Arachidonic acid-induced calcium signalling in human airway smooth muscle cells

Until now computer-assisted parasite identification was based on database applications requiring data specification on an individual basis, thus limiting the ability of the system to handle rule-based knowledge as humans are used to do. A new Expert PArasite IdentificatiON (EPAION: Greek term for expert) system was developed to serve as an interface between the database and the user, where the database is a repository for bionomic and morphological facts about the parasites for the expert system. The system was developed by using a logic-based computer language which allows the definition of rules and facts to assist the creation of queries to the database. The components of the system are the knowledge base, the multimedia data base, the inference mechanism, and the graphical user interface. The operational modules of the system are the Parasite Identifier and the system Utilities. This expert system facilitates knowledge incorporation in a manner simulating the natural mental process, thus allowing the checking of the accuracy of the information that the user feeds to the computer and the creation of intelligent queries to the database. These characteristics accelerate focusing and optimize the parasite identification scheme regardless of the user's profile of competency.     

STRUCTURELAB: a heterogeneous bioinformatics system for RNA structure analysis

STRUCTURELAB is a computational system that has been developed to permit the use of a broad array of approaches for the analysis of the structure of RNA. The goal of the development is to provide a large set of tools that can be well integrated with experimental biology to aid in the process of the determination of the underlying structure of RNA sequences. The approach taken views the structure determination problem as one of dealing with a database of many computationally generated structures and provides the capability to analyze this data set from different perspectives. Many algorithms are integrated into one system that also utilizes a heterogeneous computing approach permitting the use of several computer architectures to help solve the posed problems. These different computational platforms make it relatively easy to incorporate currently existing programs as well as newly developed algorithms and to best match these algorithms to the appropriate hardware. The system has been written in Common Lisp running on SUN or SGI Unix workstations, and it utilizes a network of participating machines defined in reconfigurable tables. A window-based interface makes this heterogeneous environment as transparent to the user as possible.     

Interferon gamma production in whole peripheral blood culture in acute hepatitis B

Database federation enables biological researchers to utilize resources more effectively, creating an environment in which the researcher can query multiple data sources without spending time learning new query mechanisms or issuing redundant queries which need to be integrated. Several mechanisms exist to federate databases. The ENQUire system is a network database federation system which uses a World-Wide-Web (WWW) interface to connect the users to various databases. Generic queries entered via a query generator form are sent in parallel to multiple databases, and the results are presented to the user in a unified format. All forms building, query generation, and results translation is done on the fly, and individual database translation modules can be added dynamically. ENQUire is a flexible answer to the problems of database federation on the WWW.     

Synthetic 2-amino alcohol derivatives as chiral auxiliaries

This work describes both the concepts used in an Object Manager for storage of medical images as one more data type associated to objects, and a support system developed to offer this kind of tool to medical application developers. The purpose of this work is to support the retrieval of images through queries based on the graphical contents of the stored images. The usual approach uses icons and textual attributes stored with the images to specify the queries. This work uses a novel modeling technique to define the "image data type," by means of which it is possible to decide, before the query itself, the key data of each image that must be extracted from the image when it is stored in the database, so the search can be accelerated when queries are issued. This approach enables building of expansible systems, where new image processing algorithms can be added easily, using its syntactic representation stored through an Image Meta-schema into the application database schema. This work shows how such a system has been implemented, and also provides a query language used to refer and execute these algorithms from inside the database management system.     

Development of a Dietary Exposure Potential Model for evaluating dietary exposure to chemical residues in food

The Dietary Exposure Potential Model (DEPM) is a computer-based model developed for estimating dietary exposure to chemical residues in food. The DEPM is based on food consumption data from the 1987-1988 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey (NFCS) administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and on residue data from government-sponsored monitoring programs. Foods reported in the NFCS were categorized into exposure core foods (ECFs). A computer program for DOS-based personal computers was developed to link consumption of the ECFs with residue values observed in the foods. The data files utilized by the DEPM were designed in dBASE IV with FoxPro for Windows applications programs for queries and reporting. The program calculates exposure estimates for categories of core foods, such as grain dishes, fruits, or vegetables; for individual core foods, such as wheat and apple combination dishes; and for individual foods, such as apples or carrots. The program, residue summary databases, and core food consumption database permit the analyst to evaluate potential exposure of several population groups to various chemicals via the diet. The DEPM is not intended for risk assessments, but is a suitable tool for identifying data gaps and establishing priorities for research, and for identifying potentially significant foods for human exposure monitoring.     

