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Computing in medicine
COMPUTING
IN MEDICINE
of a Seminar on University
to Medicine.
of and B.J. Andrews
Macmillan, London,
1981, pp 408 g55
Following the text of the 1981 Adam Thompson lecture: Mr. W.J. Perkins - Transforming Data and Ideas into Information; the first section of this volume is devoted to microcomputer and microprocessor applications. A wide variety of topics is covered: colour television for rehabilitation of the handicapped, patient/computer interviews, pathology and physiology laboratory systems, cardiological and respiratory monitoring, and a number of others. For this and the remaining sections there is a particularly helpful report on the discussion which followed formal presentation of the papers. The section on Signal Analysis has managed to avoid the usual collection of ‘new’ methods for analysing electrophysiological signals and has instead introduced subjects such as: gait and motion analysis, muscle contraction tension-time relationships, the interpretation of specific parameters of motor unit action potentials, and the application of a sinus arythmia model to the study of neuropathy. The growing field of image analysis is well represented by some ten contributions. One in particular approaches the problem of imaging the results from statistical analyses of biological data, a field that has much to offer and in which there is a distressing lack of original material,
The ‘non-numerical’ use of computers covers the principles of a diagnosis decision system, medical education, patient records for a district based maternity system, nurses and computers, and a description of skin texture. The final section deals with a selection of suggestions for computer modelling; it is perhaps here that one might enter a plea for an improvement in the verification of models by the use of real data. An omission, for which the editors cannot be responsible, is a general lack of error analysis in the papers; elegant and sophisticated though a technique may be, a knowledge of its limitations is as important as an awareness of its virtues. In a similar vein, that general variability which is an inseparable part of biology ought to suggest a far more widespread use of statistics, particularly since computers are introduced in order to avoid the labour of tedious calculation. Unfortunately, there is little evidence that the potential capabilities of statistics are appreciated; if they were, then the value of conference contributions such as these would be so much the more valuable. The material has been well chosen; there is an author index and a good subject index. It is a well produced book and certainly merits a place on the library shelf.
G.H. Byford
HISTORY OF THE HOSPITAL PHYSICISTS Editor J. W. Haggith (.&‘I5 hardback, xl 2 softback from Hospital Physicists’ Association, 47 Be&rave Square, London SWlX SQX) pp 169 This book is a fascinating account of the history of the.Hospital Physicists’ Association (HPA) since it was founded in 1943. It is based on the personal experiences of some of the people involved over those forty years. It reports clearly on the successes and difficulties over the forty year period and, for me, was a good source of information on a period about which I knew little since most of the book is based on events before 1973. The contents of the book include an introduction by Professor Maynard who is in an ideal position to comment since he has seen the whole forty years. Then four chapters follow, each covering a decade and written by one or two contributors. Brief biographies of the founder members are also included and at the end are appendices on honorary
ASSOCIATION members statistics,
and officers, etc.
1943-l 983 prizes, lectures,
membership
Personally, I found the book very interesting in that it gave me an insight into the need and the difficulties in forming such an Association. It is to their credit that the founder members had such a clear view of what was needed and the account of their insistence on professional and political as well as scientific interests helps to explain the role of the HPA in so many aspects of medical physics today. The accounts of how the Association coped with the establishment of the NHS and with their decision to move to the Institute of Physics are fascinating. The results of the latter are now obvious in that the turnover has increased from 27,500 in 1972 to X90,000 last year. As an account of recent history it gives the flavour of events in an entertaining manner and I would recommend it as a very readable book.
M M Jordan
J. Biomed Eng. 1984, Vol. 6, April
161
IN MEDICINE
of a Seminar on University
to Medicine.
of and B.J. Andrews
Macmillan, London,
1981, pp 408 g55
Following the text of the 1981 Adam Thompson lecture: Mr. W.J. Perkins - Transforming Data and Ideas into Information; the first section of this volume is devoted to microcomputer and microprocessor applications. A wide variety of topics is covered: colour television for rehabilitation of the handicapped, patient/computer interviews, pathology and physiology laboratory systems, cardiological and respiratory monitoring, and a number of others. For this and the remaining sections there is a particularly helpful report on the discussion which followed formal presentation of the papers. The section on Signal Analysis has managed to avoid the usual collection of ‘new’ methods for analysing electrophysiological signals and has instead introduced subjects such as: gait and motion analysis, muscle contraction tension-time relationships, the interpretation of specific parameters of motor unit action potentials, and the application of a sinus arythmia model to the study of neuropathy. The growing field of image analysis is well represented by some ten contributions. One in particular approaches the problem of imaging the results from statistical analyses of biological data, a field that has much to offer and in which there is a distressing lack of original material,
The ‘non-numerical’ use of computers covers the principles of a diagnosis decision system, medical education, patient records for a district based maternity system, nurses and computers, and a description of skin texture. The final section deals with a selection of suggestions for computer modelling; it is perhaps here that one might enter a plea for an improvement in the verification of models by the use of real data. An omission, for which the editors cannot be responsible, is a general lack of error analysis in the papers; elegant and sophisticated though a technique may be, a knowledge of its limitations is as important as an awareness of its virtues. In a similar vein, that general variability which is an inseparable part of biology ought to suggest a far more widespread use of statistics, particularly since computers are introduced in order to avoid the labour of tedious calculation. Unfortunately, there is little evidence that the potential capabilities of statistics are appreciated; if they were, then the value of conference contributions such as these would be so much the more valuable. The material has been well chosen; there is an author index and a good subject index. It is a well produced book and certainly merits a place on the library shelf.
G.H. Byford
HISTORY OF THE HOSPITAL PHYSICISTS Editor J. W. Haggith (.&‘I5 hardback, xl 2 softback from Hospital Physicists’ Association, 47 Be&rave Square, London SWlX SQX) pp 169 This book is a fascinating account of the history of the.Hospital Physicists’ Association (HPA) since it was founded in 1943. It is based on the personal experiences of some of the people involved over those forty years. It reports clearly on the successes and difficulties over the forty year period and, for me, was a good source of information on a period about which I knew little since most of the book is based on events before 1973. The contents of the book include an introduction by Professor Maynard who is in an ideal position to comment since he has seen the whole forty years. Then four chapters follow, each covering a decade and written by one or two contributors. Brief biographies of the founder members are also included and at the end are appendices on honorary
ASSOCIATION members statistics,
and officers, etc.
1943-l 983 prizes, lectures,
membership
Personally, I found the book very interesting in that it gave me an insight into the need and the difficulties in forming such an Association. It is to their credit that the founder members had such a clear view of what was needed and the account of their insistence on professional and political as well as scientific interests helps to explain the role of the HPA in so many aspects of medical physics today. The accounts of how the Association coped with the establishment of the NHS and with their decision to move to the Institute of Physics are fascinating. The results of the latter are now obvious in that the turnover has increased from 27,500 in 1972 to X90,000 last year. As an account of recent history it gives the flavour of events in an entertaining manner and I would recommend it as a very readable book.
M M Jordan
J. Biomed Eng. 1984, Vol. 6, April
161