benefits of investments in biomedical research can be achieved most efficiently through active collaboration among industry, academia, government, and nonprofit organizations. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) are exploring multiple ways in which to increase the efficiency of the translational process. Investigators involved in the NIH-funded Clinical and Translational Science Awards are developing public-private partnerships, addressing the barriers to collaboration, training the next generation of interdisciplinary team-oriented researchers, and producing open-source tools for collaboration. NIH is engaging with industry through the Foundation for the NIH and the Small Business Innovation Research Awards.

  10. Applications of nanotechnology, next generation sequencing and microarrays in biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elingaramil, Sauli; Li, Xiaolong; He, Nongyue

    2013-07-01

    Next-generation sequencing technologies, microarrays and advances in bio nanotechnology have had an enormous impact on research within a short time frame. This impact appears certain to increase further as many biomedical institutions are now acquiring these prevailing new technologies. Beyond conventional sampling of genome content, wide-ranging applications are rapidly evolving for next-generation sequencing, microarrays and nanotechnology. To date, these technologies have been applied in a variety of contexts, including whole-genome sequencing, targeted re sequencing and discovery of transcription factor binding sites, noncoding RNA expression profiling and molecular diagnostics. This paper thus discusses current applications of nanotechnology, next-generation sequencing technologies and microarrays in biomedical research and highlights the transforming potential these technologies offer.

  11. PASSIM – an open source software system for managing information in biomedical studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neogi Sudeshna

    2007-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background One of the crucial aspects of day-to-day laboratory information management is collection, storage and retrieval of information about research subjects and biomedical samples. An efficient link between sample data and experiment results is absolutely imperative for a successful outcome of a biomedical study. Currently available software solutions are largely limited to large-scale, expensive commercial Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS. Acquiring such LIMS indeed can bring laboratory information management to a higher level, but often implies sufficient investment of time, effort and funds, which are not always available. There is a clear need for lightweight open source systems for patient and sample information management. Results We present a web-based tool for submission, management and retrieval of sample and research subject data. The system secures confidentiality by separating anonymized sample information from individuals' records. It is simple and generic, and can be customised for various biomedical studies. Information can be both entered and accessed using the same web interface. User groups and their privileges can be defined. The system is open-source and is supplied with an on-line tutorial and necessary documentation. It has proven to be successful in a large international collaborative project. Conclusion The presented system closes the gap between the need and the availability of lightweight software solutions for managing information in biomedical studies involving human research subjects.

  12. Globalizing and crowdsourcing biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Afshinnekoo, Ebrahim; Ahsanuddin, Sofia; Mason, Christopher E

    2016-12-01

    Crowdfunding and crowdsourcing of medical research has emerged as a novel paradigm for many biomedical disciplines to rapidly collect, process and interpret data from high-throughput and high-dimensional experiments. The novelty and promise of these approaches have led to fundamental discoveries about RNA mechanisms, microbiome dynamics and even patient interpretation of test results. However, these methods require robust training protocols, uniform sampling methods and experimental rigor in order to be useful for subsequent research efforts. Executed correctly, crowdfunding and crowdsourcing can leverage public resources and engagement to generate support for scientific endeavors that would otherwise be impossible due to funding constraints and or the large number of participants needed for data collection. We conducted a comprehensive literature review of scientific studies that utilized crowdsourcing and crowdfunding to generate data. We also discuss our own experiences conducting citizen-science research initiatives (MetaSUB and PathoMap) in ensuring data robustness, educational outreach and public engagement. We demonstrate the efficacy of crowdsourcing mechanisms for revolutionizing microbiome and metagenomic research to better elucidate the microbial and genetic dynamics of cities around the world (as well as non-urban areas). Crowdsourced studies have been able to create an improved and unprecedented ability to monitor, design and measure changes at the microbial and macroscopic scale. Thus, the use of crowdsourcing strategies has dramatically altered certain genomics research to create global citizen-science initiatives that reveal new discoveries about the world's genetic dynamics. The effectiveness of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing is largely dependent on the study design and methodology. One point of contention for the present discussion is the validity and scientific rigor of data that are generated by non-scientists. Selection bias, limited sample

  13. The Vulnerability of Study Participants in the Context of Transnational Biomedical Research: From Conceptual Considerations to Practical Implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orth, Helen Grete; Schicktanz, Silke

    2017-08-01

    Outsourcing clinical trials sponsored by pharmaceutical companies from industrialized countries to low- (middle)-income countries - summarized as transnational biomedical research (TBR) - has lead to many concerns about ethical standards. Whether study participants are particularly vulnerable is one of those concerns. However, the concept of vulnerability is still vague and varies in its definition. Despite the fact that important international ethical guidelines such as the Declaration of Helsinki by the World Medical Association or the Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects by the Council of International Organizations of Medical Sciences refer to vulnerability as ethical principle, each of their approaches are different. To overcome these shortcomings, we analyze and unite different approaches of vulnerability and develop practical criteria in order to operationalize the concept especially for the context of TBR. These criteria refer to the context of a study as well as the characteristics and the current living situation of study participants. Based on a case study of an HIV-vaccine-trial conducted in India we demonstrate how those criteria can be applied in a retrospective way to identify potential ethical conflicts. The criteria can also indicate a prospective function for ethical pre-assessment. For this, we provide an outlook for three major topics: 1. Vulnerability as a normative concept: Different ways of protection; 2. The relevance of transparency and 3. Vulnerability as an instrument to increase decision participation of human subjects. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  14. Computational intelligence in biomedical imaging

    CERN Document Server

    2014-01-01

    This book provides a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art computational intelligence research and technologies in biomedical images with emphasis on biomedical decision making. Biomedical imaging offers useful information on patients’ medical conditions and clues to causes of their symptoms and diseases. Biomedical images, however, provide a large number of images which physicians must interpret. Therefore, computer aids are demanded and become indispensable in physicians’ decision making. This book discusses major technical advancements and research findings in the field of computational intelligence in biomedical imaging, for example, computational intelligence in computer-aided diagnosis for breast cancer, prostate cancer, and brain disease, in lung function analysis, and in radiation therapy. The book examines technologies and studies that have reached the practical level, and those technologies that are becoming available in clinical practices in hospitals rapidly such as computational inte...

  15. Biomedical Visual Computing: Case Studies and Challenges

    KAUST Repository

    Johnson, Christopher

    2012-01-01

    Advances in computational geometric modeling, imaging, and simulation let researchers build and test models of increasing complexity, generating unprecedented amounts of data. As recent research in biomedical applications illustrates, visualization will be critical in making this vast amount of data usable; it's also fundamental to understanding models of complex phenomena. © 2012 IEEE.

  16. Heavy accelerated nuclei in biomedical research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tobias, C.A.

    1987-01-01

    Accelerated atomic nuclei in physics accelerators have been used in basic biological research and in applied medical diagnostic and therapeutic studies for the past 50 years. The passage of single heavy particles through the cell nucleus is capable of producing multiple DNA double-strand scission and chromatin breaks. According to the Repair-Misrepair model, the high biological effectiveness of high-LET particles is due to misrepair and misrejoining of the breaks. The Bragg depth ionization effect allows heavy particles to deposit considerably more energy deep in tissue than at the surface, and this property has been used for great improvements in the radiation therapy of localized tumors. Recent advances in producing radioactive beams will allow verification of therapeutic administration of such beams. The radioactive beams also open a new field of Nuclear Medicine. There is increasing interest in building special biomedical light and heavy-ion accelerators. These will be used not only for therapy but also for diagnosis, for the study of radiation hazards in space flight, and for basic molecular and cellular understanding of the mechanisms of radiation effect

  17. How do scientists perceive the current publication culture? A qualitative focus group interview study among Dutch biomedical researchers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tijdink, J K; Schipper, K; Bouter, L M; Maclaine Pont, P; de Jonge, J; Smulders, Y M

    2016-02-17

    To investigate the biomedical scientist's perception of the prevailing publication culture. Qualitative focus group interview study. Four university medical centres in the Netherlands. Three randomly selected groups of biomedical scientists (PhD, postdoctoral staff members and full professors). Main themes for discussion were selected by participants. Frequently perceived detrimental effects of contemporary publication culture were the strong focus on citation measures (like the Journal Impact Factor and the H-index), gift and ghost authorships and the order of authors, the peer review process, competition, the funding system and publication bias. These themes were generally associated with detrimental and undesirable effects on publication practices and on the validity of reported results. Furthermore, senior scientists tended to display a more cynical perception of the publication culture than their junior colleagues. However, even among the PhD students and the postdoctoral fellows, the sentiment was quite negative. Positive perceptions of specific features of contemporary scientific and publication culture were rare. Our findings suggest that the current publication culture leads to negative sentiments, counterproductive stress levels and, most importantly, to questionable research practices among junior and senior biomedical scientists. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

  18. A comparative analysis of biomedical research ethics regulation systems in Europe and Latin America with regard to the protection of human subjects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamas, Eugenia; Ferrer, Marcela; Molina, Alberto; Salinas, Rodrigo; Hevia, Adriana; Bota, Alexandre; Feinholz, Dafna; Fuchs, Michael; Schramm, Roland; Tealdi, Juan-Carlos; Zorrilla, Sergio

    2010-12-01

    The European project European and Latin American Systems of Ethics Regulation of Biomedical Research Project (EULABOR) has carried out the first comparative analysis of ethics regulation systems for biomedical research in seven countries in Europe and Latin America, evaluating their roles in the protection of human subjects. We developed a conceptual and methodological framework defining 'ethics regulation system for biomedical research' as a set of actors, institutions, codes and laws involved in overseeing the ethics of biomedical research on humans. This framework allowed us to develop comprehensive national reports by conducting semi-structured interviews to key informants. These reports were summarised and analysed in a comparative analysis. The study showed that the regulatory framework for clinical research in these countries differ in scope. It showed that despite the different political contexts, actors involved and motivations for creating the regulation, in most of the studied countries it was the government who took the lead in setting up the system. The study also showed that Europe and Latin America are similar regarding national bodies and research ethics committees, but the Brazilian system has strong and noteworthy specificities.

  19. Biomedical Visual Computing: Case Studies and Challenges

    KAUST Repository

    Johnson, Christopher

    2012-01-01

    Advances in computational geometric modeling, imaging, and simulation let researchers build and test models of increasing complexity, generating unprecedented amounts of data. As recent research in biomedical applications illustrates, visualization will be critical in making this vast amount of data usable; it\\'s also fundamental to understanding models of complex phenomena. © 2012 IEEE.

  20. Barriers to publishing in biomedical journals perceived by a sample of French researchers: results of the DIAzePAM study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duracinsky, Martin; Lalanne, Christophe; Rous, Laurence; Dara, Aichata Fofana; Baudoin, Lesya; Pellet, Claire; Descamps, Alexandre; Péretz, Fabienne; Chassany, Olivier

    2017-07-10

    As publishing is essential but competitive for researchers, difficulties in writing and submitting medical articles to biomedical journals are disabling. The DIAzePAM (Difficultés des Auteurs à la Publication d'Articles Médicaux) survey aimed to assess the difficulties experienced by researchers in the AP-HP (Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, i.e., Paris Hospitals Board, France), the largest public health institution in Europe, when preparing articles for biomedical journals. The survey also aimed to assess researchers' satisfaction and perceived needs. A 39-item electronic questionnaire based on qualitative interviews was addressed by e-mail to all researchers registered in the AP-HP SIGAPS (Système d'Interrogation, de Gestion et d'Analyse des Publications Scientifiques) bibliometric database. Between 28 May and 15 June 2015, 7766 researchers should have received and read the e-mail, and 1191 anonymously completed the questionnaire (write (79%) or submit (27%), limited skills in English (40%) or in writing (32%), and difficulty in starting writing (35%). 87% of respondents would accept technical support, especially in English reediting (79%), critical reediting (63%), formatting (52%), and/or writing (41%), to save time (92%) and increase high-impact-factor journal submission and acceptance (75%). 79% of respondents would appreciate funding support for their future publications, for English reediting (56%), medical writing (21%), or publication (38%) fees. They considered that this funding support could be covered by AP-HP (73%) and/or by the added financial value obtained by their department from previous publications (56%). The DIAzePAM survey highlights difficulties experienced by researchers preparing articles for biomedical journals, and details room for improvement.

  1. Bioethical Principles of Biomedical Research Involving Animals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bakir Mehić

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available A major requirement both of national and international ethical codes for human experimentation, and of national legislation in many cases, is that new substances or devices should not be used for the first time on human beings unless previous tests on animals have provided a reasonable presumption of their safety. That is so called: Good Clinical Praxis (GCP. There are two international ethical codes intended principally for the guidance of countries or institutions that have not yet formulated their own ethical requirements for human experimentation: The Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association and The Proposed International Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects of the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences and the World Health Organization[1].Animal experimentation is fundamental to the biomedical sciences, not only for the advancement of specific vital processes, but also for the improvement of methods of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease both in man and in animals. The use of animals is also indispensable for testing the potency and safety of biological substances used in human and veterinary medicine, as well as for determining the toxicity of the rapidly growing number of molecules that never existed before in nature and which may represent a hazard to health. This extensive exploitation by man of animals implies philosophical and moral problems that are not peculiar to their use for scientific purposes, and there are no objective ethical criteria by which to judge claims and counterclaims in such matters[2]. However, there is a consensus that „deliberate cruelty is repugnant”.While many countries have general laws or regulations imposing penalties for ill-treatment of animals, relatively few make specific provision for their use for scientific purposes. Because of differing legal systems and cultural backgrounds there are varying approaches to the use of

  2. Disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers of English

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohsen Rezaeian

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: English has become the most frequently used language for scientific communication in the biomedical field. Therefore, scholars from all over the world try to publish their findings in English. This trend has a number of advantages, along with several disadvantages. METHODS: In the current article, the most important disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers of English are reviewed. RESULTS: The most important disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers may include: Overlooking, either unintentionally or even deliberately, the most important local health problems; failure to carry out groundbreaking research due to limited medical research budgets; violating generally accepted codes of publication ethics and committing research misconduct and publications in open-access scam/predatory journals rather than prestigious journals. CONCLUSIONS: The above mentioned disadvantages could eventually result in academic establishments becoming irresponsible or, even worse, corrupt. In order to avoid this, scientists, scientific organizations, academic institutions, and scientific associations all over the world should design and implement a wider range of collaborative and comprehensive plans.

  3. Disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers of English.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rezaeian, Mohsen

    2015-01-01

    English has become the most frequently used language for scientific communication in the biomedical field. Therefore, scholars from all over the world try to publish their findings in English. This trend has a number of advantages, along with several disadvantages. In the current article, the most important disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers of English are reviewed. The most important disadvantages of publishing biomedical research articles in English for non-native speakers may include: Overlooking, either unintentionally or even deliberately, the most important local health problems; failure to carry out groundbreaking research due to limited medical research budgets; violating generally accepted codes of publication ethics and committing research misconduct and publications in open-access scam/predatory journals rather than prestigious journals. The above mentioned disadvantages could eventually result in academic establishments becoming irresponsible or, even worse, corrupt. In order to avoid this, scientists, scientific organizations, academic institutions, and scientific associations all over the world should design and implement a wider range of collaborative and comprehensive plans.

  4. [Biomedical informatics].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capurro, Daniel; Soto, Mauricio; Vivent, Macarena; Lopetegui, Marcelo; Herskovic, Jorge R

    2011-12-01

    Biomedical Informatics is a new discipline that arose from the need to incorporate information technologies to the generation, storage, distribution and analysis of information in the domain of biomedical sciences. This discipline comprises basic biomedical informatics, and public health informatics. The development of the discipline in Chile has been modest and most projects have originated from the interest of individual people or institutions, without a systematic and coordinated national development. Considering the unique features of health care system of our country, research in the area of biomedical informatics is becoming an imperative.

  5. Genome typing of nonhuman primate models: implications for biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haus, Tanja; Ferguson, Betsy; Rogers, Jeffrey; Doxiadis, Gaby; Certa, Ulrich; Rose, Nicola J; Teepe, Robert; Weinbauer, Gerhard F; Roos, Christian

    2014-11-01

    The success of personalized medicine rests on understanding the genetic variation between individuals. Thus, as medical practice evolves and variation among individuals becomes a fundamental aspect of clinical medicine, a thorough consideration of the genetic and genomic information concerning the animals used as models in biomedical research also becomes critical. In particular, nonhuman primates (NHPs) offer great promise as models for many aspects of human health and disease. These are outbred species exhibiting substantial levels of genetic variation; however, understanding of the contribution of this variation to phenotypes is lagging behind in NHP species. Thus, there is a pivotal need to address this gap and define strategies for characterizing both genomic content and variability within primate models of human disease. Here, we discuss the current state of genomics of NHP models and offer guidelines for future work to ensure continued improvement and utility of this line of biomedical research. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Requirement analysis for an electronic laboratory notebook for sustainable data management in biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menzel, Julia; Weil, Philipp; Bittihn, Philip; Hornung, Daniel; Mathieu, Nadine; Demiroglu, Sara Y

    2013-01-01

    Sustainable data management in biomedical research requires documentation of metadata for all experiments and results. Scientists usually document research data and metadata in laboratory paper notebooks. An electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) can keep metadata linked to research data resulting in a better understanding of the research results, meaning a scientific benefit [1]. Besides other challenges [2], the biggest hurdles for introducing an ELN seem to be usability, file formats, and data entry mechanisms [3] and that many ELNs are assigned to specific research fields such as biology, chemistry, or physics [4]. We aimed to identify requirements for the introduction of ELN software in a biomedical collaborative research center [5] consisting of different scientific fields and to find software fulfilling most of these requirements.

  7. Developing an Open-Source Bibliometric Ranking Website Using Google Scholar Citation Profiles for Researchers in the Field of Biomedical Informatics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sittig, Dean F; McCoy, Allison B; Wright, Adam; Lin, Jimmy

    2015-01-01

    We developed the Biomedical Informatics Researchers ranking website (rank.informatics-review.com) to overcome many of the limitations of previous scientific productivity ranking strategies. The website is composed of four key components that work together to create an automatically updating ranking website: (1) list of biomedical informatics researchers, (2) Google Scholar scraper, (3) display page, and (4) updater. The site has been useful to other groups in evaluating researchers, such as tenure and promotions committees in interpreting the various citation statistics reported by candidates. Creation of the Biomedical Informatics Researchers ranking website highlights the vast differences in scholarly productivity among members of the biomedical informatics research community.

  8. Pacific Northwest Laboratory annual report for 1983 to the DOE Office of Energy Research. Part 1. Biomedical sciences

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Drucker, H.

    1983-02-01

    Biomedical and health effects research conducted at PNL in 1982 on the evaluation of risk to man from existing and/or developing energy-related technologies are described. Most of the studies described in this report relate to activities for three major energy technologies: nuclear fuel cycle; fossil fuel cycle (oil, gas, and coal process technologies, mining, and utilization; synfuel development), and fudion (biomagnetic effects). The report is organized under these technologies. In addition, research reports are included on the application of nuclear energy to biomedical problems. Individual projects are indexed separately.

  9. Pacific Northwest Laboratory annual report for 1983 to the DOE Office of Energy Research. Part 1. Biomedical sciences

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drucker, H.

    1983-02-01

    Biomedical and health effects research conducted at PNL in 1982 on the evaluation of risk to man from existing and/or developing energy-related technologies are described. Most of the studies described in this report relate to activities for three major energy technologies: nuclear fuel cycle; fossil fuel cycle (oil, gas, and coal process technologies, mining, and utilization; synfuel development), and fudion (biomagnetic effects). The report is organized under these technologies. In addition, research reports are included on the application of nuclear energy to biomedical problems. Individual projects are indexed separately

  10. A survey of working conditions within biomedical research in the United Kingdom [version 3; referees: 2 approved

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nick Riddiford

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Background: Recent articles have presented a bleak view of career prospects in biomedical research in the US. Too many PhDs and postdocs are trained for too few research positions, creating a “holding-tank” of experienced senior postdocs who are unable to get a permanent position. Coupled with relatively low salaries and high levels of pressure to publish in top-tier academic journals, this has created a toxic environment that is perhaps responsible for a recently observed decline in biomedical postdocs in the US, the so-called “postdocalypse”. Methods: To address the gulf of information relating to working habits and attitudes of UK-based academic biomedical researchers, a link to an online survey was included in an article published in the Guardian newspaper. Survey data were collected between 21st March 2016 and 6th November 2016 and analysed to examine discrete profiles for three major career stages: PhD, postdoc and principal investigator. Results: Overall, the data presented here echo trends observed in the US: The 520 UK-based biomedical researchers responding to the survey reported feeling disillusioned with academic research, due to the low chance of getting a permanent position and the long hours required at the bench. Also like the US, large numbers of researchers at each distinct career stage are considering leaving biomedical research altogether. Conclusions: There are several systemic flaws in the academic scientific research machine – for example the continual overproduction of PhDs and the lack of stability in the early-mid stages of a research career - that are slowly being addressed in countries such as the US and Germany. These data suggest that similar flaws also exist in the UK, with a large proportion of respondents concerned about their future in research. To avoid lasting damage to the biomedical research agenda in the UK, addressing such concerns should be a major priority.

  11. Three-dimensional biomedical imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robb, R.A.

    1985-01-01

    Scientists in biomedical imaging provide researchers, physicians, and academicians with an understanding of the fundamental theories and practical applications of three-dimensional biomedical imaging methodologies. Succinct descriptions of each imaging modality are supported by numerous diagrams and illustrations which clarify important concepts and demonstrate system performance in a variety of applications. Comparison of the different functional attributes, relative advantages and limitations, complementary capabilities, and future directions of three-dimensional biomedical imaging modalities are given. Volume 1: Introductions to Three-Dimensional Biomedical Imaging Photoelectronic-Digital Imaging for Diagnostic Radiology. X-Ray Computed Tomography - Basic Principles. X-Ray Computed Tomography - Implementation and Applications. X-Ray Computed Tomography: Advanced Systems and Applications in Biomedical Research and Diagnosis. Volume II: Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography. Position Emission Tomography (PET). Computerized Ultrasound Tomography. Fundamentals of NMR Imaging. Display of Multi-Dimensional Biomedical Image Information. Summary and Prognostications

  12. Journal of Biomedical Investigation: Editorial Policies

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Journal of Biomedical Investigation: Editorial Policies. Journal Home ... The focus of the Journal of Biomedical Research is to promote interdisciplinary research across all Biomedical Sciences. It publishes ... Business editor – Sam Meludu.

  13. Biomedical ontologies: toward scientific debate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maojo, V; Crespo, J; García-Remesal, M; de la Iglesia, D; Perez-Rey, D; Kulikowski, C

    2011-01-01

    Biomedical ontologies have been very successful in structuring knowledge for many different applications, receiving widespread praise for their utility and potential. Yet, the role of computational ontologies in scientific research, as opposed to knowledge management applications, has not been extensively discussed. We aim to stimulate further discussion on the advantages and challenges presented by biomedical ontologies from a scientific perspective. We review various aspects of biomedical ontologies going beyond their practical successes, and focus on some key scientific questions in two ways. First, we analyze and discuss current approaches to improve biomedical ontologies that are based largely on classical, Aristotelian ontological models of reality. Second, we raise various open questions about biomedical ontologies that require further research, analyzing in more detail those related to visual reasoning and spatial ontologies. We outline significant scientific issues that biomedical ontologies should consider, beyond current efforts of building practical consensus between them. For spatial ontologies, we suggest an approach for building "morphospatial" taxonomies, as an example that could stimulate research on fundamental open issues for biomedical ontologies. Analysis of a large number of problems with biomedical ontologies suggests that the field is very much open to alternative interpretations of current work, and in need of scientific debate and discussion that can lead to new ideas and research directions.

  14. Development, implementation and critique of a bioethics framework for pharmaceutical sponsors of human biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Campen, Luann E; Therasse, Donald G; Klopfenstein, Mitchell; Levine, Robert J

    2015-11-01

    Pharmaceutical human biomedical research is a multi-dimensional endeavor that requires collaboration among many parties, including those who sponsor, conduct, participate in, or stand to benefit from the research. Human subjects' protections have been promulgated to ensure that the benefits of such research are accomplished with respect for and minimal risk to individual research participants, and with an overall sense of fairness. Although these protections are foundational to clinical research, most ethics guidance primarily highlights the responsibilities of investigators and ethics review boards. Currently, there is no published resource that comprehensively addresses bioethical responsibilities of industry sponsors; including their responsibilities to parties who are not research participants, but are, nevertheless key stakeholders in the endeavor. To fill this void, in 2010 Eli Lilly and Company instituted a Bioethics Framework for Human Biomedical Research. This paper describes how the framework was developed and implemented and provides a critique based on four years of experience. A companion article provides the actual document used by Eli Lilly and Company to guide ethical decisions regarding all phases of human clinical trials. While many of the concepts presented in this framework are not novel, compiling them in a manner that articulates the ethical responsibilities of a sponsor is novel. By utilizing this type of bioethics framework, we have been able to develop bioethics positions on various topics, provide research ethics consultations, and integrate bioethics into the daily operations of our human biomedical research. We hope that by sharing these companion papers we will stimulate discussion within and outside the biopharmaceutical industry for the benefit of the multiple parties involved in pharmaceutical human biomedical research.

  15. Small animal PET and its applications in biomedical research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qiu Feichan

    2004-01-01

    Positron emission tomography (PET) is a nuclear medical imaging technique that permits the use of positron-labeled molecular imaging probes for non-invasive assays of biochemical processes. As the leading technology in nuclear medicine, PET has extended its applications from the clinical field to the study of small laboratory animals. In recent years, the development of new detector technology has dramatically improved the spatial resolution and image quality of small animal PET scanner, which is being used increasingly as a basic tool in modern biomedical research. In particular, small animal PET will play an important role in drug discovery and development, in the study of small animal models of human diseases, in characterizing gene expression and in many other ways. (authors)

  16. Collaborative mining and interpretation of large-scale data for biomedical research insights.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Georgia Tsiliki

    Full Text Available Biomedical research becomes increasingly interdisciplinary and collaborative in nature. Researchers need to efficiently and effectively collaborate and make decisions by meaningfully assembling, mining and analyzing available large-scale volumes of complex multi-faceted data residing in different sources. In line with related research directives revealing that, in spite of the recent advances in data mining and computational analysis, humans can easily detect patterns which computer algorithms may have difficulty in finding, this paper reports on the practical use of an innovative web-based collaboration support platform in a biomedical research context. Arguing that dealing with data-intensive and cognitively complex settings is not a technical problem alone, the proposed platform adopts a hybrid approach that builds on the synergy between machine and human intelligence to facilitate the underlying sense-making and decision making processes. User experience shows that the platform enables more informed and quicker decisions, by displaying the aggregated information according to their needs, while also exploiting the associated human intelligence.

  17. Biomedical engineering education in developing countries: research synthesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Douglas, Tania S

    2011-01-01

    Biomedical engineering (BME) contributes to development through improving human health. This paper examines BME education to address the needs of developing countries. Components of different BME programs described in the literature are synthesized to represent what has been proposed or implemented for the production of graduates able to address health problems in a manner suited to the local environment in which they occur. Published research on BME education is reviewed with reference to problem context, interventions and their mechanisms, and intended outcomes.

  18. Building up careers in translational neuroscience and mental health research: Education and training in the Centre for Biomedical Research in Mental Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rapado-Castro, Marta; Pazos, Ángel; Fañanás, Lourdes; Bernardo, Miquel; Ayuso-Mateos, Jose Luis; Leza, Juan Carlos; Berrocoso, Esther; de Arriba, Jose; Roldán, Laura; Sanjuán, Julio; Pérez, Victor; Haro, Josep M; Palomo, Tomás; Valdizan, Elsa M; Micó, Juan Antonio; Sánchez, Manuel; Arango, Celso

    2015-01-01

    The number of large collaborative research networks in mental health is increasing. Training programs are an essential part of them. We critically review the specific implementation of a research training program in a translational Centre for Biomedical Research in Mental Health in order to inform the strategic integration of basic research into clinical practice to have a positive impact in the mental health system and society. Description of training activities, specific educational programs developed by the research network, and challenges on its implementation are examined. The Centre for Biomedical Research in Mental Health has focused on training through different activities which have led to the development of an interuniversity master's degree postgraduate program in mental health research, certified by the National Spanish Agency for Quality Evaluation and Accreditation. Consolidation of training programs within the Centre for Biomedical Research in Mental Health has considerably advanced the training of researchers to meet competency standards on research. The master's degree constitutes a unique opportunity to accomplish neuroscience and mental health research career-building within the official framework of university programs in Spain. Copyright © 2014 SEP y SEPB. Published by Elsevier España. All rights reserved.

  19. Synergies and Distinctions between Computational Disciplines in Biomedical Research: Perspective from the Clinical and Translational Science Award Programs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernstam, Elmer V.; Hersh, William R.; Johnson, Stephen B.; Chute, Christopher G.; Nguyen, Hien; Sim, Ida; Nahm, Meredith; Weiner, Mark; Miller, Perry; DiLaura, Robert P.; Overcash, Marc; Lehmann, Harold P.; Eichmann, David; Athey, Brian D.; Scheuermann, Richard H.; Anderson, Nick; Starren, Justin B.; Harris, Paul A.; Smith, Jack W.; Barbour, Ed; Silverstein, Jonathan C.; Krusch, David A.; Nagarajan, Rakesh; Becich, Michael J.

    2010-01-01

    Clinical and translational research increasingly requires computation. Projects may involve multiple computationally-oriented groups including information technology (IT) professionals, computer scientists and biomedical informaticians. However, many biomedical researchers are not aware of the distinctions among these complementary groups, leading to confusion, delays and sub-optimal results. Although written from the perspective of clinical and translational science award (CTSA) programs within academic medical centers, the paper addresses issues that extend beyond clinical and translational research. The authors describe the complementary but distinct roles of operational IT, research IT, computer science and biomedical informatics using a clinical data warehouse as a running example. In general, IT professionals focus on technology. The authors distinguish between two types of IT groups within academic medical centers: central or administrative IT (supporting the administrative computing needs of large organizations) and research IT (supporting the computing needs of researchers). Computer scientists focus on general issues of computation such as designing faster computers or more efficient algorithms, rather than specific applications. In contrast, informaticians are concerned with data, information and knowledge. Biomedical informaticians draw on a variety of tools, including but not limited to computers, to solve information problems in health care and biomedicine. The paper concludes with recommendations regarding administrative structures that can help to maximize the benefit of computation to biomedical research within academic health centers. PMID:19550198

  20. Improving validity of informed consent for biomedical research in Zambia using a laboratory exposure intervention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zulu, Joseph Mumba; Lisulo, Mpala Mwanza; Besa, Ellen; Kaonga, Patrick; Chisenga, Caroline C; Chomba, Mumba; Simuyandi, Michelo; Banda, Rosemary; Kelly, Paul

    2014-01-01

    Complex biomedical research can lead to disquiet in communities with limited exposure to scientific discussions, leading to rumours or to high drop-out rates. We set out to test an intervention designed to address apprehensions commonly encountered in a community where literacy is uncommon, and where complex biomedical research has been conducted for over a decade. We aimed to determine if it could improve the validity of consent. Data were collected using focus group discussions, key informant interviews and observations. We designed an intervention that exposed participants to a detailed demonstration of laboratory processes. Each group was interviewed twice in a day, before and after exposure to the intervention in order to assess changes in their views. Factors that motivated people to participate in invasive biomedical research included a desire to stay healthy because of the screening during the recruitment process, regular advice from doctors, free medical services, and trust in the researchers. Inhibiting factors were limited knowledge about samples taken from their bodies during endoscopic procedures, the impact of endoscopy on the function of internal organs, and concerns about the use of biomedical samples. The belief that blood can be used for Satanic practices also created insecurities about drawing of blood samples. Further inhibiting factors included a fear of being labelled as HIV positive if known to consult heath workers repeatedly, and gender inequality. Concerns about the use and storage of blood and tissue samples were overcome by a laboratory exposure intervention. Selecting a group of members from target community and engaging them in a laboratory exposure intervention could be a useful tool for enhancing specific aspects of consent for biomedical research. Further work is needed to determine the extent to which improved understanding permeates beyond the immediate group participating in the intervention.

  1. Improving validity of informed consent for biomedical research in Zambia using a laboratory exposure intervention.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joseph Mumba Zulu

    Full Text Available Complex biomedical research can lead to disquiet in communities with limited exposure to scientific discussions, leading to rumours or to high drop-out rates. We set out to test an intervention designed to address apprehensions commonly encountered in a community where literacy is uncommon, and where complex biomedical research has been conducted for over a decade. We aimed to determine if it could improve the validity of consent.Data were collected using focus group discussions, key informant interviews and observations. We designed an intervention that exposed participants to a detailed demonstration of laboratory processes. Each group was interviewed twice in a day, before and after exposure to the intervention in order to assess changes in their views.Factors that motivated people to participate in invasive biomedical research included a desire to stay healthy because of the screening during the recruitment process, regular advice from doctors, free medical services, and trust in the researchers. Inhibiting factors were limited knowledge about samples taken from their bodies during endoscopic procedures, the impact of endoscopy on the function of internal organs, and concerns about the use of biomedical samples. The belief that blood can be used for Satanic practices also created insecurities about drawing of blood samples. Further inhibiting factors included a fear of being labelled as HIV positive if known to consult heath workers repeatedly, and gender inequality. Concerns about the use and storage of blood and tissue samples were overcome by a laboratory exposure intervention.Selecting a group of members from target community and engaging them in a laboratory exposure intervention could be a useful tool for enhancing specific aspects of consent for biomedical research. Further work is needed to determine the extent to which improved understanding permeates beyond the immediate group participating in the intervention.

  2. qPortal: A platform for data-driven biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohr, Christopher; Friedrich, Andreas; Wojnar, David; Kenar, Erhan; Polatkan, Aydin Can; Codrea, Marius Cosmin; Czemmel, Stefan; Kohlbacher, Oliver; Nahnsen, Sven

    2018-01-01

    Modern biomedical research aims at drawing biological conclusions from large, highly complex biological datasets. It has become common practice to make extensive use of high-throughput technologies that produce big amounts of heterogeneous data. In addition to the ever-improving accuracy, methods are getting faster and cheaper, resulting in a steadily increasing need for scalable data management and easily accessible means of analysis. We present qPortal, a platform providing users with an intuitive way to manage and analyze quantitative biological data. The backend leverages a variety of concepts and technologies, such as relational databases, data stores, data models and means of data transfer, as well as front-end solutions to give users access to data management and easy-to-use analysis options. Users are empowered to conduct their experiments from the experimental design to the visualization of their results through the platform. Here, we illustrate the feature-rich portal by simulating a biomedical study based on publically available data. We demonstrate the software's strength in supporting the entire project life cycle. The software supports the project design and registration, empowers users to do all-digital project management and finally provides means to perform analysis. We compare our approach to Galaxy, one of the most widely used scientific workflow and analysis platforms in computational biology. Application of both systems to a small case study shows the differences between a data-driven approach (qPortal) and a workflow-driven approach (Galaxy). qPortal, a one-stop-shop solution for biomedical projects offers up-to-date analysis pipelines, quality control workflows, and visualization tools. Through intensive user interactions, appropriate data models have been developed. These models build the foundation of our biological data management system and provide possibilities to annotate data, query metadata for statistics and future re-analysis on

  3. Biomedical engineering and nanotechnology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pawar, S.H.; Khyalappa, R.J.; Yakhmi, J.V.

    2009-01-01

    This book is predominantly a compilation of papers presented in the conference which is focused on the development in biomedical materials, biomedical devises and instrumentation, biomedical effects of electromagnetic radiation, electrotherapy, radiotherapy, biosensors, biotechnology, bioengineering, tissue engineering, clinical engineering and surgical planning, medical imaging, hospital system management, biomedical education, biomedical industry and society, bioinformatics, structured nanomaterial for biomedical application, nano-composites, nano-medicine, synthesis of nanomaterial, nano science and technology development. The papers presented herein contain the scientific substance to suffice the academic directivity of the researchers from the field of biomedicine, biomedical engineering, material science and nanotechnology. Papers relevant to INIS are indexed separately

  4. Towards a 21st-century roadmap for biomedical research and drug discovery: consensus report and recommendations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langley, Gillian R; Adcock, Ian M; Busquet, François; Crofton, Kevin M; Csernok, Elena; Giese, Christoph; Heinonen, Tuula; Herrmann, Kathrin; Hofmann-Apitius, Martin; Landesmann, Brigitte; Marshall, Lindsay J; McIvor, Emily; Muotri, Alysson R; Noor, Fozia; Schutte, Katrin; Seidle, Troy; van de Stolpe, Anja; Van Esch, Hilde; Willett, Catherine; Woszczek, Grzegorz

    2017-02-01

    Decades of costly failures in translating drug candidates from preclinical disease models to human therapeutic use warrant reconsideration of the priority placed on animal models in biomedical research. Following an international workshop attended by experts from academia, government institutions, research funding bodies, and the corporate and non-governmental organisation (NGO) sectors, in this consensus report, we analyse, as case studies, five disease areas with major unmet needs for new treatments. In view of the scientifically driven transition towards a human pathways-based paradigm in toxicology, a similar paradigm shift appears to be justified in biomedical research. There is a pressing need for an approach that strategically implements advanced, human biology-based models and tools to understand disease pathways at multiple biological scales. We present recommendations to help achieve this. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Single cell biology beyond the era of antibodies: relevance, challenges, and promises in biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abraham, Parvin; Maliekal, Tessy Thomas

    2017-04-01

    Research of the past two decades has proved the relevance of single cell biology in basic research and translational medicine. Successful detection and isolation of specific subsets is the key to understand their functional heterogeneity. Antibodies are conventionally used for this purpose, but their relevance in certain contexts is limited. In this review, we discuss some of these contexts, posing bottle neck for different fields of biology including biomedical research. With the advancement of chemistry, several methods have been introduced to overcome these problems. Even though microfluidics and microraft array are newer techniques exploited for single cell biology, fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) remains the gold standard technique for isolation of cells for many biomedical applications, like stem cell therapy. Here, we present a comprehensive and comparative account of some of the probes that are useful in FACS. Further, we illustrate how these techniques could be applied in biomedical research. It is postulated that intracellular molecular markers like nucleostemin (GNL3), alkaline phosphatase (ALPL) and HIRA can be used for improving the outcome of cardiac as well as bone regeneration. Another field that could utilize intracellular markers is diagnostics, and we propose the use of specific peptide nucleic acid probes (PNPs) against certain miRNAs for cancer surgical margin prediction. The newer techniques for single cell biology, based on intracellular molecules, will immensely enhance the repertoire of possible markers for the isolation of cell types useful in biomedical research.

  6. Biomedical Research Group, Health Division annual report 1954

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Langham, W.H.; Storer, J.B.

    1955-12-31

    This report covers the activities of the Biomedical Research Group (H-4) of the Health Division during the period January 1 through December 31, 1954. Organizationally, Group H-4 is divided into five sections, namely, Biochemistry, Radiobiology, Radiopathology, Biophysics, and Organic Chemistry. The activities of the Group are summarized under the headings of the various sections. The general nature of each section`s program, publications, documents and reports originating from its members, and abstracts and summaries of the projects pursued during the year are presented.

  7. Text mining patents for biomedical knowledge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez-Esteban, Raul; Bundschus, Markus

    2016-06-01

    Biomedical text mining of scientific knowledge bases, such as Medline, has received much attention in recent years. Given that text mining is able to automatically extract biomedical facts that revolve around entities such as genes, proteins, and drugs, from unstructured text sources, it is seen as a major enabler to foster biomedical research and drug discovery. In contrast to the biomedical literature, research into the mining of biomedical patents has not reached the same level of maturity. Here, we review existing work and highlight the associated technical challenges that emerge from automatically extracting facts from patents. We conclude by outlining potential future directions in this domain that could help drive biomedical research and drug discovery. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Design of e-Science platform for biomedical imaging research cross multiple academic institutions and hospitals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jianguo; Zhang, Kai; Yang, Yuanyuan; Ling, Tonghui; Wang, Tusheng; Wang, Mingqing; Hu, Haibo; Xu, Xuemin

    2012-02-01

    More and more image informatics researchers and engineers are considering to re-construct imaging and informatics infrastructure or to build new framework to enable multiple disciplines of medical researchers, clinical physicians and biomedical engineers working together in a secured, efficient, and transparent cooperative environment. In this presentation, we show an outline and our preliminary design work of building an e-Science platform for biomedical imaging and informatics research and application in Shanghai. We will present our consideration and strategy on designing this platform, and preliminary results. We also will discuss some challenges and solutions in building this platform.

  9. Mediator infrastructure for information integration and semantic data integration environment for biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grethe, Jeffrey S; Ross, Edward; Little, David; Sanders, Brian; Gupta, Amarnath; Astakhov, Vadim

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents current progress in the development of semantic data integration environment which is a part of the Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN; http://www.nbirn.net) project. BIRN is sponsored by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). A goal is the development of a cyberinfrastructure for biomedical research that supports advance data acquisition, data storage, data management, data integration, data mining, data visualization, and other computing and information processing services over the Internet. Each participating institution maintains storage of their experimental or computationally derived data. Mediator-based data integration system performs semantic integration over the databases to enable researchers to perform analyses based on larger and broader datasets than would be available from any single institution's data. This paper describes recent revision of the system architecture, implementation, and capabilities of the semantically based data integration environment for BIRN.

  10. Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Research - Vol 14, No 1 (2015)

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Research - Vol 14, No 1 (2015) ... Histopathological effects of oral and subcutaneous administration of Roselle Calyx ... Ameliorative effect of Vitamin C on lead induced hepatotoxicty in rats · EMAIL ... Effect of Hibiscus sabdariffa calyx extract on stressed rabbit plasma cholesterol status ...

  11. Nanomaterials driven energy, environmental and biomedical research

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sharma, Prakash C.; Srinivasan, Sesha S.; Wilson, Jeremiah F. [Department of Physics, College of Arts and Sciences, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL 36088 (United States)

    2014-03-31

    We have developed state-of-the-art nanomaterials such as nanofibers, nanotubes, nanoparticles, nanocatalysts and nanostructures for clean energy, environmental and biomedical research. Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed, but it can be converted from one form to another. Based on this principle, chemical energy such as hydrogen has been produced from water electrolysis at a much lower voltage using RuO{sub 2} nanoparticles on the Si wafer substrate. Once the hydrogen is produced from the clean sources such as solar energy and water, it has to be stored by physisorption or chemisorption processes on to the solid state systems. For the successful physical adsorption of hydrogen molecule, we have developed novel polyaniline nanostructures via chemical templating and electrospinning routes. Chemical or complex hydrides involving nano MgH{sub 2} and transition metal nanocatalysts have been synthesized to tailor both the thermodynamics and kinetics of hydrogen (chemi) sorption respectively. Utilization of solar energy (UV-Vis) and a coupling of novel semiconductor oxide nanoparticles have been recently demonstrated with enhancement in photo-oxidation and/or photo-reduction processes for the water/air detoxification and sustainable liquid fuel production respectively. Magnetic nanoparticles such as ZnFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} have been synthesized and optimized for biomedical applications such as targeted drug delivery and tumor diagnostic sensing (MRI)

  12. Proposal for a new LEIR slow extraction scheme dedicated to biomedical research

    CERN Document Server

    Garonna, A; Abler, D

    2014-01-01

    A proposal is here presented for a new slow extraction scheme for the Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) in the context of the feasibility study for a future biomedical research facility at CERN. The new slow extraction system is based on the third-integer resonance. Two resonance driving mechanisms have been studied: the quadrupole-driven method and the RF-knockout technique. Both were made compatible with the tight constraints imposed by parallel operation of LEIR as heavy ion accumulator and care was taken to maximize the use of the available hardware.

