Chad Basin: Paleoenvironments of the Sahara since the Late Miocene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuster, Mathieu; Duringer, Philippe; Ghienne, Jean-François; Roquin, Claude; Sepulchre, Pierre; Moussa, Abderamane; Lebatard, Anne-Elisabeth; Mackaye, Hassan Taisso; Likius, Andossa; Vignaud, Patrick; Brunet, Michel

2009-08-01

Since the mid 1990s, the Mission paléoanthropologique francotchadienne (MPFT) conducts yearly paleontological field investigations of the Miocene-Pliocene of the Chad Basin. This article synthesizes some of the results of the MPFT, with focus on the Chad Basin development during the Neogene. We propose an overview of the depositional paleoenvironments of this part of Africa at different scales of time and space, based on a multidisciplinary approach (sedimentary geology, geomorphology, geophysic, numerical simulations and geochronology). The Miocene-Pliocene paleoenvironments are examined through the sedimentary archives of the early hominids levels and the Holocene Lake Mega-Chad episode illustrates the last major paleoenvironmental change in this area. The sedimentary record of the Chad Basin since the Late Miocene can be schematized as the result of recurrent interactions from lake to desert environments.

Prioritization of prevention activities to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in resource constrained settings: a cost-effectiveness analysis from Chad, Central Africa.

PubMed

Hutton, Guy; Wyss, Kaspar; N'Diékhor, Yemadji

2003-01-01

In Chad, as in most sub-Saharan Africa countries, HIV/AIDS poses a massive public health threat as well as an economic burden, with prevalence rates estimated at 9% of the adult population. In defining and readjusting the scope and content of the national HIV/AIDS control activities, policy makers sought to identify the most cost-effective options for HIV/AIDS control. The cost-effectiveness analysis reported in this paper uses a mixture of local and international information sources combined with appropriate assumptions to model the cost-effectiveness of feasible HIV prevention options in Chad, with estimates of the budget impact. The most cost-effective options at under US$100 per infection prevented were peer group education of sex workers and screening of blood donors to identify infected blood before transfusion. These options were followed by mass media and peer group education of high risk men and young people, at around US$500 per infection prevented. Anti-retroviral therapy for HIV infected pregnant women and voluntary counselling and testing were in the order of US$1000 per infection prevented. The paper concludes with recommendations for which activities should be given priority in the next phase of the national HIV/AIDS control programme in Chad.

Composition and cytotoxic activity of essential oils from Xylopia aethiopica (Dunal) A. Rich, Xylopia parviflora (A. Rich) Benth.) and Monodora myristica (Gaertn) growing in Chad and Cameroon.

PubMed

Bakarnga-Via, Issakou; Hzounda, Jean Baptiste; Fokou, Patrick Valere Tsouh; Tchokouaha, Lauve Rachel Yamthe; Gary-Bobo, Magali; Gallud, Audrey; Garcia, Marcel; Walbadet, Lucain; Secka, Youssouf; Dongmo, Pierre Michel Jazet; Boyom, Fabrice Fekam; Menut, Chantal

2014-04-04

Cancer has become a global public health problem and the search for new control measures is urgent. Investigation of plant products such as essential oils from Monodora myristica, Xylopia aethiopica and Xylopia parviflora might lead to new anticancer therapy. In this study, we have investigated the antineoplastic activity of essential oils from fruits of these plants growing in Chad and Cameroon. The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of fruits of Monodora myristica, Xylopia aethiopica and Xylopia parviflora collected in Chad and Cameroon were analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS and investigated for their antiproliferative activity against the breast cancer cell line (MCF7). Overall, monoterpenes were mostly found in the six essential oils. Oils from X. aethiopica and X. parviflora from Chad and Cameroon mainly contain β-pinene at 24.6%, 28.2%, 35.7% and 32.9% respectively. Monodora myristica oils from both origins contain mainly α-phellandrene at 52.7% and 67.1% respectively. The plant origin did not significantly influence the chemical composition of oils. The six essential oils exerted cytotoxic activity against cancer (MCF-7) and normal cell lines (ARPE-19), with more pronounced effect on neoplastic cells in the majority of cases. The highest selectivity was obtained with the essential oils of X. parviflora from Chad and Cameroon (5.87 and 5.54) which were more cytotoxic against MCF-7 than against normal cell line (ARPE-19) with IC50 values of 0.155 μL/mL and 0.166 μL/mL respectively. Essential oils from fruits of Monodora myristica, Xylopia aethiopica and Xylopia parviflora have shown acceptable antineoplastic potency, and might be investigated further in this regard.

Composition and cytotoxic activity of essential oils from Xylopia aethiopica (Dunal) A. Rich, Xylopia parviflora (A. Rich) Benth.) and Monodora myristica (Gaertn) growing in Chad and Cameroon

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Cancer has become a global public health problem and the search for new control measures is urgent. Investigation of plant products such as essential oils from Monodora myristica, Xylopia aethiopica and Xylopia parviflora might lead to new anticancer therapy. In this study, we have investigated the antineoplastic activity of essential oils from fruits of these plants growing in Chad and Cameroon. Methods The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of fruits of Monodora myristica, Xylopia aethiopica and Xylopia parviflora collected in Chad and Cameroon were analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS and investigated for their antiproliferative activity against the breast cancer cell line (MCF7). Results Overall, monoterpenes were mostly found in the six essential oils. Oils from X. aethiopica and X. parviflora from Chad and Cameroon mainly contain β-pinene at 24.6%, 28.2%, 35.7% and 32.9% respectively. Monodora myristica oils from both origins contain mainly α-phellandrene at 52.7% and 67.1% respectively. The plant origin did not significantly influence the chemical composition of oils. The six essential oils exerted cytotoxic activity against cancer (MCF-7) and normal cell lines (ARPE-19), with more pronounced effect on neoplastic cells in the majority of cases. The highest selectivity was obtained with the essential oils of X. parviflora from Chad and Cameroon (5.87 and 5.54) which were more cytotoxic against MCF-7 than against normal cell line (ARPE-19) with IC50 values of 0.155 μL/mL and 0.166 μL/mL respectively. Conclusions Essential oils from fruits of Monodora myristica, Xylopia aethiopica and Xylopia parviflora have shown acceptable antineoplastic potency, and might be investigated further in this regard. PMID:24708588

Observed climate variability over Chad using multiple observational and reanalysis datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maharana, Pyarimohan; Abdel-Lathif, Ahmat Younous; Pattnayak, Kanhu Charan

2018-03-01

Chad is the largest of Africa's landlocked countries and one of the least studied region of the African continent. The major portion of Chad lies in the Sahel region, which is known for its rapid climate change. In this study, multiple observational datasets are analyzed from 1950 to 2014, in order to examine the trend of precipitation and temperature along with their variability over Chad to understand possible impacts of climate change over this region. Trend analysis of the climatic fields has been carried out using Mann-Kendall test. The precipitation over Chad is mostly contributed during summer by West African Monsoon, with maximum northward limit of 18° N. The Atlantic Ocean as well as the Mediterranean Sea are the major source of moisture for the summer rainfall over Chad. Based on the rainfall time series, the entire study period has been divided in to wet (1950 to 1965), dry (1966 to 1990) and recovery period (1991 to 2014). The rainfall has decreased drastically for almost 3 decades during the dry period resulted into various drought years. The temperature increases at a rate of 0.15 °C/decade during the entire period of analysis. The seasonal rainfall as well as temperature plays a major role in the change of land use/cover. The decrease of monsoon rainfall during the dry period reduces the C4 cover drastically; this reduction of C4 grass cover leads to increase of C3 grass cover. The slow revival of rainfall is still not good enough for the increase of shrub cover but it favors the gradual reduction of bare land over Chad.

Improved harmonisation from policy dialogue? Realist perspectives from Guinea and Chad.

PubMed

Kwamie, Aku; Nabyonga-Orem, Juliet

2016-07-18

Harmonisation is a key principle of the Paris Declaration. The Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Partnership, an initiative of the European Union, the Government of Luxembourg and the World Health Organization, supported health policy dialogues between 2012 and 2015 in identified countries in the WHO African Region. The UHC Partnership has amongst its key objectives to strengthen national health policy development. In Guinea and Chad, policy dialogue focused on elaborating the national health plan and other key documents. This study is an analytical reflection inspired by realist evaluative approaches to understand whether policy dialogue led to improved harmonisation amongst health actors in Guinea and Chad, and if so, how and why. Interviews were conducted in Guinea and Chad with key informants at the national and sub-national government levels, civil society, and development partners. A review of relevant policy documents and reports was added to data collection to construct a full picture of the policy dialogue process. Context-mechanism-outcome configurations were used as the realist framework to guide the analysis on how participants' understanding of what policy dialogue was and the way the policy dialogue process unfolded led to improved harmonisation. Improved harmonisation as a result of policy dialogue was perceived to be stronger in Guinea than in Chad. While in both countries the participants held a shared view of what policy dialogue was and what it could achieve, and both policy dialogue processes were considered to be well implemented (i.e., well-facilitated, evidence-based, participatory, and consisted of recurring meetings and activities), certain contextual factors in Chad tempered the view of harmonisation as having improved. These were the pre-existence of dialogic policy processes that had exposed the actors to the potential that policy dialogue could have; a focus on elaborating provincial level strategies, which gave the sense that the process

ANALYSIS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY DATA FOR USE IN MODELING ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES

EPA Science Inventory

Human activity data are a critical part of exposure models being developed by the US EPA's National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL). An analysis of human activity data within NERL's Consolidated Human Activity Database (CHAD) was performed in two areas relevant to exposure ...

The CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores for predicting ischemic stroke among East Asian patients with atrial fibrillation: A systemic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Xiong, Qinmei; Chen, Sisi; Senoo, Keitaro; Proietti, Marco; Hong, Kui; Lip, Gregory Y H

2015-09-15

Both the CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores are well-validated in Western populations for predicting risk of stroke among patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). There is some uncertainty as to which risk score is best to guide optimal anticoagulant therapy among Asian populations with AF. A systemic literature search of Cochrane library, Scopus, and PubMed databases was conducted using search terms: atrial fibrillation, CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc. Stroke/thromboembolism (TE) outcome events at low, moderate, and high risk groups were compared in relation to both scores. Statistical analyses were performed using Revman 5.3 software. 493 records were retrieved, of which 6 cohort studies focusing on patients from Asian regions were finally appraised and included. Absolute event rates were usually lower when patients were categorized as CHA2DS2-VASc of 0-1, rather than CHADS2 of 0-1, respectively. Meta-analysis revealed that when compared with the CHA2DS2-VASc score, there was a 1.71-fold elevated risk of stroke when patients were stratified as 'low risk' using a CHADS2 score = 0, or a 1.40-fold increase with a CHADS2 score = 1. A 1.19-fold elevated event rate was observed among CHADS2 score ≥ 2 compared to CHA2DS2-VASc, but the total stroke/TE events were numerically higher in patients categorized as CHA2DS2-VASc ≥ 2. The CHA2DS2-VASc score is superior to the CHADS2 score in identifying 'low risk' East Asian AF patients. Rather than a categorical approach, Asian guidelines should adopt a 2 step approach, by initially identifying the truly low risk patients, following which effective stroke prevention can be offered to those with ≥ 1 additional stroke risk factors. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A climate trend analysis of Chad

USGS Publications Warehouse

Funk, Christopher C.; Rowland, Jim; Adoum, Alkhalil; Eilerts, Gary; White, Libby

2012-01-01

This brief report, drawing from a multi-year effort by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), identifies significant decreases in rainfall and increases in air temperature across Chad, especially in the eastern part of the country. These analyses are based on quality-controlled station observations. Conclusions:* Summer rains have decreased in eastern Chad during the past 20 years. * Temperatures have increased by 0.8 °Celsius since 1975, amplifying the effect of droughts. * Crop yields are very low and stagnant. * The amount of farmland per person is low, and decliningrapidly.* Population growth combined with stagnating yieldscould lead to a 30 percent reduction in per capita cereal production by 2025.* In many cases, areas with changing climate are coincident with zones of substantial conflict, indicating some degree of association; however, the contribution of climate change to these conflicts is not currently understood.

Climate Change in Africa: Impacts and Effects on the Inhabitants of the Lake Chad Region.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abubakar, B.; Tahir, S. M.; Olisa, O.

2009-05-01

The Department of Energy and Climate Change defined climate as the average weather experienced over a long period. This includes temperature, wind and rainfall patterns. The climate of the Earth is not static, and has changed many times in response to a variety of natural causes. Due to human activities in emmiting green house gases has resulted the Earth to get warmed by 0.74°C over the last hundred years. Around 0.4°C of this warming has occurred since the 1970s. Climate is now one of the major phenomenon threatening lives and humanity in general since the beginning of industrial revolution. Climate exerts a profound influence on the lives of poor populations in the Lake Chad region of Africa who depend on fishing and crop cultivation for livelihood and sustenance, who are unprotected against climate-related diseases, who lacked secure access to water and food and who are vulnerable to hydro meteorological hazard. The effects of climate change on the study area are many and include diminishing resources and conflicts over the available limited water resources. The Lake Chad region is a fragile area with high climate variability and extremes of weather. As this inland water is used for domestic and agricultural purposes, salt mining, as well as transportation by Nigerians, Nigeriens, Chadian and Cameroonians, it is an area of trans-boundary water conflicts. This paper examines the part played by climate change in the decline of fishery resources and livelihood activities in the Lake Chad region. Data from field studies, structured interview and secondary sources show that fish catches and livelihood activities have declined tremendously in recent times due to several factors including overexploitation and increasing demands on the aquatic resources. Findings from the study show that droughty periods have resulted in the reduction of open lake water surface from about 25,000 km2 in 1973 to less than 2,000 km2 in the 1990s. This has led to the diminishing aquatic

The Need for a Harmonized Repository for Next-Generation Human Activity Data

EPA Science Inventory

Multi-tiered human time-activity-location data can inform many efforts to describe human exposures to air pollutants and other chemicals on a range of temporal and spatial scales. In the last decade, EPA's Consolidated Human Activity Database (CHAD) has served as a harmonized rep...

[History of the public health policy in Chad 1900-1995].

PubMed

Massenet, D

1996-01-01

Public health policy in Chad began after colonization in 1899 and remained under the control of French Army Medical Corps for a long time. Military doctors shared their time between treating service personnel and indigenous people entitled Medical Assistance and making rounds in their sector. Since independence public health in the country has been based on a two-pronged association including fixed facilities (hospitals and dispensaries) and mobile services such as the Endemic Disease Unit whose most notable success was control of sleeping sickness in the southern part of the country. Over the years Chad has built up a national medical staff comprising 150 physicians. A medical school was opened in N'Djamena in 1990 and paramedical personnel are now trained at the National School for Public Health. War and lack of funds interrupted mobile services and there is presently a recrudescence of sleeping sickness. Since 1990 the World Health Organization has imposed its views and primary care is now available for all. However, it is now too early to judge the efficacity of this program in Chad.

The origin of Late Ediacaran post-collisional granites near the Chad Lineament, Saharan Metacraton, South-Central Chad

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shellnutt, J. Gregory; Yeh, Meng-Wan; Lee, Tung-Yi; Iizuka, Yoshiyuki; Pham, Ngoc Ha T.; Yang, Chih-Cheng

2018-04-01

The southern Saharan Metacraton is one of the least geologically constrained regions in the world as bedrock exposures are rare. To the west of Lake Fitri near the communities of Ngoura and Moyto in south-central Chad there are two granitic inliers that form a series of lenticular to ellipsoidal low laying hills. Very little is known about the Lake Fitri inliers and their regional correlation to larger massifs in Chad is undetermined. The granites yielded weighted-mean zircon 206Pb/238U ages of 554 ± 8 Ma and 546 ± 8 Ma indicating they were emplaced 45 million years after the cessation of arc-related magmatism and the subsequent collision between the Congo-São Francisco Craton and the Saharan Metacraton. The rocks have distinct groupings of inherited zircons with ages of 580 Ma and 635 Ma suggesting they are at least in part derived by recycling of older crustal rocks. The biotite mineral chemistry, whole rock compositions and petrological modeling indicate the granites were derived by melting of crustal lithologies but the whole rock Nd isotopes (εNd(t) = +1.3-+2.9) are characteristic of a mantle source. The contrasting inheritance-rich nature of the granites with a juvenile Nd isotopic signature is likely due to mixing between magmas derived from juvenile (Neoproterozoic) arc-related crust and asthenospheric magmas. Asthenospheric upwelling was probably a response to post-orogenic lithospheric delamination related to fault movement along the Chad Lineament, a possible extension of the Tcholliré-Banyo shear zone that extended to the interior of the Saharan Metacraton. The implications are that lithospheric delamination may not have occurred immediately after collision but rather propagated along a narrow belt that extended well into the central regions of the Saharan Metacraton.

Biomass burning and its relationship with water cycle dynamics of the Chari-Logone catchment of Lake Chad Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Black, F. W.; Lee, J.; Ellison, L.; Gupta, M.; Bolten, J. D.; Gatebe, C. K.; Ichoku, C. M.

2016-12-01

The cause of shrinkage of Lake Chad has been of great interest for issues of global warming and climate change. The present study investigates the effect of biomass burning on the water cycle dynamics of Lake Chad Basin in the Northern Sub-Saharan Africa. Burning activities increase from November to April when monsoonal precipitation is at its lowest and decreases dramatically from May to October when precipitation peaks. To circumvent weather station scarcity in the region, a variety of satellite products were used as input into a water balance model. The datasets include TRMM 3B31 for precipitation, SRTM for elevation, and MODIS: MOD11C3 for temperature, MOD12Q1 for land cover, and MOD14A for fire count. Non-satellite based data sources include soil maps from the Harmonized World Soil Database and wind speed from NOAA NCDC stations. The Chari-Logone catchment of the Lake Chad Basin was selected since it supplies over 90% of the water input to the Lake. Fire count data from MOD14A were integrated with land cover albedo changes to determine monthly potential evapotranspiration (PET) using a Penman equation. The resolution of the model is 2 km x 2 km which allows for delineation of physical features such as lakes and other water bodies. Fire counts, also at a resolution of 2 km x 2 km, vary dramatically depending on the season. A separate land cover dataset was created to account for the effect of burning of different vegetative land types, which affects vegetative area, bare area, leaf area index, vegetation height, Manning coefficient, and aerodynamic resistance. Two water balance simulations, one considering burning and one without, were compared from the years 2005 to 2010. Results indicate biomass burning contribute to an increase in average monthly runoff and a decrease in groundwater recharge. Actual evapotranspiration shows variation depending on the month.

Conflict and the women of Chad.

PubMed

Sy, A D

1993-06-01

Chad was used as an example of how women and children were the most affected during national and international conflicts. The conditions of women before and during the conflict were described. Chad has been a country involved in a war provoked by psychological differences between the way of life, economic activity, and culture of Arab Muslims who are nomadic pastoralists, and Animist and Christian farmers. The important year was 1979, when the country was torn apart by civil war. Women before the conflict were part of a patriarchal society of men heading households and sole producers for the family. One decision maker controlled family matters: the man. Men also possessed all household goods. Women were biological and social producers, and value was placed on having large numbers of children. Muslim women lived in seclusion. Married women, who engaged in commercial activity, were mocked and exposed their husbands to the humiliation of not being able to provide sufficiently for the family. Between 1979 and 1982, many men were exiled to other countries nearby, which sometimes meant the abandonment of women and children. The remaining men were limited in their ability to earn money, and reverted to fishing, farming, and hunting. Gender relations changed. Survival strategies were developed, such as women working as domestics or selling products. Petty trading and agricultural and market gardening enterprises were flourishing. Women learned skills in dressmaking, embroidery, or knitting. Sometimes long distances were traveled in order to secure income. Women set up their own banking system with a system of "tontines" or savings cooperatives. The war's impact was to disrupt social and private life, which allowed women to enter the public domain and contribute to economic security. The downside of the conflict was the toll in human life and poverty for vast numbers of women and children. The physical, financial, and psychological exhaustion helped to create an awareness

Water levels and artesian pressures in the Chad Basin of northeastern Nigeria, 1963-68

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carmalt, S.W.; Tibbitts, G.C.

1969-01-01

This report presents records of water levels and artesian pressures collected during 1963-68 on an observational network of 116 dug wells and boreholes (drilled wells) in the Chad Basin of northeastern Nigeria. The Chad Basin is underlain by the Chad Formation, a series of fluvio-lacustrine sediments which attain a thickness of 1,500 feet or more in Nigeria. Three water-bearing zones, designated Upper, Middle and Lower, have been identified in the Chad Formation of Nigeria. The Upper Zone aquifer, which contains water under both unconfined and confined conditions, provides the principal source of water to dug wells for domestic and village water supply. The Middle Zone aquifer is tapped by numerous deep boreholes (drilled wells) which provide water by artesian flow in more than 13,000 square miles of Nigeria north and east of Maiduguri. The Lower Zone, which is also confined has only been identified thus far (1969) in the vicinity of Maiduguri.

Space Radar of Image Aorounga Impact Crater, Chad

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-04-15

The impact of an asteroid or comet several hundred million years ago left scars in the landscape that are still visible in this spaceborne radar image of an area in the Sahara Desert of northern Chad.

Chad Genetic Diversity Reveals an African History Marked by Multiple Holocene Eurasian Migrations.

PubMed

Haber, Marc; Mezzavilla, Massimo; Bergström, Anders; Prado-Martinez, Javier; Hallast, Pille; Saif-Ali, Riyadh; Al-Habori, Molham; Dedoussis, George; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Blue-Smith, Jason; Wells, R Spencer; Xue, Yali; Zalloua, Pierre A; Tyler-Smith, Chris

2016-12-01

Understanding human genetic diversity in Africa is important for interpreting the evolution of all humans, yet vast regions in Africa, such as Chad, remain genetically poorly investigated. Here, we use genotype data from 480 samples from Chad, the Near East, and southern Europe, as well as whole-genome sequencing from 19 of them, to show that many populations today derive their genomes from ancient African-Eurasian admixtures. We found evidence of early Eurasian backflow to Africa in people speaking the unclassified isolate Laal language in southern Chad and estimate from linkage-disequilibrium decay that this occurred 4,750-7,200 years ago. It brought to Africa a Y chromosome lineage (R1b-V88) whose closest relatives are widespread in present-day Eurasia; we estimate from sequence data that the Chad R1b-V88 Y chromosomes coalesced 5,700-7,300 years ago. This migration could thus have originated among Near Eastern farmers during the African Humid Period. We also found that the previously documented Eurasian backflow into Africa, which occurred ∼3,000 years ago and was thought to be mostly limited to East Africa, had a more westward impact affecting populations in northern Chad, such as the Toubou, who have 20%-30% Eurasian ancestry today. We observed a decline in heterozygosity in admixed Africans and found that the Eurasian admixture can bias inferences on their coalescent history and confound genetic signals from adaptation and archaic introgression. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chad: World Oil Report 1991

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1991-08-01

This paper reports on Mango 1, which is an exploration well started in September 1990 on a block adjacent to Lake Chad by Esso, Chevron and Shell was suspended after the coup in that nation's capital later in the year. The small Sedigi oil field, discovered in the 70s, will be developed with a pipeline to a 3,000-bpd refinery. Improved relations with Libya and future internal stability may further open the door to exploration.

Investigation of soil properties for identifying recharge characteristics in the Lake Chad Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banks, M. L.; Ndunguru, G. G.; Adisa, S. J.; Lee, J.; Adegoke, J. O.; Goni, I. B.; Grindley, J.; Mulugeta, V.

2009-12-01

Lake Chad was once labeled as one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world, providing water and livelihood to over 20 million people. The lake is shared by six different countries; Chad Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Sudan. Since the 1970 to date, a significant decrease in the size of the lake has been observed with the use of satellite imagery. This shrinking of the lake has been blamed on global warming, population increase and poor water management by the agriculture industry for farming purpose for both plants and animals. While these can be all valid reasons for the decrease of Lake Chad, we see the need to examine environmental and hydrological evidence around the Lake Chad basin. This study was carried out from upper stream to lower stream leading from Kano to the Damatru region which is one of several water bodies that supply Lake Chad. Over seventy six sites were sampled for soil texture, bulk density and other physical properties to investigate recharge capacity of the basin especially along the stream. Soils were collected using a soil core and properly stored at 4 degrees Celsius. Soils were weighed and put to dry at 105 degrees for twenty four hours. Dry weight was recorded and bulk density was calculated. The wet sieve method was used to determine the particle size analysis. Soils were weighed to 10 grams and hydrogen peroxide added to separate particles. Samples were washed with water and put to dry overnight. Soils were reweighed and sieved to separate as course sand, fine sand and silt and clay. The data revealed that in the upstream, coarse sand continuously decreased while silt and clay continuously increased down toward the lake. At mid stream silt and clay had significantly higher values when compared to coarse sand and fine sand. In the lower stream, bulk density clearly decreased compared to the upper and mid streams. Correlations will be carried out to investigate the particle size analysis and bulk density with

Comparison of CHA2DS2-VASc, CHADS2 and HATCH scores for the prediction of new-onset atrial fibrillation in cancer patients: A nationwide cohort study of 760,339 study participants with competing risk analysis.

PubMed

Hu, Wei-Syun; Lin, Cheng-Li

2017-11-01

The current study was conducted to assess the ability of CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc, CHADS 2 and HATCH scores in predicting new-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) among patients with cancer. Patients with newly diagnosed cancer between 1 January, 2000 and 31 December, 2011, from the Registry for Catastrophic Illness Patient Database, were defined as the study cohort. CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc, CHADS 2 and HATCH scores were used for new-onset AF prediction in these study patients, and the predictive accuracy of the scores was assessed by the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve. A total of 760,339 cancer patients were identified as the study participants. The ROC curves were 0.68 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.68-0.69) for the CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score, 0.67 (95% CI = 0.67-0.68) for the CHADS 2 score and 0.69 (95% CI = 0.69-0.70) for the HATCH score. There were significant differences of c-statistics among CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score, CHADS 2 score and HATCH score (CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score vs. CHADS 2 score, p = 0.01; CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score vs. HATCH score, p = 0.002; CHADS 2 score vs. HATCH score, p < 0.001). The current study is the first to assess the prognostic value of 3 AF risk scores (CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc, CHADS 2 and HATCH scores) in patients with newly-diagnosed cancer. HATCH score was found to have a slightly but significantly better predictive performance than the other 2 scores. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Petroleum Systems of the Nigerian Sector of Chad Basin: Insights from Field and Subsurface Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suleiman, A. A.; Nwaobi, G. O.; Bomai, A.; Dauda, R.; Bako, M. D.; Ali, M. S.; Moses, S. D.

2017-12-01

indicates that Nigerian sector of the Chad Basin is affected by igneous activity and basin inversion both of which impact its petroleum system development. Therefore, a detailed study of the tectono-stratigraphic framework of a rift basin is crucial to investigate the development of its petroleum system and hydrocarbon prospectivity.

Spatial analysis from remotely sensed observations of Congo basin of East African high Land to drain water using gravity for sustainable management of low laying Chad basin of Central Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Modu, B.; Herbert, B.

2014-11-01

The Chad basin which covers an area of about 2.4 million kilometer square is one of the largest drainage basins in Africa in the centre of Lake Chad .This basin was formed as a result of rifting and drifting episode, as such it has no outlet to the oceans or seas. It contains large area of desert from the north to the west. The basin covers in part seven countries such as Chad, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Cameroun, Niger, Sudan and Algeria. It is named Chad basin because 43.9% falls in Chad republic. Since its formation, the basin continues to experienced water shortage due to the activities of Dams combination, increase in irrigations and general reduction in rainfall. Chad basin needs an external water source for it to be function at sustainable level, hence needs for exploitation of higher east African river basin called Congo basin; which covers an area of 3.7 million square km lies in an astride the equator in west-central Africa-world second largest river basin after Amazon. The Congo River almost pans around republic of Congo, the democratic republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, western Zambia, northern Angola, part of Cameroun, and Tanzania. The remotely sensed imagery analysis and observation revealed that Congo basin is on the elevation of 275 to 460 meters and the Chad basin is on elevation of 240 meters. This implies that water can be drained from Congo basin via headrace down to the Chad basin for the water sustainability.

Dr. Chad E. Finn, 2013 Wilder Medal Recipient

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Dr. Chad Finn took over the leadership of the USDA-ARS small fruit breeding program in Corvallis, Oregon in 1993 after three years working as an extension horticulturist in the Department of Horticulture at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Since taking over this program he has developed what is...

The prevalence of bovine venereal campylobacteriosis in cattle herds in the Lake Chad basin of Nigeria.

PubMed

Mshelia, Gideon Dauda; Amin, Jibrilla Dahiru; Egwu, Godwin Onyeamaechi; Woldehiwet, Zerai; Murray, Richard Donald

2012-10-01

The prevalence of bovine venereal campylobacteriosis (BVC) was investigated in the Lake Chad basin of Nigeria. Preputial washings and cervico-vaginal mucus samples were obtained from 270 cattle presenting a history of abortion and lowered fertility, kept in traditional and institutional farms. All the samples investigated were cultured using standard bacteriological technique. Campylobacter fetus was isolated from six bulls and four cows. In all cattle sampled, the isolation rates were 2.2% for C. fetus subsp. venerealis and 1.5% for C. fetus subsp. fetus; the herd and within-herd prevalence rates for C. fetus were 22.2% and 3.4%, respectively, while the overall active infectivity rate was 3.7%. BVC probably contributes to lowered fertility and abortions found in cattle in the Lake Chad basin of Nigeria, associated more with C. fetus subsp. venerealis than C. fetus subsp. fetus.

West African monsoon dynamics inferred from abrupt fluctuations of Lake Mega-Chad

PubMed Central

Armitage, Simon J.; Bristow, Charlie S.; Drake, Nick A.

2015-01-01

From the deglacial period to the mid-Holocene, North Africa was characterized by much wetter conditions than today. The broad timing of this period, termed the African Humid Period, is well known. However, the rapidity of the onset and termination of the African Humid Period are contested, with strong evidence for both abrupt and gradual change. We use optically stimulated luminescence dating of dunes, shorelines, and fluviolacustrine deposits to reconstruct the fluctuations of Lake Mega-Chad, which was the largest pluvial lake in Africa. Humid conditions first occur at ∼15 ka, and by 11.5 ka, Lake Mega-Chad had reached a highstand, which persisted until 5.0 ka. Lake levels fell rapidly at ∼5 ka, indicating abrupt aridification across the entire Lake Mega-Chad Basin. This record provides strong terrestrial evidence that the African Humid Period ended abruptly, supporting the hypothesis that the African monsoon responds to insolation forcing in a markedly nonlinear manner. In addition, Lake Mega-Chad exerts strong control on global biogeochemical cycles because the northern (Bodélé) basin is currently the world’s greatest single dust source and possibly an important source of limiting nutrients for both the Amazon Basin and equatorial Atlantic. However, we demonstrate that the final desiccation of the Bodélé Basin occurred around 1 ka. Consequently, the present-day mode and scale of dust production from the Bodélé Basin cannot have occurred before 1 ka, suggesting that its role in fertilizing marine and terrestrial ecosystems is either overstated or geologically recent. PMID:26124133

Streptomyces gamaensis sp. nov., a novel actinomycete with antifungal activity isolated from soil in Gama, Chad.

PubMed

Zhao, Shanshan; Ye, Lan; Liu, Chongxi; Abagana, Adam Yacoub; Zheng, Weiwei; Sun, Pengyu; Li, Jiansong; Xiang, Wensheng; Wang, Xiangjing

2017-04-01

During an investigation exploring potential sources of novel species and natural products, a novel actinomycete with antifungal activity, designated strain NEAU-Gz11 T , was isolated from a soil sample, which was collected from Gama, Chad. The isolate was found to have morphological and chemotaxonomic characteristics typical of members of the genus Streptomyces. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity studies showed that strain NEAU-Gz11 T belongs to the genus Streptomyces with high sequence similarity to Streptomyces hiroshimensis JCM 4098 T (98.0 %). Similarities to other type strains of the genus Streptomyces were lower than 98.0 %. However, the physiological and biochemical characteristics and low levels of DNA-DNA relatedness could differentiate the isolate genotypically and phenotypically from S. hiroshimensis JCM 4098 T . Therefore, the strain is concluded to represent a novel species of the genus Streptomyces, for which the name Streptomyces gamaensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NEAU-Gz11 T (=CGMCC 4.7304 T =DSM 101531 T ).

Area Handbook Series: Chad, A Country Study

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-12-01

northern and central interests. As dis- affection in these regions increased, in the late 1960s dissident groups formed an antigovernment coalition, the...decades-might finally ensue. December 13, 1988 * * seea eet After the research for this book was completed, several events occurred that greatly affected ...Chad’s geographic position along major trans-Saharan trade routes has also affected its historical development. In early times, trade consisted of

Assessing narcolepsy with cataplexy in children and adolescents: development of a cataplexy diary and the ESS-CHAD

PubMed Central

Wang, Y Grace; Benmedjahed, Khadra; Lambert, Jérémy; Evans, Christopher J; Hwang, Steve; Black, Jed; Johns, Murray W

2017-01-01

Objective The aim of this study was to qualitatively evaluate concepts for incorporation into a daily diary to capture cataplexy frequency and to assess the content validity of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale for Children and Adolescents (ESS-CHAD) in pediatric patients with narcolepsy. Patients and methods Face-to-face concept elicitation and cognitive interviews were conducted with children (7–9 years; n=13) and adolescents (10–17 years; n=16) who have narcolepsy with cataplexy, and their parents/caregivers. Results Similarities and differences were noted between narcolepsy concepts described by children and their parents/caregivers, suggesting some different but complementary perspectives; parents may not recognize cataplexy symptoms/triggers as well as children, but parents have greater recognition of the circumstances of falling asleep. Cataplexy diary modifications included changes in definitions and examples of cataplexy, using child-friendly terminology, adding a quantitative question to determine daily frequency, and standardizing the questionnaire for evening administration with self-completion by the child. Modifications were made to ESS-CHAD for child-friendly wording and to ensure that items reflect activities (eating, watching TV/video) and environments (school, bus/car transport) in which children are likely to participate. Two ESS-CHAD versions were proposed: one with a 1-month recall period, for general use, and the other with a recall period of “since your last study visit,” for research, which could be shorter or longer than 1 month (as short as 1 week). Conclusion The cataplexy diary and ESS-CHAD were modified for the assessment of children and adolescents. Further psychometric validation is recommended. These measures are being used in a Phase III, placebo-controlled clinical trial of sodium oxybate in children and adolescents with narcolepsy. PMID:28860883

Evaluation of the efficacy of ChAd63-MVA vectored vaccines expressing circumsporozoite protein and ME-TRAP against controlled human malaria infection in malaria-naive individuals.

