Hours ago I got an Invitation ( Thanks Frank ) , to try the Netvibes.com Ginger - The Private Beta . as I remember the first time i used netvibes.com , i realized something special about that feed reader , more than he customization of the page or adding useful tools , sometime later netvibes lunches Tabs , means you can add pages and classify it as you read , ( Medicine , Health , web2.0 , Ajax , ..whatever ) , otherwise , Modeling the netvibes and lunching an API ( UWA ) , make it more modular and more interactive with the other web services ( social networking , emails , social services …) , now its easy that we re-call netvibes.com our start page .

Ginger : is the new edition of the Netvibes.com , which focus on adding new features , making it more usable , more social ( connect the people you know ) , and l can say they add the most elegant feature i always wished to see , so here is a list of New Netvibes.com Ginger new features :

1-New Controllable interface :

The New Netvibes.com is now easier to control The Top bar now hold the main controls for the new features ( Add Content , Go to My Private Page ( or ) Go to My Public Page , Activities , Contacts ) , browse widgets and add them in one place instead of going to the classic widgets directory , now you can browse the widget by category , add the widget you want in simple click after you see how it looks like . also now you may search for the widgets you want . all in one place . the new control set is rested in peace in top scrollable frame .

2-Contacts :
Its easy now to find your friends , and add them on netvibes.com , so far you can search for them as well , netvibes list them . Why The Need To Contacts , its easy , Socializing the netvibes was a great step , that Sharing is the most common successful feature , so how about the usability of sharing ? Now when you browse any feed : items , videos , or podcast now you can save the link , and you have 2 options in saving them ( Public and Private ) , Public it’ll be viewed to your contacts .

3- Activities : Your Public activity ,Your Private activity , Your Friends activity :

far as i can get activities mean the links i saved either Public ( for my friends network ) and private only me can view it , also you may notice : Friends Activity , that where you’ll see your friends saved ( public ) links . also you may save your friends added links as a favorite ( make as Favorite ) , if you missed some days , busy at work or can not track your friends saved links for certain time , surly you may wanna to review what they saved so , there is a calender which point to the current day , as you may decide to view the activities in certain day … ( i hope , they add another feature to ” see the activities since the last login ” ) .

4-My Universe , Your Universe , Their Universe :
soon as i registered the netvibes.com years ago , i was shifting my work place , from place to another , also i was moving a lot , sometimes i need to check special pages so i had to login netvibes.com from many public PCs , and from many places , so i made a sort of private feed reader allows me to access to the common feeds i always read , i wished the Netvibes create a Public Page for the feeds i always read , that dose not need a login to access .

Somehow Netvibes.com has another plan for that sort of features , so it created a Universe , that universe is a same as netvibes , but it different cause its Public through a private URL , You can customize this page for the world , and for yourself ( adding your feeds ) , its your own universe which is completely widgetized and customizable , somehow you may publish your news , your social network life . also do not forget , Netvibes users , can subscribe to your Universe as you can subscribe the available universes .
There is many Universes , That you may check . ( Via Netvibes Ginger Portal ) : CBS News ,The Guardian ( The Guardian Universe is Rich. with Tabs ( sections in pages ) . i think , there will be a universe directory sometime later . for that sort of public figures , newspapers ,websites ..etc

so beyond creating a universe i also created fast page of the feeds i always read :

5-Send To : My Picks , My Private Page ( or my Universe ) , a Friend , and To My Blog ?!
In almost every widget , you notice an email icon that will make the share more amusing , by sharing the widget ( blog or a friend ) or even sending it to the place you want ( universe or private page ) , make the interaction between the Private access page and the universal page more easier , in matter of a minute i manage to transfer all the widgets i needed from the private page to the universal page .

There are 2 more features still inactive , but so far i created my universe ( Drive and Channels ) , i can not wait to see them both .

My Universe

Tags: Netvibes.com, Netvibes, ginger , beta

as i have special interest in Radiology  . usually we deal with a software provided by the manufacturer of the device . in the hospital am in right now , the doctors not allowed to do many things that they can to do , somehow the head of department believes its some sort of fun and joy he doctors do not need and these things include :
1- Do not copy any scan (somehow they request the device without any media transfer ).
2- No need to render a 3D image .. ( this entertainment dose not needed at all ) .
3-The General Rule ( Only Technicians in The  Room and beside the PCs and The Monitors ) .

