Interactive Visual Displays for Interpreting the Results of Clinical Trials: Formative Evaluation With Case Vignettes.

BACKGROUND: At the point of care, evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) is underutilized in helping clinicians meet their information needs. OBJECTIVE: To design interactive visual displays to help clinicians interpret and compare the results of relevant RCTs for the management of a specific patient, and to conduct a formative evaluation with physicians comparing interactive visual versus narrative displays. METHODS: We followed a user-centered and iterative design process succeeded by development of information display prototypes as a Web-based application. We then used a within-subjects design with 20 participants (8 attendings and 12 residents) to evaluate the usability and problem-solving impact of the information displays. We compared subjects' perceptions of the interactive visual displays versus narrative abstracts. RESULTS: The resulting interactive visual displays present RCT results side-by-side according to the Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome (PICO) framework. Study participants completed 19 usability tasks in 3 to 11 seconds with a success rate of 78% to 100%. Participants favored the interactive visual displays over narrative abstracts according to perceived efficiency, effectiveness, effort, user experience and preference (all P values <.001). CONCLUSIONS: When interpreting and applying RCT findings to case vignettes, physicians preferred interactive graphical and PICO-framework-based information displays that enable direct comparison of the results from multiple RCTs compared to the traditional narrative and study-centered format. Future studies should investigate the use of interactive visual displays to support clinical decision making in care settings and their effect on clinician and patient outcomes.

Visualization of temporal patterns in patient record data.

Visualization contributes to a variety of tasks, from reviewing individual patient records to helping researchers assess data quality, find patients of interest, review temporal patterns and anomalies, or understand differences between cohorts. We review some of visualization techniques developed at the University of Maryland.

Expert Views on Innovative Future Uses for Contact Lenses.

Over the past 10 to 15 years, the availability of new materials and technologies has resulted in revolutionary concepts for contact lenses being proposed that go well beyond correcting vision. These novel uses include their prescribing to deliver topical ocular and systemic drugs, assist with ocular surface disease management, and limit the progression of myopia and novel methods to display visual information. How likely are these concepts to become commercially available, how successful will they be, and what are the potential issues to consider for them to come to market? To answer these questions, a panel of four experts were invited to discuss the benefits and pitfalls of these technologies and what challenges lay ahead of these concepts before their availability. Their responses provide a fascinating insight for the clinician into the likelihood of such revolutionary contact lenses being available in a clinical setting.

Images of imaging: how to process and display imaging utilization for large populations.

OBJECTIVE: We propose a method of processing and displaying imaging utilization data for large populations. CONCLUSION: The comprehensive and finely grained picture of imaging utilization yielded by our methods is a first step toward population-based imaging utilization management. We believe that our methods for the categorization and display of imaging utilization will prove to be widely useful.

Assessment model for perceived visual complexity of automotive instrument cluster.

This research proposes an assessment model for quantifying the perceived visual complexity (PVC) of an in-vehicle instrument cluster. An initial study was conducted to investigate the possibility of evaluating the PVC of an in-vehicle instrument cluster by estimating and analyzing the complexity of its individual components. However, this approach was only partially successful, because it did not take into account the combination of the different components with random levels of complexity to form one visual display. Therefore, a second study was conducted focusing on the effect of combining the different components. The results from the overall research enabled us to suggest a basis for quantifying the PVC of an in-vehicle instrument cluster based both on the PVCs of its components and on the integration effect.

Un puente entre el médico y el paciente / A bridge between doctor and patient

No disponible

TB or Not TB: interreader and intrareader variability in screening diagnosis on an iPad versus a traditional display.

Mobile displays may have the ability to increase the flexibility of consulting radiologists if they can be shown not to negatively influence a reader's performance in clinical tasks. The authors report a comparison of a mobile display with a larger liquid crystal display for the task of making a binary decision for the diagnosis of tuberculosis on chest radiography. Deidentified DICOM images of 240 chest x-rays were transferred from a PACS to an iPad 2 running OsiriX HD software. The images were reviewed independently by 5 radiologists of varying experience and were graded as positive or negative for tuberculosis on both the liquid crystal display monitor and the iPad. The reading sessions were a minimum of 2 weeks apart to minimize recall bias. Agreement was measured in terms of κ statistics. Overall, multirater generalized κ was 0.9694. These results suggest that there is no detectable effect of monitor type (liquid crystal display or iPad 2) on the reader's decision for the task of tuberculosis diagnosis.

Topographically induced hierarchical assembly and geometrical transformation of focal conic domain arrays in smectic liquid crystals.

