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technology & electronic communications |
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Welcome to the AVINews Monthly. We'd love your feedback on our ongoing efforts to improve the newsletter and its format, so email us your comments: martinmkm@mminformatics.com |
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Your officers for 2005-2006 are: President - Dr. Michael K. Martin Feedback Please let us know if you have any suggestions or comments about AVI. |
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Well, it finally happened. We don't have a feature article for this issue. Is it that none of the members are doing anything interesting, or just that none have sent their work to us to publish? We've had such a wonderful mixture of articles up until now. I hate to see that trailing off. So, whatever your subspecialty of Veterinary Informatics, please think about taking a little time out to write up what you are doing. It just might provide one or more of your colleagues with the idea they need. We might have skipped this issue altogether if not for the collection of items that showed up for inclusion in the News section. One one extreme is a link to a very interesting research paper on the future impact of computer science on pure science--especially biology--that says a lot about where we can expect to be going over the next decade and a half. On the other end we have news of some very real-world application of standards as AAHA is releasing its diagnostic codes for companion animal practice. Unlike most earlier code sets these are build from the ground up to be mapped to SNOMED. In between are articles on the importance of meta-data to geo-spatial data systems that will be important to any of us working with mapping, premises identification, etc. And for those doing conceptual modeling, we have an announcement of a new tool for working with the Web Ontology Language (OWL). In short, I think this News section has something for just about everyone in our association. Dr. Michael K. Martin |
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by You It is far too easy to think that someone else will submit something or that your work isn't of sufficient interest to the association to be written up as a feature article. We are a young field and everything we do is potentially the next big thing. While little of what we do is ready for publication in Science or Nature, it is of interest to our fellow Veterinary Informaticists. So please submit something. |
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Computing to Accelerate New Era of Scientific Discovery, Say Microsoft Research Cambridge and Top Scientists LONDON — March 22, 2006 — Microsoft Research Cambridge, in association with 34 distinguished scientists, today published a set of new findings that indicate advances in computing are set to radically transform science and play a critical role in tackling key global challenges, from the environment and energy to medicine and health. The report, "Towards 2020 Science," is the first to comprehensively analyze the potential of computer science to transform the way science is conducted to the year 2020 and beyond. "Towards 2020 Science" calls upon the science and computer science communities as well as policy-makers and education leaders to support this revolutionary shift. Collectively known as the 2020 Science Group, the report’s contributors find that new software tools developed in computer science will have the potential to profoundly transform science, particularly the life sciences, over the next decade and beyond. These advances can accelerate the ability of scientists to address some of the greatest challenges facing the world, such as climate change and global epidemics. Software tools that enable far more accurate and powerful modeling of complex systems, the report asserts, will allow potential epidemics such as avian influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and malaria to be mapped more clearly, helping to avert disaster and improve response to real-time outbreaks. "The weight of human existence on the planet has begun to break down the very systems on which we depend, and it is vital that we increase our knowledge of complex physical and biological systems through scientific advances," said Prof. Stephen Emmott, director of Microsoft’s scientific research programs in Europe and chairman of the 2020 Science Group. “This report establishes the necessity of applying the cutting edge of computer science to more quickly find solutions to the challenges we are facing." In addition to presenting these and other findings, the report makes 10 recommendations, stressing these needs: to put science and science-based innovation at the top of society’s priorities; to reconsider how the scientists of tomorrow are inspired and educated at all age levels; and to find new ways to raise public awareness of the importance of scientific research and raise its profile on the political agenda. Microsoft Research Cambridge will be providing 2.5 million euro to the scientific community through a call for proposals to support new research that specifically addresses the areas outlined by the 2020 Science Group. "Towards 2020 Science" observes how computer science is enabling new kinds of science through the development of "molecular machines," for example, and the widespread encoding of scientific knowledge. The Human Genome Project offers an early glimpse of the swift pace of discovery that can result from the further codification of data. Yesterday in London, international experts from the 2020 Science Group led a panel discussion to start what the group hopes will be an ongoing and productive public discussion on the issues they have raised. The report has also inspired the leading scientific journal Nature to dedicate a number of articles in its next issue to the future of computing in science. "Computer science and the natural sciences have much to gain from each other," said Dr. Philip Campbell, editor in chief of Nature." The March 23 edition of Nature examines some of these key concepts and issues." The group’s efforts began during a three-day workshop hosted by Microsoft Research Cambridge in July 2005 to consider the evolving role of computing in science. The "Towards 2020 Science" report and more information, including forthcoming details about the call for research proposals and further events where the group will be presenting, can be found at the group’s Web site, http://www.research.microsoft.com/towards2020science.
