Biomedical subjects

Paolo Romano

Publications and source records attributed to Paolo Romano.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Improving interoperability between microbial information and sequence databases.

BACKGROUND: Biological resources are essential tools for biomedical research. Their availability is promoted through on-line catalogues. Common Access to Biological Resources and Information (CABRI) is a service for distribution of biological resources and related data collected by 28 European culture collections. Linking this information to bioinformatics databanks can make the collections' holdings more visible after a search in molecular biology databanks and vice-versa. Identification of links to sequence databases can be useful, but annotation and indexing problems, together with compilation errors, immediately arise. In this paper, we present our efforts for the identification of cross-references between CABRI catalogues and the EMBL Data Library and related results. RESULTS: An SRS site with both EMBL and CABRI catalogues has been set up. Ad-hoc changes in indexing scripts allowed to achieve homogeneous index keys and SRS link features have been used to identify links between databases. After manual checking and comparison with an alternative procedure, about 67,500 valid cross-references were identified, added to the EMBL Data Library and are now distributed with it. HTML links can be established from EMBL to CABRI network service. Procedures can be executed whenever needed. CONCLUSION: Links between EMBL and CABRI catalogues constitute an improved access to micro-organisms of certified quality and can produce positive effects on biomedical research. Further links between CABRI catalogues and other bioinformatics databases can now easily be defined by using these cross-references. Linking genetic information onto natural resources information may stand model for the integration of other databases containing empirical data on these materials.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed2005

Web services and workflow management for biological resources.

BACKGROUND: The completion of the Human Genome Project has resulted in large quantities of biological data which are proving difficult to manage and integrate effectively. There is a need for a system that is able to automate accesses to remote sites and to "understand" the information that it is managing in order to link data properly. Workflow management systems combined with Web Services are promising Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tools. Some have already been proposed and are being increasingly applied to the biomedical domain, especially as many biology-related Web Services are now becoming available. Information on biological resources and on genomic sequences mutations are two examples of very specialized datasets that are useful for specific research domains. RESULTS: The architecture of a system that is able to access and execute predefined workflows is presented in this paper. Web Services allowing access to the IARC TP53 Mutation Database and CABRI catalogues of biological resources have been implemented and are available on-line. Example workflows which retrieve data from these Web Services have also been created and are available on-line. CONCLUSION: We present a general architecture and some building blocks for the implementation of a system that is able to remotely execute workflows of biomedical interest and show how this approach can effectively produce useful outputs. The further development and implementation of Web Services allowing access to an exhaustive set of biomedical databases and the creation of effective and useful workflows will improve the automation of in-silico analysis.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

The role of informatics in the coordinated management of biological resources collections.

The term 'biological resources' is applied to the living biological material collected, held and catalogued in culture collections: bacterial and fungal cultures; animal, human and plant cells; viruses; and isolated genetic material. A wealth of information on these materials has been accumulated in culture collections, and most of this information is accessible. Digitalisation of data has reached a high level; however, information is still dispersed. Individual and coordinated approaches have been initiated to improve accessibility of biological resource centres, their holdings and related information through the Internet. These approaches cover subjects such as standardisation of data handling and data accessibility, and standardisation and quality control of laboratory procedures. This article reviews some of the most important initiatives implemented so far, as well as the most recent achievements. It also discusses the possible improvements that could be achieved by adopting new communication standards and technologies, such as web services, in view of a deeper and more fruitful integration of biological resources information in the bioinformatics network environment.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Lack of association between occupational radiation exposure and thyroid nodules in healthcare personnel.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether healthcare workers routinely exposed to low-level ionizing radiation have a higher prevalence of thyroid nodularity. METHODS: Presence of thyroid nodularity, as assessed by 10-MHz neck ultrasonography, was compared with accumulated radiation doses of 579 exposed university hospital workers (M:F 350:229) obliged to wear a personal dosimeter. RESULTS: Nodules were detected in 141/579 (24.3%) subjects. Mean accumulated dose was not different among subjects with and without nodules (14.19+/-28.00 mSv vs 17.71+/-32.89 mSv; P=0.12). Duration of occupational exposure (<10 years vs 10-19 years vs >or=20 years) did not affect prevalence of nodularity. At multivariate analysis, only female gender and age were significant risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: Mildly exposed health workers do not appear to incur any excess risk of thyroid nodularity.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

AgeWa: an integrated approach for antisense experiment design.

One of the major fallouts of the human genome project relates to the investigation of the molecular mechanisms of diseases. Identification of genes which are involved in a specific pathological process and characterization of their interactions is of fundamental importance for supporting the drug design processes. Discovery of targets and the related experimental validation is a critical step in the development of new drugs. The new experimental methods for gene expression analysis, such as microarray technology, allows for the concurrent evaluation of the expression of multiple genes. The outcome of these new experimental methods requires a subsequent validation of the gene function by using in vitro or in vivo models. In the last decade, one of the most promising methodologies for the investigation of gene function relies upon antisense oligonucleotides (ASO). The crucial step in antisense experiment design is the characterization of the nucleotide domains that can efficiently be targeted by this kind of synthetic molecule. At present, no standardized procedures for target selection are available. In this paper, we propose an integrative approach to ASO target selection: the proposed tool Automatic Gene Walk (AgeWa) combines a neural filter with database mining for the prediction of the optimal target for antisense action.

Algorithms↗