  13. Silicon Valley Meets Biomedical Research in the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crow, Diana

    2017-05-18

    The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropy launched by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, drew attention with its stated goal of helping to "cure, manage, or treat all diseases" by the end of the century. They intend to do it through funding basic research and addressing gaps in biomedical technology. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  14. Guidelines for Developing and Reporting Machine Learning Predictive Models in Biomedical Research: A Multidisciplinary View.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Wei; Phung, Dinh; Tran, Truyen; Gupta, Sunil; Rana, Santu; Karmakar, Chandan; Shilton, Alistair; Yearwood, John; Dimitrova, Nevenka; Ho, Tu Bao; Venkatesh, Svetha; Berk, Michael

    2016-12-16

    As more and more researchers are turning to big data for new opportunities of biomedical discoveries, machine learning models, as the backbone of big data analysis, are mentioned more often in biomedical journals. However, owing to the inherent complexity of machine learning methods, they are prone to misuse. Because of the flexibility in specifying machine learning models, the results are often insufficiently reported in research articles, hindering reliable assessment of model validity and consistent interpretation of model outputs. To attain a set of guidelines on the use of machine learning predictive models within clinical settings to make sure the models are correctly applied and sufficiently reported so that true discoveries can be distinguished from random coincidence. A multidisciplinary panel of machine learning experts, clinicians, and traditional statisticians were interviewed, using an iterative process in accordance with the Delphi method. The process produced a set of guidelines that consists of (1) a list of reporting items to be included in a research article and (2) a set of practical sequential steps for developing predictive models. A set of guidelines was generated to enable correct application of machine learning models and consistent reporting of model specifications and results in biomedical research. We believe that such guidelines will accelerate the adoption of big data analysis, particularly with machine learning methods, in the biomedical research community. ©Wei Luo, Dinh Phung, Truyen Tran, Sunil Gupta, Santu Rana, Chandan Karmakar, Alistair Shilton, John Yearwood, Nevenka Dimitrova, Tu Bao Ho, Svetha Venkatesh, Michael Berk. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 16.12.2016.

  15. Barriers to publishing in biomedical journals perceived by a sample of French researchers: results of the DIAzePAM study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Duracinsky

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background As publishing is essential but competitive for researchers, difficulties in writing and submitting medical articles to biomedical journals are disabling. The DIAzePAM (Difficultés des Auteurs à la Publication d’Articles Médicaux survey aimed to assess the difficulties experienced by researchers in the AP-HP (Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris, i.e., Paris Hospitals Board, France, the largest public health institution in Europe, when preparing articles for biomedical journals. The survey also aimed to assess researchers’ satisfaction and perceived needs. Methods A 39-item electronic questionnaire based on qualitative interviews was addressed by e-mail to all researchers registered in the AP-HP SIGAPS (Système d’Interrogation, de Gestion et d’Analyse des Publications Scientifiques bibliometric database. Results Between 28 May and 15 June 2015, 7766 researchers should have received and read the e-mail, and 1191 anonymously completed the questionnaire (<45 years of age: 63%; women: 55%; physician: 81%; with PhD or Habilitation à Diriger des recherches––accreditation to direct research––: 45%. 94% of respondents had published at least one article in the previous 2 years. 76% of respondents felt they were not publishing enough, mainly because of lack of time to write (79% or submit (27%, limited skills in English (40% or in writing (32%, and difficulty in starting writing (35%. 87% of respondents would accept technical support, especially in English reediting (79%, critical reediting (63%, formatting (52%, and/or writing (41%, to save time (92% and increase high-impact-factor journal submission and acceptance (75%. 79% of respondents would appreciate funding support for their future publications, for English reediting (56%, medical writing (21%, or publication (38% fees. They considered that this funding support could be covered by AP-HP (73% and/or by the added financial value obtained by their

  16. Integrated Confocal and Scanning Probe Microscopy for Biomedical Research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B.J. Haupt

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Atomic force microscopy (AFM continues to be developed, not only in design, but also in application. The new focus of using AFM is changing from pure material to biomedical studies. More frequently, it is being used in combination with other optical imaging methods, such as confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM and fluorescent imaging, to provide a more comprehensive understanding of biological systems. To date, AFM has been used increasingly as a precise micromanipulator, probing and altering the mechanobiological characteristics of living cells and tissues, in order to examine specific, receptor-ligand interactions, material properties, and cell behavior. In this review, we discuss the development of this new hybrid AFM, current research, and potential applications in diagnosis and the detection of disease.

  17. Past and future trends in cancer and biomedical research: a comparison between Egypt and the world using PubMed-indexed publications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeeneldin, Ahmed Abdelmabood; Taha, Fatma Mohamed; Moneer, Manar

    2012-07-10

    PubMed is a free web literature search service that contains almost 21 millions of abstracts and publications with almost 5 million user queries daily. The purposes of the study were to compare trends in PubMed-indexed cancer and biomedical publications from Egypt to that of the world and to predict future publication volumes. The PubMed was searched for the biomedical publications between 1991 and 2010 (publications dates). Affiliation was then limited to Egypt. Further limitation was applied to cancer, human and animal publications. Poisson regression model was used for prediction of future number of publications between 2011 and 2020. Cancer publications contributed 23% to biomedical publications both for Egypt and the world. Egyptian biomedical and cancer publications contributed about 0.13% to their world counterparts. This contribution was more than doubled over the study period. Egyptian and world's publications increased from year to year with rapid rise starting the year 2003. Egyptian as well as world's human cancer publications showed the highest increases. Egyptian publications had some peculiarities; they showed some drop at the years 1994 and 2002 and apart from the decline in the animal: human ratio with time, all Egyptian publications in the period 1991-2000 were significantly more than those in 2001-2010 (P PubMed publications, respectively. The Egyptian contribution to world's biomedical and cancer publications needs significant improvements through research strategic planning, setting national research priorities, adequate funding and researchers' training.

  18. Biomedical engineering - A means to add new dimension to medicine and research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doerr, D. F.

    1992-01-01

    Biomedical engineering is an evolving science that seeks to insert technically oriented and trained personnel to assist medical professionals in solving technological problems in the pursuit of innovations in the delivery of health care. Consequently, engineering solutions are brought to bear on problems that previously were outside the training of physicians and beyond the understanding or appreciation of the conventionally educated electrical or mechanical engineers. This physician/scientist/engineer team has a capability to extend medicine and research far beyond the capability of a single entity operating alone. How biomedical engineering has added a new dimension to medical science at the Kennedy Space Center is described.

  19. The role of biomedical knowledge in echocardiographic interpretation expertise development: a correlation study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Dorte Guldbrand; Gøtzsche, Ole; Eika, Berit

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: Little is known about factors of relevance for achieving knowledge of echocardiography (TTE); one of the essential skills defined by the European Society of Cardiology Core Curriculum. Recent research in other fields suggests that biomedical knowledge plays a more prominent role in profe......Purpose: Little is known about factors of relevance for achieving knowledge of echocardiography (TTE); one of the essential skills defined by the European Society of Cardiology Core Curriculum. Recent research in other fields suggests that biomedical knowledge plays a more prominent role...... in professional practice than previously assumed. This study investigates the role of biomedical knowledge represented by physiology knowledge in the development of echocardiographic expertise. Methods: Forty-five physicians (15 novices, 15 intermediates and 15 experts) were evaluated on echocardiography...... interpretation skills. An anatomical focused checklist was developed based on Danish Cardiology Society guidelines for a standard echocardiography of adults. A TTE case of a common and complex clinical presentation was recorded and presented to participants on a portable computer using EchoPac software...

  20. Perceptions of Chinese Biomedical Researchers Towards Academic Misconduct: A Comparison Between 2015 and 2010.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Qing-Jiao; Zhang, Yuan-Yuan; Fan, Yu-Chen; Zheng, Ming-Hua; Bai, Yu; Eslick, Guy D; He, Xing-Xiang; Zhang, Shi-Bing; Xia, Harry Hua-Xiang; He, Hua

    2018-04-01

    Publications by Chinese researchers in scientific journals have dramatically increased over the past decade; however, academic misconduct also becomes more prevalent in the country. The aim of this prospective study was to understand the perceptions of Chinese biomedical researchers towards academic misconduct and the trend from 2010 to 2015. A questionnaire comprising 10 questions was designed and then validated by ten biomedical researchers in China. In the years 2010 and 2015, respectively, the questionnaire was sent as a survey to biomedical researchers at teaching hospitals, universities, and medical institutes in mainland China. Data were analyzed by the Chi squared test, one-way analysis of variance with the Tukey post hoc test, or Spearman's rank correlation method, where appropriate. The overall response rates in 2010 and 2015 were 4.5% (446/9986) and 5.5% (832/15,127), respectively. Data from 15 participants in 2010 were invalid, and analysis was thus performed for 1263 participants. Among the participants, 54.7% thought that academic misconduct was serious-to-extremely serious, and 71.2% believed that the Chinese authorities paid no or little attention to the academic misconduct. Moreover, 70.2 and 65.2% of participants considered that the punishment for academic misconduct at the authority and institution levels, respectively, was not appropriate or severe enough. Inappropriate authorship and plagiarism were the most common forms of academic misconduct. The most important factor underlying academic misconduct was the academic assessment system, as judged by 50.7% of the participants. Participants estimated that 40.1% (39.8 ± 23.5% in 2010; 40.2 ± 24.5% in 2015) of published scientific articles were associated with some form of academic misconduct. Their perceptions towards academic misconduct had not significantly changed over the 5 years. Reform of the academic assessment system should be the fundamental approach to tackling this problem in

  1. For 481 biomedical open access journals, articles are not searchable in the Directory of Open Access Journals nor in conventional biomedical databases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liljekvist, Mads Svane; Andresen, Kristoffer; Pommergaard, Hans-Christian; Rosenberg, Jacob

    2015-01-01

    Background. Open access (OA) journals allows access to research papers free of charge to the reader. Traditionally, biomedical researchers use databases like MEDLINE and EMBASE to discover new advances. However, biomedical OA journals might not fulfill such databases' criteria, hindering dissemination. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a database exclusively listing OA journals. The aim of this study was to investigate DOAJ's coverage of biomedical OA journals compared with the conventional biomedical databases. Methods. Information on all journals listed in four conventional biomedical databases (MEDLINE, PubMed Central, EMBASE and SCOPUS) and DOAJ were gathered. Journals were included if they were (1) actively publishing, (2) full OA, (3) prospectively indexed in one or more database, and (4) of biomedical subject. Impact factor and journal language were also collected. DOAJ was compared with conventional databases regarding the proportion of journals covered, along with their impact factor and publishing language. The proportion of journals with articles indexed by DOAJ was determined. Results. In total, 3,236 biomedical OA journals were included in the study. Of the included journals, 86.7% were listed in DOAJ. Combined, the conventional biomedical databases listed 75.0% of the journals; 18.7% in MEDLINE; 36.5% in PubMed Central; 51.5% in SCOPUS and 50.6% in EMBASE. Of the journals in DOAJ, 88.7% published in English and 20.6% had received impact factor for 2012 compared with 93.5% and 26.0%, respectively, for journals in the conventional biomedical databases. A subset of 51.1% and 48.5% of the journals in DOAJ had articles indexed from 2012 and 2013, respectively. Of journals exclusively listed in DOAJ, one journal had received an impact factor for 2012, and 59.6% of the journals had no content from 2013 indexed in DOAJ. Conclusions. DOAJ is the most complete registry of biomedical OA journals compared with five conventional biomedical databases

  2. Building integrated pathways to independence for diverse biomedical researchers: Project Pathways, the BUILD program at Xavier University of Louisiana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foroozesh, Maryam; Giguette, Marguerite; Morgan, Kathleen; Johanson, Kelly; D'Amour, Gene; Coston, Tiera; Wilkins-Green, Clair

    2017-01-01

    focuses on mentor training and providing faculty members with opportunities to improve their teaching skills as well as their research competitiveness. In addition to the wide range of activities supported by BUILD within the institution, Xavier University is partnering with a number of major research universities across the nation to achieve Project Pathways' goals. The strategies developed by Project Pathways are designed to address the challenges and barriers Xavier students face as they work towards graduate studies and entering the biomedical workforce. Xavier University of Louisiana has a long history of providing high quality, rigorous education to African American students in a very supportive environment with highly dedicated faculty and staff. The program highlighted here could be used by other institutions as a model program for assisting students in STEM and other biomedical fields of study to successfully matriculate through college and graduate school and develop their research careers.

  3. Feasibility study for a biomedical experimental facility based on LEIR at CERN

    CERN Document Server

    Abler, Daniel; Carli, Christian; Dosanjh, Manjit; Peach, Ken; Orecchia, Roberto

    2013-01-01

    In light of the recent European developments in ion beam therapy, there is a strong interest from the biomedical research community to have more access to clinically relevant beams. Beamtime for pre-clinical studies is currently very limited and a new dedicated facility would allow extensive research into the radiobiological mechanisms of ion beam radiation and the development of more refined techniques of dosimetry and imaging. This basic research would support the current clinical efforts of the new treatment centres in Europe (for example HIT, CNAO and MedAustron). This paper presents first investigations on the feasibility of an experimental biomedical facility based on the CERN Low Energy Ion Ring LEIR accelerator. Such a new facility could provide beams of light ions (from protons to neon ions) in a collaborative and cost-effective way, since it would rely partly on CERN’s competences and infrastructure. The main technical challenges linked to the implementation of a slow extraction scheme for LEIR an...

  4. Big Data Application in Biomedical Research and Health Care: A Literature Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Jake; Wu, Min; Gopukumar, Deepika; Zhao, Yiqing

    2016-01-01

    Big data technologies are increasingly used for biomedical and health-care informatics research. Large amounts of biological and clinical data have been generated and collected at an unprecedented speed and scale. For example, the new generation of sequencing technologies enables the processing of billions of DNA sequence data per day, and the application of electronic health records (EHRs) is documenting large amounts of patient data. The cost of acquiring and analyzing biomedical data is expected to decrease dramatically with the help of technology upgrades, such as the emergence of new sequencing machines, the development of novel hardware and software for parallel computing, and the extensive expansion of EHRs. Big data applications present new opportunities to discover new knowledge and create novel methods to improve the quality of health care. The application of big data in health care is a fast-growing field, with many new discoveries and methodologies published in the last five years. In this paper, we review and discuss big data application in four major biomedical subdisciplines: (1) bioinformatics, (2) clinical informatics, (3) imaging informatics, and (4) public health informatics. Specifically, in bioinformatics, high-throughput experiments facilitate the research of new genome-wide association studies of diseases, and with clinical informatics, the clinical field benefits from the vast amount of collected patient data for making intelligent decisions. Imaging informatics is now more rapidly integrated with cloud platforms to share medical image data and workflows, and public health informatics leverages big data techniques for predicting and monitoring infectious disease outbreaks, such as Ebola. In this paper, we review the recent progress and breakthroughs of big data applications in these health-care domains and summarize the challenges, gaps, and opportunities to improve and advance big data applications in health care.

  5. Laser spectroscopy applied to environmental, ecological, food safety, and biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Svanberg, Sune; Zhao, Guangyu; Zhang, Hao; Huang, Jing; Lian, Ming; Li, Tianqi; Zhu, Shiming; Li, Yiyun; Duan, Zheng; Lin, Huiying; Svanberg, Katarina

    2016-03-21

    Laser spectroscopy provides many possibilities for multi-disciplinary applications in environmental monitoring, in the ecological field, for food safety investigations, and in biomedicine. The paper gives several examples of the power of multi-disciplinary applications of laser spectroscopy as pursued in our research group. The studies utilize mostly similar and widely applicable spectroscopic approaches. Air pollution and vegetation monitoring by lidar techniques, as well as agricultural pest insect monitoring and classification by elastic scattering and fluorescence spectroscopy are described. Biomedical aspects include food safety applications and medical diagnostics of sinusitis and otitis, with strong connection to the abatement of antibiotics resistance development.

  6. Design and analysis of biomedical studies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Merete Kjær

    been allocated this field. It is utterly important to utilize these ressources responsibly and efficiently by constantly striving to ensure high-quality biomedical studies. This involves the use of a sound statistical methodology regarding both the design and analysis of biomedical studies. The focus...... have conducted a literature study strongly indicating that this structure commonly is neglected in the statistical analysis. Based on this closed-form expressions for the approximate type I error rate are formulated. The type I error rates are assessed for a number of factor combinations as they appear...... in practice and in all cases the type I error rates are demonstrated to be severely inflated. Prior to conducting a study it is important to perform power and sample size determinations to ensure that reliable conclusions can be drawn from the statistical analysis. We have formulated closed-form expressions...

  7. International symposium on Biomedical Data Infrastructure (BDI 2013)

    CERN Document Server

    Dhillon, Sarinder; Advances in biomedical infrastructure 2013

    2013-01-01

    Current Biomedical Databases are independently administered in geographically distinct locations, lending them almost ideally to adoption of intelligent data management approaches. This book focuses on research issues, problems and opportunities in Biomedical Data Infrastructure identifying new issues and directions for future research in Biomedical Data and Information Retrieval, Semantics in Biomedicine, and Biomedical Data Modeling and Analysis. The book will be a useful guide for researchers, practitioners, and graduate-level students interested in learning state-of-the-art development in biomedical data management.

  8. The ethics of biomedical big data

    CERN Document Server

    Mittelstadt, Brent Daniel

    2016-01-01

    This book presents cutting edge research on the new ethical challenges posed by biomedical Big Data technologies and practices. ‘Biomedical Big Data’ refers to the analysis of aggregated, very large datasets to improve medical knowledge and clinical care. The book describes the ethical problems posed by aggregation of biomedical datasets and re-use/re-purposing of data, in areas such as privacy, consent, professionalism, power relationships, and ethical governance of Big Data platforms. Approaches and methods are discussed that can be used to address these problems to achieve the appropriate balance between the social goods of biomedical Big Data research and the safety and privacy of individuals. Seventeen original contributions analyse the ethical, social and related policy implications of the analysis and curation of biomedical Big Data, written by leading experts in the areas of biomedical research, medical and technology ethics, privacy, governance and data protection. The book advances our understan...

  9. The Human Volunteer in Military Biomedical Research (Military Medical Ethics. Volume 2, Chapter 19)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2002-10-01

    justice have long been associated with social practices such as punishment, taxation and political The Human Volunteer in Military Biomedical Research...suspension of eligibility to receive research funding, to use investigational interventions, or to practise medicine. Unless there are persuasive reasons to do

  10. Light Ion Biomedical Research Accelerator LIBRA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gough, R.A.

    1987-01-01

    LIBRA is a concept to place a light-ion, charged-particle facility in a hospital environment, and to dedicate it to applications in biology and medicine. There are two aspects of the program envisaged for LIBRA: a basic research effort coupled with a program in clinical applications of accelerated charged particles. The operational environment to be provided for LIBRA is one in which both of these components can coexist and flourish, and one that will promote the transfer of technology and knowledge from one to the other. In order to further investigate the prospects for a Light Ion Biomedical Research Accelerator (LIBRA), discussions are underway with the Merritt Peralta Medical Center MPMC) in Oakland CA, and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). In this paper, a brief discussion of the technical requirements for such a facility is given, together with an outline of the accelerator technology required. While still in a preliminary stage, it is possible nevertheless to develop an adequate working description of the type, size, performance and cost of the accelerator facilities required to meet the preliminary goals for LIBRA

  11. Collective intelligence for translational medicine: Crowdsourcing insights and innovation from an interdisciplinary biomedical research community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Budge, Eleanor Jane; Tsoti, Sandra Maria; Howgate, Daniel James; Sivakumar, Shivan; Jalali, Morteza

    2015-01-01

    Translational medicine bridges the gap between discoveries in biomedical science and their safe and effective clinical application. Despite the gross opportunity afforded by modern research for unparalleled advances in this field, the process of translation remains protracted. Efforts to expedite science translation have included the facilitation of interdisciplinary collaboration within both academic and clinical environments in order to generate integrated working platforms fuelling the sharing of knowledge, expertise, and tools to align biomedical research with clinical need. However, barriers to scientific translation remain, and further progress is urgently required. Collective intelligence and crowdsourcing applications offer the potential for global online networks, allowing connection and collaboration between a wide variety of fields. This would drive the alignment of biomedical science with biotechnology, clinical need, and patient experience, in order to deliver evidence-based innovation which can revolutionize medical care worldwide. Here we discuss the critical steps towards implementing collective intelligence in translational medicine using the experience of those in other fields of science and public health.

  12. Egyptian Journal of Biomedical Sciences

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The Egyptian Journal of Biomedical Sciences publishes in all aspects of biomedical research sciences. Both basic and clinical research papers are welcomed. Vol 23 (2007). DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT Open Access DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT Subscription or Fee Access. Table of Contents. Articles. Phytochemical And ...

  13. [The long pilgrimage of Spanish biomedical journals toward excellence. Who helps? Quality, impact and research merit].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alfonso, Fernando

    2010-03-01

    Biomedical journals must adhere to strict standards of editorial quality. In a globalized academic scenario, biomedical journals must compete firstly to publish the most relevant original research and secondly to obtain the broadest possible visibility and the widest dissemination of their scientific contents. The cornerstone of the scientific process is still the peer-review system but additional quality criteria should be met. Recently access to medical information has been revolutionized by electronic editions. Bibliometric databases such as MEDLINE, the ISI Web of Science and Scopus offer comprehensive online information on medical literature. Classically, the prestige of biomedical journals has been measured by their impact factor but, recently, other indicators such as SCImago SJR or the Eigenfactor are emerging as alternative indices of a journal's quality. Assessing the scholarly impact of research and the merits of individual scientists remains a major challenge. Allocation of authorship credit also remains controversial. Furthermore, in our Kafkaesque world, we prefer to count rather than read the articles we judge. Quantitative publication metrics (research output) and citations analyses (scientific influence) are key determinants of the scientific success of individual investigators. However, academia is embracing new objective indicators (such as the "h" index) to evaluate scholarly merit. The present review discusses some editorial issues affecting biomedical journals, currently available bibliometric databases, bibliometric indices of journal quality and, finally, indicators of research performance and scientific success. Copyright 2010 SEEN. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  14. Internal Contamination Program in hospital and biomedical research institutions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tellez de Cepeda, M.; Macias, M.T.; Plaza, R.; Martinez Hidalgo, C.

    1992-01-01

    Program and the criteria for establishing such program to control the internal contamination from a point of view, not yet systematized and standardized in Hospital and Biomedical Research centers. The main purpose of this work is to review our own situation, to establish and systematize an operative program with variable means (instruments) and the use of external means if need. This program will be established taking into account the new recommendations of I.C.R.P. and the new criteria A.L.I. (author)

  15. BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH IN PSYCHIATRY AND RIGHT TO AUTONOMY OF PARTICIPANTS: COMPARATIVE REVIEW OF CROATIA AND EUROPE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristijan Grđan

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Biomedical research is important for development of science, diagnostics and production of new, effective methods of treatment, with lowest possible risk. Biomedical research in human subjects opens number of legal and ethical issues, more often the issue of informed consent. Substitute provision of informed consent for unconscious persons or those who due to other reasons are not capable of giving consent is connected to number of controversies arising from abuse of rights. Recent international documents emphasize right to autonomy of persons with disabilities and require state parties to abolish guardianship regimes, which represents big challenges, especially in psychiatry. The purpose of this research was to determin how often psychiatric research in psychiatry is perform and to implement a comparative analysis of legislation in countries which conduct such research at most. The situation in Croatia has also been analyzed and review of effects of ban of szbstitute decision making given. The results showed that most of psychiatric biomedical research in Europe has been conducted for Altheimer’s disease and dementias, where informed consent is especially important. The comparative analysis showed that substitute informed consent is allowed in extraordinary situations, only for therapeutic purposes. Furthermore, the results direct the legislator in further possibilities of reforms in Croatian law.

  16. The use of nonhuman animals in biomedical research: necessity and justification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francione, Gary L

    2007-01-01

    Discourse about the use of animals in biomedical research usually focuses on two issues: its empirical and moral use. The empirical issue asks whether the use of nonhumans in experiments is required in order to get data. The moral issue asks whether the use of nonhumans can be defended as matter of ethical theory. Although the use of animals in research may involve a plausible necessity claim, no moral justification exists for using nonhumans in situations in which we would not use humans.

  17. The first chimpanzee sanctuary in Japan: an attempt to care for the "surplus" of biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morimura, Naruki; Idani, Gen'ichi; Matsuzawa, Tetsuro

    2011-03-01

    This article specifically examines several aspects of the human-captive chimpanzee bond and the effort to create the first chimpanzee sanctuary in Japan. We discuss our ethical responsibility for captive chimpanzees that have been used in biomedical research. On April 1, 2007, the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Uto (CSU) was established as the first sanctuary for retired laboratory chimpanzees in Japan. This initiative was the result of the continuous efforts by members of Support for African/Asian Great Apes (SAGA), and the Great Ape Information Network to provide a solution to the large chimpanzee colony held in biomedical facilities. However, the cessation of invasive biomedical studies using chimpanzees has created a new set of challenges because Japan lacks registration and laws banning invasive ape experiments and lacks a national policy for the life-long care of retired laboratory chimpanzees. Therefore, CSU has initiated a relocation program in which 79 retired laboratory chimpanzees will be sent to domestic zoos and receive life-long care. By the end of 2009, the number of chimpanzees living at CSU had decreased from 79 to 59 individuals. A nationwide network of care facilities and CSU to provide life-long care of retired laboratory chimpanzees is growing across Japan. This will result in humane treatment of these research animals. 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  18. A Perspective on Promoting Diversity in the Biomedical Research Workforce: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s PRIDE Program

    OpenAIRE

    Boyington, Josephine E.A.; Maihle, Nita J.; Rice, Treva K.; Gonzalez, Juan E.; Hess, Caryl A.; Makala, Levi H.; Jeffe, Donna B.; Ogedegbe, Gbenga; Rao, Dabeeru C.; Dávila-Román, Victor G.; Pace, Betty S.; Jean-Louis, Girardin; Boutjdir, Mohamed

    2016-01-01

    Aspiring junior investigators from groups underrepresented in the biomedical sciences face various challenges as they pursue research independence. However, the biomedical research enterprise needs their participation to effectively address critical research issues such as health disparities and health inequities. In this article, we share a research education and mentoring initiative that seeks to address this challenge: Programs to Increase Diversity among Individuals Engaged in Health Rela...

  19. An entrepreneurial training model to enhance undergraduate training in biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamangar, Farin; Silver, Gillian; Hohmann, Christine; Hughes-Darden, Cleo; Turner-Musa, Jocelyn; Haines, Robert Trent; Jackson, Avis; Aguila, Nelson; Sheikhattari, Payam

    2017-01-01

    Undergraduate students who are interested in biomedical research typically work on a faculty member's research project, conduct one distinct task (e.g., running gels), and, step by step, enhance their skills. This "apprenticeship" model has been helpful in training many distinguished scientists over the years, but it has several potential drawbacks. For example, the students have limited autonomy, and may not understand the big picture, which may result in students giving up on their goals for a research career. Also, the model is costly and may greatly depend on a single mentor. The NIH Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) Initiative has been established to fund innovative undergraduate research training programs and support institutional and faculty development of the recipient university. The training model at Morgan State University (MSU), namely " A S tudent- C entered En trepreneurship D evelopment training model" (ASCEND), is one of the 10 NIH BUILD-funded programs, and offers a novel, experimental "entrepreneurial" training approach. In the ASCEND training model, the students take the lead. They own the research, understand the big picture, and experience the entire scope of the research process, which we hypothesize will lead to a greater sense of self-efficacy and research competency, as well as an enhanced sense of science identity. They are also immersed in environments with substantial peer support, where they can exchange research ideas and share experiences. This is important for underrepresented minority students who might have fewer role models and less peer support in conducting research. In this article, we describe the MSU ASCEND entrepreneurial training model's components, rationale, and history, and how it may enhance undergraduate training in biomedical research that may be of benefit to other institutions. We also discuss evaluation methods, possible sustainability solutions, and programmatic challenges that can affect all

  20. Harmonising and linking biomedical and clinical data across disparate data archives to enable integrative cross-biobank research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    O. Spjuth (Ola); M. Krestyaninova (Maria); J. Hastings (Janna); H.-Y. Shen (Huei-Yi); J. Heikkinen (Jani); M. Waldenberger (Melanie); A. Langhammer (Arnulf); C. Ladenvall (Claes); T. Esko (Tõnu); M.-A. Persson (Mats-Ake); J. Heggland (Jon); J. Dietrich (Joern); S. Ose (Sandra); C. Gieger (Christian); J.S. Ried (Janina); A. Peters; I. Fortier (Isabel); E.J.C. de Geus (Eco); J. Klovins (Janis); L. Zaharenko (Linda); G. Willemsen (Gonneke); J.J. Hottenga (Jouke Jan); J.-E. Litton (Jan-Eric); J. Karvanen (Juha); D.I. Boomsma (Dorret); L. Groop (Leif); J. Rung (Johan); J. Palmgren (Juni); N.L. Pedersen (Nancy L.); M.I. McCarthy (Mark); C.M. van Duijn (Cornelia); K. Hveem (Kristian); A. Metspalu (Andres); S. Ripatti (Samuli); I. Prokopenko (Inga); J.R. Harris (Jennifer)

    2016-01-01

    textabstractA wealth of biospecimen samples are stored in modern globally distributed biobanks. Biomedical researchers worldwide need to be able to combine the available resources to improve the power of large-scale studies. A prerequisite for this effort is to be able to search and access

  1. Biomedical research with cyclotron produced radionuclides. Progress report, October 1, 1977--September 30, 1978

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laughlin, J.S.; Benua, R.S.; Tilbury, R.S.; Bigler, R.E.

    1978-01-01

    Progress is reported on biomedical studies using cyclotron-produced 18 F, 15 O, 11 C, 13 N, 52 Fe, 38 K, 206 Bi, 73 Se, 53 Co, and 43 K. The following research projects are described: tumor detection and diagnosis; neurological studies; radiopharmaceutical development; 38 K as an indicator of blood flow to the myocardium; dosimetry for internally deposited isotopes in animals and man; cyclotron development; positron tomographic imaging with the TOKIM System; and review of positron emission transaxial tomograph instruments

  2. [Biomedical engineering today : An overview from the viewpoint of the German Biomedical Engineering Society].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlötelburg, C; Becks, T; Stieglitz, T

    2010-08-01

    Biomedical engineering is characterized by the interdisciplinary co-operation of technology, science, and ways of thinking, probably more than any other technological area. The close interaction of engineering and information sciences with medicine and biology results in innovative products and methods, but also requires high standards for the interdisciplinary transfer of ideas into products for patients' benefits. This article describes the situation of biomedical engineering in Germany. It displays characteristics of the medical device industry and ranks it with respect to the international market. The research landscape is described as well as up-to-date research topics and trends. The national funding situation of research in biomedical engineering is reviewed and existing innovation barriers are discussed.

  3. Resource for the Development of Biomedical Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Turteltaub, K. W. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Bench, G. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Buchholz, B. A. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Enright, H. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Kulp, K. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); McCartt, A. D. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Malfatti, M. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Ognibene, T. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Loots, G. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Stewart, B. J. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

    2016-04-08

    The NIH Research Resource for Biomedical AMS was originally funded at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1999 to develop and apply the technology of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) in broad- based biomedical research. The Resource’s niche is to fill needs for ultra high sensitivity quantitation when isotope-labeled agents are used. The Research Resource’s Technology Research and Development (TR&D) efforts will focus on the needs of the biomedical research community in the context of seven Driving Biomedical Projects (DBPs) that will drive the Center’s technical capabilities through three core TR&Ds. We will expand our present capabilities by developing a fully integrated HPLC AMS to increase our capabilities for metabolic measurements, we will develop methods to understand cellular processes and we will develop and validate methods for the application of AMS in human studies, which is a growing area of demand by collaborators and service users. In addition, we will continue to support new and ongoing collaborative and service projects that require the capabilities of the Resource. The Center will continue to train researchers in the use of the AMS capabilities being developed, and the results of all efforts will be widely disseminated to advance progress in biomedical research. Towards these goals, our specific aims are to:1.) Increase the value and information content of AMS measurements by combining molecular speciation with quantitation of defined macromolecular isolates. Specifically, develop and validate methods for macromolecule labeling, characterization and quantitation.2.) Develop and validate methods and strategies to enable AMS to become more broadly used in human studies. Specifically, demonstrate robust methods for conducting pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamics studies in humans and model systems.3.) Increase the accessibility of AMS to the Biomedical research community and the throughput of AMS through direct coupling to separatory

  4. Resource for the Development of Biomedical Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tuerteltaub, K. W. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Bench, G. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Buchholz, B. A. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Enright, H. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Kulp, K. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Loots, G. G. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); McCartt, A. D. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Malfatti, M. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Ognibene, T. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Stewart, B. J. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

    2017-03-21

    The NIH Research Resource for Biomedical AMS was originally funded at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1999 to develop and apply the technology of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) in broad- based biomedical research. The Resource’s niche is to fill needs for ultra high sensitivity quantitation when isotope-labeled agents are used. The Research Resource’s Technology Research and Development (TR&D) efforts will focus on the needs of the biomedical research community in the context of seven Driving Biomedical Projects (DBPs) that will drive the Center’s technical capabilities through three core TR&Ds. We will expand our present capabilities by developing a fully integrated HPLC AMS to increase our capabilities for metabolic measurements, we will develop methods to understand cellular processes and we will develop and validate methods for the application of AMS in human studies, which is a growing area of demand by collaborators and service users. In addition, we will continue to support new and ongoing collaborative and service projects that require the capabilities of the Resource. The Center will continue to train researchers in the use of the AMS capabilities being developed, and the results of all efforts will be widely disseminated to advance progress in biomedical research. Towards these goals, our specific aims are to:1.) Increase the value and information content of AMS measurements by combining molecular speciation with quantitation of defined macromolecular isolates. Specifically, develop and validate methods for macromolecule labeling, characterization and quantitation.2.) Develop and validate methods and strategies to enable AMS to become more broadly used in human studies. Specifically, demonstrate robust methods for conducting pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamics studies in humans and model systems.3.) Increase the accessibility of AMS to the Biomedical research community and the throughput of AMS through direct coupling to separatory

  5. Past and future trends in cancer and biomedical research: a comparison between Egypt and the World using PubMed-indexed publications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zeeneldin Ahmed Abdelmabood

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background PubMed is a free web literature search service that contains almost 21 millions of abstracts and publications with almost 5 million user queries daily. The purposes of the study were to compare trends in PubMed-indexed cancer and biomedical publications from Egypt to that of the world and to predict future publication volumes. Methods The PubMed was searched for the biomedical publications between 1991 and 2010 (publications dates. Affiliation was then limited to Egypt. Further limitation was applied to cancer, human and animal publications. Poisson regression model was used for prediction of future number of publications between 2011 and 2020. Results Cancer publications contributed 23% to biomedical publications both for Egypt and the world. Egyptian biomedical and cancer publications contributed about 0.13% to their world counterparts. This contribution was more than doubled over the study period. Egyptian and world’s publications increased from year to year with rapid rise starting the year 2003. Egyptian as well as world’s human cancer publications showed the highest increases. Egyptian publications had some peculiarities; they showed some drop at the years 1994 and 2002 and apart from the decline in the animal: human ratio with time, all Egyptian publications in the period 1991-2000 were significantly more than those in 2001-2010 (P  Conclusions The Egyptian contribution to world’s biomedical and cancer publications needs significant improvements through research strategic planning, setting national research priorities, adequate funding and researchers’ training.

  6. Radioactive ion beams for biomedical research and nuclear medical application

    CERN Document Server

    Beyer, Gerd-Jürgen

    2002-01-01

    The ISOLDE facility at CERN is the world leading on On-Line Isotope Separator installation. The main aspects which makes ISOLDE produced radio-isotopes such valuable for use in biomedical research are: the availability of exotic or uncommon radioisotopes, the high purity and the ion beam quality. A short overview on research strategies, on experimental work and application of ISOLDE produced radionuclides used in the field of biomedicine over a period of more than 2 decades will be given. Special attention will be directed to the radio- lanthanides, because they can be seen as one single element providing the unique possibility to study systematically relationships between molecule parameters and a biological response without changes in the basic tracer molecule. Among those radionuclides we find any radiation properties we wish (single photon emission) suitable for SPECT, positron emission suitable for positron emission tomography (PET), alpha -, beta /sup -/- and Auger electron emission. (21 refs).

  7. Peer Review Practices for Evaluating Biomedical Research Grants: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liaw, Lucy; Freedman, Jane E; Becker, Lance B; Mehta, Nehal N; Liscum, Laura

    2017-08-04

    The biomedical research enterprise depends on the fair and objective peer review of research grants, leading to the distribution of resources through efficient and robust competitive methods. In the United States, federal funding agencies and foundations collectively distribute billions of dollars annually to support biomedical research. For the American Heart Association, a Peer Review Subcommittee is charged with establishing the highest standards for peer review. This scientific statement reviews the current literature on peer review practices, describes the current American Heart Association peer review process and those of other agencies, analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of American Heart Association peer review practices, and recommends best practices for the future. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

  8. Improving biomedical journals' ethical policies: the case of research misconduct.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bosch, Xavier

    2014-09-01

    Scientific journals may incur scientific error if articles are tainted by research misconduct. While some journals' ethical policies, especially those on conflicts of interest, have improved over recent years, with some adopting a uniform approach, only around half of biomedical journals, principally those with higher impact factors, currently have formal misconduct policies, mainly for handling allegations. Worryingly, since a response to allegations would reasonably require an a priori definition, far fewer journals have publicly available definitions of misconduct. While some journals and editors' associations have taken significant steps to prevent and detect misconduct and respond to allegations, the content, visibility of and access to these policies varies considerably. In addition, while the lack of misconduct policies may prompt and maintain a de novo approach for journals, potentially causing stress, publication delays and even legal disputes, the lack of uniformity may be a matter of contention for research stakeholders such as editors, authors and their institutions, and publishers. Although each case may need an individual approach, I argue that posting highly visible, readily accessible, comprehensive, consistent misconduct policies could prevent the publication of fraudulent papers, increase the number of retractions of already published papers and, perhaps, reduce research misconduct. Although legally problematic, a concerted approach, with sharing of information between editors, which is clearly explained in journal websites, could also help. Ideally, journals, editors' associations, and publishers should seek consistency and homogenise misconduct policies to maintain public confidence in the integrity of biomedical research publications. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  9. Industry careers for the biomedical engineer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Munzner, Robert F

    2004-01-01

    This year's conference theme is "linkages for innovation in biomedicine." Biomedical engineers, especially those transitioning their career from academic study into medical device industry, will play a critical role in converting the fruits of scientific research into the reality of modern medical devices. This special session is organized to help biomedical engineers to achieve their career goals more effectively. Participants will have opportunities to hear from and interact with leading industrial experts on many issues. These may include but not limited to 1) career paths for biomedical engineers (industrial, academic, or federal; technical vs. managerial track; small start-up or large established companies); 2) unique design challenges and regulatory requirements in medical device development; 3) aspects of a successful biomedical engineering job candidate (such as resume, interview, follow-up). Suggestions for other topics are welcome and should be directed to xkong@ieee.org The distinguished panelists include: Xuan Kong, Ph.D., VP of Research, NEUROMetrix Inc, Waltham, MA Robert F. Munzner, Ph.D., Medical Device Consultant, Doctor Device, Herndon, VA Glen McLaughlin, Ph.D., VP of Engineering and CTO, Zonare Medical System Inc., Mountain View, CA Grace Bartoo, Ph.D., RAC, General Manager, Decus Biomedical LLC San Carlos, CA.

  10. A systematic review of comparisons between protocols or registrations and full reports in primary biomedical research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guowei Li

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Prospective study protocols and registrations can play a significant role in reducing incomplete or selective reporting of primary biomedical research, because they are pre-specified blueprints which are available for the evaluation of, and comparison with, full reports. However, inconsistencies between protocols or registrations and full reports have been frequently documented. In this systematic review, which forms part of our series on the state of reporting of primary biomedical, we aimed to survey the existing evidence of inconsistencies between protocols or registrations (i.e., what was planned to be done and/or what was actually done and full reports (i.e., what was reported in the literature; this was based on findings from systematic reviews and surveys in the literature. Methods Electronic databases, including CINAHL, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and EMBASE, were searched to identify eligible surveys and systematic reviews. Our primary outcome was the level of inconsistency (expressed as a percentage, with higher percentages indicating greater inconsistency between protocols or registration and full reports. We summarized the findings from the included systematic reviews and surveys qualitatively. Results There were 37 studies (33 surveys and 4 systematic reviews included in our analyses. Most studies (n = 36 compared protocols or registrations with full reports in clinical trials, while a single survey focused on primary studies of clinical trials and observational research. High inconsistency levels were found in outcome reporting (ranging from 14% to 100%, subgroup reporting (from 12% to 100%, statistical analyses (from 9% to 47%, and other measure comparisons. Some factors, such as outcomes with significant results, sponsorship, type of outcome and disease speciality were reported to be significantly related to inconsistent reporting. Conclusions We found that inconsistent reporting between protocols or

  11. Discussing study limitations in reports of biomedical studies- the need for more transparency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puhan, Milo A; Akl, Elie A; Bryant, Dianne; Xie, Feng; Apolone, Giovanni; ter Riet, Gerben

    2012-02-23

    Unbiased and frank discussion of study limitations by authors represents a crucial part of the scientific discourse and progress. In today's culture of publishing many authors or scientific teams probably balance 'utter honesty' when discussing limitations of their research with the risk of being unable to publish their work. Currently, too few papers in the medical literature frankly discuss how limitations could have affected the study findings and interpretations. The goals of this commentary are to review how limitations are currently acknowledged in the medical literature, to discuss the implications of limitations in biomedical studies, and to make suggestions as to how to openly discuss limitations for scientists submitting their papers to journals. This commentary was developed through discussion and logical arguments by the authors who are doing research in the area of hedging (use of language to express uncertainty) and who have extensive experience as authors and editors of biomedical papers. We strongly encourage authors to report on all potentially important limitations that may have affected the quality and interpretation of the evidence being presented. This will not only benefit science but also offers incentives for authors: If not all important limitations are acknowledged readers and reviewers of scientific articles may perceive that the authors were unaware of them. Authors should take advantage of their content knowledge and familiarity with the study to prevent misinterpretations of the limitations by reviewers and readers. Articles discussing limitations help shape the future research agenda and are likely to be cited because they have informed the design and conduct of future studies. Instead of perceiving acknowledgment of limitations negatively, authors, reviewers and editors should recognize the potential of a frank and unbiased discussion of study limitations that should not jeopardize acceptance of manuscripts.

  12. Discussing study limitations in reports of biomedical studies- the need for more transparency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Puhan Milo A

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Unbiased and frank discussion of study limitations by authors represents a crucial part of the scientific discourse and progress. In today's culture of publishing many authors or scientific teams probably balance 'utter honesty' when discussing limitations of their research with the risk of being unable to publish their work. Currently, too few papers in the medical literature frankly discuss how limitations could have affected the study findings and interpretations. The goals of this commentary are to review how limitations are currently acknowledged in the medical literature, to discuss the implications of limitations in biomedical studies, and to make suggestions as to how to openly discuss limitations for scientists submitting their papers to journals. This commentary was developed through discussion and logical arguments by the authors who are doing research in the area of hedging (use of language to express uncertainty and who have extensive experience as authors and editors of biomedical papers. We strongly encourage authors to report on all potentially important limitations that may have affected the quality and interpretation of the evidence being presented. This will not only benefit science but also offers incentives for authors: If not all important limitations are acknowledged readers and reviewers of scientific articles may perceive that the authors were unaware of them. Authors should take advantage of their content knowledge and familiarity with the study to prevent misinterpretations of the limitations by reviewers and readers. Articles discussing limitations help shape the future research agenda and are likely to be cited because they have informed the design and conduct of future studies. Instead of perceiving acknowledgment of limitations negatively, authors, reviewers and editors should recognize the potential of a frank and unbiased discussion of study limitations that should not jeopardize acceptance of

  13. Biomedical scientists' perceptions of ethical and social implications: is there a role for research ethics consultation?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer B McCormick

    Full Text Available Research ethics consultation programs are being established with a goal of addressing the ethical, societal, and policy considerations associated with biomedical research. A number of these programs are modelled after clinical ethics consultation services that began to be institutionalized in the 1980s. Our objective was to determine biomedical science researchers' perceived need for and utility of research ethics consultation, through examination of their perceptions of whether they and their institutions faced ethical, social or policy issues (outside those mandated by regulation and examination of willingness to seek advice in addressing these issues. We conducted telephone interviews and focus groups in 2006 with researchers from Stanford University and a mailed survey in December 2006 to 7 research universities in the U.S.A total of 16 researchers were interviewed (75% response rate, 29 participated in focus groups, and 856 responded to the survey (50% response rate. Approximately half of researchers surveyed (51% reported that they would find a research ethics consultation service at their institution moderately, very or extremely useful, while over a third (36% reported that such a service would be useful to them personally. Respondents conducting human subjects research were more likely to find such a service very to extremely useful to them personally than respondents not conducting human subjects research (20% vs 10%; chi(2 p<0.001.Our findings indicate that biomedical researchers do encounter and anticipate encountering ethical and societal questions and concerns and a substantial proportion, especially clinical researchers, would likely use a consultation service if they were aware of it. These findings provide data to inform the development of such consultation programs in general.

