Bioinformatics and molecular modeling in glycobiology

The field of glycobiology is concerned with the study of the structure, properties, and biological functions of the family of biomolecules called carbohydrates. Bioinformatics for glycobiology is a particularly challenging field, because carbohydrates exhibit a high structural diversity and their chains are often branched. Significant improvements in experimental analytical methods over recent years have led to a tremendous increase in the amount of carbohydrate structure data generated. Consequently, the availability of databases and tools to store, retrieve and analyze these data in an efficient way is of fundamental importance to progress in glycobiology. In this review, the various graphical representations and sequence formats of carbohydrates are introduced, and an overview of newly developed databases, the latest developments in sequence alignment and data mining, and tools to support experimental glycan analysis are presented. Finally, the field of structural glycoinformatics and molecular modeling of carbohydrates, glycoproteins, and protein–carbohydrate interaction are reviewed

Structure-Based Virtual Screening for Drug Discovery: a Problem-Centric Review

Structure-based virtual screening (SBVS) has been widely applied in early-stage drug discovery. From a problem-centric perspective, we reviewed the recent advances and applications in SBVS with a special focus on docking-based virtual screening. We emphasized the researchers’ practical efforts in real projects by understanding the ligand-target binding interactions as a premise. We also highlighted the recent progress in developing target-biased scoring functions by optimizing current generic scoring functions toward certain target classes, as well as in developing novel ones by means of machine learning techniques

Infected abdominal aortic aneurysm treated by in situ replacement with cryopreserved arterial homograft.

Infected abdominal aortic aneurysms are uncommon but not rare (1-3% of all abdominal aortic aneurysms). This life-threatening disease can lead to rapid uncontrolled sepsis and/or aortic rupture. We report one case that underlines two notions. Firstly computed tomography is effective to detect early stages of the pathology providing complete depiction of the anatomical abnormalities. Secondly infected aortic aneurysm can be successfully treated by antibiotherapy and in situ replacement with cryopreserved arterial homograft

Treatment of a Groin Lymphatic Fistula with Negative Pressure Wound Therapy

AbstractIntroductionGroin lymphatic fistulas are a troublesome finding after limb revascularization surgery. Its management represents a difficult task for the clinician.ReportWe report our experience in the treatment of such a condition with negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) in a 70-year-old man which benefited from extra-anatomic prosthetic axillofemoral bypass. After a week of treatment, the fistula dried up and closure was obtained with simple suture under local anaesthesia. Follow-up at 9 months showed stable coverage without any sign of leakage.DiscussionThis study depicts NPWT as an effective non-invasive treatment in the management of groin lymphocutaneous fistula