** Mayo Sees Databases As Way To Improve Treatments The Mayo Clinic and IBM are developing an advanced medical database that would combine clinical records with demographics and even genomic information to give medical researchers a resource for supporting clinical trials and improving treatment. The system is expected to help Mayo physicians diagnose illnesses faster and prescribe better-tailored treatments.
Doctors needing clinical, genomic, proteomic (protein-related), and demographic data now have to search multiple databases, a process that can take days, says Bill Wong, IBM's director of DB2 for Linux and life sciences. The new system would use IBM's DB2 database and DiscoveryLink software, letting physicians search multiple Mayo databases with a single SQL query, he says. IBM and the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn., are still identifying what data is needed for the central database, Wong says. The database would include archived records collected from consenting patients. It would also help Mayo researchers identify potential clinical-trial participants. Spending for IT hardware, software, and services by the life-sciences industry is expected to reach $43 billion by 2004, according to market consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, with data management alone accounting for $4.5 billion. - Rick Whiting For more on technology and health, see Hands-Off Medicine Promises Healthy Payoffs http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eGYc0BdFGA0V20BaM60A7 -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
