LEAD STORIES:
Open Access debate still rages
After the storm

EXTRA:
SPL drug labeling legislation comes into force

OTHER NEWS:
African airline adopts electronic flight bags
Dusty tomes find digital home
Just the (electronic) ticket
Top honor for net duo
Auto chat

ASIDES:
The strange world of tech terms

FAVORITES:
Popular articles from recent issues

LEAD STORIES

Open Access debate still rages
Nov 15th, DCLnews

UK biomedical giant, The Wellcome Trust, has put its weight behind Open Access. But is Open Access really a viable model? And will it ever gain acceptance across the board? DCL reports. More.

After the storm
Nov 15th, DCLnews

When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, apart from the human cost, it highlighted the need for electronic health records. DCLnews reports. More.

EXTRA

SPL drug labeling legislation comes into force
Nov 15th, DCLnews

On Nov 2 the Food and Drug Administration brought into force its new procedure for companies to submit digital versions of drug labels that will be used to build a public online archive. Dubbed Structured Product Labeling (SPL), it is the first stage of an effort to update drug labels, which are the FDA-approved documents that lay out each medicine's uses and risks.

The digital requirement will force drug makers to submit all new or changed labels in the SPL format, which can be searched or used to build a database. During next year, they will also have to send in digital versions of the labels of all medicines already on the market.

The goal is a "timely, user-friendly, available format," acting commissioner of the FDA, Andrew von Eschenbach, told The Wall Street Journal. Adding that, ultimately, the digital labels should be part of a broader technology roll out in medicine, such as electronic medical records.

Data Conversion Laboratory's Don Bridges, commented: "The FDA was almost able to stick to their mandated date of October 31 (the real date was November 2) for submission of Package Inserts (PIs) in XML." He added that once the FDA has reviewed the SPL and approved it, the SPL is then submitted to the National Library of Medicine and posted on the DailyMed site. Documentation can then be easily accessed and searched by medical professionals and the public alike.

DCL's SPL conversion service is now used by over 50 different sponsors, including some of the largest pharmaceuticals in the country. "DCL has converted over 200 PIs in the last month," Bridges added. "Many of the pharmaceutical companies, most involved in the HL7 SPL Working Group, chose DCL to convert their PIs to XML."

Click here to view the FDA's press release on SPL

OTHER NEWS

African airline adopts electronic flight bags
Oct 27, 2005. Boeing.com

TAAG Angola is to become the first African airline to use Class 3 Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) in commercial service. Boeing will install its industry-standard EFBs in two 777-200ER (Extended Range) and four 737-700 airplanes in Fall 2006.

"We are excited to have the Boeing EFB installed on our new 777s and 737s," said Capt. Machado Jorge, executive vice president, Operations, for TAAG. "We believe that these leading-edge aircraft will help us operate with much higher levels of safety and efficiency, and launching the EFB in Africa will make us that much more efficient."

The Boeing EFB digitizes vital charts and manuals that pilots need to fly an airplane, giving them the information they need instantly. It also improves fault reporting and provides real-time weather information and real-time Notice To Airmen (NOTAM) information.

More: http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2005/q4/nr_051027g.html

Dusty tomes find digital home
Nov 4, 2005. MediaChanel.org

Google is making available its first large collection of digitized books via the Google Print project. The books, which are not subject to copyright laws, include tomes on the U.S. Civil War, government documents, and the writings of Henry James.

Since announcing the project in 2004, Google has come under heavy criticism, particularly from publishers arguing that the plans would trample on copyrights. Google, however, says that only "snippets" of books bound by copyright law, will be shown on Google Print, unless a publisher or copyright holder provides express permission to show more.

In an e-mail statement Google vice president, David Drummond, said. "It's no surprise that this idea makes some publishers nervous, even though they can easily remove their books from the program at any time. The history of technology is replete with advances that first met wide opposition, later found wide acceptance, and finally were widely regarded as having been inevitable all along."

