On consensus biomarker selection

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recent development of mass spectrometry technology enabled the analysis of complex peptide mixtures. A lot of effort is currently devoted to the identification of biomarkers in human body fluids like serum or plasma, based on which new diagnostic tests for different diseases could be constructed. Various biomarker selection procedures have been exploited in recent studies. It has been noted that they often lead to different biomarker lists and as a consequence, the patient classification may also vary.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we propose a new approach to the biomarker selection problem: to apply several competing feature ranking procedures and compute a consensus list of features based on their outcomes. We validate our methods on two proteomic datasets for the diagnosis of ovarian and prostate cancer.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The proposed methodology can improve the classification results and at the same time provide a unified biomarker list for further biological examinations and interpretation.</p

Tracking virus outbreaks in the twenty-first century

Emerging viruses have the potential to impose substantial mortality, morbidity and economic burdens on human populations. Tracking the spread of infectious diseases to assist in their control has traditionally relied on the analysis of case data gathered as the outbreak proceeds. Here, we describe how many of the key questions in infectious disease epidemiology, from the initial detection and characterization of outbreak viruses, to transmission chain tracking and outbreak mapping, can now be much more accurately addressed using recent advances in virus sequencing and phylogenetics. We highlight the utility of this approach with the hypothetical outbreak of an unknown pathogen, 'Disease X', suggested by the World Health Organization to be a potential cause of a future major epidemic. We also outline the requirements and challenges, including the need for flexible platforms that generate sequence data in real-time, and for these data to be shared as widely and openly as possible

Acute severe asthma treated by mechanical ventilation: 10 years' experience from a district general hospital.

A retrospective study was made of patients requiring mechanical ventilation (intermittent positive pressure ventilation--IPPV) for acute severe asthma in a district general hospital during 1974-83. Thirty two patients required IPPV on 34 occasions. Complications included pneumothorax in six (18%) patients, chest infection in 12 (35%) patients, pulmonary collapse in three (9%) patients, hypotension at induction of IPPV in 12 (35%), and gastrointestinal bleeding in three (9%). Three (9%) patients died. Therapeutic bronchial lavage was performed in 19 patients. The procedure produced a rise in effective static compliance from a mean of 17 (SD 6) ml/cm H2O to 24 (9) ml/cm H2O at four hours. Bronchial lavage was associated with a significant excess of respiratory infections. A feature common to most patients was undertreatment before admission to hospital

A British Second World War veteran with disseminated strongyloidiasis

A case is described of a 78-year-old British veteran of the Second World War (1939-45) who was stationed in Southeast Asia and who developed a recurrent pneumonia with blood eosinophilia. He was treated with steroids, and eventually died with a severe Pseudomonas pneumonia. Just prior to death, larvae of Strongyloides stercoralis were identified in his sputum, and a specific serum ELISA test was later positive. At autopsy no other organs were involved, but bronchoalveolar carcinoma was found. Longstanding (57 years) chronic strongyloidiasis in a veteran who served in Southeast Asia but who was not a prisoner of war is very unusual. The pattern of dissemination was also not that of a true hyperinfection syndrome, and the case demonstrates the continued need for diagnostic vigilance amongst former soldiers who were based in the Far East. (C) 2004 Royal society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Manufacture of precision, thin-walled, drawn tubes for pneumatic cylinders

26.00; Translated from Polish (Hutnik (Katowice) 1986 (2) p. 49-53)Available from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:9022.06(BISI-Trans--26494)T / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo