Functional implications of glycans and their curation:insights from the workshop held at the 16th Annual International Biocuration Conference in Padua, Italy

Dynamic changes in protein glycosylation impact human health and disease progression. However, current resources that capture disease and phenotype information focus primarily on the macromolecules within the central dogma of molecular biology (DNA, RNA, proteins). To gain a better understanding of organisms, there is a need to capture the functional impact of glycans and glycosylation on biological processes. A workshop titled "Functional impact of glycans and their curation" was held in conjunction with the 16th Annual International Biocuration Conference to discuss ongoing worldwide activities related to glycan function curation. This workshop brought together subject matter experts, tool developers, and biocurators from over 20 projects and bioinformatics resources. Participants discussed four key topics for each of their resources: (i) how they curate glycan function-related data from publications and other sources, (ii) what type of data they would like to acquire, (iii) what data they currently have, and (iv) what standards they use. Their answers contributed input that provided a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art glycan function curation and annotations. This report summarizes the outcome of discussions, including potential solutions and areas where curators, data wranglers, and text mining experts can collaborate to address current gaps in glycan and glycosylation annotations, leveraging each other's work to improve their respective resources and encourage impactful data sharing among resources. Database URL: https://wiki.glygen.org/Glycan_Function_Workshop_2023

Clinical, Paraclinical, and Evolutionary Profiles of Kidney Failure in Gold Miners Hospitalized in a Nephrological Service in a Sub-Saharan African Country

Introduction. The purpose of this preliminary study is to describe the clinical, paraclinical, and evolutionary profiles of gold miner patients with kidney failure hospitalized in the nephrology and haemodialysis service in the Yalgado Ouédraogo University Hospital of Ouagadougou (CHU-YO). Patients and Methods. This was a longitudinal and descriptive study with a retrospective collection of data for the period from February 1, 2013, to March 31, 2018. Included were all gold miner patients who stayed and worked at an artisanal gold mining site for at least three months and who were diagnosed with acute or chronic kidney failure during hospitalization in the nephrology service. We collected sociodemographic, clinical, and paraclinical variables at admission and then three months later. Results. We included 50 patients; all were male and the average age was 29.4 ± 7.7 years. All patients were exposed to mercury and/or cyanide for an average of 4.5 ± 2.8 years. The average consultation/referral time for patients at the CHU-YO was 25.4 ± 14.9 days. The average of creatininemia was 2338.0 ± 791.4 μmol/L. Kidney failure was acute in five cases (10%) and chronic in the remaining 45 cases or 90%. Extrarenal purification was indicated in 43 cases (86%). It was not performed in nine of the 43 cases due to lack of financial resources for patients (six cases) or death prior to the onset of haemodialysis (three cases). Thirty-two of the 50 patients in the study (64% of cases) died. Conclusion. Chronic kidney failure in gold miners appears to be common and late-managed. A prospective study of kidney disease and its causes at gold mining sites and surrounding areas will assess the extent of the problem in the country and better clarify the prevention of these diseases in our country