Intelligent Data Analysis In Medicine And Pharmacology: An Overview

Abstract

Extensive amounts of data gathered in medical and pharmacological databases request the development of specialized tools for storing and accessing of data, data analysis, and effective use of stored data. Intelligent data analysis methods provide the means to overcome the resulting gap between data gathering and data comprehension. This chapter starts by presenting our view on the relation of intelligent data analysis to knowledge discovery in databases and data mining, and gives arguments why we have decided to use the term intelligent data analysis in the title of this book. It then discusses the needs and goals of intelligent data analysis in medicine and pharmacology. Next, it gives an overview of book chapters, characterizing them with respect to the intelligent data analysis methods used, as well as their application areas. Finally, it presents the overall purpose of this book.