CENTER FOR INFORMATICS UNIVERSITY OF SAN AGUSTIN ILOILO

COVID-19 Toolkit

We prepared this toolkit to assist local governments, private organizations and health decision-makers across the Philippines in their response to CoViD-19. It currently consists of guidelines, recommendations, data, estimation tools and support, and informatics tools for contact tracing and monitoring. We believe these tools may help users tailor their response according to how the epidemic behaves in their communities. See the COVID-19 Toolkit menu item above and the Apps and Services buttons below.

More Up-to-Date Covid-19 Data

CENTER FOR INFORMATICS
THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN AGUSTIN ILOILO

The CFI’s overarching objective is to develop and implement informatics resources to support policies and decisions. These resources include data sets, data collection and management tools, scientific expertise, and user support, in collaboration with researchers and other users in, but not limited to, the Western Visayas region.

Apps and Services for the Community

Contact Tracing

PPE Needs

Epidemiology

EMR

Data Leakage as a Potential Source of Feature Selection Instability: A Case Study on Lung Cancer Biomarker Discovery

Mr. Miñoza presented a 2-minute research splash and poster presentation of the study during the Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference in the Philippines 2022 held in Pasay City on November 05, 2022.

Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy and Stacked Regression for the Simultaneous Determination of Fresh Cattle and Poultry Manure Chemical Properties

Excessive use of animal manure as fertilizers can lead to pollution through the introduction of nitrogen, phosphorus, and other mineral compounds to the environment. Wet chemical analytical methods are traditionally used to determine the precise chemical composition of manure to manage the application of animal waste to the soil. However, such methods require significant resources to carry out the processes. Affordable, rapid, and accurate methods of analyses of various chemical components present in animal manure, therefore, are valuable in managing soil and mitigating water pollution.

Download the pdf.

MPA-FishMApp - A Citizen Science App That Simplifies Monitoring of Coral Reef Fish Density and Biomass in Marine Protected Areas

Monitoring changes in fish density and biomass inside marine protected areas (MPAs) through fish visual census (FVC) can determine if MPAs are achieving their goal of promoting fish population recovery. Simplified FVC methods have been developed for citizen scientists to enable them to monitor fish populations in MPAs. However, MPA monitoring programs led by local stakeholders remain rare and difficult to sustain
due to technical barriers related to FVC data management. Here, we describe and evaluate a novel online app called MPA-FishMApp, which we developed to help stakeholders of MPAs that protect coral reefs in the Philippines efficiently store, analyze, and visualize FVC data.

Download the pdf.

Data Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Lessons from Kaggle - CFI Talks Session 3

Two of CFI's active researchers in health AI discuss their work and lessons derived from joining an international competition where they both received bronze medals.

Watch the discussion here.

Why we do not have a treatment for Alzheimer's disease yet: A systems biological perspective - CFI Talks Session 2

For this CFI Talks session the CFI, in collaboration with the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) and Negros Oriental Rehabilitation Foundation, Inc. (NORFI), invited Dr. Bernd Moosmann, Professor of Physiological Chemistry at Johannes Gutenberg University and a winner of the Oskar Fischer Prize, to lecture on a synthesis of various lines of evidence pointing to chronic excitatory insufficiency as the cause of Alzheimer's Disease.

You can listen to his lecture from this link.

Examining Barriers and Opportunities of Conducting Genome-Wide Association Studies in Developing Countries

The CFI recently published "Examining Barriers and Opportunities of Conducting Genome-Wide Association Studies in Developing Countries." The CFI authors are visiting scientist Dr. Gerard Dumancas, postdoctoral research fellow and telehealth coordinator Dr. Pia Zamora, and director Dr. Romulo de Castro.

Click this link for the pdf.

Intersections of Higher Education, Government, Healthcare, and Communities - CFI Talks Session 1

The Center for Informatics is proud to present the first session of CFI Talks where we invite international and local experts to discuss their work and contributions to societal progress. For this session we have invited Dr. Christian Gloria, a renowned expert in public health from the Columbia University Irving Medical Center to tell us about his experiences in promoting and improving public health.

Watch Dr. Gloria's talk here.

Expanding the Edge of Philippine Medicine

The University of the Philippines Medical Alumni Society in America (UPMASA) and the UP College of Medicine (UPCM), presented the eleventh installment of the online research series titled "Expanding the Edge of Philippine Medicine" on June 28, 2022 (Tuesday), at 8:00 AM via Zoom. The session featured CFI director Dr. Romulo de Castro. He discussed the current efforts of the center in improving the reach of medical services in the Philippines with telehealth. Watch his talk here.

COVID-19 Genomic Surveillance and Epitope Assessment of Vaccine Efficacy vs Omicron

Explore the COVID-19 genomic surveillance and read the discussions on epitope scanning tool applied to the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.

Trends in Genetics: Are phenome-wide association studies feasible in a developing country?

Our most recent publication "Are phenome-wide association studies feasible in a developing country?", was authored Dr. Gerald Dumancas, Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Scranton and Balik Scientist, with CFI researchers (Jonathan Adam Rico, and Drs. Pia Zamora and Romulo de Castro) and their collaborators from various institutions in Western Visayas.