Lets Step to the details before i get fired ( they excuse we only have special device ( One CT ) and No Need for the Doctors to exhaust the device ) , lets skip to be under the siege for a while , here is a little list for 4 Technicians and other 3 Doctors , and i dedicate the list for them ( Thanks for helping me Out ) :

ImageJ :
ImageJ is a Medical Image Analysis Tool , Written with Java By Wayne Rasband , It can Run on ( Windows , Mac OSX , Linux ) also it can run as an Online applet , Its a Modular software means the user can write its own plugin , It has a Rich set of Plugins , that could make it the top rated medical image analysis , precessing  software .

ITK :
ITK is a Cross-Platform  application development Framework , use in development of Image Segmentation software , ( CT , MRI ) , ITK is developed by support of Academic and some commercial Organizations , aimed to achieve many goals , but ITK Mean to support the Visual Human Project . In application page , makes a good impression about the usability of ITK in making a usable software .

GemIdent :
Its a Image Recognition software , writin in Java , Licened under ” GemIdent License ” and the software is available for non-commercial users , It can recognize sells by using the advantage of colors . also it uses the famous usual AI Technique ” Training Set ” .

Tags: medicalimaging , analysis , CT , MRI

After some random seminars , about using AI In Medicine , We Opened another Open Discussion about Medical Imaging and Scanning application in applied Informatics Development , so we decided to start over with the standards . ( DICOM ) .

What’s DICOM ?

DICOM ( Digital Imaging and Communication In Medicine ) , Is a set of Standards for dealing with Medical Imaging ( Scanning , Storing , Archiving , and Transmitting ) , These Standards designed by NEMA ( National Electrical Manufacturers Association ) : Its an association based in USA since 1926 , NEMA Designed Many Standards That Used in electric Industry ever since , including ( DICOM ) .

The First Time I Read about DICOM , was in my second year at the Med School , when i used to sneak out of the normal daily boring medical school duty to CT and MRI Rooms at The University Hospitals , and used to gather , write down any word that i notice , and seek it in the web later . the Technicians , were really helpful . and helping me a lot far as they know . but i still got the problem , almost all of the technicians are users , they moved from X-Ray section to CT and MRI , and do not know that much , from what that ( Geek / Kid ) Talking or asking about , so i have to start digging on my own .( The first Time i readed about it , was in a Manual of CT Scanning Device , Had to Copy It and Return it Back to the technician , who I am Thanking Gratefully now )

Why The DICOM Standards ?
The Need for DICOM Becomes More Needed , When CT and Other Radiological diagnostic Techniques were born , That’ll means many Manufactures , will be producing ( designing , developing and marketing ) their devices , so regarding the fear of incompatible Devices , running in the same hospital , or leaving the Manufactures to put , design their own rules , The NEMA , Set a joint committee in 1983 with The American Collage of Radiology 1983 , to design DICOM . DICOM Aimed To :

• Allow the creation of diagnostic information data bases that can be interrogated by a wide
  variety of devices distributed geographically.
• Facilitate the development and expansion of picture archiving and communication systems
  (PACS) that can also interface with other systems of hospital information
• Promote communication of digital image information, regardless of device manufacturer

P.s ( To That whom asked me , why i care more about the standards sometimes more than the system that working on that standards , here is my answer : The Standards Save Us Chaos ) .

Read more :

• Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine ( wikipedia )
• Medical imaging (wikpedia)
• National Electrical Manufacturers Association

Hamza E.e Mousa

Tags: Medical, Imagin , Scanning , DICOM , NEMA

Miscommunication is a huge problem in the medical practice , years before we didn’t suffer from such problem , but right now we are suffering from it in the age of communications. The miscommunication i mean same as Dr. Mark E. Meaney means , as it’s miscommunication between the Doctors themselves and another miscommunication between the Doctors and the Patient ….