PubMed

Hodgson, Susanne H; Ewer, Katie J; Bliss, Carly M; Edwards, Nick J; Rampling, Thomas; Anagnostou, Nicholas A; de Barra, Eoghan; Havelock, Tom; Bowyer, Georgina; Poulton, Ian D; de Cassan, Simone; Longley, Rhea; Illingworth, Joseph J; Douglas, Alexander D; Mange, Pooja B; Collins, Katharine A; Roberts, Rachel; Gerry, Stephen; Berrie, Eleanor; Moyle, Sarah; Colloca, Stefano; Cortese, Riccardo; Sinden, Robert E; Gilbert, Sarah C; Bejon, Philip; Lawrie, Alison M; Nicosia, Alfredo; Faust, Saul N; Hill, Adrian V S

2015-04-01

Circumsporozoite protein (CS) is the antigenic target for RTS,S, the most advanced malaria vaccine to date. Heterologous prime-boost with the viral vectors simian adenovirus 63 (ChAd63)-modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) is the most potent inducer of T-cells in humans, demonstrating significant efficacy when expressing the preerythrocytic antigen insert multiple epitope-thrombospondin-related adhesion protein (ME-TRAP). We hypothesized that ChAd63-MVA containing CS may result in a significant clinical protective efficacy. We conducted an open-label, 2-site, partially randomized Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite controlled human malaria infection (CHMI) study to compare the clinical efficacy of ChAd63-MVA CS with ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP. One of 15 vaccinees (7%) receiving ChAd63-MVA CS and 2 of 15 (13%) receiving ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP achieved sterile protection after CHMI. Three of 15 vaccinees (20%) receiving ChAd63-MVA CS and 5 of 15 (33%) receiving ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP demonstrated a delay in time to treatment, compared with unvaccinated controls. In quantitative polymerase chain reaction analyses, ChAd63-MVA CS was estimated to reduce the liver parasite burden by 69%-79%, compared with 79%-84% for ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP. ChAd63-MVA CS does reduce the liver parasite burden, but ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP remains the most promising antigenic insert for a vectored liver-stage vaccine. Detailed analyses of parasite kinetics may allow detection of smaller but biologically important differences in vaccine efficacy that can influence future vaccine development. NCT01623557. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Perceptions of the usefulness of external support to immunization coverage in Chad: an analysis of the GAVI-Alliance cash-based support.

PubMed

Ferrinho, Paulo; Dramé, Mohammed; Tumusiime, Prosper

2013-01-01

Chad is one of the countries supported by the GAVI-Alliance that remains with unsatisfactory vaccination coverage. This paper tries to understand the main barriers to better coverage. These barriers were categorised as up or downstream against the health system building blocks as proposed by WHO and compared with barriers and activities identified by the country in its health system's strengthening grant proposal as approved by the GAVI Alliance in 2007. Data were collected using a modified Delphi system and by analysis of grant and annual report documents. Most of the activities anticipated under the GAVI health system's strengthening proposal are activities targeting downstream barriers (the neglect of upstream issues is of major importance in a decentralised state like Chad) and aligned with, not complementary to, immunization services strengthening activities. Further, both set of cash grants are blind to important recommendations such as the need to address barriers at the level of leadership and governance and at the level of the financing system and also about initiatives to promote community demand of vaccination services. IN CHAD SLOW VACCINATION PROGRESS IS AGGRAVATED BY SEVERAL CONTEXTUAL BARRIERS: the size of the country, the low population density, the nomadic nature of a significant part of its peoples, the recent civil war, associated with civil unrest and political instability and its geographical localization. In this situation it would be important to sustain downstream operations (the major focus of the ISS grant) while taking a long term view of the needs of the health system. The GAVI effectively supports downstream operations, but neglects the long term view.

Advanced chronic kidney disease in non-valvular atrial fibrillation: extending the utility of R2CHADS2 to patients with advanced renal failure.

PubMed

Bautista, Josef; Bella, Archie; Chaudhari, Ashok; Pekler, Gerald; Sapra, Katherine J; Carbajal, Roger; Baumstein, Donald

2015-04-01

The R2CHADS2 is a new prediction rule for stroke risk in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients wherein R stands for renal risk. However, it was created from a cohort that excluded patients with advanced renal failure (defined as glomerular filtration rate of <30 mL/min). Our study extends the use of R2CHADS2 to patients with advanced renal failure and aims to compare its predictive power against the currently used CHADS and CHA2DS2VaSc. This retrospective cohort study analyzed the 1-year risk for stroke of the 524 patients with AF at Metropolitan Hospital Center. AUC and C statistics were calculated using three groups: (i) the entire cohort including patients with advanced renal failure, (ii) a cohort excluding patients with advanced renal failure and (iii) all patients with GFR < 30 mL/min only. R2CHADS2, as a predictor for stroke risk, consistently performs better than CHADS2 and CHA2DS2VsC in groups 1 and 2. The C-statistic was highest in R2CHADS compared with CHADS or CHADSVASC in group 1 (0.718 versus 0.605 versus 0.602) and in group 2 (0.724 versus 0.584 versus 0.579). However, there was no statistically significant difference in group 3 (0.631 versus 0.629 versus 0.623). Our study supports the utility of R2CHADS2 as a clinical prediction rule for stroke risk in patients with advanced renal failure.

Challenges to implementing Gavi's health system strengthening support in Chad and Cameroon: results from a mixed-methods evaluation.

PubMed

Dansereau, Emily; Miangotar, Yodé; Squires, Ellen; Mimche, Honoré; El Bcheraoui, Charbel

2017-11-16

Since 2005, Gavi has provided health system strengthening (HSS) grants to address bottlenecks affecting immunization services. This study is the first to evaluate the Gavi HSS implementation process in either Cameroon or Chad, two countries with significant health system challenges and poor achievement on the child and maternal health Millennium Development Goals. We triangulated quantitative and qualitative data including financial records, document review, field visit questionnaires, and key informant interviews (KII) with representatives from the Ministries of Health, Gavi, and other partners. We conducted a Root Cause Analysis of key implementation challenges, guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. We conducted 124 field visits and 43 KIIs in Cameroon, and 57 field visits and 39 KIIs in Chad. Cameroon's and Chad's HSS programs were characterized by delayed disbursements, significant deviations from approved expenditures, and reprogramming of funds. Nearly a year after the programs were intended to be complete, many district and facility-level activities were only partially implemented and significant funds remained unabsorbed. Root causes of these challenges included unpredictable Gavi processes and disbursements, poor communication between the countries and Gavi, insufficient country planning without adequate technical assistance, lack of country staff and leadership, and weak country systems to manage finances and promote institutional memory. Though Chad and Cameroon both critically needed support to strengthen their weak health systems, serious challenges drastically limited implementation of their Gavi HSS programs. Implementation of future HSS programs in these and similar settings can be improved by transparent and reliable procedures and communication from Gavi, proposals that account for countries' programmatic capacity and the potential for delayed disbursements, implementation practices that foster learning and adaptation

Dust storm in Chad

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

Lake Chad (lower left) and the surrounding wetlands are under increasing pressure from desertification. The encroachment of the Sahara occurs with creeping sand dunes and major dust storms, such as the one pictured in this MODIS image from October 28, 2001. The amount of open water (lighter green patch within the darker one) has declined markedly over the last decades and the invasion of dunes is creating a rippled effect through the wetlands that is all too clear in the high-resolution images. Growing population and increasing demands on the lake give it an uncertain future. The loss of such an important natural resource will have profound effects on the people who depend on the rapidly diminishing source of fresh water. Credit: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Perceptions of the usefulness of external support to immunization coverage in Chad: an analysis of the GAVI-Alliance cash-based support

PubMed Central

Ferrinho, Paulo; Dramé, Mohammed; Tumusiime, Prosper

2013-01-01

Introduction Chad is one of the countries supported by the GAVI-Alliance that remains with unsatisfactory vaccination coverage. This paper tries to understand the main barriers to better coverage. Methods These barriers were categorised as up or downstream against the health system building blocks as proposed by WHO and compared with barriers and activities identified by the country in its health system's strengthening grant proposal as approved by the GAVI Alliance in 2007. Data were collected using a modified Delphi system and by analysis of grant and annual report documents. Results Most of the activities anticipated under the GAVI health system's strengthening proposal are activities targeting downstream barriers (the neglect of upstream issues is of major importance in a decentralised state like Chad) and aligned with, not complementary to, immunization services strengthening activities. Further, both set of cash grants are blind to important recommendations such as the need to address barriers at the level of leadership and governance and at the level of the financing system and also about initiatives to promote community demand of vaccination services. Conclusion In Chad slow vaccination progress is aggravated by several contextual barriers: the size of the country, the low population density, the nomadic nature of a significant part of its peoples, the recent civil war, associated with civil unrest and political instability and its geographical localization. In this situation it would be important to sustain downstream operations (the major focus of the ISS grant) while taking a long term view of the needs of the health system. The GAVI effectively supports downstream operations, but neglects the long term view. PMID:24106572

Storm and tide influenced depositional architecture of the Pliocene-Pleistocene Chad Formation, Chad Basin (Bornu Sub-basin) NE Nigeria: A mixed fluvial, deltaic, shoreface and lacustrine complex

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shettima, Bukar; Kyari, Aji Maina; Aji, Mallam Musa; Adams, Fatimoh Dupe

2018-07-01

Lithofacies analyses of the upper part of the Chad Formation (Bama Ridge Complex) in the Bornu Sub-basin of the Chad Basin indicated four facies associations; fluvial, deltaic, shoreface and lacustrine sequences. The fluvial sequences are composed of fining upward cycles with successive occurrence of planar crossbedded sandstone facies displaying unimodal paleocurrent system and rare mudstone facies typical of braided river system. The deltaic succession consists of both fining and coarsening upwards cycles with the former depicting fluvial setting of an upper delta plain while the later suggestive of mouth-bar sequences. The setting displays a polymodal current system of fluvial, waves, storms and tides that were primarily induced by complex interactions of seiches and lunar tides. Similar current systems devoid of fluvial patterns were reflected in the coarsening upward packages of the shoreface sequences. Lacustrine succession composed of thick bioturbated mudstone facies generally defines the base of these coarsening upward profiles, giving a fluvio-lacustrine geomorphic relief where complex interaction developed the deltaic and shoreface facies along its shorelines. Clay mineral fractions of the formation are dominantly kaolinitic, indicating a predominantly humid tropical-subtropical climatic condition during their deposition. This climatic regime falls within the African humid period of the early-mid Holocene that led to the third lacustrine transgression of the Lake Mega-Chad, whereas the subordinate smectite mineralization points to aridification that characterizes most of the post humid period to recent.

A cost-utility analysis for catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation in combination with warfarin and dabigatran based on the CHADS2 score in Japan.

PubMed

Kimura, Takehiro; Igarashi, Ataru; Ikeda, Shunya; Nakajima, Kazuaki; Kashimura, Shin; Kunitomi, Akira; Katsumata, Yoshinori; Nishiyama, Takahiko; Nishiyama, Nobuhiro; Fukumoto, Kotaro; Tanimoto, Yoko; Aizawa, Yoshiyasu; Fukuda, Keiichi; Takatsuki, Seiji

2017-01-01

We aimed to clarify the cost-effectiveness of an expensive combination therapy for atrial fibrillation (AF) using both catheter ablation and dabigatran compared with warfarin at each CHADS 2 score for patients in Japan. A Markov model was constructed to analyze costs and quality-adjusted life years associated with AF therapeutic options with a time horizon of 10 years. The target population was 60-year-old patients with paroxysmal AF. The indication for anticoagulation was determined according to the Japanese guideline. Anticoagulation-related data were derived from the RE-LY study and the AF recurrence rate was set at 2.7% per month during the first 12 months and at 0.40% per month afterwards. Stroke risk was determined according to AF recurrence, anticoagulation, and CHADS 2 score. The risks for stroke recurrence and stroke death were also considered. Costs were calculated from the healthcare payer's perspective, and only direct medical costs were included. Warfarin was the most preferred option for patients with a CHADS 2 score of 0 from a health economics aspect. Ablation under warfarin was preferred for a CHADS 2 score of 1-3, while ablation under dabigatran was preferred for a CHADS 2 score ≥4. The quality of life score for AF had the largest impact on the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios in the analysis between the anticoagulation arm and the anticoagulation+ablation arm for a CHADS 2 score of 2. Within the range of the Japanese willingness-to-pay threshold (¥5,000,000), the ablation+warfarin arm became the best option with its probability of 81.7% for a CHADS 2 score of 2; the dabigatran+ablation arm was the most preferred option with its probability of 56.1% for a CHADS 2 score of 4. Ablation under dabigatran therapy is an expensive therapeutic option, but it might benefit patients with a low quality of life and a high CHADS 2 score. Copyright © 2016 Japanese College of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Treating Cattle to Protect People? Impact of Footbath Insecticide Treatment on Tsetse Density in Chad

PubMed Central

Ndeledje, Noël; Bouyer, Jérémy; Stachurski, Frédéric; Grimaud, Patrice; Belem, Adrien Marie Gaston; Molélé Mbaïndingatoloum, Fidèle; Bengaly, Zakaria; Oumar Alfaroukh, Idriss; Cecchi, Guiliano; Lancelot, Renaud

2013-01-01

Background In Chad, several species of tsetse flies (Genus: Glossina ) transmit African animal trypanosomoses (AAT), which represents a major obstacle to cattle rearing, and sleeping sickness, which impacts public health. After the failure of past interventions to eradicate tsetse, the government of Chad is now looking for other approaches that integrate cost-effective intervention techniques, which can be applied by the stake holders to control tsetse-transmitted trypanosomoses in a sustainable manner. The present study thus attempted to assess the efficacy of restricted application of insecticides to cattle leg extremities using footbaths for controlling Glossina m. submorsitans, G . tachinoides and G . f . fuscipes in southern Chad. Methodology/Principal Findings Two sites were included, one close to the historical human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) focus of Moundou and the other to the active foci of Bodo and Moissala. At both sites, a treated and an untreated herd were compared. In the treatment sites, cattle were treated on a regular basis using a formulation of deltamethrin 0.005% (67 to 98 cattle were treated in one of the sites and 88 to 102 in the other one). For each herd, tsetse densities were monthly monitored using 7 biconical traps set along the river and beside the cattle pen from February to December 2009. The impact of footbath treatment on tsetse populations was strong (p < 10-3) with a reduction of 80% in total tsetse catches by the end of the 6-month footbath treatment. Conclusions/Significance The impact of footbath treatment as a vector control tool within an integrated strategy to manage AAT and HAT is discussed in the framework of the “One Health” concept. Like other techniques based on the treatment of cattle, this technology should be used under controlled conditions, in order to avoid the development of insecticide and acaricide resistance in tsetse and tick populations, respectively. PMID:23799148

Predictive value of CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores for acute myocardial infarction in patients with atrial fibrillation.

PubMed

Pang, Hui; Han, Bing; Fu, Qiang; Zong, Zhenkun

2017-07-05

The presence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) confers a poor prognosis in atrial fibrillation (AF), associated with increased mortality dramatically. This study aimed to evaluate the predictive value of CHADS 2 and CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc scores for AMI in patients with AF. This retrospective study enrolled 5140 consecutive nonvalvular AF patients, 300 patients with AMI and 4840 patients without AMI. We identified the optimal cut-off values of the CHADS 2 and CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc scores each based on receiver operating characteristic curves to predict the risk of AMI. Both CHADS 2 score and CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score were associated with an increased odds ratio of the prevalence of AMI in patients with AF, after adjustment for hyperlipidaemia, hyperuricemia, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism and obstructive sleep apnea. The present results showed that the area under the curve (AUC) for CHADS 2 score was 0.787 with a similar accuracy of the CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score (AUC 0.750) in predicting "high-risk" AF patients who developed AMI. However, the predictive accuracy of the two clinical-based risk scores was fair. The CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score has fair predictive value for identifying high-risk patients with AF and is not significantly superior to CHADS 2 in predicting patients who develop AMI.

Satellite-based observations of rain-induced NOx emissions from soils around Lake Chad in the Sahel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zörner, Jan; Penning de Vries, Marloes; Dörner, Steffen; Sihler, Holger; Beirle, Steffen; Wagner, Thomas

2017-04-01

Rain-induced emission pulses of NOx (≡ NO + NO2) from soils have been observed in many semi-arid regions over the world. They are induced by the first precipitation of the wet season and are mainly caused by the sudden re-activation of microbes in the soil releasing reactive nitrogen. In this study, a single intense event of pulsed NOx emissions from soils around Lake Chad is investigated. This is achieved by analysing daily tropospheric NO2 vertical column densities (VCDs) as observed by the satellite-based OMI instrument together with other satellite and model data on precipitation, lightning, fire and wind. The study region of Lake Chad and its ecosystems are indispensable to life in the Sahel region. Climate variability and unsustainable water utilization, however, caused a drastic decrease in the lakes' surface area which, in turn, lead to extensive land cover changes converting former lake area to shrub land and fertile farm land. The results indicate that the region of Lake Chad does not only show consistent enhancements in average NO2 VCDs in the early months of the wet season compared to its surrounding desert but also exhibits particularly strong NOx emissions shortly after a single large-scale precipitation event in June 2007. NO2 VCDs measured 14 hours after this precipitation event show strong enhancements (2.5*1015 molecules cm-2) compared to the seasonal background VCDs and, moreover, represent the highest detected NO2 VCDs of the entire year. Detailed analysis of potential contributors to the observed NO2 VCDs strongly indicate that fire, lightning and retrieval artefacts cannot explain the NO2 pulse. The estimated emission flux from the soil, calculated based on mass balance, amounts to about 32.3 ng N m-2 s-1, which corresponds to about 65 tonnes of nitrogen released to the atmosphere within one day.

Meta-analysis of CHADS2 versus CHA2DS2-VASc for predicting stroke and thromboembolism in atrial fibrillation patients independent of anticoagulation.

PubMed

Zhu, Wen-Gen; Xiong, Qin-Mei; Hong, Kui

2015-02-01

Two validated scoring systems for predicting embolic risk, CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc, contribute to optimizing antithrombotic prescription practices in patients who have atrial fibrillation. However, data about anticoagulated patients are sparse. We compared CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc, in terms of their predictive risk evaluation, in patients with atrial fibrillation who were and were not taking anticoagulants. We systematically searched the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Embase databases for studies of the comparative diagnostic performance of CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc. We identified 12 cohort studies for meta-analysis. With regard to the occurrence of cardiovascular events individually, patients with CHA2DS2-VASc scores ≥2 have a greater risk of stroke (risk ratio [RR]=5.15; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.85-6.88; P <0.00001) and thromboembolism (RR=5.96; 95% CI, 5.50-6.45; P <0.00001) (P diff=0.34) than do patients with CHA2DS2-VASc scores <2, independent of anticoagulation therapy (RR=5.76; 95% CI, 5.23-6.35; P <0.00001 in anticoagulated patients; and RR=6.12; 95% CI, 5.40-6.93; P <0.00001 in patients not taking anticoagulants; P diff=0.45). The pooled RR estimates indicate an approximate 6-fold increase in the risk of endpoint events in patients with CHA2DS2-VASc scores ≥2 (RR=5.90; 95% CI, 5.46-6.37; P <0.0001). These results clearly indicate the discriminative capacity of the CHA2DS2-VASc score for stroke, thromboembolic events, or both, independent of optimal anticoagulation. The CHA2DS2-VASc score enables the identification of patients who are at genuinely high risk and can direct the selection of appropriate therapeutic approaches.

The CHADS2 Score to Predict Stroke Risk in the Absence of Atrial Fibrillation in Hypertensive Patients Aged 65 Years or Older.

PubMed

Morillas, Pedro; Pallarés, Vicente; Fácila, Lorenzo; Llisterri, Jose Luis; Sebastián, María Eugenia; Gómez, Manuel; Castilla, Elena; Camarasa, Raquel; Sandin, Miriam; García-Honrubia, Antonio

2015-06-01

The CHADS2 score is a proven, essential tool for estimating cardioembolic risk (mainly stroke) in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, with the purpose of determining the indication for anticoagulant therapy. In this study we analyzed the use of CHADS2 in hypertensive patients without known atrial fibrillation in a Mediterranean population. The study included 887 hypertensive patients aged 65 years or older without atrial fibrillation or anticoagulant therapy, who attended a medical consultation. Data on the patients' main risk factors, cardiovascular history, and medication were collected, basic laboratory analyses and electrocardiography were performed, and the CHADS2 score (heart failure, hypertension, age ≥ 75 years, diabetes mellitus, and previous stroke or transient ischemic attack) was calculated. A clinical follow-up was carried out, recording hospital admissions for a stroke or transient ischemic attack. The median duration of follow-up was 804 days. Mean age was 72.5 (SD,5.7) years, 46.6% were men, 27.8% had diabetes, and 8.6% were smokers. During follow-up, 40 patients were hospitalized for a stroke or transient ischemic attack (4.5%). The event-free survival analysis showed significant differences according to the CHADS2 score (log rank test, P < .001). On multivariate analysis, smoking and CHADS2 ≥3 were independent predictors of stroke or transient ischemic attack. The CHADS2 may be useful for estimating the risk of stroke or transient ischemic attack in hypertensive patients without known atrial fibrillation. Copyright © 2014 Sociedad Española de Cardiología. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Interview: An interview with Chad Mirkin: nanomedicine expert

PubMed Central

Mirkin, Chad

2015-01-01

Chad Mirkin speaks to Hannah Stanwix, Assistant Commissioning Editor Professor Chad Mirkin received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry from Dickinson College (PA, USA) in 1986. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from Pennsylvania State University (PA, USA) and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA, USA). He subsequently moved to Northwestern University (IL, USA) as a Professor of Chemistry in 1991. In 2004, Professor Mirkin became Director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology and holds that post currently. He is also the George B Rathmann Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University. Professor Mirkin is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also currently a member of President Obama’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology. Professor Mirkin is best known for his work on spherical nucleic acid nanoparticle conjugates and the invention of Dip-Pen Nanolithography. He has received over 70 awards and accolades for his accomplishments. Currently, based on total citations, Professor Mirkin is one of the most cited chemists and nanomedicine researchers in the world. He has authored over 500 publications, as well as over 440 patents and applications worldwide. PMID:22630148

STS-65 Earth observation of Lake Chad, Africa, taken aboard Columbia, OV-102

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

STS-65 Earth observation taken aboard Columbia, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 102, shows Lake Chad, Africa. This is another long term ecological monitoring site for NASA scientists. Lake Chad was first photographed from space in 1965. A 25-year length-of-record data set exists for this environmentally important area. A number of these scenes have been digitized, rectified, classified and results show that the lake area has been shrinking and only 15% to 20% of the surface water is visible on space images. NASA's objective in monitoring this lake is to document the intra- and interannual areal changes of the largest standing water body in the Sahelian biome of North Africa. These areal changes are an indicator of the presence or absence of drought across the arguably overpopulated, overgrazed, and over biological carrying capacity limits nations of the Sahel.

Petroleum geology of Cretaceous-Tertiary rift basins in Niger, Chad, and Central African Republic

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Genik, G.J.

1993-08-01

This overview of the petroleum geology of rift basins in Niger, Chad, and Central African Republic (CAR) is based on exploration work by Exxon and partners in the years 1969-1991. The work included 50,000 km of modern reflection seismic, 53 exploration wells, 1,000,000 km[sup 2] of aeromagnetic coverage, and about 10,500 km of gravity profiles. The results outline ten Cretaceous and Tertiary rift basins, which constitute a major part of the West and Central African rift system (WCARS). The rift basins derive from a multiphased geologic history dating from the Pan-African (approximately 750-550 Ma) to the Holocene. WCARS in themore » study area is divided into the West African rift subsystem (WAS) and the Central African rift subsystem (WAS) and the Central African rift subsystem (CAS). WAS basins in Niger and Chad are chiefly extensional, and are filled by up to 13,000 m of Lower Cretaceous to Holocene continental and marine clastics. The basins contain five oil (19-43[degrees]API) and two oil and gas accumulations in Upper Cretaceous and Eocene sandstone reservoirs. The hydrocarbons are sourced and sealed by Upper Cretaceous and Eocene marine and lacustrine shales. The most common structural styles and hydrocarbon traps usually are associated with normal fault blocks. CAS rift basins in Chad and CAR are extensional and transtensional, and are filled by up to 7500 m of chiefly Lower Cretaceous continental clastics. The basins contain eight oil (15-39[degrees]API) and one oil and gas discovery in Lower and Upper Cretaceous sandstone reservoirs. The hydrocarbons are sourced by Lower Cretaceous shales and sealed by interbedded lacustrine and flood-plain shales. Structural styles range from simple fault blocks through complex flower structures. The main hydrocarbon traps are in contractional anticlines. Geological conditions favor the discovery of potentially commercial volumes of oil in WCARS basins, of Niger, Chad and CAR. 108 refs., 24 figs., 4 tabs.« less

Spatio-temporal variability of droughts and terrestrial water storage over Lake Chad Basin using independent component analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ndehedehe, Christopher E.; Agutu, Nathan O.; Okwuashi, Onuwa; Ferreira, Vagner G.

2016-09-01

Lake Chad has recently been perceived to be completely desiccated and almost extinct due to insufficient published ground observations. Given the high spatial variability of rainfall in the region, and the fact that extreme climatic conditions (for example, droughts) could be intensifying in the Lake Chad basin (LCB) due to human activities, a spatio-temporal approach to drought analysis becomes essential. This study employed independent component analysis (ICA), a fourth-order cumulant statistics, to decompose standardised precipitation index (SPI), standardised soil moisture index (SSI), and terrestrial water storage (TWS) derived from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) into spatial and temporal patterns over the LCB. In addition, this study uses satellite altimetry data to estimate variations in the Lake Chad water levels, and further employs relevant climate teleconnection indices (El-Niño Southern Oscillation-ENSO, Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation-AMO, and Atlantic Meridional Mode-AMM) to examine their links to the observed drought temporal patterns over the basin. From the spatio-temporal drought analysis, temporal evolutions of SPI at 12 month aggregation show relatively wet conditions in the last two decades (although with marked alterations) with the 2012-2014 period being the wettest. In addition to the improved rainfall conditions during this period, there was a statistically significant increase of 0.04 m/yr in altimetry water levels observed over Lake Chad between 2008 and 2014, which confirms a shift in the hydrological conditions of the basin. Observed trend in TWS changes during the 2002-2014 period shows a statistically insignificant increase of 3.0 mm/yr at the centre of the basin, coinciding with soil moisture deficit indicated by the temporal evolutions of SSI at all monthly accumulations during the 2002-2003 and 2009-2012 periods. Further, SPI at 3 and 6 month scales indicated fluctuating drought conditions at the extreme south

Cost-estimate and proposal for a development impact bond for canine rabies elimination by mass vaccination in Chad.

PubMed

Anyiam, Franziska; Lechenne, Monique; Mindekem, Rolande; Oussigéré, Assandi; Naissengar, Service; Alfaroukh, Idriss Oumar; Mbilo, Celine; Moto, Daugla Doumagoum; Coleman, Paul G; Probst-Hensch, Nicole; Zinsstag, Jakob

2017-11-01

Close to 69,000 humans die of rabies each year, most of them in Africa and Asia. Clinical rabies can be prevented by post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). However, PEP is commonly not available or not affordable in developing countries. Another strategy besides treating exposed humans is the vaccination of vector species. In developing countries, the main vector is the domestic dog, that, once infected, is a serious threat to humans. After a successful mass vaccination of 70% of the dogs in N'Djaména, we report here a cost-estimate for a national rabies elimination campaign for Chad. In a cross-sectional survey in four rural zones, we established the canine : human ratio at the household level. Based on human census data and the prevailing socio-cultural composition of rural zones of Chad, the total canine population was estimated at 1,205,361 dogs (95% Confidence interval 1,128,008-1,736,774 dogs). Cost data were collected from government sources and the recent canine mass vaccination campaign in N'Djaména. A Monte Carlo simulation was used for the simulation of the average cost and its variability, using probability distributions for dog numbers and cost items. Assuming the vaccination of 100 dogs on average per vaccination post and a duration of one year, the total cost for the vaccination of the national Chadian canine population is estimated at 2,716,359 Euros (95% CI 2,417,353-3,035,081) for one vaccination round. A development impact bond (DIB) organizational structure and cash flow scenario were then developed for the elimination of canine rabies in Chad. Cumulative discounted cost of 28.3 million Euros over ten years would be shared between the government of Chad, private investors and institutional donors as outcome funders. In this way, the risk of the investment could be shared and the necessary investment could be made available upfront - a key element for the elimination of canine rabies in Chad. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B

Possible illnesses: assessing the health impacts of the Chad Pipeline Project.

PubMed Central

Leonard, Lori

2003-01-01

Health impact assessments associated with large-scale infrastructure projects, such as the Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project, monitor pre-existing conditions and new diseases associated with particular industries or changes in social organization. This paper suggests that illness self-reports constitute a complementary set of benchmarks to measure the health impacts of these projects, and presents data gathered in ongoing household and health service surveys in Ngalaba, a village near a major oilfield in Chad. In an initial 16-week period of weekly data collection, 363 people reported few of the clinically chronic or asymptomatic conditions expected according to health transition theory, and the overall level of illness reporting was low. Illnesses often were described by symptoms or lay diagnoses. Health care practitioners were consulted rarely; when they were, resources for diagnosis and treatment were limited. Clinically acute, short-duration illnesses (e.g. parasitic infections, toothaches, or hernias) were experienced as chronic conditions and were reported week after week. The low levels of illness reporting and lack of clinically chronic conditions are not taken to mean that rural Chadians are healthy. Rather, the patterns of morbidity reflect a particular local ecology in which health services are organized and care dispensed in ways that limit the possibilities for illness in terms of types of illnesses that can be diagnosed and reported, forms illnesses take, and ways in which illnesses are experienced. Illness self-reports are useful adjuncts to "harder" biological measures in HIAs, particularly in the context of large-scale infrastructure projects with explicit development goals. Rather than providing data on the extent to which harm has been mitigated by corporate, state, and donor activities, self-reports show the possibilities of illness in local contexts. PMID:12894327

Microbial hitchhikers on intercontinental dust: catching a lift in Chad

PubMed Central

Favet, Jocelyne; Lapanje, Ales; Giongo, Adriana; Kennedy, Suzanne; Aung, Yin-Yin; Cattaneo, Arlette; Davis-Richardson, Austin G; Brown, Christopher T; Kort, Renate; Brumsack, Hans-Jürgen; Schnetger, Bernhard; Chappell, Adrian; Kroijenga, Jaap; Beck, Andreas; Schwibbert, Karin; Mohamed, Ahmed H; Kirchner, Timothy; de Quadros, Patricia Dorr; Triplett, Eric W; Broughton, William J; Gorbushina, Anna A

2013-01-01

Ancient mariners knew that dust whipped up from deserts by strong winds travelled long distances, including over oceans. Satellite remote sensing revealed major dust sources across the Sahara. Indeed, the Bodélé Depression in the Republic of Chad has been called the dustiest place on earth. We analysed desert sand from various locations in Chad and dust that had blown to the Cape Verde Islands. High throughput sequencing techniques combined with classical microbiological methods showed that the samples contained a large variety of microbes well adapted to the harsh desert conditions. The most abundant bacterial groupings in four different phyla included: (a) Firmicutes—Bacillaceae, (b) Actinobacteria—Geodermatophilaceae, Nocardiodaceae and Solirubrobacteraceae, (c) Proteobacteria—Oxalobacteraceae, Rhizobiales and Sphingomonadaceae, and (d) Bacteroidetes—Cytophagaceae. Ascomycota was the overwhelmingly dominant fungal group followed by Basidiomycota and traces of Chytridiomycota, Microsporidia and Glomeromycota. Two freshwater algae (Trebouxiophyceae) were isolated. Most predominant taxa are widely distributed land inhabitants that are common in soil and on the surfaces of plants. Examples include Bradyrhizobium spp. that nodulate and fix nitrogen in Acacia species, the predominant trees of the Sahara as well as Herbaspirillum (Oxalobacteraceae), a group of chemoorganotrophic free-living soil inhabitants that fix nitrogen in association with Gramineae roots. Few pathogenic strains were found, suggesting that African dust is not a large threat to public health. PMID:23254516

[Evaluation of the lifetime of nail markings during polio vaccinations in Chad].

PubMed

Quoc Cuong, Huong; Schlumberger, Martin; Garba Tchang, Salomon; Ould Cheikh, Dah; Savès, Marianne; Mallah, Barah; Demtilo Attilo, Jacques; Ngangro Mosurel, Ndeikoundam; Gamatié, Youssouf

2010-01-01

SID (Supplemental Immunization Days) is a special strategy intended to accelerate eradication of poliomyelitis in countries where it is still endemic (India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in Asia, and Nigeria in Africa). This strategy is also applied in Nigeria's neighbours (Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin). Since the poliomyelitis virus was imported from Nigeria in 2001, Chad has reported cases of poliomyelitis every year. After 30 SIDs in Chad and the inaccurate or false attribution of side-effects to polio vaccines, some groups persistently refuse polio vaccination. To ascertain the true coverage of SID, the Ministry of Health and several partners (WHO, UNICEF and Rotary) conduct external coverage evaluations, to identify the under-vaccinated areas where population may be refusing immunization. The nails of the children receiving vaccinations are marked with indelible ink and those markings are the best indicator of the area's actual SID coverage. When coverage investigators arrive and propose vaccination to all children not immunized during SID, mothers who wish to refuse vaccination may claim that the children's markings disappeared after a few days, due to bathing. WHO experts have found that markings applied to their own nails with the WHO-recommended markers persist a few weeks, but others suggested that the markings may disappear much faster among children living in a traditional tropical environment. Until now, the lifetime of these markings has not been tested among children in Africa. To determine the lifetime of the fingernail markings after SID and factors that influence this lifetime in children young than 5 years old in Chad. This prospective cohort study of 200 children (aged 0 to 59 months) took place from March to May 2009 in Milezi, a health zone north of Ndjamena, the capital of Chad, in central Africa. These children received nail markings on their left little finger with an indelible marker pen provided by WHO. The finger was monitored for 35

A third generation vaccine for human visceral leishmaniasis and post kala azar dermal leishmaniasis: First-in-human trial of ChAd63-KH

PubMed Central

Osman, Mohamed; Mistry, Anoop; Keding, Ada; Cook, Elizabeth; Wiggins, Rebecca; Di Marco, Stefania; Colloca, Stefano; Siani, Loredana; Smith, Deborah F.; Aebischer, Toni; Lacey, Charles J.

