Synergy between medical informatics and bioinformatics: facilitating genomic medicine for future health care

Medical Informatics (MI) and Bioinformatics (BI) are two interdisciplinary areas located at the intersection between computer science and medicine and biology, respectively. Historically, they have been separated and only occasionally have researchers of both disciplines collaborated. The completion of the Human Genome Project has brought about in this post genomic era the need for a synergy of these two disciplines to further advance in the study of diseases by correlating essential genotypic information with expressed phenotypic information. Biomedical Informatics (BMI) is the emerging technology that aims to put these two worlds together in the new rising genomic medicine. In this regard, institutions such as the European Commission have recently launched several initiatives to support a new combined research agenda, based on the potential for synergism of both disciplines. In this paper we review the results the BIOINFOMED study one of these projects funded by the E

Prisoners co-infected with tuberculosis and HIV: a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Almost from the beginning of the HIV epidemic in 1981, an association with tuberculosis (TB) was recognized. This association between HIV and TB co-infection has been particularly evident amongst prisoners. However, despite this, few studies of TB in prisons have stratified results by HIV status. Given the high prevalence of HIV-positive persons and TB-infected persons in prisons and the documented risk of TB in those infected with HIV, it is of interest to determine how co-infection varies amongst prison populations worldwide. For this reason we have undertaken a systematic review of studies of co-infected prisoners to determine the incidence and/or prevalence of HIV/TB co-infection in prisons, as well as outcomes in this group, measured as treatment success or death. METHODS: A literature search was undertaken using the online databases PubMed, Embase, IBSS, Scopus, Web of Science, Global Health and CINAHL Plus. No restrictions were set on language or publication date for article retrieval, with articles included if indexed up to 18 October 2015. A total of 1975 non-duplicate papers were identified. For treatment and outcome data all eligible papers were appraised for inclusion; for incidence/prevalence estimates papers published prior to 2000 were excluded from full text review. After full text appraisal, 46 papers were selected for inclusion in the review, 41 for incidence/prevalence estimates and nine for outcomes data, with four papers providing evidence for both outcomes and prevalence/incidence. RESULTS: Very few studies estimated the incidence of TB in HIV positive prisoners, with most simply reporting prevalence of co-infection. Co-infection is rarely explicitly measured, with studies simply reporting HIV status in prisoners with TB, or a cross-sectional survey of TB prevalence amongst prisoners with HIV. Estimates of co-infection prevalence ranged from 2.4 to 73.1% and relative risks for one, given the other, ranged from 2.0 to 10.75, although some studies reported no significant association between HIV and TB. Few studies provided a comparison with the risk of co-infection in the general population. CONCLUSIONS: Prisoners infected with HIV are at high risk of developing TB. However, the magnitude of risk varies between different prisons and countries. There is little evidence on treatment outcomes in co-infected prisoners, and the existing evidence is conflicting in regards to HIV status influence on prisoner treatment outcomes.PROSPERO Number: CRD42016034068

Diseño e implementación de un sistema de control automático para un pulverizador móvil para aplicaciones en invernaderos

This article presents the design and development of an embedded automatic pressure-control system for a mobile sprayer working in greenhouses. The pressure system is mounted on a commercial vehicle, it is composed of two on/off electrovalves and one proportional electrovalve. The hardware developed is based on an embedded microprocessor and provides a low-cost and robust solution. The resulting embedded system has been tested on a spraying system mounted on a manned vehicle. Furthermore, an easy-tuning non-linear PI (Proportional Integral) controller to achieve the desired pressure profile is designed and implemented in the embedded system. Many physical experiments show the best performance of such controller compared with a typical PI controller. Experiments covering the pressure range from 2 to 14 bar obtained a mean error less than 0.3 bar. Summing up, a low-cost automatic pressure-control system is developed, it ensures a uniform decomposition of the liquid sprayed on plants, and it works properly over a wide variable-pressure range.Este artículo presenta el diseño e implementación de un sistema de control de presión empotrado para un pulverizador móvil aplicado en invernaderos. El sistema de presión se ha montado en un vehículo comercial, está compuesto por dos electroválvulas todo/nada y una electroválvula proporcional. El hardware desarrollado se basa en un microprocesador empotrado y constituye una solución robusta y de bajo coste. El sistema empotrado desarrollado se ha probado en un sistema de pulverización montado en un vehículo guiado de forma manual. Además, se ha diseñado un algoritmo de control PI (Proporcional Integral) no lineal de fácil sintonía que permite asegurar el seguimiento del perfil de presión deseado y que ha sido implementado en el sistema empotrado propuesto. Numerosas pruebas reales han demostrado el mejor rendimiento de dicho controlador en comparación a un controlador de tipo PI. Experimentos realizados sobre un rango de presión de 2 a 14 bar demuestran un error medio menor a 0.3 bar. En definitiva se muestra un sistema de control de presión automático de bajo coste, que asegura una decomposición uniforme del líquido pulverizado, y funciona de forma correcta sobre un amplio rango de presión variable