The Wall Street Journal article Walked Into a Lamppost? Hurt While Crocheting? Help Is on the Way describes the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision that is used to describe medical problems.
“Today, hospitals and doctors use a system of about 18,000 codes to describe medical services in bills they send to insurers. Apparently, that doesn’t allow for quite enough nuance. A new federally mandated version will expand the number to around 140,000—adding codes that describe precisely what bone was broken, or which artery is receiving a stent. It will also have a code for recording that a patient’s injury occurred in a chicken coop.”
We want to see the search engine companies develop and support a Microdata vocabulary for ICD-10. An ICDM-10 OWL DL ontology has already been done, but a Microdata version might add a lot of value. We could use it on our blogs and Facebook posts to catalog those annoying problems we encounter each day, like W59.22XD (Struck by turtle, initial encounter), or Y07.53 (Teacher or instructor, perpetrator of maltreat and neglect).
Humor aside, a description logic representation (e.g., in OWL) makes the coding system seem less ridiculous. Instead of appearing as a catalog of 140K ground tags, it would emphasize that it is a collection of a much smaller number of classes that can be combined in productive ways to produce them or used to create general descriptions (e.g., bitten by an animal).
]]>Luke 15:11-32
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Reflection:
This passage shows us the Father’s heart, the anticipation of the younger son’s return, the pleading with the older son…all because He wants them to live ‘found’ in His blessing. There is the continuing theme of joy and celebration once someone comes back and repents. This passage is rich in the imagery of a father’s generous action and loving correction, in that he wants both sons to experience the fullness of living in his house.
Response:
Our Father in heaven loves us with a measure and in ways that we can never fully grasp or imagine. His grace and mercy are constant but are so awe-inspiring and surprising to us because we do not deserve it. In the end, there is nothing that we could have done to earn His love that He freely and abundantly gives. Let’s thank God today for His faithful love that opens our eyes so that we may return to Him and revel in all that we have in Him.
]]>Maria Satyshur ’11 is helping keep UMBC and our amazing students in the headlines. This recent grad just published an article in the Arbutus Patch. The article profiles two UMBC students who cycled across the United States to support the fight against cancer. From the article:
Now that summer is coming to an end, most of us are reminiscing about lazy afternoons at the pool or our favorite vacation spot. But UMBC students Omar Bukhari and Adam Gerber are reflecting on their amazing 70-day journey, biking 4,000 miles from Baltimore to San Francisco to help support the fight against cancer with an organization called 4k for Cancer.
Visit Retriever Net for all the latest alumni news, events, perks and services.
]]>Maria Satyshur ’11 is helping keep UMBC and our amazing students in the headlines. This recent grad just published an article in the Arbutus Patch. The article profiles two UMBC students who cycled across the United States to support the fight against cancer. From the article:
Now that summer is coming to an end, most of us are reminiscing about lazy afternoons at the pool or our favorite vacation spot. But UMBC students Omar Bukhari and Adam Gerber are reflecting on their amazing 70-day journey, biking 4,000 miles from Baltimore to San Francisco to help support the fight against cancer with an organization called 4k for Cancer.
Visit Retriever Net for all the latest alumni news, events, perks and services.