Trends in Genetics has an impact factor of 11.639!

DOST-SEI fetes women's role in pandemic response.

Last March, DOST-SEI celebrated the National Women's Month and the International Women's Day and part of this event is to highlight the efforts of three women professionals and scholars in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes the CFI's very own Dr. Pia Zamora.

Visit this link to read through DOST's article on the event.
Click this link to an FB post from DOST on this event.

Trainings on the use of the MPA-FishMApp tool has started

Dr. Rene Abesamis, a Marine Protected Area (MPA) specialist from the Silliman University began conducting trainings on a simplified method of monitoring and analysis of MPAs. This method utilizes the MPA-FishMApp, a data collection and visualization tool developed out of a collaboration between CFI and Dr. Abesamis.

Follow this link to an FB post from USAID on this news.
Follow this link to read through an article from Silliman University on this.

Data, Projections, and COVID-19: CFI Mini-symposium on December 7, 2020

Researchers from the University of San Agustin Iloilo, University of the Philippines and National Center for Mental Health have collaborated on numerous projects to help in the local and national COVID-19 response.

Link to the entire webinar recording & program segments.

DOST SEI Webinar Activity for the Health Sector

Introduction to Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap)

Pia Zamora and Jonathan Rico, CIP Scholars Working with CFI, were featured in DOST's the Patriot

"We can always do something to further the welfare of Filipinos. However you want to help any of our countrymen in need, give it your all and do it with the right intention".

- Pia Zamora and Jonathan Rico on The Patriot

COVID-19 Data Issues analyzed by CFI volunteer student Dominic Karl Bolinas

Dominic Karl Bolinas, MD-PhD student in UP Manila and volunteer at the CFI, investigated the different data channels used by the DOH to disseminate COVID-19 information and found dissimilarities.

Exit Report of Dr. Romulo de Castro

Dr. Romulo de Castro delivered his exit report for his Balik Scientist medium-term stint as the director of the Center for Informatics. He emphasized his collaborative work with multiple organizations and many other scientists and researchers. Specific focus was given to his work on COVID-19.

New Research Publication from CFI, CND3 and Chemistry

CVD and diabetes risk scoring research is particularly limited in the Philippines due to challenges related to costs, gaps in policies, and stakeholder involvement. A possible theoretical framework for the analysis and utilization of data sets as well as recommendations and research directions were discussed in this manuscript.

Disparities in Healthcare Delivery in Western Visayas during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The lack of an efficient healthcare delivery system has always been an issue in the Philippines. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare delivery in Western Visayas was discussed in this manuscript.

This analysis was submitted as a commissioned paper to the 42nd Annual Scientific Meeting of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST).

CFI and partner modelers offer free epidemiological modeling service to LGUs

CFI collaborates with its research partners (UP Diliman, the National Center for Mental Health, UP Manila and UP Visayas) to offer free epidemiological modeling services to LGUs using existing methods (FluSurge, Hill) and the newly-created ASQ (Age Stratified SEIR with Quarantine).

Western Visayas COVID-19 Cases Data

We compile Region VI (Western Visayas) Covid-19 data from the DOH, media reports and other sources.

CFI assists PAASE and PASUC with a PPE Needs Dashboard App

PAASE is partnering with PASUC to set up a PAASE-PASUC dashboard in our websites, that would reflect real-time data on the demand for PPE in underserved hospitals and other facilities in the country.

The dashboard was created by Dr. Romulo de Castro and Mr. Raphael Nelo Aguila of the University of San Agustin's Center for Informatics (CFI) with inputs from the PAASE PPE Team and PASUC & BSU Pres. Ronquillo.

RAPPLER publishes Lockdown Analysis by a team of researchers led by the CFI

"...we must will ourselves to test massively and extensively if post-lockdown decisions are to be driven by data. Lack of testing is lack of data."

CFI assists NCMH with contact tracing and monitoring tool

Covid-19 has recently hampered operations at the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH). This requires immediate action in reporting, contact tracing and monitoring cases. The CFI immediately helped to develop and deploy a tool to assist the NCMH in tracking the disease among its staff and within their grounds.

COVID-19 Disease Burden vs Hospital Capacity

We modeled the healthcare burden for this epidemic using the FluSurge 2.0 tool adjusted for Covid-19 conditions and the status of regional (Panay + Guimaras) and provincial hospital capacity.

A Recommendation for COVID-19 Testing in Low Resource Countries

Sample pooling can save in the number of tests to be performed when resources (for testing) are scarce, and has been used to track pathogen spread early in an epidemic.

COVID-19 Outbreak and Response

The University of San Agustin Iloilo Office of Research and Global Relations, the Center for Informatics and the Department of Biology hosted a lecture on COVID-19 by Dr. Mario Antonio L. Jiz II last March 13, 2020. Dr. Jiz highlighted updates on disease epidemiology, surveillance, and diagnosis and discussed preventive measures to help curb the spread of the virus.