  14. Project Alexander the Great: a study on the world proliferation of bioengineering/biomedical engineering education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abu-Faraj, Ziad O

    2008-01-01

    Bioengineering/Biomedical Engineering is considered amongst the most reputable fields within the global arena, and will likely be the primer for any future breakthroughs in Medicine and Biology. Bioengineering/biomedical engineering education has evolved since late 1950s and is undergoing advancement in leading academic institutions worldwide. This paper delineates an original study on the world proliferation of bioengineering/biomedical engineering education and bears the name 'Project Alexander the Great'. The initial step of the project was to survey all 10448 universities, recognized by the International Association of Universities, spread among the 193 member states of the United Nations within the six continents. The project aims at identifying, disseminating, and networking, through the world-wide-web, those institutions of higher learning that provide bioengineering/biomedical engineering education. The significance of this project is multifold: i) the inception of a web-based 'world-map' in bioengineering/biomedical engineering education for the potential international student desiring to pursue a career in this field; ii) the global networking of bioengineering/biomedical engineering academic/research programs; iii) the promotion of first-class bioengineering/biomedical engineering education and the catalysis of global proliferation of this field; iv) the erection of bridges among educational institutions, industry, and professional societies or organizations involved in Bioengineering/Biomedical Engineering; and v) the catalysis in the establishment of framework agreements for cooperation among the identified institutions offering curricula in this field. This paper presents the results obtained from Africa and North America. The whole project is due to be completed by 2009.

  15. Navigating the Path to a Biomedical Science Career

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmerman, Andrea McNeely

    The number of biomedical PhD scientists being trained and graduated far exceeds the number of academic faculty positions and academic research jobs. If this trend is compelling biomedical PhD scientists to increasingly seek career paths outside of academia, then more should be known about their intentions, desires, training experiences, and career path navigation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand the process through which biomedical PhD scientists are trained and supported for navigating future career paths. In addition, the study sought to determine whether career development support efforts and opportunities should be redesigned to account for the proportion of PhD scientists following non-academic career pathways. Guided by the social cognitive career theory (SCCT) framework this study sought to answer the following central research question: How does a southeastern tier 1 research university train and support its biomedical PhD scientists for navigating their career paths? Key findings are: Many factors influence PhD scientists' career sector preference and job search process, but the most influential were relationships with faculty, particularly the mentor advisor; Planned activities are a significant aspect of the training process and provide skills for career success; and Planned activities provided skills necessary for a career, but influential factors directed the career path navigated. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

  16. The Role of Scientific Communication Skills in Trainees’ Intention to Pursue Biomedical Research Careers: A Social Cognitive Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cameron, Carrie; Lee, Hwa Young; Anderson, Cheryl; Byars-Winston, Angela; Baldwin, Constance D.; Chang, Shine

    2015-01-01

    Scientific communication (SciComm) skills are indispensable for success in biomedical research, but many trainees may not have fully considered the necessity of regular writing and speaking for research career progression. Our purpose was to investigate the relationship between SciComm skill acquisition and research trainees’ intentions to remain in research careers. We used social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to test a model of the relationship of SciComm skills to SciComm-related cognitive variables in explaining career intentions. A sample of 510 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at major academic health science centers in the Texas Medical Center, Houston, Texas, were surveyed online. Results suggested that interest in performing SciComm tasks, SciComm outcome expectations (SCOEs), and SciComm productivity predicted intention to remain in a research career, while SciComm self-efficacy did not directly predict career intention. SCOEs also predicted interest in performing SciComm tasks. As in other SCCT studies, SciComm self-efficacy predicted SCOEs. We conclude that social cognitive factors of SciComm skill acquisition and SciComm productivity significantly predict biomedical trainees’ intentions to pursue research careers whether within or outside academia. While further studies are needed, these findings may lead to evidence-based interventions to help trainees remain in their chosen career paths. PMID:26628562

  17. Biomedical research with human embryos: changes in the legislation on assisted reproduction in Spain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vidal Martínez, Jaime

    2006-01-01

    This study deals with issues of research with human embryos obtained through in vitro fertilization in the context of the Spanish Law. The paper focuses on Act 14/2006 on techniques of human assisted reproduction, which replaces the previous Act from 1988. The author claims that the main goals of Act 14/2006 are, on the one hand, to eliminate the restrictions affecting research with human embryos put in place by Act 45/2003 and, on the other, to pave the way for a future legislation on biomedical research. This paper argues for the need of an effective and adequate juridical protection of human embryos obtained in vitro according to responsibility and precautionary principles.

  18. Handbook of biomedical optics

    CERN Document Server

    Boas, David A

    2011-01-01

    Biomedical optics holds tremendous promise to deliver effective, safe, non- or minimally invasive diagnostics and targeted, customizable therapeutics. Handbook of Biomedical Optics provides an in-depth treatment of the field, including coverage of applications for biomedical research, diagnosis, and therapy. It introduces the theory and fundamentals of each subject, ensuring accessibility to a wide multidisciplinary readership. It also offers a view of the state of the art and discusses advantages and disadvantages of various techniques.Organized into six sections, this handbook: Contains intr

  19. Challenges facing academic research in commercializing event-detector implantable devices for an in-vivo biomedical subcutaneous device for biomedical analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juanola-Feliu, E.; Colomer-Farrarons, J.; Miribel-Català, P.; Samitier, J.; Valls-Pasola, J.

    2011-05-01

    It is widely recognized that the welfare of the most advanced economies is at risk, and that the only way to tackle this situation is by controlling the knowledge economies and dealing with. To achieve this ambitious goal, we need to improve the performance of each dimension in the "knowledge triangle": education, research and innovation. Indeed, recent findings point to the importance of strategies of adding-value and marketing during R+D processes so as to bridge the gap between the laboratory and the market and so ensure the successful commercialization of new technology-based products. Moreover, in a global economy in which conventional manufacturing is dominated by developing economies, the future of industry in the most advanced economies must rely on its ability to innovate in those high-tech activities that can offer a differential added-value, rather than on improving existing technologies and products. It seems quite clear, therefore, that the combination of health (medicine) and nanotechnology in a new biomedical device is very capable of meeting these requisites. This work propose a generic CMOS Front-End Self-Powered In-Vivo Implantable Biomedical Device, based on a threeelectrode amperometric biosensor approach, capable of detecting threshold values for targeted concentrations of pathogens, ions, oxygen concentration, etc. Given the speed with which diabetes can spread, as diabetes is the fastest growing disease in the world, the nano-enabled implantable device for in-vivo biomedical analysis needs to be introduced into the global diabetes care devices market. In the case of glucose monitoring, the detection of a threshold decrease in the glucose level it is mandatory to avoid critic situations like the hypoglycemia. Although the case study reported in this paper is complex because it involves multiple organizations and sources of data, it contributes to extend experience to the best practices and models on nanotechnology applications and

  20. Biomedical research with cyclotron produced radionuclides. Progress report, October 1, 1977--September 30, 1978

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Laughlin, J.S.; Benua, R.S.; Tilbury, R.S.; Bigler, R.E.

    1978-09-30

    Progress is reported on biomedical studies using cyclotron-produced /sup 18/F, /sup 15/O, /sup 11/C, /sup 13/N, /sup 52/Fe, /sup 38/K, /sup 206/Bi, /sup 73/Se, /sup 53/Co, and /sup 43/K. The following research projects are described: tumor detection and diagnosis; neurological studies; radiopharmaceutical development; /sup 38/K as an indicator of blood flow to the myocardium; dosimetry for internally deposited isotopes in animals and man; cyclotron development; positron tomographic imaging with the TOKIM System; and review of positron emission transaxial tomograph instruments. (HLW)

  1. Assessing the impact of biomedical research in academic institutions of disparate sizes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hatzakis Angelos

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The evaluation of academic research performance is nowadays a priority issue. Bibliometric indicators such as the number of publications, total citation counts and h-index are an indispensable tool in this task but their inherent association with the size of the research output may result in rewarding high production when evaluating institutions of disparate sizes. The aim of this study is to propose an indicator that may facilitate the comparison of institutions of disparate sizes. Methods The Modified Impact Index (MII was defined as the ratio of the observed h-index (h of an institution over the h-index anticipated for that institution on average, given the number of publications (N it produces i.e. (α and β denote the intercept and the slope, respectively, of the line describing the dependence of the h-index on the number of publications in log10 scale. MII values higher than 1 indicate that an institution performs better than the average, in terms of its h-index. Data on scientific papers published during 2002–2006 and within 36 medical fields for 219 Academic Medical Institutions from 16 European countries were used to estimate α and β and to calculate the MII of their total and field-specific production. Results From our biomedical research data, the slope β governing the dependence of h-index on the number of publications in biomedical research was found to be similar to that estimated in other disciplines (≈0.4. The MII was positively associated with the average number of citations/publication (r = 0.653, p Conclusion The MII should complement the use of h-index when comparing the research output of institutions of disparate sizes. It has a conceptual interpretation and, with the data provided here, can be computed for the total research output as well as for field-specific publication sets of institutions in biomedicine.

  2. Rabbit models for biomedical research revisited via genome editing approaches

    Science.gov (United States)

    HONDA, Arata; OGURA, Atsuo

    2017-01-01

    Although the laboratory rabbit has long contributed to many paradigmatic studies in biology and medicine, it is often considered to be a “classical animal model” because in the last 30 years, the laboratory mouse has been more often used, thanks to the availability of embryonic stem cells that have allowed the generation of gene knockout (KO) animals. However, recent genome-editing strategies have changed this unrivaled condition; so far, more than 10 mammalian species have been added to the list of KO animals. Among them, the rabbit has distinct advantages for application of genome-editing systems, such as easy application of superovulation, consistency with fertile natural mating, well-optimized embryo manipulation techniques, and the short gestation period. The rabbit has now returned to the stage of advanced biomedical research. PMID:28579598

  3. Biomedical applications engineering tasks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laenger, C. J., Sr.

    1976-01-01

    The engineering tasks performed in response to needs articulated by clinicians are described. Initial contacts were made with these clinician-technology requestors by the Southwest Research Institute NASA Biomedical Applications Team. The basic purpose of the program was to effectively transfer aerospace technology into functional hardware to solve real biomedical problems.

  4. Is research related to a country's economic development? An analysis of biomedical publications from several GCC and ASEAN countries from 1994-2013.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, C T; Wilkerson, P M; Soon, Y

    2016-04-01

    Biomedical research has traditionally been the domain of developed countries. We aim to study the effects of the increased focus on biomedical and medical research on level 1-4 publications in several industrialised and newly industrialised countries endowed with petroleum and gas resources. We identified all level 1-4 publications from 01/01/1994 to 31/12/2013 via PubMed using advanced options. The population and GDP (current US$) data from 1994-2013 were obtained through data provided by the World Bank and the raw data was normalised based on these two indicators. From 1994-2013, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia were responsible for the highest absolute number of level 1 to 4 biomedical and medical research publications with 2551 and 1951 publications respectively. When normalised to population, Kuwait and Qatar had the highest publication rates, with 7.84 and 3.99 publications per 100,000 inhabitants respectively in a five yearly average. Kuwait produced the largest number of publications per billion (current US$) of GDP, at 2.92 publications, followed by Malaysia at 2.82 publications in a five yearly average. The population size of a country as well as GDP can influence the number of level 1-4 publications in some countries. More importantly, effective government policy which stimulates research as well as a culture which actively promotes research as shown by Malaysia have proven to have a larger influence on the amount of level 1-4 biomedical and medical publications.

  5. Impact of a short biostatistics course on knowledge and performance of postgraduate scholars: Implications for training of African doctors and biomedical researchers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chima, S C; Nkwanyana, N M; Esterhuizen, T M

    2015-12-01

    This study was designed to evaluate the impact of a short biostatistics course on knowledge and performance of statistical analysis by biomedical researchers in Africa. It is recognized that knowledge of biostatistics is essential for understanding and interpretation of modern scientific literature and active participation in the global research enterprise. Unfortunately, it has been observed that basic education of African scholars may be deficient in applied mathematics including biostatistics. Forty university affiliated biomedical researchers from South Africa volunteered for a 4-day short-course where participants were exposed to lectures on descriptive and inferential biostatistics and practical training on using a statistical software package for data analysis. A quantitative questionnaire was used to evaluate participants' statistical knowledge and performance pre- and post-course. Changes in knowledge and performance were measured using objective and subjective criteria. Data from completed questionnaires were captured and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Participants' pre- and post-course data were compared using nonparametric Wilcoxon signed ranks tests for nonnormally distributed variables. A P researchers in this cohort and highlights the potential benefits of short-courses in biostatistics to improve the knowledge and skills of biomedical researchers and scholars in Africa.

  6. African Americans, democracy, and biomedical and behavioral research: contradictions or consensus in community-based participatory research?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spigner, C

    Individualism, in both its political and attitudinal senses, reinforces societal and institutional racism in the United States. Because of individualism's dominant focus on self-interest and self-reliance, any application of "participatory democracy" in community-based biomedical and behavioral research is fraught with dilemmas similar to those that Gunnar Myrdal observed between American racism and democracy. The research establishment is overwhelmed by well-meaning non-minorities who recognize racism and its consequences in health, but only greater representation of people-of-color in the health establishment can ameliorate the inherent contradictions of "participatory democracy" which is so fundamental to the process of community-based participatory research.

  7. Wire gaseous coordinate detectors and their applications in biomedical research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peshekhonov, V.D.

    1986-01-01

    Wire gaseous coordinate detectors continue to be a basic tool in experimental high-energy physics and are being intensively introduced into related areas of science and technology, particularly biomedical research. The constant evolution of these detectors allows broad application of their new modificatons: multistep chambers, low-pressure detectors, time-projection chambers, and so on, so that detector systems are enriched with new possibilities. In this review we give the operating principles and fundamental parameters of these detectors and discuss some examples of how they are used in experimental physics. We also explore some of the features of the use of these detectors for research in molecular biology and medical diagnostics for examples of existing and projected setups

  8. Handbook of photonics for biomedical engineering

    CERN Document Server

    Kim, Donghyun; Somekh, Michael

    2017-01-01

    Nanophotonics has emerged rapidly into technological mainstream with the advent and maturity of nanotechnology available in photonics and enabled many new exciting applications in the area of biomedical science and engineering that were unimagined even a few years ago with conventional photonic engineering techniques. Handbook of Nanophotonics in Biomedical Engineering is intended to be a reliable resource to a wealth of information on nanophotonics that can inspire readers by detailing emerging and established possibilities of nanophotonics in biomedical science and engineering applications. This comprehensive reference presents not only the basics of nanophotonics but also explores recent experimental and clinical methods used in biomedical and bioengineering research. Each peer-reviewed chapter of this book discusses fundamental aspects and materials/fabrication issues of nanophotonics, as well as applications in interfaces, cell, tissue, animal studies, and clinical engineering. The organization provides ...

  9. Towards an ethics safe harbor for global biomedical research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dove, Edward S.; Knoppers, Bartha M.; Zawati, Ma'n H.

    2014-01-01

    Although increasingly global, data-driven genomics and other ‘omics’-focused research hold great promise for health discoveries, current research ethics review systems around the world challenge potential improvements in human health from such research. To overcome this challenge, we propose a ‘Safe Harbor Framework for International Ethics Equivalency’ that facilitates the harmonization of ethics review of specific types of data-driven international research projects while respecting globally transposable research ethics norms and principles. The Safe Harbor would consist in part of an agency supporting an International Federation for Ethics Review (IFER), formed by a voluntary compact among countries, granting agencies, philanthropies, institutions, and healthcare, patient advocacy, and research organizations. IFER would be both a central ethics review body, and also a forum for review and follow-up of policies concerning ethics norms for international research projects. It would be built on five principle elements: (1) registration, (2) compliance review, (3) recognition, (4) monitoring and enforcement, and (5) public participation. The Safe Harbor would create many benefits for researchers, countries, and the general public, and may eventually have application beyond (gen)omics to other areas of biomedical research that increasingly engage in secondary use of data and present only negligible risks. PMID:27774154

  10. The Light Ion Biomedical Research Accelerator (LIBRA)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gough, R.A.

    1987-03-01

    LIBRA is a concept to place a light-ion, charged-particle facility in a hospital environment, and to dedicate it to applications in biology and medicine. There are two aspects of the program envisaged for LIBRA: a basic research effort coupled with a program in clinical applications of accelerated charged particles. The operational environment to be provided for LIBRA is one in which both of these components can coexist and flourish, and one that will promote the transfer of technology and knowledge from one to the other. In order to further investigate the prospects for a Light Ion Biomedical Research Accelerator (LIBRA), discussions are underway with the Merritt Peralta Medical Center (MPMC) in Oakland, California, and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). In this paper, a brief discussion of the technical requirements for such a facility is given, together with an outline of the accelerator technology required. While still in a preliminary stage, it is possible nevertheless to develop an adequate working description of the type, size, performance and cost of the accelerator facilities required to meet the preliminary goals for LIBRA

  11. Capital Investment for the Future of Biomedical Research: A University Chief Financial Officer's View.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Massy, William F.

    1989-01-01

    Three principal aspects of capital needs in biomedical research are discussed: the significant and growing need for capital; sources; and the role of federal policy. Important assumptions, questions, and possible future trends are discussed. Consolidated thinking and effort are encouraged. (MSE)

  12. Applications of systems science in biomedical research regarding obesity and noncommunicable chronic diseases: opportunities, promise, and challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Youfa; Xue, Hong; Liu, Shiyong

    2015-01-01

    Interest in the application of systems science (SS) in biomedical research, particularly regarding obesity and noncommunicable chronic disease (NCD) research, has been growing rapidly over the past decade. SS is a broad term referring to a family of research approaches that include modeling. As an emerging approach being adopted in public health, SS focuses on the complex dynamic interaction between agents (e.g., people) and subsystems defined at different levels. SS provides a conceptual framework for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches that address complex problems. SS has unique advantages for studying obesity and NCD problems in comparison to the traditional analytic approaches. The application of SS in biomedical research dates back to the 1960s with the development of computing capacity and simulation software. In recent decades, SS has been applied to addressing the growing global obesity epidemic. There is growing appreciation and support for using SS in the public health field, with many promising opportunities. There are also many challenges and uncertainties, including methodologic, funding, and institutional barriers. Integrated efforts by stakeholders that address these challenges are critical for the successful application of SS in the future. © 2015 American Society for Nutrition.

  13. Research Workforce Diversity: The Case of Balancing National versus International Postdocs in US Biomedical Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghaffarzadegan, Navid; Hawley, Joshua; Desai, Anand

    2014-03-01

    The US government has been increasingly supporting postdoctoral training in biomedical sciences to develop the domestic research workforce. However, current trends suggest that mostly international researchers benefit from the funding, many of whom might leave the USA after training. In this paper, we describe a model used to analyse the flow of national versus international researchers into and out of postdoctoral training. We calibrate our model in the case of the USA and successfully replicate the data. We use the model to conduct simulation-based analyses of effects of different policies on the diversity of postdoctoral researchers. Our model shows that capping the duration of postdoctoral careers, a policy proposed previously, favours international postdoctoral researchers. The analysis suggests that the leverage point to help the growth of domestic research workforce is in the pregraduate education area, and many policies implemented at the postgraduate level have minimal or unintended effects on diversity.

  14. Biomedical Engineering

    CERN Document Server

    Suh, Sang C; Tanik, Murat M

    2011-01-01

    Biomedical Engineering: Health Care Systems, Technology and Techniques is an edited volume with contributions from world experts. It provides readers with unique contributions related to current research and future healthcare systems. Practitioners and researchers focused on computer science, bioinformatics, engineering and medicine will find this book a valuable reference.

  15. Biomedical nanotechnology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hurst, Sarah J

    2011-01-01

    This chapter summarizes the roles of nanomaterials in biomedical applications, focusing on those highlighted in this volume. A brief history of nanoscience and technology and a general introduction to the field are presented. Then, the chemical and physical properties of nanostructures that make them ideal for use in biomedical applications are highlighted. Examples of common applications, including sensing, imaging, and therapeutics, are given. Finally, the challenges associated with translating this field from the research laboratory to the clinic setting, in terms of the larger societal implications, are discussed.

  16. Research Strategies for Biomedical and Health Informatics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kulikowski, Casimir A.; Bakken, Suzanne; de Lusignan, Simon; Kimura, Michio; Koch, Sabine; Mantas, John; Maojo, Victor; Marschollek, Michael; Martin-Sanchez, Fernando; Moen, Anne; Park, Hyeoun-Ae; Sarkar, Indra Neil; Leong, Tze Yun; McCray, Alexa T.

    2017-01-01

    Summary Background Medical informatics, or biomedical and health informatics (BMHI), has become an established scientific discipline. In all such disciplines there is a certain inertia to persist in focusing on well-established research areas and to hold on to well-known research methodologies rather than adopting new ones, which may be more appropriate. Objectives To search for answers to the following questions: What are research fields in informatics, which are not being currently adequately addressed, and which methodological approaches might be insufficiently used? Do we know about reasons? What could be consequences of change for research and for education? Methods Outstanding informatics scientists were invited to three panel sessions on this topic in leading international conferences (MIE 2015, Medinfo 2015, HEC 2016) in order to get their answers to these questions. Results A variety of themes emerged in the set of answers provided by the panellists. Some panellists took the theoretical foundations of the field for granted, while several questioned whether the field was actually grounded in a strong theoretical foundation. Panellists proposed a range of suggestions for new or improved approaches, methodologies, and techniques to enhance the BMHI research agenda. Conclusions The field of BMHI is on the one hand maturing as an academic community and intellectual endeavour. On the other hand vendor-supplied solutions may be too readily and uncritically accepted in health care practice. There is a high chance that BMHI will continue to flourish as an important discipline; its innovative interventions might then reach the original objectives of advancing science and improving health care outcomes. PMID:28119991

  17. BIOMedical Search Engine Framework: Lightweight and customized implementation of domain-specific biomedical search engines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jácome, Alberto G; Fdez-Riverola, Florentino; Lourenço, Anália

    2016-07-01

    meaningful to that particular scope of research. Conversely, indirect concept associations, i.e. concepts related by other intermediary concepts, can be useful to integrate information from different studies and look into non-trivial relations. The BIOMedical Search Engine Framework supports the development of domain-specific search engines. The key strengths of the framework are modularity and extensibilityin terms of software design, the use of open-source consolidated Web technologies, and the ability to integrate any number of biomedical text mining tools and information resources. Currently, the Smart Drug Search keeps over 1,186,000 documents, containing more than 11,854,000 annotations for 77,200 different concepts. The Smart Drug Search is publicly accessible at http://sing.ei.uvigo.es/sds/. The BIOMedical Search Engine Framework is freely available for non-commercial use at https://github.com/agjacome/biomsef. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Environmental/Biomedical Terminology Index

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huffstetler, J.K.; Dailey, N.S.; Rickert, L.W.; Chilton, B.D.

    1976-12-01

    The Information Center Complex (ICC), a centrally administered group of information centers, provides information support to environmental and biomedical research groups and others within and outside Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In-house data base building and development of specialized document collections are important elements of the ongoing activities of these centers. ICC groups must be concerned with language which will adequately classify and insure retrievability of document records. Language control problems are compounded when the complexity of modern scientific problem solving demands an interdisciplinary approach. Although there are several word lists, indexes, and thesauri specific to various scientific disciplines usually grouped as Environmental Sciences, no single generally recognized authority can be used as a guide to the terminology of all environmental science. If biomedical terminology for the description of research on environmental effects is also needed, the problem becomes even more complex. The building of a word list which can be used as a general guide to the environmental/biomedical sciences has been a continuing activity of the Information Center Complex. This activity resulted in the publication of the Environmental Biomedical Terminology Index

  19. Science gateways for biomedical big data analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Shahand, S.

    2015-01-01

    Biomedical researchers are facing data deluge challenges such as dealing with large volume of complex heterogeneous data and complex and computationally demanding data processing methods. Such scale and complexity of biomedical research requires multi-disciplinary collaboration between scientists

  20. [Integration of fundamental and applied medical and technical research made at the department of the biomedical systems, Moscow State Institute of Electronic Engineering].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Selishchev, S V

    2004-01-01

    The integration results of fundamental and applied medical-and-technical research made at the chair of biomedical systems, Moscow state institute of electronic engineering (technical university--MSIEE), are described in the paper. The chair is guided in its research activity by the traditions of higher education in Russia in the field of biomedical electronics and biomedical engineering. Its activities are based on the extrapolation of methods of electronic tools, computer technologies, physics, biology and medicine with due respect being paid to the requirements of practical medicine and to topical issues of research and design.

  1. National Biomedical Tracer Facility. Project definition study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schafer, R.

    1995-01-01

    We request a $25 million government-guaranteed, interest-free loan to be repaid over a 30-year period for construction and initial operations of a cyclotron-based National Biomedical Tracer Facility (NBTF) in North Central Texas. The NBTF will be co-located with a linear accelerator-based commercial radioisotope production facility, funded by the private sector at approximately $28 million. In addition, research radioisotope production by the NBTF will be coordinated through an association with an existing U.S. nuclear reactor center that will produce research and commercial radioisotopes through neutron reactions. The combined facilities will provide the full range of technology for radioisotope production and research: fast neutrons, thermal neutrons, and particle beams (H - , H + , and D + ). The proposed NBTF facility includes an 80 MeV, 1 mA H - cyclotron that will produce proton-induced (neutron deficient) research isotopes

  2. Advances in biomedical engineering

    CERN Document Server

    Brown, J H U

    1976-01-01

    Advances in Biomedical Engineering, Volume 5, is a collection of papers that deals with application of the principles and practices of engineering to basic and applied biomedical research, development, and the delivery of health care. The papers also describe breakthroughs in health improvements, as well as basic research that have been accomplished through clinical applications. One paper examines engineering principles and practices that can be applied in developing therapeutic systems by a controlled delivery system in drug dosage. Another paper examines the physiological and materials vari

  3. Important skills for biomedical services: The perspectives of Malaysian employers and employees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buntat, Yahya; Saud, Muhammad Sukri; Mokhtar, Mahani; Kamin, Yusri; Feh, Lim Set

    2016-10-17

    Increase in the occurrence of existing diseases, continual emergence of new or exotic diseases and re-emergence of old diseases have placed increasing demands on biomedical services in Malaysia. Biomedical technicians play an important role in operating biomedical instruments. However, there are no clear specifications about characteristics and traits for these semi-professional employees. Employers in a few studies claimed that biomedical graduates are not ready to enter and face challenges in the job market. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify technical and generic skills for a biomedical technician from the perspectives of the biomedical technicians and their employers. A quantitative survey design was employed whereby data were obtained through the administration of an instrument developed by the researchers. The sample consisted of 20 hospital managers and 186 biomedical technicians who are currently working in Malaysian government hospitals. The findings show that there are no difference in the perceptions of hospital managers and biomedical technicians regarding technical and non-technical skills. These findings resulted in a checklist which can be used for institutions to produce future biomedical technician graduates in order to meet job demands. However, future research is needed to validate the findings and explore the variables in depth.

  4. Differing Perceptions Concerning Research Integrity Between Universities and Industry: A Qualitative Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godecharle, Simon; Nemery, Benoit; Dierickx, Kris

    2017-09-14

    Despite the ever increasing collaboration between industry and universities, the previous empirical studies on research integrity and misconduct excluded participants of biomedical industry. Hence, there is a lack of empirical data on how research managers and biomedical researchers active in industry perceive the issues of research integrity and misconduct, and whether or not their perspectives differ from those of researchers and research managers active in universities. If various standards concerning research integrity and misconduct are upheld between industry and universities, this might undermine research collaborations. Therefore we performed a qualitative study by conducting 22 semi-structured interviews in order to investigate and compare the perspectives and attitudes concerning the issues of research integrity and misconduct of research managers and biomedical researchers active in industry and universities. Our study showed clear discrepancies between both groups. Diverse strategies in order to manage research misconduct and to stimulate research integrity were observed. Different definitions of research misconduct were given, indicating that similar actions are judged heterogeneously. There were also differences at an individual level, whether the interviewees were active in industry or universities. Overall, the management of research integrity proves to be a difficult exercise, due to many diverse perspectives on several essential elements connected to research integrity and misconduct. A management policy that is not in line with the vision of the biomedical researchers and research managers is at risk of being inefficient.

  5. Karma, reincarnation, and medicine: Hindu perspectives on biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutchinson, Janis Faye; Sharp, Richard

    2008-12-01

    population. This study suggests that minority status does not automatically indicate unwillingness to participate in genetic or medical research. Indian Americans were not skeptical about the potential benefits of biomedical research in comparison to other ethnic minority communities in the United States.

  6. Biomedical solid waste management in an Indian hospital: a case study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Patil, Gayathri V.; Pokhrel, Kamala

    2005-01-01

    The objectives of this study were: (i) to assess the waste handling and treatment system of hospital bio-medical solid waste and its mandatory compliance with Regulatory Notifications for Bio-medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998, under the Environment (Protection Act 1986), Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Govt. of India, at the chosen KLE Society's J. N. Hospital and Medical Research Center, Belgaum, India and (ii) to quantitatively estimate the amount of non-infectious and infectious waste generated in different wards/sections. During the study, it was observed that: (i) the personnel working under the occupier (who has control over the institution to take all steps to ensure biomedical waste is handled without any adverse effects to human health and the environment) were trained to take adequate precautionary measures in handling these bio-hazardous waste materials, (ii) the process of segregation, collection, transport, storage and final disposal of infectious waste was done in compliance with the Standard Procedures, (iii) the final disposal was by incineration in accordance to EPA Rules 1998 (iv) the non-infectious waste was collected separately in different containers and treated as general waste, and (v) on an average about 520 kg of non-infectious and 101 kg of infectious waste is generated per day (about 2.31 kg per day per bed, gross weight comprising both infectious and non-infectious waste). This hospital also extends its facility to the neighboring clinics and hospitals by treating their produced waste for incineration

  7. The Brazilian research and teaching center in biomedicine and aerospace biomedical engineering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russomano, T; Falcao, P F; Dalmarco, G; Martinelli, L; Cardoso, R; Santos, M A; Sparenberg, A

    2008-08-01

    The recent engagement of Brazil in the construction and utilization of the International Space Station has motivated several Brazilian research institutions and universities to establish study centers related to Space Sciences. The Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) is no exception. The University initiated in 1993 the first degree course training students to operate commercial aircraft in South America (the School of Aeronautical Sciences. A further step was the decision to build the first Brazilian laboratory dedicated to the conduct of experiments in ground-based microgravity simulation. Established in 1998, the Microgravity Laboratory, which was located in the Instituto de Pesquisas Cientificas e Tecnologicas (IPCT), was supported by the Schools of Medicine, Aeronautical Sciences and Electrical Engineering/Biomedical Engineering. At the end of 2006, the Microgravity Laboratory became a Center and was transferred to the School of Engineering. The principal activities of the Microgravity Centre are the development of research projects related to human physiology before, during and after ground-based microgravity simulation and parabolic flights, to aviation medicine in the 21st century and to aerospace biomedical engineering. The history of Brazilian, and why not say worldwide, space science should unquestionably go through PUCRS. As time passes, the pioneering spirit of our University in the aerospace area has become undeniable. This is due to the group of professionals, students, technicians and staff in general that have once worked or are still working in the Center of Microgravity, a group of faculty and students that excel in their undeniable technical-scientific qualifications.

  8. Galleria mellonella L. as model organism used in biomedical and other studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikulak, Ewa; Gliniewicz, Aleksandra; Przygodzka, Marta; Solecka, Jolanta

    2018-01-01

    Comparative of studies of genomes of invertebrates and humans shows that in invertebrates including insects there are numerous homologues of human’s genes coding proteins involved in recognition pathogens or transduction of the expression signal. Thanks this features, insects such as Drosophila melanogaster M., Blattella germanica L., Culex quinquefasciatus S., Bombyx mori L. and Galleria mellonella L. are used in studies on virulence, host resistance or in assessing the in vivo efficacy of antibiotics, fungicides and other biologically active substances. G. mellonella (greater wax moth) are rapid growth, high fertility, size and short life cycle insects- these are features that should be met by good model organisms; therefore the number of researches with larvae of wax moth as the model organism for pathogens assays grows from year to year. This is showing by number of scientific publications about infection’s model of G. mellonella. An obstacle in the wide use of G. mellonella caterpillars as a model in biomedical research is the lack of standardized breeding of these insects, which would guarantee the reproducibility of the obtained results and lack of procedures and standards according to which biomedical research will be carried out. Despite this, the G. mellonella model can be used in the initial analysis before conventional in vivo tests and to reduce the number of tests performed on mammals.

  9. Crowdsourcing biomedical research: leveraging communities as innovation engines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saez-Rodriguez, Julio; Costello, James C; Friend, Stephen H; Kellen, Michael R; Mangravite, Lara; Meyer, Pablo; Norman, Thea; Stolovitzky, Gustavo

    2016-07-15

    The generation of large-scale biomedical data is creating unprecedented opportunities for basic and translational science. Typically, the data producers perform initial analyses, but it is very likely that the most informative methods may reside with other groups. Crowdsourcing the analysis of complex and massive data has emerged as a framework to find robust methodologies. When the crowdsourcing is done in the form of collaborative scientific competitions, known as Challenges, the validation of the methods is inherently addressed. Challenges also encourage open innovation, create collaborative communities to solve diverse and important biomedical problems, and foster the creation and dissemination of well-curated data repositories.

  10. Current practice of public involvement activities in biomedical research and innovation: a systematic qualitative review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lander, Jonas; Hainz, Tobias; Hirschberg, Irene; Strech, Daniel

    2014-01-01

    A recent report from the British Nuffield Council on Bioethics associated 'emerging biotechnologies' with a threefold challenge: 1) uncertainty about outcomes, 2) diverse public views on the values and implications attached to biotechnologies and 3) the possibility of creating radical changes regarding societal relations and practices. To address these challenges, leading international institutions stress the need for public involvement activities (PIAs). The objective of this study was to assess the state of PIA reports in the field of biomedical research. PIA reports were identified via a systematic literature search. Thematic text analysis was employed for data extraction. After filtering, 35 public consultation and 11 public participation studies were included in this review. Analysis and synthesis of all 46 PIA studies resulted in 6 distinguishable PIA objectives and 37 corresponding PIA methods. Reports of outcome translation and PIA evaluation were found in 9 and 10 studies respectively (20% and 22%). The paper presents qualitative details. The state of PIAs on biomedical research and innovation is characterized by a broad range of methods and awkward variation in the wording of objectives. Better comparability of PIAs might improve the translation of PIA findings into further policy development. PIA-specific reporting guidelines would help in this regard. The modest level of translation efforts is another pointer to the "deliberation to policy gap". The results of this review could inform the design of new PIAs and future efforts to improve PIA comparability and outcome translation.

  11. Biomedical Big Data Training Collaborative (BBDTC): An effort to bridge the talent gap in biomedical science and research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purawat, Shweta; Cowart, Charles; Amaro, Rommie E; Altintas, Ilkay

    2016-06-01

    The BBDTC (https://biobigdata.ucsd.edu) is a community-oriented platform to encourage high-quality knowledge dissemination with the aim of growing a well-informed biomedical big data community through collaborative efforts on training and education. The BBDTC collaborative is an e-learning platform that supports the biomedical community to access, develop and deploy open training materials. The BBDTC supports Big Data skill training for biomedical scientists at all levels, and from varied backgrounds. The natural hierarchy of courses allows them to be broken into and handled as modules . Modules can be reused in the context of multiple courses and reshuffled, producing a new and different, dynamic course called a playlist . Users may create playlists to suit their learning requirements and share it with individual users or the wider public. BBDTC leverages the maturity and design of the HUBzero content-management platform for delivering educational content. To facilitate the migration of existing content, the BBDTC supports importing and exporting course material from the edX platform. Migration tools will be extended in the future to support other platforms. Hands-on training software packages, i.e., toolboxes , are supported through Amazon EC2 and Virtualbox virtualization technologies, and they are available as: ( i ) downloadable lightweight Virtualbox Images providing a standardized software tool environment with software packages and test data on their personal machines, and ( ii ) remotely accessible Amazon EC2 Virtual Machines for accessing biomedical big data tools and scalable big data experiments. At the moment, the BBDTC site contains three open Biomedical big data training courses with lecture contents, videos and hands-on training utilizing VM toolboxes, covering diverse topics. The courses have enhanced the hands-on learning environment by providing structured content that users can use at their own pace. A four course biomedical big data series is

  12. Integrating Contemplative Tools into Biomedical Science Education and Research Training Programs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodney R. Dietert

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Academic preparation of science researchers and/or human or veterinary medicine clinicians through the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM curriculum has usually focused on the students (1 acquiring increased disciplinary expertise, (2 learning needed methodologies and protocols, and (3 expanding their capacity for intense, persistent focus. Such educational training is effective until roadblocks or problems arise via this highly-learned approach. Then, the health science trainee may have few tools available for effective problem solving. Training to achieve flexibility, adaptability, and broadened perspectives using contemplative practices has been rare among biomedical education programs. To address this gap, a Cornell University-based program involving formal biomedical science coursework, and health science workshops has been developed to offer science students, researchers and health professionals a broader array of personal, contemplation-based, problem-solving tools. This STEM educational initiative includes first-person exercises designed to broaden perceptional awareness, decrease emotional drama, and mobilize whole-body strategies for creative problem solving. Self-calibration and journaling are used for students to evaluate the personal utility of each exercise. The educational goals are to increase student self-awareness and self-regulation and to provide trainees with value-added tools for career-long problem solving. Basic elements of this educational initiative are discussed using the framework of the Tree of Contemplative Practices.

  13. National Biomedical Tracer Facility. Project definition study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schafer, R.

    1995-02-14

    We request a $25 million government-guaranteed, interest-free loan to be repaid over a 30-year period for construction and initial operations of a cyclotron-based National Biomedical Tracer Facility (NBTF) in North Central Texas. The NBTF will be co-located with a linear accelerator-based commercial radioisotope production facility, funded by the private sector at approximately $28 million. In addition, research radioisotope production by the NBTF will be coordinated through an association with an existing U.S. nuclear reactor center that will produce research and commercial radioisotopes through neutron reactions. The combined facilities will provide the full range of technology for radioisotope production and research: fast neutrons, thermal neutrons, and particle beams (H{sup -}, H{sup +}, and D{sup +}). The proposed NBTF facility includes an 80 MeV, 1 mA H{sup -} cyclotron that will produce proton-induced (neutron deficient) research isotopes.

  14. Derivation of porcine pluripotent stem cells for biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shiue, Yow-Ling; Yang, Jenn-Rong; Liao, Yu-Jing; Kuo, Ting-Yung; Liao, Chia-Hsin; Kang, Ching-Hsun; Tai, Chein; Anderson, Gary B; Chen, Lih-Ren

    2016-07-01

    Pluripotent stem cells including embryonic stem cells (ESCs), embryonic germ cells (EGCs), and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are capable of self-renew and limitlessly proliferating in vitro with undifferentiated characteristics. They are able to differentiate in vitro, spontaneously or responding to suitable signals, into cells of all three primary germ layers. Consequently, these pluripotent stem cells will be valuable sources for cell replacement therapy in numerous disorders. However, the promise of human ESCs and EGCs is cramped by the ethical argument about destroying embryos and fetuses for cell line creation. Moreover, there are still carcinogenic risks existing toward the goal of clinical application for human ESCs, EGCs, and iPSCs. Therefore, a suitable animal model for stem cell research will benefit the further development of human stem cell technology. The pigs, on the basis of their similarity in anatomy, immunology, physiology, and biochemical properties, have been wide used as model animals in the study of various human diseases. The development of porcine pluripotent stem cell lines will hold the opportunity to provide an excellent material for human counterpart to the transplantation in biomedical research and further development of cell-based therapeutic strategy. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Analyser-based x-ray imaging for biomedical research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suortti, Pekka; Keyriläinen, Jani; Thomlinson, William

    2013-01-01

    Analyser-based imaging (ABI) is one of the several phase-contrast x-ray imaging techniques being pursued at synchrotron radiation facilities. With advancements in compact source technology, there is a possibility that ABI will become a clinical imaging modality. This paper presents the history of ABI as it has developed from its laboratory source to synchrotron imaging. The fundamental physics of phase-contrast imaging is presented both in a general sense and specifically for ABI. The technology is dependent on the use of perfect crystal monochromator optics. The theory of the x-ray optics is developed and presented in a way that will allow optimization of the imaging for specific biomedical systems. The advancement of analytical algorithms to produce separate images of the sample absorption, refraction angle map and small-angle x-ray scattering is detailed. Several detailed applications to biomedical imaging are presented to illustrate the broad range of systems and body sites studied preclinically to date: breast, cartilage and bone, soft tissue and organs. Ultimately, the application of ABI in clinical imaging will depend partly on the availability of compact sources with sufficient x-ray intensity comparable with that of the current synchrotron environment. (paper)

  16. The genetic composition of populations of cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis) used in biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanthaswamy, S; Ng, J; Satkoski Trask, J; George, D A; Kou, A J; Hoffman, L N; Doherty, T B; Houghton, P; Smith, D G

    2013-06-01

    The genetic composition of cynomolgus macaques used in biomedical research is not as well-characterized as that of rhesus macaques. Populations of cynomolgus macaques from Sumatra, Corregidor, Mauritius, Singapore, Cambodia, and Zamboanga were analyzed using 24 STRs. The Sumatran and Cambodian populations exhibited the highest allelic diversity, while the Mauritian population exhibited the lowest. Sumatran cynomolgus macaques were the most genetically similar to all others, consistent with an Indonesian origin of the species. The high diversity among Cambodian animals may result from interbreeding with rhesus macaques. The Philippine and Mauritian samples were the most divergent from other populations, the former due to separation from the Sunda Shelf by deepwater and the latter due to anthropogenic translocation and extreme founder effects. Investigators should verify their research subjects' origin, ancestry, and pedigree to minimize risks to biomedical experimentation from genetic variance stemming from close kinship and mixed ancestry as these can obscure treatment effects. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  17. Environmental/Biomedical Terminology Index

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Huffstetler, J.K.; Dailey, N.S.; Rickert, L.W.; Chilton, B.D.

    1976-12-01

    The Information Center Complex (ICC), a centrally administered group of information centers, provides information support to environmental and biomedical research groups and others within and outside Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In-house data base building and development of specialized document collections are important elements of the ongoing activities of these centers. ICC groups must be concerned with language which will adequately classify and insure retrievability of document records. Language control problems are compounded when the complexity of modern scientific problem solving demands an interdisciplinary approach. Although there are several word lists, indexes, and thesauri specific to various scientific disciplines usually grouped as Environmental Sciences, no single generally recognized authority can be used as a guide to the terminology of all environmental science. If biomedical terminology for the description of research on environmental effects is also needed, the problem becomes even more complex. The building of a word list which can be used as a general guide to the environmental/biomedical sciences has been a continuing activity of the Information Center Complex. This activity resulted in the publication of the Environmental Biomedical Terminology Index (EBTI).