2017-01-01

Background Visceral leishmaniasis (VL or kala azar) is the most serious form of human leishmaniasis, responsible for over 20,000 deaths annually, and post kala azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) is a stigmatizing skin condition that often occurs in patients after successful treatment for VL. Lack of effective or appropriately targeted cell mediated immunity, including CD8+ T cell responses, underlies the progression of VL and progression to PKDL, and can limit the therapeutic efficacy of anti-leishmanial drugs. Hence, in addition to the need for prophylactic vaccines against leishmaniasis, the development of therapeutic vaccines for use alone or in combined immuno-chemotherapy has been identified as an unmet clinical need. Here, we report the first clinical trial of a third-generation leishmaniasis vaccine, developed intentionally to induce Leishmania-specific CD8+ T cells. Methods We conducted a first-in-human dose escalation Phase I trial in 20 healthy volunteers to assess the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of a prime-only adenoviral vaccine for human VL and PKDL. ChAd63-KH is a replication defective simian adenovirus expressing a novel synthetic gene (KH) encoding two Leishmania proteins KMP-11 and HASPB. Uniquely, the latter was engineered to reflect repeat domain polymorphisms and arrangements identified from clinical isolates. We monitored innate immune responses by whole blood RNA-Seq and antigen specific CD8+ T cell responses by IFNγ ELISPOT and intracellular flow cytometry. Findings ChAd63-KH was safe at intramuscular doses of 1x1010 and 7.5x1010 vp. Whole blood transcriptomic profiling indicated that ChAd63-KH induced innate immune responses characterized by an interferon signature and the presence of activated dendritic cells. Broad and quantitatively robust CD8+ T cell responses were induced by vaccination in 100% (20/20) of vaccinated subjects. Conclusion The results of this study support the further development of ChAd63-KH as a novel third

A third generation vaccine for human visceral leishmaniasis and post kala azar dermal leishmaniasis: First-in-human trial of ChAd63-KH.

PubMed

Osman, Mohamed; Mistry, Anoop; Keding, Ada; Gabe, Rhian; Cook, Elizabeth; Forrester, Sarah; Wiggins, Rebecca; Di Marco, Stefania; Colloca, Stefano; Siani, Loredana; Cortese, Riccardo; Smith, Deborah F; Aebischer, Toni; Kaye, Paul M; Lacey, Charles J

2017-05-01

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL or kala azar) is the most serious form of human leishmaniasis, responsible for over 20,000 deaths annually, and post kala azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) is a stigmatizing skin condition that often occurs in patients after successful treatment for VL. Lack of effective or appropriately targeted cell mediated immunity, including CD8+ T cell responses, underlies the progression of VL and progression to PKDL, and can limit the therapeutic efficacy of anti-leishmanial drugs. Hence, in addition to the need for prophylactic vaccines against leishmaniasis, the development of therapeutic vaccines for use alone or in combined immuno-chemotherapy has been identified as an unmet clinical need. Here, we report the first clinical trial of a third-generation leishmaniasis vaccine, developed intentionally to induce Leishmania-specific CD8+ T cells. We conducted a first-in-human dose escalation Phase I trial in 20 healthy volunteers to assess the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of a prime-only adenoviral vaccine for human VL and PKDL. ChAd63-KH is a replication defective simian adenovirus expressing a novel synthetic gene (KH) encoding two Leishmania proteins KMP-11 and HASPB. Uniquely, the latter was engineered to reflect repeat domain polymorphisms and arrangements identified from clinical isolates. We monitored innate immune responses by whole blood RNA-Seq and antigen specific CD8+ T cell responses by IFNγ ELISPOT and intracellular flow cytometry. ChAd63-KH was safe at intramuscular doses of 1x1010 and 7.5x1010 vp. Whole blood transcriptomic profiling indicated that ChAd63-KH induced innate immune responses characterized by an interferon signature and the presence of activated dendritic cells. Broad and quantitatively robust CD8+ T cell responses were induced by vaccination in 100% (20/20) of vaccinated subjects. The results of this study support the further development of ChAd63-KH as a novel third generation vaccine for VL and PKDL. This

Random demographic household surveys in highly mobile pastoral communities in Chad

PubMed Central

Béchir, Mahamat; Hattendorf, Jan; Bonfoh, Bassirou; Zinsstag, Jakob; Schelling, Esther

2011-01-01

Abstract Problem Reliable demographic data is a central requirement for health planning and management, and for the implementation of adequate interventions. This study addresses the lack of demographic data on mobile pastoral communities in the Sahel. Approach A total of 1081 Arab, Fulani and Gorane women and 2541 children (1336 boys and 1205 girls) were interviewed and registered by a biometric fingerprint scanner in five repeated random transect demographic and health surveys conducted from March 2007 to January 2008 in the Lake Chad region in Chad. Local setting Important determinants for the planning and implementation of household surveys among mobile pastoral communities include: environmental factors; availability of women for interviews; difficulties in defining “own” children; the need for information-education-communication campaigns; and informed consent of husbands in typically patriarchal societies. Relevant changes Due to their high mobility, only 5% (56/1081) of registered women were encountered twice. Therefore, it was not possible to establish a demographic and health cohort. Lessons learnt Prospective demographic and health cohorts are the most accurate method to assess child mortality and other demographic indices. However, their feasibility in a highly mobile pastoral setting remains to be shown. Future interdisciplinary scientific efforts need to target innovative methods, tools and approaches to include marginalized communities in operational health and demographic surveillance systems. PMID:21556307

Choices in the use of ICD-9 codes to identify stroke risk factors can affect the apparent population-level risk factor prevalence and distribution of CHADS2 scores

PubMed Central

Rothendler, James A; Rose, Adam J; Reisman, Joel I; Berlowitz, Dan R; Kazis, Lewis E

2012-01-01

While developed for managing individuals with atrial fibrillation, risk stratification schemes for stroke, such as CHADS2, may be useful in population-based studies, including those assessing process of care. We investigated how certain decisions in identifying diagnoses from administrative data affect the apparent prevalence of CHADS2-associated diagnoses and distribution of scores. Two sets of ICD-9 codes (more restrictive/ more inclusive) were defined for each CHADS2-associated diagnosis. For stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA), the more restrictive set was applied to only inpatient data. We varied the number of years (1-3) in searching for relevant codes, and, except for stroke/TIA, the number of instances (1 vs. 2) that diagnoses were required to appear. The impact of choices on apparent disease prevalence varied by type of choice and condition, but was often substantial. Choices resulting in substantial changes in prevalence also tended to be associated with more substantial effects on the distribution of CHADS2 scores. PMID:22937488

Atrial fibrillation incrementally increases dementia risk across all CHADS2 and CHA2DS2VASc strata in patients receiving long-term warfarin.

PubMed

Graves, Kevin G; May, Heidi T; Jacobs, Victoria; Bair, Tami L; Stevens, Scott M; Woller, Scott C; Crandall, Brian G; Cutler, Michael J; Day, John D; Mallender, Charles; Osborn, Jeffrey S; Peter Weiss, J; Jared Bunch, T

2017-06-01

Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) are at higher risk for developing dementia. Warfarin is a common therapy for the prevention of thromboembolism in AF, valve replacement, and thrombosis patients. The extent to which AF itself increases dementia risk remains unknown. A total 6030 patients with no history of dementia and chronically anticoagulated with warfarin were studied. Warfarin management was provided through a Clinical Pharmacy Anticoagulation Service. Patients were stratified by warfarin indication of AF (n=3015) and non-AF (n=3015) and matched by propensity score (±0.01). Patients were stratified by the congestive heart failure, hypertension, age >75 years, diabetes, stroke (CHADS 2 ) score calculated at the time of warfarin initiation and followed for incident dementia. The average age of the AF cohort was 69.3±11.2 years, and 52.7% were male; average age of non-AF cohort was 69.3±10.9 years, and 51.5% were male. Increasing CHADS 2 score was associated with increased dementia incidence, P trend=.004. When stratified by warfarin indication, AF patients had an increased risk of dementia incidence. After multivariable adjustment, AF patients continued to display a significantly increased risk of dementia when compared with non-AF patients across all CHADS 2 scores strata. In patients receiving long-term warfarin therapy, dementia risk increased with increasing CHADS 2 scores. However, the presence of AF was associated with higher rates of dementia across all CHADS 2 score strata. These data suggest that AF contributes to the risk of dementia and that this risk is not solely attributable to anticoagulant use. Dementia may be an end manifestation of a systemic disease state, and AF likely contributes to its progression. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The value of the CHA2DS2-VASc score for refining stroke risk stratification in patients with atrial fibrillation with a CHADS2 score 0-1: a nationwide cohort study.

PubMed

Olesen, Jonas Bjerring; Torp-Pedersen, Christian; Hansen, Morten Lock; Lip, Gregory Y H

2012-06-01

North American and European guidelines on atrial fibrillation (AF) are conflicting regarding the classification of patients at low/intermediate risk of stroke. We aimed to investigate if the CHA2DS2-VASc score improved risk stratification of AF patients with a CHADS2 score of 0-1. Using individual-level-linkage of nationwide Danish registries 1997-2008, we identified patients discharged with AF having a CHADS2 score of 0-1 and not treated with vitamin K antagonist or heparin. In patients with a CHADS2 score of 0, 1, and 0-1, rates of stroke/ thromboembolism were determined according to CHA2DS2-VASc score, and the risk associated with increasing CHA2DS2-VASc score was estimated in Cox regression models adjusted for year of inclusion and antiplatelet therapy. The value of adding the extra CHA2DS2-VASc risk factors to the CHADS2 score was evaluated by c-statistics, Net Reclassification Improvement (NRI) and Integrated Discrimination Improvement (IDI). We included 47,576 patients with a CHADS2 score of 0-1, from these 7,536 (15.8%) were CHA2DS2-VASc score=0, 10,062 (21.2%) were CHA2DS2-VASc score=1, 14,310 (30.1%) were CHA2DS2-VASc score=2, 14,188 (29.8%) were CHA2DS2-VASc score=3, and 1,480 (3.1%) were CHA2DS2-VASc score=4. Of the cohort with a CHADS2 score of 0-1, the stroke/thromboembolism rate per 100 person-years increased with increasing CHA2DS2-VASc score (95% confidence interval): 0.84 (0.65-1.08), 1.79 (1.53-2.09), 3.67 (3.34-4.03), 5.75 (5.33-6.21), and 8.18 (6.68-10.02) at one year follow-up with CHA2DS2-VASc scores of 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. Patients with a CHADS2 score=0 were not all 'low risk', with one-year event rates ranging from 0.84 (CHA2DS2-VASc score=0) to 3.2 (CHA2DS2-VASc score=3). Results from Cox regression analyses, NRI, and IDI confirmed the improved predictive ability of the CHA2DS2-VASc score in the AF patients who have a CHADS2 score of 0-1. In conclusion, the CHA2DS2-VASc provides critical information on risk of stroke in AF

Safety and immunogenicity of heterologous prime-boost immunisation with Plasmodium falciparum malaria candidate vaccines, ChAd63 ME-TRAP and MVA ME-TRAP, in healthy Gambian and Kenyan adults.

PubMed

Ogwang, Caroline; Afolabi, Muhammed; Kimani, Domtila; Jagne, Ya Jankey; Sheehy, Susanne H; Bliss, Carly M; Duncan, Christopher J A; Collins, Katharine A; Garcia Knight, Miguel A; Kimani, Eva; Anagnostou, Nicholas A; Berrie, Eleanor; Moyle, Sarah; Gilbert, Sarah C; Spencer, Alexandra J; Soipei, Peninah; Mueller, Jenny; Okebe, Joseph; Colloca, Stefano; Cortese, Riccardo; Viebig, Nicola K; Roberts, Rachel; Gantlett, Katherine; Lawrie, Alison M; Nicosia, Alfredo; Imoukhuede, Egeruan B; Bejon, Philip; Urban, Britta C; Flanagan, Katie L; Ewer, Katie J; Chilengi, Roma; Hill, Adrian V S; Bojang, Kalifa

2013-01-01

Heterologous prime boost immunization with chimpanzee adenovirus 63 (ChAd63) and Modified vaccinia Virus Ankara (MVA) vectored vaccines is a strategy recently shown to be capable of inducing strong cell mediated responses against several antigens from the malaria parasite. ChAd63-MVA expressing the Plasmodium falciparum pre-erythrocytic antigen ME-TRAP (multiple epitope string with thrombospondin-related adhesion protein) is a leading malaria vaccine candidate, capable of inducing sterile protection in malaria naïve adults following controlled human malaria infection (CHMI). We conducted two Phase Ib dose escalation clinical trials assessing the safety and immunogenicity of ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP in 46 healthy malaria exposed adults in two African countries with similar malaria transmission patterns. ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP was shown to be safe and immunogenic, inducing high-level T cell responses (median >1300 SFU/million PBMC). ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP is a safe and highly immunogenic vaccine regimen in adults with prior exposure to malaria. Further clinical trials to assess safety and immunogenicity in children and infants and protective efficacy in the field are now warranted. Pactr.org PACTR2010020001771828 Pactr.org PACTR201008000221638 ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01373879 NCT01373879 ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01379430 NCT01379430.

Long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase (L-CHAD) deficiency in a patient with the Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba syndrome.

PubMed

Fryburg, J S; Pelegano, J P; Bennett, M J; Bebin, E M

1994-08-01

Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba syndrome (BRRS) is an autosomal dominant condition of macrocephaly in combination with lipomas/hemangiomas, hypotonia, developmental delay, and a lipid myopathy. The etiology of the lipid storage myopathy has been unclear. We describe a black boy with findings of BRRS who also has a defect in long-chain fatty acid oxidation expressed in cultured skin fibroblasts as a deficiency of long-chain-L-3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (L-CHAD). He also has an abnormal brain MRI and increased size of both lower limbs. We present this child because of his unusual combination of findings, and postulate that L-CHAD deficiency may be the cause of the lipid myopathy in BRRS.

[Computerized temperature monitoring of the vaccine cold chain in a tropical climate, Chad].

PubMed

Schlumberger, M; Mireux, F; Tchang, S G; Mboutbogol, D; Cheikh, D O; Hissein, A A; Youssouf, B O; Brahimi, M M; Gamatié, Y

2011-06-01

Because new EPI liquid vaccines are highly sensitive to freezing and overheating, close monitoring of the cold chain is mandatory. The new Testostore 171-1 electronic thermometer (Testo) provides more reliable monitoring of cold chain temperature than freezer indicators, vaccine vial monitors and color strips that only indicate if vaccines are out-of-date. The Testo thermometer uses a probe placed in refrigeration units to periodically measure and store temperature readings. Temperature curves are displayed via a USB connection on a laptop computer running special software (Comfort software light). Testo temperature data can easily be communicated to all management levels by e-mail. The first experience using the Testo system in Africa involved regional EPI supervision in Mondou, Logone Occidental, Chad. After a preliminary mission in Chad in 2006 showed the feasibility of using this method to manage the national cold chain at all levels, a nurse was appointed as EPI supervisor and given a refresher course in Chad's capital Ndjamena in March 2009. In April-May 2009, the supervisor was sent back to the Logone Occidental Region to monitor, by himself, refrigeration units making up the regional and district cold chain for vaccine storage in five health centers (rural and urban). Temperature curve readings were performed on site in the presence of the medical staff and results were compared to those recorded twice a day on conventional temperature charts using lamellar thermometers installed in refrigerators doors. Testo curves showed that liquid vaccine storage temperatures fell below freezing too frequently and that temperatures readings of door thermometers were often inaccurate. Testo readings also detected power outages in refrigeration units used in urban settings and flame extinctions in kerosene lamp refrigerators due to refrigerator breakdown or windy weather conditions before the rainy season. The main advantage of this monitoring method is to provide

Fishing and farming at Lake Chad: institutions for access to natural resources.

PubMed

Sarch, M T

2001-06-01

Lake Chad is a vitally important wetland in the semi-arid Sahel corridor. It provides the basis of many thousands of livelihoods which depend on its seasonal fluctuations to renew fish stocks, farmland and rangeland. This paper describes how access to farmland and fishing rights has evolved on the Nigerian shore of the lake. The paper aims to assess the applicability of different institutional approaches to natural resource management on the lake shore. Although many recent approaches to natural resource management have reflected a 'Tragedy of the Commons' approach, a growing literature both in support and critical of Hardin's (1968) thesis has followed. Four distinct approaches are considered: (1) institutional intervention to prevent 'tragedy'; (2) institution erosion brought about by such interventions; (3) models of institutional adaptation to resource scarcity; and (4) approaches which perceive institutions as a crucial determinant of social and economic development. In examining which institutional approaches may be relevant at Lake Chad, it is anticipated that this paper will provide insights which will be relevant to policy-makers, resource managers and students working in environments where resource fluctuation inhibits stable property rights and state resource management has proved neither feasible nor successful. The western shore of Lake Chad has been under the jurisdiction of Borno State in its various guises since the end of the fourteenth century and is currently one of 36 states in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Although the administrative status of Borno itself has varied, it has been dominated by a Kanuri aristocracy for most of its existence. The Kanuri administration has continued to operate in a remarkably similar way over the past 150 years. Traditionally, it has played a crucial role in allocating access to farm land. In recent years, the 'Kanuri administration' has not only maintained its pre-colonial authority over farming on the lake

Lake Chad sedimentation and environments during the late Miocene and Pliocene: New evidence from mineralogy and chemistry of the Bol core sediments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moussa, Abderamane; Novello, Alice; Lebatard, Anne-Elisabeth; Decarreau, Alain; Fontaine, Claude; Barboni, Doris; Sylvestre, Florence; Bourlès, Didier L.; Paillès, Christine; Buchet, Guillaume; Duringer, Philippe; Ghienne, Jean-François; Maley, Jean; Mazur, Jean-Charles; Roquin, Claude; Schuster, Mathieu; Vignaud, Patrick; Brunet, Michel

2016-06-01

This study presents mineralogical and geochemical data from a borehole drilled near the locality of Bol (13°27‧N, 14°44‧E), in the eastern archipelago of the modern Lake Chad (Chad). Samples were taken from a ∼200 m long core section forming a unique sub-continuous record for Central Africa. Among these samples, 25 are dated between 6.4 and 2.4 Ma. Dominant minerals are clays (66% average) mixed with varying amounts of silt and diatomite. The clay fraction consists of Fe-beidellite (87% average), kaolinite, and traces of illite. Clay minerals originate from the erosion of the vertisols that surrounded the paleolake Chad. Sedimentological data indicate that a permanent lake (or recurrent lakes) existed from 6.7 until 2.4 Ma in the vicinity of Bol. By comparison with modern latitudinal distribution of vertisols in Africa the climate was Sudanian-like. Changes in the sedimentation rate suggest a succession of wetter and dryer periods during at least six million years in the region during the critical time period covering the Miocene-Pliocene transition.

Prediction of new-onset atrial fibrillation after first-ever ischemic stroke: A comparison of CHADS2, CHA2DS2-VASc and HATCH scores and the added value of stroke severity.

PubMed

Hsieh, Cheng-Yang; Lee, Cheng-Han; Wu, Darren Philbert; Sung, Sheng-Feng

2018-05-01

Early detection of atrial fibrillation after stroke is important for secondary prevention in stroke patients without known atrial fibrillation (AF). We aimed to compare the performance of CHADS 2 , CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc and HATCH scores in predicting AF detected after stroke (AFDAS) and to test whether adding stroke severity to the risk scores improves predictive performance. Adult patients with first ischemic stroke event but without a prior history of AF were retrieved from a nationwide population-based database. We compared C-statistics of CHADS 2 , CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc and HATCH scores for predicting the occurrence of AFDAS during stroke admission (cohort I) and during follow-up after hospital discharge (cohort II). The added value of stroke severity to prediction models was evaluated using C-statistics, net reclassification improvement, and integrated discrimination improvement. Cohort I comprised 13,878 patients and cohort II comprised 12,567 patients. Among them, 806 (5.8%) and 657 (5.2%) were diagnosed with AF, respectively. The CHADS 2 score had the lowest C-statistics (0.558 in cohort I and 0.597 in cohort II), whereas the CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score had comparable C-statistics (0.603 and 0.644) to the HATCH score (0.612 and 0.653) in predicting AFDAS. Adding stroke severity to each of the three risk scores significantly increased the model performance. In stroke patients without known AF, all three risk scores predicted AFDAS during admission and follow-up, but with suboptimal discrimination. Adding stroke severity improved their predictive abilities. These risk scores, when combined with stroke severity, may help prioritize patients for continuous cardiac monitoring in daily practice. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Safety and Immunogenicity of Heterologous Prime-Boost Immunisation with Plasmodium falciparum Malaria Candidate Vaccines, ChAd63 ME-TRAP and MVA ME-TRAP, in Healthy Gambian and Kenyan Adults

PubMed Central

Kimani, Domtila; Jagne, Ya Jankey; Sheehy, Susanne H.; Bliss, Carly M.; Duncan, Christopher J. A.; Collins, Katharine A.; Garcia Knight, Miguel A.; Kimani, Eva; Anagnostou, Nicholas A.; Berrie, Eleanor; Moyle, Sarah; Gilbert, Sarah C.; Spencer, Alexandra J.; Soipei, Peninah; Mueller, Jenny; Okebe, Joseph; Colloca, Stefano; Cortese, Riccardo; Viebig, Nicola K.; Roberts, Rachel; Gantlett, Katherine; Lawrie, Alison M.; Nicosia, Alfredo; Imoukhuede, Egeruan B.; Bejon, Philip; Urban, Britta C.; Flanagan, Katie L.; Ewer, Katie J.; Chilengi, Roma; Hill, Adrian V. S.; Bojang, Kalifa

2013-01-01

Background Heterologous prime boost immunization with chimpanzee adenovirus 63 (ChAd63) and Modified vaccinia Virus Ankara (MVA) vectored vaccines is a strategy recently shown to be capable of inducing strong cell mediated responses against several antigens from the malaria parasite. ChAd63-MVA expressing the Plasmodium falciparum pre-erythrocytic antigen ME-TRAP (multiple epitope string with thrombospondin-related adhesion protein) is a leading malaria vaccine candidate, capable of inducing sterile protection in malaria naïve adults following controlled human malaria infection (CHMI). Methodology We conducted two Phase Ib dose escalation clinical trials assessing the safety and immunogenicity of ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP in 46 healthy malaria exposed adults in two African countries with similar malaria transmission patterns. Results ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP was shown to be safe and immunogenic, inducing high-level T cell responses (median >1300 SFU/million PBMC). Conclusions ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP is a safe and highly immunogenic vaccine regimen in adults with prior exposure to malaria. Further clinical trials to assess safety and immunogenicity in children and infants and protective efficacy in the field are now warranted. Trial Registration Pactr.org PACTR2010020001771828 Pactr.org PACTR201008000221638 ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01373879 NCT01373879 ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01379430 NCT01379430 PMID:23526949

[Cost estimation of an epidemiological surveillance network for animal diseases in Central Africa: a case study of the Chad network].

PubMed

Ouagal, M; Berkvens, D; Hendrikx, P; Fecher-Bourgeois, F; Saegerman, C

2012-12-01

In sub-Saharan Africa, most epidemiological surveillance networks for animal diseases were temporarily funded by foreign aid. It should be possible for national public funds to ensure the sustainability of such decision support tools. Taking the epidemiological surveillance network for animal diseases in Chad (REPIMAT) as an example, this study aims to estimate the network's cost by identifying the various costs and expenditures for each level of intervention. The network cost was estimated on the basis of an analysis of the operational organisation of REPIMAT, additional data collected in surveys and interviews with network field workers and a market price listing for Chad. These costs were then compared with those of other epidemiological surveillance networks in West Africa. The study results indicate that REPIMAT costs account for 3% of the State budget allocated to the Ministry of Livestock. In Chad in general, as in other West African countries, fixed costs outweigh variable costs at every level of intervention. The cost of surveillance principally depends on what is needed for surveillance at the local level (monitoring stations) and at the intermediate level (official livestock sectors and regional livestock delegations) and on the cost of the necessary equipment. In African countries, the cost of surveillance per square kilometre depends on livestock density.

A framework for the use of agent based modeling to simulate inter- and intraindividual variation in human behaviors

EPA Science Inventory

Simulation of human behavior in exposure modeling is a complex task. Traditionally, inter-individual variation in human activity has been modeled by drawing from a pool of single day time-activity diaries such as the US EPA Consolidated Human Activity Database (CHAD). Here, an ag...

Pliocene large-mammal assemblages from northern Chad: sampling and ecological structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fara, Emmanuel; Likius, Andossa; Mackaye, Hassane T.; Vignaud, Patrick; Brunet, Michel

2005-11-01

Numerous Pliocene large-mammal assemblages have been discovered in Chad over the last decade. They offer a unique opportunity to understand the settings in which important chapters of Hominid evolution took place in Central Africa. However, it is crucial to first investigate both sampling and taxonomic homogeneity for these Chadian assemblages because they occur over large sectors in a sandy desert that offers virtually no stratigraphic section. Using cluster analysis and ordination techniques, we show that the three Pliocene sectors from Chad are homogeneous and adequate sampling units. Previous stable isotope analyses on these assemblages have indicated that the environment became richer in C4 plants between approximately 5.3 and 3.5 3 Ma. To test whether this environmental change has affected the structure of palaeo-communities, we assigned body mass, trophic and locomotor eco-variables to mammal species from the three sectors. Statistical analysis shows that the overall ecological structure of the assemblages is not linked with the opening of the plant cover, and eco-variables show no temporal trend from the oldest sector to the youngest. For example, there is no significant change in the relative diversity of grazing and browsing taxa, although mixed feeders are less diversified in the youngest sector than in the preceding one. This pattern apparently does not result from potential biases such as methodological artefacts or taphonomic imprint. Instead, it seems that local heterogeneous environmental factors have played a major role in shaping the ecological spectrum of Chadian mammal palaeo-communities during the Pliocene.

Ground-water hydrology of the Chad Basin in Bornu and Dikwa Emirates, northeastern Nigeria, with special emphasis on the flow life of the artesian system

USGS Publications Warehouse

Miller, Raymond E.; Johnston, R.H.; Olowu, J.A.I.; Uzoma, J.U.

1968-01-01

Bornu and Dikwa Emirates lie in the Nigerian sector of the Chad Basin, a vast region of interior drainage encompassing about 600,000 square miles of north-central Africa. The report area includes about 25,000 square miles of the basin that lie in Nigeria. Most of the area is a featureless plain that slopes gently northeast and east from the uplands of central Nigeria towards Lake Chad. On its eastern side the lake has one surface outlet which overflows only during exceptionally high stages of the lake. This outlet spills into the channel of Bahr al Ghazal, which in turn drains into the Bod616 depression. Because the lake is shallow, the shoreline fluctuates markedly with high and low stages corresponding to the wet and dry seasons. The semiarid climate of Bornu and Dikwa Emirates is characterized by a long dry season and a short wet season that correspond to seasonal winds. Annual rainfall ranges from 15 inches in the northern part of the area to 32 inches in the southern. The Chad Basin in Dikwa and Bornu Emirates is underlain by interbedded sand and clay, collectively termed the Chad Formation. These alluvial and lactustrine sediments were deposited in or near Lake Chad whet it occupied a much greater area during Pliocene and Pleistocene time. The Chad Formation has a very slight primary dip in the direction of Lake Chad and conforms to the gentle slope of land surface. The known thickness of the formation ranges from a few feet where it overlies bedrock on the periphery of the basin to at least 1,800 feet at Maiduguri; however, its total thickness probably exceeds 2,000 feet in the central part of the basin. Three water-bearing units termed upper, middle, and lower zones occur within the Chad Formation. The upper zone yields water to numerous dug wells throughout the rural areas and also is .the major source of the Maiduguri municipal water .supply. The middle zone yields water from flowing artesian boreholes that have heads ranging from a few feet to 70 feet

Use of remote sensing and a geographical information system in a national helminth control programme in Chad.

PubMed Central

Brooker, Simon; Beasley, Michael; Ndinaromtan, Montanan; Madjiouroum, Ester Mobele; Baboguel, Marie; Djenguinabe, Elie; Hay, Simon I.; Bundy, Don A. P.

2002-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To design and implement a rapid and valid epidemiological assessment of helminths among schoolchildren in Chad using ecological zones defined by remote sensing satellite sensor data and to investigate the environmental limits of helminth distribution. METHODS: Remote sensing proxy environmental data were used to define seven ecological zones in Chad. These were combined with population data in a geographical information system (GIS) in order to define a sampling protocol. On this basis, 20 schools were surveyed. Multilevel analysis, by means of generalized estimating equations to account for clustering at the school level, was used to investigate the relationship between infection patterns and key environmental variables. FINDINGS: In a sample of 1023 schoolchildren, 22.5% were infected with Schistosoma haematobium and 32.7% with hookworm. None were infected with Ascaris lumbricoides or Trichuris trichiura. The prevalence of S. haematobium and hookworm showed marked geographical heterogeneity and the observed patterns showed a close association with the defined ecological zones and significant relationships with environmental variables. These results contribute towards defining the thermal limits of geohelminth species. Predictions of infection prevalence were made for each school surveyed with the aid of models previously developed for Cameroon. These models correctly predicted that A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura would not occur in Chad but the predictions for S. haematobium were less reliable at the school level. CONCLUSION: GIS and remote sensing can play an important part in the rapid planning of helminth control programmes where little information on disease burden is available. Remote sensing prediction models can indicate patterns of geohelminth infection but can only identify potential areas of high risk for S. haematobium. PMID:12471398

Lake drying and livelihood dynamics in Lake Chad: Unravelling the mechanisms, contexts and responses.

PubMed

Okpara, Uche T; Stringer, Lindsay C; Dougill, Andrew J

2016-11-01

This article examines lake drying and livelihood dynamics in the context of multiple stressors through a case study of the "Small Lake Chad" in the Republic of Chad. Livelihoods research in regions experiencing persistent lake water fluctuations has largely focused on the well-being and security of lakeshore dwellers. Little is known about the mechanisms through which lake drying shapes livelihood drawbacks and opportunities, and whether locally evolved responses are enhancing livelihoods. Here we address these gaps using empirical, mixed-methods field research couched within the framework of livelihoods and human well-being contexts. The analysis demonstrates that limited opportunities outside agriculture, the influx of mixed ethnic migrants and the increasing spate of violence all enhance livelihood challenges. Livelihood opportunities centre on the renewal effects of seasonal flood pulses on lake waters and the learning opportunities triggered by past droughts. Although drying has spurred new adaptive behaviours predicated on seasonality, traditional predictive factors and the availability of assets, responses have remained largely reactive. The article points to where lake drying fits amongst changes in the wider socio-economic landscape in which people live, and suggests that awareness of the particularities of the mechanisms that connect lake drying to livelihoods can offer insights into the ways local people might be assisted by governments and development actors.

Characteristics of Lake Chad Level Variability and Links to ENSO, Precipitation, and River Discharge

PubMed Central

Demoz, Belay; Gebremariam, Sium

2014-01-01

This study used trend, correlation, and wavelet analysis to characterize Lake Chad (LC) level fluctuations, river discharge, El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and precipitation regimes and their interrelationships. Linear correlation results indicate a negative association between ENSO and LC level, river discharge and precipitation. Trend analysis shows increasing precipitation in the Lake Chad Basin (LCB) but decreasing LC level. The mode of interannual variability in LC level, rainfall, and ENSO analyzed using wavelet analysis is dominated by 3-4-year periods. Results show that variability in ENSO could explain only 31% and 13% of variations in LC level at Kindjeria and precipitation in the northern LCB, respectively. The wavelet transform coherency (WTC) between LC level of the southern pool at Kalom and ENSO is statistically significant at the 95% confidence level and phase-locked, implying a cause-and-effect association. These strong coherencies coincide with the La Niña years with the exception of 1997-1998 El Niño events. The WTC shows strong covariance between increasing precipitation and LC level in the northern pool at a 2- to 4-year band and 3- to 4-year band localized from 1996 to 2010. Implications for water resource planning and management are discussed. PMID:25538946

Active in-database processing to support ambient assisted living systems.

PubMed

de Morais, Wagner O; Lundström, Jens; Wickström, Nicholas

2014-08-12

As an alternative to the existing software architectures that underpin the development of smart homes and ambient assisted living (AAL) systems, this work presents a database-centric architecture that takes advantage of active databases and in-database processing. Current platforms supporting AAL systems use database management systems (DBMSs) exclusively for data storage. Active databases employ database triggers to detect and react to events taking place inside or outside of the database. DBMSs can be extended with stored procedures and functions that enable in-database processing. This means that the data processing is integrated and performed within the DBMS. The feasibility and flexibility of the proposed approach were demonstrated with the implementation of three distinct AAL services. The active database was used to detect bed-exits and to discover common room transitions and deviations during the night. In-database machine learning methods were used to model early night behaviors. Consequently, active in-database processing avoids transferring sensitive data outside the database, and this improves performance, security and privacy. Furthermore, centralizing the computation into the DBMS facilitates code reuse, adaptation and maintenance. These are important system properties that take into account the evolving heterogeneity of users, their needs and the devices that are characteristic of smart homes and AAL systems. Therefore, DBMSs can provide capabilities to address requirements for scalability, security, privacy, dependability and personalization in applications of smart environments in healthcare.

Adding tsetse control to medical activities contributes to decreasing transmission of sleeping sickness in the Mandoul focus (Chad)

PubMed Central

Mahamat, Mahamat Hissene; Peka, Mallaye; Rayaisse, Jean-Baptiste; Rock, Kat S.; Toko, Mahamat Abdelrahim; Darnas, Justin; Brahim, Guihini Mollo; Yoni, Wilfrid; Tirados, Inaki; Courtin, Fabrice; Brand, Samuel P. C.; Nersy, Cyrus; Alfaroukh, Idriss Oumar; Torr, Steve J.; Lehane, Mike J.; Solano, Philippe

2017-01-01

Background Gambian sleeping sickness or HAT (human African trypanosomiasis) is a neglected tropical disease caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense transmitted by riverine species of tsetse. A global programme aims to eliminate the disease as a public health problem by 2020 and stop transmission by 2030. In the South of Chad, the Mandoul area is a persistent focus of Gambian sleeping sickness where around 100 HAT cases were still diagnosed and treated annually until 2013. Pre-2014, control of HAT relied solely on case detection and treatment, which lead to a gradual decrease in the number of cases of HAT due to annual screening of the population. Methods Because of the persistence of transmission and detection of new cases, we assessed whether the addition of vector control to case detection and treatment could further reduce transmission and consequently, reduce annual incidence of HAT in Mandoul. In particular, we investigated the impact of deploying ‘tiny targets’ which attract and kill tsetse. Before tsetse control commenced, a census of the human population was conducted and their settlements mapped. A pre-intervention survey of tsetse distribution and abundance was implemented in November 2013 and 2600 targets were deployed in the riverine habitats of tsetse in early 2014, 2015 and 2016. Impact on tsetse and on the incidence of sleeping sickness was assessed through nine tsetse monitoring surveys and four medical surveys of the human population in 2014 and 2015. Mathematical modelling was used to assess the relative impact of tsetse control on incidence compared to active and passive screening. Findings The census indicated that a population of 38674 inhabitants lived in the vicinity of the Mandoul focus. Within this focus in November 2013, the vector is Glossina fuscipes fuscipes and the mean catch of tsetse from traps was 0.7 flies/trap/day (range, 0–26). The catch of tsetse from 44 sentinel biconical traps declined after target deployment with only

Adding tsetse control to medical activities contributes to decreasing transmission of sleeping sickness in the Mandoul focus (Chad).

