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Project Description

The research project “Development of New Venn Prediction Methods for Osteoporosis Risk Assessment” is funded by the Research Promotion Foundation of Cyprus (and co-funded by the Structural Funds of the European Union). The project started on the 1st of September 2011 and its duration is 24 months.

The project will focus on the development of novel pattern recognition models based on the theory of Venn prediction and on the application of these models to the problem of osteoporosis risk assessment. The research will be based on real data that will be collected at several medical centers in Cyprus and Greece. More specifically a decision support tool will be developed to help clinicians identify individuals who are at increased risk of having osteoporosis and should therefore undergo further testing with a dual-energy X-ray (DEXA) scan for measuring their bone density. This application area is considered as extremely important since early detection of osteoporosis is vital for the prevention of osteoporotic fractures, which are associated with increased morbidity and mortality and high socio-economic costs.

A crucial advantage of the tool that will be developed is that, unlike traditional machine learning tools, it will produce probabilistic predictions. This will be achieved with the use of a new powerful technique called Venn prediction. The provision of probabilistic predictions rather than a plain yes or no output is of paramount importance in the medical field.
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