title: A study of health effects of long-distance ocean voyages on seamen using a data classification approach.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Long-distance ocean voyages may have substantial impacts on seamen's health, possibly causing malnutrition and other illness. Measures can possibly be taken to prevent such problems from happening through preparing special diet and making special precautions prior or during the sailing if a detailed understanding can be gained about what specific health effects such voyages may have on the seamen.
  
  
  METHODS
  We present a computational study on 200 seamen using 41 chemistry indicators measured on their blood samples collected before and after the sailing. Our computational study is done using a data classification approach with a support vector machine-based classifier in conjunction with feature selections using a recursive feature elimination procedure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our analysis results suggest that among the 41 blood chemistry measures, nine are most likely to be affected during the sailing, which provide important clues about the specific effects of ocean voyage on seamen's health.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The identification of the nine blood chemistry measures provides important clues about the effects of long-distance voyage on seamen's health. These findings will prove to be useful to guide in improving the living and working environment, as well as food preparation on ships.
authors.affiliation: College of Computer Science and Technology, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, 130012, China.
authors.forename: Yunmei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Yanhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Zhongbo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Zhennan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Yaping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis; D003625:Data Collection; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009326:Naval Medicine; D012767:Ships; D014195:Travel