PubMed

Mahamat, Mahamat Hissene; Peka, Mallaye; Rayaisse, Jean-Baptiste; Rock, Kat S; Toko, Mahamat Abdelrahim; Darnas, Justin; Brahim, Guihini Mollo; Alkatib, Ali Bachar; Yoni, Wilfrid; Tirados, Inaki; Courtin, Fabrice; Brand, Samuel P C; Nersy, Cyrus; Alfaroukh, Idriss Oumar; Torr, Steve J; Lehane, Mike J; Solano, Philippe

2017-07-01

Gambian sleeping sickness or HAT (human African trypanosomiasis) is a neglected tropical disease caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense transmitted by riverine species of tsetse. A global programme aims to eliminate the disease as a public health problem by 2020 and stop transmission by 2030. In the South of Chad, the Mandoul area is a persistent focus of Gambian sleeping sickness where around 100 HAT cases were still diagnosed and treated annually until 2013. Pre-2014, control of HAT relied solely on case detection and treatment, which lead to a gradual decrease in the number of cases of HAT due to annual screening of the population. Because of the persistence of transmission and detection of new cases, we assessed whether the addition of vector control to case detection and treatment could further reduce transmission and consequently, reduce annual incidence of HAT in Mandoul. In particular, we investigated the impact of deploying 'tiny targets' which attract and kill tsetse. Before tsetse control commenced, a census of the human population was conducted and their settlements mapped. A pre-intervention survey of tsetse distribution and abundance was implemented in November 2013 and 2600 targets were deployed in the riverine habitats of tsetse in early 2014, 2015 and 2016. Impact on tsetse and on the incidence of sleeping sickness was assessed through nine tsetse monitoring surveys and four medical surveys of the human population in 2014 and 2015. Mathematical modelling was used to assess the relative impact of tsetse control on incidence compared to active and passive screening. The census indicated that a population of 38674 inhabitants lived in the vicinity of the Mandoul focus. Within this focus in November 2013, the vector is Glossina fuscipes fuscipes and the mean catch of tsetse from traps was 0.7 flies/trap/day (range, 0-26). The catch of tsetse from 44 sentinel biconical traps declined after target deployment with only five tsetse being caught in nine

Active In-Database Processing to Support Ambient Assisted Living Systems

PubMed Central

de Morais, Wagner O.; Lundström, Jens; Wickström, Nicholas

2014-01-01

As an alternative to the existing software architectures that underpin the development of smart homes and ambient assisted living (AAL) systems, this work presents a database-centric architecture that takes advantage of active databases and in-database processing. Current platforms supporting AAL systems use database management systems (DBMSs) exclusively for data storage. Active databases employ database triggers to detect and react to events taking place inside or outside of the database. DBMSs can be extended with stored procedures and functions that enable in-database processing. This means that the data processing is integrated and performed within the DBMS. The feasibility and flexibility of the proposed approach were demonstrated with the implementation of three distinct AAL services. The active database was used to detect bed-exits and to discover common room transitions and deviations during the night. In-database machine learning methods were used to model early night behaviors. Consequently, active in-database processing avoids transferring sensitive data outside the database, and this improves performance, security and privacy. Furthermore, centralizing the computation into the DBMS facilitates code reuse, adaptation and maintenance. These are important system properties that take into account the evolving heterogeneity of users, their needs and the devices that are characteristic of smart homes and AAL systems. Therefore, DBMSs can provide capabilities to address requirements for scalability, security, privacy, dependability and personalization in applications of smart environments in healthcare. PMID:25120164

Proteins with CHADs (Conserved Histidine α-Helical Domains) Are Attached to Polyphosphate Granules In Vivo and Constitute a Novel Family of Polyphosphate-Associated Proteins (Phosins).

PubMed

Tumlirsch, Tony; Jendrossek, Dieter

2017-04-01

On the basis of bioinformatic evidence, we suspected that proteins with a CYTH ( Cy aB th iamine triphosphatase) domain and/or a CHAD ( c onserved h istidine α -helical d omain) motif might represent polyphosphate (polyP) granule-associated proteins. We found no evidence of polyP targeting by proteins with CYTH domains. In contrast, two CHAD motif-containing proteins from Ralstonia eutropha H16 (A0104 and B1017) that were expressed as fusions with enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (eYFP) colocalized with polyP granules. While the expression of B1017 was not detectable, the A0104 protein was specifically identified in an isolated polyP granule fraction by proteome analysis. Moreover, eYFP fusions with the CHAD motif-containing proteins MGMSRV2-1987 from Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense and PP2307 from Pseudomonas putida also colocalized with polyP granules in a transspecies-specific manner. These data indicated that CHAD-containing proteins are generally attached to polyP granules. Together with the findings from four previously polyP-attached proteins (polyP kinases), the results of this study raised the number of polyP-associated proteins in R. eutropha to six. We suggest designating polyP granule-bound proteins with CHAD motifs as phosins ( pho sphate), analogous to pha sins and oleo sins that are specifically bound to the surface of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) granules in PHA-accumulating bacteria and to oil droplets in oil seed plants, respectively. IMPORTANCE The importance of polyphosphate (polyP) for life is evident from the ubiquitous presence of polyP in all species on earth. In unicellular eukaryotic microorganisms, polyP is located in specific membrane-enclosed organelles, called acidocalcisomes. However, in most prokaryotes, polyP is present as insoluble granules that have been designated previously as volutin granules. Almost nothing is known regarding the macromolecular composition of polyP granules. Particularly, the absence or presence of cellular

Coherent monsoonal changes in the northern tropics revealed by Chadian lakes (L. Chad and Yoa) sedimentary archives during the African Humid Period

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sylvestre, Florence; Kroepelin, Stefan; Pierre, Deschamps; Christine, Cocquyt; Nicolas, Waldmann; Kazuyo, Tachikawa; Amaral Paula, Do; Doriane, Delanghe; Guillaume, Jouve; Edouard, Bard; Camille, Bouchez; Jean-Claude, Doumnang; Jean-Charles, Mazur; Martin, Melles; Guillemette, Menot; Frauke, Rostek; Nicolas, Thouveny; Volkner, Wennrich

2016-04-01

In northern African tropics, it is now well established that the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was extremely dry followed by a wetter Holocene. Numerous palaeolake records reveal a fairly consistent pattern of a moister early Holocene resulting in a green Sahara followed by the onset of aridification about 4000 years ago. These palaeoenvironmental conditions are deciphered from several continental records distributed over the sub-Saharan zone and including diverse environments. However, pronounced differences in the timing and amplitude of these moisture changes inferred from sedimentary records point to both regional climatic variability change and site-specific influences of local topographic-hydrogeological factors which biased the evolution of water balance reconstructed from individual lacustrine archives. Here we present hydrological reconstructions from Chadian lakes, i.e. Lake Chad (c. 13°N) and Lake Yoa (19°N). Because of their location, both records allow to reconstruct lake level fluctuations and environmental changes according to a gradient from Sahelian to Saharan latitudes. Whereas Lake Chad is considered as a good sensor of climatic changes because of its large drainage basin covering 610,000 km2 in the Sudanian belt, Lake Yoa logs the northern precipitation changes in the Sahara. Combining sedimentological (laser diffraction grain size) and geochemical (XRF analysis) data associated with bio-indicators proxies (diatoms, pollen), we compare lake-level fluctuations and environmental changes during the last 12,000 years. After the hyperarid Last Glacial Maximum period during which dunes covered the Lake Chad basin, both lake records indicate an onset of more humid conditions between 12.5-11 ka cal BP. These resulted in lacustrine transgressions approaching their maximum extension at c. 10.5 ka cal BP. The lacustrine phase was probably interrupted by a relatively short drying event occurring around 8.2 ka cal BP which is well-defined in Lake Yoa by

Antibiotic Susceptibility and Molecular Diversity of Bacillus anthracis Strains in Chad: Detection of a New Phylogenetic Subgroup

PubMed Central

Maho, Angaya; Rossano, Alexandra; Hächler, Herbert; Holzer, Anita; Schelling, Esther; Zinsstag, Jakob; Hassane, Mahamat H.; Toguebaye, Bhen S.; Akakpo, Ayayi J.; Van Ert, Matthew; Keim, Paul; Kenefic, Leo; Frey, Joachim; Perreten, Vincent

2006-01-01

We genotyped 15 Bacillus anthracis isolates from Chad, Africa, using multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis and three additional direct-repeat markers. We identified two unique genotypes that represent a novel genetic lineage in the A cluster. Chadian isolates were susceptible to 11 antibiotics and free of 94 antibiotic resistance genes. PMID:16954291

Decreased Renal Function Is Associated with Elevated CHA2DS2VASC and R2CHADS2 Scores in Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation Patients Presenting with Stroke.

PubMed

Vindhyal, Mohinder; Vindhyal, Shravani R; Haneke, Travis; Ndunda, Paul M; Eid, Freidy; Kallail, K James

2017-12-11

Introduction Atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common cardiac arrhythmia, affects approximately 2.3 million patients in the United States, costing around $26 billion. Atrial fibrillation is associated with a two- to seven-fold increased risk of stroke, one of the most serious complications. Chronic kidney disease affects approximately 13% of the US population and has been associated with higher rates of AF than the general population. In patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), the risk of stroke increases as the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) decreases, especially in CKD stages three and four. Several risks stratification scores such as CHADS2 (congestive heart failure, hypertension, age, diabetes mellitus, stroke), CHA2DS2VASc (congestive heart failure, hypertension, age, diabetes mellitus, stroke, vascular disease, age, sex), and R2CHADS2 (renal failure, congestive heart failure, age, diabetes, stroke) scores are used for stroke risk assessment in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This study investigates the association between renal functions and risk stratification scoring systems in patients with non-valvular AF presenting with stroke. Methods Using the convenience sampling method, 171 subjects were selected from the eligible population (n = 386). A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was calculated to determine the association between the GFR and each of the CHA2DS2VASc and R2CHADS2 scores. In addition, a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was calculated to determine the association between the CHA2DS2VASc and R2CHADS2 scores. Results The selected population represented 44.3% of the eligible subjects. Of these, 88% were Caucasian, 60% were female, and the mean age was 78 years. The mean CHA2DS2VASc score was six (range 2-9). The mean eGFR was 69.77 (range 6-108). Both the mode and the median CHA2DS2VASc score was four (range 2-8). A weak, but significant, negative correlation was found between renal

[Newcastle disease in southern Chad: peak epidemic periods and the impact of vaccination].

PubMed

Maho, A; Ndeledje Gondje, N; Mopate, L Y; Ganda Kana, S

2004-12-01

In spite of its universally acknowledged importance, backyard chicken production is still being hampered by Newcastle disease in some parts of the world. In Chad, the disease has been reported almost everywhere in the country and confirmed in several regions, but there are no control measures in place. A survey was conducted at three sites in south-eastern Chad in July and August 2001, based on face-to-face interviews with 20% of the peasant farmers keeping chickens at these sites. The aim was to collect information on peak epidemic periods and on ways in which the infection spreads. The survey revealed that the peak epidemic periods for Newcastle disease are April, during the mango harvesting and selling period, and December, when trade increases for the seasonal festivities. The survey also showed that peasant farmers attach great importance to chicken farming. The survey was followed by a vaccination trial in November 2001 and February 2002, using the La Sota strain administered ocularly. All of the birds vaccinated during the trial were successfully protected from the disease and both chicken production and the income of the villagers increased. The authors conclude that in order to sustain poultry farming and maximise production in the southern zone, vaccination programmes must be urgently introduced, campaigns to raise awareness of Newcastle disease should be carried out and financial support to pay for vaccines should be provided. Efforts to combat other causes of poultry mortality must also be undertaken.

Cosmogenic nuclide dating of Sahelanthropus tchadensis and Australopithecus bahrelghazali: Mio-Pliocene hominids from Chad

PubMed Central

Lebatard, Anne-Elisabeth; Bourlès, Didier L.; Duringer, Philippe; Jolivet, Marc; Braucher, Régis; Carcaillet, Julien; Schuster, Mathieu; Arnaud, Nicolas; Monié, Patrick; Lihoreau, Fabrice; Likius, Andossa; Mackaye, Hassan Taisso; Vignaud, Patrick; Brunet, Michel

2008-01-01

Ages were determined at two hominid localities from the Chad Basin in the Djurab Desert (Northern Chad). In the Koro Toro fossiliferous area, KT 12 locality (16°00′N, 18°53′E) was the site of discovery of Australopithecus bahrelghazali (Abel) and in the Toros-Menalla fossiliferous area, TM 266 locality (16°15′N, 17°29′E) was the site of discovery of Sahelanthropus tchadensis (Toumaï). At both localities, the evolutive degree of the associated fossil mammal assemblages allowed a biochronological estimation of the hominid remains: early Pliocene (3–3.5 Ma) at KT 12 and late Miocene (≈7 Ma) at TM 266. Atmospheric 10Be, a cosmogenic nuclide, was used to quasicontinuously date these sedimentary units. The authigenic 10Be/9Be dating of a pelite relic within the sedimentary level containing Abel yields an age of 3.58 ± 0.27 Ma that points to the contemporaneity of Australopithecus bahrelghazali (Abel) with Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy). The 28 10Be/9Be ages obtained within the anthracotheriid unit containing Toumaï bracket, by absolute dating, the age of Sahelanthropus tchadensis to lie between 6.8 and 7.2 Ma. This chronological constraint is an important cornerstone both for establishing the earliest stages of hominid evolution and for new calibrations of the molecular clock. PMID:18305174

New geochemical data from the Nigerian sector of the Chad basin: implications on hydrocarbon prospectivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Obaje, N. G.; Wehner, H.; Hamza, H.; Scheeder, G.

2004-04-01

Organic geochemical studies have been carried out to assess the qualities of source rocks penetrated by four wells (Kemar-1, Murshe-1, Tuma-1 and Ziye-1) in the Nigerian sector of the Chad basin. The Chad basin is a large intracratonic basin in Central West Africa. Commercial hydrocarbon accumulations have been discovered in some sectors of the basin outside the Nigerian border in a structurally related contiguous basin. Fair to poor quality source rocks are inherent in the sequences penetrated by the studied wells. About 80% of all samples have their total organic carbon (TOC) contents more than 0.5 wt.%, the minimum limit for hydrocarbon generation. Juxtaposition of the hydrogen indices against the TOC and Tmax indicates that the source rocks are entirely gas-prone. However, biomarker chromatograms and extract vs. TOC plots indicate the presence of oil shows in Ziye-1 well at a depth of 1210 m. Although generated hydrocarbons (wherever they have accumulated) would be overwhelmingly gaseous, gas is the energy of the future. The gas resources of this part of Nigeria's inland basins can be economically exploited through policies that will increase the tempo of gas-utilization projects and the construction of a national grid of gas pipelines with nodal points of input and output.

Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Chad Basin Province, North-Central Africa

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brownfield, Michael E.; Schenk, Christopher J.; Charpentier, Ronald R.; Klett, Timothy R.; Cook, Troy A.; Pollastro, Richard M.; Tennyson, Marilyn E.

2010-01-01

The Chad Basin Province located in north-central Africa recently was assessed for undiscovered, technically recoverable oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids resources as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) World Oil and Gas Assessment. Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the USGS estimated mean volumes of 2.32 billion barrels of oil, 14.65 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 391 million barrels of natural gas liquids.

The predictive ability of the CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores for bleeding risk in atrial fibrillation: the MAQI(2) experience.

PubMed

Barnes, Geoffrey D; Gu, Xiaokui; Haymart, Brian; Kline-Rogers, Eva; Almany, Steve; Kozlowski, Jay; Besley, Dennis; Krol, Gregory D; Froehlich, James B; Kaatz, Scott

2014-08-01

Guidelines recommend the assessment of stroke and bleeding risk before initiating warfarin anticoagulation in patients with atrial fibrillation. Many of the elements used to predict stroke also overlap with bleeding risk in atrial fibrillation patients and it is tempting to use stroke risk scores to efficiently estimate bleeding risk. Comparison of stroke risk scores to bleeding risk scores to predict bleeding has not been thoroughly assessed. 2600 patients followed at seven anticoagulation clinics were followed from October 2009-May 2013. Five risk models (CHADS2, CHA2DS2-VASc, HEMORR2HAGES, HAS-BLED and ATRIA) were retrospectively applied to each patient. The primary outcome was the first major bleeding event. Area under the ROC curves were compared with C statistic and net reclassification improvement (NRI) analysis was performed. 110 patients experienced a major bleeding event in 2581.6 patient-years (4.5%/year). Mean follow up was 1.0±0.8years. All of the formal bleeding risk scores had a modest predictive value for first major bleeding events (C statistic 0.66-0.69), performing better than CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores (C statistic difference 0.10 - 0.16). NRI analysis demonstrated a 52-69% and 47-64% improvement of the formal bleeding risk scores over the CHADS2 score and CHA2DS2-VASc score, respectively. The CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores did not perform as well as formal bleeding risk scores for prediction of major bleeding in non-valvular atrial fibrillation patients treated with warfarin. All three bleeding risk scores (HAS-BLED, ATRIA and HEMORR2HAGES) performed moderately well. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genetic heterogeneity of hepatitis E virus in Darfur, Sudan, and neighboring Chad.

PubMed

Nicand, Elisabeth; Armstrong, Gregory L; Enouf, Vincent; Guthmann, Jean Paul; Guerin, Jean-Philippe; Caron, Mélanie; Nizou, Jacques Yves; Andraghetti, Roberta

2005-12-01

The within-outbreak diversity of hepatitis E virus (HEV) was studied during the outbreak of hepatitis E that occurred in Sudan in 2004. Specimens were collected from internally displaced persons living in a Sudanese refugee camp and two camps implanted in Chad. A comparison of the sequences in the ORF2 region of 23 Sudanese isolates and five HEV samples from the two Chadian camps displayed a high similarity (>99.7%) to strains belonging to Genotype 1. But four isolates collected in one of the Chadian camps were close to Genotype 2. Circulation of divergent strains argues for possible multiple sources of infection. Copyright (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, inc.

DEVELOPING MEANINGFUL COHORTS FOR HUMAN EXPOSURE MODELS

EPA Science Inventory

This paper summarizes numerous statistical analyses focused on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Consolidated Human Activity Database (CHAD), used by many exposure modelers as the basis for data on what people do and where they spend their time. In doing so, modelers ...

[Contents of macromineral and trace elements in spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) from France, Chad, Togo, Niger, Mali, Burkina-Faso and Central African Republic].

PubMed

Vicat, Jean-Paul; Doumnang Mbaigane, Jean-Claude; Bellion, Yves

2014-01-01

Data on mineral elements in spirulinas being limited, we analyzed macrominerals and trace elements of samples from France and Africa. Spirulinas cultivated in France have a composition in macromineral elements similar to those of the literature. The entire contents of trace elements are low. Unlike marine cyanobacteria, they do not concentrate rare-earth elements. Spirulina harvested in Chad has high levels in macrominerals and trace elements, due to traditional drying and harvesting methods. Rare-earth element levels are attributed to this pollution and not to their concentration in spirulinas, because rare-earth element normalized profiles of spirulina are strictly parallel to those of ouadis mud and very different from those of ouadis water. Despite the sometimes high content of total As, normal water consumption in Chad presents no health problems. Spirulinas grown in Togo, Niger, Mali, Burkina-Faso and Central African Republic have chemical compositions similar to those of Chad spirulinas, but with a lower content of macromineral and trace elements, reflecting a lower mineral pollution. Rare-earth element normalized patterns dismiss an aeolian pollution and the pollution is rather of pedological origin. They show no toxicity problem except spirulinas from Burkina-Faso, whose Pb content is too high. The variability of composition of spirulinas can be largely attributed to the mineral pollution of the samples. Significant levels of rare-earth elements sometimes found in the literature reflect this pollution. Copyright © 2013 Académie des sciences. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Database and Related Activities in Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murakami, Izumi; Kato, Daiji; Kato, Masatoshi; Sakaue, Hiroyuki A.; Kato, Takako; Ding, Xiaobin; Morita, Shigeru; Kitajima, Masashi; Koike, Fumihiro; Nakamura, Nobuyuki; Sakamoto, Naoki; Sasaki, Akira; Skobelev, Igor; Tsuchida, Hidetsugu; Ulantsev, Artemiy; Watanabe, Tetsuya; Yamamoto, Norimasa

2011-05-01

We have constructed and made available atomic and molecular (AM) numerical databases on collision processes such as electron-impact excitation and ionization, recombination and charge transfer of atoms and molecules relevant for plasma physics, fusion research, astrophysics, applied-science plasma, and other related areas. The retrievable data is freely accessible via the internet. We also work on atomic data evaluation and constructing collisional-radiative models for spectroscopic plasma diagnostics. Recently we have worked on Fe ions and W ions theoretically and experimentally. The atomic data and collisional-radiative models for these ions are examined and applied to laboratory plasmas. A visible M1 transition of W26+ ion is identified at 389.41 nm by EBIT experiments and theoretical calculations. We have small non-retrievable databases in addition to our main database. Recently we evaluated photo-absorption cross sections for 9 atoms and 23 molecules and we present them as a new database. We established a new association "Forum of Atomic and Molecular Data and Their Applications" to exchange information among AM data producers, data providers and data users in Japan and we hope this will help to encourage AM data activities in Japan.

PlantCAZyme: a database for plant carbohydrate-active enzymes

PubMed Central

Ekstrom, Alexander; Taujale, Rahil; McGinn, Nathan; Yin, Yanbin

2014-01-01

PlantCAZyme is a database built upon dbCAN (database for automated carbohydrate active enzyme annotation), aiming to provide pre-computed sequence and annotation data of carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZymes) to plant carbohydrate and bioenergy research communities. The current version contains data of 43 790 CAZymes of 159 protein families from 35 plants (including angiosperms, gymnosperms, lycophyte and bryophyte mosses) and chlorophyte algae with fully sequenced genomes. Useful features of the database include: (i) a BLAST server and a HMMER server that allow users to search against our pre-computed sequence data for annotation purpose, (ii) a download page to allow batch downloading data of a specific CAZyme family or species and (iii) protein browse pages to provide an easy access to the most comprehensive sequence and annotation data. Database URL: http://cys.bios.niu.edu/plantcazyme/ PMID:25125445

Migration of Chadic speaking pastoralists within Africa based on population structure of Chad Basin and phylogeography of mitochondrial L3f haplogroup.

PubMed

Cerný, Viktor; Fernandes, Verónica; Costa, Marta D; Hájek, Martin; Mulligan, Connie J; Pereira, Luísa

2009-03-23

Chad Basin, lying within the bidirectional corridor of African Sahel, is one of the most populated places in Sub-Saharan Africa today. The origin of its settlement appears connected with Holocene climatic ameliorations (aquatic resources) that started ~10,000 years before present (YBP). Although both Nilo-Saharan and Niger-Congo language families are encountered here, the most diversified group is the Chadic branch belonging to the Afro-Asiatic language phylum. In this article, we investigate the proposed ancient migration of Chadic pastoralists from Eastern Africa based on linguistic data and test for genetic traces of this migration in extant Chadic speaking populations. We performed whole mitochondrial genome sequencing of 16 L3f haplotypes, focused on clade L3f3 that occurs almost exclusively in Chadic speaking people living in the Chad Basin. These data supported the reconstruction of a L3f phylogenetic tree and calculation of times to the most recent common ancestor for all internal clades. A date ~8,000 YBP was estimated for the L3f3 sub-haplogroup, which is in good agreement with the supposed migration of Chadic speaking pastoralists and their linguistic differentiation from other Afro-Asiatic groups of East Africa. As a whole, the Afro-Asiatic language family presents low population structure, as 92.4% of mtDNA variation is found within populations and only 3.4% of variation can be attributed to diversity among language branches. The Chadic speaking populations form a relatively homogenous cluster, exhibiting lower diversification than the other Afro-Asiatic branches (Berber, Semitic and Cushitic). The results of our study support an East African origin of mitochondrial L3f3 clade that is present almost exclusively within Chadic speaking people living in Chad Basin. Whole genome sequence-based dates show that the ancestral haplogroup L3f must have emerged soon after the Out-of-Africa migration (around 57,100 +/- 9,400 YBP), but the "Chadic" L3f3 clade has

The association between different molecular weights of hyaluronic acid and CHAD, HIF-1α, COL2A1 expression in chondrocyte cultures

PubMed Central

Sirin, Duygu Yasar; Kaplan, Necati; Yilmaz, Ibrahim; Karaarslan, Numan; Ozbek, Hanefi; Akyuva, Yener; Kaya, Yasin Emre; Oznam, Kadir; Akkaya, Nuray; Guler, Olcay; Akkaya, Semih; Mahirogullari, Mahir

2018-01-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of three different formulations of hyaluronic acid (HA): Low molecular weight (MW) Sinovial One®, medium MW Viscoplus® and high MW Durolane®, on chondrocyte proliferation and collagen type II (COL2A1), hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) and chondroadherin (CHAD) expression in primary chondrocyte cultures. Standard primary chondrocyte cultures were established from osteochondral tissues surgically obtained from 6 patients with gonarthrosis. Cell morphology was evaluated using an inverted light microscope; cell proliferation was determined with a MTT assay and confirmed with acridine orange/propidium iodide staining. Levels of CHAD, COL2A1 and HIF-1α expression were assessed using specific TaqMan gene expression assays. The results demonstrated the positive effect of HA treatment on cell proliferation, which was independent from the MW. COL2A1 expression increased in the medium and high MW HA treated groups. It was observed that HIF-1α expression increased in the high MW treated group alone. CHAD expression increased only in the medium MW HA treated group. Evaluation of gene expression revealed that levels of expression increased as the duration of HA application increased, in the medium and high MW HA treated groups. In terms of increased viability and proliferation, a longer duration of HA application was more effective. Taken together, it may be concluded that the administration of medium and high MW HA may be a successful way of treating diseases affecting chondrocytes in a clinical setting. PMID:29849772

C&RE-SLC: Database for conservation and renewable energy activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cavallo, J. D.; Tompkins, M. M.; Fisher, A. G.

1992-08-01

The Western Area Power Administration (Western) requires all its long-term power customers to implement programs that promote the conservation of electric energy or facilitate the use of renewable energy resources. The hope is that these measures could significantly reduce the amount of environmental damage associated with electricity production. As part of preparing the environmental impact statement for Western's Electric Power Marketing Program, Argonne National Laboratory constructed a database of the conservation and renewable energy activities in which Western's Salt Lake City customers are involved. The database provides information on types of conservation and renewable energy activities and allows for comparisons of activities being conducted at different utilities in the Salt Lake City region. Sorting the database allows Western's Salt Lake City customers to be classified so the various activities offered by different classes of utilities can be identified; for example, comparisons can be made between municipal utilities and cooperatives or between large and small customers. The information included in the database was collected from customer planning documents in the files of Western's Salt Lake City office.

Active fault databases: building a bridge between earthquake geologists and seismic hazard practitioners, the case of the QAFI v.3 database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Mayordomo, Julián; Martín-Banda, Raquel; Insua-Arévalo, Juan M.; Álvarez-Gómez, José A.; Martínez-Díaz, José J.; Cabral, João

2017-08-01

Active fault databases are a very powerful and useful tool in seismic hazard assessment, particularly when singular faults are considered seismogenic sources. Active fault databases are also a very relevant source of information for earth scientists, earthquake engineers and even teachers or journalists. Hence, active fault databases should be updated and thoroughly reviewed on a regular basis in order to keep a standard quality and uniformed criteria. Desirably, active fault databases should somehow indicate the quality of the geological data and, particularly, the reliability attributed to crucial fault-seismic parameters, such as maximum magnitude and recurrence interval. In this paper we explain how we tackled these issues during the process of updating and reviewing the Quaternary Active Fault Database of Iberia (QAFI) to its current version 3. We devote particular attention to describing the scheme devised for classifying the quality and representativeness of the geological evidence of Quaternary activity and the accuracy of the slip rate estimation in the database. Subsequently, we use this information as input for a straightforward rating of the level of reliability of maximum magnitude and recurrence interval fault seismic parameters. We conclude that QAFI v.3 is a much better database than version 2 either for proper use in seismic hazard applications or as an informative source for non-specialized users. However, we already envision new improvements for a future update.

Antithrombotic treatment and the risk of death and stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation and a CHADS2 score=1.

PubMed

Gorin, Laurent; Fauchier, Laurent; Nonin, Emilie; de Labriolle, Axel; Haguenoer, Ken; Cosnay, Pierre; Babuty, Dominique; Charbonnier, Bernard

2010-04-01

In patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and an intermediate risk of stroke (CHADS2 score =1), available evidence from clinical trials is inconclusive and the present guidelines for the management of AF indicate that the choice between oral anticoagulant and aspirin in these patients is open. Our goal was to evaluate whether, in patients with AF and only one moderate risk factor for thromboembolism, treatment with an oral anticoagulant is appreciably more beneficial than treatment with an antiplatelet agent. Among 6,517 unselected patients with AF, 1,012 of them (15.5%) had a CHADS2 score of 1 and were liable to treatment with an antiplatelet agent or an anticoagulant. An oral anticoagulant was prescribed for 606 patients (59.9%) and an antiplatelet agent or no antithrombotic treatment for 406 (40.1%). During follow-up (median=793 days, interquartile range=1,332 days), 105 deaths (10.4%) and 19 strokes (1.9%) were recorded. The administration of an anticoagulant was associated with a lower rate of events (relative risk=0.42, 95% confidence interval 0.29-0.60, p<0.0001) than when no anticoagulant was prescribed. Results remained similar after adjustment for age and other confounding factors. In contrast, prescription of an antiplatelet agent was not associated with a lower risk of events. Factors independently associated with an increased risk of events were older age (p<0.0001), concomitant heart failure (p=0.0002), diabetes (p=0.0025), lack of prescription of an anticoagulant (p<0.0001) and permanent AF (p=0.04). Thus, prescription of an anticoagulant is independently associated with a decreased risk of death or stroke among patients with AF and a CHADS2 score =1.

Database and Related Activities in Japan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Murakami, Izumi; Kato, Daiji; Kato, Masatoshi

2011-05-11

We have constructed and made available atomic and molecular (AM) numerical databases on collision processes such as electron-impact excitation and ionization, recombination and charge transfer of atoms and molecules relevant for plasma physics, fusion research, astrophysics, applied-science plasma, and other related areas. The retrievable data is freely accessible via the internet. We also work on atomic data evaluation and constructing collisional-radiative models for spectroscopic plasma diagnostics. Recently we have worked on Fe ions and W ions theoretically and experimentally. The atomic data and collisional-radiative models for these ions are examined and applied to laboratory plasmas. A visible M1 transition ofmore » W{sup 26+} ion is identified at 389.41 nm by EBIT experiments and theoretical calculations. We have small non-retrievable databases in addition to our main database. Recently we evaluated photo-absorption cross sections for 9 atoms and 23 molecules and we present them as a new database. We established a new association ''Forum of Atomic and Molecular Data and Their Applications'' to exchange information among AM data producers, data providers and data users in Japan and we hope this will help to encourage AM data activities in Japan.« less

Underuse of Anticoagulation in Older Patients with Atrial Fibrillation and CHADS2 Score ≥ 2: Are We Doing Better Since the Marketing of Direct Oral Anticoagulants?

PubMed

Henrard, Séverine; Vandenabeele, Caroline; Marien, Sophie; Boland, Benoit; Dalleur, Olivia

2017-11-01

Our objectives were to (1) describe the evolution of the underuse of anticoagulants in older people with atrial fibrillation (AF) and a CHADS 2 score ≥ 2 since direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) were introduced to the market and (2) describe factors associated with this underuse. We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study including geriatric patients admitted during the pre-DOAC (2008-2011) and post-DOAC (2013-2015) periods in an academic hospital in Belgium. Five inclusion criteria were met: age ≥ 75 years, diagnosis of AF, indication for anticoagulation (CHADS 2 score ≥ 2), risk of functional decline (Identification of Seniors At Risk [ISAR] score ≥ 2), and comprehensive geriatric assessment. The use of anticoagulants and antiplatelets at home before admission was recorded. Risks of stroke and bleeding were calculated using CHADS 2 and HEMORR 2 HAGES scores, respectively. Three different logistic regression models were performed to describe the evolution of and factors associated with the underuse of anticoagulants after DOAC marketing. Anticoagulant underuse, present in 209 of 614 (34%) geriatric patients with AF, was lower in patients with a history of stroke (28.5%) or congestive heart failure (26.9%) but higher in those receiving antiplatelets (56.2%) and in older individuals. Anticoagulant underuse decreased significantly from the pre-DOAC (37.3%) to the post-DOAC (29.7%) era, as shown by two analyses using propensity scores. In older patients with AF, anticoagulant underuse was mainly associated with antiplatelet use. Anticoagulant underuse and antiplatelet use have both decreased since DOAC marketing. Underuse of anticoagulants was still a concern for three in ten geriatric patients with AF at high risk of stroke (CHADS 2 score ≥ 2).

3 CFR - Drawdown Under Section 506(a)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as Amended, for Chad and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 3 The President 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Drawdown Under Section 506(a)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as Amended, for Chad and France To Support Their Efforts in Mali Presidential Documents Other Presidential Documents Presidential Determination No. 2013-6 of February 11, 2013 Drawdown Under Section 506(a)(1) of the Foreign...

