ABSTRACT
In this study, we utilized ontology and machine learning methods to analyze the current results on vaccine adverse events. With the VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) Database, the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines are summarized, and a relational/graph database was implemented for further applications and analysis. The adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines up to March 2022 were utilized in the study. With the built network of the adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines, the API can help provide a visualized interface for patients, healthcare providers and healthcare officers to quickly find the information of a certain patient and the potential relationships of side effects of a certain vaccine. In the meantime, the model was further applied to predict the key feature symptoms that contribute to hospitalization and treatment following receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine and the performance was evaluated with a confusion matrix method. Overall, our study built a user-friendly visualized interface of the side effects of vaccines and provided insight on potential adverse effects with ontology and machine learning approaches. The interface and methods can be expanded to all FDA (Food and Drug Administration)-approved vaccines.
ABSTRACT
CovidGraph, developed by the HealthECCO community, is a platform designed to foster research and data exploration to fight COVID-19. It is built on a graph database and encompasses data sources from different biomedical data domains including publications, clinical trials, patents, case statistics, molecular data and systems biology models. The tool provides multiple interfaces for data exploration and thus serves as a single point of entry for data driven COVID-19 research. Availability and Implementation: CovidGraph is available from the project website: https://healthecco.org/covidgraph/. The source code and documentation are provided on GitHub: https://github.com/covidgraph.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Databases, Factual , Documentation , Humans , Information Storage and Retrieval , SoftwareABSTRACT
This paper aims at implementing a generic contact tracing framework for efficiently identifying people at risk during any pandemic. It makes use of wireless networks and QR code checkpoints to record close contacts between individuals using their smartphones. It also uses smart cameras to detect special face masks consisting of QR codes in real-time, using the YOLOv5 algorithm. The face masks are then decoded to uniquely identify people wearing them. Moreover, distances are estimated from network signal strengths and the triangle inequality theorem is used to identify close contacts. All information is stored in a graph database for fast analysis. Parallel processing is used to reduce the time taken for identifying and alerting people who were possibly in contact with an infected person. In addition, a web application enables administrators to visualise infection chains and user displacements in an interactive map. The system has been thoroughly evaluated and the results demonstrate that it is highly effective and customisable for any pandemic. Its privacy-oriented aspect also enables a high adoption rate among users. Lastly, the smart camera system enables facemask-driven contact tracing during the Covid-19 pandemic. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 epidemic is still spreading globally. Contact tracing is a vital strategy in epidemic emergency management; however, traditional contact tracing faces many limitations in practice. The application of digital technology provides an opportunity for local governments to trace the contacts of individuals with COVID-19 more comprehensively, efficiently, and precisely. OBJECTIVE: Our research aimed to provide new solutions to overcome the limitations of traditional contact tracing by introducing the organizational process, technical process, and main achievements of digital contact tracing in Hainan Province. METHODS: A graph database algorithm, which can efficiently process complex relational networks, was applied in Hainan Province; this algorithm relies on a governmental big data platform to analyze multisource COVID-19 epidemic data and build networks of relationships among high-risk infected individuals, the general population, vehicles, and public places to identify and trace contacts. We summarized the organizational and technical process of digital contact tracing in Hainan Province based on interviews and data analyses. RESULTS: An integrated emergency management command system and a multi-agency coordination mechanism were formed during the emergency management of the COVID-19 epidemic in Hainan Province. The collection, storage, analysis, and application of multisource epidemic data were realized based on the government's big data platform using a centralized model. The graph database algorithm is compatible with this platform and can analyze multisource and heterogeneous big data related to the epidemic. These practices were used to quickly and accurately identify and trace 10,871 contacts among hundreds of thousands of epidemic data records; 378 closest contacts and a number of public places with high risk of infection were identified. A confirmed patient was found after quarantine measures were implemented by all contacts. CONCLUSIONS: During the emergency management of the COVID-19 epidemic, Hainan Province used a graph database algorithm to trace contacts in a centralized model, which can identify infected individuals and high-risk public places more quickly and accurately. This practice can provide support to government agencies to implement precise, agile, and evidence-based emergency management measures and improve the responsiveness of the public health emergency response system. Strengthening data security, improving tracing accuracy, enabling intelligent data collection, and improving data-sharing mechanisms and technologies are directions for optimizing digital contact tracing.