Accuracy of a method based on atomic absorption spectrometry to determine inorganic arsenic in food : Outcome of the collaborative trial IMEP-41

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

BIRI: a new approach for automatically discovering and indexing available public bioinformatics resources from the literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The rapid evolution of Internet technologies and the collaborative approaches that dominate the field have stimulated the development of numerous bioinformatics resources. To address this new framework, several initiatives have tried to organize these services and resources. In this paper, we present the BioInformatics Resource Inventory (BIRI), a new approach for automatically discovering and indexing available public bioinformatics resources using information extracted from the scientific literature. The index generated can be automatically updated by adding additional manuscripts describing new resources. We have developed web services and applications to test and validate our approach. It has not been designed to replace current indexes but to extend their capabilities with richer functionalities.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We developed a web service to provide a set of high-level query primitives to access the index. The web service can be used by third-party web services or web-based applications. To test the web service, we created a pilot web application to access a preliminary knowledge base of resources. We tested our tool using an initial set of 400 abstracts. Almost 90% of the resources described in the abstracts were correctly classified. More than 500 descriptions of functionalities were extracted.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These experiments suggest the feasibility of our approach for automatically discovering and indexing current and future bioinformatics resources. Given the domain-independent characteristics of this tool, it is currently being applied by the authors in other areas, such as medical nanoinformatics. BIRI is available at <url>http://edelman.dia.fi.upm.es/biri/</url>.</p

Polymorphisms in the selenoprotein S gene: lack of association with autoimmune inflammatory diseases

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Selenoprotein S (SelS) protects the functional integrity of the endoplasmic reticulum against the deleterious effects of metabolic stress. <it>SEPS1/SelS </it>polymorphisms have been involved in the increased release of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and IL-6 in macrophages. We aimed at investigating the role of the <it>SEPS1 </it>variants previously associated with higher plasma levels of these cytokines and of the <it>SEPS1 </it>haplotypes in the susceptibility to develop immune-mediated diseases characterized by an inflammatory component.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Six polymorphisms distributed through the <it>SEPS1 </it>gene (rs11327127, rs28665122, rs4965814, rs12917258, rs4965373 and rs2101171) were genotyped in more than two thousand patients suffering from type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory bowel diseases and 550 healthy controls included in the case-control study.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Lack of association of <it>SEPS1 </it>polymorphisms or haplotypes precludes a major role of this gene increasing predisposition to these inflammatory diseases.</p

e-MIR2: a public online inventory of medical informatics resources

Background. Over the last years, the number of available informatics resources in medicine has grown exponentially. While specific inventories of such resources have already begun to be developed for Bioinformatics (BI), comparable inventories are as yet not available for Medical Informatics (MI) field, so that locating and accessing them currently remains a hard and time-consuming task. Description. We have created a repository of MI resources from the scientific literature, providing free access to its contents through a web-based service. Relevant information describing the resources is automatically extracted from manuscripts published in top-ranked MI journals. We used a pattern matching approach to detect the resources? names and their main features. Detected resources are classified according to three different criteria: functionality, resource type and domain. To facilitate these tasks, we have built three different taxonomies by following a novel approach based on folksonomies and social tagging. We adopted the terminology most frequently used by MI researchers in their publications to create the concepts and hierarchical relationships belonging to the taxonomies. The classification algorithm identifies the categories associated to resources and annotates them accordingly. The database is then populated with this data after manual curation and validation. Conclusions. We have created an online repository of MI resources to assist researchers in locating and accessing the most suitable resources to perform specific tasks. The database contained 282 resources at the time of writing. We are continuing to expand the number of available resources by taking into account further publications as well as suggestions from users and resource developers

Prevalencia del Helicobacter pylori mediante Elisa en estudiantes de la Facultad de Odontología de la Universidad de San Marcos

With the objective of prove the prevalence of the Helicobacter pylori (flp) in odontology students and establish the relation between the positive seroreactors and related symptomatologies to Hp, like: stress, gastritis, ulcer and cancer it was selected a random population sample of 91 students between 15-24 years old, for the detection of IgG antibodies in sera using the Kit Platelia R. To the same population sample ¡t was applied a personal information form lo be filled by the students. Front a total of 91 students that have finished the study, ¡t was founded a general seroprevalence of the Hp in 72,5 % (66/91), with sexual prevalence of 68,3 and 76 %, in women and men, respectively. At the time of relate the personal information, with the positive seroreactors, it was founded that: the 73,1 % (19/26) have stress, 61,5 % (8/13) have gastritis y 100 % (2/2) have ulcer. With regard to the symptomatologies in the student of the sample, it was founded that: the 28,6 % (26/91) have stress, 14,3 % (13/91) have gastritis y 2,2 % (2/91) have ulcer In relation of the symptomatologies in the students familiars, ¡t was founded that the 33 % (30/91) have gastritis, 18,7 % (17/91) have ulcer and a 5,5 % (5/91) have cancer It was concluded that the 72,5 % of the de positive seroreactors are between the rank of Hp seroprevalence of the countries in development; that there is a high relation (&gt; 60 %) of ~ositive seroreactors with registered symptomatologies in the forms, like: stress, gastritis and ulcer; in the same manner it reveal sequestered numbers of the presence of these symptomatologies in the students, and these in relation with their familiars, nevertheless, the applied statistic test do not found significatives differences.Con el objetivo de demostrar la prevalencia de Helicobacter pylori (Hp) en estudiantes de Odontología y establecer la relación de los seroreactores positivos con sintomatologías conexas a Hp como: estrés, gastritis, úlcera y cáncer; se seleccionó al azar una muestra poblacional de 91 estudiantes de 15-24 años de edad, para la detección de anticuerpos IgG en sueros mediante el Kit Platelia Ò A la misma muestra poblacional se le aplicó una ficha para el llenado de sus datos personales y los relacionados con antecedentes familiares, sobre las sintomatologías descritas anteriormente. De un total de 91 estudiantes que completaron el estudio, se encontró una seraprevalencia general del Hp en un 72,5 % (66/91), con prevalencia sexual de 68,3 y 76 %, en mujeres y hombres, respectivamente. Al relacionar los datos declarados en las fichas, con los seroreactores positivos, se halló que: 73,1 % (19/26) sufren estrés, 61,5 % (8/13) sufren gastritis y 100 % (2/2) tienen úlcera. En lo referente a la sintomatologías en el alumno declarados por la muestra estudiantil, se encontró que: el 28,6 % (26/91) sufre de estrés, 14,3 % (13/91) sufre de gastritis y 2,2 % (2191) tiene úlcera. Con relación a las sintomatologías en los familiares declarados por el estudiante, se halló que el 33% (30/91) sufre de gastritis, 18,7 % (17/91) tiene úlcera y 5,5 % (5/91) tiene cáncer. Se concluye que el 72,5 % de los seroreactores positivos, se halla dentro del rango de seroprevalencia de Hp de los países en Desarrollo; que hay una alta relación (&gt; 60 %) de seroreactores positivos con sintomatologías registradas en las fichas como: estrés, gastritis y úlcera; igualmente revelan cifras sugerentes de la presencia de estas sintomatologías tanto en los propios estudiantes, como en relación con sus familiares, sin embargo, las pruebas estadísticas aplicadas no hallaron diferencias significativas