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Computer Science Branch

The Computer Science Branch (CSB) is part of the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications, a research and development division of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. CSB applies techniques of computer science and information science to problems in the representation, retrieval and manipulation of biomedical knowledge. CSB projects involve both basic and applied research.

Projects

  • Multiple projects in this area continue to promote the development, enhancement, and adoption of clinical vocabulary standards. Inter-terminology mapping promotes the use of standard terminologies by creating maps to administrative terminologies, which allows re-use of encoded clinical data.

  • Discoveries from Clinical Data small image waveform

    Large database collections of clinical data -- from longitudinal research projects, electronic medical records, and health information exchanges -- provide opportunities to examine controversial findings from smaller scale clinical studies and to conduct retrospective epidemiological studies in areas that lack clinical trials.

  • LHNCBC cherry blossoms

    LHC-Forms is a light-weight, feature-rich, open-source widget that creates input forms for Web-based medical applications or to integrate into electronic health records (EHRs), personal health records (PHRs), and mobile health apps.

  • Detail of baby toes.

    Newborn screening (NBS) in the United States is a complex public health program. The goals of NBS are to identify infants who appear healthy but have serious conditions, begin treatment before they suffer significant disability or death, and in doing so decrease the burden of disease on society.

  • RxTerms is a drug interface terminology derived from RxNorm for prescription writing or medication history recording (e.g. in e-prescribing systems, PHRs). The advantages of RxTerms: free to use; directly links to RxNorm, facilitating inclusion of RxNorm identifiers in electronic health records; and efficient data entry.

  • SNOMED CT thumbnail image

    SNOMED CT (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms) is an extensive clinical terminology that was formed by the merger, expansion, and restructuring of SNOMED RT (Reference Terminology) and the United Kingdom National Health Service Clinical Terms. It is the most comprehensive clinical vocabulary available in English.