A semantic application

for Healthcare

Peter Scholten

How to build a semantic application

• What is the goal of a semantic application.

• Not only focused on known requirements, but also anticipate on unknown…’future’ settings.

Goal of semantic application

• Social medium (twitter, hyves, facebook etc Communication

• Discussion platform (Linkedin..)Business oriented

• Information mediumQuestions like….

Semantic web for Healthcare

What where to find

Benefits of the semantic web

• Finding resources more quickly and easily

• Storing corporate knowledge

• To generate new knowledge• Improve the Clinic’s ability to use patient data for

generating new knowledge to improve future patient care through outcomes-based and longitudinal clinical research.

• Cross sectional data analysis

Problems on internet

• Format• Language

– Homograph: group of words that share the same spelling but have different meanings

– Homonym: group of words that share the same spelling or pronunciation (or both) but have different meanings

– Synonym: different words with identical or at least similar meanings

– Polysemy: the capacity for a word to have multiple meanings

Need for new semantic “functions” for information and knowledge processing

Example Internet is collection documents with data mostly

represented in tabular form with different formats and dimension.

How to integrate information

Health Care Civilians

How to define

Relation care takers and care need

Relation care takers and care need depending living place

Relation care takers and care need of older people depending living place

Age

Living place

Age

Geographic distribution for care need

Geographic distribution for care need older then 65 years

Relation cardiologist and care takers older then 65 years

Relation family doctor and care takers region Brabant

• Find models on the webRFD/XML files

• Direct access to selected documentsSpecial Google search

• Built a model from scratchSQL versus relational databaseUse of inferencing

• Find models on the webRFD/XML files

• Direct access to selected documentsSpecial Google search

• Built a model from scratchSQL versus relational databaseUse of inferencing

Selected search internet: Demency

• Find models on the webRFD/XML files

• Direct access to selected documentsSpecial Google search

• Built a model from scratchSQL versus relational databaseUse of inferencing

Inferencing

Semantic web !

Example inferencing

x

zy

An Ontology• Defines

– a common vocabulary – a shared understanding– re-use of domain knowledge.

• Is an explicit description of a domain:– Concepts (classes, subclasses and superclasses)– properties and attributes of concepts – constraints on properties and attributes– Individuals (often, but not always)

joints

drugs

Health care informationmodel

Health care ontology

Metadata (individuals)

Metadata (individuals)

Metadata (individuals)

Metadata (individuals)

Metadata (individuals)

Define Classes and the Class Hierarchy

Description of domain by RDF

RDF: Resource Description Framework is a data model for representing metadata

(information about Resources = URI) in the World Wide Web.

Protégé: an ontology editor

• RDF• RDFS• OWL• SPARQL

A typical relational database table for books

The rows represent the things you are storing information about

The columns represent the properties or attributes of those things

the book has a title with value "Javascript"

the book has a title with value "Javascript"

subject has a property with object "value" (s,p,o)

This is the essence of RDF: the (s,p,o) triple

Any expression in RDF is a collection of triples

Relations Between Entities

RDF names things with URLs

Create different URLs to name different things

Any RDF can be merged with any other RDF

Storage of RDF’s in an XML document with the tag rdf:RDFThe content of an XML document is a number of descriptions, which use rdf:Description tags.

<rdf:RDFxmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"xmlns:mydomain="http://www.mydomain.org/my-rdf-ns">

<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~db"> <mydomain:site-owner

rdf:resource=“#David Billington“/> </rdf:Description></rdf:RDF>

rdfsRDFS is a vocabulary description language, using

– Classes and Properties– Class Hierarchies and Inheritance– Property Hierarchies

OWL/OWL2: A richer ontology language, disjointness, cardinality, characteristics of properties (SymmetricProperty, TransitiveProperty, and inverseOf, FunctionalProperty, InverseFunctional-Property, sameAs.)

Some RDFS inference rules

• (X R Y), (R subPropertyOf Q) (X Q Y)• (X R Y), (R domain C) (X type C)• (X type C), (C subClassOf D) (X type D)

(X type C), (C subClassOf D) (X type D)

Doctor

Surgeon Anaesthesist

rdfs: subClassOfrdfs: subClassOf

Rdf:type

If ?p rdf:type ?SurgeonIf ?Surgeon rdfs: subClassOf ? DoctorThen ?p rdf:type ?Doctor

(X R Y), (R subPropertyOf Q) (X Q Y)

worksFor

freeLancesTo isEmployedBy

rdfs: subPropertyOfrdfs: subPropertyOf

?p

If ?p freeLancesTo ?HospitalIf freeLancesTo rdfs: subPropertyOf worksForThen ?p worksFor ?Hospital

domain range

If P(PROPERTY) rdfs: domain D and x P Y then x rdf: type D

If P(PROPERTY) rdfs: range R and x P Y then y rdf: type R

?Hospital hasSpecialism ?Physician

?Physician hasCompetences ?Competences

Terminology transfer

Physician Specialismequivalent

? Physician rdfs: subClassOf ? Specialism

SPARQL

SPARQL (Query Language for RDF)

SELECT ?hospital ?PhysicianWHERE { ?hospital rdf:value ?distance. ?physician category ?cardiologist.

FILTER (?distance<=40). }

Searching internet

Input: symptomsOutput: Url’s for description symptoms

Searching internet

Input: symptomsOutput: Url’s for description symptoms

Searching internet

Input: diseases or medicineOutput: Url’s for description medicine and diseases

Searching internet

Input: diseases or medicineOutput: Url’s for description medicine and diseases

Searching internet

Input: professional or instituteOutput: address

Searching internet

Input: professional or instituteOutput: address

Searching internet Input: assistive device disabled persons Output: description and Url’s of assistive devices

Searching internet Input: assistive device disabled persons Output: description and Url’s of assistive devices

WhatWhere to find

description

detailed

Searching internet

Input: assistive need for older or disabled persons

• Aids for low-vision or blind persons• Aids for motor disabilities• Persons hard of hearing• Demency• COPD• Chronic diseases• Home care• Emergency service

Output: description and Url’s of assistive advice