EADB: An Estrogenic Activity Database for Assessing ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Endocrine-active chemicals can potentially have adverse effects on both humans and wildlife. They can interfere with the body’s endocrine system through direct or indirect interactions with many protein targets. Estrogen receptors (ERs) are one of the major targets, and many endocrine disruptors are estrogenic and affect the normal estrogen signaling pathways. However, ERs can also serve as therapeutic targets for various medical conditions, such as menopausal symptoms, osteoporosis, and ER-positive breast cancer. Because of the decades-long interest in the safety and therapeutic utility of estrogenic chemicals, a large number of chemicals have been assayed for estrogenic activity, but these data exist in various sources and different formats that restrict the ability of regulatory and industry scientists to utilize them fully for assessing risk-benefit. To address this issue, we have developed an Estrogenic Activity Database (EADB; http://www.fda.gov/ScienceResearch/ BioinformaticsTools/EstrogenicActivityDatabaseEADB/default. htm) and made it freely available to the public. EADB contains 18,114 estrogenic activity data points collected for 8212 chemicals tested in 1284 binding, reporter gene, cell proliferation, and in vivo assays in 11 different species. The chemicals cover a broad chemical structure space and the data span a wide range of activities. A set of tools allow users to access EADB and evaluate potential endocrine activity of

Human and Animal Vaccination Delivery to Remote Nomadic Families, Chad

PubMed Central

Bechir, Mahamat; Ahmed, Mahamat Abdoulaye; Wyss, Kaspar; Randolph, Thomas F.; Zinsstag, Jakob

2007-01-01

Vaccination services for people and livestock often fail to achieve sufficient coverages in Africa’s remote rural settings because of financial, logistic, and service delivery constraints. In Chad from 2000 through 2005, we demonstrated the feasibility of combining vaccination programs for nomadic pastoralists and their livestock. Sharing of transport logistics and equipment between physicians and veterinarians reduced total costs. Joint delivery of human and animal health services is adapted to and highly valued by hard-to-reach pastoralists. In intervention zones, for the first time ≈10% of nomadic children (>1–11 months of age) were fully immunized annually and more children and women were vaccinated per day during joint vaccination rounds than during vaccination of persons only and not their livestock (130 vs. 100, p<0.001). By optimizing use of limited logistical and human resources, public health and veterinary services both become more effective, especially at the district level. PMID:17552089

New Insights into the Lake Chad Basin Population Structure Revealed by High-Throughput Genotyping of Mitochondrial DNA Coding SNPs

PubMed Central

Černý, Viktor; Carracedo, Ángel

2011-01-01

Background Located in the Sudan belt, the Chad Basin forms a remarkable ecosystem, where several unique agricultural and pastoral techniques have been developed. Both from an archaeological and a genetic point of view, this region has been interpreted to be the center of a bidirectional corridor connecting West and East Africa, as well as a meeting point for populations coming from North Africa through the Saharan desert. Methodology/Principal Findings Samples from twelve ethnic groups from the Chad Basin (n = 542) have been high-throughput genotyped for 230 coding region mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (mtSNPs) using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-Of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. This set of mtSNPs allowed for much better phylogenetic resolution than previous studies of this geographic region, enabling new insights into its population history. Notable haplogroup (hg) heterogeneity has been observed in the Chad Basin mirroring the different demographic histories of these ethnic groups. As estimated using a Bayesian framework, nomadic populations showed negative growth which was not always correlated to their estimated effective population sizes. Nomads also showed lower diversity values than sedentary groups. Conclusions/Significance Compared to sedentary population, nomads showed signals of stronger genetic drift occurring in their ancestral populations. These populations, however, retained more haplotype diversity in their hypervariable segments I (HVS-I), but not their mtSNPs, suggesting a more ancestral ethnogenesis. Whereas the nomadic population showed a higher Mediterranean influence signaled mainly by sub-lineages of M1, R0, U6, and U5, the other populations showed a more consistent sub-Saharan pattern. Although lifestyle may have an influence on diversity patterns and hg composition, analysis of molecular variance has not identified these differences. The present study indicates that analysis of mt

An authoritative global database for active submarine hydrothermal vent fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beaulieu, Stace E.; Baker, Edward T.; German, Christopher R.; Maffei, Andrew

2013-11-01

The InterRidge Vents Database is available online as the authoritative reference for locations of active submarine hydrothermal vent fields. Here we describe the revision of the database to an open source content management system and conduct a meta-analysis of the global distribution of known active vent fields. The number of known active vent fields has almost doubled in the past decade (521 as of year 2009), with about half visually confirmed and others inferred active from physical and chemical clues. Although previously known mainly from mid-ocean ridges (MORs), active vent fields at MORs now comprise only half of the total known, with about a quarter each now known at volcanic arcs and back-arc spreading centers. Discoveries in arc and back-arc settings resulted in an increase in known vent fields within exclusive economic zones, consequently reducing the proportion known in high seas to one third. The increase in known vent fields reflects a number of factors, including increased national and commercial interests in seafloor hydrothermal deposits as mineral resources. The purpose of the database now extends beyond academic research and education and into marine policy and management, with at least 18% of known vent fields in areas granted or pending applications for mineral prospecting and 8% in marine protected areas.

Advanced Land Use Classification for Nigeriasat-1 Image of Lake Chad Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babamaaji, R.; Park, C.; Lee, J.

2009-12-01

Lake Chad is a shrinking freshwater lake that has been significantly reduced to about 1/20 of its original size in the 1960’s. The severe draughts in 1970’s and 1980’s and following overexploitations of water resulted in the shortage of surface water in the lake and the surrounding rivers. Ground water resources are in scarcity too as ground water recharge is mostly made by soil infiltration through soil and land cover, but this surface cover is now experiencing siltation and expansion of wetland with invasive species. Large changes in land use and water management practices have taken place in the last 50 years including: removal of water from river systems for irrigation and consumption, degradation of forage land by overgrazing, deforestation, replacing natural ecosystems with mono-cultures, and construction of dams. Therefore, understanding the change of land use and its characteristics must be a first step to find how such changes disturb the water cycle around the lake and affect the shrinkage of the lake. Before any useful thematic information can be extracted from remote sensing data, a land cover classification system has to be developed to obtain the classes of interest. A combination of classification systems used by Global land cover, Water Resources eAtlass and Lake Chad Basin Commission gave rise to 7 land cover classes comprising of - Cropland, vegetation, grassland, water body, shrub-land, farmland ( mostly irrigated) and bareland (i.e. clear land). Supervised Maximum likelihood classification method was used with 15 reference points per class chosen. At the end of the classification, the overall accuracy is 93.33%. Producer’s accuracy for vegetation is 40% compare to the user’s accuracy that is 66.67 %. The reason is that the vegetation is similar to shrub land, it is very hard to differentiate between the vegetation and other plants, and therefore, most of the vegetation is classified as shrub land. Most of the waterbodies are occupied

Re-infection with Fasciola gigantica 6-month post-treatment with triclabendazole in cattle from mobile pastoralist husbandry systems at Lake Chad.

PubMed

Greter, Helena; Batil, Annour A; Alfaroukh, Idriss O; Grimm, Felix; Ngandolo, Bongo N; Keiser, Jennifer; Utzinger, Jürg; Zinsstag, Jakob; Hattendorf, Jan

2016-10-30

At Lake Chad in central Africa, livestock fascioliasis caused by Fasciola gigantica represents a major veterinary health problem, particularly in cattle reared in mobile pastoralist husbandry systems. We assessed re-infection after a single dose of triclabendazole with fascioliasis in cattle in a mobile pastoralist setting towards the end of the dry season. Within the cattle herds of 14 groups of mobile pastoralists, 375 cattle were randomly selected. A faecal sample was obtained from each animal to determine the prevalence of F. gigantica. Animals were administered a single oral dose of triclabendazole (12mg/kg). A second faecal sample was obtained 6-month post-treatment after cattle had returned from the annual migration cycle. Faecal samples were fixed in sodium acetate-acetic acid-formalin (SAF), and examined for F. gigantica using the sedimentation technique. From the 375 cattle enrolled at baseline, 198 animals (53%) in 12 groups of mobile pastoralists were re-sampled at the 6-month follow-up. Baseline prevalence did not differ noteworthy between animals lost to follow-up and those re-examined. At baseline, bovine fascioliasis prevalence in cattle with follow-up data was 41.9% (95% confidence interval (CI) 35.2-48.9%). At the 6-month post-treatment follow-up, the prevalence was 46.0% (95% CI 39.2-52.9%), ranging between 0% and 75% at the herd level. The mean faecal egg counts at the unit of the herd were higher at follow-up compared to baseline. The observed persistent high prevalence of F. gigantica infection in cattle shows that a single pre-rainy season treatment does not prevent rapid re-infection despite the partial migration away from the high-risk areas at Lake Chad into drier areas. A locally adapted strategic control package for fascioliasis in cattle in the Lake Chad area ought to integrate targeted triclabendazole treatment and seasonal transhumance practices. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Economic benefits of keeping vaccines at ambient temperature during mass vaccination: the case of meningitis A vaccine in Chad

PubMed Central

Zipursky, Simona; Tevi-Benissan, Carole; Djingarey, Mamoudou Harouna; Gbedonou, Placide; Youssouf, Brahim Oumar; Zaffran, Michel

2014-01-01

Abstract Objective To evaluate the potential economic benefits of keeping a meningitis A vaccine at or near ambient temperature for up to 4 days during a mass vaccination campaign. Methods During a 10-day mass vaccination campaign against meningitis A in three regions of Chad in 2011, the costs associated with storage and transport of the vaccine in a traditional cold chain system were evaluated. A mathematical model was used to estimate the savings that could have been achieved if the vaccine had been stored at or near ambient temperature – in a “controlled temperature” chain – at the peripheral levels of the supply chain system. Findings The cost of the cold chain and associated logistics used in the campaign in Chad was 0.24 United States dollars (US$) per person vaccinated. In the modelled scenario for a controlled temperature chain, however, these costs dropped by 50% and were estimated to be only US$ 0.12 per person vaccinated. Conclusion The implementation of a “controlled temperature” chain at the most peripheral levels of the supply chain system – assuming no associated loss of vaccine potency, efficacy or safety – could result in major economic benefits and allow vaccine coverage to be extended in low-resource settings. PMID:24623901

Regional framework, structural and petroleum aspects of rift basins in Niger, Chad and the Central African Republic (C.A.R.)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Genik, G. J.

1992-10-01

This paper overviews the regional framework, tectonic, structural and petroleum aspects of rifts in Niger, Chad and the C.A.R. The data base is from mainly proprietary exploration work consisting of some 50,000 kilometres of seismic profiles, 50 exploration wells, one million square kilometres of aeromagnetics coverage and extensive gravity surveys. There have been 13 oil and two oil and gas discoveries. A five phased tectonic history dating from the Pan African orogeny (750-550 MY B.P.) to the present suggests that the Western Central African Rift System (WCAS) with its component West African Rift Subsystem (WAS) and Central African Subsystem (CAS) formed mainly by the mechanical separation of African crustal blocks during the Early Cretaceous. Among the resulting rift basins in Niger, Chad and the C.A.R., seven are in the WAS—Grein, Kafra, Tenere. Tefidet, Termit, Bongor, and N'Dgel Edgi and three, Doba, Doseo, and Salamat are in the CAS. The WAS basins in Niger and Chad are all extensional and contain more than 14,000 m of continental to marine Early Cretaceous to Recent clastic sediments and minor amounts of volcanics. Medium to light oil (20° API-46° API) and gas have been discovered in the Termit basin in reservoir, source and seal beds of Late Cretaceous and Palaeogene age. The most common structural styles are extensional normal fault blocks and transtensional synthetic and antithetic normal fault blocks. The CAS Doba, Doseo and Salamat are extensional to transtensional rift basins containing up to 7500 m of terrestrial mainly Early Cretaceous clastics. Heavy to light oil (15°-39° API) and gas have been discovered in Doba and Doseo basins. Source rocks are Early Cretaceous lacustrine shales, whereas reservoirs and seals are both Early and Late Cretaceous. Dominant structural styles are extensional and transtensional fault blocks, transpressional anticlines and flower structures. The existence of a total rift basin sediment volume of more than one

Technical Education and Vocational Training in Central Africa. Feasibility Survey of the Regional Development of Rapid Vocational Training: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, and Gabon.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Organization for Rehabilitation through Training, Geneva (Switzerland).

This final report is the result of a survey requested by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and undertaken by the Organization for Rehabilitation through Training (ORT) of four countries (Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, and Gabon) and a conference on vocational training sponsored by the Economic and Customs…

Remote sensing appraisal of Lake Chad shrinkage connotes severe impacts on green economics and socio-economics of the catchment area.

PubMed

Onamuti, Olapeju Y; Okogbue, Emmanuel C; Orimoloye, Israel R

2017-11-01

Lake Chad commonly serves as a major hub of fertile economic activities for the border communities and contributes immensely to the national growth of all the countries that form its boundaries. However, incessant and multi-decadal drying via climate change pose greater threats to this transnational water resource, and adverse effects on ecological sustainability and socio-economic status of the catchment area. Therefore, this study assessed the extent of shrinkage of Lake Chad using remote sensing. Landsat imageries of the lake and its surroundings between 1987 and 2005 were retrieved from Global Land Cover Facility website and analysed using Integrated Land and Water Information System version 3.3 (ILWIS 3.3). Supervised classification of area around the lake was performed into various land use/land cover classes, and the shrunk part of its environs was assessed based on the land cover changes. The shrinkage trend within the study period was also analysed. The lake water size reduced from 1339.018 to 130.686 km 2 (4.08-3.39%) in 1987-2005. The supervised classification of the Landsat imageries revealed an increase in portion of the lake covered by bare ground and sandy soil within the reference years (13 490.8-17 503.10 km 2 ) with 4.98% total range of increase. The lake portion intersected with vegetated ground and soil also reduced within the period (11 046.44-10 078.82 km 2 ) with 5.40% (967.62 km 2 ) total decrease. The shrunk part of the lake covered singly with vegetation increased by 2.74% from 1987 to 2005. The shrunk part of the lake reduced to sand and turbid water showed 5.62% total decrease from 1987 to 2005 and a total decrease of 1805.942 km 2 in area. The study disclosed an appalling rate of shrinkage and damaging influences on the hydrologic potential, eco-sustainability and socio-economics of the drainage area as revealed using ILWIS 3.3.

Dust as a tipping element: The Bodélé Depression, Chad

PubMed Central

Washington, Richard; Bouet, Christel; Cautenet, Guy; Mackenzie, Elisabeth; Ashpole, Ian; Engelstaedter, Sebastian; Lizcano, Gil; Henderson, Gideon M.; Schepanski, Kerstin; Tegen, Ina

2009-01-01

Dust plays a vital role in climate and biophysical feedbacks in the Earth system. One source of dust, the Bodélé Depression in Chad, is estimated to produce about half the mineral aerosols emitted from the Sahara, which is the world's largest source. By using a variety of new remote sensing data, regional modeling, trajectory models, chemical analyses of dust, and future climate simulations, we investigate the current and past sensitivity of the Bodélé. We show that minor adjustments to small features of the atmospheric circulation, such as the Bodélé Low-Level Jet, could profoundly alter the behavior of this feature. Dust production during the mid-Holocene ceased completely from this key source region. Although subject to a great deal of uncertainty, some simulations of the 21st century indicate the potential for a substantial increase in dust production by the end of the century in comparison with current values. PMID:19620716

Bacillus anthracis Diversity and Geographic Potential across Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad: Further Support of a Novel West African Lineage

PubMed Central

Blackburn, Jason K.; Odugbo, Moses Ode; Van Ert, Matthew; O’Shea, Bob; Mullins, Jocelyn; Perrenten, Vincent; Maho, Angaya; Hugh-Jones, Martin; Hadfield, Ted

2015-01-01

Zoonoses, diseases affecting both humans and animals, can exert tremendous pressures on human and veterinary health systems, particularly in resource limited countries. Anthrax is one such zoonosis of concern and is a disease requiring greater public health attention in Nigeria. Here we describe the genetic diversity of Bacillus anthracis in Nigeria and compare it to Chad, Cameroon and a broader global dataset based on the multiple locus variable number tandem repeat (MLVA-25) genetic typing system. Nigerian B. anthracis isolates had identical MLVA genotypes and could only be resolved by measuring highly mutable single nucleotide repeats (SNRs). The Nigerian MLVA genotype was identical or highly genetically similar to those in the neighboring countries, confirming the strains belong to this unique West African lineage. Interestingly, sequence data from a Nigerian isolate shares the anthrose deficient genotypes previously described for strains in this region, which may be associated with vaccine evasion. Strains in this study were isolated over six decades, indicating a high level of temporal strain stability regionally. Ecological niche models were used to predict the geographic distribution of the pathogen for all three countries. We describe a west-east habitat corridor through northern Nigeria extending into Chad and Cameroon. Ecological niche models and genetic results show B. anthracis to be ecologically established in Nigeria. These findings expand our understanding of the global B. anthracis population structure and can guide regional anthrax surveillance and control planning. PMID:26291625

NPACT: Naturally Occurring Plant-based Anti-cancer Compound-Activity-Target database

PubMed Central

Mangal, Manu; Sagar, Parul; Singh, Harinder; Raghava, Gajendra P. S.; Agarwal, Subhash M.

2013-01-01

Plant-derived molecules have been highly valued by biomedical researchers and pharmaceutical companies for developing drugs, as they are thought to be optimized during evolution. Therefore, we have collected and compiled a central resource Naturally Occurring Plant-based Anti-cancer Compound-Activity-Target database (NPACT, http://crdd.osdd.net/raghava/npact/) that gathers the information related to experimentally validated plant-derived natural compounds exhibiting anti-cancerous activity (in vitro and in vivo), to complement the other databases. It currently contains 1574 compound entries, and each record provides information on their structure, manually curated published data on in vitro and in vivo experiments along with reference for users referral, inhibitory values (IC50/ED50/EC50/GI50), properties (physical, elemental and topological), cancer types, cell lines, protein targets, commercial suppliers and drug likeness of compounds. NPACT can easily be browsed or queried using various options, and an online similarity tool has also been made available. Further, to facilitate retrieval of existing data, each record is hyperlinked to similar databases like SuperNatural, Herbal Ingredients’ Targets, Comparative Toxicogenomics Database, PubChem and NCI-60 GI50 data. PMID:23203877

The earliest modern mongoose (Carnivora, Herpestidae) from Africa (late Miocene of Chad)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peigné, Stéphane; Bonis, Louis; Likius, Andossa; Mackaye, Hassane Taïsso; Vignaud, Patrick; Brunet, Michel

2005-06-01

We report on the earliest modern mongooses of Africa, from the late Miocene (ca. 7 Ma) of the hominid locality TM 266, Toros-Menalla, Chad. The material is based on fragmentary dentitions of three individuals. The main diagnostic feature of the Chadian species is the great development of the shear in the carnassials, which distinguishes the Chadian specimens from all extant herpestids except Herpestes and Galerella. In comparison with most extinct and extant Herpestes, the species from Toros-Menalla differs by a markedly smaller size and, depending on the species, relatively more elongated carnassials, more transversely elongated M1 and more reduced p4. On the basis of a great morphological similarity and the absence of significant differences, we assign our material to Galerella sanguinea; the Chadian finding therefore represents the earliest appearance of an extant species of Herpestidae. This record ties the first appearance of the genus to a minimum age of ca. 7 Ma, which is consistent with the estimated divergence date of 11.4 Ma known from the literature for the species of Galerella.

The earliest modern mongoose (Carnivora, Herpestidae) from Africa (late Miocene of Chad).

PubMed

Peigné, Stéphane; de Bonis, Louis; Likius, Andossa; Mackaye, Hassane Taïsso; Vignaud, Patrick; Brunet, Michel

2005-06-01

We report on the earliest modern mongooses of Africa, from the late Miocene (ca. 7 Ma) of the hominid locality TM 266, Toros-Menalla, Chad. The material is based on fragmentary dentitions of three individuals. The main diagnostic feature of the Chadian species is the great development of the shear in the carnassials, which distinguishes the Chadian specimens from all extant herpestids except Herpestes and Galerella. In comparison with most extinct and extant Herpestes, the species from Toros-Menalla differs by a markedly smaller size and, depending on the species, relatively more elongated carnassials, more transversely elongated M1 and more reduced p4. On the basis of a great morphological similarity and the absence of significant differences, we assign our material to Galerella sanguinea; the Chadian finding therefore represents the earliest appearance of an extant species of Herpestidae. This record ties the first appearance of the genus to a minimum age of ca. 7 Ma, which is consistent with the estimated divergence date of 11.4 Ma known from the literature for the species of Galerella.

The COMET Initiative database: progress and activities update (2015).

PubMed

Gargon, E; Williamson, P R; Altman, D G; Blazeby, J M; Tunis, S; Clarke, M

2017-02-03

This letter describes the substantial activity on the Core Outcome Measure in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) website in 2015, updating our earlier progress reports for the period from the launch of the COMET website and database in August 2011 to December 2014. As in previous years, 2015 saw further increases in the annual number of visits to the website, the number of pages viewed and the number of searches undertaken. The sustained growth in use of the website and database suggests that COMET is continuing to gain interest and prominence, and that the resources are useful to people interested in the development of core outcome sets.

Database on pharmacophore analysis of active principles, from medicinal plants

PubMed Central

Pitchai, Daisy; Manikkam, Rajalakshmi; Rajendran, Sasikala R; Pitchai, Gnanamani

2010-01-01

Plants continue to be a major source of medicines, as they have been throughout human history. In the present days, drug discovery from plants involves a multidisciplinary approach combining ethnobotanical, phytochemical and biological techniques to provide us new chemical compounds (lead molecules) for the development of drugs against various pharmacological targets, including cancer, diabetes and its secondary complications. In view of this need in current drug discovery from medicinal plants, here we describe another web database containing the information of pharmacophore analysis of active principles possessing antidiabetic, antimicrobial, anticancerous and antioxidant properties from medicinal plants. The database provides the botanical, taxonomic classification, biochemical as well as pharmacological properties of medicinal plants. Data on antidiabetic, antimicrobial, anti oxidative, anti tumor and anti inflammatory compounds, and their physicochemical properties, SMILES Notation, Lipinski's properties are included in our database. One of the proposed features in the database is the predicted ADMET values and the interaction of bioactive compounds to the target protein. The database alphabetically lists the compound name and also provides tabs separating for anti microbial, antitumor, antidiabetic, and antioxidative compounds. Availability http://www.hccbif.info / PMID:21346859

The first fossil fungus gardens of Isoptera: oldest evidence of symbiotic termite fungiculture (Miocene, Chad basin)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duringer, Philippe; Schuster, Mathieu; Genise, Jorge F.; Likius, Andossa; Mackaye, Hassan Taisso; Vignaud, Patrick; Brunet, Michel

2006-12-01

Higher termites of the subfamily Macrotermitinae (fungus-growing termites) are known to build fungus gardens where a symbiotic fungus ( Termitomyces sp.) is cultivated. The fungus grows on a substrate called fungus comb, a structure built with the termites’ own faeces. Here we present the first fossil fungus combs ever found in the world. They were extracted from 7-million-year-old continental sandstone (Chad basin). Fossilized fungus combs have an ovoid morphology with a more or less flattened concave base and a characteristic general alveolar aspect. Under lens, they display a typical millimetre-scale pelletal structure. The latter, as well as the general shape and alveolar aspect, are similar to the morphology of fungus combs from extant fungus-growing termites.

A Toolkit for Active Object-Oriented Databases with Application to Interoperability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

King, Roger

1996-01-01

In our original proposal we stated that our research would 'develop a novel technology that provides a foundation for collaborative information processing.' The essential ingredient of this technology is the notion of 'deltas,' which are first-class values representing collections of proposed updates to a database. The Heraclitus framework provides a variety of algebraic operators for building up, combining, inspecting, and comparing deltas. Deltas can be directly applied to the database to yield a new state, or used 'hypothetically' in queries against the state that would arise if the delta were applied. The central point here is that the step of elevating deltas to 'first-class' citizens in database programming languages will yield tremendous leverage on the problem of supporting updates in collaborative information processing. In short, our original intention was to develop the theoretical and practical foundation for a technology based on deltas in an object-oriented database context, develop a toolkit for active object-oriented databases, and apply this toward collaborative information processing.

A Toolkit for Active Object-Oriented Databases with Application to Interoperability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

King, Roger

1996-01-01

In our original proposal we stated that our research would 'develop a novel technology that provides a foundation for collaborative information processing.' The essential ingredient of this technology is the notion of 'deltas,' which are first-class values representing collections of proposed updates to a database. The Heraclitus framework provides a variety of algebraic operators for building up, combining, inspecting, and comparing deltas. Deltas can be directly applied to the database to yield a new state, or used 'hypothetically' in queries against the state that would arise if the delta were applied. The central point here is that the step of elevating deltas to 'first-class' citizens in database programming languages will yield tremendous leverage on the problem of supporting updates in collaborative information processing. In short, our original intention was to develop the theoretical and practical foundation for a technology based on deltas in an object- oriented database context, develop a toolkit for active object-oriented databases, and apply this toward collaborative information processing.

The right to health, health systems development and public health policy challenges in Chad.

PubMed

Azétsop, Jacquineau; Ochieng, Michael

2015-02-15

There is increasing consensus that the right to health can provide ethical, policy and practical groundings for health systems development. The goals of the right to health are congruent with those of health systems development, which are about strengthening health promotion organizations and actions so as to improve public health. The poor shape and performance of health systems in Chad question the extent of realization of the right to health. Due to its comprehensiveness and inclusiveness, the right to health has the potential of being an organizational and a normative backbone for public health policy and practice. It can then be understood and studied as an integral component of health systems development. This paper uses a secondary data analysis of existing documents by the Ministry of Public Health, Institut National de la Statistique, des Etudes Economiques et Démographiques (INSEED), the Ministry of Economy and Agence Française de Cooperation to analyze critically the shape and performance of health systems in Chad based on key concepts and components of the right to health contained in article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and on General Comment 14. The non-realization of the right to health, even in a consistently progressive manner, raises concerns about the political commitment of state officials to public health, about the justice of social institutions in ensuring social well-being and about individual and public values that shape decision-making processes. Social justice, democratic rule, transparency, accountability and subsidiarity are important groundings for ensuring community participation in public affairs and for monitoring the performance of public institutions. The normative ideals of health systems development are essentially democratic in nature and are rooted in human rights and in ethical principles of human dignity, equality, non-discrimination and social justice. These ideals are grounded

Teaching Tip: Active Learning via a Sample Database: The Case of Microsoft's Adventure Works

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mitri, Michel

2015-01-01

This paper describes the use and benefits of Microsoft's Adventure Works (AW) database to teach advanced database skills in a hands-on, realistic environment. Database management and querying skills are a key element of a robust information systems curriculum, and active learning is an important way to develop these skills. To facilitate active…

Unacceptably High Mortality Related to Measles Epidemics in Niger, Nigeria, and Chad

PubMed Central

Grais, R. F; Dubray, C; Gerstl, S; Guthmann, J. P; Djibo, A; Nargaye, K. D; Coker, J; Alberti, K. P; Cochet, A; Ihekweazu, C; Nathan, N; Payne, L; Porten, K; Sauvageot, D; Schimmer, B; Fermon, F; Burny, M. E; Hersh, B. S; Guerin, P. J

2007-01-01

Background Despite the comprehensive World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) measles mortality–reduction strategy and the Measles Initiative, a partnership of international organizations supporting measles mortality reduction in Africa, certain high-burden countries continue to face recurrent epidemics. To our knowledge, few recent studies have documented measles mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of our study was to investigate measles mortality in three recent epidemics in Niamey (Niger), N'Djamena (Chad), and Adamawa State (Nigeria). Methods and Findings We conducted three exhaustive household retrospective mortality surveys in one neighbourhood of each of the three affected areas: Boukoki, Niamey, Niger (April 2004, n = 26,795); Moursal, N'Djamena, Chad (June 2005, n = 21,812); and Dong District, Adamawa State, Nigeria (April 2005, n = 16,249), where n is the total surveyed population in each of the respective areas. Study populations included all persons resident for at least 2 wk prior to the study, a duration encompassing the measles incubation period. Heads of households provided information on measles cases, clinical outcomes up to 30 d after rash onset, and health-seeking behaviour during the epidemic. Measles cases and deaths were ascertained using standard WHO surveillance-case definitions. Our main outcome measures were measles attack rates (ARs) and case fatality ratios (CFRs) by age group, and descriptions of measles complications and health-seeking behaviour. Measles ARs were the highest in children under 5 y old (under 5 y): 17.1% in Boukoki, 17.2% in Moursal, and 24.3% in Dong District. CFRs in under 5-y-olds were 4.6%, 4.0%, and 10.8% in Boukoki, Moursal, and Dong District, respectively. In all sites, more than half of measles cases in children aged under 5 y experienced acute respiratory infection and/or diarrhoea in the 30 d following rash onset. Of measles cases, it was reported that 85.7% (979

Incidence of canine rabies in N'Djaména, Chad.

PubMed

Kayali, U; Mindekem, R; Yémadji, N; Oussiguéré, A; Naïssengar, S; Ndoutamia, A G; Zinsstag, J

2003-11-12

This work describes for the first time the incidence risk of passively reported canine rabies, and quantifies reported human exposure in N'Djaména (the capital of Chad). To diagnose rabies, we used a direct immunofluorescent-antibody test (IFAT). From January 2001 to March 2002, we were brought 34 rabies cases in dogs and three cases in cats. Canine cases were geographically clustered. The annual incidence risk of canine rabies was 1.4 (95% CI: 1.2, 1.7) per 1000 unvaccinated dogs. Most of the rabid dogs were owned-although free-roaming and not vaccinated against rabies. Most showed increased aggressiveness and attacked people without being provoked. Eighty-one persons were exposed to rabid dogs and four persons to rabid cats (mostly children<15 years old). Most of the exposed persons were neighbours or family members of the animal owner. Most exposures were transdermal bites, but nearly half of all exposed persons did not apply any first wound care or only applied a traditional treatment. In N'Djaména, humans are often exposed to canine rabies but do not use the full-course post-exposure treatment and wound care is insufficient. Most rabid dogs would be accessible to parenteral vaccination. Pilot vaccination campaigns are needed to determine the success of dog mass vaccination in N'Djaména as a way to prevent animal and human rabies.

Geodermatophilus saharensis sp. nov., isolated from sand of the Saharan desert in Chad.

PubMed

Montero-Calasanz, M C; Göker, M; Pötter, G; Rohde, M; Spröer, C; Schumann, P; Gorbushina, A A; Klenk, H-P

2013-03-01

A novel Gram-positive, aerobic, actinobacterial strain, CF5/5, was isolated from soil in the Sahara desert, Chad. It grew best at 20-35 °C and at pH 6.0-8.0 and with 0-4 % (w/v) NaCl, forming black-colored colonies. Chemotaxonomic and molecular characteristics of the isolate matched those described for members of the genus Geodermatophilus. The DNA G + C content was 75.9 mol%. The peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic acid; galactose and xylose were detected as diagnostic sugars. The main phospholipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidylinositol; MK-9(H(4)) was the dominant menaquinone. The major cellular fatty acids were: iso-C(16:0) and iso-C(15:0). The 16S rRNA gene showed 95.6-98.3 % sequence similarity with the other named members of the genus Geodermatophilus. Based on the polyphasic taxonomy data, the isolate is proposed to represent a novel species, Geodermatophilus saharensis with the type strain CF5/5(T) = DSM 45423 = CCUG 62813 = MTCC 11416.

Predictive ability of the CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores for stroke after transcatheter aortic balloon-expandable valve implantation: an Italian Transcatheter Balloon-Expandable Valve Implantation Registry (ITER) sub-analysis.

PubMed

Conrotto, Federico; D'Ascenzo, Fabrizio; D'Onofrio, Augusto; Agrifoglio, Marco; Chieffo, Alaide; Cioni, Micaela; Regesta, Tommaso; Tarantini, Giuseppe; Gabbieri, Davide; Saia, Francesco; Tamburino, Corrado; Ribichini, Flavio; Cugola, Diego; Aiello, Marco; Sanna, Francesco; Iadanza, Alessandro; Pompei, Esmeralda; Stolcova, Miroslava; Cappai, Antioco; Minati, Alessandro; Cassese, Mauro; Martinelli, Gian Luca; Agostinelli, Andrea; Gerosa, Gino; Gaita, Fiorenzo; Rinaldi, Mauro; Salizzoni, Stefano

2016-11-01

Stroke incidence after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) still represents a concern. This multicentre study aimed at investigating the hypothesis that CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores may be used to predict perioperative stroke after TAVI. The Italian Transcatheter Balloon-Expandable Valve Implantation Registry (ITER) is a multicentre, prospective registry of patients undergoing balloon-expandable TAVI using Edwards Sapien and Sapien XT prosthesis between 2007 and 2012. The primary end-point of this study was the 30-day stroke rate. Secondary safety end-points were all the major adverse events based on Valve Academic Research Consortium (VARC-2) criteria. One thousand nine hundred and four patients were enrolled in the registry. Mean age was 81.6 ± 6.2 years and 1147 (60.2%) patients were female; mean CHADS 2 and CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc scores were 2.2 ± 0.8 and 4.4 ± 1.1, respectively. Fifty-four (2.8%) patients had a stroke within 30 days. At multivariable logistic regression analysis, CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc (OR: 1.35, 95% CI: 1.03-1.78; P = 0.031) and previous cardiac surgery (OR: 1.96, 95% CI: 1.06-3.6; P = 0.033) but not CHADS 2 (OR: 1.05, 95% CI: 0.76-1.44; P = 0.77) were found to be independent predictors of in-hospital stroke. A CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score ≥5 was strongly related to the occurrence of in-hospital stroke (OR: 2.51, 95% CI: 1.38-4.57; P= 0.001). However, CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score showed only poor accuracy for in-hospital stroke with a trend for better accuracy when compared with CHADS 2 score (area under the curve: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.59-0.63 vs 0.51; 95% CI: 0.49-0.54, respectively, P = 0.092). In TAVI patients, CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc provided a strong correlation for in-hospital stroke but with low accuracy. Dedicated scores to properly tailor procedures and preventive strategies are needed. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.