  18. An examination of how women and underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities experience barriers in biomedical research and medical programs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakraverty, Devasmita

    Women in medicine and biomedical research often face challenges to their retention, promotion, and advancement to leadership positions (McPhillips et al., 2007); they take longer to advance their careers, tend to serve at less research-intensive institutions and have shorter tenures compared to their male colleagues (White, McDade, Yamagata, & Morahan, 2012). Additionally, Blacks and Hispanics are the two largest minority groups that are vastly underrepresented in medicine and biomedical research in the United States (AAMC, 2012; NSF, 2011). The purpose of this study is to examine specific barriers reported by students and post-degree professionals in the field through the following questions: 1. How do women who are either currently enrolled or graduated from biomedical research or medical programs define and make meaning of gender-roles as academic barriers? 2. How do underrepresented groups in medical schools and biomedical research institutions define and make meaning of the academic barriers they face and the challenges these barriers pose to their success as individuals in the program? These questions were qualitatively analyzed using 146 interviews from Project TrEMUR applying grounded theory. Reported gender-role barriers were explained using the "Condition-Process-Outcome" theoretical framework. About one-third of the females (across all three programs; majority White or Black between 25-35 years of age) reported gender-role barriers, mostly due to poor mentoring, time constraints, set expectations and institutional barriers. Certain barriers act as conditions, causing gender-role issues, and gender-role issues influence certain barriers that act as outcomes. Strategies to overcome barriers included interventions mostly at the institutional level (mentor support, proper specialty selection, selecting academia over medicine). Barrier analysis for the two largest URM groups indicated that, while Blacks most frequently reported racism, gender barriers

  19. Ranking Iranian biomedical research centers according to H-variants (G, M, A, R) in Scopus and Web of Science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahmudi, Zoleikha; Tahamtan, Iman; Sedghi, Shahram; Roudbari, Masoud

    2015-01-01

    We conducted a comprehensive bibliometrics analysis to calculate the H, G, M, A and R indicators for all Iranian biomedical research centers (IBRCs) from the output of ISI Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus between 1991 and 2010. We compared the research performance of the research centers according to these indicators. This was a cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study, conducted on 104 Iranian biomedical research centers between August and September 2011. We collected our data through Scopus and WoS. Pearson correlation coefficient between the scientometrics indicators was calculated using SPSS, version 16. The mean values of all indicators were higher in Scopus than in WoS. Drug Applied Research Center of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences had the highest number of publications in both WoS and Scopus databases. This research center along with Royan Institute received the highest number of citations in both Scopus and WoS, respectively. The highest correlation was seen between G and R (.998) in WoS and between G and R (.990) in Scopus. Furthermore, the highest overlap of the 10 top IBRCs was between G and H in WoS (100%) and between G-R (90%) and H-R (90%) in Scopus. Research centers affiliated to the top ranked Iranian medical universities obtained a better position with respect to the studied scientometrics indicators. All aforementioned indicators are important for ranking bibliometrics studies as they refer to different attributes of scientific output and citation aspects.

  20. Frontiers in biomedical engineering and biotechnology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Feng; Goodarzi, Ali; Wang, Haifeng; Stasiak, Joanna; Sun, Jianbo; Zhou, Yu

    2014-01-01

    The 2nd International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology (iCBEB 2013), held in Wuhan on 11–13 October 2013, is an annual conference that aims at providing an opportunity for international and national researchers and practitioners to present the most recent advances and future challenges in the fields of Biomedical Information, Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology. The papers published by this issue are selected from this conference, which witnesses the frontier in the field of Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, which particularly has helped improving the level of clinical diagnosis in medical work.

  1. [Research Progress and Development Prospect of Biomedical Plate].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xiao; Liu, Jing; Wu, Qiang; Wang, Yanjie; Xiao, Tao; Liu, Lihong; Yu, Shu

    2016-12-01

    Different generations of biomedical materials are analyzed in this paper.The current clinical uses of plates made of metals,polymers or composite materials are evaluated,and nano hydroxyapatite/polylactic acid composites and carbon/carbon composite plates are introduced as emphasis.It is pointed out that the carbon/carbon composites are of great feasibility and advantage as a new generation of biomedical materials,especially in the field of bone plate.Compared to other biomaterials,carbon/carbon composites have a good biocompatibility and mechanical compatibility because they have similar elastic modulus,porosity and density to that of human bones.With the development of the technology in knitting and material preparation,carbon/carbon composite plates have a good application prospect.

  2. Proof of concept: concept-based biomedical information retrieval

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Trieschnigg, Rudolf Berend

    2010-01-01

    In this thesis we investigate the possibility to integrate domain-specific knowledge into biomedical information retrieval (IR). Recent decades have shown a fast growing interest in biomedical research, reflected by an exponential growth in scientific literature. An important problem for biomedical

  3. From Mars to man - Biomedical research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beckenbach, E. S.

    1984-01-01

    In the course of the unmanned exploration of the solar system, which the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has managed for NASA, major advances in computerized image processing, materials research, and miniature electronics design have been accomplished. This presentation shows some of the imaging results from space exploration missions, as well as biomedical research tasks based in these technologies. Among other topics, the use of polymeric microspheres in cancer therapy is discussed. Also included are ceramic applications to prosthesis development, laser applications in the treatment of coronary artery disease, multispectral imaging as used in the diagnosis of thermal burn injury, and some examples of telemetry systems as they can be involved in biological systems.

  4. Special Issue: 3D Printing for Biomedical Engineering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chua, Chee Kai; Yeong, Wai Yee; An, Jia

    2017-02-28

    Three-dimensional (3D) printing has a long history of applications in biomedical engineering. The development and expansion of traditional biomedical applications are being advanced and enriched by new printing technologies. New biomedical applications such as bioprinting are highly attractive and trendy. This Special Issue aims to provide readers with a glimpse of the recent profile of 3D printing in biomedical research.

  5. Degradation of hazardous chemicals in liquid radioactive wastes from biomedical research using a mixed microbial population

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wolfram, J.H.; Radtke, M.; Wey, J.E.; Rogers, R.D.; Rau, E.H.

    1997-10-01

    As the costs associated with treatment of mixed wastes by conventional methods increase, new technologies will be investigated as alternatives. This study examines the potential of using a selected mixed population of microorganisms to treat hazardous chemical compounds in liquid low level radioactive wastes from biomedical research procedures. Microorganisms were isolated from various waste samples and enriched against compounds known to occur in the wastes. Individual isolates were tested for their ability to degrade methanol, ethanol, phenol, toluene, phthalates, acetonitrile, chloroform, and trichloroacetic acid. Following these tests, the organisms were combined in a media with a mixture of the different compounds. Three compounds: methanol, acetonitrile, and pseudocumene, were combined at 500 microliter/liter each. Degradation of each compound was shown to occur (75% or greater) under batch conditions with the mixed population. Actual wastes were tested by adding an aliquot to the media, determining the biomass increase, and monitoring the disappearance of the compounds. The compounds in actual waste were degraded, but at different rates than the batch cultures that did not have waste added. The potential of using bioprocessing methods for treating mixed wastes from biomedical research is discussed

  6. Status of Research in Biomedical Engineering 1968.

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Inst. of General Medical Sciences (NIH), Bethesda, MD.

    This status report is divided into eight sections. The first four represent the classical engineering or building aspects of bioengineering and deal with biomedical instrumentation, prosthetics, man-machine systems and computer and information systems. The next three sections are related to the scientific, intellectual and academic influence of…

  7. Compliance with National Ethics Requirements for Human-Subject Research in Non-biomedical Sciences in Brazil: A Changing Culture?

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Albuquerque Rocha, Karina; Vasconcelos, Sonia M R

    2018-02-06

    Ethics regulation for human-subject research (HSR) has been established for about 20 years in Brazil. However, compliance with this regulation is controversial for non-biomedical sciences, particularly for human and social sciences (HSS), the source of a recent debate at the National Commission for Research Ethics. We hypothesized that for these fields, formal requirements for compliance with HSR regulation in graduate programs, responsible for the greatest share of Brazilian science, would be small in number. We analyzed institutional documents (collected from June 2014 to May 2015) from 171 graduate programs at six prestigious Brazilian universities in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the states that fund most of the science conducted in Brazil. Among these programs, 149 were in HSS. The results suggest that non-compliance with standard regulation seems to be the rule in most of these programs. The data may reflect not only a resistance from scientists in these fields to comply with standard regulations for ethics in HSR but also a disciplinary tradition that seems prevalent when it comes to research ethics in HSR. However, recent encounters between Brazilian biomedical and non-biomedical scientists for debates over ethics in HSR point to a changing culture in the approach to research ethics in the country.

  8. Patient identity management for secondary use of biomedical research data in a distributed computing environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nitzlnader, Michael; Schreier, Günter

    2014-01-01

    Dealing with data from different source domains is of increasing importance in today's large scale biomedical research endeavours. Within the European Network for Cancer research in Children and Adolescents (ENCCA) a solution to share such data for secondary use will be established. In this paper the solution arising from the aims of the ENCCA project and regulatory requirements concerning data protection and privacy is presented. Since the details of secondary biomedical dataset utilisation are often not known in advance, data protection regulations are met with an identity management concept that facilitates context-specific pseudonymisation and a way of data aggregation using a hidden reference table later on. Phonetic hashing is proposed to prevent duplicated patient registration and re-identification of patients is possible via a trusted third party only. Finally, the solution architecture allows for implementation in a distributed computing environment, including cloud-based elements.

  9. United Nations and human cloning: a slender and fortunate defence for biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, R G

    2003-12-01

    Numerous biomedical scientists have contributed to the wide knowledge on the growth of preimplantation human embryos in vitro, now improving every aspect of the form of clinical care. These data were gained ethically in many countries, to open new vistas including the alleviation of infertility, preimplantation genetic diagnosis and stem cells, combined with some recent reports on human reproductive cloning. After detailed consultations with scientists, clinicians, ethicists and lawyers, many governments passed legislation permitting research under their own particular socially-defined conditions. Virtually all of them rejected reproductive cloning; a few have accepted therapeutic cloning. These legislatures saluted the many biomedical scientists striving to improve IVF and its derivatives, recognizing their immense medical potential. A motion recently placed before the United Nations then recommended a worldwide ban on all forms of human cloning. Proponents included the Vatican and many Roman Catholic countries, the USA and others. Opponents included Belgium, China, Japan, Brazil, UK, Germany and France. Mediation was achieved by Iran and other Muslim nations, and led to a motion passed by single vote for a two-year delay. This may be the first-ever proposal to ban worldwide a particular form of research. It sounds the alarm bells for further research. It raises questions about the UN being an appropriate forum for ethical decisions affecting the entire world and its future medicine. Large blocs of nations committed to particular religions and outlooks confronted each other, a situation in total contrast to the detailed and widespread consultations made by individual governments when deciding their own individual ethics. This event was clearly a narrow escape for free research as defined by each country's own jurisprudence. It also places research on human embryology and reproductive biomedicine into a more critical situation than before. Current liberalism in

  10. Bridging the social and the biomedical: engaging the social and political sciences in HIV research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kippax, Susan C; Holt, Martin; Friedman, Samuel R

    2011-09-27

    This supplement to the Journal of the International AIDS Society focuses on the engagement of the social and political sciences within HIV research and, in particular, maintaining a productive relationship between social and biomedical perspectives on HIV. It responds to a number of concerns raised primarily by social scientists, but also recognized as important by biomedical and public health researchers. These concerns include how best to understand the impact of medical technologies (such as HIV treatments, HIV testing, viral load testing, male circumcision, microbicides, and pre-and post-exposure prophylaxis) on sexual cultures, drug practices, relationships and social networks in different cultural, economic and political contexts. The supplement is also concerned with how we might examine the relationship between HIV prevention and treatment, understand the social and political mobilization required to tackle HIV, and sustain the range of disciplinary approaches needed to inform and guide responses to the global pandemic. The six articles included in the supplement demonstrate the value of fostering high quality social and political research to inform, guide and challenge our collaborative responses to HIV/AIDS.

  11. How to Learn Multidisciplinary Design: Biomedical Engineering in Cross Cultural Seminar

    OpenAIRE

    Shigehiro Hashimoto

    2016-01-01

    The way to learn multidisciplinary design has been discussed. "Biomedical engineering" is exemplified for multidisciplinary field. "Biomedical Engineering" makes the multidisciplinary research area, which includes biology, medicine, engineering, and others. The cross-cultural student seminars on biomedical engineering have been exemplified as the case studies. In the group work, students are divided into the small cross cultural groups. Each group finds a problem, methods to solve the problem...

  12. Biomedical informatics and translational medicine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarkar Indra

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Biomedical informatics involves a core set of methodologies that can provide a foundation for crossing the "translational barriers" associated with translational medicine. To this end, the fundamental aspects of biomedical informatics (e.g., bioinformatics, imaging informatics, clinical informatics, and public health informatics may be essential in helping improve the ability to bring basic research findings to the bedside, evaluate the efficacy of interventions across communities, and enable the assessment of the eventual impact of translational medicine innovations on health policies. Here, a brief description is provided for a selection of key biomedical informatics topics (Decision Support, Natural Language Processing, Standards, Information Retrieval, and Electronic Health Records and their relevance to translational medicine. Based on contributions and advancements in each of these topic areas, the article proposes that biomedical informatics practitioners ("biomedical informaticians" can be essential members of translational medicine teams.

  13. Are Graduate Students Rational? Evidence from the Market for Biomedical Scientists

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blume-Kohout, Margaret E.; Clack, John W.

    2013-01-01

    The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget expansion from 1998 through 2003 increased demand for biomedical research, raising relative wages and total employment in the market for biomedical scientists. However, because research doctorates in biomedical sciences can often take six years or more to complete, the full labor supply response to such changes in market conditions is not immediate, but rather is observed over a period of several years. Economic rational expectations models assume that prospective students anticipate these future changes, and also that students take into account the opportunity costs of their pursuing graduate training. Prior empirical research on student enrollment and degree completions in science and engineering (S&E) fields indicates that “cobweb” expectations prevail: that is, at least in theory, prospective graduate students respond to contemporaneous changes in market wages and employment, but do not forecast further changes that will arise by the time they complete their degrees and enter the labor market. In this article, we analyze time-series data on wages and employment of biomedical scientists versus alternative careers, on completions of S&E bachelor's degrees and biomedical sciences PhDs, and on research expenditures funded both by NIH and by biopharmaceutical firms, to examine the responsiveness of the biomedical sciences labor supply to changes in market conditions. Consistent with previous studies, we find that enrollments and completions in biomedical sciences PhD programs are responsive to market conditions at the time of students' enrollment. More striking, however, is the close correspondence between graduate student enrollments and completions, and changes in availability of NIH-funded traineeships, fellowships, and research assistantships. PMID:24376573

  14. Relational Databases and Biomedical Big Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Silva, N H Nisansa D

    2017-01-01

    In various biomedical applications that collect, handle, and manipulate data, the amounts of data tend to build up and venture into the range identified as bigdata. In such occurrences, a design decision has to be taken as to what type of database would be used to handle this data. More often than not, the default and classical solution to this in the biomedical domain according to past research is relational databases. While this used to be the norm for a long while, it is evident that there is a trend to move away from relational databases in favor of other types and paradigms of databases. However, it still has paramount importance to understand the interrelation that exists between biomedical big data and relational databases. This chapter will review the pros and cons of using relational databases to store biomedical big data that previous researches have discussed and used.

  15. Cyanobacterial Sunscreen Scytonemin: Role in Photoprotection and Biomedical Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rastogi, Rajesh Prasad; Sonani, Ravi Raghav; Madamwar, Datta

    2015-07-01

    Cyanobacteria are the most promising group of photosynthetic microorganisms capable of producing an array of natural products of industrial importance. Scytonemin is a small hydrophobic alkaloid pigment molecules present in the extracellular sheath of several cyanobacteria as a protective mechanism against short wavelength solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation. It has great efficacy to minimize the production of reactive oxygen species and formation of DNA lesions. The biosynthesis of scytonemin is regulated by different physico-chemical stressors. Scytonemin display multiple roles, functioning as a potent UV sunscreen and antioxidant molecules, and can be exploited in cosmetic and other industries for the development of new cosmeceuticals. Herein, we review the occurrence, biosynthesis, and potential application of scytonemin in photoprotection, pharmaceuticals, and biomedical research.

  16. Special Issue: 3D Printing for Biomedical Engineering

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chee Kai Chua

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Three-dimensional (3D printing has a long history of applications in biomedical engineering. The development and expansion of traditional biomedical applications are being advanced and enriched by new printing technologies. New biomedical applications such as bioprinting are highly attractive and trendy. This Special Issue aims to provide readers with a glimpse of the recent profile of 3D printing in biomedical research.

  17. Bridging the gap between clinicians and systems biologists: from network biology to translational biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jinawath, Natini; Bunbanjerdsuk, Sacarin; Chayanupatkul, Maneerat; Ngamphaiboon, Nuttapong; Asavapanumas, Nithi; Svasti, Jisnuson; Charoensawan, Varodom

    2016-11-22

    With the wealth of data accumulated from completely sequenced genomes and other high-throughput experiments, global studies of biological systems, by simultaneously investigating multiple biological entities (e.g. genes, transcripts, proteins), has become a routine. Network representation is frequently used to capture the presence of these molecules as well as their relationship. Network biology has been widely used in molecular biology and genetics, where several network properties have been shown to be functionally important. Here, we discuss how such methodology can be useful to translational biomedical research, where scientists traditionally focus on one or a small set of genes, diseases, and drug candidates at any one time. We first give an overview of network representation frequently used in biology: what nodes and edges represent, and review its application in preclinical research to date. Using cancer as an example, we review how network biology can facilitate system-wide approaches to identify targeted small molecule inhibitors. These types of inhibitors have the potential to be more specific, resulting in high efficacy treatments with less side effects, compared to the conventional treatments such as chemotherapy. Global analysis may provide better insight into the overall picture of human diseases, as well as identify previously overlooked problems, leading to rapid advances in medicine. From the clinicians' point of view, it is necessary to bridge the gap between theoretical network biology and practical biomedical research, in order to improve the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of the world's major diseases.

  18. New Development in NASA's Rodent Research Hardware for Conducting Long Duration Biomedical and Basic Research in Space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirazi-Fard, Y.; Choi, S.; Harris, C.; Gong, C.; Beegle, J. E.; Stube, K. C.; Martin, K. J.; Nevitt, R. G.; Globus, R. G.

    2017-01-01

    Animal models, particularly rodents, are the foundation of pre-clinical research to understand human diseases and evaluate new therapeutics, and play a key role in advancing biomedical discoveries both on Earth and in space. The National Research Councils Decadal survey emphasized the importance of expanding NASAs life sciences research to perform long duration, rodent experiments on the International Space Station (ISS). To accomplish this objective, flight hardware, operations, and science capabilities were developed at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) to enhance science return for both commercial (CASIS) and government-sponsored rodent research. The Rodent Research program at NASA ARC has pioneered a new research capability on the International Space Station and has progressed toward translating research to the ISS utilizing commercial rockets, collaborating with academia and science industry, while training crewmembers to assist in performing research on orbit. Throughout phases of these missions, our practices, hardware and operations have evolved from tested to developed standards, and we are able to modify and customize our procedure and operations for mission specific requirements. The Rodent Research Habitat is capable of providing a living environment for animals on ISS according to standard animal welfare requirements. Using the cameras in the Habitat, the Rodent Research team has the ability to perform daily health checks on animals, and further analyze the collected videos for behavioral studies. A recent development of the Rodent Research hardware is inclusion of enrichment, to provide the animals the ability to rest and huddle. The Enrichment Hut is designed carefully for adult mice (up to 35 week old) within animal welfare, engineering, and operations constraints. The Hut is made out of the same stainless steel mesh as the cage interior, it has an ingress and an egress to allow animals move freely, and a hinge door to allow crewmembers remove the

  19. The reincarnation of a biomedical researcher: from bench science to medical education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brawer, James R

    2008-02-01

    After 33 years as a biomedical research scientist, I embarked on a new career in medical education. The transformation was awkward, difficult and exciting. Although I had assumed that previous experience in research and scholarship would stand me in good stead, such was hardly the case. I had to learn to navigate a strange new literature, replete with terms that I did not understand, and to deal with concepts that challenged my physico-chemical mindset. As I learned, I found myself discovering a field rich in essential questions, controversial hypotheses, and important potential applications. With my newly acquired knowledge and skills, I began to reflect on my own educational endeavors. I identified a number of outstanding issues and I designed studies to address them. What made these investigations particularly significant for me was their applicability. Although medical education is an exciting and meaningful career path, because of its low profile in most medical schools, few faculty are aware of the academic opportunities that it affords.

  20. Study design and rationale for biomedical shirt-based electrocardiography monitoring in relevant clinical situations: ECG-shirt study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balsam, Paweł; Lodziński, Piotr; Tymińska, Agata; Ozierański, Krzysztof; Januszkiewicz, Łukasz; Główczyńska, Renata; Wesołowska, Katarzyna; Peller, Michał; Pietrzak, Radosław; Książczyk, Tomasz; Borodzicz, Sonia; Kołtowski, Łukasz; Borkowski, Mariusz; Werner, Bożena; Opolski, Grzegorz; Grabowski, Marcin

    2018-01-01

    Today, the main challenge for researchers is to develop new technologies which may help to improve the diagnoses of cardiovascular disease (CVD), thereby reducing healthcare costs and improving the quality of life for patients. This study aims to show the utility of biomedical shirt-based electrocardiography (ECG) monitoring of patients with CVD in different clinical situations using the Nuubo® ECG (nECG) system. An investigator-initiated, multicenter, prospective observational study was carried out in a cardiology (adult and pediatric) and cardiac rehabilitation wards. ECG monitoring was used with the biomedical shirt in the following four independent groups of patients: 1) 30 patients after pulmonary vein isolation (PVI), 2) 30 cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) recipients, 3) 120 patients during cardiac rehabilitation after myocardial infarction, and 4) 40 pediatric patients with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) before electrophysiology study. Approval for all study groups was obtained from the institutional review board. The biomedical shirt captures the electrocardiographic signal via textile electrodes integrated into a garment. The software allows the visualization and analysis of data such as ECG, heart rate, arrhythmia detecting algorithm and relative position of the body is captured by an electronic device. The major advantages of the nECG system are continuous ECG monitoring during daily activities, high quality of ECG recordings, as well as assurance of a proper adherence due to adequate comfort while wearing the shirt. There are only a few studies that have examined wearable systems, especially in pediatric populations. This study is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov: Identifier NCT03068169. (Cardiol J 2018; 25, 1: 52-59).

  1. Statistics and Biomedical Informatics in Forensic Sciences

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Zvárová, Jana

    2009-01-01

    Roč. 20, č. 6 (2009), s. 743-750 ISSN 1180-4009. [TIES 2007. Annual Meeting of the International Environmental Society /18./. Mikulov, 16.08.2007-20.08.2007] Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : biomedical informatics * biomedical statistics * genetic information * forensic dentistry Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research Impact factor: 1.000, year: 2009

  2. Biomedical Science Undergraduate Major: A New Pathway to Advance Research and the Health Professions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gunn, John S; Ledford, Cynthia H; Mousetes, Steven J; Grever, Michael R

    2018-01-01

    Many students entering professional degree programs, particularly M.D., Ph.D., and M.D./Ph.D., are not well prepared regarding the breadth of scientific knowledge required, communication skills, research experience, reading and understanding the scientific literature, and significant shadowing (for M.D.-related professions). In addition, physician scientists are a needed and necessary part of the academic research environment but are dwindling in numbers. In response to predictions of critical shortages of clinician investigators and the lack of proper preparation as undergraduates for these professions, the Biomedical Science (BMS) undergraduate major was created at The Ohio State University to attract incoming college freshmen with interests in scientific research and the healthcare professions. The intent of this major was to graduate an elite cohort of highly talented individuals who would pursue careers in the healthcare professions, biomedical research, or both. Students were admitted to the BMS major through an application and interview process. Admitted cohorts were small, comprising 22 to 26 students, and received a high degree of individualized professional academic advising and mentoring. The curriculum included a minimum of 4 semesters (or 2 years) of supervised research experience designed to enable students to gain skills in clinical and basic science investigation. In addition to covering the prerequisites for medicine and advanced degrees in health professions, the integrated BMS coursework emphasized research literacy as well as skills related to work as a healthcare professional, with additional emphasis on independent learning, teamwork to solve complex problems, and both oral and written communication skills. Supported by Ohio State's Department of Internal Medicine, a unique clinical internship provided selected students with insights into potential careers as physician scientists. In this educational case report, we describe the BMS

  3. Biomedical neutron research at the Californium User Facility for neutron science

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, R.C.; Byrne, T.E.; Miller, L.F.

    1997-01-01

    The Californium User Facility for Neutron Science has been established at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The Californium User Facility (CUF) is a part of the larger Californium Facility, which fabricates and stores compact 252 Cf neutron sources for worldwide distribution. The CUF can provide a cost-effective option for research with 252 Cf sources. Three projects at the CUF that demonstrate the versatility of 252 Cf for biological and biomedical neutron-based research are described: future establishment of a 252 Cf-based neutron activation analysis system, ongoing work to produce miniature high-intensity, remotely afterloaded 252 Cf sources for tumor therapy, and a recent experiment that irradiated living human lung cancer cells impregnated with experimental boron compounds to test their effectiveness for boron neutron capture therapy

  4. A Perspective on Promoting Diversity in the Biomedical Research Workforce: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's PRIDE Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyington, Josephine E A; Maihle, Nita J; Rice, Treva K; Gonzalez, Juan E; Hess, Caryl A; Makala, Levi H; Jeffe, Donna B; Ogedegbe, Gbenga; Rao, Dabeeru C; Dávila-Román, Victor G; Pace, Betty S; Jean-Louis, Girardin; Boutjdir, Mohamed

    2016-07-21

    Aspiring junior investigators from groups underrepresented in the biomedical sciences face various challenges as they pursue research independence. However, the biomedical research enterprise needs their participation to effectively address critical research issues such as health disparities and health inequities. In this article, we share a research education and mentoring initiative that seeks to address this challenge: Programs to Increase Diversity among Individuals Engaged in Health Related Research (PRIDE), funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). This longitudinal research-education and mentoring program occurs through summer institute programs located at US-based academic institutions. Recruited participants are exposed to didactic and lab-based research-skill enhancement experiences, with year-round mentoring over the course of two years. Mentor-mentee matching is based on shared research interests to promote congruence and to enhance skill acquisition. Program descriptions and sample narratives of participants' perceptions of PRIDE's impact on their career progress are showcased. Additionally, we highlight the overall program design and structure of four of seven funded summer institutes that focus on cardiovascular disease, related conditions, and health disparities. Mentees' testimonials about the value of the PRIDE mentoring approach in facilitating career development are also noted. Meeting the clinical and research needs of an increasingly diverse US population is an issue of national concern. The PRIDE initiative, which focuses on increasing research preparedness and professional development of groups underrepresented in the biomedical research workforce, with an emphasis on mentoring as the critical approach, provides a robust model that is impacting the careers of future investigators.

  5. Feasibility study for a biomedical experimental facility based on LEIR at CERN

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abler, Daniel; Garonna, Adriano; Carli, Christian; Dosanjh, Manjit; Peach, Ken

    2013-01-01

    In light of the recent European developments in ion beam therapy, there is a strong interest from the biomedical research community to have more access to clinically relevant beams. Beamtime for pre-clinical studies is currently very limited and a new dedicated facility would allow extensive research into the radiobiological mechanisms of ion beam radiation and the development of more refined techniques of dosimetry and imaging. This basic research would support the current clinical efforts of the new treatment centres in Europe (for example HIT, CNAO and MedAustron). This paper presents first investigations on the feasibility of an experimental biomedical facility based on the CERN Low Energy Ion Ring LEIR accelerator. Such a new facility could provide beams of light ions (from protons to neon ions) in a collaborative and cost-effective way, since it would rely partly on CERN's competences and infrastructure. The main technical challenges linked to the implementation of a slow extraction scheme for LEIR and to the design of the experimental beamlines are described and first solutions presented. These include introducing new extraction septa into one of the straight sections of the synchrotron, changing the power supply configuration of the magnets, and designing a new horizontal beamline suitable for clinical beam energies, and a low-energy vertical beamline for particular radiobiological experiments. (author)

  6. Feasibility study for a biomedical experimental facility based on LEIR at CERN.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abler, Daniel; Garonna, Adriano; Carli, Christian; Dosanjh, Manjit; Peach, Ken

    2013-07-01

    In light of the recent European developments in ion beam therapy, there is a strong interest from the biomedical research community to have more access to clinically relevant beams. Beamtime for pre-clinical studies is currently very limited and a new dedicated facility would allow extensive research into the radiobiological mechanisms of ion beam radiation and the development of more refined techniques of dosimetry and imaging. This basic research would support the current clinical efforts of the new treatment centres in Europe (for example HIT, CNAO and MedAustron). This paper presents first investigations on the feasibility of an experimental biomedical facility based on the CERN Low Energy Ion Ring LEIR accelerator. Such a new facility could provide beams of light ions (from protons to neon ions) in a collaborative and cost-effective way, since it would rely partly on CERN's competences and infrastructure. The main technical challenges linked to the implementation of a slow extraction scheme for LEIR and to the design of the experimental beamlines are described and first solutions presented. These include introducing new extraction septa into one of the straight sections of the synchrotron, changing the power supply configuration of the magnets, and designing a new horizontal beamline suitable for clinical beam energies, and a low-energy vertical beamline for particular radiobiological experiments.

  7. Basics of biomedical ultrasound for engineers

    CERN Document Server

    Azhari, Haim

    2010-01-01

    "Basics of Biomedical Ultrasound for Engineers is a structured textbook for university engineering courses in biomedical ultrasound and for researchers in the field. This book offers a tool for building a solid understanding of biomedical ultrasound, and leads the novice through the field in a step-by-step manner. The book begins with the most basic definitions of waves, proceeds to ultrasounds in fluids, and then delves into solid ultrasounds, the most complicated kind of ultrasound. It encompasses a wide range of topics within biomedical ultrasound, from conceptual definitions of waves to the intricacies of focusing devices, transducers, and acoustic fields"--Provided by publisher.

  8. Pacific Northwest Laboratory annual report for 1994 to the DOE Office of Energy Research Part 1: Biomedical sciences

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, J.F.

    1995-04-01

    Research in the biomedical sciences at PNL is described. Activities reported include: inhaled plutonium in dogs; national radiobiology archives; statistical analysis of data from animal studies; genotoxicity of inhaled energy effluents; molecular events during tumor initiation; biochemistry of free radical induced DNA damage; radon hazards in homes; mechanisms of radon injury; genetics of radon induced lung cancer; and in vivo/in vitro radon induced cellular damage.

  9. Exploring subdomain variation in biomedical language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Séaghdha Diarmuid Ó

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Applications of Natural Language Processing (NLP technology to biomedical texts have generated significant interest in recent years. In this paper we identify and investigate the phenomenon of linguistic subdomain variation within the biomedical domain, i.e., the extent to which different subject areas of biomedicine are characterised by different linguistic behaviour. While variation at a coarser domain level such as between newswire and biomedical text is well-studied and known to affect the portability of NLP systems, we are the first to conduct an extensive investigation into more fine-grained levels of variation. Results Using the large OpenPMC text corpus, which spans the many subdomains of biomedicine, we investigate variation across a number of lexical, syntactic, semantic and discourse-related dimensions. These dimensions are chosen for their relevance to the performance of NLP systems. We use clustering techniques to analyse commonalities and distinctions among the subdomains. Conclusions We find that while patterns of inter-subdomain variation differ somewhat from one feature set to another, robust clusters can be identified that correspond to intuitive distinctions such as that between clinical and laboratory subjects. In particular, subdomains relating to genetics and molecular biology, which are the most common sources of material for training and evaluating biomedical NLP tools, are not representative of all biomedical subdomains. We conclude that an awareness of subdomain variation is important when considering the practical use of language processing applications by biomedical researchers.

  10. The Vulnerabilities of Orphaned Children Participating in Research: A Critical Review and Factors for Consideration for Participation in Biomedical and Behavioral Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Rachel T.; Meslin, Eric M.; Braitstein, Paula K. A.; Nyandiko, Winstone M.; Ayaya, Samuel O.; Vreeman, Rachel C.

    2013-01-01

    Orphans are a subpopulation with a unique set of additional vulnerabilities. Increasing focus on children’s rights, pediatric global health, and pediatric research makes it imperative to recognize and address unique vulnerabilities of orphaned children. This paper describes the unique vulnerabilities of the orphaned pediatric population and offers a structured set of factors that require consideration when including orphans in biomedical research. Pediatric orphans are particularly vulnerable due to decreased economic resources, psychosocial instability, increased risk of abuse, and delayed/decreased access to healthcare. These vulnerabilities are significant. By carefully considering each issue in a population in a culturally specific and study-specific manner, researchers can make valuable contributions to the overall health and well-being of this uniquely vulnerable population. PMID:23086048

  11. Rules and management of biomedical waste at Vivekananda Polyclinic: A case study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gupta, Saurabh; Boojh, Ram; Mishra, Ajai; Chandra, Hem

    2009-01-01

    Hospitals and other healthcare establishments have a 'duty of care' for the environment and for public health, and have particular responsibilities in relation to the waste they produce (i.e., biomedical waste). Negligence, in terms of biomedical waste management, significantly contributes to polluting the environment, affects the health of human beings, and depletes natural and financial resources. In India, in view of the serious situation of biomedical waste management, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, within the Government of India, ratified the Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, in July 1998. The present paper provides a brief description of the biomedical waste (Management and Handling) Rules 1998, and the current biomedical waste management practices in one of the premier healthcare establishments of Lucknow, the Vivekananda Polyclinic. The objective in undertaking this study was to analyse the biomedical waste management system, including policy, practice (i.e., storage, collection, transportation and disposal), and compliance with the standards prescribed under the regulatory framework. The analysis consisted of interviews with medical authorities, doctors, and paramedical staff involved in the management of the biomedical wastes in the Polyclinic. Other important stakeholders that were consulted and interviewed included environmental engineers (looking after the Biomedical Waste Cell) of the State Pollution Control Board, and randomly selected patients and visitors to the Polyclinic. A general survey of the facilities of the Polyclinic was undertaken to ascertain the efficacy of the implemented measures. The waste was quantified based on random samples collected from each ward. It was found that, although the Polyclinic in general abides by the prescribed regulations for the treatment and disposal of biomedical waste, there is a need to further build the capacity of the Polyclinic and its staff in terms of providing state

  12. Opinions and potential solutions regarding dissemination bias from funding agencies of biomedical research in Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pardo-Hernandez, Hector; Urrútia, Gerard; Meerpohl, Joerg J; Marušić, Ana; Wager, Elizabeth; Bonfill, Xavier

    2018-02-01

    Several studies have found that about half of research results from clinical trials are never published. Until now, there has been little information on the views that funding agencies of biomedical research in Europe have regarding this issue and its possible solutions. An electronic survey was conducted among funding agencies from 34 European countries. Participants were asked about their opinions, policies, and potential solutions regarding dissemination bias. On the basis of the results of this survey and the input of the OPEN Consortium and of representatives of stakeholder groups in the knowledge generation process, we formulated recommendations for funding agencies to reduce dissemination bias. We received responses from 64 funding agencies of biomedical medicine from most European countries, out of 245 that were contacted (26%). Of these, 56 funded research at the national and/or international level and were therefore eligible to participate. Policies encouraging publication increased over time: 33 (58.9%) of agencies enforced them in 2005 compared to 38 (67.6%) in 2012. However, only 13 (23.2%) had knowledge of the publications related to research funded in 2005, 23 (41.1%) were able to provide only an estimate, and 20 (35.7%) did not know at all. Regarding recommendations to control dissemination bias, we propose that funding agencies request the dissemination of research results irrespective of the direction of findings. We also call for measures that allow evaluating funded projects past the contractual period and until dissemination of results. Funding agencies should create publicly accessible databases with information on funded projects and dissemination efforts. Despite having policies to encourage publication of results, most funding agencies fail to implement such measures or to ensure compliance. We propose recommendations that could be incorporated in the blueprint of calls for proposals and contracts agreed upon by funding agencies and grant

  13. From the NIH: A Systems Approach to Increasing the Diversity of the Biomedical Research Workforce

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valantine, Hannah A.; Lund, P. Kay; Gammie, Alison E.

    2016-01-01

    The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is committed to attracting, developing, and supporting the best scientists from all groups as an integral part of excellence in training. Biomedical research workforce diversity, capitalizing on the full spectrum of skills, talents, and viewpoints, is essential for solving complex human health challenges.…

  14. Citizen Science and Biomedical Research: Implications for Bioethics Theory and Practice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chris W Callaghan

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Certain trends in scientific research have important relevance to bioethics theory and practice. A growing stream of literature relates to increasing transparency and inclusivity of populations (stakeholders in scientific research, from high volume data collection, synthesis, and analysis to verification and ethical scrutiny. The emergence of this stream of literature has implications for bioethics theory and practice. This paper seeks to make explicit these streams of literature and to relate these to bioethical issues, through consideration of certain extreme examples of scientific research where bioethical engagement is vital. Implications for theory and practice are derived, offering useful insights derived from multidisciplinary theory. Arguably, rapidly developing fields of citizen science such as informing science and others seeking to maximise stakeholder involvement in both research and bioethical engagement have emerged as a response to these types of issues; radically enhanced stakeholder engagement in science may herald a new maximally inclusive and transparent paradigm in bioethics based on lessons gained from exposure to increasingly uncertain ethical contexts of biomedical research.

  15. Review of spectral imaging technology in biomedical engineering: achievements and challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Qingli; He, Xiaofu; Wang, Yiting; Liu, Hongying; Xu, Dongrong; Guo, Fangmin

    2013-10-01

    Spectral imaging is a technology that integrates conventional imaging and spectroscopy to get both spatial and spectral information from an object. Although this technology was originally developed for remote sensing, it has been extended to the biomedical engineering field as a powerful analytical tool for biological and biomedical research. This review introduces the basics of spectral imaging, imaging methods, current equipment, and recent advances in biomedical applications. The performance and analytical capabilities of spectral imaging systems for biological and biomedical imaging are discussed. In particular, the current achievements and limitations of this technology in biomedical engineering are presented. The benefits and development trends of biomedical spectral imaging are highlighted to provide the reader with an insight into the current technological advances and its potential for biomedical research.

  16. Workshop summary. Biomedical and Space-Related Research with Heavy Ions at the BEVALAC

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schimmerling, W.; Curtis, S. B.

    1989-01-01

    The authors provide an overview of papers presented at a workshop on Biomedical and Space-Related Research with Heavy Ions at the BEVALAC at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Goals of the meeting were to determine the critical experiments using heavy ions as probes in radiation physics, radiation chemistry, macromolecular and cellular biology, evolution science, basic neurophysiology, and medical therapies; how beam lines and facilities at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory can be improved for these experiments; and implications in priorities and funding for national policy. Workshop topics included physics and facilities, cellular and molecular biology, tissue radiobiology, and the future of heavy ion research.

  17. Biomedical Optical Imaging Technologies Design and Applications

    CERN Document Server

    2013-01-01

    This book provides an introduction to design of biomedical optical imaging technologies and their applications. The main topics include: fluorescence imaging, confocal imaging, micro-endoscope, polarization imaging, hyperspectral imaging, OCT imaging, multimodal imaging and spectroscopic systems. Each chapter is written by the world leaders of the respective fields, and will cover: principles and limitations of optical imaging technology, system design and practical implementation for one or two specific applications, including design guidelines, system configuration, optical design, component requirements and selection, system optimization and design examples, recent advances and applications in biomedical researches and clinical imaging. This book serves as a reference for students and researchers in optics and biomedical engineering.

  18. Biomedical neutron research at the Californium User Facility for Neutron Science

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, R.C.; Byrne, T.E.; Miller, L.F.

    1998-01-01

    The Californium User Facility for Neutron Science has been established at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The Californium User Facility (CUF) is a part of the larger Californium Facility, which fabricates and stores compact 252 Cf neutron sources for worldwide distribution. The CUF can provide a cost-effective option for research with 252 Cf sources. Three projects at the CUF that demonstrate the versatility of 252 Cf for biological and biomedical neutron-based research are described: future establishment of a 252 Cf-based neutron activation analysis system, ongoing work to produce miniature high-intensity, remotely afterloaded 252 Cf sources for tumor therapy, and a recent experiment that irradiated living human lung cancer cells impregnated with experimental boron compounds to test their effectiveness for boron neutron capture therapy. (author)

  19. Social networks, web-based tools and diseases: implications for biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa, Fabricio F

    2013-03-01

    Advances in information technology have improved our ability to gather, collect and analyze information from individuals online. Social networks can be seen as a nonlinear superposition of a multitude of complex connections between people where the nodes represent individuals and the links between them capture a variety of different social interactions. The emergence of different types of social networks has fostered connections between individuals, thus facilitating data exchange in a variety of fields. Therefore, the question posed now is "can these same tools be applied to life sciences in order to improve scientific and medical research?" In this article, I will review how social networks and other web-based tools are changing the way we approach and track diseases in biomedical research. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Biomedical Research, A Tool to Address the Health Issues that Affect African Populations.

    OpenAIRE

    Peprah, Emmanuel; Wonkam, Ambroise

    2013-01-01

    Traditionally, biomedical research endeavors in low to middle resources countries have focused on communicable diseases. However, data collected over the past 20 years by the World Health Organization (WHO) show a significant increase in the number of people suffering from non-communicable diseases (e.g. heart disease, diabetes, cancer and pulmonary diseases). Within the coming years, WHO predicts significant decreases in communicable diseases while non-communicable diseases are expected to d...

  1. Camera systems in human motion analysis for biomedical applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chin, Lim Chee; Basah, Shafriza Nisha; Yaacob, Sazali; Juan, Yeap Ewe; Kadir, Aida Khairunnisaa Ab.

    2015-05-01

    Human Motion Analysis (HMA) system has been one of the major interests among researchers in the field of computer vision, artificial intelligence and biomedical engineering and sciences. This is due to its wide and promising biomedical applications, namely, bio-instrumentation for human computer interfacing and surveillance system for monitoring human behaviour as well as analysis of biomedical signal and image processing for diagnosis and rehabilitation applications. This paper provides an extensive review of the camera system of HMA, its taxonomy, including camera types, camera calibration and camera configuration. The review focused on evaluating the camera system consideration of the HMA system specifically for biomedical applications. This review is important as it provides guidelines and recommendation for researchers and practitioners in selecting a camera system of the HMA system for biomedical applications.