More: http://mediachannel.org/

Just the (electronic) ticket
Nov 10, 2005. Albuquerque Tribune

The days of the handwritten parking ticket could well be a thing of the past in Albuquerque. Now police officers can print out tickets electronically and quickly send you on your way. This is just one of a number of changes taking place in Albuquerque Police Department (APD) during a high tech pilot program.

Mayor Martin Chavez outlined the plans for the APD in October this year, explaining that officers would also be able to make printouts of other traffic violations, rather than writing out citations. He said that this is part of a grander plan to make the APD completely paperless.

APD Chief Ray Schultz explained that software called TraCS for Traffic Criminal Software is installed in motorcycles and patrol cars. Officers attending traffic incidents can use the software to swipe the magnetic strip on a driver's license to get driver information.

The new system means that officers can also call up information on driver or vehicle licenses from the state and transfer the information directly into the TraCS system. It keeps them from having to enter all the information when writing citations. Cutting down the average traffic stop from around 14 minutes to 5 minutes. "That's going to improve our efficiency and effectiveness in enforcing traffic laws," Schultz said.

And it's also expected to reduce another major headache - illegible citations! "Data entry personnel can't always read (officers') writing," Schultz said. "That just adds to the confusion."

More

Top honor for net duo
Nov 10, 2005. BBC News

Internet pioneers, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, have been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, along with 12 other recipients, including Mohammed Ali and Jack Nicklaus, in a ceremony at the White House. Dr Cerf and Dr Kahn helped to create the basic building blocks of the internet during the early 1970s.

The pair worked on two protocols, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP). Together these protocols ensure that packets of data reach the right net address and check that once data has arrived none of the information was lost during transmission. They also help to make any network built with them resistant to disruption as they can generally route around any damage to links between separate networks.

"Dr Cerf and Dr Kahn have been at the forefront of a digital revolution that has transformed global commerce, communication, and entertainment," read the citation for the medal.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4415326.stm

Auto chat
Nov 9, 2005. USA Today

Research in automobile safety is leading to a whole new method of communication - cars that talk to each other and warn of potential accidents. The vehicles send out data to sensors on the road and other cars, up to a quarter-mile away, pick up the messages using antennas, cameras, computers, and GPS functions.

This approach to automotive safety is known as Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), and its potential benefits include accident prevention and better control of traffic jams and congestion.

Experts say that's just the start. Cars could, for instance, detect other vehicles not heeding a red light. Or if a car slips on ice, ITS could inform other drivers of the dangers and nearby road crews that salt or sand is needed. Such systems could even be programmed to stop cars before an accident occurs — without driver involvement.

"One of these days, you could have cars that refuse to crash or refuse to run off the road," says Randy Iwasaki, chief deputy director of California's Transportation Department.

The first talking cars are expected to be in the U.S. by 2011, when ITS networks should be in place. A small-scale trial is under way in Southfield, Michigan, and the region around Yokohama, Japan will see a 10,000-car ITS test next year.

More

ASIDES

The strange world of tech terms
Nov 15, 2005. DCLnews

If you thought a Smurf was a cute, blue cartoon character - think again. In the tech world the mere mention of the Smurf word is guaranteed to give any system administrator the "Jitters". And if that isn't scary enough, we also reveal the truth about Zombies, Wolfpacks and Blobs…

More

FAVORITES

Popular articles from recent issues
Sept 20th, 2005, DCLnews

Convert from PDF: How to convert from PDF to XML & MS Word
http://www.dclab.com/converting_from_pdf.asp

What's the big deal - just cut and paste?
http://www.dclab.com/cut_and_paste_conversion.asp

Adobe PDF conversion: How, for whom, and when?
http://www.dclab.com/pdfwhitepaper2.asp

No more PDF: XML-based drug-labeling becoming FDA requirement
http://www.dclab.com/spl_standard_requirement.asp

Quark to XML conversion - converting Quark to XML & HTML
http://www.dclab.com/quarktoxml.asp