AAHA to Release Diagnostic Codes March 21, 2006 DENVER—The AAHA Diagnostic Codes Task Force is now completing its work to develop a uniformly-accepted set of diagnostic codes for companion animal practice. Beta-testing of 2,000 diagnostic codes and 2,000 clinical symptom codes is expected to begin this spring. "The standardizing of diagnostic codes will surely mark a major milestone for the veterinary profession," says Daniel Aja, DVM, 2005-2006 AAHA president and chair of the AAHA Diagnostic Codes Task Force. "This project offers far-reaching possibilities both for the rapid measurement of compliance in private practices, as well as the facilitation of disease incidence surveillance in companion animals." The AAHA Diagnostic Codes Task Force was formed in mid-2004 and charged with developing a set of diagnostic codes based on the SNOMED (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine) system, but applicable to private companion animal practice. Following their completion this May, the codes will be mapped to SNOMED codes to ensure compatibility with other nomenclature systems. The codes will then be tested in a group of AAHA-accredited practices to ensure their functionality and that they are reasonably complete. AAHA anticipates making the codes available to vendors of practice management software systems and encouraging them to integrate the codes into their systems, much like species and breed codes, so that they are easy for practices to use. AAHA also anticipates offering the codes to practices using their own proprietary management software for similar incorporation. "We have received very positive feedback from software vendors about this project. Many are welcoming the codes and looking forward to utilizing them as a key component to their systems," says Aja. "For practices, this integration will turn the measurement of compliance from a laborious process to one that is virtually seamless." AAHA expects to release the codes for software use following beta testing and completion of licensing agreements with SNOMED. Release is tentatively projected to occur either in late 2006 or early 2007. The American Animal Hospital Association is an international organization of more than 36,000 veterinary care providers who treat companion animals. Established in 1933, the association is well known among veterinarians for its high standards for hospitals and pet health care. http://www.aahanet.org/About_aaha/About_News_DiagCodes0306.html
Where Did That Geospatial Data Come From? Geographic data are receiving increasing attention in medical and veterinary informatics. Among the issues being addressed by such activities as the development of HL7's version 3 model for geographic coordinates is the need to include metadata such as the precision of the coordinate measurements. This article examines the process of surveying and the need to retain original measurement data including metadata. http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/winter0506articles/where-did-that.html
OWL Ontology Browser Owl-Interactive, an Web Ontology Language (OWL) ontology visualization tool, developed at the Center for Biosecurity and Public Health Informatics Research labs at the School of Health Information Sciences (SHIS), University of Texas-Health Science Center at Houston (UTHSC) has been released as a Beta version. The tool is an Owl ontology visualizer for the semantic web. Owl-Interactive can be obtained from http://www.phinformatics.org/assets/owl-Interactive-Beta2.zip. Follow the instructions in the “Install.txt” file to run the application. Some of the available features included in this release are:
Future directions and functionality
Since this is a beta release, the developer would like to get your feedback, bugs, and critics on how it can be improved. Please send your suggestions and comments to support.owl@gmail.com
DNA Bank to Catalogue Equine Genetic Diseases March 7, 2006 - A DNA bank to catalogue genetic diseases in horses and other domesticated animals will be established by Cornell's College of Veterinary medicine. The DNA bank, run through its Department of Clinical Sciences, will help scientists better understand the genetic basis of diseases across many species. Blood samples will be taken by qualified clinicians from animals at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals identified with known genetic diseases. Officials have stressed that this will only be done with the written permission of the animal owners. http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/0603/009.shtml |
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If you read or hear of a job opening that might be of interest to any of our members or their students, please send that along. These need not be limited to Veterinary Informatics positions, but anything that makes use of the special skills our members possess. |
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