Development of a Web-GIS Based Geotechnical Information System

The construction industry benefits greatly if all the existing three-dimensional (3D) geotechnical subsurface information of a city/country can be accessed at any time using the Internet. The geographic information system (GIS) is well suited for such problems; however, GIS was originally developed for two-dimensional planes. Recently, some 3D capabilities for GIS have been developed, but these capabilities in their present form alone are not suitable for storing and presenting three-dimensional geotechnical data. One way to overcome the limitation of data storage is integration of GIS with a relational database management system (RDBMS). A Web-based geotechnical information system that can perform online spatial queries, generation of professional borelogs, and various geotechnical analyses was developed. The system has been developed as a national geotechnical information system (GeoInfoSys) for Singapore. The system provides easy-to-use functions to: (1) locate and purchase boreholes of interest; (2) view borelogs and cross sections that are generated online; (3) provide downloadable data in a standard format for downstream analysis; and (4) perform geotechnical queries using a geotechnical search engine (GSE). The geotechnical information was stored in a digital format rather than as static images; this provides many opportunities to explore the data, and these opportunities are discussed herein.     

Introduction to the special section on the use of computers for making judgements and decisions.

Computers have the potential to greatly increase the accuracy of judgments and decisions that are made in the area of psychological assessment. The validity of present-day computer programs are described in the first 2 articles of this Special Section. Both computer-based test interpretation programs and mechanical prediction rules (e.g., statistical prediction rules) are described. Limitations of present-day computer programs are described in the 3rd article along with methodological recommendations for building more powerful rules. In the 4th article, a statistical analysis (neural network modeling) is described that may allow us to build better rules. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Endoscopic carpal tunnel release

We describe a computer program, named DNA-Protein Search (DPS), for comparing a megabase DNA sequence with a protein sequence database. The DPS program addresses the problems of frameshifts and introns in the DNA sequence. The DPS program was used to compare each of the following sequences with the Swiss-Prot database: the 1.8-megabase sequence of the Haemophilus influenzae Rd genome, the 0.58-megabase sequence of the Mycoplasma genitalium genome, and the 0.56-megabase sequence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosome VIII. The comparisons found new regions that are similar to protein sequences. The sensitivity of DPS was evaluated using as test data the known coding regions of the three DNA sequences. The results demonstrate that the DPS program is a useful tool for finding the coding regions of the DNA sequence. The DPS program uses an order of magnitude less computer memory and is several times faster than the BLASTX program.     

Parental attitude towards alternative medicine in the paediatric intensive care unit

The GenBank (Registered Trademark symbol) sequence database incorporates DNA sequences from all available public sources, primarily through the direct submission of sequence data from individual laboratories and from large-scale sequencing projects. Most submitters use the BankIt (Web) or Sequin programs to format and send sequence data. Data exchange with the EMBL Data Library and the DNA Data Bank of Japan helps ensure comprehensive worldwide coverage. GenBank data is accessible through NCBI's integrated retrieval system, Entrez, which integrates data from the major DNA and protein sequence databases along with taxonomy, genome and protein structure information. MEDLINE (Registered Trademark symbol) s from published articles describing the sequences are included as an additional source of biological annotation through the PubMed search system. Sequence similarity searching is offered through the BLAST series of database search programs. In addition to FTP, Email, and server/client versions of Entrez and BLAST, NCBI offers a wide range of World Wide Web retrieval and analysis services based on GenBank data. The GenBank database and related resources are freely accessible via the URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov     

