Search

Background: In the dentistry field, the analysis of dental plaque is vital because it is the main etiological factor in the 2 most prevalent oral diseases: caries and periodontitis. In most of the papers published in the dental literature, the quantification of dental plaque is carried out using traditional, non-automated, and time-consuming indices. Therefore, the development of an automated plaque quantification tool would be of great value to clinicians and researchers. Objective: This study aimed to develop a web-based tool called DenTiUS and various clinical indices to evaluate dental plaque levels using image analysis techniques. Methods: The tool was executed as a web-based application to facilitate its use by researchers. Expert users are free to define experiments, including images from either a single patient (to observe an individual plaque growth pattern) or several patients (to perform a group characterization) at a particular moment or over time. A novel approach for detecting visible plaque has been developed as well as a new concept known as nonvisible plaque. This new term implies the classification of the remaining dental area into 3 subregions according to the risk of accumulating plaque in the near future. New metrics have also been created to describe visible and nonvisible plaque levels. Results: The system generates results tables of the quantitative analysis with absolute averages obtained in each image (indices about visible plaque) and relative measurements (indices about visible and nonvisible plaque) relating to the reference moment. The clinical indices that can be calculated are the following: plaque index of an area per intensity (API index, a value between 0 and 100), area growth index (growth rate of plaque per unit of time in hours; percentage area/hour), and area time index (the time in days needed to achieve a plaque area of 100% concerning the initial area at the same moment). Images and graphics can be obtained for a moment from a patient in addition to a full report presenting all the processing data. Dentistry experts evaluated the DenTiUS Plaque software through a usability test, with the best-scoring questions those related to the workflow efficiency, value of the online help, attractiveness of the user interface, and overall satisfaction. Conclusions: The DenTiUS Plaque software allows automatic, reliable, and repeatable quantification of dental plaque levels, providing information about area, intensity, and growth pattern. Dentistry experts recognized that this software is suitable for quantification of dental plaque levels. Consequently, its application in the analysis of plaque evolution patterns associated with different oral conditions, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of various oral hygiene measures, can represent an improvement in the clinical setting and the methodological quality of research studies This work received financial support from Johnson & Johnson company (Grant 2016‐CE219), Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria (accreditation 2019-2022 ED431G-2019/04, 2017-2020 Potential Growth Group ED431B 2017/029, 2017-2020 Competitive Reference Group ED431C 2017/69, and N. Vila-Blanco support ED481A-2017), and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which acknowledges the CiTIUS-Research Center in Intelligent Technologies of the University of Santiago de Compostela as a Research Center of the Galician University System SI

Today languages and digital tools for communicating and sharing heritage seem more and more strictyly connectcted to digital issues.

Over the past decades, different software programs have been developed for the Computer-Assisted Structure Elucidation (CASE) with NMR data using with various approaches. WebCocon is one of them that has been continuously improved over the past 20 years. Here, we present the inclusion of 4JCH correlations (4J-HMBC) in the HMBC interpretation of Cocon and NOE data in WebCocon. The 4J-HMBC data is used during the structure generation process, while the NOE data is used in post-processing of the results. The marine natural product oxocyclostylidol was selected to demonstrate WebCocon’s enhanced HMBC data processing capabilities. A systematic study of the 4JCH correlations of oxocyclostylidol was performed. The application of NOEs in CASE is demonstrated using the NOE correlations of the diterpene pyrone asperginol A known from the literature. As a result, we obtained a conformation that corresponds very well to the existing X-ray structure.

This paper describes the use of cyberinfrastructure to create interactive applications as part of the Useful to Usable (U2U) project. These applications transform historical climate data, knowledge, and models into decision support tools for end users such as crop farmers, university Extension educators, and other agricultural advisors. In creating a cyberinfrastructure to support the U2U project, four major challenges have been addressed: designing and developing highly usable web applications with frequent feedback, establishing a software engineering environment to support iterative development, integrating and synthesizing historical and current datasets from a variety of sources (local vs. remote, different access methods, and formats), and supporting project collaboration needs of data and document sharing, project management, and public outreach. The overall goals of the cyberinfrastructure and its architecture design are described. Methods for data retrieval and synthesis, as well as the various software components utilized are discussed. The development and integration of tools into the collaborative HUBzero framework are highlighted, including the use of HUBzero’s core features to share ideas, algorithms, and results. A highly iterative development process that includes feedback from experts and end-users to feed requirement definition, design and application updates are also examined.

SwissDrugDesign is an important initiative led by the Molecular Modeling Group of the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics. This project provides a collection of freely available online tools for computer-aided drug design. Some of these web-based methods, i.e., SwissSimilarity and SwissTargetPrediction, were especially developed to perform virtual screening, while others such as SwissADME, SwissDock, SwissParam and SwissBioisostere can find applications in related activities. The present review aims at providing a short description of these methods together with examples of their application in virtual screening, where SwissDrugDesign tools successfully supported the discovery of bioactive small molecules.

Web-based personalized predictive tools in orthopedic surgery are becoming more widely available. Despite rising numbers of these tools, many orthopedic surgeons may not know what tools are available, how these tools were developed, and how they can be utilized. The aim of this scoping review is to compile and synthesize the profile of existing web-based orthopedic tools. We conducted two separate PubMed searches—one a broad search and the second a more targeted one involving high impact journals—with the aim of comprehensively identifying all existing tools. These articles were then screened for functional tool URLs, methods regarding the tool’s creation, and general inputs and outputs required for the tool to function. We identified 57 articles, which yielded 31 unique web-based tools. These tools involved various orthopedic conditions (e.g., fractures, osteoarthritis, musculoskeletal neoplasias); interventions (e.g., fracture fixation, total joint arthroplasty); outcomes (e.g., mortality, clinical outcomes). This scoping review highlights the availability and utility of a vast array of web-based personalized predictive tools for orthopedic surgeons. Increased awareness and access to these tools may allow for better decision support, surgical planning, post-operative expectation management, and improved shared decision-making.

In this paper, we report the experimentation of QUESt, a Web-based tool designed to disseminate case-based knowledge in communities of experts, in the domain of medical training. To this aim, QUESt allowed the teachers of a specialization medical school to create virtual patients in the form of interactive online questionnaires and have students interact with these in a clinical contest. We discuss the results to argue that virtual patients and similar tools can foster the discussion and dissemination of case-oriented medical knowledge if used in lightly gamified initiatives, where participation is more important than winning.

This article describes a project set up to explore the potential of web-based tools for archaeological interpretation of LIDAR data by a non-expert audience. This is accomplished through the creation of bespoke web-based tools designed to facilitate crowdsourced transcription of archaeological features, and trialled through a case study using LIDAR data covering 100km swathe of the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire. A group of non-expert volunteers were tasked with transcribing archaeological features and provided feedback on both the effectiveness of the application and their user experience, in order to tease out potential barriers to public participation.