Representativeness of the dabigatran, apixaban and rivaroxaban clinical trial populations to real-world atrial fibrillation patients in the United Kingdom: a cross-sectional analysis using the General Practice Research Database

PubMed Central

Lee, Sally; Monz, Brigitta U; Clemens, Andreas; Brueckmann, Martina; Lip, Gregory Y H

2012-01-01

Objective Three oral anticoagulants have reported study results for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) (dabigatran etexilate, rivaroxaban and apixaban); all demonstrated superiority or non-inferiority compared with warfarin (RE-LY, ARISTOTLE and ROCKET-AF). This study aimed to assess the representativeness for the real-world AF population, particularly the population eligible for anticoagulants. Design A cross-sectional database analysis. Setting Dataset derived from the General Practice Research Database (GPRD). Primary and secondary outcomes measure The proportion of real-world patients with AF who met the inclusion/exclusion criteria for RE-LY, ARISTOTLE and ROCKET-AF were compared. The results were then stratified by risk of stroke using CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc. Results 83 898 patients with AF were identified in the GPRD. For the population at intermediate or high risk of stroke and eligible for anticoagulant treatment (CHA2DS2-VASc ≥1; n=78 783 (94%)), the proportion eligible for inclusion into RE-LY (dabigatran etexilate) was 68% (95% CI 67.7% to 68.3%; n=53 640), compared with 65% (95% CI 64.7% to 65.3%; n=51 163) eligible for ARISTOTLE (apixaban) and 51% (95% CI 50.7% to 51.4%; n=39 892) eligible for ROCKET-AF (rivaroxaban). Using the CHADS2 method of risk stratification, for the population at intermediate or high risk of stroke and eligible for anticoagulation treatment (CHADS2 ≥1; n=71 493 (85%)), the proportion eligible for inclusion into RE-LY was 74% (95% CI 73.7% to 74.3%; n=52 783), compared with 72% (95% CI 71.7% to 72.3%; n=51 415) for ARISTOTLE and 56% (95% CI 55.6% to 56.4%; n=39 892) for ROCKET-AF. Conclusions Patients enrolled within RE-LY and ARISTOTLE were more reflective of the ‘real-world’ AF population in the UK, in contrast with patients enrolled within ROCKET-AF who were a more narrowly defined group of patients at higher risk of stroke. Differences between trials should be taken into

Provision of healthcare in a remote base of operations in southern Chad.

PubMed

Hickey, J P

2010-09-01

The Irish Defence Forces maintained a presence in south eastern Chad under the authority of the United Nations Security Council from January 2008 until May 2010, operating in a peace support role as the lead contingent in a multinational battalion. In September 2009 the task of establishing a forward operating base in a remote location within the area of operations was ordered by mission headquarters. Irish and Finnish troops duly deployed and began the task of establishing a safe and secure base from which to operate. This involved securing the location, installing accommodation, electricity, lighting and facilities for ablutions, removing natural hazards, establishing secure communications and ensuring rapid access and egress in the event of hostile contact or emergency. The incidence of disease at this location was low, with the notable exception of a limited outbreak of gastroenteritis. The high standard of engineering work carried out around the camp, especially the latrines, washing facilities and other hygiene measures, significantly contributed to minimising the transmission of infectious disease. The past experiences of the Defence Forces in Congo, Lebanon, East Timor, Eritrea and Liberia have led to a high standard of forward planning and logistical awareness within the organisation which served personnel well in this latest mission. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors determining water treatment behavior for the prevention of cholera in Chad.

PubMed

Lilje, Jonathan; Kessely, Hamit; Mosler, Hans-Joachim

2015-07-01

Cholera is a well-known and feared disease in developing countries, and is linked to high rates of morbidity and mortality. Contaminated drinking water and the lack of sufficient treatment are two of the key causes of high transmission rates. This article presents a representative health survey performed in Chad to inform future intervention strategies in the prevention and control of cholera. To identify critical psychological factors for behavior change, structured household interviews were administered to N = 1,017 primary caregivers, assessing their thoughts and attitudes toward household water treatment according to the Risk, Attitude, Norm, Ability, and Self-regulation model. The intervention potential for each factor was estimated by analyzing differences in means between groups of current performers and nonperformers of water treatment. Personal risk evaluation for diarrheal diseases and particularly for cholera was very low among the study population. Likewise, the perception of social norms was found to be rather unfavorable for water treatment behaviors. In addition, self-reported ability estimates (self-efficacy) revealed some potential for intervention. A mass radio campaign is proposed, using information and normative behavior change techniques, in combination with community meetings focused on targeting abilities and personal commitment to water treatment. © The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Etiological, clinical, and therapeutic aspects of acute generalized peritonitis in N'Djamena, Chad.

PubMed

Choua, O; Ali, M M; Kaboro, M; Moussa, K M; Anour, M

2017-08-01

Our aim was to define the epidemiological profile of acute generalized peritonitis in N'Djamena, Chad. This retrospective study, conducted in the general surgery department of the National Reference General Hospital, examined the files of 492 patients who underwent surgery for acute generalized peritonitis from June 2007 to December 2012. Epidemiological, clinical, paraclinical, and therapeutic characteristics were described. Acute generalized peritonitis accounted for 35.2 % of all visceral surgical emergencies. Male patients were at highest risk (sex-ratio 6.5). The patients' mean age was 25.8 years (range 1 to 70 years). All patients had abdominal pain. The leading cause was traumatic visceral perforation by stabbing or a firearm in 226 cases (46 %), followed by diffuse appendiceal peritonitis. Primary peritonitis was rare. The principal procedure was surgical excision and suture. The mean time to consultation was 3 days and the mean hospital stay 8.5 days. The morbidity rate was 16.8 %, dominated by wound infection. The mortality rate was 6.8 %. Abdominal trauma is the major cause of acute generalized peritonitis in N'Djamena. Prognosis depends on time to surgical management.

Pedo-sedimentary constituents as paleoenvironmental proxies in the Sudano-Sahelian belt during the Late Quaternary (southwestern Chad Basin)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diaz, Nathalie; Dietrich, Fabienne; Sebag, David; King, Georgina E.; Valla, Pierre G.; Durand, Alain; Garcin, Yannick; de Saulieu, Geoffroy; Deschamps, Pierre; Herman, Frédéric; Verrecchia, Eric P.

2018-07-01

Climate and environmental changes since the Last Glacial Maximum in the tropical zone of West Africa are usually inferred from marine and continental records. In this study, the potential of carbonate pedo-sedimentary geosystems, i.e. Vertisol relics, to record paleoenvironmental changes in the southwestern part of Chad Basin are investigated. A multi-dating approach was applied on different pedogenic organo-mineral constituents. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was performed on the soil K-rich feldspars and was combined with radiocarbon dating on both the inorganic (14Cinorg) and organic carbon (14Corg) soil fractions. Three main pedo-sedimentary processes were assessed over the last 20 ka BP: 1) the soil parent material deposition, from 18 ka to 12 ka BP (OSL), 2) the soil organic matter integration, from 11 cal ka to 8 cal ka BP (14Corg), and 3) the pedogenic carbonate nodule precipitation, from 7 cal ka to 5 cal ka BP (14Cinorg). These processes correlate well with the Chad Basin stratigraphy and West African records and are shown to be related to significant changes in the soil water balance responding to the evolution of continental hydrology during the Late Quaternary. The last phase affecting the Vertisol relics is the increase of erosion, which is hypothesized to be due to a decrease of the vegetation cover triggered by (i) the onset of drier conditions, possibly strengthened by (ii) anthropogenic pressure. Archaeological data from Far North Cameroon and northern Nigeria, as well as sedimentation times in Lake Tilla (northeastern Nigeria), were used to test these relationships. The increase of erosion is suggested to possibly occur between c. 3 cal ka and 1 cal ka BP. Finally, satellite images revealed similar geosystems all along the Sudano-Sahelian belt, and initial 14Cinorg ages of the samples collected in four sites gave similar ages to those reported in this study. Consequently, the carbonate pedo-sedimentary geosystems are valuable

Occurrence of 1,1'-dimethyl-4,4'-bipyridinium (Paraquat) in irrigated soil of the Lake Chad Basin, Niger.

PubMed

Crampon, Marc; Copard, Yoann; Favreau, Guillaume; Raux, Julie; Merlet-Machour, Nadine; Le Coz, Mathieu; Ibrahim, Maïmouna; Peulon-Agasse, Valérie; Portet-Koltalo, Florence

2014-09-01

Increased use of agrochemical products to improve yields for irrigated crops in sub-Saharan Africa has been accompanied by a significant increase in the risk of environmental contamination. Detailed examples of the fate of pesticides after initial spreading on crop fields are scarce in tropical regions, where safe practices and related health risks are poorly understood by smallholder farmers. In the semi-arid environment of the Lake Chad Basin, SE Niger, both intrinsic properties of pesticides and extrinsic factors such as soil and climate helped to characterize processes leading to an accumulation of pesticides in soils. Analysis by HPLC-UV of a 6 m deep soil profile showed the presence of Paraquat at concentrations from 953 ± 102 μg kg(-1) to 3083 ± 175 μg kg(-1) at depths between 0.80 and 2.75 m below the land surface. Soil analysis revealed that up to approximately 15 % of the total soil matrix consists of smectites, a clay mineral capable of retaining cationic pesticides such as Paraquat, and a very low content of organic matter (<0.15 wt.% TOC). Paraquat could be stored and not bioavailable in a clayey barrier at approximately 2-m depth and therefore does not represent an immediate risk for populations or environment in this form. However, if the Paraquat application rate remains constant, the clayey barrier could reach a saturation limit within 150-200 years and 180-220 years if we consider a DT50 in soil of ~1,000 days (FAO). Consequently, it could lead to a deeper infiltration and so a pollution of groundwater. Such a scenario can represent a health risk for drinking water and for the Lake Chad, which is a major resource for this densely populated region of semi-arid Africa. Further analyses should focus on deeper layers and groundwater Paraquat contents to validate or invalidate the hypothesis of storage in this clay-rich layer.

ChAd63-MVA-vectored blood-stage malaria vaccines targeting MSP1 and AMA1: assessment of efficacy against mosquito bite challenge in humans.

PubMed

Sheehy, Susanne H; Duncan, Christopher J A; Elias, Sean C; Choudhary, Prateek; Biswas, Sumi; Halstead, Fenella D; Collins, Katharine A; Edwards, Nick J; Douglas, Alexander D; Anagnostou, Nicholas A; Ewer, Katie J; Havelock, Tom; Mahungu, Tabitha; Bliss, Carly M; Miura, Kazutoyo; Poulton, Ian D; Lillie, Patrick J; Antrobus, Richard D; Berrie, Eleanor; Moyle, Sarah; Gantlett, Katherine; Colloca, Stefano; Cortese, Riccardo; Long, Carole A; Sinden, Robert E; Gilbert, Sarah C; Lawrie, Alison M; Doherty, Tom; Faust, Saul N; Nicosia, Alfredo; Hill, Adrian V S; Draper, Simon J

2012-12-01

The induction of cellular immunity, in conjunction with antibodies, may be essential for vaccines to protect against blood-stage infection with the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. We have shown that prime-boost delivery of P. falciparum blood-stage antigens by chimpanzee adenovirus 63 (ChAd63) followed by the attenuated orthopoxvirus MVA is safe and immunogenic in healthy adults. Here, we report on vaccine efficacy against controlled human malaria infection delivered by mosquito bites. The blood-stage malaria vaccines were administered alone, or together (MSP1+AMA1), or with a pre-erythrocytic malaria vaccine candidate (MSP1+ME-TRAP). In this first human use of coadministered ChAd63-MVA regimes, we demonstrate immune interference whereby responses against merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1) are dominant over apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) and ME-TRAP. We also show that induction of strong cellular immunity against MSP1 and AMA1 is safe, but does not impact on parasite growth rates in the blood. In a subset of vaccinated volunteers, a delay in time to diagnosis was observed and sterilizing protection was observed in one volunteer coimmunized with MSP1+AMA1-results consistent with vaccine-induced pre-erythrocytic, rather than blood-stage, immunity. These data call into question the utility of T cell-inducing blood-stage malaria vaccines and suggest that the focus should remain on high-titer antibody induction against susceptible antigen targets.

ChAd63-MVA–vectored Blood-stage Malaria Vaccines Targeting MSP1 and AMA1: Assessment of Efficacy Against Mosquito Bite Challenge in Humans

PubMed Central

Sheehy, Susanne H; Duncan, Christopher JA; Elias, Sean C; Choudhary, Prateek; Biswas, Sumi; Halstead, Fenella D; Collins, Katharine A; Edwards, Nick J; Douglas, Alexander D; Anagnostou, Nicholas A; Ewer, Katie J; Havelock, Tom; Mahungu, Tabitha; Bliss, Carly M; Miura, Kazutoyo; Poulton, Ian D; Lillie, Patrick J; Antrobus, Richard D; Berrie, Eleanor; Moyle, Sarah; Gantlett, Katherine; Colloca, Stefano; Cortese, Riccardo; Long, Carole A; Sinden, Robert E; Gilbert, Sarah C; Lawrie, Alison M; Doherty, Tom; Faust, Saul N; Nicosia, Alfredo; Hill, Adrian VS; Draper, Simon J

2012-01-01

The induction of cellular immunity, in conjunction with antibodies, may be essential for vaccines to protect against blood-stage infection with the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. We have shown that prime-boost delivery of P. falciparum blood-stage antigens by chimpanzee adenovirus 63 (ChAd63) followed by the attenuated orthopoxvirus MVA is safe and immunogenic in healthy adults. Here, we report on vaccine efficacy against controlled human malaria infection delivered by mosquito bites. The blood-stage malaria vaccines were administered alone, or together (MSP1+AMA1), or with a pre-erythrocytic malaria vaccine candidate (MSP1+ME-TRAP). In this first human use of coadministered ChAd63-MVA regimes, we demonstrate immune interference whereby responses against merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1) are dominant over apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) and ME-TRAP. We also show that induction of strong cellular immunity against MSP1 and AMA1 is safe, but does not impact on parasite growth rates in the blood. In a subset of vaccinated volunteers, a delay in time to diagnosis was observed and sterilizing protection was observed in one volunteer coimmunized with MSP1+AMA1—results consistent with vaccine-induced pre-erythrocytic, rather than blood-stage, immunity. These data call into question the utility of T cell-inducing blood-stage malaria vaccines and suggest that the focus should remain on high-titer antibody induction against susceptible antigen targets. PMID:23089736

Adherence to treatment guidelines: the association between stroke risk stratified comparing CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc score levels and warfarin prescription for adult patients with atrial fibrillation.

PubMed

Chapman, Scott A; St Hill, Catherine A; Little, Meg M; Swanoski, Michael T; Scheiner, Shellina R; Ware, Kenric B; Lutfiyya, M Nawal

2017-02-11

Ischemic stroke is a risk associated with atrial fibrillation (AF) and is estimated to occur five times more often in afflicted patients than in those without AF. Anti-thrombotic therapy is recommended for the prevention of ischemic stroke. Risk stratification tools, such as the CHADS 2 , and more recently the CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc, for predicting stroke in patients with AF have been developed to determine the level of stroke risk and assist clinicians in the selection of antithrombotic therapy. Warfarin, for stroke prevention in AF, is the most commonly prescribed anticoagulant in North America. The purpose of this study was to examine the utility of using the CHADS 2 score levels (low and high) in contrast to the CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc when examining the outcome of warfarin prescriptions for adult patients with AF. The CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc tool was not widely used in 2010, when the data analyzed were collected. It has only been since 2014 that CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc criteria has been recommended to guide anticoagulant treatment in updated AF treatment guidelines. Bivariate and multivariate data analysis strategies were used to analyze 2010 National Ambulatory Care Survey (NAMCS) data. NAMCS is designed to collect data on the use and provision of ambulatory care services nationwide. The study population for this research was US adults with a diagnosis of AF. Warfarin prescription was the dependent variable for this study. The study population was 7,669,844 AF patients. Bivariate analysis revealed that of those AF patients with a high CHADS 2 score, 25.1% had received a warfarin prescription and 18.8 for those with a high CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score. Logistic regression analysis yielded that patients with AF had higher odds of having a warfarin prescription if they had a high CHADS 2 score, were Caucasian, lived in a zip code where < 20% of the population had a university education, and lived in a zip code where < 10% of the population were living in households with incomes below

Using non-local databases for the environmental assessment of industrial activities: The case of Latin America

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Osses de Eicker, Margarita, E-mail: Margarita.Osses@empa.c; Hischier, Roland, E-mail: Roland.Hischier@empa.c; Hurni, Hans, E-mail: Hans.Hurni@cde.unibe.c

2010-04-15

Nine non-local databases were evaluated with respect to their suitability for the environmental assessment of industrial activities in Latin America. Three assessment methods were considered, namely Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and air emission inventories. The analysis focused on data availability in the databases and the applicability of their international data to Latin American industry. The study showed that the European EMEP/EEA Guidebook and the U.S. EPA AP-42 database are the most suitable ones for air emission inventories, whereas the LCI database Ecoinvent is the most suitable one for LCA and EIA. Due to the data coveragemore » in the databases, air emission inventories are easier to develop than LCA or EIA, which require more comprehensive information. One strategy to overcome the limitations of non-local databases for Latin American industry is the combination of validated data from international databases with newly developed local datasets.« less

Human grasping database for activities of daily living with depth, color and kinematic data streams.

PubMed

Saudabayev, Artur; Rysbek, Zhanibek; Khassenova, Raykhan; Varol, Huseyin Atakan

2018-05-29

This paper presents a grasping database collected from multiple human subjects for activities of daily living in unstructured environments. The main strength of this database is the use of three different sensing modalities: color images from a head-mounted action camera, distance data from a depth sensor on the dominant arm and upper body kinematic data acquired from an inertial motion capture suit. 3826 grasps were identified in the data collected during 9-hours of experiments. The grasps were grouped according to a hierarchical taxonomy into 35 different grasp types. The database contains information related to each grasp and associated sensor data acquired from the three sensor modalities. We also provide our data annotation software written in Matlab as an open-source tool. The size of the database is 172 GB. We believe this database can be used as a stepping stone to develop big data and machine learning techniques for grasping and manipulation with potential applications in rehabilitation robotics and intelligent automation.

Actinomadura gamaensis sp. nov., a novel actinomycete isolated from soil in Gama, Chad.

PubMed

Abagana, Adam Yacoub; Sun, Pengyu; Liu, Chongxi; Cao, Tingting; Zheng, Weiwei; Zhao, Shanshan; Xiang, Wensheng; Wang, Xiangjing

2016-06-01

A novel single spore-producing actinomycete, designated strain NEAU-Gz5(T), was isolated from a soil sample from Gama, Chad. A polyphasic taxonomic study was carried out to establish the status of this strain. The diamino acid present in the cell wall is meso-diaminopimelic acid. Glucose, mannose and madurose occur in whole cell hydrolysates. The polar lipids were found to consist of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol mannoside and an unidentified glycolipid. The predominant menaquinones were identified as MK-9(H8) and MK-9(H6). The predominant cellular fatty acids were found to be C16:0, iso-C15:0, iso-C16:0 and C18:0 10-methyl. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene showed that strain NEAU-Gz5(T) belongs to the genus Actinomadura and is closely related to Actinomadura oligospora JCM 10648(T) (ATCC 43269(T); 98.3 % similarity). However, the low level of DNA-DNA relatedness and some different phenotypic characteristics allowed the strain to be distinguished from its close relatives. Therefore, it is concluded that strain NEAU-Gz5(T) represents a novel species of the genus of Actinomadura, for which the name Actinomadura gamaensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NEAU-Gz5(T) (= CGMCC 4.7301(T) = DSM 100815(T)).

Anti-proliferative and apoptosis induction activities of extracts from Thai medicinal plant recipes selected from MANOSROI II database.

PubMed

Manosroi, Jiradej; Sainakham, Mathukorn; Manosroi, Worapaka; Manosroi, Aranya

2012-05-07

ETHONOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCES: Traditional medicines have long been used by the Thai people. Several medicinal recipes prepared from a mixture of plants are often used by traditional medicinal practitioners for the treatment of many diseases including cancer. The recipes collected from the Thai medicinal text books were recorded in MANOSROI II database. Anticancer recipes were searched and selected by a computer program using the recipe indication keywords including Ma-reng and San which means cancer in Thai, from the database for anticancer activity investigation. To investigate anti-cancer activities of the Thai medicinal plant recipes selected from the "MANOSROI II" database. Anti-proliferative and apoptotic activities of extracts from 121 recipes selected from 56,137 recipes in the Thai medicinal plant recipe "MANOSROI II" database were investigated in two cancer cell lines including human mouth epidermal carcinoma (KB) and human colon adenocarcinoma (HT-29) cell lines using sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay and acridine orange (AO) and ethidium bromide (EB) staining technique, respectively. In the SRB assay, recipes NE028 and, S003 gave the highest anti-proliferation activity on KB and HT29 with the IC(50) values of 2.48±0.24 and 6.92±0.49μg/ml, respectively. In the AO/EB staining assay, recipes S016 and NE028 exhibited the highest apoptotic induction in KB and HT-29 cell lines, respectively. This study has demonstrated that the three Thai medicinal plant recipes selected from "MANOSROI II" database (NE028, S003 and S016) gave active anti-cancer activities according to the NCI classification which can be further developed for anti-cancer treatment. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A pilot GIS database of active faults of Mt. Etna (Sicily): A tool for integrated hazard evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barreca, Giovanni; Bonforte, Alessandro; Neri, Marco

2013-02-01

A pilot GIS-based system has been implemented for the assessment and analysis of hazard related to active faults affecting the eastern and southern flanks of Mt. Etna. The system structure was developed in ArcGis® environment and consists of different thematic datasets that include spatially-referenced arc-features and associated database. Arc-type features, georeferenced into WGS84 Ellipsoid UTM zone 33 Projection, represent the five main fault systems that develop in the analysed region. The backbone of the GIS-based system is constituted by the large amount of information which was collected from the literature and then stored and properly geocoded in a digital database. This consists of thirty five alpha-numeric fields which include all fault parameters available from literature such us location, kinematics, landform, slip rate, etc. Although the system has been implemented according to the most common procedures used by GIS developer, the architecture and content of the database represent a pilot backbone for digital storing of fault parameters, providing a powerful tool in modelling hazard related to the active tectonics of Mt. Etna. The database collects, organises and shares all scientific currently available information about the active faults of the volcano. Furthermore, thanks to the strong effort spent on defining the fields of the database, the structure proposed in this paper is open to the collection of further data coming from future improvements in the knowledge of the fault systems. By layering additional user-specific geographic information and managing the proposed database (topological querying) a great diversity of hazard and vulnerability maps can be produced by the user. This is a proposal of a backbone for a comprehensive geographical database of fault systems, universally applicable to other sites.

Naval Ship Database: Database Design, Implementation, and Schema

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

incoming data. The solution allows database users to store and analyze data collected by navy ships in the Royal Canadian Navy ( RCN ). The data...understanding RCN jargon and common practices on a typical RCN vessel. This experience led to the development of several error detection methods to...data to be stored in the database. Mr. Massel has also collected data pertaining to day to day activities on RCN vessels that has been imported into

IN VITRO CONAZOLE EXPOSURE INHIBITS TESTOSTERONE PRODUCTION IN THE ADULT AND NEONATAL RAT TESTIS THROUGH THE INHIBITION OF CYP17 ACTIVITY

EPA Science Inventory

IN VITRO CONAZOLE EXPOSURE INHIBITS TESTOSTERONE PRODUCTION IN THE ADULT AND NEONATAL RAT TESTIS THROUGH THE INHIBITION OF CYP17 ACTIVITY

Chad R. Blystone1, David J. Dix2, and John C. Rockett2
1Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, NC State University, R...

Mechanism and Catalytic Site Atlas (M-CSA): a database of enzyme reaction mechanisms and active sites.

PubMed

Ribeiro, António J M; Holliday, Gemma L; Furnham, Nicholas; Tyzack, Jonathan D; Ferris, Katherine; Thornton, Janet M

2018-01-04

M-CSA (Mechanism and Catalytic Site Atlas) is a database of enzyme active sites and reaction mechanisms that can be accessed at www.ebi.ac.uk/thornton-srv/m-csa. Our objectives with M-CSA are to provide an open data resource for the community to browse known enzyme reaction mechanisms and catalytic sites, and to use the dataset to understand enzyme function and evolution. M-CSA results from the merging of two existing databases, MACiE (Mechanism, Annotation and Classification in Enzymes), a database of enzyme mechanisms, and CSA (Catalytic Site Atlas), a database of catalytic sites of enzymes. We are releasing M-CSA as a new website and underlying database architecture. At the moment, M-CSA contains 961 entries, 423 of these with detailed mechanism information, and 538 with information on the catalytic site residues only. In total, these cover 81% (195/241) of third level EC numbers with a PDB structure, and 30% (840/2793) of fourth level EC numbers with a PDB structure, out of 6028 in total. By searching for close homologues, we are able to extend M-CSA coverage of PDB and UniProtKB to 51 993 structures and to over five million sequences, respectively, of which about 40% and 30% have a conserved active site. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Effect of a serogroup A meningococcal conjugate vaccine (PsA-TT) on serogroup A meningococcal meningitis and carriage in Chad: a community study [corrected].

PubMed

Daugla, D M; Gami, J P; Gamougam, K; Naibei, N; Mbainadji, L; Narbé, M; Toralta, J; Kodbesse, B; Ngadoua, C; Coldiron, M E; Fermon, F; Page, A-L; Djingarey, M H; Hugonnet, S; Harrison, O B; Rebbetts, L S; Tekletsion, Y; Watkins, E R; Hill, D; Caugant, D A; Chandramohan, D; Hassan-King, M; Manigart, O; Nascimento, M; Woukeu, A; Trotter, C; Stuart, J M; Maiden, McJ; Greenwood, B M

2014-01-04

A serogroup A meningococcal polysaccharide-tetanus toxoid conjugate vaccine (PsA-TT, MenAfriVac) was licensed in India in 2009, and pre-qualified by WHO in 2010, on the basis of its safety and immunogenicity. This vaccine is now being deployed across the African meningitis belt. We studied the effect of PsA-TT on meningococcal meningitis and carriage in Chad during a serogroup A meningococcal meningitis epidemic. We obtained data for the incidence of meningitis before and after vaccination from national records between January, 2009, and June, 2012. In 2012, surveillance was enhanced in regions where vaccination with PsA-TT had been undertaken in 2011, and in one district where a reactive vaccination campaign in response to an outbreak of meningitis was undertaken. Meningococcal carriage was studied in an age-stratified sample of residents aged 1-29 years of a rural area roughly 13-15 and 2-4 months before and 4-6 months after vaccination. Meningococci obtained from cerebrospinal fluid or oropharyngeal swabs were characterised by conventional microbiological and molecular methods. Roughly 1·8 million individuals aged 1-29 years received one dose of PsA-TT during a vaccination campaign in three regions of Chad in and around the capital N'Djamena during 10 days in December, 2011. The incidence of meningitis during the 2012 meningitis season in these three regions was 2·48 per 100,000 (57 cases in the 2·3 million population), whereas in regions without mass vaccination, incidence was 43·8 per 100,000 (3809 cases per 8·7 million population), a 94% difference in crude incidence (p<0·0001), and an incidence rate ratio of 0·096 (95% CI 0·046-0·198). Despite enhanced surveillance, no case of serogroup A meningococcal meningitis was reported in the three vaccinated regions. 32 serogroup A carriers were identified in 4278 age-stratified individuals (0·75%) living in a rural area near the capital 2-4 months before vaccination, whereas only one serogroup A

Community health outreach program of the Chad-Cameroon petroleum development and pipeline project.

PubMed

Utzinger, Jürg; Wyss, Kaspar; Moto, Daugla D; Tanner, Marcel; Singer, Burton H

2004-02-01

applying a systemic approach. Other innovations of the project in general, and the CHOP in particular, are the strong emphases on institutional-capacity building, integration, and sustainability. In countries like Chad and Cameroon, there are serious shortages of well-qualified health personnel. The CHOP described in this article provides leverage for initiating better healthcare that will reduce the high burden of disease in the developing world. Reducing mortality rates for infants and children younger than 5 years in sub-Saharan Africa requires massive scaling-up of malaria-control interventions (eg, large-scale distribution of ITNs to protect millions of African children), thereby approaching the Abuja targets (see Armstrong Schellenberg et al). The local NGOs that took a lead within the framework of the CHOP in the distribution of ITNs and accompanying health education messages can extend these activities to communities living outside the vicinity of the project area. Serious shortcomings of the current CHOP, consistently identified by the external monitoring groups, include the lack of a regional health plan, cumulative impact assessment, and provision of clean water and sanitation outside the narrowly defined project area. This point is of central importance, particularly for Chad, where access to clean water and improved sanitation facilities is low. Another limitation of the current CHOP is the insufficient amount of significance addressed to tuberculosis and the apparent lack of concerted control efforts against HIV infection, AIDS, and tuberculosis. These criticisms, however, must be balanced against the lack of clarity in international discourse about the proper extent of responsibility of the corporate sector for dealing with the health problems of countries in which they do business. In an elegant analysis, the environmental risk factor "unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene" was shown to be one of the major contributors to loss of healthy life, particularly

Treatment of human and livestock helminth infections in a mobile pastoralist setting at Lake Chad: Attitudes to health and analysis of active pharmaceutical ingredients of locally available anthelminthic drugs.

PubMed

Greter, Helena; Cowan, Noemi; Ngandolo, Bongo N; Kessely, Hamit; Alfaroukh, Idriss O; Utzinger, Jürg; Keiser, Jennifer; Zinsstag, Jakob

2017-11-01

Mobile pastoralists face challenges in accessing quality health care and medication for managing human and animal diseases. We determined livestock disease priorities, health seeking behaviour of people bearing helminthiases and - placing particular emphasis on trematode infections - treatment strategies and outcome satisfaction among mobile pastoralists of four ethnic groups in the Lake Chad area using focus group discussions. People suffering from schistosomiasis were interviewed about symptoms, health seeking behaviour and their satisfaction with respect to the provided treatment. Anthelminthic drugs for human and veterinary use obtained from various health care structures were analysed for active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and quantity, using high pressure liquid chromatography-UV and liquid chromatography combined with tandem mass spectrometry. Most people suffering from schistosomiasis sought treatment at health care centres. Yet, they also consulted informal providers without medical training. Regarding animal health, self-mediated therapy was common to manage suspected livestock fascioliasis. Self-reported treatment satisfaction for human schistosomiasis and trematodiasis treatment outcome in livestock were low. Mobile pastoralists perceived the purchased drugs to be of low quality. Among 33 products locally sold as anthelminthic drugs for human or veterinary use, 27 contained albendazole or mebendazole, varying between 91% and 159% of the labelled amount. Six products were sold loosely with incomplete information and their API could not be identified. No counterfeit anthelminthic drugs were detected. None of the samples contained praziquantel or triclabendazole, the drugs of choice against schistosomiasis and fascioliasis, respectively. The perceived unsatisfactory treatment outcomes in humans and animals infected with trematodes are most likely due to empiric diagnosis and the resulting use of inadequate therapy for human schistosomiasis and the

[Evaluation of Knowledge-Attitudes-Practices of the populations in the health districts of Benoye, Laoukassy, Moundou and South N'Djamena towards canine rabies in Chad].

PubMed

Mindekem, Rolande; Lechenne, Monique; Alfaroukh, Idriss Oumar; Moto, Daugla Doumagoum; Zinsstag, Jakob; Ouedraogo, Laurent Tinoaga; Salifou, Sahidou

2017-01-01

Canine rabies remains a concern in Africa as well as in Chad. Our study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the populations towards the appropriate management of people exposed to canine rabies and effective fight against it. We conducted a cross-sectional, descriptive study in four health districts in Chad in July and in September 2015. Data were collected from households recruited by three-stage random sampling by means of a questionnaire. We conducted a survey of 2428 individuals having completed at least primary education level (54,12%). The average age was 36 ± 13.50 years. Surveyed individuals were farmers (35,17%), merchants (18,04%), households (12.81%). Rabies was defined as a disease transmitted from the dog to the man (41.43%), an alteration in brain function (41.27%), an undernourishment (10.26%). The cat was little-known to be a reservoir(13.84%) and a vector (19,77%) as well as licking was little-known to be a transmission medium (4.61%) and cat vaccination to be a preventive measure (0.49%). First aid for a bite at home was the traditional practice (47,69%), wounds washing (19.48%) or no action undertaken (20.43%). Households consulted the Health Service (78.50%), the Animal Health Service (5.35%) and the traditional healers (27%). A communication campaing for implementing first aid at home in the event of a bite, knowledge about the cat as a reservoir and a vector and licking as a transmission medium as well as the promotion of the consultation of veterinary services in the event of a bite are necessary.

Is Library Database Searching a Language Learning Activity?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bordonaro, Karen

2010-01-01

This study explores how non-native speakers of English think of words to enter into library databases when they begin the process of searching for information in English. At issue is whether or not language learning takes place when these students use library databases. Language learning in this study refers to the use of strategies employed by…

DBAASP v.2: an enhanced database of structure and antimicrobial/cytotoxic activity of natural and synthetic peptides.

PubMed

Pirtskhalava, Malak; Gabrielian, Andrei; Cruz, Phillip; Griggs, Hannah L; Squires, R Burke; Hurt, Darrell E; Grigolava, Maia; Chubinidze, Mindia; Gogoladze, George; Vishnepolsky, Boris; Alekseyev, Vsevolod; Rosenthal, Alex; Tartakovsky, Michael

2016-01-04

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are anti-infectives that may represent a novel and untapped class of biotherapeutics. Increasing interest in AMPs means that new peptides (natural and synthetic) are discovered faster than ever before. We describe herein a new version of the Database of Antimicrobial Activity and Structure of Peptides (DBAASPv.2, which is freely accessible at http://dbaasp.org). This iteration of the database reports chemical structures and empirically-determined activities (MICs, IC50, etc.) against more than 4200 specific target microbes for more than 2000 ribosomal, 80 non-ribosomal and 5700 synthetic peptides. Of these, the vast majority are monomeric, but nearly 200 of these peptides are found as homo- or heterodimers. More than 6100 of the peptides are linear, but about 515 are cyclic and more than 1300 have other intra-chain covalent bonds. More than half of the entries in the database were added after the resource was initially described, which reflects the recent sharp uptick of interest in AMPs. New features of DBAASPv.2 include: (i) user-friendly utilities and reporting functions, (ii) a 'Ranking Search' function to query the database by target species and return a ranked list of peptides with activity against that target and (iii) structural descriptions of the peptides derived from empirical data or calculated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The three-dimensional structural data are critical components for understanding structure-activity relationships and for design of new antimicrobial drugs. We created more than 300 high-throughput MD simulations specifically for inclusion in DBAASP. The resulting structures are described in the database by novel trajectory analysis plots and movies. Another 200+ DBAASP entries have links to the Protein DataBank. All of the structures are easily visualized directly in the web browser. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

DBAASP v.2: an enhanced database of structure and antimicrobial/cytotoxic activity of natural and synthetic peptides

PubMed Central

Pirtskhalava, Malak; Gabrielian, Andrei; Cruz, Phillip; Griggs, Hannah L.; Squires, R. Burke; Hurt, Darrell E.; Grigolava, Maia; Chubinidze, Mindia; Gogoladze, George; Vishnepolsky, Boris; Alekseev, Vsevolod; Rosenthal, Alex; Tartakovsky, Michael

2016-01-01

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are anti-infectives that may represent a novel and untapped class of biotherapeutics. Increasing interest in AMPs means that new peptides (natural and synthetic) are discovered faster than ever before. We describe herein a new version of the Database of Antimicrobial Activity and Structure of Peptides (DBAASPv.2, which is freely accessible at http://dbaasp.org). This iteration of the database reports chemical structures and empirically-determined activities (MICs, IC50, etc.) against more than 4200 specific target microbes for more than 2000 ribosomal, 80 non-ribosomal and 5700 synthetic peptides. Of these, the vast majority are monomeric, but nearly 200 of these peptides are found as homo- or heterodimers. More than 6100 of the peptides are linear, but about 515 are cyclic and more than 1300 have other intra-chain covalent bonds. More than half of the entries in the database were added after the resource was initially described, which reflects the recent sharp uptick of interest in AMPs. New features of DBAASPv.2 include: (i) user-friendly utilities and reporting functions, (ii) a ‘Ranking Search’ function to query the database by target species and return a ranked list of peptides with activity against that target and (iii) structural descriptions of the peptides derived from empirical data or calculated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The three-dimensional structural data are critical components for understanding structure–activity relationships and for design of new antimicrobial drugs. We created more than 300 high-throughput MD simulations specifically for inclusion in DBAASP. The resulting structures are described in the database by novel trajectory analysis plots and movies. Another 200+ DBAASP entries have links to the Protein DataBank. All of the structures are easily visualized directly in the web browser. PMID:26578581

IUEAGN: A database of ultraviolet spectra of active galactic nuclei

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pike, G.; Edelson, R.; Shull, J. M.; Saken, J.

