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Web-Based Virtual Microscopy of Digitized Blood Slides for Malaria Diagnosis: An Effective Tool for Skills Assessment in Different Countries and Environments

BACKGROUND: Morphological examination of blood films remains the reference standard for malaria diagnosis. Supporting the skills required to make an accurate morphological diagnosis is therefore essential. However, providing support across different countries and environments is a substantial challe...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ahmed, Laura, Seal, Leonard H, Ainley, Carol, De la Salle, Barbara, Brereton, Michelle, Hyde, Keith, Burthem, John, Gilmore, William Samuel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4999535/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27515009
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/jmir.6027
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author Ahmed, Laura
Seal, Leonard H
Ainley, Carol
De la Salle, Barbara
Brereton, Michelle
Hyde, Keith
Burthem, John
Gilmore, William Samuel
author_facet Ahmed, Laura
Seal, Leonard H
Ainley, Carol
De la Salle, Barbara
Brereton, Michelle
Hyde, Keith
Burthem, John
Gilmore, William Samuel
author_sort Ahmed, Laura
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Morphological examination of blood films remains the reference standard for malaria diagnosis. Supporting the skills required to make an accurate morphological diagnosis is therefore essential. However, providing support across different countries and environments is a substantial challenge. OBJECTIVE: This paper reports a scheme supplying digital slides of malaria-infected blood within an Internet-based virtual microscope environment to users with different access to training and computing facilities. The feasibility of the approach was established, allowing users to test, record, and compare their own performance with that of other users. METHODS: From Giemsa stained thick and thin blood films, 56 large high-resolution digital slides were prepared, using high-quality image capture and 63x oil-immersion objective lens. The individual images were combined using the photomerge function of Adobe Photoshop and then adjusted to ensure resolution and reproduction of essential diagnostic features. Web delivery employed the Digital Slidebox platform allowing digital microscope viewing facilities and image annotation with data gathering from participants. RESULTS: Engagement was high with images viewed by 38 participants in five countries in a range of environments and a mean completion rate of 42/56 cases. The rate of parasite detection was 78% and accuracy of species identification was 53%, which was comparable with results of similar studies using glass slides. Data collection allowed users to compare performance with other users over time or for each individual case. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, these results demonstrate that users worldwide can effectively engage with the system in a range of environments, with the potential to enhance personal performance through education, external quality assessment, and personal professional development, especially in regions where educational resources are difficult to access.
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spelling pubmed-49995352016-09-09 Web-Based Virtual Microscopy of Digitized Blood Slides for Malaria Diagnosis: An Effective Tool for Skills Assessment in Different Countries and Environments Ahmed, Laura Seal, Leonard H Ainley, Carol De la Salle, Barbara Brereton, Michelle Hyde, Keith Burthem, John Gilmore, William Samuel J Med Internet Res Original Paper BACKGROUND: Morphological examination of blood films remains the reference standard for malaria diagnosis. Supporting the skills required to make an accurate morphological diagnosis is therefore essential. However, providing support across different countries and environments is a substantial challenge. OBJECTIVE: This paper reports a scheme supplying digital slides of malaria-infected blood within an Internet-based virtual microscope environment to users with different access to training and computing facilities. The feasibility of the approach was established, allowing users to test, record, and compare their own performance with that of other users. METHODS: From Giemsa stained thick and thin blood films, 56 large high-resolution digital slides were prepared, using high-quality image capture and 63x oil-immersion objective lens. The individual images were combined using the photomerge function of Adobe Photoshop and then adjusted to ensure resolution and reproduction of essential diagnostic features. Web delivery employed the Digital Slidebox platform allowing digital microscope viewing facilities and image annotation with data gathering from participants. RESULTS: Engagement was high with images viewed by 38 participants in five countries in a range of environments and a mean completion rate of 42/56 cases. The rate of parasite detection was 78% and accuracy of species identification was 53%, which was comparable with results of similar studies using glass slides. Data collection allowed users to compare performance with other users over time or for each individual case. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, these results demonstrate that users worldwide can effectively engage with the system in a range of environments, with the potential to enhance personal performance through education, external quality assessment, and personal professional development, especially in regions where educational resources are difficult to access. JMIR Publications 2016-08-11 /pmc/articles/PMC4999535/ /pubmed/27515009 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/jmir.6027 Text en ©Laura Ahmed, Leonard H Seal, Carol Ainley, Barbara De la Salle, Michelle Brereton, Keith Hyde, John Burthem, William Samuel Gilmore. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 11.08.2016. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Ahmed, Laura
Seal, Leonard H
Ainley, Carol
De la Salle, Barbara
Brereton, Michelle
Hyde, Keith
Burthem, John
Gilmore, William Samuel
Web-Based Virtual Microscopy of Digitized Blood Slides for Malaria Diagnosis: An Effective Tool for Skills Assessment in Different Countries and Environments
title Web-Based Virtual Microscopy of Digitized Blood Slides for Malaria Diagnosis: An Effective Tool for Skills Assessment in Different Countries and Environments
title_full Web-Based Virtual Microscopy of Digitized Blood Slides for Malaria Diagnosis: An Effective Tool for Skills Assessment in Different Countries and Environments
title_fullStr Web-Based Virtual Microscopy of Digitized Blood Slides for Malaria Diagnosis: An Effective Tool for Skills Assessment in Different Countries and Environments
title_full_unstemmed Web-Based Virtual Microscopy of Digitized Blood Slides for Malaria Diagnosis: An Effective Tool for Skills Assessment in Different Countries and Environments
title_short Web-Based Virtual Microscopy of Digitized Blood Slides for Malaria Diagnosis: An Effective Tool for Skills Assessment in Different Countries and Environments
title_sort web-based virtual microscopy of digitized blood slides for malaria diagnosis: an effective tool for skills assessment in different countries and environments
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4999535/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27515009
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/jmir.6027
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