  2. From global bioethics to ethical governance of biomedical research collaborations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wahlberg, Ayo; Rehmann-Sutter, Christoph; Sleeboom-Faulkner, Margaret; Lu, Guangxiu; Döring, Ole; Cong, Yali; Laska-Formejster, Alicja; He, Jing; Chen, Haidan; Gottweis, Herbert; Rose, Nikolas

    2013-12-01

    One of the features of advanced life sciences research in recent years has been its internationalisation, with countries such as China and South Korea considered 'emerging biotech' locations. As a result, cross-continental collaborations are becoming common generating moves towards ethical and legal standardisation under the rubric of 'global bioethics'. Such a 'global', 'Western' or 'universal' bioethics has in turn been critiqued as an imposition upon resource-poor, non-Western or local medical settings. In this article, we propose that a different tack is necessary if we are to come to grips with the ethical challenges that inter-continental biomedical research collaborations generate. In particular we ask how national systems of ethical governance of life science research might cope with increasingly global research collaborations with a focus on Sino-European collaboration. We propose four 'spheres' - deliberation, regulation, oversight and interaction - as a helpful way to conceptualise national systems of ethical governance. Using a workshop-based mapping methodology (workshops held in Beijing, Shanghai, Changsha, Xian, Shenzen and London) we identified three specific ethical challenges arising from cross-continental research collaborations: (1) ambiguity as to which regulations are applicable; (2) lack of ethical review capacity not only among ethical review board members but also collaborating scientists; (3) already complex, researcher-research subject interaction is further complicated when many nationalities are involved. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Do Public Involvement Activities in Biomedical Research and Innovation Recruit Representatively? A Systematic Qualitative Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lander, Jonas; Hainz, Tobias; Hirschberg, Irene; Bossert, Sabine; Strech, Daniel

    2016-01-01

    Public involvement activities (PIAs) may contribute to the governance of ethically challenging biomedical research and innovation by informing, consulting with and engaging the public in developments and decision-making processes. For PIAs to capture a population's preferences (e.g. on issues in whole genome sequencing, biobanks or genome editing), a central methodological requirement is to involve a sufficiently representative subgroup of the general public. While the existing literature focusses on theoretical and normative aspects of 'representation', this study assesses empirically how such considerations are implemented in practice. It evaluates how PIA reports describe representation objectives, the recruitment process and levels of representation achieved. PIA reports were included from a systematic literature search if they directly reported a PIA conducted in a relevant discipline such as genomics, biobanks, biotechnology or others. PIA reports were analyzed with thematic text analysis. The text analysis was guided by an assessment matrix based on PIA-specific guidelines and frameworks. We included 46 relevant reports, most focusing on issues in genomics. 27 reports (59%) explicitly described representation objectives, though mostly without adjusting eligibility criteria and recruiting methods to the specific objective. 11 reports (24%) explicitly reported to have achieved the intended representation; the rest either reported failure or were silent on this issue. Representation of study samples in PIAs in biomedical research and innovation is currently not reported systematically. Improved reporting on representation would not only improve the validity and value of PIAs, but could also contribute to PIA results being used more often in relevant policy and decision-making processes. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  4. The Role of Scientific Communication Skills in Trainees' Intention to Pursue Biomedical Research Careers: A Social Cognitive Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cameron, Carrie; Lee, Hwa Young; Anderson, Cheryl; Byars-Winston, Angela; Baldwin, Constance D; Chang, Shine

    2015-01-01

    Scientific communication (SciComm) skills are indispensable for success in biomedical research, but many trainees may not have fully considered the necessity of regular writing and speaking for research career progression. Our purpose was to investigate the relationship between SciComm skill acquisition and research trainees' intentions to remain in research careers. We used social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to test a model of the relationship of SciComm skills to SciComm-related cognitive variables in explaining career intentions. A sample of 510 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at major academic health science centers in the Texas Medical Center, Houston, Texas, were surveyed online. Results suggested that interest in performing SciComm tasks, SciComm outcome expectations (SCOEs), and SciComm productivity predicted intention to remain in a research career, while SciComm self-efficacy did not directly predict career intention. SCOEs also predicted interest in performing SciComm tasks. As in other SCCT studies, SciComm self-efficacy predicted SCOEs. We conclude that social cognitive factors of SciComm skill acquisition and SciComm productivity significantly predict biomedical trainees' intentions to pursue research careers whether within or outside academia. While further studies are needed, these findings may lead to evidence-based interventions to help trainees remain in their chosen career paths. © 2015 C. Cameron et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2015 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

  5. A commentary on domestic animals as dual-purpose models that benefit agricultural and biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ireland, J J; Roberts, R M; Palmer, G H; Bauman, D E; Bazer, F W

    2008-10-01

    Research on domestic animals (cattle, swine, sheep, goats, poultry, horses, and aquatic species) at land grant institutions is integral to improving the global competitiveness of US animal agriculture and to resolving complex animal and human diseases. However, dwindling federal and state budgets, years of stagnant funding from USDA for the Competitive State Research, Education, and Extension Service National Research Initiative (CSREES-NRI) Competitive Grants Program, significant reductions in farm animal species and in numbers at land grant institutions, and declining enrollment for graduate studies in animal science are diminishing the resources necessary to conduct research on domestic species. Consequently, recruitment of scientists who use such models to conduct research relevant to animal agriculture and biomedicine at land grant institutions is in jeopardy. Concerned stakeholders have addressed this critical problem by conducting workshops, holding a series of meetings with USDA and National Institutes of Health (NIH) officials, and developing a white paper to propose solutions to obstacles impeding the use of domestic species as dual-purpose animal models for high-priority problems common to agriculture and biomedicine. In addition to shortfalls in research support and human resources, overwhelming use of mouse models in biomedicine, lack of advocacy from university administrators, long-standing cultural barriers between agriculture and human medicine, inadequate grantsmanship by animal scientists, and a scarcity of key reagents and resources are major roadblocks to progress. Solutions will require a large financial enhancement of USDA's Competitive Grants Program, educational programs geared toward explaining how research using agricultural animals benefits both animal agriculture and human health, and the development of a new mind-set in land grant institutions that fosters greater cooperation among basic and applied researchers. Recruitment of

  6. Motivational factors for participation in biomedical research: evidence from a qualitative study of biomedical research participation in Blantyre District, Malawi.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mfutso-Bengo, Joseph; Manda-Taylor, Lucinda; Masiye, Francis

    2015-02-01

    Obtaining effective informed consent from research participants is a prerequisite to the conduct of an ethically sound research. Yet it is believed that obtaining quality informed consent is generally difficult in settings with low socioeconomic status. This is so because of the alleged undue inducements and therapeutic misconception among participants. However, there is a dearth of data on factors that motivate research participants to take part in research. Hence, this study was aimed at filling this gap in the Malawian context. We conducted 18 focus group discussions with community members in urban and rural communities of Blantyre in Malawi. Most participants reported that they accepted the invitation to participate in research because of better quality treatment during study also known as ancillary care, monetary and material incentives given to participants, and thorough medical diagnosis. © The Author(s) 2014.

  7. Biomedical HIV Prevention Research and Development in Africa

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    AJRH Managing Editor

    This special edition of the African Journal of. Reproductive Health includes 14 publications from the presentations at the meeting. These cover a comprehensive range of issues including discussions on promising biomedical and behavioural HIV prevention interventions in clinical trials and effective ways to translate new.

  8. Enhancing biomedical design with design thinking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kemnitzer, Ronald; Dorsa, Ed

    2009-01-01

    The development of biomedical equipment is justifiably focused on making products that "work." However, this approach leaves many of the people affected by these designs (operators, patients, etc.) with little or no representation when it comes to the design of these products. Industrial design is a "user focused" profession which takes into account the needs of diverse groups when making design decisions. The authors propose that biomedical equipment design can be enhanced, made more user and patient "friendly" by adopting the industrial design approach to researching, analyzing, and ultimately designing biomedical products.

  9. A Perspective on Promoting Diversity in the Biomedical Research Workforce: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s PRIDE Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyington, Josephine E.A.; Maihle, Nita J.; Rice, Treva K.; Gonzalez, Juan E.; Hess, Caryl A.; Makala, Levi H.; Jeffe, Donna B.; Ogedegbe, Gbenga; Rao, Dabeeru C.; Dávila-Román, Victor G.; Pace, Betty S.; Jean-Louis, Girardin; Boutjdir, Mohamed

    2016-01-01

    Aspiring junior investigators from groups underrepresented in the biomedical sciences face various challenges as they pursue research independence. However, the biomedical research enterprise needs their participation to effectively address critical research issues such as health disparities and health inequities. In this article, we share a research education and mentoring initiative that seeks to address this challenge: Programs to Increase Diversity among Individuals Engaged in Health Related Research (PRIDE), funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). This longitudinal research-education and mentoring program occurs through summer institute programs located at US-based academic institutions. Recruited participants are exposed to didactic and lab-based research-skill enhancement experiences, with year-round mentoring over the course of two years. Mentor-mentee matching is based on shared research interests to promote congruence and to enhance skill acquisition. Program descriptions and sample narratives of participants’ perceptions of PRIDE’s impact on their career progress are showcased. Additionally, we highlight the overall program design and structure of four of seven funded summer institutes that focus on cardiovascular disease, related conditions, and health disparities. Mentees’ testimonials about the value of the PRIDE mentoring approach in facilitating career development are also noted. Meeting the clinical and research needs of an increasingly diverse US population is an issue of national concern. The PRIDE initiative, which focuses on increasing research preparedness and professional development of groups underrepresented in the biomedical research workforce, with an emphasis on mentoring as the critical approach, provides a robust model that is impacting the careers of future investigators. PMID:27440978

  10. Electrical circuits in biomedical engineering problems with solutions

    CERN Document Server

    Keskin, Ali Ümit

    2017-01-01

    This authored monograph presents a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of electrical circuit theory in biomedical engineering, ideally suited as textbook for a course program. The book contains methods and theory, but the topical focus is placed on practical applications of circuit theory, including problems, solutions and case studies. The target audience primarily comprises researchers and experts in electrical engineering who intend to embark on biomedical applications. The book is also very well suited for graduate students in the field. .

  11. eagle-i: An Ontology-Driven Framework For Biomedical Resource Curation And Discovery

    OpenAIRE

    Erik Segerdell; Melanie L. Wilson; Ted Bashor; Daniela Bourges-Waldegg; Karen Corday; H. Robert Frost; Tenille Johnson; Christopher J. Shaffer; Larry Stone; Carlo Torniai; Melissa A. Haendel

    2010-01-01

    The eagle-i Consortium ("http://www.eagle-i.org/home":www.eagle-i.org/home) comprises nine geographically and ethnically diverse universities across America working to build a federated network of research resources. Biomedical research generates many resources that are rarely shared or published, including: reagents, protocols, instruments, expertise, organisms, training opportunities, software, human studies, and biological specimens. The goal of eagle-i is to improve biomedical r...

  12. Implementing 'translational' biomedical research: convergence and divergence among clinical and basic scientists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, Myfanwy; Barry, Christine A; Donovan, Jenny L; Sandall, Jane; Wolfe, Charles D A; Boaz, Annette

    2011-10-01

    Universities are increasingly regarded as key actors in the new 'knowledge economy', with requirements to produce market-oriented knowledge and engage in commercialization. This is of particular significance in the biomedical field, reflecting the perceived gap between success in terms of scientific discoveries and its transformation into products. The dominant discourse attributes this situation to 'blocks' in the translational pathway from 'bench to bedside', leading to policies to 'reengineer' the research enterprise. This study examines a pilot initiative established by the UK's Medical Research Council (MRC). This involved employing a change agent (Research Translator) supported by a small amount of translational funding to promote the culture and practice of translational research at a university/hospital site in England. An ethnographically informed case study involving semi-structured and open exploratory interviews, observation and document review, was conducted in 2008. Analysis and interpretation were informed by Bourdieu's logic of practice applied to science. The requirements of translational research promoted by the Research Translator and its sources of capital (authority, prestige etc) were largely congruent with the 'field' of clinical science. In contrast, translational research diverged from perceptions of 'legitimate' science and requirements for capital accumulation held by the majority of basic scientists who often described this research as 'high risk' and were resistant to the Research Translator's advice. However some differences in motivations and practices were identified within groups of scientists associated with career stage, work environment and specialty. We argue that there are convergent and divergent forces that influence scientists' readiness to adopt a market-oriented translational research model and in turn facilitate or constrain the effectiveness of a knowledge broker. We also identify ways in which current structures and

  13. Revisit of Machine Learning Supported Biological and Biomedical Studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Xiang-Tian; Wang, Lu; Zeng, Tao

    2018-01-01

    Generally, machine learning includes many in silico methods to transform the principles underlying natural phenomenon to human understanding information, which aim to save human labor, to assist human judge, and to create human knowledge. It should have wide application potential in biological and biomedical studies, especially in the era of big biological data. To look through the application of machine learning along with biological development, this review provides wide cases to introduce the selection of machine learning methods in different practice scenarios involved in the whole biological and biomedical study cycle and further discusses the machine learning strategies for analyzing omics data in some cutting-edge biological studies. Finally, the notes on new challenges for machine learning due to small-sample high-dimension are summarized from the key points of sample unbalance, white box, and causality.

  14. Research in intelligent biomedical clothing vs. realities in the European textile business.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walter, Lutz

    2004-01-01

    In order to make intelligent biomedical clothing a market reality, a critical mass of scientific, technical and industrial capacities from various disciplines and industries must be successfully brought together. The textiles and clothing sector, i.e. the industry that transform natural or man-made fibres into yarns then with a myriad of processing options into complex tissues and finally into clothing, is undoubtedly a crucial element in such development. With Europe disposing of the world's most diverse, productive and innovative textiles and clothing industry, in addition to relevant expertise and resources in other scientific disciplines and industrial sectors, it could play a leading role in the advancement of the concept of intelligent biomedical clothing. In this process, a great number of challenges--firstly scientific and technical in nature--still need to be overcome and support from public funding programmes could constitute the necessary trigger for research and industrial efforts to be seriously undertaken. In view of the great benefits of such new products for the individual consumer, national health care systems and the society as a whole, a concerted effort in private-public partnership seems merited.

  15. Pacific Northwest Laboratory annual report for 1988 to the DOE Office of Energy Research: Part 1, Biomedical Sciences

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, J.F.

    1989-06-01

    This report summarizes progress on OHER biomedical and health-effects research conducted at PNL in FY 1988. The research develops the knowledge and scientific principles necessary to identify, understand, and anticipate the long-term health consequences of energy-related radiation and chemicals. Our continuing emphasis is to decrease the uncertainty of health-effects risk estimates from existing and/or developing energy-related technologies through an increased understanding of how radiation and chemicals cause health effects. The report is arranged to reflect PNL research relative to OHER programmatic structure. The first section, on human health effects, concerns statistical and epidemiological studies for assessing health risks. The next section, which contains reports of health-effects research in biological systems, includes research with radiation and chemicals.

  16. Los Alamos Life Sciences Division's biomedical and environmental research programs. Progress report, January-December 1981. [Leading abstract

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Holland, L.M.; Stafford, C.G. (comps.)

    1982-10-01

    This report summarizes research and development activities of the Los Alamos Life Sciences Division's Biomedical and Environmental Research program for the calendar year 1981. Individual reports describing the current status of projects have been entered individually into the data base.

  17. Perceptions of community-based field workers on the effect of a longitudinal biomedical research project on their sustainable livelihoods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christabelle S. Moyo

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Researchers involved in biomedical community-based projects rarely seek the perspectives of community fieldworkers, who are the ‘foot soldiers’ in such projects. Understanding the effect of biomedical research on community-based field workers could identify benefits and shortfalls that may be crucial to the success of community-based studies. The present study explored the perceptions of community-based field workers on the effect of the Etiology, Risk Factors and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development Project" (MAL-ED South Africa on their tangible and intangible capital which together comprise sustainable livelihoods. Methods The study was conducted in Dzimauli community in Limpopo Province of South Africa between January-February 2016. The sustainable livelihoods framework was used to query community-based field workers’ perspectives of both tangible assets such as income and physical assets and intangible assets such as social capital, confidence, and skills. Data were collected through twenty one individual in-depth interviews and one focus group discussion. Data were analysed using the Thematic Content Analysis approach supported by ATLAS.ti, version 7.5.10 software. Results All the field workers indicated that they benefitted from the MAL-ED South Africa project. The benefits included intangible assets such as acquisition of knowledge and skills, stronger social capital and personal development. Additionally, all indicated that MAL-ED South Africa provided them with the tangible assets of increased income and physical assets. Observations obtained from the focus group discussion and the community-based leaders concurred with the findings from the in-depth interviews. Additionally, some field workers expressed the desire for training in public relations, communication, problem solving and confidence building. Conclusions The MAL-ED South Africa

  18. Biomedical research in france and brazil: an analysis of significant differences and ethical issues

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hervé Moizan

    2016-06-01

    creator of knowledge but is also a pioneer, what imposes an ethical responsibility. For the last 20 years, the way how biomedical research is led has changed with the definition of “good clinical practice”. The globalization of the biomedical research is explained by the fact that we have made many improvements so far but we always need more and more patients to prove the superiority of a treatment to another. Many patents about “blockbusters treatments” expire soon, so the pharmaceutical industry speeds up to discover new ones to replace them, which explains the multiplication of clinical trials. The pharmaceutical industry and the emerging markets share common interests, which lead them to work together, increasing the phenomenon of globalization. The good clinical practice refers to standards shared by Europe, North America, Japan and Australia, about international ethical and scientific quality defining the conception, the conduct, the registration and the presentation of data during trials involving human beings. Emerging markets are not obliged to follow these standards, what implies that part of the modalities can be dissimulated. The International Conference on Harmonisation(3 has elaborated recommendations related to the research and the development of new medications which clearly aim to limit human, animal and material resources to decrease the time for the trials. The Brazilian health law respects these international standards and is the most advanced in Latin America along with the Argentinian and Mexican systems. In addition, many Brazilian doctors have studied overseas and respect these rules. However, if consensuses on theoretical notions about bioethics exist, there are still differences on the way research policies are applied. If respecting all international standards about ethics (Declaration of Helsinki 1964, Belmont Report 1978, International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects and the Resolution of the

  19. Selected Topics in MicroNano-robotics for Biomedical Applications

    CERN Document Server

    2013-01-01

    Selected Topics in Micro/Nano-robotics for Biomedical Applications features a system approach and incorporates modern methodologies in autonomous mobile robots for programmable and controllable micro/nano-robots aiming at biomedical applications. The book provides chapters of instructional materials and cutting-edge research results in micro/nanorobotics for biomedical applications. The book presents new sensing technology on nanofibers, new power supply techniques including miniature fuel cells and energy harvesting devices, and manipulation techniques including AFM-based nano-robotic manipulation, robot-aided optical tweezers, and robot-assisted catheter surgery systems. It also contains case studies on using micro/nano-robots in biomedical environments and in biomedicine, as well as a design example to conceptually develop a Vitamin-pill sized robot to enter human’s gastrointestinal tract. Each chapter covers a different topic of the highly interdisciplinary area. Bring together the selected topics into ...

  20. John Glenn Biomedical Engineering Consortium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nall, Marsha

    2004-01-01

    The John Glenn Biomedical Engineering Consortium is an inter-institutional research and technology development, beginning with ten projects in FY02 that are aimed at applying GRC expertise in fluid physics and sensor development with local biomedical expertise to mitigate the risks of space flight on the health, safety, and performance of astronauts. It is anticipated that several new technologies will be developed that are applicable to both medical needs in space and on earth.

  1. Applications of computational intelligence in biomedical technology

    CERN Document Server

    Majernik, Jaroslav; Pancerz, Krzysztof; Zaitseva, Elena

    2016-01-01

    This book presents latest results and selected applications of Computational Intelligence in Biomedical Technologies. Most of contributions deal with problems of Biomedical and Medical Informatics, ranging from theoretical considerations to practical applications. Various aspects of development methods and algorithms in Biomedical and Medical Informatics as well as Algorithms for medical image processing, modeling methods are discussed. Individual contributions also cover medical decision making support, estimation of risks of treatments, reliability of medical systems, problems of practical clinical applications and many other topics  This book is intended for scientists interested in problems of Biomedical Technologies, for researchers and academic staff, for all dealing with Biomedical and Medical Informatics, as well as PhD students. Useful information is offered also to IT companies, developers of equipment and/or software for medicine and medical professionals.  .

  2. The development of biomedical engineering as experienced by one biomedical engineer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newell, Jonathan C

    2012-12-12

    This personal essay described the development of the field of Biomedical Engineering from its early days, from the perspective of one who lived through that development. It describes the making of a major invention using data that had been rejected by other scientists, the re-discovery of an obscure fact of physiology and its use in developing a major medical instrument, the development of a new medical imaging modality, and the near-death rescue of a research project. The essay concludes with comments about the development and present status of impedance imaging, and recent changes in the evolution of biomedical engineering as a field.

  3. A Study of Hybrid Composite Hydroxyapatite (HA-Geopolymers as a Material for Biomedical Application

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saleha

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of this research is to study the physical properties and microstructure characters of hybrid composites HA-geopolymers as a material for biomedical application. Hybrid composite HA–geopolymers were produced through alkaline activation method of metakaolin as a matrix and HA as the filler. HA was synthesized from eggshell particles by using a precipitation method. The addition of HA in metakaolin paste was varied from 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0% relative the weight of metakaolin. FTIR was used to examine the absorption bands the composites. X-ray diffraction (XRD was used to study the crystal structure of the starting and the resulting materials. Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS was used to investigate the surface morphology of the composites. The thermal properties of the samples was examined by means of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC. Capacitance measurement was conducted to investigate the bioactive properties of HA. The study results suggest that hybrid composite HA-geopolymers has a potential to be applied as a biomedical such as biosensor material.

  4. How much longer will Africa have to depend on western nations for support of its capacity-building efforts for biomedical research?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laabes, Emmanuel Philip; Desai, Rizwana; Zawedde, Stella Muyanja; Glew, Robert Hayes

    2011-03-01

    Advances in biomedical research techniques have resulted in the conquest of many diseases and the improvement in the health and well-being of populations, yet sub-Saharan Africa continues to lag behind western nations in terms of research infrastructure and capacity. The increasing numbers of links and collaborations between western institutions of higher learning and teaching hospitals and universities in sub-Saharan Africa have undoubtedly promoted scholarly research activity on the continent. However, most of the research agenda is, understandably, dominated by western collaborators who provide the much needed funding. Given the recent exposure by events on Wall Street of the frailties of western economies, Africa urgently needs to look inwards in its quest to train biomedical researchers of repute and to secure funding for its capacity-building needs. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  5. An Examination of How Women and Underrepresented Racial/Ethnic Minorities Experience Barriers in Biomedical Research and Medical Programs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakraverty, Devasmita

    2013-01-01

    Women in medicine and biomedical research often face challenges to their retention, promotion, and advancement to leadership positions (McPhillips et al., 2007); they take longer to advance their careers, tend to serve at less research-intensive institutions and have shorter tenures compared to their male colleagues (White, McDade, Yamagata, &…

  6. Requirements for data integration platforms in biomedical research networks: a reference model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganzinger, Matthias; Knaup, Petra

    2015-01-01

    Biomedical research networks need to integrate research data among their members and with external partners. To support such data sharing activities, an adequate information technology infrastructure is necessary. To facilitate the establishment of such an infrastructure, we developed a reference model for the requirements. The reference model consists of five reference goals and 15 reference requirements. Using the Unified Modeling Language, the goals and requirements are set into relation to each other. In addition, all goals and requirements are described textually in tables. This reference model can be used by research networks as a basis for a resource efficient acquisition of their project specific requirements. Furthermore, a concrete instance of the reference model is described for a research network on liver cancer. The reference model is transferred into a requirements model of the specific network. Based on this concrete requirements model, a service-oriented information technology architecture is derived and also described in this paper.

  7. Under-reporting of Adverse Events in the Biomedical Literature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronald N. Kostoff

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: To address the under-reporting of research results, with emphasis on the underreporting/distorted reporting of adverse events in the biomedical research literature. Design/methodology/approach: A four-step approach is used:(1 To identify the characteristics of literature that make it adequate to support policy; (2 to show how each of these characteristics becomes degraded to make inadequate literature; (3 to identify incentives to prevent inadequate literature; and (4 to show policy implications of inadequate literature. Findings: This review has provided reasons for, and examples of, adverse health effects of myriad substances (1 being under-reported in the premiere biomedical literature, or (2 entering this literature in distorted form. Since there is no way to gauge the extent of this under/distorted-reporting, the quality and credibility of the ‘premiere’ biomedical literature is unknown. Therefore, any types of meta-analyses or scientometric analyses of this literature will have unknown quality and credibility. The most sophisticated scientometric analysis cannot compensate for a highly flawed database. Research limitations: The main limitation is in identifying examples of under-reporting. There are many incentives for under-reporting and few dis-incentives. Practical implications: Almost all research publications, addressing causes of disease, treatments for disease, diagnoses for disease, scientometrics of disease and health issues, and other aspects of healthcare, build upon previous healthcare-related research published. Many researchers will not have laboratories or other capabilities to replicate or validate the published research, and depend almost completely on the integrity of this literature. If the literature is distorted, then future research can be misguided, and health policy recommendations can be ineffective or worse. Originality/value: This review has examined a much wider range of technical and nontechnical

  8. Current biomedical scientific impact (2013) of institutions, academic journals and researchers in the Republic of Macedonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spiroski, Mirko

    2014-01-01

    To analyse current ranking (2013) of institutions, journals and researchers in the Republic of Macedonia. the country rankings of R. Macedonia were analyzed with SCImago Country & Journal Rank (SJR) for subject area Medicine in the years 1996-2013, and ordered by H-index. SCImago Institutions Rankings for 2013 was used for the scientific impact of biomedical institutions in the Republic of Macedonia. Journal metrics from Elsevier for the Macedonian scholarly journals for the period 2009-2013 were performed. Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP), the Impact per Publication (IPP), and SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) were analysed. Macedonian scholarly biomedical journals included in Google Scholar metrics (2013, 2012) were analysed with h5-index and h5-median (June 2014). A semantic analysis of the PubMed database was performed with GoPubMed on November 2, 2014 in order to identify published papers from the field of biomedical sciences affiliated with the country of Macedonia. Harzing's Publish or Perish software was used for author impact analysis and the calculation of the Hirsh-index based on Google Scholar query. The rank of subject area Medicine of R. Macedonia according to the SCImago Journal & Country Rank (SJR) is 110th in the world and 17th in Eastern Europe. Of 20 universities in Macedonia, only Ss Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, and the University St Clement of Ohrid, Bitola, are listed in the SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) for 2013. A very small number of Macedonian scholarly journals is included in Web of Sciences (2), PubMed (1), PubMed Central (1), SCOPUS (6), SCImago (6), and Google Scholar metrics (6). The rank of Hirsh index (h-index) was different from the rank of number of abstracts indexed in PubMed for the top 20 authors from R. Macedonia. The current biomedical scientific impact (2013) of institutions, academic journals and researchers in R. Macedonia is very low. There is an urgent need for organized measures to improve the quality

  9. Machine learning, medical diagnosis, and biomedical engineering research - commentary.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foster, Kenneth R; Koprowski, Robert; Skufca, Joseph D

    2014-07-05

    A large number of papers are appearing in the biomedical engineering literature that describe the use of machine learning techniques to develop classifiers for detection or diagnosis of disease. However, the usefulness of this approach in developing clinically validated diagnostic techniques so far has been limited and the methods are prone to overfitting and other problems which may not be immediately apparent to the investigators. This commentary is intended to help sensitize investigators as well as readers and reviewers of papers to some potential pitfalls in the development of classifiers, and suggests steps that researchers can take to help avoid these problems. Building classifiers should be viewed not simply as an add-on statistical analysis, but as part and parcel of the experimental process. Validation of classifiers for diagnostic applications should be considered as part of a much larger process of establishing the clinical validity of the diagnostic technique.

  10. Simulation study of a high power density rectenna array for biomedical implantable devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Day, John; Yoon, Hargsoon; Kim, Jaehwan; Choi, Sang H.; Song, Kyo D.

    2016-04-01

    The integration of wireless power transmission devices using microwaves into the biomedical field is close to a practical reality. Implanted biomedical devices need a long lasting power source or continuous power supply. Recent development of high efficiency rectenna technology enables continuous power supply to these implanted devices. Due to the size limit of most of medical devices, it is imperative to minimize the rectenna as well. The research reported in this paper reviews the effects of close packing the rectenna elements which show the potential of directly empowering the implanted devices, especially within a confined area. The rectenna array is tested in the X band frequency range.

  11. Architecture for an advanced biomedical collaboration domain for the European paediatric cancer research community (ABCD-4-E).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nitzlnader, Michael; Falgenhauer, Markus; Gossy, Christian; Schreier, Günter

    2015-01-01

    Today, progress in biomedical research often depends on large, interdisciplinary research projects and tailored information and communication technology (ICT) support. In the context of the European Network for Cancer Research in Children and Adolescents (ENCCA) project the exchange of data between data source (Source Domain) and data consumer (Consumer Domain) systems in a distributed computing environment needs to be facilitated. This work presents the requirements and the corresponding solution architecture of the Advanced Biomedical Collaboration Domain for Europe (ABCD-4-E). The proposed concept utilises public as well as private cloud systems, the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) framework and web-based applications to provide the core capabilities in accordance with privacy and security needs. The utility of crucial parts of the concept was evaluated by prototypic implementation. A discussion of the design indicates that the requirements of ENCCA are fully met. A whole system demonstration is currently being prepared to verify that ABCD-4-E has the potential to evolve into a domain-bridging collaboration platform in the future.

  12. Conflicts of interests and access to information resulting from biomedical research: an international legal perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byk, Christian

    2002-07-01

    Recently adopted international texts have given a new focus on conflicts of interests and access to information resulting from biomedical research. They confirmed ethical review committees as a central point to guarantee individual rights and the effective application of ethical principles. Therefore specific attention should be paid in giving such committees all the facilities necessary to keep them independent and qualified.

  13. Biomedical Big Data Training Collaborative (BBDTC): An effort to bridge the talent gap in biomedical science and research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purawat, Shweta; Cowart, Charles; Amaro, Rommie E; Altintas, Ilkay

    2017-05-01

    The BBDTC (https://biobigdata.ucsd.edu) is a community-oriented platform to encourage high-quality knowledge dissemination with the aim of growing a well-informed biomedical big data community through collaborative efforts on training and education. The BBDTC is an e-learning platform that empowers the biomedical community to develop, launch and share open training materials. It deploys hands-on software training toolboxes through virtualization technologies such as Amazon EC2 and Virtualbox. The BBDTC facilitates migration of courses across other course management platforms. The framework encourages knowledge sharing and content personalization through the playlist functionality that enables unique learning experiences and accelerates information dissemination to a wider community.

  14. VII Latin American Congress on Biomedical Engineering

    CERN Document Server

    Bustamante, John; Sierra, Daniel

    2017-01-01

    This volume presents the proceedings of the CLAIB 2016, held in Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia, 26, 27 & 28 October 2016. The proceedings, presented by the Regional Council of Biomedical Engineering for Latin America (CORAL), offer research findings, experiences and activities between institutions and universities to develop Bioengineering, Biomedical Engineering and related sciences. The conferences of the American Congress of Biomedical Engineering are sponsored by the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE), Society for Engineering in Biology and Medicine (EMBS) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), among other organizations and international agencies to bring together scientists, academics and biomedical engineers in Latin America and other continents in an environment conducive to exchange and professional growth.

  15. Biomedical Engineering: A Compendium of Research Training Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Inst. of General Medical Sciences (NIH), Bethesda, MD.

    This document was prepared to provide a comprehensive view of the programs in biomedical engineering in existence in 1969. These programs are supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and are located at 18 universities. This compendium provides information as to the intent and content of these programs from data provided by…

  16. Biomedical Risk Factors of Achilles Tendinopathy in Physically Active People: a Systematic Review

    OpenAIRE

    Kozlovskaia, Maria; Vlahovich, Nicole; Ashton, Kevin J.; Hughes, David C.

    2017-01-01

    Background Achilles tendinopathy is the most prevalent tendon disorder in people engaged in running and jumping sports. Aetiology of Achilles tendinopathy is complex and requires comprehensive research of contributing risk factors. There is relatively little research focussing on potential biomedical risk factors for Achilles tendinopathy. The purpose of this systematic review is to identify studies and summarise current knowledge of biomedical risk factors of Achilles tendinopathy in physica...

  17. Low statistical power in biomedical science: a review of three human research domains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dumas-Mallet, Estelle; Button, Katherine S.; Boraud, Thomas; Gonon, Francois

    2017-01-01

    Studies with low statistical power increase the likelihood that a statistically significant finding represents a false positive result. We conducted a review of meta-analyses of studies investigating the association of biological, environmental or cognitive parameters with neurological, psychiatric and somatic diseases, excluding treatment studies, in order to estimate the average statistical power across these domains. Taking the effect size indicated by a meta-analysis as the best estimate of the likely true effect size, and assuming a threshold for declaring statistical significance of 5%, we found that approximately 50% of studies have statistical power in the 0–10% or 11–20% range, well below the minimum of 80% that is often considered conventional. Studies with low statistical power appear to be common in the biomedical sciences, at least in the specific subject areas captured by our search strategy. However, we also observe evidence that this depends in part on research methodology, with candidate gene studies showing very low average power and studies using cognitive/behavioural measures showing high average power. This warrants further investigation. PMID:28386409

  18. Session Introduction: Challenges of Pattern Recognition in Biomedical Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verma, Shefali Setia; Verma, Anurag; Basile, Anna Okula; Bishop, Marta-Byrska; Darabos, Christian

    2018-01-01

    The analysis of large biomedical data often presents with various challenges related to not just the size of the data, but also to data quality issues such as heterogeneity, multidimensionality, noisiness, and incompleteness of the data. The data-intensive nature of computational genomics problems in biomedical informatics warrants the development and use of massive computer infrastructure and advanced software tools and platforms, including but not limited to the use of cloud computing. Our session aims to address these challenges in handling big data for designing a study, performing analysis, and interpreting outcomes of these analyses. These challenges have been prevalent in many studies including those which focus on the identification of novel genetic variant-phenotype associations using data from sources like Electronic Health Records (EHRs) or multi-omic data. One of the biggest challenges to focus on is the imperfect nature of the biomedical data where a lot of noise and sparseness is observed. In our session, we will present research articles that can help in identifying innovative ways to recognize and overcome newly arising challenges associated with pattern recognition in biomedical data.

  19. Small animal MRI: clinical MRI as an interface to basic biomedical research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pinkernelle, J.G.; Stelter, L.; Hamm, B.; Teichgraeber, U.

    2008-01-01

    The demand for highly resolved small animal MRI for the purpose of biomedical research has increased constantly. Dedicated small animal MRI scanners working at ultra high field strengths from 4.7 to 7.0 T and even above are MRI at its best. However, using high resolution RF coils in clinical scanners up to 3.0 T, small animal MRI can achieve highly resolved images showing excellent tissue contrast. In fact, in abundant experimental studies, clinical MRI is used for small animal imaging. Mostly clinical RF coils in the single-loop design are applied. In addition, custom-built RF coils and even gradient inserts are used in a clinical scanner. For the reduction of moving artifacts, special MRI-compatible animal ECG und respiration devices are available. In conclusion, clinical devices offer broad availability, are less expense in combination with good imaging performance and provide a translational nature of imaging results. (orig.)

  20. Fluorescent nanodiamonds and their use in biomedical research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suarez-Kelly, Lorena P.; Rampersaud, Isaac V.; Moritz, Charles E.; Campbell, Amanda R.; Hu, Zhiwei; Alkahtani, Masfer H.; Alghannam, Fahad S.; Hemmer, Phillip; Carson, William E.; Rampersaud, Arfaan A.

    2016-03-01

    Nanodiamonds containing color-centers produce non-quenching fluorescence that is easily detected. This makes them useful for cellular, proteomic and genomic applications. However, fluorescent nanodiamonds have yet to become popular in the biomedical research community as labeling reagents. We discuss production of nanodiamonds with distinct color-centers and assess their biocompatibility and techniques for bioconjugation. Fluorescent diamonds were fabricated by electron irradiation of high-pressure, high-temperature micron-sized diamonds which generated diamonds with vacancy-related defects (V). These diamonds were annealed to create nitrogen vacancy (NV)-centers then following a milling step were fractionated into nanoparticle sizes of 30, 60, and 95 nm. Optical characterization of Vand NV-center diamonds demonstrated fluorescence in two distinct green and red channels, respectively. In vitro studies demonstrated that these nanodiamonds are biocompatible and readily taken up by murine macrophage cells. Quantification of NV-center nanodiamond uptake by flow cytometry, showed that uptake was independent of nanodiamond size. Confocal microscopy demonstrated that NV-center nanodiamonds accumulate within the cytoplasm of these cells. NV-center nanodiamonds were then conjugated with streptavidin using a short polyethylene chain as linker. Conjugation was confirmed via a catalytic assay employing biotinylated-horseradish peroxidase. We present a technique for large-scale production of biocompatible conjugated V- or NV-center nanodiamonds. Functional testing is essential for standardization of fluorescent nanodiamond bioconjugates and quality control. Large-scale production of bioconjugated fluorescent nanodiamonds is crucial to their development as novel tools for biological and medical applications.

  1. Prediction markets and their potential role in biomedical research--a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pfeiffer, Thomas; Almenberg, Johan

    2010-01-01

    Predictions markets are marketplaces for trading contracts with payoffs that depend on the outcome of future events. Popular examples are markets on the outcome of presidential elections, where contracts pay $1 if a specific candidate wins the election and $0 if someone else wins. Contract prices on prediction markets can be interpreted as forecasts regarding the outcome of future events. Further attractive properties include the potential to aggregate private information, to generate and disseminate a consensus among the market participants, and to offer incentives for the acquisition of information. It has been argued that these properties might be valuable in the context of scientific research. In this review, we give an overview of key properties of prediction markets and discuss potential benefits for science. To illustrate these benefits for biomedical research, we discuss an example application in the context of decision making in research on the genetics of diseases. Moreover, some potential practical problems of prediction market application in science are discussed, and solutions are outlined. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Biomedical technology prosperity game{trademark}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Berman, M.; Boyack, K.W.; Wesenberg, D.L.

    1996-07-01

    Prosperity Games{trademark} are an outgrowth and adaptation of move/countermove and seminar War Games. Prosperity Games{trademark} are simulations that explore complex issues in a variety of areas including economics, politics, sociology, environment, education and research. These issues can be examined from a variety of perspectives ranging from a global, macroeconomic and geopolitical viewpoint down to the details of customer/supplier/market interactions in specific industries. All Prosperity Games{trademark} are unique in that both the game format and the player contributions vary from game to game. This report documents the Biomedical Technology Prosperity Game{trademark} conducted under the sponsorship of Sandia National Laboratories, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Koop Foundation, Inc. Players were drawn from all stakeholders involved in biomedical technologies including patients, hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, legislators, suppliers/manufacturers, regulators, funding organizations, universities/laboratories, and the legal profession. The primary objectives of this game were to: (1) Identify advanced/critical technology issues that affect the cost and quality of health care. (2) Explore the development, patenting, manufacturing and licensing of needed technologies that would decrease costs while maintaining or improving quality. (3) Identify policy and regulatory changes that would reduce costs and improve quality and timeliness of health care delivery. (4) Identify and apply existing resources and facilities to develop and implement improved technologies and policies. (5) Begin to develop Biomedical Technology Roadmaps for industry and government cooperation. The deliberations and recommendations of these players provided valuable insights as to the views of this diverse group of decision makers concerning biomedical issues. Significant progress was made in the roadmapping of key areas in the biomedical technology field.

  3. Review of research grant allocation to psychosocial studies in diabetes research

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jones, A; Vallis, Michael; Cooke, Debbie

    2016-01-01

    AIMS: To estimate and discuss the allocation of diabetes research funds to studies with a psychosocial focus. METHODS: Annual reports and funded-research databases from approximately the last 5 years (if available) were reviewed from the following representative funding organizations, the American...... Diabetes Association, the Canadian Diabetes Association, Diabetes Australia, Diabetes UK, the Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation and the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes, in order to estimate the overall proportion of studies allocated research funding that had a psychosocial focus. RESULTS......: An estimated mean of 8% of funded studies from our sample were found to have a psychosocial focus. CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of funded studies with a psychosocial focus was small, with an estimated mean ratio of 17:1 observed between funded biomedical and psychosocial studies in diabetes research. While...

  4. Discovery informatics in biological and biomedical sciences: research challenges and opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Honavar, Vasant

    2015-01-01

    New discoveries in biological, biomedical and health sciences are increasingly being driven by our ability to acquire, share, integrate and analyze, and construct and simulate predictive models of biological systems. While much attention has focused on automating routine aspects of management and analysis of "big data", realizing the full potential of "big data" to accelerate discovery calls for automating many other aspects of the scientific process that have so far largely resisted automation: identifying gaps in the current state of knowledge; generating and prioritizing questions; designing studies; designing, prioritizing, planning, and executing experiments; interpreting results; forming hypotheses; drawing conclusions; replicating studies; validating claims; documenting studies; communicating results; reviewing results; and integrating results into the larger body of knowledge in a discipline. Against this background, the PSB workshop on Discovery Informatics in Biological and Biomedical Sciences explores the opportunities and challenges of automating discovery or assisting humans in discovery through advances (i) Understanding, formalization, and information processing accounts of, the entire scientific process; (ii) Design, development, and evaluation of the computational artifacts (representations, processes) that embody such understanding; and (iii) Application of the resulting artifacts and systems to advance science (by augmenting individual or collective human efforts, or by fully automating science).

  5. Government Cloud Computing Policies: Potential Opportunities for Advancing Military Biomedical Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lebeda, Frank J; Zalatoris, Jeffrey J; Scheerer, Julia B

    2018-02-07

    This position paper summarizes the development and the present status of Department of Defense (DoD) and other government policies and guidances regarding cloud computing services. Due to the heterogeneous and growing biomedical big datasets, cloud computing services offer an opportunity to mitigate the associated storage and analysis requirements. Having on-demand network access to a shared pool of flexible computing resources creates a consolidated system that should reduce potential duplications of effort in military biomedical research. Interactive, online literature searches were performed with Google, at the Defense Technical Information Center, and at two National Institutes of Health research portfolio information sites. References cited within some of the collected documents also served as literature resources. We gathered, selected, and reviewed DoD and other government cloud computing policies and guidances published from 2009 to 2017. These policies were intended to consolidate computer resources within the government and reduce costs by decreasing the number of federal data centers and by migrating electronic data to cloud systems. Initial White House Office of Management and Budget information technology guidelines were developed for cloud usage, followed by policies and other documents from the DoD, the Defense Health Agency, and the Armed Services. Security standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Government Services Administration, the DoD, and the Army were also developed. Government Services Administration and DoD Inspectors General monitored cloud usage by the DoD. A 2016 Government Accountability Office report characterized cloud computing as being economical, flexible and fast. A congressionally mandated independent study reported that the DoD was active in offering a wide selection of commercial cloud services in addition to its milCloud system. Our findings from the Department of Health and Human Services

  6. Learning to rank figures within a biomedical article.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Feifan Liu

    Full Text Available Hundreds of millions of figures are available in biomedical literature, representing important biomedical experimental evidence. This ever-increasing sheer volume has made it difficult for scientists to effectively and accurately access figures of their interest, the process of which is crucial for validating research facts and for formulating or testing novel research hypotheses. Current figure search applications can't fully meet this challenge as the "bag of figures" assumption doesn't take into account the relationship among figures. In our previous study, hundreds of biomedical researchers have annotated articles in which they serve as corresponding authors. They ranked each figure in their paper based on a figure's importance at their discretion, referred to as "figure ranking". Using this collection of annotated data, we investigated computational approaches to automatically rank figures. We exploited and extended the state-of-the-art listwise learning-to-rank algorithms and developed a new supervised-learning model BioFigRank. The cross-validation results show that BioFigRank yielded the best performance compared with other state-of-the-art computational models, and the greedy feature selection can further boost the ranking performance significantly. Furthermore, we carry out the evaluation by comparing BioFigRank with three-level competitive domain-specific human experts: (1 First Author, (2 Non-Author-In-Domain-Expert who is not the author nor co-author of an article but who works in the same field of the corresponding author of the article, and (3 Non-Author-Out-Domain-Expert who is not the author nor co-author of an article and who may or may not work in the same field of the corresponding author of an article. Our results show that BioFigRank outperforms Non-Author-Out-Domain-Expert and performs as well as Non-Author-In-Domain-Expert. Although BioFigRank underperforms First Author, since most biomedical researchers are either in- or

  7. Learning to rank figures within a biomedical article.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Feifan; Yu, Hong

    2014-01-01

    Hundreds of millions of figures are available in biomedical literature, representing important biomedical experimental evidence. This ever-increasing sheer volume has made it difficult for scientists to effectively and accurately access figures of their interest, the process of which is crucial for validating research facts and for formulating or testing novel research hypotheses. Current figure search applications can't fully meet this challenge as the "bag of figures" assumption doesn't take into account the relationship among figures. In our previous study, hundreds of biomedical researchers have annotated articles in which they serve as corresponding authors. They ranked each figure in their paper based on a figure's importance at their discretion, referred to as "figure ranking". Using this collection of annotated data, we investigated computational approaches to automatically rank figures. We exploited and extended the state-of-the-art listwise learning-to-rank algorithms and developed a new supervised-learning model BioFigRank. The cross-validation results show that BioFigRank yielded the best performance compared with other state-of-the-art computational models, and the greedy feature selection can further boost the ranking performance significantly. Furthermore, we carry out the evaluation by comparing BioFigRank with three-level competitive domain-specific human experts: (1) First Author, (2) Non-Author-In-Domain-Expert who is not the author nor co-author of an article but who works in the same field of the corresponding author of the article, and (3) Non-Author-Out-Domain-Expert who is not the author nor co-author of an article and who may or may not work in the same field of the corresponding author of an article. Our results show that BioFigRank outperforms Non-Author-Out-Domain-Expert and performs as well as Non-Author-In-Domain-Expert. Although BioFigRank underperforms First Author, since most biomedical researchers are either in- or out

  8. Handbook on advanced design and manufacturing technologies for biomedical devices

    CERN Document Server

    2013-01-01

    The last decades have seen remarkable advances in computer-aided design, engineering and manufacturing technologies, multi-variable simulation tools, medical imaging, biomimetic design, rapid prototyping, micro and nanomanufacturing methods and information management resources, all of which provide new horizons for the Biomedical Engineering fields and the Medical Device Industry. Handbook on Advanced Design and Manufacturing Technologies for Biomedical Devices covers such topics in depth, with an applied perspective and providing several case studies that help to analyze and understand the key factors of the different stages linked to the development of a novel biomedical device, from the conceptual and design steps, to the prototyping and industrialization phases. Main research challenges and future potentials are also discussed, taking into account relevant social demands and a growing market already exceeding billions of dollars. In time, advanced biomedical devices will decisively change methods and resu...

  9. Building the biomedical data science workforce.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunn, Michelle C; Bourne, Philip E

    2017-07-01

    This article describes efforts at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 2013 to 2016 to train a national workforce in biomedical data science. We provide an analysis of the Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) training program strengths and weaknesses with an eye toward future directions aimed at any funder and potential funding recipient worldwide. The focus is on extramurally funded programs that have a national or international impact rather than the training of NIH staff, which was addressed by the NIH's internal Data Science Workforce Development Center. From its inception, the major goal of BD2K was to narrow the gap between needed and existing biomedical data science skills. As biomedical research increasingly relies on computational, mathematical, and statistical thinking, supporting the training and education of the workforce of tomorrow requires new emphases on analytical skills. From 2013 to 2016, BD2K jump-started training in this area for all levels, from graduate students to senior researchers.