1993-01-01

In 13 years of operation, IUE has gathered approximately 5000 spectra of almost 600 Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). In order to undertake AGN studies which require large amounts of data, we are consistently reducing this entire archive and creating a homogeneous, easy-to-use database. First, the spectra are extracted using the Optimal extraction algorithm. Continuum fluxes are then measured across predefined bands, and line fluxes are measured with a multi-component fit. These results, along with source information such as redshifts and positions, are placed in the IUEAGN relational database. Analysis algorithms, statistical tests, and plotting packages run within the structure, and this flexible database can accommodate future data when they are released. This archival approach has already been used to survey line and continuum variability in six bright Seyfert 1s and rapid continuum variability in 14 blazars. Among the results that could only be obtained using a large archival study is evidence that blazars show a positive correlation between degree of variability and apparent luminosity, while Seyfert 1s show an anti-correlation. This suggests that beaming dominates the ultraviolet properties for blazars, while thermal emission from an accretion disk dominates for Seyfert 1s. Our future plans include a survey of line ratios in Seyfert 1s, to be fitted with photoionization models to test the models and determine the range of temperatures, densities and ionization parameters. We will also include data from IRAS, Einstein, EXOSAT, and ground-based telescopes to measure multi-wavelength correlations and broadband spectral energy distributions.

A database of radionuclide activity and metal concentrations for the Alligator Rivers Region uranium province.

PubMed

Doering, Che; Bollhöfer, Andreas

2016-10-01

This paper presents a database of radionuclide activity and metal concentrations for the Alligator Rivers Region (ARR) uranium province in the Australian wet-dry tropics. The database contains 5060 sample records and 57,473 concentration values. The data are for animal, plant, soil, sediment and water samples collected by the Environmental Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist (ERISS) as part of its statutory role to undertake research and monitoring into the impacts of uranium mining on the environment of the ARR. Concentration values are provided in the database for 11 radionuclides ( 227 Ac, 40 K, 210 Pb, 210 Po, 226 Ra, 228 Ra, 228 Th, 230 Th, 232 Th, 234 U, 238 U) and 26 metals (Al, As, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Rb, S, Sb, Se, Sr, Th, U, V, Zn). Potential uses of the database are discussed. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Anti-proliferative activities on HeLa cancer cell line of Thai medicinal plant recipes selected from MANOSROI II database.

PubMed

Manosroi, Jiradej; Boonpisuttinant, Korawinwich; Manosroi, Worapaka; Manosroi, Aranya

2012-07-13

The Thai/Lanna medicinal plant recipe database "MANOSROI II" contained the medicinal plant recipes of all regions in Thailand for the treatment of various diseases including anti-cancer medicinal plant recipes. To investigate anti-proliferative activity on HeLa cell lines of medicinal plant recipes selected from the Thai/Lanna medicinal plant recipe database "MANOSROI II". The forty aqueous extracts of Thai/Lanna medicinal plant recipes selected from the Thai/Lanna medicinal plant recipe database "MANOSROI II" were investigated for anti-proliferative activity on HeLa cell line by SRB assay. The apoptosis induction by caspase-3 activity and MMP-2 inhibition activity by zymography on HeLa cell line of the three selected aqueous extracts, which gave the highest anti-proliferative activity were determined. Phytochemicals and anti-oxidative activities including free radical scavenging activity, inhibition of lipid peroxidation and metal chelating inhibition activities were also investigated. Sixty percentages of the medicinal plant recipes selected from "MANOSROI II" database showed anti-proliferative activity on HeLa cell line. The recipes of N031(Albizia chinensis (Osbeck) Merr, Cassia fistula L., and Dargea volubilis Benth.ex Hook. etc.), N039 (Nymphoides indica L., Peltophorum pterocarpum (DC.), and Polyalthia debilis Finet et Gagnep etc.) and N040 (Nymphoides indica L. Kuntze, Sida rhombifolia L., and Xylinbaria minutiflora Pierre. etc.) gave higher anti-proliferative activity than the standard anti-cancer drug, cisplatin of 1.25, 1.29 and 30.18 times, respectively. The positive relationship between the anti-proliferative activity and the MMP-2 inhibition activity and metal chelating inhibition activity was observed, but no relationship between the anti-proliferative activity and apoptosis induction, free radical scavenging activity and lipid peroxidation inhibition activity. Phytochemicals found in these extracts were alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins and xanthones

The Tibesti Volcanoes of Chad: an ASTER-based Remote Sensing Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Permenter, J. L.; Oppenheimer, C.

2002-12-01

Situated in the central Sahara desert, the Tibesti volcanic province of northern Chad, Africa, is a superb example of large-scale continental hot spot volcanism. The massif is comprised of seven major volcanoes and an assembly of related volcanic and tectonic structures, with a total surface area of over 350 km2. Its highest peak (Emi Koussi) rises above the surrounding desert to ~3415 m above sea level. Due, in part, to its remoteness, the Tibesti has never been described in volcanological detail. This study aims to provide the first modern synthesis of the volcanology of this significant hot spot province. It is based primarily on a detailed analysis and interpretation of a comprehensive set of multi-band imagery from NASA's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER). ASTER has 14 spectral bands, divided between 3 optical subsystems; 3 in the very-near infrared (VNIR), 6 in the short-wave infrared, and 5 in the thermal infrared regions. In addition, the VNIR subsystem has aft-viewing optics for stereoscopic observation in the along-track direction, which permits generation of digital elevation models. The preliminary results presented here focus on the discrimination of lava composition, identification of pyroclastic deposits, and characterisation of the dimension of flows, craters, and other structural elements of the massif, using spectral and textural information gathered from the ASTER imagery. Furthermore, stratigraphic detail is obtained from the superposition of flow units and craters. The application of ASTER data to the Tibesti volcanic complex permits an initial first order description of the relative proportions and timing of different erupted materials, providing a framework for further interpretation of the volcanology and magmatic evolution of the Tibesti, based on modern geologic and tectonic concepts. It also allows intercomparisons to be made with other continental hot spot provinces.

A Quality System Database

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Snell, William H.; Turner, Anne M.; Gifford, Luther; Stites, William

2010-01-01

A quality system database (QSD), and software to administer the database, were developed to support recording of administrative nonconformance activities that involve requirements for documentation of corrective and/or preventive actions, which can include ISO 9000 internal quality audits and customer complaints.

BADERI: an online database to coordinate handsearching activities of controlled clinical trials for their potential inclusion in systematic reviews.

PubMed

Pardo-Hernandez, Hector; Urrútia, Gerard; Barajas-Nava, Leticia A; Buitrago-Garcia, Diana; Garzón, Julieth Vanessa; Martínez-Zapata, María José; Bonfill, Xavier

2017-06-13

Systematic reviews provide the best evidence on the effect of health care interventions. They rely on comprehensive access to the available scientific literature. Electronic search strategies alone may not suffice, requiring the implementation of a handsearching approach. We have developed a database to provide an Internet-based platform from which handsearching activities can be coordinated, including a procedure to streamline the submission of these references into CENTRAL, the Cochrane Collaboration Central Register of Controlled Trials. We developed a database and a descriptive analysis. Through brainstorming and discussion among stakeholders involved in handsearching projects, we designed a database that met identified needs that had to be addressed in order to ensure the viability of handsearching activities. Three handsearching teams pilot tested the proposed database. Once the final version of the database was approved, we proceeded to train the staff involved in handsearching. The proposed database is called BADERI (Database of Iberoamerican Clinical Trials and Journals, by its initials in Spanish). BADERI was officially launched in October 2015, and it can be accessed at www.baderi.com/login.php free of cost. BADERI has an administration subsection, from which the roles of users are managed; a references subsection, where information associated to identified controlled clinical trials (CCTs) can be entered; a reports subsection, from which reports can be generated to track and analyse the results of handsearching activities; and a built-in free text search engine. BADERI allows all references to be exported in ProCite files that can be directly uploaded into CENTRAL. To date, 6284 references to CCTs have been uploaded to BADERI and sent to CENTRAL. The identified CCTs were published in a total of 420 journals related to 46 medical specialties. The year of publication ranged between 1957 and 2016. BADERI allows the efficient management of handsearching

The green corona database and the coronal index of solar activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minarovjech, M.; Rušin, V.; Saniga, M.

2011-10-01

The green coronal line Fe XIV 530.3 nm ranks amongst the most pronounced emission lines in the visible part of the solar spectrum. Its observations outside solar eclipses started sporadically in 1939 (the Arosa coronal station), being extended, in 1946, to more coronal stations. It was found that the green corona intensities vary with solar cycle, so they are a good candidate to express solar activity in the corona. Several attempts have been made to create a single homogeneous coronal data set from different coronal stations. We will present our homogeneous coronal data set, based on the Lomnický Štít photometric scale. Also, the coronal index of solar activity as created from this database in the period 1939—2010 will be discussed.

First Look: TRADEMARKSCAN Database.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fernald, Anne Conway; Davidson, Alan B.

1984-01-01

Describes database produced by Thomson and Thomson and available on Dialog which contains over 700,000 records representing all active federal trademark registrations and applications for registrations filed in United States Patent and Trademark Office. A typical record, special features, database applications, learning to use TRADEMARKSCAN, and…

Comprehensive target populations for current active safety systems using national crash databases.

PubMed

Kusano, Kristofer D; Gabler, Hampton C

2014-01-01

The objective of active safety systems is to prevent or mitigate collisions. A critical component in the design of active safety systems is the identification of the target population for a proposed system. The target population for an active safety system is that set of crashes that a proposed system could prevent or mitigate. Target crashes have scenarios in which the sensors and algorithms would likely activate. For example, the rear-end crash scenario, where the front of one vehicle contacts another vehicle traveling in the same direction and in the same lane as the striking vehicle, is one scenario for which forward collision warning (FCW) would be most effective in mitigating or preventing. This article presents a novel set of precrash scenarios based on coded variables from NHTSA's nationally representative crash databases in the United States. Using 4 databases (National Automotive Sampling System-General Estimates System [NASS-GES], NASS Crashworthiness Data System [NASS-CDS], Fatality Analysis Reporting System [FARS], and National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey [NMVCCS]) the scenarios developed in this study can be used to quantify the number of police-reported crashes, seriously injured occupants, and fatalities that are applicable to proposed active safety systems. In this article, we use the precrash scenarios to identify the target populations for FCW, pedestrian crash avoidance systems (PCAS), lane departure warning (LDW), and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) systems. Crash scenarios were derived using precrash variables (critical event, accident type, precrash movement) present in all 4 data sources. This study found that these active safety systems could potentially mitigate approximately 1 in 5 of all severity and serious injury crashes in the United States and 26 percent of fatal crashes. Annually, this corresponds to 1.2 million all severity, 14,353 serious injury (MAIS 3+), and 7412 fatal crashes. In addition

Saudi anti-human cancer plants database (SACPD): A collection of plants with anti-human cancer activities

PubMed Central

Al-Zahrani, Ateeq Ahmed

2018-01-01

Several anticancer drugs have been developed from natural products such as plants. Successful experiments in inhibiting the growth of human cancer cell lines using Saudi plants were published over the last three decades. Up to date, there is no Saudi anticancer plants database as a comprehensive source for the interesting data generated from these experiments. Therefore, there was a need for creating a database to collect, organize, search and retrieve such data. As a result, the current paper describes the generation of the Saudi anti-human cancer plants database (SACPD). The database contains most of the reported information about the naturally growing Saudi anticancer plants. SACPD comprises the scientific and local names of 91 plant species that grow naturally in Saudi Arabia. These species belong to 38 different taxonomic families. In Addition, 18 species that represent16 family of medicinal plants and are intensively sold in the local markets in Saudi Arabia were added to the database. The website provides interesting details, including plant part containing the anticancer bioactive compounds, plants locations and cancer/cell type against which they exhibit their anticancer activity. Our survey revealed that breast, liver and leukemia were the most studied cancer cell lines in Saudi Arabia with percentages of 27%, 19% and 15%, respectively. The current SACPD represents a nucleus around which more development efforts can expand to accommodate all future submissions about new Saudi plant species with anticancer activities. SACPD will provide an excellent starting point for researchers and pharmaceutical companies who are interested in developing new anticancer drugs. SACPD is available online at https://teeqrani1.wixsite.com/sapd PMID:29774137

Saudi anti-human cancer plants database (SACPD): A collection of plants with anti-human cancer activities.

PubMed

Al-Zahrani, Ateeq Ahmed

2018-01-30

Several anticancer drugs have been developed from natural products such as plants. Successful experiments in inhibiting the growth of human cancer cell lines using Saudi plants were published over the last three decades. Up to date, there is no Saudi anticancer plants database as a comprehensive source for the interesting data generated from these experiments. Therefore, there was a need for creating a database to collect, organize, search and retrieve such data. As a result, the current paper describes the generation of the Saudi anti-human cancer plants database (SACPD). The database contains most of the reported information about the naturally growing Saudi anticancer plants. SACPD comprises the scientific and local names of 91 plant species that grow naturally in Saudi Arabia. These species belong to 38 different taxonomic families. In Addition, 18 species that represent16 family of medicinal plants and are intensively sold in the local markets in Saudi Arabia were added to the database. The website provides interesting details, including plant part containing the anticancer bioactive compounds, plants locations and cancer/cell type against which they exhibit their anticancer activity. Our survey revealed that breast, liver and leukemia were the most studied cancer cell lines in Saudi Arabia with percentages of 27%, 19% and 15%, respectively. The current SACPD represents a nucleus around which more development efforts can expand to accommodate all future submissions about new Saudi plant species with anticancer activities. SACPD will provide an excellent starting point for researchers and pharmaceutical companies who are interested in developing new anticancer drugs. SACPD is available online at https://teeqrani1.wixsite.com/sapd.

Use of ChAd3-EBO-Z Ebola virus vaccine in Malian and US adults, and boosting of Malian adults with MVA-BN-Filo: a phase 1, single-blind, randomised trial, a phase 1b, open-label and double-blind, dose-escalation trial, and a nested, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

PubMed

Tapia, Milagritos D; Sow, Samba O; Lyke, Kirsten E; Haidara, Fadima Cheick; Diallo, Fatoumata; Doumbia, Moussa; Traore, Awa; Coulibaly, Flanon; Kodio, Mamoudou; Onwuchekwa, Uma; Sztein, Marcelo B; Wahid, Rezwanul; Campbell, James D; Kieny, Marie-Paule; Moorthy, Vasee; Imoukhuede, Egeruan B; Rampling, Tommy; Roman, Francois; De Ryck, Iris; Bellamy, Abbie R; Dally, Len; Mbaya, Olivier Tshiani; Ploquin, Aurélie; Zhou, Yan; Stanley, Daphne A; Bailer, Robert; Koup, Richard A; Roederer, Mario; Ledgerwood, Julie; Hill, Adrian V S; Ballou, W Ripley; Sullivan, Nancy; Graham, Barney; Levine, Myron M

2016-01-01

The 2014 west African Zaire Ebola virus epidemic prompted worldwide partners to accelerate clinical development of replication-defective chimpanzee adenovirus 3 vector vaccine expressing Zaire Ebola virus glycoprotein (ChAd3-EBO-Z). We aimed to investigate the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of ChAd3-EBO-Z in Malian and US adults, and assess the effect of boosting of Malians with modified vaccinia Ankara expressing Zaire Ebola virus glycoprotein and other filovirus antigens (MVA-BN-Filo). In the phase 1, single-blind, randomised trial of ChAd3-EBO-Z in the USA, we recruited adults aged 18-65 years from the University of Maryland medical community and the Baltimore community. In the phase 1b, open-label and double-blind, dose-escalation trial of ChAd3-EBO-Z in Mali, we recruited adults 18-50 years of age from six hospitals and health centres in Bamako (Mali), some of whom were also eligible for a nested, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of MVA-BN-Filo. For randomised segments of the Malian trial and for the US trial, we randomly allocated participants (1:1; block size of six [Malian] or four [US]; ARB produced computer-generated randomisation lists; clinical staff did randomisation) to different single doses of intramuscular immunisation with ChAd3-EBO-Z: Malians received 1 × 10(10) viral particle units (pu), 2·5 × 10(10) pu, 5 × 10(10) pu, or 1 × 10(11) pu; US participants received 1 × 10(10) pu or 1 × 10(11) pu. We randomly allocated Malians in the nested trial (1:1) to receive a single dose of 2 × 10(8) plaque-forming units of MVA-BN-Filo or saline placebo. In the double-blind segments of the Malian trial, investigators, clinical staff, participants, and immunology laboratory staff were masked, but the study pharmacist (MK), vaccine administrator, and study statistician (ARB) were unmasked. In the US trial, investigators were not masked, but participants were. Analyses were per protocol. The primary outcome was safety, measured

Development, deployment and operations of ATLAS databases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vaniachine, A. V.; Schmitt, J. G. v. d.

2008-07-01

In preparation for ATLAS data taking, a coordinated shift from development towards operations has occurred in ATLAS database activities. In addition to development and commissioning activities in databases, ATLAS is active in the development and deployment (in collaboration with the WLCG 3D project) of the tools that allow the worldwide distribution and installation of databases and related datasets, as well as the actual operation of this system on ATLAS multi-grid infrastructure. We describe development and commissioning of major ATLAS database applications for online and offline. We present the first scalability test results and ramp-up schedule over the initial LHC years of operations towards the nominal year of ATLAS running, when the database storage volumes are expected to reach 6.1 TB for the Tag DB and 1.0 TB for the Conditions DB. ATLAS database applications require robust operational infrastructure for data replication between online and offline at Tier-0, and for the distribution of the offline data to Tier-1 and Tier-2 computing centers. We describe ATLAS experience with Oracle Streams and other technologies for coordinated replication of databases in the framework of the WLCG 3D services.

Water balance-based estimation of groundwater recharge in the Lake Chad Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babamaaji, R. A.; Lee, J.

2012-12-01

Lake Chad Basin (LCB) has experienced drastic changes of land cover and poor water management practices during the last 50 years. The successive droughts in the 1970s and 1980s resulted in the shortage of surface water and groundwater resources. This problem of drought and shortage of water has a devastating implication on the natural resources of the Basin with great consequence on food security, poverty reduction and quality of life of the inhabitants in the LCB. Therefore, understanding the change of land use and its characteristics must be a first step to find how such changes disturb the water cycle especially the groundwater in the LCB. The abundance of groundwater is affected by the climate change through the interaction with surface water, such as lakes and rivers, and vertical recharge through an infiltration process. Quantifying the impact of climate change on the groundwater resource requires not only reliable forecasting of changes in the major climatic variables, but also accurate estimation of groundwater recharge. Spatial variations in the land use/land cover, soil texture, topographic slope, and meteorological conditions should be accounted for in the recharge estimation. In this study, we employed a spatially distributed water balance model WetSpass to simulate a long-term average change of groundwater recharge in the LCB of Africa. WetSpass is a water balance-based model to estimate seasonal average spatial distribution of surface runoff, evapotranspiration, and groundwater recharge. The model is especially suitable for studying the effect of land use/land cover change on the water regime in the LCB. The present study describes the concept of the model and its application to the development of recharge map of the LCB.

Impact of CHA2DS2VASc Score on Candidacy for Anticoagulation in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation: A Multi-payer Analysis.

PubMed

Patel, Aarti A; Nelson, Winnie W; Schein, Jeff

2016-10-01

The purpose of this study is to report on the effect of using CHA 2 DS 2 VASc (congestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥75 years [doubled], type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus, stroke or transient ischemic attack or thromboembolism [doubled], vascular disease [prior myocardial infarction, peripheral artery disease, or aortic plaque], age 65-75 years, sex category [female]) rather than CHADS 2 (congestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥75 years, diabetes mellitus, and prior stroke) to determine candidacy for anticoagulant prophylaxis in insured patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Six administrative claims databases that included medical and pharmacy claims for patients aged ≥18 years with a new or existing diagnosis of AF and patient outcomes assessed for 1 year after diagnosis were analyzed. Retrospective health plan data analyses were performed using a software tool (Anticoagulant Quality Improvement Analyzer). Study measures included stroke risk (identified by CHADS 2 and CHA 2 DS 2 VASc scores), bleeding risk (identified by the Anticoagulation and Risk Factors in Atrial Fibrillation score), and anticoagulant use. A total of 115,906 patients with AF (range of mean ages among the 6 databases, 56-79 years) met the inclusion criteria. All ranges reported represent the minimum and maximum values among the 6 databases. Using the CHA 2 DS 2 VASc compared with the CHADS 2 index to assess stroke risk resulted in a 23% to 32% increase in patients considered potential candidates for anticoagulant prophylaxis. This translated to a 38% to 114% increase in the number of ostensibly undertreated patients. Among patients with high stroke and low bleeding risk, 18% to 28% more patients were considered potential candidates for anticoagulation treatment using CHA 2 DS 2 VASc compared with CHADS 2 , or a 57% to 151% increase in the number of undertreated patients. Use of the CHA 2 DS 2 VASc score to determine the risk of stroke increased the number of AF patients for

Crater palaeolakes in the Tibesti mountains (Central Sahara, North Chad) - New insights into past Saharan climates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kröpelin, Stefan; Dinies, Michèle; Sylvestre, Florence; Hoelzmann, Philipp

2016-04-01

For the first time continuous lacustrine sections were sampled from the volcanic Tibesti Mountains (Chad): In the 900 m deep crater of Trou au Natron at Pic Toussidé (3,315 m a.s.l.) and from the 800 m deep Era Kohor, the major sub-caldera of Emi Koussi (3,445 m a.s.l.). The remnant diatomites on their slopes are located 360 m (Trou au Natron) and 125 m (Era Kohor) above the present day bottom of the calderas. These sediments from highly continental positions in the central Sahara are keys for the reconstruction of the last climatic cycles (Kröpelin et al. 2015). We report first results from sedimentary-geochemical (total organic and total inorganic carbon contents; total nitrogen; major elements; mineralogy) and palynological analyses for palaeo-environmental interpretations. The diatomites from the Trou au Natron comprise 330 cm of mostly calcitic sediments with relatively low organic carbon (<2.5 %) and strongly varying aragonite and gypsum contents. Major elements (Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, S, Sr), elemental ratios (Sr/Ca, Mg/Ca, Fe/Mn) and the mineralogy are used to interpret the lake's salinity, productivity and ecological conditions. Trilete spores are preserved throughout the sequence, probably reflecting local moss/fern stands. Regional pollen rain-e.g. grasses and wormwood-is scarcely represented. Golden algae dominate in the lower section. The results of the first palynological samples suggest a small sedimentation basin. Two 14C-dated charcoals out of the upper part of the section indicate mid-Holocene ages and a linear extrapolation based on a sediment accumulation rate of 1.4mma-1 would lead to tentative dates of ~8650 cal a BP for basal lacustrine sediments and ~4450 cal a BP for the cessation of this lacustrine sequence. The diatomites from the Era Kohor reflect a suite of sections that in total sum up to 145 cm of mostly silica-based sediments with very low carbon contents (< 2% TC). Calcite dominated sediments are only present in the topmost 15

Who attends antenatal care and expanded programme on immunization services in Chad, Mali and Niger? the implications for insecticide-treated net delivery

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Malaria remains one of the largest public health problems facing the developing world. Insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) are an effective intervention against malaria. ITN delivery through routine health services, such as antenatal care (ANC) and childhood vaccination (EPI), is a promising channel of delivery to reach individuals with the highest risk (pregnant women and children under five years old). Decisions on whether to deliver ITNs through both channels depends upon the reach of each of these systems, whether these are independent and the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of each. Predictors of women attending ANC and EPI separately have been studied, but the predictors of those who attend neither service have not been identified. Methods Data from Chad, Mali and Niger demographic and health surveys (DHS) were analyzed to determine risk factors for attending neither service. A conceptual framework for preventative health care-seeking behaviour was created to illustrate the hierarchical relationships between the potential risk factors. The independence of attending both ANC and EPI was investigated. A multivariate model of predictors for non-attendance was developed using logistic regression. Results ANC and EPI attendance were found to be strongly associated in all three countries. However, 47% of mothers in Chad, 12% in Mali and 36% in Niger did not attend either ANC or EPI. Region, mother's education and partner's education were predictors of non-attendance in all three countries. Wealth index, ethnicity, and occupation were associated with non-attendance in Mali and Niger. Other predictors included religion, healthcare autonomy, household size and number of children under five. Conclusions Attendance of ANC and EPI are not independent and therefore the majority of pregnant women in these countries will have the opportunity to receive ITNs through both services. Although attendance at ANC and EPI are not independent, delivery through both

Toxicity of ionic liquids: database and prediction via quantitative structure-activity relationship method.

PubMed

Zhao, Yongsheng; Zhao, Jihong; Huang, Ying; Zhou, Qing; Zhang, Xiangping; Zhang, Suojiang

2014-08-15

A comprehensive database on toxicity of ionic liquids (ILs) is established. The database includes over 4000 pieces of data. Based on the database, the relationship between IL's structure and its toxicity has been analyzed qualitatively. Furthermore, Quantitative Structure-Activity relationships (QSAR) model is conducted to predict the toxicities (EC50 values) of various ILs toward the Leukemia rat cell line IPC-81. Four parameters selected by the heuristic method (HM) are used to perform the studies of multiple linear regression (MLR) and support vector machine (SVM). The squared correlation coefficient (R(2)) and the root mean square error (RMSE) of training sets by two QSAR models are 0.918 and 0.959, 0.258 and 0.179, respectively. The prediction R(2) and RMSE of QSAR test sets by MLR model are 0.892 and 0.329, by SVM model are 0.958 and 0.234, respectively. The nonlinear model developed by SVM algorithm is much outperformed MLR, which indicates that SVM model is more reliable in the prediction of toxicity of ILs. This study shows that increasing the relative number of O atoms of molecules leads to decrease in the toxicity of ILs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Survey of animal bite injuries and their management for an estimate of human rabies deaths in N'Djaména, Chad.

PubMed

Frey, J; Mindekem, R; Kessely, H; Doumagoum Moto, D; Naïssengar, S; Zinsstag, J; Schelling, E

2013-12-01

To estimate the annual human rabies incidence as a baseline prior to mass dog vaccination campaigns in N'Djaména, Chad. Survey of animal bites, involving 50% of all healthcare providers in N'Djaména, from September 2008 to April 2009. Of 86 people exposed to a suspected rabid animal, 50% received post-exposure vaccination and a further 8% had their wound cleaned. We estimated annual incidence of bites from suspected rabid animals of 12.9/100,000 and an incidence of 0.7 human rabies deaths/100,000, resulting in 7 estimated deaths (95% confidence interval 4-10 deaths) per year in N'Djaména. 14% of bite victims sought help from veterinarians. Closer cooperation between physicians and veterinarians warrants more effective rabies control. The high proportion (42%) of potentially exposed people without post-exposure vaccination or wound treatment necessitates urgent attention. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Nuclear Science References Database

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pritychenko, B., E-mail: pritychenko@bnl.gov; Běták, E.; Singh, B.

2014-06-15

The Nuclear Science References (NSR) database together with its associated Web interface, is the world's only comprehensive source of easily accessible low- and intermediate-energy nuclear physics bibliographic information for more than 210,000 articles since the beginning of nuclear science. The weekly-updated NSR database provides essential support for nuclear data evaluation, compilation and research activities. The principles of the database and Web application development and maintenance are described. Examples of nuclear structure, reaction and decay applications are specifically included. The complete NSR database is freely available at the websites of the National Nuclear Data Center (http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/nsr) and the International Atomic Energymore » Agency (http://www-nds.iaea.org/nsr)« less

Designing a Zoo-Based Endangered Species Database.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Christopher L.

1989-01-01

Presented is a class activity that uses the database feature of the Appleworks program to create a database from which students may study endangered species. The use of a local zoo as a base of information about the animals is suggested. Procedures and follow-up activities are included. (CW)

Quaranfil, Johnston Atoll, and Lake Chad viruses are novel members of the family Orthomyxoviridae.

PubMed

Presti, Rachel M; Zhao, Guoyan; Beatty, Wandy L; Mihindukulasuriya, Kathie A; da Rosa, Amelia P A Travassos; Popov, Vsevolod L; Tesh, Robert B; Virgin, Herbert W; Wang, David

2009-11-01

Arboviral infections are an important cause of emerging infections due to the movements of humans, animals, and hematophagous arthropods. Quaranfil virus (QRFV) is an unclassified arbovirus originally isolated from children with mild febrile illness in Quaranfil, Egypt, in 1953. It has subsequently been isolated in multiple geographic areas from ticks and birds. We used high-throughput sequencing to classify QRFV as a novel orthomyxovirus. The genome of this virus is comprised of multiple RNA segments; five were completely sequenced. Proteins with limited amino acid similarity to conserved domains in polymerase (PA, PB1, and PB2) and hemagglutinin (HA) genes from known orthomyxoviruses were predicted to be present in four of the segments. The fifth sequenced segment shared no detectable similarity to any protein and is of uncertain function. The end-terminal sequences of QRFV are conserved between segments and are different from those of the known orthomyxovirus genera. QRFV is known to cross-react serologically with two other unclassified viruses, Johnston Atoll virus (JAV) and Lake Chad virus (LKCV). The complete open reading frames of PB1 and HA were sequenced for JAV, while a fragment of PB1 of LKCV was identified by mass sequencing. QRFV and JAV PB1 and HA shared 80% and 70% amino acid identity to each other, respectively; the LKCV PB1 fragment shared 83% amino acid identity with the corresponding region of QRFV PB1. Based on phylogenetic analyses, virion ultrastructural features, and the unique end-terminal sequences identified, we propose that QRFV, JAV, and LKCV comprise a novel genus of the family Orthomyxoviridae.

Is drinking water from 'improved sources' really safe? A case study in the Logone valley (Chad-Cameroon).

PubMed

Sorlini, S; Palazzini, D; Mbawala, A; Ngassoum, M B; Collivignarelli, M C

2013-12-01

Within a cooperation project coordinated by the Association for Rural Cooperation in Africa and Latin America (ACRA) Foundation, water supplies were sampled across the villages of the Logone valley (Chad-Cameroon) mostly from boreholes, open wells, rivers and lakes as well as from some piped water. Microbiological analyses and sanitary inspections were carried out at each source. The microbiological quality was determined by analysis of indicators of faecal contamination, Escherichia coli, Enterococci and Salmonellae, using the membrane filtration method. Sanitary inspections were done using WHO query forms. The assessment confirmed that there are several parameters of health concern in the studied area; bacteria of faecal origins are the most significant. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) classification and E. coli measurement are not sufficient to state water safety. In fact, in the studied area, JMP defined 'improved sources' may provide unsafe water depending on their structure and sources without E. coli may have Enterococci and Salmonellae. Sanitary inspections also revealed high health risks for some boreholes. In other cases, sources with low sanitary risk and no E. coli were contaminated by Enterococci and Salmonellae. Better management and protection of the sources, hygiene improvement and domestic water treatment before consumption are possible solutions to reduce health risks in the Logone valley.

CANCER PREVENTION AND CONTROL (CP) DATABASE

EPA Science Inventory

This database focuses on breast, cervical, skin, and colorectal cancer emphasizing the application of early detection and control program activities and risk reduction efforts. The database provides bibliographic citations and abstracts of various types of materials including jou...

Development of a Homogenous Database of Bipolar Active Regions Spanning Four Cycles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Munoz-Jaramillo, A.; Werginz, Z. A.; Vargas-Acosta, J. P.; DeLuca, M. D.; Vargas-Dominguez, S.; Lamb, D. A.; DeForest, C. E.; Longcope, D. W.; Martens, P.

2016-12-01

The solar cycle can be understood as a process that alternates the large-scale magnetic field of the Sun between poloidal and toroidal configurations. Although the process that transitions the solar cycle between toroidal and poloidal phases is still not fully understood, theoretical studies, and observational evidence, suggest that this process is driven by the emergence and decay of bipolar magnetic regions (BMRs) at the photosphere. Furthermore, the emergence of BMRs at the photosphere is the main driver behind solar variability and solar activity in general; making the study of their properties doubly important for heliospheric physics. However, in spite of their critical role, there is still no unified catalog of BMRs spanning multiple instruments and covering the entire period of systematic measurement of the solar magnetic field (i.e. 1975 to present).In this presentation we discuss an ongoing project to address this deficiency by applying our Bipolar Active Region Detection (BARD) code on full disk magnetograms measured by the 512 (1975-1993) and SPMG (1992-2003) instruments at the Kitt Peak Vacuum Telescope (KPVT), SOHO/MDI (1996-2011) and SDO/HMI (2010-present). First we will discuss the results of our revitalization of 512 and SPMG KPVT data, then we will discuss how our BARD code operates, and finally report the results of our cross-callibration across instruments.The corrected and improved KPVT magnetograms will be made available through the National Solar Observatory (NSO) and Virtual Solar Observatory (VSO), including updated synoptic maps produced by running the corrected KPVT magnetograms though the SOLIS pipeline. The homogeneous active region database will be made public by the end of 2017 once it has reached a satisfactory level of quality and maturity. The Figure shows all bipolar active regions present in our database (as of Aug 2016) colored according to the instrument where they were detected. The image also includes the names of the NSF

Ligand.Info small-molecule Meta-Database.