基于Surpac的甘冲石灰石矿地质数据库研究及应用

为解决甘冲石灰石矿矿山现有地质资料存在的许多难题,以Surpac软件系统为平台,将矿山开采和补充勘探积累的大量地质勘探资料进行综合分析和规范化处理,定义了4个地质数据库结构表,录入了全矿区32个钻孔有效数据,最后建立了甘冲石灰石矿地质数据库。同时,在建立地质数据库基础上进行了地质钻孔的三维显示,进行了地质样品的统计分析和组合分析等应用工作。     

Computers will become increasingly important for psychological assessment: Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Though one can expect that computer programs will become increasingly important for psychological assessment, current automated assessment programs and statistical-prediction rules are of limited value. Validity has not been clearly established for many automated assessment programs. Statistical-prediction rules are of limited value because they have typically been based on limited information that has not been demonstrated to be optimal and they have almost never been shown to be powerful. Recommendations are made for building and evaluating new computer programs. Finally, comments are made about the ethics of using computers to make judgments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

METHEDAS的数据库系统

冶金热力学数据库应用系统是专用数据库系统,它的数据库管理系统与通用数据库管理系统相比,简化了数据库定义功能。为了实现数据对应用程序的独立性,应用程序自行定义所需要的局部逻辑数据结构。
它的数据文件是建立在Vos2操作系统的文件管理系统所提供的直接文件之上,自己编写的二级索引顺序文件。     

Lack of association of factor V Leiden and coronary heart disease in individuals with and without diabetes

We have created databases and software applications for the analysis of DNA mutations at the human p53 gene, the human hprt gene and both the rodent transgenic lacI and lacZ loci. The databases themselves are stand-alone dBASE files and the software for analysis of the databases runs on IBM-compatible computers with Microsoft Windows. Each database has a separate software analysis program. The software created for these databases permit the filtering, ordering, report generation and display of information in the database. In addition, a significant number of routines have been developed for the analysis of single base substitutions. One method of obtaining the databases and software is via the World Wide Web. Open the following home page with a Web Browser: http://sunsite.unc.edu/dnam/mainpage. html . Alternatively, the databases and programs are available via public FTP from: anonymous@sunsite.unc.edu. There is no password required to enter the system. The databases and software are found beneath the subdirectory: pub/academic/biology/dna-mutations. Two other programs are available at the site, a program for comparison of mutational spectra and a program for entry of mutational data into a relational database.     

Localization and mRNA steady-state level of cellular fibronectin in rat liver undergoing a CCl4-induced acute damage or fibrosis

Sequence similarity between a translated nucleotide sequence and a known biological protein can provide strong evidence for the presence of a homologous coding region, even between distantly related genes. The computer program BLASTX performed conceptual translation of a nucleotide query sequence followed by a protein database search in one programmatic step. We characterized the sensitivity of BLASTX recognition to the presence of substitution, insertion and deletion errors in the query sequence and to sequence divergence. Reading frames were reliably identified in the presence of 1% query errors, a rate that is typical for primary sequence data. BLASTX is appropriate for use in moderate and large scale sequencing projects at the earliest opportunity, when the data are most prone to containing errors.     

"Merds that laugh don't like mushrooms": Evidence for deductive reasoning by preschoolers.

Examined the relationship between the development of logical processes required in deductive reasoning and their occasions of use. 24 verbal syllogism problems were presented to 40 children (aged 4.2–5.1 yrs). The problems were systematically varied in content (fantasy premises, premises incongruent with real-world events, premises congruent with real-world events), form, and order of presentation of problem types. Results indicate that Ss were capable of making deductive inferences required in solving syllogism problems and that these abilities were displayed in constrained conditions. The relationship of the problem content to real-world knowledge and the sequence of presentation of the problem types affected the display of logical abilities. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trends in genome informatics

Genome Informatics is not only a new area of computer science for genome projects but also a new approach of life science. As the genome projects proceed, genome informatics is becoming more important to bio-industry as well as life science. The major subjects are as follows; Database technologies for integration of various kinds of biological data Knowledge discovery from the integrated databases Interpretation and analysis of DNA sequence data with the databases Computer technologies for simulating life system with knowledge extracted from the databases in order to check the validity of the knowledge In this article, the history and trend of development of computer technologies for the subjects are described except for computer simulation.     