  10. Building the biomedical data science workforce.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michelle C Dunn

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available This article describes efforts at the National Institutes of Health (NIH from 2013 to 2016 to train a national workforce in biomedical data science. We provide an analysis of the Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K training program strengths and weaknesses with an eye toward future directions aimed at any funder and potential funding recipient worldwide. The focus is on extramurally funded programs that have a national or international impact rather than the training of NIH staff, which was addressed by the NIH's internal Data Science Workforce Development Center. From its inception, the major goal of BD2K was to narrow the gap between needed and existing biomedical data science skills. As biomedical research increasingly relies on computational, mathematical, and statistical thinking, supporting the training and education of the workforce of tomorrow requires new emphases on analytical skills. From 2013 to 2016, BD2K jump-started training in this area for all levels, from graduate students to senior researchers.

  11. Signal and image analysis for biomedical and life sciences

    CERN Document Server

    Sun, Changming; Pham, Tuan D; Vallotton, Pascal; Wang, Dadong

    2014-01-01

    With an emphasis on applications of computational models for solving modern challenging problems in biomedical and life sciences, this book aims to bring collections of articles from biologists, medical/biomedical and health science researchers together with computational scientists to focus on problems at the frontier of biomedical and life sciences. The goals of this book are to build interactions of scientists across several disciplines and to help industrial users apply advanced computational techniques for solving practical biomedical and life science problems. This book is for users in t

  12. Study designs for identifying risk compensation behavior among users of biomedical HIV prevention technologies: balancing methodological rigor and research ethics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Underhill, Kristen

    2013-10-01

    The growing evidence base for biomedical HIV prevention interventions - such as oral pre-exposure prophylaxis, microbicides, male circumcision, treatment as prevention, and eventually prevention vaccines - has given rise to concerns about the ways in which users of these biomedical products may adjust their HIV risk behaviors based on the perception that they are prevented from infection. Known as risk compensation, this behavioral adjustment draws on the theory of "risk homeostasis," which has previously been applied to phenomena as diverse as Lyme disease vaccination, insurance mandates, and automobile safety. Little rigorous evidence exists to answer risk compensation concerns in the biomedical HIV prevention literature, in part because the field has not systematically evaluated the study designs available for testing these behaviors. The goals of this Commentary are to explain the origins of risk compensation behavior in risk homeostasis theory, to reframe risk compensation as a testable response to the perception of reduced risk, and to assess the methodological rigor and ethical justification of study designs aiming to isolate risk compensation responses. Although the most rigorous methodological designs for assessing risk compensation behavior may be unavailable due to ethical flaws, several strategies can help investigators identify potential risk compensation behavior during Phase II, Phase III, and Phase IV testing of new technologies. Where concerns arise regarding risk compensation behavior, empirical evidence about the incidence, types, and extent of these behavioral changes can illuminate opportunities to better support the users of new HIV prevention strategies. This Commentary concludes by suggesting a new way to conceptualize risk compensation behavior in the HIV prevention context. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Pacific Northwest Laboratory annual report for 1987 to the DOE Office of Energy Research: Part 1, Biomedical Sciences

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, J.F.

    1988-02-01

    This report summarizes progress on OHER biomedical and health-effects research conducted at Pacific Northwest Laboratory in FY 1987. The research develops the knowledge and scientific principles necessary to identify, understand, and anticipate the long-term health consequences of energy-related radiation and chemicals. Our continuing emphasis is to decrease the uncertainty of health-effects risk estimates from existing and/or developing energy-related technologies through an increased understanding of how radiation and chemicals cause health effects. The report is arranged to reflect PNL research relative to OHER programmatic structure. The first section, on human health effects, concerns statistical and epidemiological studies for assessing health risks. The next section, which contains reports of health-effects research in biological systems, includes research with radiation and chemicals. The last section is related to medical applications of nuclear technology

  14. Pacific Northwest Laboratory annual report for 1987 to the DOE Office of Energy Research: Part 1, Biomedical Sciences

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, J.F.

    1988-02-01

    This report summarizes progress on OHER biomedical and health-effects research conducted at Pacific Northwest Laboratory in FY 1987. The research develops the knowledge and scientific principles necessary to identify, understand, and anticipate the long-term health consequences of energy-related radiation and chemicals. Our continuing emphasis is to decrease the uncertainty of health-effects risk estimates from existing and/or developing energy-related technologies through an increased understanding of how radiation and chemicals cause health effects. The report is arranged to reflect PNL research relative to OHER programmatic structure. The first section, on human health effects, concerns statistical and epidemiological studies for assessing health risks. The next section, which contains reports of health-effects research in biological systems, includes research with radiation and chemicals. The last section is related to medical applications of nuclear technology.

  15. Biomedical Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Jørgen Arendt; Andersen, Ole Trier; Wilhjelm, Jens Erik

    1998-01-01

    The paper gives a brief overview of the biomedical engineering research and education at the Technical University of Denmark. An account of the research activities since the 1950?s is given, and examples of major efforts within ultrasound, biomagnetism, and neuroimaging are described. The evolution...... of the teaching activities since the late 1960?s along with an account of the recent initiatives to make a biomedical engineering profile at the university is described....

  16. 3rd International Conference on Nanotechnologies and Biomedical Engineering

    CERN Document Server

    Tiginyanu, Ion

    2016-01-01

    This volume presents the proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Nanotechnologies and Biomedical Engineering which was held on September 23-26, 2015 in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. ICNBME-2015 continues the series of International Conferences in the field of nanotechnologies and biomedical engineering. It aims at bringing together scientists and engineers dealing with fundamental and applied research for reporting on the latest theoretical developments and applications involved in the fields. Topics include Nanotechnologies and nanomaterials Plasmonics and metamaterials Bio-micro/nano technologies Biomaterials Biosensors and sensors systems Biomedical instrumentation Biomedical signal processing Biomedical imaging and image processing Molecular, cellular and tissue engineering Clinical engineering, health technology management and assessment; Health informatics, e-health and telemedicine Biomedical engineering education Nuclear and radiation safety and security Innovations and technology transfer...

  17. Bio-medical CMOS ICs

    CERN Document Server

    Yoo, Hoi-Jun

    2011-01-01

    This book is based on a graduate course entitled, Ubiquitous Healthcare Circuits and Systems, that was given by one of the editors. It includes an introduction and overview to biomedical ICs and provides information on the current trends in research.

  18. Semiconducting silicon nanowires for biomedical applications

    CERN Document Server

    Coffer, JL

    2014-01-01

    Biomedical applications have benefited greatly from the increasing interest and research into semiconducting silicon nanowires. Semiconducting Silicon Nanowires for Biomedical Applications reviews the fabrication, properties, and applications of this emerging material. The book begins by reviewing the basics, as well as the growth, characterization, biocompatibility, and surface modification, of semiconducting silicon nanowires. It goes on to focus on silicon nanowires for tissue engineering and delivery applications, including cellular binding and internalization, orthopedic tissue scaffol

  19. A STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF THREE DAY TRAINING PROGRAMME ON KNOWLEDGE REGARDING BIOMEDICAL WASTE AMONG PARAMEDICAL STAFF OF DISTRICT HOSPITAL ETAWAH (UP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dhiraj Kumar Srivastava

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Biomedical waste by definition means “Any waste which is generated during the process of diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human or animal or in research activities pertaining there to in the production or testing of biological”Objectives:•    The level of awareness about various aspect of Bio Medical Waste management among the paramedical staff.•    To study the impact of three day training programme on knowledge of Bio Medical Waste management. Material & Methods: The present study  is a Cross sectional Study carried out to assess the impact of three day training programme on knowledge of Paramedical staff posted at District Hospital, Etawah. The change in knowledge was assessed using pre- test and post- test questionnaire.Result: A total of 72 paramedical staff participated in the study. Majority of the participants were unaware about the hazards associated with the improper handing f Biomedical wastes. The knowledge about the different color codes used for the segregation of biomedical waste was also very low. Similarly, the awareness about the vehicle used for the transportation of biomedical waste was also poor.Conclusion: The present study concludes that there is an urgent need for regular training for paramedical staff posted at District Hospital and other government hospital located in small District & town as awareness about the Biomedical waste among them is very low.

  20. A STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF THREE DAY TRAINING PROGRAMME ON KNOWLEDGE REGARDING BIOMEDICAL WASTE AMONG PARAMEDICAL STAFF OF DISTRICT HOSPITAL ETAWAH (UP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dhiraj Kumar Srivastava

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Biomedical waste by definition means “Any waste which is generated during the process of diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human or animal or in research activities pertaining there to in the production or testing of biological”Objectives:•    The level of awareness about various aspect of Bio Medical Waste management among the paramedical staff.•    To study the impact of three day training programme on knowledge of Bio Medical Waste management. Material & Methods: The present study  is a Cross sectional Study carried out to assess the impact of three day training programme on knowledge of Paramedical staff posted at District Hospital, Etawah. The change in knowledge was assessed using pre- test and post- test questionnaire.Result: A total of 72 paramedical staff participated in the study. Majority of the participants were unaware about the hazards associated with the improper handing f Biomedical wastes. The knowledge about the different color codes used for the segregation of biomedical waste was also very low. Similarly, the awareness about the vehicle used for the transportation of biomedical waste was also poor.Conclusion: The present study concludes that there is an urgent need for regular training for paramedical staff posted at District Hospital and other government hospital located in small District & town as awareness about the Biomedical waste among them is very low.

  1. Changing the Translational Research Landscape: A Review of the Impacts of Biomedical Research Units in England.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marjanovic, Sonja; Soper, Bryony; Ismail, Sharif; Reding, Anais; Ling, Tom

    2012-01-01

    This article describes a review of the Biomedical Research Units (BRU) scheme, undertaken for the Department of Health. This review was a perceptions audit of senior executives involved in the scheme, and explored what impact they felt the scheme is having on the translational research landscape. More specifically, we investigated whether and how institutional relationships between NHS and academic partners, industry and other health research system players are changing because of the scheme; how the scheme is helping build critical mass in specific priority disease areas; and the effects of any changes on efforts to deliver the broader goals set out in Best Research for Best Health. The views presented are those of study informants only. The information obtained through our interviews suggests that the BRU scheme is significantly helping shape the health research system to pursue translational research and innovation, with the clear goal of realising patient benefit. The BRUs are already contributing to observable changes in institutional relationships between the NHS and academic partners: trusts and medical schools are collaborating more closely than in the past, have signed up to the same vision of translational research from bench to bedside, and are managing and governing targeted research resources more professionally and transparently than in the past. There is also a stronger emphasis on engaging industry and more strategic thinking about strengthening regional and national collaboration with other hospital trusts, PCTs, research organisations, networks and development agencies. The scheme is also transforming capacity building in the health research system. This includes (i) developing and modernising facilities and equipment for translation; (ii) building a critical mass of human resources through recruitment and training, as well as improving retention of existing expertise; and (iii) helping ensure a steady flow of funds needed to sustain research

  2. Project definition study for the National Biomedical Tracer Facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roozen, K.

    1995-01-01

    The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has conducted a study of the proposed National Biomedical Tracer Facility (NBTF). In collaboration with General Atomics, RUST International, Coleman Research Corporation (CRC), IsoMed, Ernst and Young and the advisory committees, they have examined the issues relevant to the NBTF in terms of facility design, operating philosophy, and a business plan. They have utilized resources within UAB, CRC and Chem-Nuclear to develop recommendations on environmental, safety and health issues. The Institute of Medicine Panel's Report on Isotopes for Medicine and the Life Sciences took the results of prior workshops further in developing recommendations for the mission of the NBTF. The IOM panel recommends that the NBTF accelerator have the capacity to accelerate protons to 80 MeV and a minimum of 750 microamperes of current. The panel declined to recommend a cyclotron or a linac. They emphasized a clear focus on research and development for isotope production including target design, separation chemistry and generator development. The facility needs to emphasize education and training in its mission. The facility must focus on radionuclide production for the research and clinical communities. The formation of a public-private partnership resembling the TRIUMF-Nordion model was encouraged. An advisory panel should assist with the NBTF operations and prioritization

  3. Project definition study for the National Biomedical Tracer Facility

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roozen, K.

    1995-02-15

    The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has conducted a study of the proposed National Biomedical Tracer Facility (NBTF). In collaboration with General Atomics, RUST International, Coleman Research Corporation (CRC), IsoMed, Ernst and Young and the advisory committees, they have examined the issues relevant to the NBTF in terms of facility design, operating philosophy, and a business plan. They have utilized resources within UAB, CRC and Chem-Nuclear to develop recommendations on environmental, safety and health issues. The Institute of Medicine Panel`s Report on Isotopes for Medicine and the Life Sciences took the results of prior workshops further in developing recommendations for the mission of the NBTF. The IOM panel recommends that the NBTF accelerator have the capacity to accelerate protons to 80 MeV and a minimum of 750 microamperes of current. The panel declined to recommend a cyclotron or a linac. They emphasized a clear focus on research and development for isotope production including target design, separation chemistry and generator development. The facility needs to emphasize education and training in its mission. The facility must focus on radionuclide production for the research and clinical communities. The formation of a public-private partnership resembling the TRIUMF-Nordion model was encouraged. An advisory panel should assist with the NBTF operations and prioritization.

  4. New frontiers in biomedical science and engineering during 2014-2015.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Feng; Lee, Dong-Hoon; Lagoa, Ricardo; Kumar, Sandeep

    2015-01-01

    The International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology (ICBEB) is an international meeting held once a year. This, the fourth International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology (ICBEB2015), will be held in Shanghai, China, during August 18th-21st, 2015. This annual conference intends to provide an opportunity for researchers and practitioners at home and abroad to present the most recent frontiers and future challenges in the fields of biomedical science, biomedical engineering, biomaterials, bioinformatics and computational biology, biomedical imaging and signal processing, biomechanical engineering and biotechnology, etc. The papers published in this issue are selected from this Conference, which witness the advances in biomedical engineering and biotechnology during 2014-2015.

  5. Biomedical and health informatics education and research at the Information Technology Institute in Egypt.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hussein, R; Khalifa, A

    2011-01-01

    During the last decade, Egypt has experienced a revolution in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) that has had a corresponding impact on the field of healthcare. Since 1993, the Information Technology Institute (ITI) has been leading the development of the Information Technology (IT) professional training and education in Egypt to produce top quality IT professionals who are considered now the backbone of the IT revolution in Egypt. For the past five years, ITI has been adopting the objective of building high caliber health professionals who can effectively serve the ever-growing information society. Academic links have been established with internationally renowned universities, e.g., Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in US, University of Leipzig in Germany, in addition those with the Egyptian Fellowship Board in order to enrich ITI Medical Informatics Education and Research. The ITI Biomedical and Health Informatics (BMHI) education and training programs target fresh graduates as well as life-long learners. Therefore, the program's learning objectives are framed within the context of the four specialization tracks: Healthcare Management (HCM), Biomedical Informatics Research (BMIR), Bioinformatics Professional (BIP), and Healthcare Professional (HCP). The ITI BMHI research projects tackle a wide-range of current challenges in this field, such as knowledge management in healthcare, providing tele-consultation services for diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases for underserved regions in Egypt, and exploring the cultural and educational aspects of Nanoinformatics. Since 2006, ITI has been positively contributing to develop the discipline of BMHI in Egypt in order to support improved healthcare services.

  6. Evaluating the operational risks of biomedical waste using failure mode and effects analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Ying-Chu; Tsai, Pei-Yi

    2017-06-01

    The potential problems and risks of biomedical waste generation have become increasingly apparent in recent years. This study applied a failure mode and effects analysis to evaluate the operational problems and risks of biomedical waste. The microbiological contamination of biomedical waste seldom receives the attention of researchers. In this study, the biomedical waste lifecycle was divided into seven processes: Production, classification, packaging, sterilisation, weighing, storage, and transportation. Twenty main failure modes were identified in these phases and risks were assessed based on their risk priority numbers. The failure modes in the production phase accounted for the highest proportion of the risk priority number score (27.7%). In the packaging phase, the failure mode 'sharp articles not placed in solid containers' had the highest risk priority number score, mainly owing to its high severity rating. The sterilisation process is the main difference in the treatment of infectious and non-infectious biomedical waste. The failure modes in the sterilisation phase were mainly owing to human factors (mostly related to operators). This study increases the understanding of the potential problems and risks associated with biomedical waste, thereby increasing awareness of how to improve the management of biomedical waste to better protect workers, the public, and the environment.

  7. Optimization and Data Analysis in Biomedical Informatics

    CERN Document Server

    Pardalos, Panos M; Xanthopoulos, Petros

    2012-01-01

    This volume covers some of the topics that are related to the rapidly growing field of biomedical informatics. In June 11-12, 2010 a workshop entitled 'Optimization and Data Analysis in Biomedical Informatics' was organized at The Fields Institute. Following this event invited contributions were gathered based on the talks presented at the workshop, and additional invited chapters were chosen from world's leading experts. In this publication, the authors share their expertise in the form of state-of-the-art research and review chapters, bringing together researchers from different disciplines

  8. Pathophysiologic mechanisms of biomedical nanomaterials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Liming; Chen, Chunying

    2016-01-01

    Nanomaterials (NMs) have been widespread used in biomedical fields, daily consuming, and even food industry. It is crucial to understand the safety and biomedical efficacy of NMs. In this review, we summarized the recent progress about the physiological and pathological effects of NMs from several levels: protein-nano interface, NM-subcellular structures, and cell–cell interaction. We focused on the detailed information of nano-bio interaction, especially about protein adsorption, intracellular trafficking, biological barriers, and signaling pathways as well as the associated mechanism mediated by nanomaterials. We also introduced related analytical methods that are meaningful and helpful for biomedical effect studies in the future. We believe that knowledge about pathophysiologic effects of NMs is not only significant for rational design of medical NMs but also helps predict their safety and further improve their applications in the future. - Highlights: • Rapid protein adsorption onto nanomaterials that affects biomedical effects • Nanomaterials and their interaction with biological membrane, intracellular trafficking and specific cellular effects • Nanomaterials and their interaction with biological barriers • The signaling pathways mediated by nanomaterials and related biomedical effects • Novel techniques for studying translocation and biomedical effects of NMs

  9. Pathophysiologic mechanisms of biomedical nanomaterials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Liming, E-mail: wangliming@ihep.ac.cn; Chen, Chunying, E-mail: chenchy@nanoctr.cn

    2016-05-15

    Nanomaterials (NMs) have been widespread used in biomedical fields, daily consuming, and even food industry. It is crucial to understand the safety and biomedical efficacy of NMs. In this review, we summarized the recent progress about the physiological and pathological effects of NMs from several levels: protein-nano interface, NM-subcellular structures, and cell–cell interaction. We focused on the detailed information of nano-bio interaction, especially about protein adsorption, intracellular trafficking, biological barriers, and signaling pathways as well as the associated mechanism mediated by nanomaterials. We also introduced related analytical methods that are meaningful and helpful for biomedical effect studies in the future. We believe that knowledge about pathophysiologic effects of NMs is not only significant for rational design of medical NMs but also helps predict their safety and further improve their applications in the future. - Highlights: • Rapid protein adsorption onto nanomaterials that affects biomedical effects • Nanomaterials and their interaction with biological membrane, intracellular trafficking and specific cellular effects • Nanomaterials and their interaction with biological barriers • The signaling pathways mediated by nanomaterials and related biomedical effects • Novel techniques for studying translocation and biomedical effects of NMs.

  10. Misconduct Policies in High-Impact Biomedical Journals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bosch, Xavier; Hernández, Cristina; Pericas, Juan M.; Doti, Pamela; Marušić, Ana

    2012-01-01

    Background It is not clear which research misconduct policies are adopted by biomedical journals. This study assessed the prevalence and content policies of the most influential biomedical journals on misconduct and procedures for handling and responding to allegations of misconduct. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study of misconduct policies of 399 high-impact biomedical journals in 27 biomedical categories of the Journal Citation Reports in December 2011. Journal websites were reviewed for information relevant to misconduct policies. Results Of 399 journals, 140 (35.1%) provided explicit definitions of misconduct. Falsification was explicitly mentioned by 113 (28.3%) journals, fabrication by 104 (26.1%), plagiarism by 224 (56.1%), duplication by 242 (60.7%) and image manipulation by 154 (38.6%). Procedures for responding to misconduct were described in 179 (44.9%) websites, including retraction, (30.8%) and expression of concern (16.3%). Plagiarism-checking services were used by 112 (28.1%) journals. The prevalences of all types of misconduct policies were higher in journals that endorsed any policy from editors’ associations, Office of Research Integrity or professional societies compared to those that did not state adherence to these policy-producing bodies. Elsevier and Wiley-Blackwell had the most journals included (22.6% and 14.8%, respectively), with Wiley journals having greater a prevalence of misconduct definition and policies on falsification, fabrication and expression of concern and Elsevier of plagiarism-checking services. Conclusions Only a third of top-ranking peer-reviewed journals had publicly-available definitions of misconduct and less than a half described procedures for handling allegations of misconduct. As endorsement of international policies from policy-producing bodies was positively associated with implementation of policies and procedures, journals and their publishers should standardize their policies globally in order to

  11. Misconduct policies in high-impact biomedical journals.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xavier Bosch

    Full Text Available It is not clear which research misconduct policies are adopted by biomedical journals. This study assessed the prevalence and content policies of the most influential biomedical journals on misconduct and procedures for handling and responding to allegations of misconduct.We conducted a cross-sectional study of misconduct policies of 399 high-impact biomedical journals in 27 biomedical categories of the Journal Citation Reports in December 2011. Journal websites were reviewed for information relevant to misconduct policies.Of 399 journals, 140 (35.1% provided explicit definitions of misconduct. Falsification was explicitly mentioned by 113 (28.3% journals, fabrication by 104 (26.1%, plagiarism by 224 (56.1%, duplication by 242 (60.7% and image manipulation by 154 (38.6%. Procedures for responding to misconduct were described in 179 (44.9% websites, including retraction, (30.8% and expression of concern (16.3%. Plagiarism-checking services were used by 112 (28.1% journals. The prevalences of all types of misconduct policies were higher in journals that endorsed any policy from editors' associations, Office of Research Integrity or professional societies compared to those that did not state adherence to these policy-producing bodies. Elsevier and Wiley-Blackwell had the most journals included (22.6% and 14.8%, respectively, with Wiley journals having greater a prevalence of misconduct definition and policies on falsification, fabrication and expression of concern and Elsevier of plagiarism-checking services.Only a third of top-ranking peer-reviewed journals had publicly-available definitions of misconduct and less than a half described procedures for handling allegations of misconduct. As endorsement of international policies from policy-producing bodies was positively associated with implementation of policies and procedures, journals and their publishers should standardize their policies globally in order to increase public trust in the

  12. Passage-Based Bibliographic Coupling: An Inter-Article Similarity Measure for Biomedical Articles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Rey-Long

    2015-01-01

    Biomedical literature is an essential source of biomedical evidence. To translate the evidence for biomedicine study, researchers often need to carefully read multiple articles about specific biomedical issues. These articles thus need to be highly related to each other. They should share similar core contents, including research goals, methods, and findings. However, given an article r, it is challenging for search engines to retrieve highly related articles for r. In this paper, we present a technique PBC (Passage-based Bibliographic Coupling) that estimates inter-article similarity by seamlessly integrating bibliographic coupling with the information collected from context passages around important out-link citations (references) in each article. Empirical evaluation shows that PBC can significantly improve the retrieval of those articles that biomedical experts believe to be highly related to specific articles about gene-disease associations. PBC can thus be used to improve search engines in retrieving the highly related articles for any given article r, even when r is cited by very few (or even no) articles. The contribution is essential for those researchers and text mining systems that aim at cross-validating the evidence about specific gene-disease associations. PMID:26440794

  13. Passage-Based Bibliographic Coupling: An Inter-Article Similarity Measure for Biomedical Articles.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rey-Long Liu

    Full Text Available Biomedical literature is an essential source of biomedical evidence. To translate the evidence for biomedicine study, researchers often need to carefully read multiple articles about specific biomedical issues. These articles thus need to be highly related to each other. They should share similar core contents, including research goals, methods, and findings. However, given an article r, it is challenging for search engines to retrieve highly related articles for r. In this paper, we present a technique PBC (Passage-based Bibliographic Coupling that estimates inter-article similarity by seamlessly integrating bibliographic coupling with the information collected from context passages around important out-link citations (references in each article. Empirical evaluation shows that PBC can significantly improve the retrieval of those articles that biomedical experts believe to be highly related to specific articles about gene-disease associations. PBC can thus be used to improve search engines in retrieving the highly related articles for any given article r, even when r is cited by very few (or even no articles. The contribution is essential for those researchers and text mining systems that aim at cross-validating the evidence about specific gene-disease associations.

  14. Bayes' theorem: A paradigm research tool in biomedical sciences ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    One of the most interesting applications of the results of probability theory involves estimating unknown probability and making decisions on the basis of new (sample) information. Biomedical scientists often use the Bayesian decision theory for the purposes of computing diagnostic values such as sensitivity and specificity ...

  15. VI Latin American Congress on Biomedical Engineering

    CERN Document Server

    Hadad, Alejandro

    2015-01-01

    This volume presents the proceedings of the CLAIB 2014, held in Paraná, Entre Ríos, Argentina 29, 30 & 31 October 2014. The proceedings, presented by the Regional Council of Biomedical Engineering for Latin America (CORAL) offer research findings, experiences and activities between institutions and universities to develop Bioengineering, Biomedical Engineering and related sciences. The conferences of the American Congress of Biomedical Engineering are sponsored by the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE), Society for Engineering in Biology and Medicine (EMBS) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), among other organizations and international agencies and bringing together scientists, academics and biomedical engineers in Latin America and other continents in an environment conducive to exchange and professional growth. The Topics include: - Bioinformatics and Computational Biology - Bioinstrumentation; Sensors, Micro and Nano Technologies - Biomaterials, Tissu...

  16. Biomedical Engineering Bionanosystems Research at Louisiana Tech University

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Palmer, James; Lvov, Yuri; Hegab, Hisham; Snow, Dale; Wilson, Chester; McDonald, John; Walker, Lynn; Pratt, Jon; Davis, Despina; Agarwal, Mangilal; DeCoster, Mark; Feng, June; Que, Long; O' Neal, Chad; Guilbeau, Eric; Zivanovic, Sandra; Dobbins, Tabbetha; Gold, Scott; Mainardi, Daniela; Gowda, Shathabish; Napper, Stan

    2010-03-25

    The nature of this project is to equip and support research in nanoengineered systems for biomedical, bioenvironmental, and bioenergy applications. Funds provided by the Department of Energy (DoE) under this Congressional Directive were used to support two ongoing research projects at Louisiana Tech University in biomedical, bioenvironmental, and bioenergy applications. Two major projects (Enzyme Immobilization for Large Scale Reactors to Reduce Cellulosic Ethanol Costs, and Nanocatalysts for Coal and Biomass Conversion to Diesel Fuel) and to fund three to five additional seed projects were funded using the project budget. The project funds also allowed the purchase and repair of sophisticated research equipment that will support continued research in these areas for many years to come. Project funds also supported faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students, contributing to the development of a technically sophisticated work force in the region and the State. Descriptions of the technical accomplishments for each funded project are provided. Biofuels are an important part of the solution for sustainable transportation fuel and energy production for the future. Unfortunately, the country's appetite for fuel cannot be satisfied with traditional sugar crops such as sugar cane or corn. Emerging technologies are allowing cellulosic biomass (wood, grass, stalks, etc.) to also be converted into ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol does not compete with food production and it has the potential to decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 86% versus current fossil fuels (current techniques for corn ethanol only reduce greenhouse gases by 19%). Because of these advantages, the federal government has made cellulosic ethanol a high priority. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) requires a minimum production of at least 16 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol by 2022. Indeed, the Obama administration has signaled an ambitious commitment of achieving

  17. Research on pressure sensors for biomedical instruments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angell, J. B.

    1975-01-01

    The development of a piezo-resistive pressure transducer is discussed suitable for recording pressures typically encountered in biomedical applications. The pressure transducer consists of a thin silicon diaphragm containing four strain-sensitive resistors, and is fabricated using silicon monolithic integrated-circuit technology. The pressure transducers can be as small as 0.7 mm outer diameter, and are, as a result, suitable for mounting at the tip of a catheter. Pressure-induced stress in the diaphragm is sensed by the resistors, which are interconnected to form a Wheatstone bridge.

  18. The use of AMS to the biomedical sciences

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vogel, J.S.

    1991-04-01

    The Center for Accelerator Mass Spectroscopy (AMS) began making AMS measurements in 1989. Biomedical experiments were originally limited by sample preparation techniques, but we expect the number of biomedical samples to increase five-fold. While many of the detailed techniques for making biomedical measurements resemble those used in other fields, biological tracer experiments differ substantially from the observational approaches of earth science investigators. The role of xenobiotius in initiating mutations in cells is of particular interest. One measure of the damage caused to the genetic material is obtained by counting the number of adducts formed by a chemical agent at a given dose. AMS allows direct measurement of the number of adducts through stoichiometric quantification of the 14 C label attached to the DNA after exposure to a labelled carcinogen. Other isotopes of interest include tritium, 36 Cl, 79 SE, 41 Ca, 26 Al and 129 I. Our experiments with low dose environmental carcinogens reflect the protocols which will become a common part of biomedical AMS. In biomedical experiments, the researcher defines the carbon to be analyzed through dissection and/or chemical purification; thus the sample is ''merely'' combusted and graphitized at the AMS facility. However, since biomedical samples can have a 14 C range of five orders of magnitude, preparation of graphite required construction of a special manifold to prevent cross-contamination. Additionally, a strain of 14 C-depleted C57BL/6 mice is being developed to further reduce background in biomedical experiments. AMS has a bright and diverse future in radioisotope tracing. Such work requires a dedicated amalgamation of AMS scientists and biomedical researchers who will redesign experimental protocols to maximize the AMS technique and minimize the danger of catastrophic contamination. 18 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab

  19. Biostatnet workshop on Biomedical (Big) Data & DoReMi LD-RadStats: Workshop for statisticians interested in contributing to EU low dose radiation research

    CERN Document Server

    Calle, MLuz; Cardis, Elisabeth; Einbeck, Jochen; Gómez, Guadalupe; Puig, Pere

    2017-01-01

    This two-part volume gathers extended conference abstracts corresponding to selected talks from the "Biostatnet workshop on Biomedical (Big) Data" and from the "DoReMi LD-RadStats: Workshop for statisticians interested in contributing to EU low dose radiation research", which were held at the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM) in Barcelona from November 26th to 27th, 2015, and at the Institut de Salut Global ISGlobal (former CREAL) from October 26th to 28th, 2015, respectively. Most of the contributions are brief articles, presenting preliminary new results not yet published in regular research journals. The first part is devoted to the challenges of analyzing so called "Biomedical Big Data", tremendous amounts of biomedical and health data that are generated every day due to the use of recent technological advances such as massive genomic sequencing, electronic health records or high-resolution medical imaging, among others. The analysis of this information poses significant challenges for researchers in th...

  20. [Literature cited in a study of Yugoslav biomedical journals].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brkić, S; Pejić, M; Cikić, B

    1995-01-01

    The paper reviews results of a research on literature cited in papers published in two most remarkable Yugoslav biomedical journals, Medicinski Pregled and Srpski arhiv za celokupno lekarstvo, in 1985 and 1992. The analysis included the following parameters: the amount of published papers, the quantity of cites out of the literature that has been used, frequency of citation of foreign and domestic literature as well as the quantity of self citations. According to the gathered results, foreign literature is remarkably more often cited than the domestic references, mostly in English, but the percentage of citing one's own papers is also high.

  1. Innovations in Biomedical Engineering 2016

    CERN Document Server

    Tkacz, Ewaryst; Paszenda, Zbigniew; Piętka, Ewa

    2017-01-01

    This book presents the proceedings of the “Innovations in Biomedical Engineering IBE’2016” Conference held on October 16–18, 2016 in Poland, discussing recent research on innovations in biomedical engineering. The past decade has seen the dynamic development of more and more sophisticated technologies, including biotechnologies, and more general technologies applied in the area of life sciences. As such the book covers the broadest possible spectrum of subjects related to biomedical engineering innovations. Divided into four parts, it presents state-of-the-art achievements in: • engineering of biomaterials, • modelling and simulations in biomechanics, • informatics in medicine • signal analysis The book helps bridge the gap between technological and methodological engineering achievements on the one hand and clinical requirements in the three major areas diagnosis, therapy and rehabilitation on the other.

  2. An Update to Space Biomedical Research: Tissue Engineering in Microgravity Bioreactors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abolfazl Barzegari

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: The severe need for constructing replacement tissues in organ transplantation has necessitated the development of tissue engineering approaches and bioreactors that can bring these approaches to reality. The inherent limitations of conventional bioreactors in generating realistic tissue constructs led to the devise of the microgravity tissue engineering that uses Rotating Wall Vessel (RWV bioreactors initially developed by NASA. Methods: In this review article, we intend to highlight some major advances and accomplishments in the rapidly-growing field of tissue engineering that could not be achieved without using microgravity. Results: Research is now focused on assembly of 3 dimensional (3D tissue fragments from various cell types in human body such as chondrocytes, osteoblasts, embryonic and mesenchymal stem cells, hepatocytes and pancreas islet cells. Hepatocytes cultured under microgravity are now being used in extracorporeal bioartificial liver devices. Tissue constructs can be used not only in organ replacement therapy, but also in pharmaco-toxicology and food safety assessment. 3D models of various cancers may be used in studying cancer development and biology or in high-throughput screening of anticancer drug candidates. Finally, 3D heterogeneous assemblies from cancer/immune cells provide models for immunotherapy of cancer. Conclusion: Tissue engineering in (simulated microgravity has been one of the stunning impacts of space research on biomedical sciences and their applications on earth.

  3. Advances in electronic-nose technologies developed for biomedical applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Alphus D; Baietto, Manuela

    2011-01-01

    The research and development of new electronic-nose applications in the biomedical field has accelerated at a phenomenal rate over the past 25 years. Many innovative e-nose technologies have provided solutions and applications to a wide variety of complex biomedical and healthcare problems. The purposes of this review are to present a comprehensive analysis of past and recent biomedical research findings and developments of electronic-nose sensor technologies, and to identify current and future potential e-nose applications that will continue to advance the effectiveness and efficiency of biomedical treatments and healthcare services for many years. An abundance of electronic-nose applications has been developed for a variety of healthcare sectors including diagnostics, immunology, pathology, patient recovery, pharmacology, physical therapy, physiology, preventative medicine, remote healthcare, and wound and graft healing. Specific biomedical e-nose applications range from uses in biochemical testing, blood-compatibility evaluations, disease diagnoses, and drug delivery to monitoring of metabolic levels, organ dysfunctions, and patient conditions through telemedicine. This paper summarizes the major electronic-nose technologies developed for healthcare and biomedical applications since the late 1980s when electronic aroma detection technologies were first recognized to be potentially useful in providing effective solutions to problems in the healthcare industry.

  4. Advances in Electronic-Nose Technologies Developed for Biomedical Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alphus D. Wilson

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The research and development of new electronic-nose applications in the biomedical field has accelerated at a phenomenal rate over the past 25 years. Many innovative e-nose technologies have provided solutions and applications to a wide variety of complex biomedical and healthcare problems. The purposes of this review are to present a comprehensive analysis of past and recent biomedical research findings and developments of electronic-nose sensor technologies, and to identify current and future potential e-nose applications that will continue to advance the effectiveness and efficiency of biomedical treatments and healthcare services for many years. An abundance of electronic-nose applications has been developed for a variety of healthcare sectors including diagnostics, immunology, pathology, patient recovery, pharmacology, physical therapy, physiology, preventative medicine, remote healthcare, and wound and graft healing. Specific biomedical e-nose applications range from uses in biochemical testing, blood-compatibility evaluations, disease diagnoses, and drug delivery to monitoring of metabolic levels, organ dysfunctions, and patient conditions through telemedicine. This paper summarizes the major electronic-nose technologies developed for healthcare and biomedical applications since the late 1980s when electronic aroma detection technologies were first recognized to be potentially useful in providing effective solutions to problems in the healthcare industry.

  5. Advances in biomedical engineering and biotechnology during 2013-2014.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Feng; Wang, Ying; Burkhart, Timothy A; González Penedo, Manuel Francisco; Ma, Shaodong

    2014-01-01

    The 3rd International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology (iCBEB 2014), held in Beijing from the 25th to the 28th of September 2014, is an annual conference that intends to provide an opportunity for researchers and practitioners around the world to present the most recent advances and future challenges in the fields of biomedical engineering, biomaterials, bioinformatics and computational biology, biomedical imaging and signal processing, biomechanical engineering and biotechnology, amongst others. The papers published in this issue are selected from this conference, which witnesses the advances in biomedical engineering and biotechnology during 2013-2014.

  6. Epidemiology and Reporting Characteristics of Systematic Reviews of Biomedical Research: A Cross-Sectional Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew J Page

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Systematic reviews (SRs can help decision makers interpret the deluge of published biomedical literature. However, a SR may be of limited use if the methods used to conduct the SR are flawed, and reporting of the SR is incomplete. To our knowledge, since 2004 there has been no cross-sectional study of the prevalence, focus, and completeness of reporting of SRs across different specialties. Therefore, the aim of our study was to investigate the epidemiological and reporting characteristics of a more recent cross-section of SRs.We searched MEDLINE to identify potentially eligible SRs indexed during the month of February 2014. Citations were screened using prespecified eligibility criteria. Epidemiological and reporting characteristics of a random sample of 300 SRs were extracted by one reviewer, with a 10% sample extracted in duplicate. We compared characteristics of Cochrane versus non-Cochrane reviews, and the 2014 sample of SRs versus a 2004 sample of SRs. We identified 682 SRs, suggesting that more than 8,000 SRs are being indexed in MEDLINE annually, corresponding to a 3-fold increase over the last decade. The majority of SRs addressed a therapeutic question and were conducted by authors based in China, the UK, or the US; they included a median of 15 studies involving 2,072 participants. Meta-analysis was performed in 63% of SRs, mostly using standard pairwise methods. Study risk of bias/quality assessment was performed in 70% of SRs but was rarely incorporated into the analysis (16%. Few SRs (7% searched sources of unpublished data, and the risk of publication bias was considered in less than half of SRs. Reporting quality was highly variable; at least a third of SRs did not report use of a SR protocol, eligibility criteria relating to publication status, years of coverage of the search, a full Boolean search logic for at least one database, methods for data extraction, methods for study risk of bias assessment, a primary outcome, an

  7. A research-based inter-institutional collaboration to diversify the biomedical workforce: ReBUILDetroit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andreoli, Jeanne M; Feig, Andrew; Chang, Steven; Welch, Sally; Mathur, Ambika; Kuleck, Gary

    2017-01-01

    Faced with decades of severe economic decline, the city of Detroit, Michigan (USA) is on the cusp or reinventing itself. A Consortium was formed of three higher education institutions that have an established mission to serve an urban population and a vested interest in the revitalization of the health, welfare, and economic opportunity in the Detroit metro region that is synergistic with national goals to diversify the biomedical workforce. The purpose of this article is to describe the rationale, approach, and model of the Research Enhancement for BUILDing Detroit (ReBUILDetroit) Consortium, as a cross-campus collaborative for students, faculty, and institutional development. The ReBUILDetroit program is designed to transform the culture of higher education in Detroit, Michigan by educating and training students from diverse and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds to become the next generation of biomedical researchers. Marygrove College, University of Detroit Mercy, and Wayne State University established a Consortium to create and implement innovative, evidence-based and cutting-edge programming. Specific elements include: (1) a pre-college summer enrichment experience; (2) an inter-institutional curricular re-design of target foundational courses in biology, chemistry and social science using the Research Coordination Network (RCN) model; and (3) cross-institutional summer faculty-mentored research projects for ReBUILDetroit Scholars starting as rising sophomores. Student success support includes intentional and intrusive mentoring, financial support, close faculty engagement, ongoing workshops to overcome academic and non-academic barriers, and cohort building activities across the Consortium. Institutional supports, integral to program creation and sustainability, include creating faculty learning communities grounded in professional development opportunities in pedagogy, research and mentorship, and developing novel partnerships and accelerated

  8. Careers in biomedical engineering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madrid, R E; Rotger, V I; Herrera, M C

    2010-01-01

    Although biomedical engineering was started in Argentina about 35 years ago, it has had a sustained growth for the last 25 years in human resources, with the emergence of new undergraduate and postgraduate careers, as well as in research, knowledge, technological development, and health care.

  9. Animal models in biological and biomedical research - experimental and ethical concerns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersen, Monica L; Winter, Lucile M F

    2017-09-04

    Animal models have been used in experimental research to increase human knowledge and contribute to finding solutions to biological and biomedical questions. However, increased concern for the welfare of the animals used, and a growing awareness of the concept of animal rights, has brought a greater focus on the related ethical issues. In this review, we intend to give examples on how animals are used in the health research related to some major health problems in Brazil, as well as to stimulate discussion about the application of ethics in the use of animals in research and education, highlighting the role of National Council for the Control of Animal Experimentation (Conselho Nacional de Controle de Experimentação Animal - CONCEA) in these areas. In 2008, Brazil emerged into a new era of animal research regulation, with the promulgation of Law 11794, previously known as the Arouca Law, resulting in an increased focus, and rapid learning experience, on questions related to all aspects of animal experimentation. The law reinforces the idea that animal experiments must be based on ethical considerations and integrity-based assumptions, and provides a regulatory framework to achieve this. This review describes the health research involving animals and the current Brazilian framework for regulating laboratory animal science, and hopes to help to improve the awareness of the scientific community of these ethical and legal rules.

  10. Accelerating Biomedical Discoveries through Rigor and Transparency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hewitt, Judith A; Brown, Liliana L; Murphy, Stephanie J; Grieder, Franziska; Silberberg, Shai D

    2017-07-01

    Difficulties in reproducing published research findings have garnered a lot of press in recent years. As a funder of biomedical research, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has taken measures to address underlying causes of low reproducibility. Extensive deliberations resulted in a policy, released in 2015, to enhance reproducibility through rigor and transparency. We briefly explain what led to the policy, describe its elements, provide examples and resources for the biomedical research community, and discuss the potential impact of the policy on translatability with a focus on research using animal models. Importantly, while increased attention to rigor and transparency may lead to an increase in the number of laboratory animals used in the near term, it will lead to more efficient and productive use of such resources in the long run. The translational value of animal studies will be improved through more rigorous assessment of experimental variables and data, leading to better assessments of the translational potential of animal models, for the benefit of the research community and society. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research 2017. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

  11. Biomedical engineering and society: policy and ethics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flexman, J A; Lazareck, L

    2007-01-01

    Biomedical engineering impacts health care and contributes to fundamental knowledge in medicine and biology. Policy, such as through regulation and research funding, has the potential to dramatically affect biomedical engineering research and commercialization. New developments, in turn, may affect society in new ways. The intersection of biomedical engineering and society and related policy issues must be discussed between scientists and engineers, policy-makers and the public. As a student, there are many ways to become engaged in the issues surrounding science and technology policy. At the University of Washington in Seattle, the Forum on Science Ethics and Policy (FOSEP, www.fosep.org) was started by graduate students and post-doctoral fellows interested in improving the dialogue between scientists, policymakers and the public and has received support from upper-level administration. This is just one example of how students can start thinking about science policy and ethics early in their careers.

