2005 Scientific Session Abstracts
Anvita eReference: Software System Integrating Clinical Medicine with Basic Biomedical Science
Sheldon S Ball, M.D., Ph.D . 1 (s.ball@anvita.info) and Vei Mah, M.D. 2 ; 1UCLA Multicenter Program in Geriatrics and Gerontology, VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System, and 2 UCLA, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Context: Clinical and molecular information is needed from laboratory bench to patient bedside. This information needs to be structured for rapid retrieval yet be complete enough to facilitate conceptual understanding of the details. Additionally, an information system should display a certain degree of intelligence, including flexibility in accepting user input and the capacity to reason with structured information. Anvita eReference is an electronic reference integrating clinical medicine with molecular pathology. It is a functional prototype, 16 years in development that addresses: 1) representation of medical and biological information, 2) presentation of data and 3) reasoning with this information.
Technology: Anvita is written in a robust, portable, object oriented programming environment supported by Common Lisp and the Common Lisp Object System (CLOS). Anvita uses the Common LISP Interface Manager (CLIM) for diagrammatic representation of objects linked directly to its semantics, thus facilitating the separation of the internal representation of objects from the presentation of information to users. This provides a single development environment, from prototyping to application delivery. Anvita runs on MacIntosh and Windows operating systems.
Design: Anvita includes information on internal medicine, biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, pathology, laboratory medicine, radiology, pharmacology and anatomy. It functions independently as a stand-alone application (thus fast, reliable, mobile), but additionally provides direct links into the world-wide-web, to molecular and clinical databases and original literature (journal articles, World Health Organization, Center for Disease Control etc). Tools for data analysis of microarray experiments are integrated into Anvita and methods of data clustering, expression correlation, and data display have been implemented and are in further development.
Results: Anvita is a computer application/electronic reference bridging clinical medicine and biomedical science (bench to bedside).
Conclusion: It is a tool useful for physicians and medical research investigators. It currently has approximately 80 users, including practicing physicians, biomedical researchers and students.