Databases and software for the analysis of mutations in the human p53 gene, the human hprt gene and the lacZ gene in transgenic rodents

We have created databases and software applications for the analysis of DNA mutations in the human p53 gene, the human hprt gene and the rodent transgenic lacZ locus. The databases themselves are stand-alone dBase files and the software for analysis of the databases runs on IBM- compatible computers. The software created for these databases permits filtering, ordering, report generation and display of information in the database. In addition, a significant number of routines have been developed for the analysis of single base substitutions. One method of obtaining the databases and software is via the World Wide Web (WWW). Open home page http://sunsite.unc.edu/dnam/mainpage.ht ml with a WWW browser. Alternatively, the databases and programs are available via public ftp from anonymous@sunsite.unc.edu. There is no password required to enter the system. The databases and software are found in subdirectory pub/academic/biology/dna-mutations. Two other programs are available at the WWW site, a program for comparison of mutational spectra and a program for entry of mutational data into a relational database.     

ISWAC: proposed system for the integrated assembly of chromosomes

The generation of a physical map as an integral part of sequence project management is a problem that present computer systems do not address. Primarily, the analysis performed is based solely on the information available from a single knowledge level. Management systems that are currently available do not adequately model the multi-layer top down strategy that is most often utilized to manage large scale sequencing projects. Single layered approaches reflect an algorithmic inadequacy since interacting data sets are required to provide a good solution. The analysis tool that is currently under development termed ISWAC, the Integrated System for Wholistic Assembly of Chromosomes, overcomes these limitations by integrating information available from five layers of knowledge. These knowledge layers utilize information from the linkage map, physical map, restriction map, clone strategy map and the DNA sequence itself. The approach we are implementing, reviews current project status and continually refines the experimental strategy necessary to efficiently complete the sequencing task. To facilitate project completion the system is designed to interactively recommend strategies based on partial information. The utility of this tool is enhanced by implementing knowledge representation techniques that allow reasoning with approximate concepts characteristic of these data-sets. In addition, the raw physical data is maintained within an integrated map database to ease data verification. This paper presents the first discussion of the design specifications for a computer system to assimilate the various forms of data that are being generated as part of the human genome project. It was specifically written to stimulate discussion regarding data standardization, translation, analysis and most important, an understandable user-interphase for the molecular biologist. We would hope that interested readers would respond by assisting in the definition of a set of universal data standards and adopting them in their laboratories.     

Integrated mapping package--a physical mapping software tool kit

Cancer risk evaluation and early detection are subject to serious limitations mainly related to human factors and to characteristics of the data involved. To help overcome these problems, a computer-based system was designed to provide the physician with a clearer clinical picture and aid in directing patients to appropriate measures. Clinical and epidemiological data related to early cancer detection and to cancer risk factors was collected from the literature and incorporated in a database, together with heuristic rules for evaluating this data. Individual data obtained from patients through a questionnaire are input into CaDet, a computerized clinical decision support system. A report summarizing patient data and cancer hypotheses, with a scoring system that reflects degrees of alarm, is generated. The CaDet system, as well as some preliminary results of the clinical experience accumulated in its use, are described. These preliminary results suggest that the approach may be useful in improving cancer risk assessment and screening in primary care setups.     

Logic and human reasoning: An assessment of the deduction paradigm.

The study of deductive reasoning has been a major paradigm in psychology for approximately the past 40 years. Research has shown that people make many logical errors on such tasks and are strongly influenced by problem content and context. It is argued that this paradigm was developed in a context of logicist thinking that is now outmoded. Few reasoning researchers still believe that logic is an appropriate normative system for most human reasoning, let alone a model for describing the process of human reasoning, and many use the paradigm principally to study pragmatic and probabilistic processes. It is suggested that the methods used for studying reasoning be reviewed, especially the instructional context, which necessarily defines pragmatic influences as biases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)