SNOMED representation of explanatory knowledge in veterinary clinical pathology

BACKGROUND: The Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) is an established standard nomenclature for the expression of human and veterinary medical concepts. Nomenclature standards ease sharing of medical information, create common points of understanding, and improve data aggregation and analysis. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to determine whether SNOMED adequately represented concepts relevant to veterinary clinical pathology. METHODS: Concepts were isolated from 3 different types of clinical pathology documents: 1) a textbook (Textbook), 2) the Results sections of industry pathology reports (Findings), and Discussion sections from industry pathology reports (Discussion). Concepts were matched (mapped) by 2 reviewers to semantically-equivalent SNOMED concepts. A quality score of 3 (good match), 2 (problem match), or 1 (no match) was recorded along with the SNOMED hierarchical location of each mapped concept. Results were analyzed using Cohen's Kappa statistic to assess reviewer agreement and chi-square tests to evaluate association between document type and quality score. RESULTS: The percentage of good matches was 48.3% for the Textbook, 45.4% for Findings, and 47.5% for Discussion documents, with no significant difference among documents. Of remaining concepts, 40% were partially expressed by SNOMED and 14% did not match. Mean reviewer agreement on quality score assignments was 76.8%. CONCLUSIONS: Although SNOMED representation of veterinary clinical pathology content was limited, missing and problem concepts were confined to a relatively small area of terminology. This limitation should be addressed in revisions of SNOMED to optimize SNOMED for veterinary clinical pathology applications.     

Forecasting clinical disease in pigs: comparing a naive and a Bayesian approach

In veterinary practice the clinician often evaluates and predicts herd health status over time according to clinical criteria. In this paper, we modeled three different clinical signs among pigs based on longitudinal clinical observations in 15 pig herds. We compared and discussed the outputs from two different approaches for making clinical forecasts in a herd: a naive approach using a simple time series model with previous disease observations as predictors and a Bayesian state space models approach, in which the time lag variable entered into the random component of the model. We used the Markov chain Monte Carlo technique to calculate posterior distributions of the forecasts. For the herd specific forecasts the results showed that there were only minor differences between the forecasts from the simple time series model and the median forecasts from the Bayesian model. However, the credibility intervals from the Bayesian model were wider than the forecasts from the simple model and, therefore the Bayesian model encompassed the variability in the forecasts better. Compared to the statistical model, the simple time series would be easier to implement in a practical setting. However, the latter lacks the inherent “generality” from the statistical model that allows the user to make statements about the distribution of the herds and to predict disease status based on the “average” correlation among the herds. The applicability of the Bayesian approach within a clinical decision-making framework was discussed, with special emphasis on the use of prior information and clinical forecasting.     

The Shetland Islands scrapie monitoring and control programme: analysis of the clinical data collected from 772 scrapie suspects 1985-1997

There were 574 scrapie positive suspects (histopathological scrapie lesions present) and 198 scrapie negative suspects (histopathological scrapie lesions absent). The greatest number of scrapie cases were recorded in sheep of 2, 3 and 4 years of age which represented 17%, 36% and 23% of the scrapie positive suspects, respectively. The sign sensitivities and specificities for the ten recorded signs were, respectively: pruritus (62%, 42%), ataxia (23%, 74%), hyperaesthesia (32%, 74%), wool loss (25%, 73%), fleece discolouration (29%, 85%), bruxism (23%, 69%), nibbling reflex (17%, 58%), head rubbing (47%, 78%), poll rubbing (25%, 83%). These single signs had poor discriminatory values with likelihood ratios close to one (range 0.89-1.21); combinations of the four signs, pruritus, wool loss, ataxia, hyperaesthesia and emaciation were more discriminatory (range 0.30-4.3). This study covered a time period when bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) might have been introduced into the sheep population on the Shetland Islands via contaminated feed. No temporal changes could be detected in the age structure of the affected animals.     

雷公藤多苷药效机理及安全性研究概况

雷公藤多苷具有抗炎、免疫调节及抗生育等作用,该文概述了雷公藤多苷的临床应用及其作用机理,同时总结归纳了其毒副作用和不良反应,为更安全和广泛的应用雷公藤多苷提供了理论和试验依据。     

人中白药学研究概况

在广泛文献检索的基础上,综述了人中白的成分、功效、临床应用,为其深入开发利用提供参考。     

铁线蕨属药学研究概况

在广泛文献检索的基础上,对铁线蕨属植物的成分(多糖类、黄酮类、挥发油、三萜类)、药理作用(抗菌、抗癌、抗氧化等)及临床应用(平喘化痰、解毒消炎、利尿通淋等)进行了概述,为进一步开发利用提供参考资料。     

奶牛难产的综合防治措施

分析了奶牛产力性难产、产道性难产及胎儿性难产的病因,介绍了其临床症状及相关防治措施,为有效预防和救治奶牛难产提供参考。     

黑木耳新品种F-1号区域试验简报

黑木耳F-1号是由吉林省农作物新品种审定委员会于2008年审定的高产优质黑木耳(Auricularia auricula)新品种,2009年对F-1号进行新一轮的区域试验,结果表明,利用周转棒封口,提高了生产效率,降低了菌袋的污染率,提高了菌袋的成品率,污染率降至2%以下。F-1号干耳平均产量为467.60kg/万袋,比对照品种丰收2号增产14.86%,适合春秋栽培。     

美洲大蠊药理作用及临床应用研究进展(英文)

近几年来对美洲大蠊的药理作用和药物开发研究越来越多,研究显示它具有药用价值广、不良反应低及资源丰富的特点,在医药领域中有较好的应用前景。该研究就美洲大蠊的药理作用及其临床应用的研究状况进行了综述,以期为美洲大蠊药物的进一步研究开发提供参考,为其临床合理应用提供科学依据。     

野鸦椿属药学研究概况

在广泛文献检索的基础上,对野鸦椿属的种属、成分、药理及临床应用等进行了综述,为野鸦椿属的深入开发利用提供科学数据。