Controlling topological defects in 3D liquid crystal phases is a crucial element in the development of novel devices, from blue-phase displays to passive biochemical sensors. However, it remains challenging to realize the 3D topological conditions necessary to robustly and arbitrarily direct the formation of defects. Here, using a series of short pillar arrays as topological templates, we demonstrate the hierarchical assembly of focal conic domains (FCDs) in smectic-A liquid crystals that break the underlying symmetry of the pillar lattice, exhibit tunable eccentricity, and together develop a nontrivial yet organized array of defects. The key to our approach lies in the selection of the appropriate ratio of the size of focal domain to the dimension of pillars such that the system favors the "pinning" of FCD centers near pillar edges while avoiding the opposing effect of confinement. Our study unequivocally shows that the arrangement of FCDs is strongly influenced by the height and shape of the pillars, a feature that promotes both a variety of nontrivial self-assembled lattice types and the attraction of FCD centers to pillar edges, especially at regions of high curvature. Finally, we propose a geometric model to reconstruct the smectic layer structure in the gaps between neighboring FCDs to estimate the energetic effects of nonzero eccentricity and assess their thermodynamic stability.

Reflexões críticas sobre os três erres, ou os periódicos brasileiros excluídos

O autor faz um debate em cima da idéia de que o QUALIS 2010 é passível de aperfeiçoamento, através do conceito dos três erres (Remover periódicos de revisão, Reconhecer outras métricas de avaliação, Reavaliar periódicos brasileiros) (Rocha e Silva, 2010) para com outros indicadores científicos, como o Journal Citation Report (JCR)

Reflexões críticas sobre os três erres, ou os periódicos brasileiros excluídos / Critical reflections on the three Rs, or Brazilian journals excluded

O autor faz um debate em cima da idéia de que o QUALIS 2010 é passível de aperfeiçoamento, através do conceito dos três erres (Remover periódicos de revisão, Reconhecer outras métricas de avaliação, Reavaliar periódicos brasileiros) (Rocha e Silva, 2010) para com outros indicadores científicos, como o Journal Citation Report

SWAD en los estudios de Farmacia / SWAD in the studies in Pharmacy

El presente trabajo proporciona una panorámica sobre las posibilidades de uso de la plataforma deteleformación SWAD (Sistema Web de Apoyo a la Docencia1) en los estudios de Farmacia. Iniciadosu uso en la licenciatura impartida en Granada a principios del curso académico 2004-2005, SWAD nosólo se ha convertido en la plataforma web más utilizada en la Facultad de Farmacia, sino que hasituado a este centro en el de mayor nivel de uso de SWAD en la docencia dentro de la Universidad deGranada (UGR).Este artículo se ha estructurado en dos partes. Una primera parte presenta las grandes cifras queevidencian las posibilidades de SWAD en los estudios de Farmacia, tomando como ejemplo su uso enel título impartido en la UGR. En concreto, se presenta un estudio cuantitativo sobre el uso actual deSWAD en la Facultad de Farmacia de Granada, tanto por parte de los profesores como de los alumnos.Asimismo, se muestra la evolución del uso de SWAD en Farmacia en el contexto del mapa detitulaciones de la UGR, evidenciando el rápido éxito alcanzado en estos estudios. Además, incluimosun estudio sobre la evaluación de los sitios en SWAD de las asignaturas de Farmacia, siguiendo losindicadores de calidad establecidos por la Junta de Andalucía.La segunda parte de este trabajo esboza algunas de las prestaciones de SWAD de interés en laasistencia de la docencia en los nuevos títulos de Farmacia adaptados al EEES: desde la prestacionespara gestionar multitud de estructuras de subgrupos dentro de un mismo grupo de asignatura,dedicados a realizar seminarios, prácticas, tutorías, consultas rápidas a los alumnos, etc., hasta lasposibilidades que presenta el dispositivo de consulta personalizada de calificaciones que, en el caso deFarmacia, puede ser además utilizado para repartir las claves de acceso a Portalfarma2(AU)

This paper provides an overview of the use of the web based teaching platform SWAD (Spanishacronym meaning Web System to Support Teaching1) in studies of Pharmacy. Initiated its use in thedegree taught at Granada at the beginning of the academic year 2004-2005, SWAD has not onlybecome the most widely used web platform in the Faculty of Pharmacy, but also has put this centre onthe top of University of Granada (UGR) faculties with highest use of SWAD in teaching.This paper is structured into two parts. The first part presents the figures (macro level) thatdemonstrate the possibilities of SWAD in Pharmacy studies, as exemplified in the title conducted atUGR. In particular, we present a quantitative study on the extent of use of SWAD at the Faculty ofPharmacy at Granada, both by teachers and students. Also, we show the trend of SWAD use inen lose Pharmacy under the context of the map of degrees from the UGR, showing the rapid success achievedin Pharmacy. Finally, we include an evaluation of sites in SWAD of the subjects of Pharmacyaccording to the quality indicators established by the Regional Government of Andalusia.The second part of this paper outlines some of the features of SWAD assisting in teaching the newdegrees of Pharmacy adapted to the EHEA: from the features to manage (sub)group structures within asubject-group dedicated to seminars, practice, tutorials, quick simple survey for students, etc., to thepossibilities offered by the facility providing students’ scores, which can be even used for deliveringpasswords for signing up the Pharmaceutical information system Portalfarma2(AU)