Joint pre-processing framework for two-dimensional gel electrophoresis images based on nonlinear filtering, background correction and normalization techniques

Effective data quality management for electronic medical record data using SMART DATA

OBJECTIVES

In the medical field, we face many challenges, including the high cost of data collection and processing, difficult standards issues, and complex preprocessing techniques. It is necessary to establish an objective and systematic data quality management system that ensures data reliability, mitigates risks caused by incorrect data, reduces data management costs, and increases data utilization. We introduce the concept of SMART data in a data quality management system and conducted a case study using real-world data on colorectal cancer.

METHODS

We defined the data quality management system from three aspects (Construction - Operation - Utilization) based on the life cycle of medical data. Based on this, we proposed the "SMART DATA" concept and tested it on colorectal cancer data, which is actual real-world data.

RESULTS

We define "SMART DATA" as systematized, high-quality data collected based on the life cycle of data construction, operation, and utilization through quality control activities for medical data. In this study, we selected a scenario using data on colorectal cancer patients from a single medical institution provided by the Clinical Oncology Network (CONNECT). As SMART DATA, we curated 1,724 learning data and 27 Clinically Critical Set (CCS) data for colorectal cancer prediction. These datasets contributed to the development and fine-tuning of the colorectal cancer prediction model, and it was determined that CCS cases had unique characteristics and patterns that warranted additional clinical review and consideration in the context of colorectal cancer prediction.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, we conducted primary research to develop a medical data quality management system. This will standardize medical data extraction and quality control methods and increase the utilization of medical data. Ultimately, we aim to provide an opportunity to develop a medical data quality management methodology and contribute to the establishment of a medical data quality management system.

Synthetic Data Generation for the Development of 2D Gel Electrophoresis Protein Spot Models

Two-dimensional electrophoresis gels (2DE, 2DEG) are the result of the procedure of separating, based on two molecular properties, a protein mixture on gel. Separated similar proteins concentrate in groups, and these groups appear as dark spots in the captured gel image. Gel images are analyzed to detect distinct spots and determine their peak intensity, background, integrated intensity, and other attributes of interest. One of the approaches to parameterizing the protein spots is spot modeling. Spot parameters of interest are obtained after the spot is approximated by a mathematical model. The development of the modeling algorithm requires a rich, diverse, representative dataset. The primary goal of this research is to develop a method for generating a synthetic protein spot dataset that can be used to develop 2DEG image analysis algorithms. The secondary objective is to evaluate the usefulness of the created dataset by developing a neural-network-based protein spot reconstruction algorithm that provides parameterization and denoising functionalities. In this research, a spot modeling algorithm based on autoencoders is developed using only the created synthetic dataset. The algorithm is evaluated on real and synthetic data. Evaluation results show that the created synthetic dataset is effective for the development of protein spot models. The developed algorithm outperformed all baseline algorithms in all experimental cases.

Dataset of Two-Dimensional Gel Electrophoresis Images of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients before and after Induction Therapy

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a malignant disorder of the hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, which results in the build-up of immature blasts in the bone marrow and eventually in the peripheral blood of affected patients. Accurately assessing a patient´s prognosis is very important for clinical management of the disease, which is why there are several prognostic factors such as age, performance status at diagnosis, platelet count, serum creatinine and albumin that are taken into account by the clinician when deciding the course of treatment. However, proteomic changes related to treatment response in this patient group have not been widely explored. Here, we make available a set of 22 two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DGE) images obtained from the peripheral blood samples of 11 patients with AML, taken at the time of diagnosis and after induction therapy (approximately 21–28 days after starting treatment). The same set of 2DGE images is also made available after a preprocessing stage (an additional 22 2DGE pre-processed images), which was performed using algorithms developed in Python, in order to improve the visualization of characteristic spots and facilitate proteomic analysis of this type of images.