LINKING MEDICAL DISCIPLINES WITH THEORIES OF THE SMALL-WORLD Renée G. Rubin

Research Method  Introduction  Data Acquisition  45 Combinations of Medical Disciplines

Kevin Bacon  Six degrees of Kevin Bacon 1. Think of an actor or actress. 2. If they have ever been in a film with Kevin Bacon, then they have a “Bacon Number” of one. 3. If they have never been in a film with Kevin Bacon but have been in a film with somebody else who has, then they have a Bacon Number of two, and so on.

Stanley Milgram – Small World Experiment “What is the probability that any two people, selected arbitrarily from a large population, such as that of the United States, will know each other?”

Migram’s Experiment  Experiment to link arbitrary individuals to a pre- selected ‘target.’  Experiment Rules Send postcard to Harvard If target is known – mail to him/her If target is unknown – send to someone who may know the target The cycle continues until the target in Boston is reached.

Milgram Results  Chain Length  Mean number of links = 5.2 Mean from Boston = 4.4 Mean from Nebraska = 5.7  Initial Assumtion: Stockholders in Nebraska have a lower chain length. Nebraska Stockholder = 5.4 Nebraska Control = 5.7  Conclusion Not significantly different

Nifty Bush Cartoon

Average Path Length Clustering Coefficient

Data Combination Shared Lines 1st discipline lines 2nd discipline linesTotal Percent shared cardio dentistry % cardio geriatrics % cardio neonatalogy % cardio neurology % cardio nutrition % cardio obstetrics % cardio oncology % cardio opthalmology % cardio osteopathy %

Data CardioPercentNeonatologyPercentOsteopathyPercentNutritionPercentOncologyPercent Neonatalogy21.81%Cardiology21.81%Cardiology21.14%Cardiology21.52%Cardiology20.76% Nutrition21.52%Nutrition15.72%Neonatology14.67%Neonatalogy15.72%Osteopathy11.18% Osteopathy21.14%Osteopathy14.67%Nutrition12.20%Osteopathy12.20%Neonatalogy9.32% Obstetrics20.84%Obstetrics11.32%Oncology11.18%Oncology8.73%Nutrition8.73% Oncology20.76%Oncology9.32%Dentistry9.91%Dentistry7.70%Dentistry6.12% Neurology18.53%Dentistry6.63%Obstetrics6.06%Obstetrics6.89%Obstetrics5.83% Geriatrics18.44%Geriatrics4.02%Geriatrics4.70%Geriatrics5.48%Neurology5.10% Dentistry15.32%Neurology3.57%Neurology4.29%Neurology3.39%Geriatrics5.04% Ophthalmology9.94%Ophthalmology1.97%Ophthalmology2.25%Ophthalmology1.69%Ophthalmology2.17% 18.70%9.89%9.60%9.26%8.25% ObstetricsPercentDentistryPercentGeriatricsPercentNeurologyPercentOphthalmologyPercent Cardiology20.84%Cardiology15.32%Cardiology18.44%Cardiology18.53%Cardiology9.94% Neonatology11.32%Osteopathy9.91%Nutrition5.48%Oncology5.10%Neurology4.06% Nutrition6.89%Nutrition7.70%Oncology5.04%Osteopathy4.29%Geriatrics2.64% Osteopathy6.06%Neonatalogy6.63%Dentistry4.97%Geriatrics4.28%Osteopathy2.25% Oncology5.83%Oncology6.12%Osteopathy4.70%Ophthalmology4.06%Obstetrics2.24% Dentistry4.63%Geriatrics4.97%Obstetrics4.62%Obstetrics3.66%Oncology2.17% Geriatrics4.62%Obstetrics4.63%Neurology4.28%Neonatology3.57%Dentistry2.01% Neurology3.66%Neurology3.11%Neonatology4.02%Nutrition3.39%Neonatalogy1.97% Ophthalmology2.24%Ophthalmology2.01%Ophthalmology2.64%Dentistry3.11%Nutrition1.69% 7.34%6.71%6.02%5.55%3.22%

Graph NeonatologyOsteopathyNutritionOncologyObstetricsDentistryCardiologyOphthalmologyGeriatricsNeurology - Vertices represent medical disciplines - Thickness of edges represent the number of connections between vertices.

Conclusion  Findings  Data Difficulties  Accents é, ö, ñ, ç etc.  Typos/Transpositions Vanatakin N Vaantakin N  The elusive middle initial Vanatakin N Vanatakin NA

Acknowledgements  Dr. Ed Harcourt  Dr. Patti Frazer Lock  Dr. Collen Knickerbocker  Jamie Perconti