  12. Selection mechanisms underlying high impact biomedical research--a qualitative analysis and causal model.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hilary Zelko

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Although scientific innovation has been a long-standing topic of interest for historians, philosophers and cognitive scientists, few studies in biomedical research have examined from researchers' perspectives how high impact publications are developed and why they are consistently produced by a small group of researchers. Our objective was therefore to interview a group of researchers with a track record of high impact publications to explore what mechanism they believe contribute to the generation of high impact publications. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Researchers were located in universities all over the globe and interviews were conducted by phone. All interviews were transcribed using standard qualitative methods. A Grounded Theory approach was used to code each transcript, later aggregating concept and categories into overarching explanation model. The model was then translated into a System Dynamics mathematical model to represent its structure and behavior. Five emerging themes were found in our study. First, researchers used heuristics or rules of thumb that came naturally to them. Second, these heuristics were reinforced by positive feedback from their peers and mentors. Third, good communication skills allowed researchers to provide feedback to their peers, thus closing a positive feedback loop. Fourth, researchers exhibited a number of psychological attributes such as curiosity or open-mindedness that constantly motivated them, even when faced with discouraging situations. Fifth, the system is dominated by randomness and serendipity and is far from a linear and predictable environment. Some researchers, however, took advantage of this randomness by incorporating mechanisms that would allow them to benefit from random findings. The aggregation of these themes into a policy model represented the overall expected behavior of publications and their impact achieved by high impact researchers. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed

  13. Acquisition and manipulation of computed tomography images of the maxillofacial region for biomedical prototyping

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meurer, Maria Ines; Silva, Jorge Vicente Lopes da; Santa Barbara, Ailton; Nobre, Luiz Felipe; Oliveira, Marilia Gerhardt de; Silva, Daniela Nascimento

    2008-01-01

    Biomedical prototyping has resulted from a merger of rapid prototyping and imaging diagnosis technologies. However, this process is complex, considering the necessity of interaction between biomedical sciences and engineering. Good results are highly dependent on the acquisition of computed tomography images and their subsequent manipulation by means of specific software. The present study describes the experience of a multidisciplinary group of researchers in the acquisition and manipulation of computed tomography images of the maxillofacial region aiming at biomedical prototyping for surgical purposes. (author)

  14. Biomedical research in france and brazil: an analysis of significant differences and ethical issues

    OpenAIRE

    Hervé Moizan

    2016-01-01

    At first sight, Brazil and France seem pretty distant from one another, but on the map, they are not separated by the Atlantic Ocean, but by the Oyapock River, located between the state of Amapa and French Guiana (French overseas department), creating a 730 km long international border. If the distance does exist, it is very different when we finely analyze some similarities in the field of biomedical research. France is the biggest country of Western Europe and covers 1/5 of the European ...

  15. Some Aspects of the State-of-the-Arts in Biomedical Science ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Summary: In the biomedical sciences, there is need to generate solutions for Africa's health and economic problems through the impact of university research. To guide organizational transformation, the author here presents some aspects of the state-of-the-arts of biomedical science research in advanced countries using a ...

  16. [Big data, medical language and biomedical terminology systems].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schulz, Stefan; López-García, Pablo

    2015-08-01

    A variety of rich terminology systems, such as thesauri, classifications, nomenclatures and ontologies support information and knowledge processing in health care and biomedical research. Nevertheless, human language, manifested as individually written texts, persists as the primary carrier of information, in the description of disease courses or treatment episodes in electronic medical records, and in the description of biomedical research in scientific publications. In the context of the discussion about big data in biomedicine, we hypothesize that the abstraction of the individuality of natural language utterances into structured and semantically normalized information facilitates the use of statistical data analytics to distil new knowledge out of textual data from biomedical research and clinical routine. Computerized human language technologies are constantly evolving and are increasingly ready to annotate narratives with codes from biomedical terminology. However, this depends heavily on linguistic and terminological resources. The creation and maintenance of such resources is labor-intensive. Nevertheless, it is sensible to assume that big data methods can be used to support this process. Examples include the learning of hierarchical relationships, the grouping of synonymous terms into concepts and the disambiguation of homonyms. Although clear evidence is still lacking, the combination of natural language technologies, semantic resources, and big data analytics is promising.

  17. PhysiomeSpace: digital library service for biomedical data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Testi, Debora; Quadrani, Paolo; Viceconti, Marco

    2010-06-28

    Every research laboratory has a wealth of biomedical data locked up, which, if shared with other experts, could dramatically improve biomedical and healthcare research. With the PhysiomeSpace service, it is now possible with a few clicks to share with selected users biomedical data in an easy, controlled and safe way. The digital library service is managed using a client-server approach. The client application is used to import, fuse and enrich the data information according to the PhysiomeSpace resource ontology and upload/download the data to the library. The server services are hosted on the Biomed Town community portal, where through a web interface, the user can complete the metadata curation and share and/or publish the data resources. A search service capitalizes on the domain ontology and on the enrichment of metadata for each resource, providing a powerful discovery environment. Once the users have found the data resources they are interested in, they can add them to their basket, following a metaphor popular in e-commerce web sites. When all the necessary resources have been selected, the user can download the basket contents into the client application. The digital library service is now in beta and open to the biomedical research community.

  18. An information technology emphasis in biomedical informatics education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kane, Michael D; Brewer, Jeffrey L

    2007-02-01

    Unprecedented growth in the interdisciplinary domain of biomedical informatics reflects the recent advancements in genomic sequence availability, high-content biotechnology screening systems, as well as the expectations of computational biology to command a leading role in drug discovery and disease characterization. These forces have moved much of life sciences research almost completely into the computational domain. Importantly, educational training in biomedical informatics has been limited to students enrolled in the life sciences curricula, yet much of the skills needed to succeed in biomedical informatics involve or augment training in information technology curricula. This manuscript describes the methods and rationale for training students enrolled in information technology curricula in the field of biomedical informatics, which augments the existing information technology curriculum and provides training on specific subjects in Biomedical Informatics not emphasized in bioinformatics courses offered in life science programs, and does not require prerequisite courses in the life sciences.

  19. A study to assess the knowledge and practice on bio-medical waste ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Background: The proper handling and disposal of bio-medical waste is very imperative. Unfortunately, laxity and lack of adequate knowledge and practice on bio-medical waste disposal leads to staid health and environment apprehension. Aim: To assess the knowledge and practice on bio-medical waste management ...

  20. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and its application to biomedical research

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nakazawa, Mikio; Imai, Shoichi

    1988-07-01

    The principles of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy were explained and its application to biomedical research discussed. With /sup 31/P-NMR, it is feasible to conduct a continuous, non-invasive measurement of the contents of myocardial high-energy phosphate compounds and the intracellular pH (determined by monitoring the pH dependent shift of the inorganic phosphate peak relative to that of creatine phosphate), and to correlate them with the mechanical function. The determination of the free magnesium concentration is also possible on a similar principle to that for pH determination (the shift of MgATP peaks relative to ATP is utilized in this case). It is estimated to be 0.3 mM and was found not to be changed during ischemia. Several examples of studies including our own conducted to delineate the ischemic derangements of the myocardial energy metabolism and the effects of various interventions thereupon were illustrated. Finally a brief mention was made of the saturation transfer technique. This is the only method with which one can study the kinetics of the enzyme reactions under in vivo conditions. The application of the method for analysis of the creatine kinase reaction and the ATP synthesis was demonstrated. (author) 49 refs.

  1. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and its application to biomedical research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakazawa, Mikio; Imai, Shoichi

    1988-01-01

    The principles of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy were explained and its application to biomedical research discussed. With 31 P-NMR, it is feasible to conduct a continuous, non-invasive measurement of the contents of myocardial high-energy phosphate compounds and the intracellular pH (determined by monitoring the pH dependent shift of the inorganic phosphate peak relative to that of creatine phosphate), and to correlate them with the mechanical function. The determination of the free magnesium concentration is also possible on a similar principle to that for pH determination (the shift of MgATP peaks relative to ATP is utilized in this case). It is estimated to be 0.3 mM and was found not to be changed during ischemia. Several examples of studies including our own conducted to delineate the ischemic derangements of the myocardial energy metabolism and the effects of various interventions thereupon were illustrated. Finally a brief mention was made of the saturation transfer technique. This is the only method with which one can study the kinetics of the enzyme reactions under in vivo conditions. The application of the method for analysis of the creatine kinase reaction and the ATP synthesis was demonstrated. (author) 49 refs

  2. [Master course in biomedical engineering].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jobbágy, Akos; Benyó, Zoltán; Monos, Emil

    2009-11-22

    The Bologna Declaration aims at harmonizing the European higher education structure. In accordance with the Declaration, biomedical engineering will be offered as a master (MSc) course also in Hungary, from year 2009. Since 1995 biomedical engineering course has been held in cooperation of three universities: Semmelweis University, Budapest Veterinary University, and Budapest University of Technology and Economics. One of the latter's faculties, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, has been responsible for the course. Students could start their biomedical engineering studies - usually in parallel with their first degree course - after they collected at least 180 ECTS credits. Consequently, the biomedical engineering course could have been considered as a master course even before the Bologna Declaration. Students had to collect 130 ECTS credits during the six-semester course. This is equivalent to four-semester full-time studies, because during the first three semesters the curriculum required to gain only one third of the usual ECTS credits. The paper gives a survey on the new biomedical engineering master course, briefly summing up also the subjects in the curriculum.

  3. Sagace: A web-based search engine for biomedical databases in Japan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morita Mizuki

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In the big data era, biomedical research continues to generate a large amount of data, and the generated information is often stored in a database and made publicly available. Although combining data from multiple databases should accelerate further studies, the current number of life sciences databases is too large to grasp features and contents of each database. Findings We have developed Sagace, a web-based search engine that enables users to retrieve information from a range of biological databases (such as gene expression profiles and proteomics data and biological resource banks (such as mouse models of disease and cell lines. With Sagace, users can search more than 300 databases in Japan. Sagace offers features tailored to biomedical research, including manually tuned ranking, a faceted navigation to refine search results, and rich snippets constructed with retrieved metadata for each database entry. Conclusions Sagace will be valuable for experts who are involved in biomedical research and drug development in both academia and industry. Sagace is freely available at http://sagace.nibio.go.jp/en/.

  4. 5th International Conference on Biomedical Engineering in Vietnam

    CERN Document Server

    Phuong, Tran

    2015-01-01

    This volume presents the proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on the Development of Biomedical Engineering in Vietnam which was held from June 16-18, 2014 in Ho Chi Minh City. The volume reflects the progress of Biomedical Engineering and discusses problems and solutions. I aims identifying new challenges, and shaping future directions for research in biomedical engineering fields including medical instrumentation, bioinformatics, biomechanics, medical imaging, drug delivery therapy, regenerative medicine and entrepreneurship in medical devices.

  5. Some Aspects of the State-of-the-Arts in Biomedical Science Research: A Perspective for Organizational Change in African Academia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    John, Theresa Adebola

    2014-12-29

    In the biomedical sciences, there is need to generate solutions for Africa's health and economic problems through the impact of university research. To guide organizational transformation, the author here presents some aspects of the state-of-the-arts of biomedical science research in advanced countries using a perspective derived from the FASEB journal publications. The author examines the thirty three peer reviewed scientific research articles in a centennial (April 2012) issue of the FASEB Journal [Volume 26(4)] using the following parameters: number of authors contributing to the paper; number of academic departments contributing to the paper; number of academic institutions contributing to the paper; funding of the research reported in the article. The articles were written by 7.97±0.61 authors from 3.46±0.3 departments of 2.79±0.29 institutions. The contributors were classified into four categories: basic sciences, clinical sciences, institutions and centers, and programs and labs. Amongst the publications, 21.2% were single disciplinary. Two tier collaboration amongst any two of the four categories were observed in 16/33 (48.5%) of the articles. Three tier and four tier collaborations were observed amongst 7/33 (21.2%) and 3/33 (9%) of the articles respectively. Therefore 26/33 (78.7%) of the articles were multidisciplinary. Collaborative efforts between basic science and clinical science departments were observed in 9/33 (27.3%) articles. Public funding through government agencies provided 85 out of a total of 143 (59.5%) grants. The collaborative and multidisciplinary nature and government support are characteristic of biomedical science in the US where research tends to result in solutions to problems and economic benefits.

  6. Analysis and Implementation of an Electronic Laboratory Notebook in a Biomedical Research Institute.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guerrero, Santiago; Dujardin, Gwendal; Cabrera-Andrade, Alejandro; Paz-Y-Miño, César; Indacochea, Alberto; Inglés-Ferrándiz, Marta; Nadimpalli, Hima Priyanka; Collu, Nicola; Dublanche, Yann; De Mingo, Ismael; Camargo, David

    2016-01-01

    Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) will probably replace paper laboratory notebooks (PLNs) in academic research due to their advantages in data recording, sharing and security. Despite several reports describing technical characteristics of ELNs and their advantages over PLNs, no study has directly tested ELN performance among researchers. In addition, the usage of tablet-based devices or wearable technology as ELN complements has never been explored in the field. To implement an ELN in our biomedical research institute, here we first present a technical comparison of six ELNs using 42 parameters. Based on this, we chose two ELNs, which were tested by 28 scientists for a 3-month period and by 80 students via hands-on practical exercises. Second, we provide two survey-based studies aimed to compare these two ELNs (PerkinElmer Elements and Microsoft OneNote) and to analyze the use of tablet-based devices. We finally explore the advantages of using wearable technology as ELNs tools. Among the ELNs tested, we found that OneNote presents almost all parameters evaluated (39/42) and both surveyed groups preferred OneNote as an ELN solution. In addition, 80% of the surveyed scientists reported that tablet-based devices improved the use of ELNs in different respects. We also describe the advantages of using OneNote application for Apple Watch as an ELN wearable complement. This work defines essential features of ELNs that could be used to improve ELN implementation and software development.

  7. Analysis and Implementation of an Electronic Laboratory Notebook in a Biomedical Research Institute.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Santiago Guerrero

    Full Text Available Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs will probably replace paper laboratory notebooks (PLNs in academic research due to their advantages in data recording, sharing and security. Despite several reports describing technical characteristics of ELNs and their advantages over PLNs, no study has directly tested ELN performance among researchers. In addition, the usage of tablet-based devices or wearable technology as ELN complements has never been explored in the field. To implement an ELN in our biomedical research institute, here we first present a technical comparison of six ELNs using 42 parameters. Based on this, we chose two ELNs, which were tested by 28 scientists for a 3-month period and by 80 students via hands-on practical exercises. Second, we provide two survey-based studies aimed to compare these two ELNs (PerkinElmer Elements and Microsoft OneNote and to analyze the use of tablet-based devices. We finally explore the advantages of using wearable technology as ELNs tools. Among the ELNs tested, we found that OneNote presents almost all parameters evaluated (39/42 and both surveyed groups preferred OneNote as an ELN solution. In addition, 80% of the surveyed scientists reported that tablet-based devices improved the use of ELNs in different respects. We also describe the advantages of using OneNote application for Apple Watch as an ELN wearable complement. This work defines essential features of ELNs that could be used to improve ELN implementation and software development.

  8. Biomedical photonics handbook biomedical diagnostics

    CERN Document Server

    Vo-Dinh, Tuan

    2014-01-01

    Shaped by Quantum Theory, Technology, and the Genomics RevolutionThe integration of photonics, electronics, biomaterials, and nanotechnology holds great promise for the future of medicine. This topic has recently experienced an explosive growth due to the noninvasive or minimally invasive nature and the cost-effectiveness of photonic modalities in medical diagnostics and therapy. The second edition of the Biomedical Photonics Handbook presents fundamental developments as well as important applications of biomedical photonics of interest to scientists, engineers, manufacturers, teachers, studen

  9. Computer Science, Biology and Biomedical Informatics academy: Outcomes from 5 years of Immersing High-school Students into Informatics Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Andrew J; Fisher, Arielle M; Becich, Michael J; Boone, David N

    2017-01-01

    The University of Pittsburgh's Department of Biomedical Informatics and Division of Pathology Informatics created a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) pipeline in 2011 dedicated to providing cutting-edge informatics research and career preparatory experiences to a diverse group of highly motivated high-school students. In this third editorial installment describing the program, we provide a brief overview of the pipeline, report on achievements of the past scholars, and present results from self-reported assessments by the 2015 cohort of scholars. The pipeline continues to expand with the 2015 addition of the innovation internship, and the introduction of a program in 2016 aimed at offering first-time research experiences to undergraduates who are underrepresented in pathology and biomedical informatics. Achievements of program scholars include authorship of journal articles, symposium and summit presentations, and attendance at top 25 universities. All of our alumni matriculated into higher education and 90% remain in STEM majors. The 2015 high-school program had ten participating scholars who self-reported gains in confidence in their research abilities and understanding of what it means to be a scientist.

  10. Biomedical engineering principles

    CERN Document Server

    Ritter, Arthur B; Valdevit, Antonio; Ascione, Alfred N

    2011-01-01

    Introduction: Modeling of Physiological ProcessesCell Physiology and TransportPrinciples and Biomedical Applications of HemodynamicsA Systems Approach to PhysiologyThe Cardiovascular SystemBiomedical Signal ProcessingSignal Acquisition and ProcessingTechniques for Physiological Signal ProcessingExamples of Physiological Signal ProcessingPrinciples of BiomechanicsPractical Applications of BiomechanicsBiomaterialsPrinciples of Biomedical Capstone DesignUnmet Clinical NeedsEntrepreneurship: Reasons why Most Good Designs Never Get to MarketAn Engineering Solution in Search of a Biomedical Problem

  11. Additive Manufacturing of Biomedical Constructs with Biomimetic Structural Organizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xiao; He, Jiankang; Zhang, Weijie; Jiang, Nan; Li, Dichen

    2016-11-09

    Additive manufacturing (AM), sometimes called three-dimensional (3D) printing, has attracted a lot of research interest and is presenting unprecedented opportunities in biomedical fields, because this technology enables the fabrication of biomedical constructs with great freedom and in high precision. An important strategy in AM of biomedical constructs is to mimic the structural organizations of natural biological organisms. This can be done by directly depositing cells and biomaterials, depositing biomaterial structures before seeding cells, or fabricating molds before casting biomaterials and cells. This review organizes the research advances of AM-based biomimetic biomedical constructs into three major directions: 3D constructs that mimic tubular and branched networks of vasculatures; 3D constructs that contains gradient interfaces between different tissues; and 3D constructs that have different cells positioned to create multicellular systems. Other recent advances are also highlighted, regarding the applications of AM for organs-on-chips, AM-based micro/nanostructures, and functional nanomaterials. Under this theme, multiple aspects of AM including imaging/characterization, material selection, design, and printing techniques are discussed. The outlook at the end of this review points out several possible research directions for the future.

  12. User needs analysis and usability assessment of DataMed - a biomedical data discovery index.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dixit, Ram; Rogith, Deevakar; Narayana, Vidya; Salimi, Mandana; Gururaj, Anupama; Ohno-Machado, Lucila; Xu, Hua; Johnson, Todd R

    2017-11-30

    To present user needs and usability evaluations of DataMed, a Data Discovery Index (DDI) that allows searching for biomedical data from multiple sources. We conducted 2 phases of user studies. Phase 1 was a user needs analysis conducted before the development of DataMed, consisting of interviews with researchers. Phase 2 involved iterative usability evaluations of DataMed prototypes. We analyzed data qualitatively to document researchers' information and user interface needs. Biomedical researchers' information needs in data discovery are complex, multidimensional, and shaped by their context, domain knowledge, and technical experience. User needs analyses validate the need for a DDI, while usability evaluations of DataMed show that even though aggregating metadata into a common search engine and applying traditional information retrieval tools are promising first steps, there remain challenges for DataMed due to incomplete metadata and the complexity of data discovery. Biomedical data poses distinct problems for search when compared to websites or publications. Making data available is not enough to facilitate biomedical data discovery: new retrieval techniques and user interfaces are necessary for dataset exploration. Consistent, complete, and high-quality metadata are vital to enable this process. While available data and researchers' information needs are complex and heterogeneous, a successful DDI must meet those needs and fit into the processes of biomedical researchers. Research directions include formalizing researchers' information needs, standardizing overviews of data to facilitate relevance judgments, implementing user interfaces for concept-based searching, and developing evaluation methods for open-ended discovery systems such as DDIs. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

  13. Biomedical research involving patients with disorders of consciousness: ethical and legal dimensions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michele Farisco

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The directive 2001/20/UE and the research involving patients with docs. Research involving patients with disorders of consciousness (DOCs deserves special ethical and legal attention because of its Janus-faced nature. On the one hand, it raises concerns about the risk to expose the involved subjects to disproportionate risks not respecting their individual dignity, particularly their right to be cared for; on the other hand, research is an essential tool in order to improve the clinical condition of patients with DOCs. The present paper concerns the ethical and legal dimensions of biomedical research involving patients with disorders of consciousness. In particular, it focuses on informed consent to experimental treatments, which is a challenging issue both from an ethical and legal point of view. The first part reads the Directive 2001/20/EU in the light of the experimentation of patients with DOCs, and suggests a revision in order to better assess the issue of informed consent. The particular case of informed consent for observational studies of non-communicative patients. The second part presents an informed consent form for studies through video-recording of patients unable to communicate their own consent. This form has been elaborated by the bioethics unit of the project "Review of the nosography of vegetative states: application of methods of behavioral analysis to individuals in coma or vegetative state" developed at the Italian National Institute of Health. Relevance of the suggested form. The paper describes the conceptual framework of the form for informed consent to studies through video-recoding, which is a relevant example of what issues should be included in an informed consent for any type of studies through video-recording of patients unable to express their own consent. The article has been sent on November the 7th 2013, before the adoption of the Regulation (EU no. 536/2014 (and consequent abrogation of the Directive 2001

  14. Biomedical engineering and the whitaker foundation: a thirty-year partnership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katona, Peter G

    2006-06-01

    The Whitaker Foundation, established in 1976, will close in 2006. It will have made awards totaling 805 million US dollars, with over 710 million US dollars in biomedical engineering. Close to 1,500 faculty members received research grants to help them establish academic careers in biomedical engineering, and over 400 graduate students received fellowship support. The Foundation also supported the enhancement or establishment of educational programs in biomedical engineering, especially encouraging the formation of departments. The number of biomedical engineering departments almost tripled during the past 10 years, now numbering close to 75. Leveraging of grants enabled the construction of 13 new buildings. With the field firmly established, the grant program supporting new faculty members will be the one missed the most. New opportunities, however, are emerging as interdisciplinary research is being embraced by both public and private funding sources. The life sciences will be increasingly incorporated into all areas of engineering, and it is expected that such "biofication" will pose both opportunities and challenges to biomedical engineering.

  15. Cloud computing applications for biomedical science: A perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navale, Vivek; Bourne, Philip E

    2018-06-01

    Biomedical research has become a digital data-intensive endeavor, relying on secure and scalable computing, storage, and network infrastructure, which has traditionally been purchased, supported, and maintained locally. For certain types of biomedical applications, cloud computing has emerged as an alternative to locally maintained traditional computing approaches. Cloud computing offers users pay-as-you-go access to services such as hardware infrastructure, platforms, and software for solving common biomedical computational problems. Cloud computing services offer secure on-demand storage and analysis and are differentiated from traditional high-performance computing by their rapid availability and scalability of services. As such, cloud services are engineered to address big data problems and enhance the likelihood of data and analytics sharing, reproducibility, and reuse. Here, we provide an introductory perspective on cloud computing to help the reader determine its value to their own research.

  16. Blockchain distributed ledger technologies for biomedical and health care applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuo, Tsung-Ting; Kim, Hyeon-Eui; Ohno-Machado, Lucila

    2017-11-01

    To introduce blockchain technologies, including their benefits, pitfalls, and the latest applications, to the biomedical and health care domains. Biomedical and health care informatics researchers who would like to learn about blockchain technologies and their applications in the biomedical/health care domains. The covered topics include: (1) introduction to the famous Bitcoin crypto-currency and the underlying blockchain technology; (2) features of blockchain; (3) review of alternative blockchain technologies; (4) emerging nonfinancial distributed ledger technologies and applications; (5) benefits of blockchain for biomedical/health care applications when compared to traditional distributed databases; (6) overview of the latest biomedical/health care applications of blockchain technologies; and (7) discussion of the potential challenges and proposed solutions of adopting blockchain technologies in biomedical/health care domains. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association.

  17. Lessons Learned from Development of De-identification System for Biomedical Research in a Korean Tertiary Hospital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shin, Soo-Yong; Lyu, Yongman; Shin, Yongdon; Choi, Hyo Joung; Park, Jihyun; Kim, Woo-Sung; Lee, Jae Ho

    2013-06-01

    The Korean government has enacted two laws, namely, the Personal Information Protection Act and the Bioethics and Safety Act to prevent the unauthorized use of medical information. To protect patients' privacy by complying with governmental regulations and improve the convenience of research, Asan Medical Center has been developing a de-identification system for biomedical research. We reviewed Korean regulations to define the scope of the de-identification methods and well-known previous biomedical research platforms to extract the functionalities of the systems. Based on these review results, we implemented necessary programs based on the Asan Medical Center Information System framework which was built using the Microsoft. NET Framework and C#. The developed de-identification system comprises three main components: a de-identification tool, a search tool, and a chart review tool. The de-identification tool can substitute a randomly assigned research ID for a hospital patient ID, remove the identifiers in the structured format, and mask them in the unstructured format, i.e., texts. This tool achieved 98.14% precision and 97.39% recall for 6,520 clinical notes. The search tool can find the number of patients which satisfies given search criteria. The chart review tool can provide de-identified patient's clinical data for review purposes. We found that a clinical data warehouse was essential for successful implementation of the de-identification system, and this system should be tightly linked to an electronic Institutional Review Board system for easy operation of honest brokers. Additionally, we found that a secure cloud environment could be adopted to protect patients' privacy more thoroughly.

  18. The impact of biomedical innovation on longevity and health

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frank R Lichtenberg

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Many authors have expressed the view that a substantial portion of recent gains in longevity and health is due to biomedical research and innovation. This article describes the methodologies and findings of a number of studies based on observational data that have sought to measure the impact of biomedical innovation on the longevity and health of Americans and other populations during recent decades. Most of these studies have examined the impact of innovation in pharmaceuticals, the most research-intensive medical good or service. Two measures of medical innovation that have been used are the mean vintage of the medical goods or procedures used by an individual or population, and the number of distinct products (e.g. drugs available for treating a condition. Longevity (e.g. time till death is the health outcome that has been analyzed the most, but several studies have studied the impact of medical (i.e. pharmaceutical innovation on the ability of people to work or engage in activities of daily living. Some studies have been based on cross-sectional patient-level data. Others have been based on longitudinal, region-level data; they have investigated whether regions (e.g. states undergoing more rapid medical innovation have exhibited larger improvements in health. And some studies have been based on longitudinal, disease-level data; they have investigated whether the medical conditions undergoing more rapid innovation have exhibited larger gains in health outcomes. Innovation related to some specific major diseases (e.g. cardiovascular disease and cancer has been investigated, but the overall impact of innovation related to other major diseases (e.g. diabetes has not.These studies provide considerable support for the hypothesis that a substantial portion of recent gains in longevity and health is due to biomedical research and innovation. It would be desirable to apply these methods to data from developing countries.

  19. Biomedical engineering fundamentals

    CERN Document Server

    Bronzino, Joseph D

    2014-01-01

    Known as the bible of biomedical engineering, The Biomedical Engineering Handbook, Fourth Edition, sets the standard against which all other references of this nature are measured. As such, it has served as a major resource for both skilled professionals and novices to biomedical engineering.Biomedical Engineering Fundamentals, the first volume of the handbook, presents material from respected scientists with diverse backgrounds in physiological systems, biomechanics, biomaterials, bioelectric phenomena, and neuroengineering. More than three dozen specific topics are examined, including cardia

  20. Journal of Medical and Biomedical Sciences

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... The Journal of Medical and Biomedical Science publishes original, novel, peer-reviewed reports that pertain to medical and allied health sciences; confirmatory reports of previously ...

  1. Customizable Electronic Laboratory Online (CELO): A Web-based Data Management System Builder for Biomedical Research Laboratories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fong, Christine; Brinkley, James F.

    2006-01-01

    A common challenge among today’s biomedical research labs is managing growing amounts of research data. In order to reduce the time and resource costs of building data management tools, we designed the Customizable Electronic Laboratory Online (CELO) system. CELO automatically creates a generic database and web interface for laboratories that submit a simple web registration form. Laboratories can then use a collection of predefined XML templates to assist with the design of a database schema. Users can immediately utilize the web-based system to query data, manage multimedia files, and securely share data remotely over the internet. PMID:17238541

  2. National Biomedical Tracer Facility (NBTF). Project definition study: Phase I

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lagunas-Solar, M.C.

    1995-02-15

    This report describes a five-year plan for the construction and commissioning of a reliable and versatile NBTF facility for the production of high-quality, high-yield radioisotopes for research, biomedical, and industrial applications. The report is organized in nine sections providing, in consecutive order, responses to the nine questions posed by the U.S. Department of Energy in its solicitation for the NBTF Project Definition Study. In order to preserve direct correspondence (e.g., Sec. 3 = 3rd item), this Introduction is numbered {open_quotes}0.{close_quotes} Accelerator and facility designs are covered in Section 1 (Accelerator Design) and Section 2 (Facility Design). Preliminary estimates of capital costs are detailed in Section 3 (Design and Construction Costs). Full licensing requirements, including federal, state, and local ordinances, are discussed in Section 4 (Permits). A plan for the management of hazardous materials to be generated by NBTF is presented in Section 5 (Waste Management). An evaluation of NBTF`s economic viability and its potential market impact is detailed in Section 6(Business Plan), and is complemented by the plans in Section 7 (Operating Plan) and Section 8 (Radioisotope Plan). Finally, a plan for NBTF`s research, education, and outreach programs is presented in Section 9 (Research and Education Programs).

  3. Medical and biomedical applications of shock waves

    CERN Document Server

    Loske, Achim M

    2017-01-01

    This book provides current, comprehensive, and clear explanations of the physics behind medical and biomedical applications of shock waves. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is one of the greatest medical advances of our time, and its techniques and clinical devices are continuously evolving. Further research continues to improve the understanding of calculi fragmentation and tissue-damaging mechanisms. Shock waves are also used in orthopedics and traumatology. Possible applications in oncology, cardiology, dentistry, gene therapy, cell transfection, transformation of fungi and bacteria, as well as the inactivation of microorganisms are promising approaches for clinical treatment, industrial applications and research. Medical and Biomedical Applications of Shock Waves is useful as a guide for students, technicians and researchers working in universities and laboratories. Chemists, biologists, physicians and veterinarians, involved in research or clinical practice will find useful advice, but also engineer...

  4. The role of the biomedical physicist in the education of the healthcare professions: An EFOMP project

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Caruana, C.J.; Wasilewska-Radwanska, M.; Aurengo, A.; Dendy, P.P.; Karenauskaite, V.; Malisan, M.R.; Meijer, J.H.; Mornstein, V.; Rokita, E.; Vano, E.; Wucherer, M.

    2009-01-01

    The role of the biomedical physicist in the education of the healthcare professions has not yet been studied in a systematic manner. This article presents the first results of an EFOMP project aimed at researching and developing this important component of the role of the biomedical physicist. A

  5. Knowledge, attitude, and practices about biomedical waste management among healthcare personnel: A cross-sectional study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vanesh Mathur

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: The waste produced in the course of healthcare activities carries a higher potential for infection and injury than any other type of waste. Inadequate and inappropriate knowledge of handling of healthcare waste may have serious health consequences and a significant impact on the environment as well. Objective: The objective was to assess knowledge, attitude, and practices of doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, and sanitary staff regarding biomedical waste management. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Setting: The study was conducted among hospitals (bed capacity >100 of Allahabad city. Participants: Medical personnel included were doctors (75, nurses (60, laboratory technicians (78, and sanitary staff (70. Results: Doctors, nurses, and laboratory technicians have better knowledge than sanitary staff regarding biomedical waste management. Knowledge regarding the color coding and waste segregation at source was found to be better among nurses and laboratory staff as compared to doctors. Regarding practices related to biomedical waste management, sanitary staff were ignorant on all the counts. However, injury reporting was low across all the groups of health professionals. Conclusion: The importance of training regarding biomedical waste management needs emphasis; lack of proper and complete knowledge about biomedical waste management impacts practices of appropriate waste disposal.

  6. Contribution for labelling study of cellular and molecular structures of biomedical interest with technetium 99

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rebello, L.H.; Piotkwosky, M.C.; Pereira, J.A.A.; Boasquevisque, E.M.; Silva, J.R.M.; Reis, R.J.N.; Pires, E.T.; Bernardo-Filho, M.

    1992-01-01

    The methodologies for labelling bacteria, planaria and cercaria from schistosomiasis evolution cycle and in oxamniquine with technetium 99 m, developed in the Biomedical Center of Rio de Janeiro University and in the Research Center of National Institute of Cancer are shown. (C.G.C.)

  7. Biomedical informatics and the convergence of Nano-Bio-Info-Cogno (NBIC) technologies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin-Sanchez, F; Maojo, V

    2009-01-01

    To analyze the role that biomedical informatics could play in the application of the NBIC Converging Technologies in the medical field and raise awareness of these new areas throughout the Biomedical Informatics community. Review of the literature and analysis of the reference documents in this domain from the biomedical informatics perspective. Detailing existing developments showing that partial convergence of technologies have already yielded relevant results in biomedicine (such as bioinformatics or biochips). Input from current projects in which the authors are involved is also used. Information processing is a key issue in enabling the convergence of NBIC technologies. Researchers in biomedical informatics are in a privileged position to participate and actively develop this new scientific direction. The experience of biomedical informaticians in five decades of research in the medical area and their involvement in the completion of the Human and other genome projects will help them participate in a similar role for the development of applications of converging technologies -particularly in nanomedicine. The proposed convergence will bring bridges between traditional disciplines. Particular attention should be placed on the ethical, legal, and social issues raised by the NBIC convergence. These technologies provide new directions for research and education in Biomedical Informatics placing a greater emphasis in multidisciplinary approaches.

  8. Biomedical Applications of Zinc Oxide Nanomaterials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yin; Nayak, Tapas R.; Hong, Hao; Cai, Weibo

    2013-01-01

    Nanotechnology has witnessed tremendous advancement over the last several decades. Zinc oxide (ZnO), which can exhibit a wide variety of nanostructures, possesses unique semiconducting, optical, and piezoelectric properties hence has been investigated for a wide variety of applications. One of the most important features of ZnO nanomaterials is low toxicity and biodegradability. Zn2+ is an indispensable trace element for adults (~10 mg of Zn2+ per day is recommended) and it is involved in various aspects of metabolism. Chemically, the surface of ZnO is rich in -OH groups, which can be readily functionalized by various surface decorating molecules. In this review article, we summarized the current status of the use of ZnO nanomaterials for biomedical applications, such as biomedical imaging (which includes fluorescence, magnetic resonance, positron emission tomography, as well as dual-modality imaging), drug delivery, gene delivery, and biosensing of a wide array of molecules of interest. Research in biomedical applications of ZnO nanomaterials will continue to flourish over the next decade, and much research effort will be needed to develop biocompatible/biodegradable ZnO nanoplatforms for potential clinical translation. PMID:24206130

  9. Adolf Friedrich Fercher: a pioneer of biomedical optics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hitzenberger, Christoph K

    2017-11-01

    Adolf Friedrich Fercher, an outstanding pioneer of biomedical optics, passed away earlier this year. He was a brilliant and visionary researcher who pioneered various fields of biomedical optics, such as laser speckle flowgraphy, tissue interferometry, and optical coherence tomography (OCT). On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of OCT, this paper reviews and commemorates Fercher's pioneering work. (2017) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).

  10. Using the Emanuel et al. framework to assess ethical issues raised by a biomedical research ethics committee in South Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsoka-Gwegweni, Joyce M; Wassenaar, Douglas R

    2014-12-01

    The Emanuel, Wendler, and Grady framework was designed as a universal tool for use in many settings including developing countries. However, it is not known whether the work of African health research ethics committees (RECs) is compatible with this framework. The absence of any normative or empirical weighting of the eight principles within this framework suggests that different health RECs may raise some ethical issues more frequently than others when reviewing protocols. We used the Emanuel et al. framework to assess, code, and rank the most frequent ethical issues considered by a biomedical REC during review of research protocols for the years 2008 to 2012. We extracted data from the recorded minutes of a South African biomedical REC for the years 2008 to 2012, designed the data collection sheet according to the Emanuel et al. framework, and removed all identifiers during data processing and analysis. From the 98 protocols that we assessed, the most frequent issues that emerged were the informed consent, scientific validity, fair participant selection, and ongoing respect for participants. This study represents the first known attempt to analyze REC responses/minutes using the Emanuel et al. framework, and suggests that this framework may be useful in describing and categorizing the core activities of an REC. © The Author(s) 2014.

  11. Providing Experiential Business and Management Training for Biomedical Research Trainees

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petrie, Kimberly A.; Carnahan, Robert H.; Brown, Abigail M.; Gould, Kathleen L.

    2017-01-01

    Many biomedical PhD trainees lack exposure to business principles, which limits their competitiveness and effectiveness in academic and industry careers. To fill this training gap, we developed Business and Management Principles for Scientists, a semester-long program that combined didactic exposure to business fundamentals with practical…

  12. Strom Thurmond Biomedical Research Center at the Medical Univesity for South Carolina Charleston, South Carolina

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1994-02-01

    The Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) evaluating the proposed construction and operation of the Strom Thurmond Biomedical Research Center (Center) at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), Charleston, SC. The DOE is evaluating a grant proposal to authorize the MUSC to construct, equip and operate the lower two floors of the proposed nine-story Center as an expansion of on-going clinical research and out-patient diagnostic activities of the Cardiology Division of the existing Gazes Cardiac Research Institute. Based on the analysis in the EA, the DOE has determined that the proposed action does not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the meaning of the NEPA. Therefore, the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement is not required.

  13. The use and misuse of biomedical data: is bigger really better?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffman, Sharona; Podgurski, Andy

    2013-01-01

    Very large biomedical research databases, containing electronic health records (EHR) and genomic data from millions of patients, have been heralded recently for their potential to accelerate scientific discovery and produce dramatic improvements in medical treatments. Research enabled by these databases may also lead to profound changes in law, regulation, social policy, and even litigation strategies. Yet, is "big data" necessarily better data? This paper makes an original contribution to the legal literature by focusing on what can go wrong in the process of biomedical database research and what precautions are necessary to avoid critical mistakes. We address three main reasons for approaching such research with care and being cautious in relying on its outcomes for purposes of public policy or litigation. First, the data contained in biomedical databases is surprisingly likely to be incorrect or incomplete. Second, systematic biases, arising from both the nature of the data and the preconceptions of investigators, are serious threats to the validity of research results, especially in answering causal questions. Third, data mining of biomedical databases makes it easier for individuals with political, social, or economic agendas to generate ostensibly scientific but misleading research findings for the purpose of manipulating public opinion and swaying policymakers. In short, this paper sheds much-needed light on the problems of credulous and uninformed acceptance of research results derived from biomedical databases. An understanding of the pitfalls of big data analysis is of critical importance to anyone who will rely on or dispute its outcomes, including lawyers, policymakers, and the public at large. The Article also recommends technical, methodological, and educational interventions to combat the dangers of database errors and abuses.

  14. From GRID to gridlock: the relationship between scientific biomedical breakthroughs and HIV/AIDS policy in the US Congress.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Platt, Matthew B; Platt, Manu O

    2013-11-27

    From the travel ban on people living with HIV (PLHIV) to resistance to needle exchange programmes, there are many examples where policy responses to HIV/AIDS in the United States seem divorced from behavioural, public health and sociological evidence. At its root, however, the unknowns about HIV/AIDS lie at biomedical science, and scientific researchers have made tremendous progress over the past 30 years of the epidemic by using antiretroviral therapy to increase the life expectancy of PLHIV almost to the same level as non-infected individuals; but a relationship between biomedical science discoveries and congressional responses to HIV/AIDS has not been studied. Using quantitative approaches, we directly examine the hypothesis that progress in HIV/AIDS biomedical science discoveries would have a correlative relationship with congressional response to HIV/AIDS from 1981 to 2010. This study used original data on every bill introduced, hearing held and law passed by the US Congress relating to HIV/AIDS over 30 years (1981-2010). We combined congressional data with the most cited and impactful biomedical research scientific publications over the same time period as a metric of biomedical science breakthroughs. Correlations between congressional policy and biomedical research were then analyzed at the aggregate and individual levels. Biomedical research advancements helped shape both the level and content of bill sponsorship on HIV/AIDS, but they had no effect on other stages of the legislative process. Examination of the content of bills and biomedical research indicated that science helped transform HIV/AIDS bill sponsorship from a niche concern of liberal Democrats to a bipartisan coalition when Republicans became the majority party. The trade-off for that expansion has been an emphasis on the global epidemic to the detriment of domestic policies and programmes. Breakthroughs in biomedical science did associate with the number and types of HIV/AIDS bills introduced

  15. Recent research and development in titanium alloys for biomedical applications and healthcare goods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mitsuo Niinomi

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Nb, Ta and Zr are the favorable non-toxic alloying elements for titanium alloys for biomedical applications. Low rigidity titanium alloys composed of non-toxic elements are getting much attention. The advantage of low rigidity titanium alloy for the healing of bone fracture and the remodeling of bone is successfully proved by fracture model made in tibia of rabbit. Ni-free super elastic and shape memory titanium alloys for biomedical applications are energetically developed. Titanium alloys for not only implants, but also dental products like crowns, dentures, etc. are also getting much attention in dentistry. Development of investment materials suitable for titanium alloys with high melting point is desired in dental precision castings. Bioactive surface modifications of titanium alloys for biomedical applications are very important for achieving further developed biocompatibility. Low cost titanium alloys for healthcare goods, like general wheel chairs, etc. has been recently proposed.

  16. Micro/Nanostructured Films and Adhesives for Biomedical Applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jungkyu K; Kang, Sung Min; Yang, Sung Ho; Cho, Woo Kyung

    2015-12-01

    The advanced technologies available for micro/nanofabrication have opened new avenues for interdisciplinary approaches to solve the unmet medical needs of regenerative medicine and biomedical devices. This review highlights the recent developments in micro/nanostructured adhesives and films for biomedical applications, including waterproof seals for wounds or surgery sites, drug delivery, sensing human body signals, and optical imaging of human tissues. We describe in detail the fabrication processes required to prepare the adhesives and films, such as tape-based adhesives, nanofilms, and flexible and stretchable film-based electronic devices. We also discuss their biomedical functions, performance in vitro and in vivo, and the future research needed to improve the current systems.

  17. Advances in electronic-nose technologies developed for biomedical applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dan Wilson; Manuela. Baietto

    2011-01-01

    The research and development of new electronic-nose applications in the biomedical field has accelerated at a phenomenal rate over the past 25 years. Many innovative e-nose technologies have provided solutions and applications to a wide variety of complex biomedical and healthcare problems. The purposes of this review are to present a comprehensive analysis of past and...

  18. PREFACE: 2nd International Conference and Young Scientist School ''Magnetic resonance imaging in biomedical research''

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naumova, A. V.; Khodanovich, M. Y.; Yarnykh, V. L.

    2016-02-01

    The Second International Conference and Young Scientist School ''Magnetic resonance imaging in biomedical research'' was held on the campus of the National Research Tomsk State University (Tomsk, Russia) on September 7-9, 2015. The conference was focused on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications for biomedical research. The main goal was to bring together basic scientists, clinical researchers and developers of new MRI techniques to bridge the gap between clinical/research needs and advanced technological solutions. The conference fostered research and development in basic and clinical MR science and its application to health care. It also had an educational purpose to promote understanding of cutting-edge MR developments. The conference provided an opportunity for researchers and clinicians to present their recent theoretical developments, practical applications, and to discuss unsolved problems. The program of the conference was divided into three main topics. First day of the conference was devoted to educational lectures on the fundamentals of MRI physics and image acquisition/reconstruction techniques, including recent developments in quantitative MRI. The second day was focused on developments and applications of new contrast agents. Multinuclear and spectroscopic acquisitions as well as functional MRI were presented during the third day of the conference. We would like to highlight the main developments presented at the conference and introduce the prominent speakers. The keynote speaker of the conference Dr. Vasily Yarnykh (University of Washington, Seattle, USA) presented a recently developed MRI method, macromolecular proton fraction (MPF) mapping, as a unique tool for modifying image contrast and a unique tool for quantification of the myelin content in neural tissues. Professor Yury Pirogov (Lomonosov Moscow State University) described development of new fluorocarbon compounds and applications for biomedicine. Drs. Julia Velikina and Alexey

  19. Development of a Pilot Data Management Infrastructure for Biomedical Researchers at University of Manchester – Approach, Findings, Challenges and Outlook of the MaDAM Project

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meik Poschen

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Management and curation of digital data has been becoming ever more important in a higher education and research environment characterised by large and complex data, demand for more interdisciplinary and collaborative work, extended funder requirements and use of e-infrastructures to facilitate new research methods and paradigms. This paper presents the approach, technical infrastructure, findings, challenges and outlook (including future development within the successor project, MiSS of the ‘MaDAM: Pilot data management infrastructure for biomedical researchers at University of Manchester’ project funded under the infrastructure strand of the JISC Managing Research Data (JISCMRD programme. MaDAM developed a pilot research data management solution at the University of Manchester based on biomedical researchers’ requirements, which includes technical and governance components with the flexibility to meet future needs across multiple research groups and disciplines.