Dr. Mark E. Meaney is the President and CEO of National Institute for Patient Rights (NIPR) …. he helped me through his discussion about that topic to reconsider my thinking about that matter …. To follow up with Dr. Mark E. Meaney you might join Empower Patients group at facebook.
before as my father thought me

” Your Patient is more than case more that a responsibility , you’ll spend sometime with , your patient is trusting you not just as a doctor but also as his guidance , and right now many doctors forget this part and that responsibility , now the patient is just another case “

So :

Can we Consider the Miscommunication as failure in the system Or as Medical Malpractice ?

This Question is based on what i read in “Miscommunication, or a failure to communicate, in health care delivery.” ….. at this Discussion Board ..

There is Miscommunication leading to failure sometime in the diagnosis , sometimes in the decision ( by the patient or his own doctor ) ….

so before i replied the other post , my coder ” programming sense ” hold me to give it a thought ( we should classify the problem and know how dangerous its , then studying it , Analysis the causes , then make the plan to fix , cure and treat the problem ”
..

so now this miscommunication is :

1- a small failure in the system ?!!
2- or a complete malpractice ?!!!!

the way i see it :
it’s a complete medical malpractice ,why :,

1.confuse the Teamwork actions .. between the doctors
2.produce a conflict in the diagnosis and/or medication
3.The decision by the patient himself might be regrettable , wrong cause it build on wrong or incomplete information cause the miscommunication ..
4-Miscommunication Leads to Misunderstanding which finally will conclude to Misjudgments ……

Each Patient’s case is a Ship and needs only one captain to admin it and guide it …..

Personally as i see : we can’t say how to fix this miscommunication , simply cause the Doctor’s area and environments are too much different , it might be closed environment ( Hospital , Center , Clinic ) or wide open ( Health Charity Organizations , Open Clinics , community health services powered by the community ) , plus we need to know the source of cause about miscommunication , in wide large scale of doctors and health services providers as well as many environments … (That’s way we need many doctors to Contribute us in this matter , we need to know many opinions , and know about many environments ) ..

The solution has it’s own 2 ways :
1-fix the partial miseducation and environmental , works causes which lead to miscommunication .finally to misjudgment . ( The Diagnosis , and the decision then the medication )

2-social and community icons : as the chaplain , Family Doctor …. as Dr.Mark E. Meaney suggests …. which i totally agree about the whole concept .

… years later this miscommunication will be massive and produce non avoidable consequences , which we can avoid the future problem by fixing and planning how from now …

Hamza E.e Mousa

AFTER trying out many of Projects Management system , and of course some online ones as the Famous BaseCamp by the famous 37 singles , and got amazed by how interactive usable creative BaseCamp was , i got ” months ago ” ActiveCollab , and as the some people suggest , it’s a free open alternative for BaseCamp …

The ActiveCollab , is developed by the developer of simple PHP framework , who has an interesting concept about his framework , ” This framework isn’t designed to build websites for you. There are
plenty out there that already try to do that. It’s designed to help you build websites. ”
I Used Activecollab and still using it , it’s simple easy to use and featured more than any other Groupware i ever used ..
Why ActiveCollab :

• Simple easy install , mostly without problems 80% ..
• Simple easy navigation ..
• Interface : simple , usable …. other wise , other groupware out of simple interface
• Milestone , Tasks , Documents handling were pretty good
• People Privilege was really powerful and simple

ActiveCollab got new opponent …, James S Urquhart clones the ActiveCollab to Rubyonrails called : RailsCollab .

why so ? :
James S Urquhart :

1. I didn’t like PHP
2. I was a bit of a novice at programming in Ruby
3. My experience of dealing with the Ruby on Rails framework was sketchy to say the least
4. ActiveCollab’s PHP framework was similar to Ruby on Rails
5. Open source is great, lots of people will be interested in working on it with me

Curse of the Open Source Excitement ( Open Source Excitement Syndrome ) :
Excitement to Join an Open source Project sometimes is an excitement and joy of the monument , so 2 people only joined the Project and James did all the work ..

again : Hell NO :
James S Urquhart :
“Will i ever do such a stupid thing like this again? I can conclusively say…. hell, no!”

Resources :

• James S Urquhart
  
• RailsCollab AT RubyForge
  
• ActiveCollab
• BaseCamp

Tags: Rubyonrails, Ruby , Opensource , Activecollab , Groupware , RailsCollab