BrainVISA

Hi,

In the hierarchy 3.2.0 used in brainvisa 4.5, you removed the "protocol" directory and replaced it with "center".
is that permanent ? we liked the protocol directory
and the toolbox we are developing (with manik) use protocols to filter the subject as we have epilepsy data and dbs data on different implantation protocols (parkinson, OCD, ...)

so we are interested in a hierarchy center->protocol->subject
is there a hope that it will be in the final brainvisa 4.5 ? or do we update our software to remove filtering by protocols.

Regards,

Hi,

Yes we changed "protocol" to "center". This is just a change in this attribute name (it doesn't change anything in files organization). It was already effective in version 4.4 about 2 years ago. We changed this because users (especially the CATI team) reported that they were not using "protocol" which did not have a clear meaning, and they would need a "center" attribute instead for multicentric studies. So we did.
Changing back is a bit too late for 4.5 and would not be OK for everyone...

so we are interested in a hierarchy center->protocol->subject

This is actually more complex because it would introduce an additional directory level, so all data would need moving (for now we use the data at the same location, just interpreting an attribute differently). Moving data requires a migration script, and is also something that users are afraid of, because there is always a risk of problem during the move and possible data loss, and it makes databases incompatible with earlier versions, so we do that only when absolutely necessary. Moreover users already complain of "too deep directories organization" which makes things painful to explore manually, so we're not sure we want to do that...

Providing an additional organization that you would use and others would not, is completely possible, but it would need afterwards to maintain changes (new data types) in both, so I don't really want to do that myself in the official version also... (however you can always do it for your lab, of course)

All this may be discussed further with the other maintainers and users, of course, but this will definitely not be done before 4.5.

Denis

ok thanks for the really well detailed answer.

we based everything on protocols as we have many different protocols performed and it allows us to sort automatically the patients depending on the implantation sites, pathologies etc ...
I don't know yet how we will do, have to think about it. but we need to keep an attribute were the protocol is defined otherwise it will be painful for users.
we'll think about it.

don't really understand the "too deep directories organization". I find it really convenient by myself.

thanks again.