  20. Introduction to biomedical engineering

    CERN Document Server

    Enderle, John D; Blanchard, Susan M

    2005-01-01

    Under the direction of John Enderle, Susan Blanchard and Joe Bronzino, leaders in the field have contributed chapters on the most relevant subjects for biomedical engineering students. These chapters coincide with courses offered in all biomedical engineering programs so that it can be used at different levels for a variety of courses of this evolving field. Introduction to Biomedical Engineering, Second Edition provides a historical perspective of the major developments in the biomedical field. Also contained within are the fundamental principles underlying biomedical engineering design, analysis, and modeling procedures. The numerous examples, drill problems and exercises are used to reinforce concepts and develop problem-solving skills making this book an invaluable tool for all biomedical students and engineers. New to this edition: Computational Biology, Medical Imaging, Genomics and Bioinformatics. * 60% update from first edition to reflect the developing field of biomedical engineering * New chapters o...

  1. Computer science, biology and biomedical informatics academy: outcomes from 5 years of immersing high-school students into informatics research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew J King

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The University of Pittsburgh's Department of Biomedical Informatics and Division of Pathology Informatics created a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM pipeline in 2011 dedicated to providing cutting-edge informatics research and career preparatory experiences to a diverse group of highly motivated high-school students. In this third editorial installment describing the program, we provide a brief overview of the pipeline, report on achievements of the past scholars, and present results from self-reported assessments by the 2015 cohort of scholars. The pipeline continues to expand with the 2015 addition of the innovation internship, and the introduction of a program in 2016 aimed at offering first-time research experiences to undergraduates who are underrepresented in pathology and biomedical informatics. Achievements of program scholars include authorship of journal articles, symposium and summit presentations, and attendance at top 25 universities. All of our alumni matriculated into higher education and 90% remain in STEM majors. The 2015 high-school program had ten participating scholars who self-reported gains in confidence in their research abilities and understanding of what it means to be a scientist.

  2. Action GRID: assessing the impact of Nanotechnology on biomedical informatics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez-Alonso, Victoria; Hermosilla-Gimeno, Isabel; Lopez-Campos, Guillermo; Maojo, Victor; Martin-Sanchez, Fernando J

    2008-11-06

    Recent advances in Nanotechnology are slowly extending their influence in biomedical research and clinical practice (nanomedicine). The authors have recently been granted with an European Commission research project, Action-GRID. This initiative will review current developments in nanomedicine, and analyze the area of nanoinformatics. Its main outcome will be the identification of needs and the discussion of future challenges and priorities for Biomedical Informatics in terms of information processing in nanomedicine and regenerative medicine.

  3. Building a biomedical ontology recommender web service

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonquet Clement

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Researchers in biomedical informatics use ontologies and terminologies to annotate their data in order to facilitate data integration and translational discoveries. As the use of ontologies for annotation of biomedical datasets has risen, a common challenge is to identify ontologies that are best suited to annotating specific datasets. The number and variety of biomedical ontologies is large, and it is cumbersome for a researcher to figure out which ontology to use. Methods We present the Biomedical Ontology Recommender web service. The system uses textual metadata or a set of keywords describing a domain of interest and suggests appropriate ontologies for annotating or representing the data. The service makes a decision based on three criteria. The first one is coverage, or the ontologies that provide most terms covering the input text. The second is connectivity, or the ontologies that are most often mapped to by other ontologies. The final criterion is size, or the number of concepts in the ontologies. The service scores the ontologies as a function of scores of the annotations created using the National Center for Biomedical Ontology (NCBO Annotator web service. We used all the ontologies from the UMLS Metathesaurus and the NCBO BioPortal. Results We compare and contrast our Recommender by an exhaustive functional comparison to previously published efforts. We evaluate and discuss the results of several recommendation heuristics in the context of three real world use cases. The best recommendations heuristics, rated ‘very relevant’ by expert evaluators, are the ones based on coverage and connectivity criteria. The Recommender service (alpha version is available to the community and is embedded into BioPortal.

  4. Multiscale computer modeling in biomechanics and biomedical engineering

    CERN Document Server

    2013-01-01

    This book reviews the state-of-the-art in multiscale computer modeling, in terms of both accomplishments and challenges. The information in the book is particularly useful for biomedical engineers, medical physicists and researchers in systems biology, mathematical biology, micro-biomechanics and biomaterials who are interested in how to bridge between traditional biomedical engineering work at the organ and tissue scales, and the newer arenas of cellular and molecular bioengineering.

  5. Biomedical signal and image processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cerutti, Sergio; Baselli, Giuseppe; Bianchi, Anna; Caiani, Enrico; Contini, Davide; Cubeddu, Rinaldo; Dercole, Fabio; Rienzo, Luca; Liberati, Diego; Mainardi, Luca; Ravazzani, Paolo; Rinaldi, Sergio; Signorini, Maria; Torricelli, Alessandro

    2011-01-01

    Generally, physiological modeling and biomedical signal processing constitute two important paradigms of biomedical engineering (BME): their fundamental concepts are taught starting from undergraduate studies and are more completely dealt with in the last years of graduate curricula, as well as in Ph.D. courses. Traditionally, these two cultural aspects were separated, with the first one more oriented to physiological issues and how to model them and the second one more dedicated to the development of processing tools or algorithms to enhance useful information from clinical data. A practical consequence was that those who did models did not do signal processing and vice versa. However, in recent years,the need for closer integration between signal processing and modeling of the relevant biological systems emerged very clearly [1], [2]. This is not only true for training purposes(i.e., to properly prepare the new professional members of BME) but also for the development of newly conceived research projects in which the integration between biomedical signal and image processing (BSIP) and modeling plays a crucial role. Just to give simple examples, topics such as brain–computer machine or interfaces,neuroengineering, nonlinear dynamical analysis of the cardiovascular (CV) system,integration of sensory-motor characteristics aimed at the building of advanced prostheses and rehabilitation tools, and wearable devices for vital sign monitoring and others do require an intelligent fusion of modeling and signal processing competences that are certainly peculiar of our discipline of BME.

  6. Mathematics and physics of emerging biomedical imaging

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Committee on the Mathematics and Physics of Emerging Dynamic Biomedical Imaging, National Research Council

    .... Incorporating input from dozens of biomedical researchers who described what they perceived as key open problems of imaging that are amenable to attack by mathematical scientists and physicists...

  7. Writing intelligible English prose for biomedical journals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ludbrook, John

    2007-01-01

    1. I present a combination of semi-objective and subjective evidence that the quality of English prose in biomedical scientific writing is deteriorating. 2. I consider seven possible strategies for reversing this apparent trend. These refer to a greater emphasis on good writing by students in schools and by university students, consulting books on science writing, one-on-one mentoring, using 'scientific' measures to reveal lexical poverty, making use of freelance science editors and encouraging the editors of biomedical journals to pay more attention to the problem. 3. I conclude that a fruitful, long-term, strategy would be to encourage more biomedical scientists to embark on a career in science editing. This strategy requires a complementary initiative on the part of biomedical research institutions and universities to employ qualified science editors. 4. An immediately realisable strategy is to encourage postgraduate students in the biomedical sciences to undertake the service courses provided by many universities on writing English prose in general and scientific prose in particular. This strategy would require that heads of departments and supervisors urge their postgraduate students to attend such courses. 5. Two major publishers of biomedical journals, Blackwell Publications and Elsevier Science, now provide lists of commercial editing services on their web sites. I strongly recommend that authors intending to submit manuscripts to their journals (including Blackwell's Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology) make use of these services. This recommendation applies especially to those for whom English is a second language.

  8. A Relation Extraction Framework for Biomedical Text Using Hybrid Feature Set

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdul Wahab Muzaffar

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The information extraction from unstructured text segments is a complex task. Although manual information extraction often produces the best results, it is harder to manage biomedical data extraction manually because of the exponential increase in data size. Thus, there is a need for automatic tools and techniques for information extraction in biomedical text mining. Relation extraction is a significant area under biomedical information extraction that has gained much importance in the last two decades. A lot of work has been done on biomedical relation extraction focusing on rule-based and machine learning techniques. In the last decade, the focus has changed to hybrid approaches showing better results. This research presents a hybrid feature set for classification of relations between biomedical entities. The main contribution of this research is done in the semantic feature set where verb phrases are ranked using Unified Medical Language System (UMLS and a ranking algorithm. Support Vector Machine and Naïve Bayes, the two effective machine learning techniques, are used to classify these relations. Our approach has been validated on the standard biomedical text corpus obtained from MEDLINE 2001. Conclusively, it can be articulated that our framework outperforms all state-of-the-art approaches used for relation extraction on the same corpus.

  9. The role of ontologies in biological and biomedical research: a functional perspective

    KAUST Repository

    Hoehndorf, Robert

    2015-04-10

    Ontologies are widely used in biological and biomedical research. Their success lies in their combination of four main features present in almost all ontologies: provision of standard identifiers for classes and relations that represent the phenomena within a domain; provision of a vocabulary for a domain; provision of metadata that describes the intended meaning of the classes and relations in ontologies; and the provision of machine-readable axioms and definitions that enable computational access to some aspects of the meaning of classes and relations. While each of these features enables applications that facilitate data integration, data access and analysis, a great potential lies in the possibility of combining these four features to support integrative analysis and interpretation of multimodal data. Here, we provide a functional perspective on ontologies in biology and biomedicine, focusing on what ontologies can do and describing how they can be used in support of integrative research. We also outline perspectives for using ontologies in data-driven science, in particular their application in structured data mining and machine learning applications.

  10. The role of ontologies in biological and biomedical research: a functional perspective

    KAUST Repository

    Hoehndorf, Robert; Schofield, P. N.; Gkoutos, G. V.

    2015-01-01

    Ontologies are widely used in biological and biomedical research. Their success lies in their combination of four main features present in almost all ontologies: provision of standard identifiers for classes and relations that represent the phenomena within a domain; provision of a vocabulary for a domain; provision of metadata that describes the intended meaning of the classes and relations in ontologies; and the provision of machine-readable axioms and definitions that enable computational access to some aspects of the meaning of classes and relations. While each of these features enables applications that facilitate data integration, data access and analysis, a great potential lies in the possibility of combining these four features to support integrative analysis and interpretation of multimodal data. Here, we provide a functional perspective on ontologies in biology and biomedicine, focusing on what ontologies can do and describing how they can be used in support of integrative research. We also outline perspectives for using ontologies in data-driven science, in particular their application in structured data mining and machine learning applications.

  11. KaBOB: ontology-based semantic integration of biomedical databases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Livingston, Kevin M; Bada, Michael; Baumgartner, William A; Hunter, Lawrence E

    2015-04-23

    The ability to query many independent biological databases using a common ontology-based semantic model would facilitate deeper integration and more effective utilization of these diverse and rapidly growing resources. Despite ongoing work moving toward shared data formats and linked identifiers, significant problems persist in semantic data integration in order to establish shared identity and shared meaning across heterogeneous biomedical data sources. We present five processes for semantic data integration that, when applied collectively, solve seven key problems. These processes include making explicit the differences between biomedical concepts and database records, aggregating sets of identifiers denoting the same biomedical concepts across data sources, and using declaratively represented forward-chaining rules to take information that is variably represented in source databases and integrating it into a consistent biomedical representation. We demonstrate these processes and solutions by presenting KaBOB (the Knowledge Base Of Biomedicine), a knowledge base of semantically integrated data from 18 prominent biomedical databases using common representations grounded in Open Biomedical Ontologies. An instance of KaBOB with data about humans and seven major model organisms can be built using on the order of 500 million RDF triples. All source code for building KaBOB is available under an open-source license. KaBOB is an integrated knowledge base of biomedical data representationally based in prominent, actively maintained Open Biomedical Ontologies, thus enabling queries of the underlying data in terms of biomedical concepts (e.g., genes and gene products, interactions and processes) rather than features of source-specific data schemas or file formats. KaBOB resolves many of the issues that routinely plague biomedical researchers intending to work with data from multiple data sources and provides a platform for ongoing data integration and development and for

  12. Functional supramolecular polymers for biomedical applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Ruijiao; Zhou, Yongfeng; Huang, Xiaohua; Zhu, Xinyuan; Lu, Yunfeng; Shen, Jian

    2015-01-21

    As a novel class of dynamic and non-covalent polymers, supramolecular polymers not only display specific structural and physicochemical properties, but also have the ability to undergo reversible changes of structure, shape, and function in response to diverse external stimuli, making them promising candidates for widespread applications ranging from academic research to industrial fields. By an elegant combination of dynamic/reversible structures with exceptional functions, functional supramolecular polymers are attracting increasing attention in various fields. In particular, functional supramolecular polymers offer several unique advantages, including inherent degradable polymer backbones, smart responsiveness to various biological stimuli, and the ease for the incorporation of multiple biofunctionalities (e.g., targeting and bioactivity), thereby showing great potential for a wide range of applications in the biomedical field. In this Review, the trends and representative achievements in the design and synthesis of supramolecular polymers with specific functions are summarized, as well as their wide-ranging biomedical applications such as drug delivery, gene transfection, protein delivery, bio-imaging and diagnosis, tissue engineering, and biomimetic chemistry. These achievements further inspire persistent efforts in an emerging interdisciplin-ary research area of supramolecular chemistry, polymer science, material science, biomedical engineering, and nanotechnology. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  13. Biomedical waste management: Study on the awareness and practice among healthcare workers in a tertiary teaching hospital

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L Joseph

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Bio-medical waste has a higher potential of infection and injury to the healthcare worker, patient and the surrounding community. Awareness programmes on their proper handling and management to healthcare workers can prevent the spread of infectious diseases and epidemics. This study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital to assess the impact of training, audits and education/implementations from 2009 to 2012 on awareness and practice of biomedical waste segregation. Our study reveals focused training, strict supervision, daily surveillance, audits inspections, involvement of hospital administrators and regular appraisals are essential to optimise the segregation of biomedical waste.

  14. Biomedical waste management: study on the awareness and practice among healthcare workers in a tertiary teaching hospital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joseph, L; Paul, H; Premkumar, J; Paul, R; Michael, J S

    2015-01-01

    Bio-medical waste has a higher potential of infection and injury to the healthcare worker, patient and the surrounding community. Awareness programmes on their proper handling and management to healthcare workers can prevent the spread of infectious diseases and epidemics. This study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital to assess the impact of training, audits and education/implementations from 2009 to 2012 on awareness and practice of biomedical waste segregation. Our study reveals focused training, strict supervision, daily surveillance, audits inspections, involvement of hospital administrators and regular appraisals are essential to optimise the segregation of biomedical waste.

  15. Are figure legends sufficient? Evaluating the contribution of associated text to biomedical figure comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Hong; Agarwal, Shashank; Johnston, Mark; Cohen, Aaron

    2009-01-06

    Biomedical scientists need to access figures to validate research facts and to formulate or to test novel research hypotheses. However, figures are difficult to comprehend without associated text (e.g., figure legend and other reference text). We are developing automated systems to extract the relevant explanatory information along with figures extracted from full text articles. Such systems could be very useful in improving figure retrieval and in reducing the workload of biomedical scientists, who otherwise have to retrieve and read the entire full-text journal article to determine which figures are relevant to their research. As a crucial step, we studied the importance of associated text in biomedical figure comprehension. Twenty subjects evaluated three figure-text combinations: figure+legend, figure+legend+title+abstract, and figure+full-text. Using a Likert scale, each subject scored each figure+text according to the extent to which the subject thought he/she understood the meaning of the figure and the confidence in providing the assigned score. Additionally, each subject entered a free text summary for each figure-text. We identified missing information using indicator words present within the text summaries. Both the Likert scores and the missing information were statistically analyzed for differences among the figure-text types. We also evaluated the quality of text summaries with the text-summarization evaluation method the ROUGE score. Our results showed statistically significant differences in figure comprehension when varying levels of text were provided. When the full-text article is not available, presenting just the figure+legend left biomedical researchers lacking 39-68% of the information about a figure as compared to having complete figure comprehension; adding the title and abstract improved the situation, but still left biomedical researchers missing 30% of the information. When the full-text article is available, figure comprehension

  16. A Program on Biochemical and Biomedical Engineering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    San, Ka-Yiu; McIntire, Larry V.

    1989-01-01

    Presents an introduction to the Biochemical and Biomedical Engineering program at Rice University. Describes the development of the academic and enhancement programs, including organizational structure and research project titles. (YP)

  17. The BioIntelligence Framework: a new computational platform for biomedical knowledge computing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farley, Toni; Kiefer, Jeff; Lee, Preston; Von Hoff, Daniel; Trent, Jeffrey M; Colbourn, Charles; Mousses, Spyro

    2013-01-01

    Breakthroughs in molecular profiling technologies are enabling a new data-intensive approach to biomedical research, with the potential to revolutionize how we study, manage, and treat complex diseases. The next great challenge for clinical applications of these innovations will be to create scalable computational solutions for intelligently linking complex biomedical patient data to clinically actionable knowledge. Traditional database management systems (DBMS) are not well suited to representing complex syntactic and semantic relationships in unstructured biomedical information, introducing barriers to realizing such solutions. We propose a scalable computational framework for addressing this need, which leverages a hypergraph-based data model and query language that may be better suited for representing complex multi-lateral, multi-scalar, and multi-dimensional relationships. We also discuss how this framework can be used to create rapid learning knowledge base systems to intelligently capture and relate complex patient data to biomedical knowledge in order to automate the recovery of clinically actionable information.

  18. Guidelines for Biomedical and Pharmacological Research Procedures and the Protection of Human Subjects in Residential Facilities for Mentally Retarded Persons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Association for Retarded Citizens, Arlington, TX. Research and Demonstration Inst.

    Guidelines are presented which were developed to aid federal, state, and local agencies prepare regulations concerning the use of mentally retarded subjects in biomedical and pharmacological research projects. Guidelines are set forth for the following topic areas (sample subtopics in parentheses): the formation of a Professional Review Committee…

  19. Towards precision medicine; a new biomedical cosmology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vegter, M W

    2018-02-10

    Precision Medicine has become a common label for data-intensive and patient-driven biomedical research. Its intended future is reflected in endeavours such as the Precision Medicine Initiative in the USA. This article addresses the question whether it is possible to discern a new 'medical cosmology' in Precision Medicine, a concept that was developed by Nicholas Jewson to describe comprehensive transformations involving various dimensions of biomedical knowledge and practice, such as vocabularies, the roles of patients and physicians and the conceptualisation of disease. Subsequently, I will elaborate my assessment of the features of Precision Medicine with the help of Michel Foucault, by exploring how precision medicine involves a transformation along three axes: the axis of biomedical knowledge, of biomedical power and of the patient as a self. Patients are encouraged to become the managers of their own health status, while the medical domain is reframed as a data-sharing community, characterised by changing power relationships between providers and patients, producers and consumers. While the emerging Precision Medicine cosmology may surpass existing knowledge frameworks; it obscures previous traditions and reduces research-subjects to mere data. This in turn, means that the individual is both subjected to the neoliberal demand to share personal information, and at the same time has acquired the positive 'right' to become a member of the data-sharing community. The subject has to constantly negotiate the meaning of his or her data, which can either enable self-expression, or function as a commanding Superego.

  20. Prompt-gamma spectrometry for the optimization of reactor neutron beams in biomedical research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borisov, G.I.; Komkov, M.M.; Leonov, V.F.

    1988-01-01

    In order to select the optimal spectral composition and size for the reactor neutron beams applied to in vivo analysis and therapy in biomedical research it is necessary to determine the spatial slow-neutron flux distributions produced by the beam in the irradiated object and to calculate or measure the neutron dose equivalents of both the original spectrum and the moderated neutrons. In this study the maximum neutron dose equivalents are found by spectrometry of the prompt-γ emission from the interaction of neutrons with atomic nuclei in the irradiated object. Different spectral distributions were produced by using an unfiltered beam together with filters of quartz, cadmium, 10 B, iron, aluminum, and sulfur. The phantom used was a tank filled with an aqueous solution of urea. Cadmium-containing organs were simulated. For in vivo neutron-activation analysis of human tissues at a depth of 2-5 cm it was found advisable to use neutrons of 20-40 keV mean energy with a beam area of at least 45 cm 2

  1. 'Well, It's the Risk of the Unknown… Right?': A Qualitative Study of Perceived Risks and Benefits of HIV Cure Research in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubé, Karine; Taylor, Jeff; Sylla, Laurie; Evans, David; Dee, Lynda; Burton, Alasdair; Willenberg, Loreen; Rennie, Stuart; Skinner, Asheley; Tucker, Joseph D; Weiner, Bryan J; Greene, Sandra B

    2017-01-01

    Biomedical research towards an HIV cure is advancing in the United States and elsewhere, yet little is known about perceptions of risks and benefits among potential study participants and other stakeholders. We conducted a qualitative study to explore perceived risks and benefits of investigational HIV cure research among people living with HIV (PLWHIV), biomedical HIV cure researchers, policy-makers and bioethicists. We conducted a qualitative research study using in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of PLWHIV, biomedical HIV cure researchers, policy-makers and bioethicists in 2015-2016. We analysed interview transcripts using thematic analysis anchored in grounded theory. We conducted and analyzed 36 key informant interviews. Qualitative analysis revealed four main findings. 1) Potential HIV cure study volunteers noted needing more information and education about the potential risks of HIV cure research. 2) Biomedical HIV cure researchers, policy-makers and bioethicists showed less awareness of social and financial risks of HIV cure research than PLWHIV. 3) Most respondents across the different categories of informants identified some risks that were too great to be acceptable in HIV cure research, although a subset of PLWHIV did not place an upper limit on acceptable risk. 4) PLWHIV showed a better awareness of potential psychological benefits of participating in HIV cure research than other groups of stakeholders. Our research suggests that PLWHIV have a variable understanding of the individual risks, sometimes substantial, associated with participating in biomedical HIV cure research studies. Community engagement and increased research literacy may help improve community understanding. Intensive informed consent procedures will be necessary for ethical study implementation. The current state of HIV cure research offers greater potential benefits to society than to participants. There is likely to be disagreement among regulators, researchers, clinicians

  2. 'Well, It's the Risk of the Unknown… Right?': A Qualitative Study of Perceived Risks and Benefits of HIV Cure Research in the United States.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karine Dubé

    Full Text Available Biomedical research towards an HIV cure is advancing in the United States and elsewhere, yet little is known about perceptions of risks and benefits among potential study participants and other stakeholders. We conducted a qualitative study to explore perceived risks and benefits of investigational HIV cure research among people living with HIV (PLWHIV, biomedical HIV cure researchers, policy-makers and bioethicists.We conducted a qualitative research study using in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of PLWHIV, biomedical HIV cure researchers, policy-makers and bioethicists in 2015-2016. We analysed interview transcripts using thematic analysis anchored in grounded theory.We conducted and analyzed 36 key informant interviews. Qualitative analysis revealed four main findings. 1 Potential HIV cure study volunteers noted needing more information and education about the potential risks of HIV cure research. 2 Biomedical HIV cure researchers, policy-makers and bioethicists showed less awareness of social and financial risks of HIV cure research than PLWHIV. 3 Most respondents across the different categories of informants identified some risks that were too great to be acceptable in HIV cure research, although a subset of PLWHIV did not place an upper limit on acceptable risk. 4 PLWHIV showed a better awareness of potential psychological benefits of participating in HIV cure research than other groups of stakeholders.Our research suggests that PLWHIV have a variable understanding of the individual risks, sometimes substantial, associated with participating in biomedical HIV cure research studies. Community engagement and increased research literacy may help improve community understanding. Intensive informed consent procedures will be necessary for ethical study implementation. The current state of HIV cure research offers greater potential benefits to society than to participants. There is likely to be disagreement among regulators, researchers

  3. Polymer and polymer-hybrid nanoparticles from synthesis to biomedical applications

    CERN Document Server

    Rangelov, Stanislav

    2013-01-01

    Polymeric and hybrid nanoparticles have received increased scientific interest in terms of basic research as well as commercial applications, promising a variety of uses for nanostructures in fields including bionanotechnology and medicine. Condensing the relevant research into a comprehensive reference, Polymer and Polymer-Hybrid Nanoparticles: From Synthesis to Biomedical Applications covers an array of topics from synthetic procedures and macromolecular design to possible biomedical applications of nanoparticles and materials based on original and unique polymers. The book presents a well-r

  4. Improving ethical and participatory practice for marginalized populations in biomedical HIV prevention trials: lessons from Thailand.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dan Allman

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: This paper presents findings from a qualitative investigation of ethical and participatory issues related to the conduct of biomedical HIV prevention trials among marginalized populations in Thailand. This research was deemed important to conduct, as several large-scale biomedical HIV prevention trials among marginalized populations had closed prematurely in other countries, and a better understanding of how to prevent similar trial closures from occurring in the future was desired. METHODS: In-depth key informant interviews were held in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, translated and thematically analyzed. The Good Participatory Practice Guidelines for Biomedical HIV Prevention Trials (GPP guided this work. RESULTS: Fourteen interviews were conducted: 10 with policymakers, academic and community-based researchers and trial staff and four with representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs. Suggested ways to improve ethical and participatory practice centered on standards of HIV prevention, informed consent, communication and human rights. In particular, the need to overcome language and literacy differences was identified. Key informants felt communication was the basis of ethical understanding and trust within biomedical HIV prevention trial contexts, and thus fundamental to trial participants' ability to exercise free will. DISCUSSION: Biomedical HIV prevention trials present opportunities for inclusive and productive ethical and participatory practice. Key informants suggested that efforts to improve practice could result in better relationships between research stakeholders and research investigative teams and by extension, better, more ethical participatory trials. This research took place in Thailand and its findings apply primarily to Thailand. However, given the universality of many ethical considerations, the results of this study can inform the improvement of ethical

  5. Improving ethical and participatory practice for marginalized populations in biomedical HIV prevention trials: lessons from Thailand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allman, Dan; Ditmore, Melissa Hope; Kaplan, Karyn

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents findings from a qualitative investigation of ethical and participatory issues related to the conduct of biomedical HIV prevention trials among marginalized populations in Thailand. This research was deemed important to conduct, as several large-scale biomedical HIV prevention trials among marginalized populations had closed prematurely in other countries, and a better understanding of how to prevent similar trial closures from occurring in the future was desired. In-depth key informant interviews were held in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, translated and thematically analyzed. The Good Participatory Practice Guidelines for Biomedical HIV Prevention Trials (GPP) guided this work. Fourteen interviews were conducted: 10 with policymakers, academic and community-based researchers and trial staff and four with representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Suggested ways to improve ethical and participatory practice centered on standards of HIV prevention, informed consent, communication and human rights. In particular, the need to overcome language and literacy differences was identified. Key informants felt communication was the basis of ethical understanding and trust within biomedical HIV prevention trial contexts, and thus fundamental to trial participants' ability to exercise free will. Biomedical HIV prevention trials present opportunities for inclusive and productive ethical and participatory practice. Key informants suggested that efforts to improve practice could result in better relationships between research stakeholders and research investigative teams and by extension, better, more ethical participatory trials. This research took place in Thailand and its findings apply primarily to Thailand. However, given the universality of many ethical considerations, the results of this study can inform the improvement of ethical and participatory practice in other parts of the world where

  6. Developing biomedical devices design, innovation and protection

    CERN Document Server

    Andreoni, Giuseppe; Colombo, Barbara

    2013-01-01

    During the past two decades incredible progress has been achieved in the instruments and devices used in the biomedical field. This progress stems from continuous scientific research that has taken advantage of many findings and advances in technology made available by universities and industry. Innovation is the key word, and in this context legal protection and intellectual property rights (IPR) are of crucial importance. This book provides students and practitioners with the fundamentals for designing biomedical devices and explains basic design principles. Furthermore, as an aid to the dev

  7. Citizen Science for Mining the Biomedical Literature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ginger Tsueng

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Biomedical literature represents one of the largest and fastest growing collections of unstructured biomedical knowledge. Finding critical information buried in the literature can be challenging. To extract information from free-flowing text, researchers need to: 1. identify the entities in the text (named entity recognition, 2. apply a standardized vocabulary to these entities (normalization, and 3. identify how entities in the text are related to one another (relationship extraction. Researchers have primarily approached these information extraction tasks through manual expert curation and computational methods. We have previously demonstrated that named entity recognition (NER tasks can be crowdsourced to a group of non-experts via the paid microtask platform, Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT, and can dramatically reduce the cost and increase the throughput of biocuration efforts. However, given the size of the biomedical literature, even information extraction via paid microtask platforms is not scalable. With our web-based application Mark2Cure (http://mark2cure.org, we demonstrate that NER tasks also can be performed by volunteer citizen scientists with high accuracy. We apply metrics from the Zooniverse Matrices of Citizen Science Success and provide the results here to serve as a basis of comparison for other citizen science projects. Further, we discuss design considerations, issues, and the application of analytics for successfully moving a crowdsourcing workflow from a paid microtask platform to a citizen science platform. To our knowledge, this study is the first application of citizen science to a natural language processing task.

  8. An Approach to Integrating Health Disparities within Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vazquez, Maribel; Marte, Otto; Barba, Joseph; Hubbard, Karen

    2017-11-01

    Health disparities are preventable differences in the incidence, prevalence and burden of disease among communities targeted by gender, geographic location, ethnicity and/or socio-economic status. While biomedical research has identified partial origin(s) of divergent burden and impact of disease, the innovation needed to eradicate health disparities in the United States requires unique engagement from biomedical engineers. Increasing awareness of the prevalence and consequences of health disparities is particularly attractive to today's undergraduates, who have undauntedly challenged paradigms believed to foster inequality. Here, the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The City College of New York (CCNY) has leveraged its historical mission of access-and-excellence to integrate the study of health disparities into undergraduate BME curricula. This article describes our novel approach in a multiyear study that: (i) Integrated health disparities modules at all levels of the required undergraduate BME curriculum; (ii) Developed opportunities to include impacts of health disparities into undergraduate BME research projects and mentored High School summer STEM training; and (iii) Established health disparities-based challenges as BME capstone design and/or independent entrepreneurship projects. Results illustrate the rising awareness of health disparities among the youngest BMEs-to-be, as well as abundant undergraduate desire to integrate health disparities within BME education and training.

  9. Non-animal methodologies within biomedical research and toxicity testing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knight, Andrew

    2008-01-01

    Laboratory animal models are limited by scientific constraints on human applicability, and increasing regulatory restrictions, driven by social concerns. Reliance on laboratory animals also incurs marked - and in some cases, prohibitive - logistical challenges, within high-throughput chemical testing programmes, such as those currently underway within Europe and the US. However, a range of non-animal methodologies is available within biomedical research and toxicity testing. These include: mechanisms to enhance the sharing and assessment of existing data prior to conducting further studies, and physicochemical evaluation and computerised modelling, including the use of structure-activity relationships and expert systems. Minimally-sentient animals from lower phylogenetic orders or early developmental vertebral stages may be used, as well as microorganisms and higher plants. A variety of tissue cultures, including immortalised cell lines, embryonic and adult stem cells, and organotypic cultures, are also available. In vitro assays utilising bacterial, yeast, protozoal, mammalian or human cell cultures exist for a wide range of toxic and other endpoints. These may be static or perfused, and may be used individually, or combined within test batteries. Human hepatocyte cultures and metabolic activation systems offer potential assessment of metabolite activity and organ-organ interaction. Microarray technology may allow genetic expression profiling, increasing the speed of toxin detection, well prior to more invasive endpoints. Enhanced human clinical trials utilising micro- dosing, staggered dosing, and more representative study populations and durations, as well as surrogate human tissues, advanced imaging modalities and human epidemiological, sociological and psycho- logical studies, may increase our understanding of illness aetiology and pathogenesis, and facilitate the development of safe and effective pharmacologic interventions. Particularly when human tissues

  10. Europium enabled luminescent nanoparticles for biomedical applications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Syamchand, S.S., E-mail: syamchand.ss@gmail.com; Sony, G., E-mail: emailtosony@gmail.com

    2015-09-15

    Lanthanide based nanoparticles are receiving great attention ought to their excellent luminescent and magnetic properties and find challenging biomedical applications. Among the luminescent lanthanide NPs, europium based NPs (Eu-NPs) are better candidates for immunoassay and imaging applications. The Eu-NPs have an edge over quantum dots (QDs) by means of their stable luminescence, long fluorescence lifetime, sharp emission peaks with narrow band width, lack of blinking and biocompatibility. This review surveys the synthesis and properties of a variety of Eu-NPs consolidated from different research articles, for their applications in medicine and biology. The exquisite luminescent properties of Eu-NPs are explored for developing biomedical applications such as immunoassay and bioimaging including multimodal imaging. The biomedical applications of Eu-NPs are mostly diagnostic in nature and mainly focus on various key analytes present in biological systems. The luminescent properties of europium enabled NPs are influenced by a number of factors such as the site symmetry, the metal nanoparticles, metal ions, quantum dots, surfactants, morphology of Eu-NPs, crystal defect, phenomena like antenna effect and physical parameters like temperature. Through this review we explore and assimilate all the factors which affect the luminescence in Eu-NPs and coil a new thread of parameters that control the luminescence in Eu-NPs, which would provide further insight in developing Eu-based nanoprobes for future biomedical prospects. - Highlights: • The review describes 14 major factors that influence the luminescence properties of europium enabled luminescent nanoparticles (Eu-NPs). • Surveys different types of europium containing nanoparticles that have been reported for their biomedical applications. • Eu-NPs are conveniently divided into four different categories, based on the type of the substrates involved. The four categories are (1) virgin Eu-substrate based NPs; (2

  11. Europium enabled luminescent nanoparticles for biomedical applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Syamchand, S.S.; Sony, G.

    2015-01-01

    Lanthanide based nanoparticles are receiving great attention ought to their excellent luminescent and magnetic properties and find challenging biomedical applications. Among the luminescent lanthanide NPs, europium based NPs (Eu-NPs) are better candidates for immunoassay and imaging applications. The Eu-NPs have an edge over quantum dots (QDs) by means of their stable luminescence, long fluorescence lifetime, sharp emission peaks with narrow band width, lack of blinking and biocompatibility. This review surveys the synthesis and properties of a variety of Eu-NPs consolidated from different research articles, for their applications in medicine and biology. The exquisite luminescent properties of Eu-NPs are explored for developing biomedical applications such as immunoassay and bioimaging including multimodal imaging. The biomedical applications of Eu-NPs are mostly diagnostic in nature and mainly focus on various key analytes present in biological systems. The luminescent properties of europium enabled NPs are influenced by a number of factors such as the site symmetry, the metal nanoparticles, metal ions, quantum dots, surfactants, morphology of Eu-NPs, crystal defect, phenomena like antenna effect and physical parameters like temperature. Through this review we explore and assimilate all the factors which affect the luminescence in Eu-NPs and coil a new thread of parameters that control the luminescence in Eu-NPs, which would provide further insight in developing Eu-based nanoprobes for future biomedical prospects. - Highlights: • The review describes 14 major factors that influence the luminescence properties of europium enabled luminescent nanoparticles (Eu-NPs). • Surveys different types of europium containing nanoparticles that have been reported for their biomedical applications. • Eu-NPs are conveniently divided into four different categories, based on the type of the substrates involved. The four categories are (1) virgin Eu-substrate based NPs; (2

  12. Assessing the practice of biomedical ontology evaluation: Gaps and opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amith, Muhammad; He, Zhe; Bian, Jiang; Lossio-Ventura, Juan Antonio; Tao, Cui

    2018-04-01

    With the proliferation of heterogeneous health care data in the last three decades, biomedical ontologies and controlled biomedical terminologies play a more and more important role in knowledge representation and management, data integration, natural language processing, as well as decision support for health information systems and biomedical research. Biomedical ontologies and controlled terminologies are intended to assure interoperability. Nevertheless, the quality of biomedical ontologies has hindered their applicability and subsequent adoption in real-world applications. Ontology evaluation is an integral part of ontology development and maintenance. In the biomedicine domain, ontology evaluation is often conducted by third parties as a quality assurance (or auditing) effort that focuses on identifying modeling errors and inconsistencies. In this work, we first organized four categorical schemes of ontology evaluation methods in the existing literature to create an integrated taxonomy. Further, to understand the ontology evaluation practice in the biomedicine domain, we reviewed a sample of 200 ontologies from the National Center for Biomedical Ontology (NCBO) BioPortal-the largest repository for biomedical ontologies-and observed that only 15 of these ontologies have documented evaluation in their corresponding inception papers. We then surveyed the recent quality assurance approaches for biomedical ontologies and their use. We also mapped these quality assurance approaches to the ontology evaluation criteria. It is our anticipation that ontology evaluation and quality assurance approaches will be more widely adopted in the development life cycle of biomedical ontologies. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Patient participation in decision making on biomedical research: changing the network

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Caron - Flinterman, J.F.; Broerse, J.E.W.; Bunders - Aelen, J.G.F.

    2007-01-01

    Participation of end users in decision-making on science is increasingly practiced, as witnessed by the growing body of scientific literature on case evaluations. In the biomedical field, however, end-user participation in decision-making is rare. Some scholars argue that because patients are

  14. A Case Study: Data Management in Biomedical Engineering

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Glenn R. Gaudette

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available In a biomedical engineering lab at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, co-author Dr. Glenn R. Gaudette and his research team are investigating the effects of stem cell therapy on the regeneration of function in damaged cardiac tissue in laboratory rats. Each instance of stem cell experimentation on a rat yields hundreds of data sets that must be carefully captured, documented and securely stored so that the data will be easily accessed and retrieved for papers, reports, further research, and validation of findings, while meeting NIH guidelines for data sharing. After a brief introduction to the bioengineering field and stem cell research, this paper focuses on the experimental workflow and the data generated in one instance of stem cell experimentation; the lab’s data management practices; and how Dr. Gaudette teaches data management to the lab’s incoming graduate students each semester. The co-authors discuss the haphazard manner by which engineering and science students typically learn data management practices, and advocate for the integration of formal data management instruction in higher education STEM curricula. The paper concludes with a discussion of the Frameworks for a Data Management Curriculum developed collaboratively by the co-authors’ institutions -- the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Worcester Polytechnic Institute -- to teach data management best practices to students in the sciences, health sciences, and engineering.

  15. Biomedical waste management in Ayurveda hospitals - current practices & future prospectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajan, Renju; Robin, Delvin T; M, Vandanarani

    2018-03-16

    Biomedical waste management is an integral part of traditional and contemporary system of health care. The paper focuses on the identification and classification of biomedical wastes in Ayurvedic hospitals, current practices of its management in Ayurveda hospitals and its future prospective. Databases like PubMed (1975-2017 Feb), Scopus (1960-2017), AYUSH Portal, DOAJ, DHARA and Google scholar were searched. We used the medical subject headings 'biomedical waste' and 'health care waste' for identification and classification. The terms 'biomedical waste management', 'health care waste management' alone and combined with 'Ayurveda' or 'Ayurvedic' for current practices and recent advances in the treatment of these wastes were used. We made a humble attempt to categorize the biomedical wastes from Ayurvedic hospitals as the available data about its grouping is very scarce. Proper biomedical waste management is the mainstay of hospital cleanliness, hospital hygiene and maintenance activities. Current disposal techniques adopted for Ayurveda biomedical wastes are - sewage/drains, incineration and land fill. But these methods are having some merits as well as demerits. Our review has identified a number of interesting areas for future research such as the logical application of bioremediation techniques in biomedical waste management and the usage of effective micro-organisms and solar energy in waste disposal. Copyright © 2017 Transdisciplinary University, Bangalore and World Ayurveda Foundation. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Fundamental of biomedical engineering

    CERN Document Server

    Sawhney, GS

    2007-01-01

    About the Book: A well set out textbook explains the fundamentals of biomedical engineering in the areas of biomechanics, biofluid flow, biomaterials, bioinstrumentation and use of computing in biomedical engineering. All these subjects form a basic part of an engineer''s education. The text is admirably suited to meet the needs of the students of mechanical engineering, opting for the elective of Biomedical Engineering. Coverage of bioinstrumentation, biomaterials and computing for biomedical engineers can meet the needs of the students of Electronic & Communication, Electronic & Instrumenta

  17. Biomedical applications of nanodiamond (Review)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turcheniuk, K.; Mochalin, Vadym N.

    2017-06-01

    The interest in nanodiamond applications in biology and medicine is on the rise over recent years. This is due to the unique combination of properties that nanodiamond provides. Small size (∼5 nm), low cost, scalable production, negligible toxicity, chemical inertness of diamond core and rich chemistry of nanodiamond surface, as well as bright and robust fluorescence resistant to photobleaching are the distinct parameters that render nanodiamond superior to any other nanomaterial when it comes to biomedical applications. The most exciting recent results have been related to the use of nanodiamonds for drug delivery and diagnostics—two components of a quickly growing area of biomedical research dubbed theranostics. However, nanodiamond offers much more in addition: it can be used to produce biodegradable bone surgery devices, tissue engineering scaffolds, kill drug resistant microbes, help us to fight viruses, and deliver genetic material into cell nucleus. All these exciting opportunities require an in-depth understanding of nanodiamond. This review covers the recent progress as well as general trends in biomedical applications of nanodiamond, and underlines the importance of purification, characterization, and rational modification of this nanomaterial when designing nanodiamond based theranostic platforms.

  18. Micro and nanotechnology for biological and biomedical applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Chwee Teck; Han, Jongyoon; Guck, Jochen; Espinosa, Horacio

    2010-10-01

    This special issue contains some of the current state-of-the-art development and use of micro and nanotechnological tools, devices and techniques for both biological and biomedical research and applications. These include nanoparticles for bioimaging and biosensing, optical and biophotonic techniques for probing diseases at the nanoscale, micro and nano-fabricated tools for elucidating molecular mechanisms of mechanotransduction in cell and molecular biology and cell separation microdevices and techniques for isolating and enriching targeted cells for disease detection and diagnosis. Although some of these works are still at the research stage, there is no doubt that some of the important outcomes will eventually see actual biomedical applications in the not too distant future.

  19. Carbon-based nanomaterials: multifunctional materials for biomedical engineering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cha, Chaenyung; Shin, Su Ryon; Annabi, Nasim; Dokmeci, Mehmet R; Khademhosseini, Ali

    2013-04-23

    Functional carbon-based nanomaterials (CBNs) have become important due to their unique combinations of chemical and physical properties (i.e., thermal and electrical conductivity, high mechanical strength, and optical properties), and extensive research efforts are being made to utilize these materials for various industrial applications, such as high-strength materials and electronics. These advantageous properties of CBNs are also actively investigated in several areas of biomedical engineering. This Perspective highlights different types of carbon-based nanomaterials currently used in biomedical applications.

  20. Different differences: The use of ‘genetic ancestry’ versus race in biomedical human genetic research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujimura, Joan H.; Rajagopalan, Ramya

    2011-01-01

    This article presents findings from our ethnographic research on biomedical scientists’ studies of human genetic variation and common complex disease. We examine the socio-material work involved in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and discuss whether, how, and when notions of race and ethnicity are or are not used. We analyze how researchers produce simultaneously different kinds of populations and population differences. Although many geneticists use race in their analyses, we find some who have invented a statistical genetics method and associated software that they use specifically to avoid using categories of race in their genetics analysis. Their method allows them to operationalize their concept of ‘genetic ancestry’ without resorting to notions of race and ethnicity. We focus on the construction and implementation of the software’s algorithms, and discuss the consequences and implications of the software technology for debates and policies around the use of race in genetics research. We also demonstrate that the production and use of their method involves a dynamic and fluid assemblage of actors in various disciplines responding to disciplinary and sociopolitical contexts and concerns. This assemblage also includes particular discourses on human history and geography as they become entangled with research on genetic markers and disease. We introduce the concept of ‘genome geography’, to analyze how some researchers studying human genetic variation ‘locate’ stretches of DNA in different places and times. The concept of genetic ancestry and the practice of genome geography rely on old discourses, but they also incorporate new technologies, infrastructures, and political and scientific commitments. Some of these new technologies provide opportunities to change some of our institutional and cultural forms and frames around notions of difference and similarity. Neverthless, we also highlight the slipperiness of genome geography and the