BACKGROUND During evolution from novice to expert, knowledge structure develops into an abridged network organized around pathophysiological concepts. The objectives of this study were to examine the change in knowledge structure in medical students in one year and to investigate the association between the use of a conceptual framework (diagnostic scheme) and long-term knowledge structure. M...

Four new associate editors have been appointed to join Dr Elif Ubeyli, who will also continue in this role. They have been selected based on their research expertise, their past experience with Expert Systems and their dedication as reviewers and guest editors since I have been EiC. You can read a little of what they say about themselves in the biographies included at the end of this announceme...

An intelligent diagnostic tutor, DIAG 1, selects problems adaptively and generates all tutoring dialogs from its analysis of a model of the target system. The learner performs tests on a graphical representation of the target system and calls on DIAG for assistance when needed. During exercises, the tutoring functions can advise the learner about he implications of particular test outcomes, the...

This paper describes the development of an integrated intelligent (expert) system and conventional information system to support decision making of a diagnostic decision in a multi-agent environment. It argues that many a priori requirements for the information system can be elicited by accounting for the specific nature of the diagnostic decision and for the single/multiple-actor environment. ...

BACKGROUND Overtreatment of catheter-associated bacteriuria is a quality and safety problem, despite the availability of evidence-based guidelines. Little is known about how guidelines-based knowledge is integrated into clinicians' mental models for diagnosing catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CA-UTI). The objectives of this research were to better understand clinicians' mental model...

The purpose of this study is to make the case for the utility of decision support systems (DSS) in the diagnosis of malaria and to conduct a case comparison of the effectiveness of the fuzzy and the AHP methodologies in the medical diagnosis of malaria, in order to provide a framework for determining the appropriate kernel in a fuzzy–AHP hybrid system. The combination of inadequate expertise an...

To aid in the validation and interpretive reporting of results from multianalyte diagnostic testing for pheochromocytoma (PHEO), we have developed a desktop personal computer-based laboratory expert system (REPCAT). REPCAT utilizes a commercial database application to run procedures that assess analytical and clinical data relating to patient urine or plasma samples. REPCAT was used to evaluate...

CADMIUM II is a system for the interpretation of mammograms. A novel aspect of the system is that it combines symbolic reasoning with image processing, in contrast with most other approaches, which use only image processing and rely on artificial neural networks (ANNs) to classify mammograms. A problem of ANNs is that the advice they give cannot be traced back to communicable diagnostic inferen...