Computational Comparison and Visualization of Viruses in the Perspective of Clinical Information

Visualization of cross-resistance between antimicrobial agents by asymmetric multidimensional scaling

What is known and objective

In our previous studies, we developed a cross‐resistance rate (CRR) correlation diagram (CRR diagram) that visually captures the magnitude of CRRs between antimicrobials using scatter plots. We used asymmetric multidimensional scaling (MDS) to transform cross‐resistance similarities between antimicrobials into a 2‐dimensional map and attempted to visually express them. We also explored the antibiograms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa before and after the transfer to newly built hospitals, and we determined by the CRR diagram that the CRRs among β‐lactam antimicrobials other than carbapenems decreased substantially with the facility transfer. The present study tests whether the analysis of CRRs by asymmetric MDS can be used as new visual information that is easy for healthcare professionals to understand.

Method

We tested the impact of changes in the nosocomial environment due to institutional transfers on CRRs among antimicrobials in asymmetric MDS, as well as contrasted the asymmetric MDS map and CRR diagram.

Results and Discussion

In the asymmetric MDS map, antimicrobial groups with the same mechanism of action were displayed close together, and antimicrobial groups with different mechanisms of action were displayed separately. The asymmetric MDS map drawn solely for antimicrobials belonging to the group with the same mechanism of action showed similarities to the CRR diagram. Also, the distance of each antimicrobial to other antimicrobials shown in the asymmetric MDS map was negatively correlated with the CRRs for them against that antimicrobial.

What is new and conclusion

The asymmetric MDS map expresses the dissimilarity as distances between agents, and there are no meanings or units on the ordinate and abscissa axes of the output map. In contrast, the CRR diagram expresses the antimicrobials' resistance status as values, such as resistance rate and CRR. By analysing the CRRs in the asymmetric MDS, it is feasible to visually recognize cross‐resistance similarities between antimicrobial groups as distances. The use of the asymmetric MDS combined with the CRR diagram allows us to visually understand the resistance and cross‐resistance status of each antimicrobial agent as a 2‐dimensional map, as well as to understand the trends and characteristics of the data by means of quantitative values.

An Evolutionary Perspective of Virus Propagation

This paper presents an evolutionary algorithm that simulates simplified scenarios of the diffusion of an infectious disease within a given population. The proposed evolutionary epidemic diffusion (EED) computational model has a limited number of variables and parameters, but is still able to simulate a variety of configurations that have a good adherence to real-world cases. The use of two space distances and the calculation of spatial 2-dimensional entropy are also examined. Several simulations demonstrate the feasibility of the EED for testing distinct social, logistic and economy risks. The performance of the system dynamics is assessed by several variables and indices. The global information is efficiently condensed and visualized by means of multidimensional scaling.