PubMed

von Grotthuss, Marcin; Koczyk, Grzegorz; Pas, Jakub; Wyrwicz, Lucjan S; Rychlewski, Leszek

2004-12-01

Ligand.Info is a compilation of various publicly available databases of small molecules. The total size of the Meta-Database is over 1 million entries. The compound records contain calculated three-dimensional coordinates and sometimes information about biological activity. Some molecules have information about FDA drug approving status or about anti-HIV activity. Meta-Database can be downloaded from the http://Ligand.Info web page. The database can also be screened using a Java-based tool. The tool can interactively cluster sets of molecules on the user side and automatically download similar molecules from the server. The application requires the Java Runtime Environment 1.4 or higher, which can be automatically downloaded from Sun Microsystems or Apple Computer and installed during the first use of Ligand.Info on desktop systems, which support Java (Ms Windows, Mac OS, Solaris, and Linux). The Ligand.Info Meta-Database can be used for virtual high-throughput screening of new potential drugs. Presented examples showed that using a known antiviral drug as query the system was able to find others antiviral drugs and inhibitors.

The INFN-CNAF Tier-1 GEMSS Mass Storage System and database facility activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ricci, Pier Paolo; Cavalli, Alessandro; Dell'Agnello, Luca; Favaro, Matteo; Gregori, Daniele; Prosperini, Andrea; Pezzi, Michele; Sapunenko, Vladimir; Zizzi, Giovanni; Vagnoni, Vincenzo

2015-05-01

The consolidation of Mass Storage services at the INFN-CNAF Tier1 Storage department that has occurred during the last 5 years, resulted in a reliable, high performance and moderately easy-to-manage facility that provides data access, archive, backup and database services to several different use cases. At present, the GEMSS Mass Storage System, developed and installed at CNAF and based upon an integration between the IBM GPFS parallel filesystem and the Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) tape management software, is one of the largest hierarchical storage sites in Europe. It provides storage resources for about 12% of LHC data, as well as for data of other non-LHC experiments. Files are accessed using standard SRM Grid services provided by the Storage Resource Manager (StoRM), also developed at CNAF. Data access is also provided by XRootD and HTTP/WebDaV endpoints. Besides these services, an Oracle database facility is in production characterized by an effective level of parallelism, redundancy and availability. This facility is running databases for storing and accessing relational data objects and for providing database services to the currently active use cases. It takes advantage of several Oracle technologies, like Real Application Cluster (RAC), Automatic Storage Manager (ASM) and Enterprise Manager centralized management tools, together with other technologies for performance optimization, ease of management and downtime reduction. The aim of the present paper is to illustrate the state-of-the-art of the INFN-CNAF Tier1 Storage department infrastructures and software services, and to give a brief outlook to forthcoming projects. A description of the administrative, monitoring and problem-tracking tools that play a primary role in managing the whole storage framework is also given.

BioWarehouse: a bioinformatics database warehouse toolkit.

PubMed

Lee, Thomas J; Pouliot, Yannick; Wagner, Valerie; Gupta, Priyanka; Stringer-Calvert, David W J; Tenenbaum, Jessica D; Karp, Peter D

2006-03-23

This article addresses the problem of interoperation of heterogeneous bioinformatics databases. We introduce BioWarehouse, an open source toolkit for constructing bioinformatics database warehouses using the MySQL and Oracle relational database managers. BioWarehouse integrates its component databases into a common representational framework within a single database management system, thus enabling multi-database queries using the Structured Query Language (SQL) but also facilitating a variety of database integration tasks such as comparative analysis and data mining. BioWarehouse currently supports the integration of a pathway-centric set of databases including ENZYME, KEGG, and BioCyc, and in addition the UniProt, GenBank, NCBI Taxonomy, and CMR databases, and the Gene Ontology. Loader tools, written in the C and JAVA languages, parse and load these databases into a relational database schema. The loaders also apply a degree of semantic normalization to their respective source data, decreasing semantic heterogeneity. The schema supports the following bioinformatics datatypes: chemical compounds, biochemical reactions, metabolic pathways, proteins, genes, nucleic acid sequences, features on protein and nucleic-acid sequences, organisms, organism taxonomies, and controlled vocabularies. As an application example, we applied BioWarehouse to determine the fraction of biochemically characterized enzyme activities for which no sequences exist in the public sequence databases. The answer is that no sequence exists for 36% of enzyme activities for which EC numbers have been assigned. These gaps in sequence data significantly limit the accuracy of genome annotation and metabolic pathway prediction, and are a barrier for metabolic engineering. Complex queries of this type provide examples of the value of the data warehousing approach to bioinformatics research. BioWarehouse embodies significant progress on the database integration problem for bioinformatics.

Renal dysfunction as a predictor of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation: validation of the R(2)CHADS(2) index in the ROCKET AF (Rivaroxaban Once-daily, oral, direct factor Xa inhibition Compared with vitamin K antagonism for prevention of stroke and Embolism Trial in Atrial Fibrillation) and ATRIA (AnTicoagulation and Risk factors In Atrial fibrillation) study cohorts.

PubMed

Piccini, Jonathan P; Stevens, Susanna R; Chang, YuChiao; Singer, Daniel E; Lokhnygina, Yuliya; Go, Alan S; Patel, Manesh R; Mahaffey, Kenneth W; Halperin, Jonathan L; Breithardt, Günter; Hankey, Graeme J; Hacke, Werner; Becker, Richard C; Nessel, Christopher C; Fox, Keith A A; Califf, Robert M

2013-01-15

We sought to define the factors associated with the occurrence of stroke and systemic embolism in a large, international atrial fibrillation (AF) trial. In ROCKET AF (Rivaroxaban Once-daily, oral, direct factor Xa inhibition Compared with vitamin K antagonism for prevention of stroke and Embolism Trial in Atrial Fibrillation), 14 264 patients with nonvalvular AF and creatinine clearance ≥30 mL/min were randomized to rivaroxaban or dose-adjusted warfarin. Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to identify factors at randomization independently associated with the occurrence of stroke or non-central nervous system embolism based on intention-to-treat analysis. A risk score was developed in ROCKET AF and validated in ATRIA (AnTicoagulation and Risk factors In Atrial fibrillation), an independent AF patient cohort. Over a median follow-up of 1.94 years, 575 patients (4.0%) experienced primary end-point events. Reduced creatinine clearance was a strong, independent predictor of stroke and systemic embolism, second only to prior stroke or transient ischemic attack. Additional factors associated with stroke and systemic embolism included elevated diastolic blood pressure and heart rate, as well as vascular disease of the heart and limbs (C-index 0.635). A model that included creatinine clearance (R(2)CHADS(2)) improved net reclassification index by 6.2% compared with CHA(2)DS(2)VASc (C statistic=0.578) and by 8.2% compared with CHADS(2) (C statistic=0.575). The inclusion of creatinine clearance <60 mL/min and prior stroke or transient ischemic attack in a model with no other covariates led to a C statistic of 0.590.Validation of R(2)CHADS(2) in an external, separate population improved net reclassification index by 17.4% (95% confidence interval, 12.1%-22.5%) relative to CHADS(2). In patients with nonvalvular AF at moderate to high risk of stroke, impaired renal function is a potent predictor of stroke and systemic embolism. Stroke risk stratification in patients

Third millenium ideal gas and condensed phase thermochemical database for combustion (with update from active thermochemical tables).

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Burcat, A.; Ruscic, B.; Chemistry

2005-07-29

The thermochemical database of species involved in combustion processes is and has been available for free use for over 25 years. It was first published in print in 1984, approximately 8 years after it was first assembled, and contained 215 species at the time. This is the 7th printed edition and most likely will be the last one in print in the present format, which involves substantial manual labor. The database currently contains more than 1300 species, specifically organic molecules and radicals, but also inorganic species connected to combustion and air pollution. Since 1991 this database is freely available onmore » the internet, at the Technion-IIT ftp server, and it is continuously expanded and corrected. The database is mirrored daily at an official mirror site, and at random at about a dozen unofficial mirror and 'finger' sites. The present edition contains numerous corrections and many recalculations of data of provisory type by the G3//B3LYP method, a high-accuracy composite ab initio calculation. About 300 species are newly calculated and are not yet published elsewhere. In anticipation of the full coupling, which is under development, the database started incorporating the available (as yet unpublished) values from Active Thermochemical Tables. The electronic version now also contains an XML file of the main database to allow transfer to other formats and ease finding specific information of interest. The database is used by scientists, educators, engineers and students at all levels, dealing primarily with combustion and air pollution, jet engines, rocket propulsion, fireworks, but also by researchers involved in upper atmosphere kinetics, astrophysics, abrasion metallurgy, etc. This introductory article contains explanations of the database and the means to use it, its sources, ways of calculation, and assessments of the accuracy of data.« less

A novel approach: chemical relational databases, and the role of the ISSCAN database on assessing chemical carcinogenicity.

PubMed

Benigni, Romualdo; Bossa, Cecilia; Richard, Ann M; Yang, Chihae

2008-01-01

Mutagenicity and carcinogenicity databases are crucial resources for toxicologists and regulators involved in chemicals risk assessment. Until recently, existing public toxicity databases have been constructed primarily as "look-up-tables" of existing data, and most often did not contain chemical structures. Concepts and technologies originated from the structure-activity relationships science have provided powerful tools to create new types of databases, where the effective linkage of chemical toxicity with chemical structure can facilitate and greatly enhance data gathering and hypothesis generation, by permitting: a) exploration across both chemical and biological domains; and b) structure-searchability through the data. This paper reviews the main public databases, together with the progress in the field of chemical relational databases, and presents the ISSCAN database on experimental chemical carcinogens.

Respiratory cancer database: An open access database of respiratory cancer gene and miRNA.

PubMed

Choubey, Jyotsna; Choudhari, Jyoti Kant; Patel, Ashish; Verma, Mukesh Kumar

2017-01-01

Respiratory cancer database (RespCanDB) is a genomic and proteomic database of cancer of respiratory organ. It also includes the information of medicinal plants used for the treatment of various respiratory cancers with structure of its active constituents as well as pharmacological and chemical information of drug associated with various respiratory cancers. Data in RespCanDB has been manually collected from published research article and from other databases. Data has been integrated using MySQL an object-relational database management system. MySQL manages all data in the back-end and provides commands to retrieve and store the data into the database. The web interface of database has been built in ASP. RespCanDB is expected to contribute to the understanding of scientific community regarding respiratory cancer biology as well as developments of new way of diagnosing and treating respiratory cancer. Currently, the database consist the oncogenomic information of lung cancer, laryngeal cancer, and nasopharyngeal cancer. Data for other cancers, such as oral and tracheal cancers, will be added in the near future. The URL of RespCanDB is http://ridb.subdic-bioinformatics-nitrr.in/.

Investigating Evolutionary Questions Using Online Molecular Databases.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Puterbaugh, Mary N.; Burleigh, J. Gordon

2001-01-01

Recommends using online molecular databases as teaching tools to illustrate evolutionary questions and concepts while introducing students to public molecular databases. Provides activities in which students make molecular comparisons between species. (YDS)

Quaranfil, Johnston Atoll, and Lake Chad Viruses Are Novel Members of the Family Orthomyxoviridae▿

PubMed Central

Presti, Rachel M.; Zhao, Guoyan; Beatty, Wandy L.; Mihindukulasuriya, Kathie A.; Travassos da Rosa, Amelia P. A.; Popov, Vsevolod L.; Tesh, Robert B.; Virgin, Herbert W.; Wang, David

2009-01-01

Arboviral infections are an important cause of emerging infections due to the movements of humans, animals, and hematophagous arthropods. Quaranfil virus (QRFV) is an unclassified arbovirus originally isolated from children with mild febrile illness in Quaranfil, Egypt, in 1953. It has subsequently been isolated in multiple geographic areas from ticks and birds. We used high-throughput sequencing to classify QRFV as a novel orthomyxovirus. The genome of this virus is comprised of multiple RNA segments; five were completely sequenced. Proteins with limited amino acid similarity to conserved domains in polymerase (PA, PB1, and PB2) and hemagglutinin (HA) genes from known orthomyxoviruses were predicted to be present in four of the segments. The fifth sequenced segment shared no detectable similarity to any protein and is of uncertain function. The end-terminal sequences of QRFV are conserved between segments and are different from those of the known orthomyxovirus genera. QRFV is known to cross-react serologically with two other unclassified viruses, Johnston Atoll virus (JAV) and Lake Chad virus (LKCV). The complete open reading frames of PB1 and HA were sequenced for JAV, while a fragment of PB1 of LKCV was identified by mass sequencing. QRFV and JAV PB1 and HA shared 80% and 70% amino acid identity to each other, respectively; the LKCV PB1 fragment shared 83% amino acid identity with the corresponding region of QRFV PB1. Based on phylogenetic analyses, virion ultrastructural features, and the unique end-terminal sequences identified, we propose that QRFV, JAV, and LKCV comprise a novel genus of the family Orthomyxoviridae. PMID:19726499

The Impact of Environment and Occupation on the Health and Safety of Active Duty Air Force Members - Database Development and De-Identification

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-04-01

et al. Work , obesity , and occupational safety and health . Am J Public Health . 2007; 97(3):428-436. 7. Grunberg L, Moore S, Anderson-Connolly R...AFRL-SA-WP-SR-2015-0005 The Impact of Environment and Occupation on the Health and Safety of Active Duty Air Force Members – Database...TITLE AND SUBTITLE The Impact of Environment and Occupation on the Health and Safety of Active Duty Air Force Members – Database Development and De

BioWarehouse: a bioinformatics database warehouse toolkit

PubMed Central

Lee, Thomas J; Pouliot, Yannick; Wagner, Valerie; Gupta, Priyanka; Stringer-Calvert, David WJ; Tenenbaum, Jessica D; Karp, Peter D

2006-01-01

Background This article addresses the problem of interoperation of heterogeneous bioinformatics databases. Results We introduce BioWarehouse, an open source toolkit for constructing bioinformatics database warehouses using the MySQL and Oracle relational database managers. BioWarehouse integrates its component databases into a common representational framework within a single database management system, thus enabling multi-database queries using the Structured Query Language (SQL) but also facilitating a variety of database integration tasks such as comparative analysis and data mining. BioWarehouse currently supports the integration of a pathway-centric set of databases including ENZYME, KEGG, and BioCyc, and in addition the UniProt, GenBank, NCBI Taxonomy, and CMR databases, and the Gene Ontology. Loader tools, written in the C and JAVA languages, parse and load these databases into a relational database schema. The loaders also apply a degree of semantic normalization to their respective source data, decreasing semantic heterogeneity. The schema supports the following bioinformatics datatypes: chemical compounds, biochemical reactions, metabolic pathways, proteins, genes, nucleic acid sequences, features on protein and nucleic-acid sequences, organisms, organism taxonomies, and controlled vocabularies. As an application example, we applied BioWarehouse to determine the fraction of biochemically characterized enzyme activities for which no sequences exist in the public sequence databases. The answer is that no sequence exists for 36% of enzyme activities for which EC numbers have been assigned. These gaps in sequence data significantly limit the accuracy of genome annotation and metabolic pathway prediction, and are a barrier for metabolic engineering. Complex queries of this type provide examples of the value of the data warehousing approach to bioinformatics research. Conclusion BioWarehouse embodies significant progress on the database integration problem for

First description of a Pliocene ichthyofauna from Central Africa (site KL2, Kolle area, Eastern Djurab, Chad): What do we learn?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otero, Olga; Pinton, Aurélie; Mackaye, Hassan Taisso; Likius, Andossa; Vignaud, Patrick; Brunet, Michel

2009-06-01

This is the first extensive study of a freshwater fish fauna from a Pliocene site in Central Africa, based on fossils collected at the KL2 site in the fossiliferous area of Kolle (Lower Pliocene, Chad). A relatively high fish diversity is revealed, confirming the presence of 19 taxa: Polypteriformes, Polypteridae ( Polypterus sp.); Osteoglossiformes, Osteoglossidae ( Heterotis sp.), Mormyriformes, Gymnarchidae ( Gymnarchus sp. cf. niloticus); Cypriniformes, Cyprinidae ( Labeo sp.); Characiformes, Alestidae ( Hydrocynus; Alestinae type Alestes/ Brycinus; Sindacharax sp. cf. deserti, Sindacharax sp.), Distichodontidae ( Distichodus sp.); Siluriformes, Ariidae (cf. Calarius), ?Bagridae (cf. Bagrus), Claroteidae (cf. Clarotes), Mochokidae ( Synodontis sp.), Clariidae ( Clarias sp. or Heterobranchus sp.); Perciformes family indet. ( Semlikiichthys sp. cf. darsao), Latidae ( Lates sp. cf. niloticus), Cichlidae indet., and Perciformes indet.; Tetraodontiformes Tetraodontidae ( Tetraodon sp.). The aquatic environment corresponding to the fossil fish assemblage might be a floodplain crossed by well-oxygenated open waters. Compared with a contemporaneous East African region, the mid-Pliocene Chadian fish diversity reveals a certain endemicity, while connections between the Niger and the Chadian basin are suspected because of the presence of a freshwater ariid fish in Kolle.

Lake Yoa (Northern Chad): A Seasonal Footprint of 10,500 Years of Climate Change in the Sahara

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kroepelin, S.; Cocquyt, C.; Darius, F.; Dinies, M.; Francus, P.; Just, J.; Karls, J.; Kuper, J.; Lézine, A. M.; Mallaye, B.; Melles, M.; Sylvestre, F.; Viehberg, F. A.; Wennrich, V.

2016-12-01

We present Africa's most complete Holocene climate record in a long awaited breakthrough that few would have expected in one of the driest and most remote parts of the Sahara, the planet's major hot desert. A 16 m thick continuous sequence of seasonally laminated (varved) deposits at the bottom of a now fully groundwater-supported oasis lake at Ounianga Kebir in northern Chad extends our earlier 6,000 year record published in 2008 back to the onset of postglacial humid conditions 10,500 years ago in unrivalled detail. Main results indicate a rather slow regreening in northern Africa after 100,000 years of apparently continuous late Pleistocene aridity; precisely define the severe environmental impact of global climate events such as the 8,200 BP North Atlantic cooling even in hypercontinental positions far away from the oceans; and corroborate the gradual termination of the last "Green Sahara" period over millennia. Lake Yoa's varve count-controlled age model also shows the high error potential of the existing 14C chronology from bulk carbonate-dated paleolacustrine archives elsewhere in the Sahara and provides a basis for its correction. The new terrestrial multiproxy data set discloses agreements and discrepancies to marine and ice core data, and numeric climate models. As a natural analogue, it helps to foresee how North Africa's climate and environments might evolve due to anthropogenic global warming.

The GEM Global Active Faults Database: The growth and synthesis of a worldwide database of active structures for PSHA, research, and education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Styron, R. H.; Garcia, J.; Pagani, M.

2017-12-01

A global catalog of active faults is a resource of value to a wide swath of the geoscience, earthquake engineering, and hazards risk communities. Though construction of such a dataset has been attempted now and again through the past few decades, success has been elusive. The Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation has been working on this problem, as a fundamental step in its goal of making a global seismic hazard model. Progress on the assembly of the database is rapid, with the concatenation of many national—, orogen—, and continental—scale datasets produced by different research groups throughout the years. However, substantial data gaps exist throughout much of the deforming world, requiring new mapping based on existing publications as well as consideration of seismicity, geodesy and remote sensing data. Thus far, new fault datasets have been created for the Caribbean and Central America, North Africa, and northeastern Asia, with Madagascar, Canada and a few other regions in the queue. The second major task, as formidable as the initial data concatenation, is the 'harmonization' of data. This entails the removal or recombination of duplicated structures, reconciliation of contrastinginterpretations in areas of overlap, and the synthesis of many different types of attributes or metadata into a consistent whole. In a project of this scale, the methods used in the database construction are as critical to project success as the data themselves. After some experimentation, we have settled on an iterative methodology that involves rapid accumulation of data followed by successive episodes of data revision, and a computer-scripted data assembly using GIS file formats that is flexible, reproducible, and as able as possible to cope with updates to the constituent datasets. We find that this approach of initially maximizing coverage and then increasing resolution is the most robust to regional data problems and the most amenable to continued updates and

Recently active traces of the Bartlett Springs Fault, California: a digital database

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lienkaemper, James J.

2010-01-01

The purpose of this map is to show the location of and evidence for recent movement on active fault traces within the Bartlett Springs Fault Zone, California. The location and recency of the mapped traces is primarily based on geomorphic expression of the fault as interpreted from large-scale aerial photography. In a few places, evidence of fault creep and offset Holocene strata in trenches and natural exposures have confirmed the activity of some of these traces. This publication is formatted both as a digital database for use within a geographic information system (GIS) and for broader public access as map images that may be browsed on-line or download a summary map. The report text describes the types of scientific observations used to make the map, gives references pertaining to the fault and the evidence of faulting, and provides guidance for use of and limitations of the map.

Recently Active Traces of the Berryessa Fault, California: A Digital Database

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lienkaemper, James J.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this map is to show the location of and evidence for recent movement on active fault traces within the Berryessa section and parts of adjacent sections of the Green Valley Fault Zone, California. The location and recency of the mapped traces is primarily based on geomorphic expression of the fault as interpreted from large-scale 2010 aerial photography and from 2007 and 2011 0.5 and 1.0 meter bare-earth LiDAR imagery (that is, high-resolution topographic data). In a few places, evidence of fault creep and offset Holocene strata in trenches and natural exposures have confirmed the activity of some of these traces. This publication is formatted both as a digital database for use within a geographic information system (GIS) and for broader public access as map images that may be browsed on-line or download a summary map. The report text describes the types of scientific observations used to make the map, gives references pertaining to the fault and the evidence of faulting, and provides guidance for use of and limitations of the map.

Tennis Shoe Town. Marketing & Cooperative Education Database Application Unit. Database Applications for Marketing Operations and Selling Units.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forrest, Melanie D.

This curriculum guide is intended for Missouri teachers teaching a course in database applications for high school students enrolled in marketing and cooperative education. The curriculum presented includes learning activities in which students are taught to analyze database tables containing the types of data typically encountered by employees…

Reef Ecosystem Services and Decision Support Database

EPA Science Inventory

This scientific and management information database utilizes systems thinking to describe the linkages between decisions, human activities, and provisioning of reef ecosystem goods and services. This database provides: (1) Hierarchy of related topics - Click on topics to navigat...

TWRS technical baseline database manager definition document

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Acree, C.D.

1997-08-13

This document serves as a guide for using the TWRS Technical Baseline Database Management Systems Engineering (SE) support tool in performing SE activities for the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS). This document will provide a consistent interpretation of the relationships between the TWRS Technical Baseline Database Management software and the present TWRS SE practices. The Database Manager currently utilized is the RDD-1000 System manufactured by the Ascent Logic Corporation. In other documents, the term RDD-1000 may be used interchangeably with TWRS Technical Baseline Database Manager.

Surveillance of obesity-related policies in multiple environments: the Missouri Obesity, Nutrition, and Activity Policy Database, 2007-2009.

PubMed

Haire-Joshu, Debra; Elliott, Michael; Schermbeck, Rebecca; Taricone, Elsa; Green, Scoie; Brownson, Ross C

2010-07-01

The objective of this study was to develop the Missouri Obesity, Nutrition, and Activity Policy Database, a geographically representative baseline of Missouri's existing obesity-related local policies on healthy eating and physical activity. The database is organized to reflect 7 local environments (government, community, health care, worksite, school, after school, and child care) and to describe the prevalence of obesity-related policies in these environments. We employed a stratified nested cluster design using key informant interviews and review of public records to sample 2,356 sites across the 7 target environments for the presence or absence of obesity-related policies. The school environment had the most policies (88%), followed by after school (47%) and health care (32%). Community, government, and child care environments reported smaller proportions of obesity-related policies but higher rates of funding for these policies. Worksite environments had low numbers of obesity-related policies and low funding levels (17% and 6%, respectively). Sixteen of the sampled counties had high obesity-related policy occurrence; 65 had moderate and 8 had low occurrences. Except in Missouri schools, the presence of obesity-related policies is limited. More obesity-related policies are needed so that people have access to environments that support the model behaviors necessary to halt the obesity epidemic. The Missouri Obesity, Nutrition, and Activity Policy Database provides a benchmark for evaluating progress toward the development of obesity-related policies across multiple environments in Missouri.

Whole exome sequencing in 75 high-risk families with validation and replication in independent case-control studies identifies TANGO2, OR5H14, and CHAD as new prostate cancer susceptibility genes.

PubMed

Karyadi, Danielle M; Geybels, Milan S; Karlins, Eric; Decker, Brennan; McIntosh, Laura; Hutchinson, Amy; Kolb, Suzanne; McDonnell, Shannon K; Hicks, Belynda; Middha, Sumit; FitzGerald, Liesel M; DeRycke, Melissa S; Yeager, Meredith; Schaid, Daniel J; Chanock, Stephen J; Thibodeau, Stephen N; Berndt, Sonja I; Stanford, Janet L; Ostrander, Elaine A

2017-01-03

Prostate cancer (PCa) susceptibility is defined by a continuum from rare, high-penetrance to common, low-penetrance alleles. Research to date has concentrated on identification of variants at the ends of that continuum. Taking an alternate approach, we focused on the important but elusive class of low-frequency, moderately penetrant variants by performing disease model-based variant filtering of whole exome sequence data from 75 hereditary PCa families. Analysis of 341 candidate risk variants identified nine variants significantly associated with increased PCa risk in a population-based, case-control study of 2,495 men. In an independent nested case-control study of 7,121 men, there was risk association evidence for TANGO2 p.Ser17Ter and the established HOXB13 p.Gly84Glu variant. Meta-analysis combining the case-control studies identified two additional variants suggestively associated with risk, OR5H14 p.Met59Val and CHAD p.Ala342Asp. The TANGO2 and HOXB13 variants co-occurred in cases more often than expected by chance and never in controls. Finally, TANGO2 p.Ser17Ter was associated with aggressive disease in both case-control studies separately. Our analyses identified three new PCa susceptibility alleles in the TANGO2, OR5H14 and CHAD genes that not only segregate in multiple high-risk families but are also of importance in altering disease risk for men from the general population. This is the first successful study to utilize sequencing in high-risk families for the express purpose of identifying low-frequency, moderately penetrant PCa risk mutations.

A database about the tornadic activity in Catalonia (NE Spain) since 1994

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morales, M. E.; Arús, J.; Llasat, M. C.; Castán, S.

2009-09-01

Although tornadic activity is not the most important hazard in Spain, the damages that tornadoes and downburst generate are considerable in urban areas, giving place in some occasions to casualties. In Spain, the oldest systematic works collecting data about tornadoes, refer to the Balearic Islands, although some series about tornadoes in Spain have also been collected and analysed (Gayà, 2005). These series shows a positive increase that is probably more related to a change in the perception level of the population than to climatic change. In some occasions it is difficult to separate the damages produced by the tornado itself from those produced by other associated hazards like heavy rains, hail or a wind storms. It was the case of the September 2006 event, in which flash floods and tornadoes were recorded. In the same sense in some occasions, damages produced by a downsburt are confused with those that produced by a tornado. Having in mind all these facts, having a good systematic data base about tornadoes is necessary, before to obtain some conclusions not enough justified. This kind of database is not easy to obtain, because of it requires to have detailed information about damages, meteorological observations and testimonies that has to be filtered by a good quality control. After a general presentation about tornadoes and downsbursts in Mediterranean Region, this contribution presents the database that have affected Catalonia during the period 1994-2009, starting with the tornado recorded on the Espluga de Francolí the 31 August 1994.This database has been built in basis to the AEMET information, the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros (the insurance company of Spain for natural disasters), the newspapers and field visits to the affected places.

The Neotoma Paleoecology Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grimm, E. C.; Ashworth, A. C.; Barnosky, A. D.; Betancourt, J. L.; Bills, B.; Booth, R.; Blois, J.; Charles, D. F.; Graham, R. W.; Goring, S. J.; Hausmann, S.; Smith, A. J.; Williams, J. W.; Buckland, P.

2015-12-01

The Neotoma Paleoecology Database (www.neotomadb.org) is a multiproxy, open-access, relational database that includes fossil data for the past 5 million years (the late Neogene and Quaternary Periods). Modern distributional data for various organisms are also being made available for calibration and paleoecological analyses. The project is a collaborative effort among individuals from more than 20 institutions worldwide, including domain scientists representing a spectrum of Pliocene-Quaternary fossil data types, as well as experts in information technology. Working groups are active for diatoms, insects, ostracodes, pollen and plant macroscopic remains, testate amoebae, rodent middens, vertebrates, age models, geochemistry and taphonomy. Groups are also active in developing online tools for data analyses and for developing modules for teaching at different levels. A key design concept of NeotomaDB is that stewards for various data types are able to remotely upload and manage data. Cooperatives for different kinds of paleo data, or from different regions, can appoint their own stewards. Over the past year, much progress has been made on development of the steward software-interface that will enable this capability. The steward interface uses web services that provide access to the database. More generally, these web services enable remote programmatic access to the database, which both desktop and web applications can use and which provide real-time access to the most current data. Use of these services can alleviate the need to download the entire database, which can be out-of-date as soon as new data are entered. In general, the Neotoma web services deliver data either from an entire table or from the results of a view. Upon request, new web services can be quickly generated. Future developments will likely expand the spatial and temporal dimensions of the database. NeotomaDB is open to receiving new datasets and stewards from the global Quaternary community

Analysis of commercial and public bioactivity databases.

PubMed

Tiikkainen, Pekka; Franke, Lutz

2012-02-27

Activity data for small molecules are invaluable in chemoinformatics. Various bioactivity databases exist containing detailed information of target proteins and quantitative binding data for small molecules extracted from journals and patents. In the current work, we have merged several public and commercial bioactivity databases into one bioactivity metabase. The molecular presentation, target information, and activity data of the vendor databases were standardized. The main motivation of the work was to create a single relational database which allows fast and simple data retrieval by in-house scientists. Second, we wanted to know the amount of overlap between databases by commercial and public vendors to see whether the former contain data complementing the latter. Third, we quantified the degree of inconsistency between data sources by comparing data points derived from the same scientific article cited by more than one vendor. We found that each data source contains unique data which is due to different scientific articles cited by the vendors. When comparing data derived from the same article we found that inconsistencies between the vendors are common. In conclusion, using databases of different vendors is still useful since the data overlap is not complete. It should be noted that this can be partially explained by the inconsistencies and errors in the source data.

Solar Sail Propulsion Technology Readiness Level Database

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adams, Charles L.

2004-01-01

The NASA In-Space Propulsion Technology (ISPT) Projects Office has been sponsoring 2 solar sail system design and development hardware demonstration activities over the past 20 months. Able Engineering Company (AEC) of Goleta, CA is leading one team and L Garde, Inc. of Tustin, CA is leading the other team. Component, subsystem and system fabrication and testing has been completed successfully. The goal of these activities is to advance the technology readiness level (TRL) of solar sail propulsion from 3 towards 6 by 2006. These activities will culminate in the deployment and testing of 20-meter solar sail system ground demonstration hardware in the 30 meter diameter thermal-vacuum chamber at NASA Glenn Plum Brook in 2005. This paper will describe the features of a computer database system that documents the results of the solar sail development activities to-date. Illustrations of the hardware components and systems, test results, analytical models, relevant space environment definition and current TRL assessment, as stored and manipulated within the database are presented. This database could serve as a central repository for all data related to the advancement of solar sail technology sponsored by the ISPT, providing an up-to-date assessment of the TRL of this technology. Current plans are to eventually make the database available to the Solar Sail community through the Space Transportation Information Network (STIN).

The EUVE Proposal Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christian, C. A.; Olson, E. C.

1993-01-01

The proposal database and scheduling system for the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer is described. The proposal database has been implemented to take input for approved observations selected by the EUVE Peer Review Panel and output target information suitable for the scheduling system to digest. The scheduling system is a hybrid of the SPIKE program and EUVE software which checks spacecraft constraints, produces a proposed schedule and selects spacecraft orientations with optimal configurations for acquiring star trackers, etc. This system is used to schedule the In Orbit Calibration activities that took place this summer, following the EUVE launch in early June 1992. The strategy we have implemented has implications for the selection of approved targets, which have impacted the Peer Review process. In addition, we will discuss how the proposal database, founded on Sybase, controls the processing of EUVE Guest Observer data.

A method for constructing time series of dune mobility by optical cross correlation, with application to the Bodélé Depression of northern Chad (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vermeesch, P.

2010-12-01

Saharan dust fertilizes the Atlantic Ocean and increases the albedo of the Earth. A better understanding of changes in dust production is therefore important for climate models. The Bodélé Depression of northern Chad is the single most important point source of dust on the planet. This is due to a unique combination of strong winds and the presence of easily transported diatomite, which was deposited by Palaeolake Megachad during the early Holocene. Field studies have indicated that this diatomite is ejected into the atmosphere by eddies and turbulences associated with the horns of large barchan dunes. Most dust production takes place during storms, and this is also when the dunes move the most. Because of this common mechanism, changes in dust production should be correlated with changes in historical dune migration rates. To test this hypothesis, a method was developed to reconstruct a time series of dune mobility by sequential analysis of archival Landsat, SPOT, ASTER, and declassified US spy imagery. The method uses the COSI-Corr change detection algorithm [1,2] and three filters to select the best dune pixels. First, the correlations with the highest signal-to-noise ratios are selected. Second, a 'consistency' filter is used to select those displacements of which the forward and backward correlations cancel each other out. Third, a directional filter is applied to select only those pixels moving in a constant direction, in order to separate the dunes from the interdunes. Plotting the forward looking displacements (e.g., from 1987 to 1990) against the backward looking displacements (e.g., from 1987 to 1984) enables a direct comparison of the relative displacements for exactly the same pixel locations. Finally, all these correlations are tied together to form a single time series. [1] Leprince, S., Berthier, E., Ayoub, F., Delacourt, C. and Avouac, J. P., 2008. Monitoring Earth Surface Dynamics with Optical Imagery, EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical

Survey of Machine Learning Methods for Database Security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamra, Ashish; Ber, Elisa

Application of machine learning techniques to database security is an emerging area of research. In this chapter, we present a survey of various approaches that use machine learning/data mining techniques to enhance the traditional security mechanisms of databases. There are two key database security areas in which these techniques have found applications, namely, detection of SQL Injection attacks and anomaly detection for defending against insider threats. Apart from the research prototypes and tools, various third-party commercial products are also available that provide database activity monitoring solutions by profiling database users and applications. We present a survey of such products. We end the chapter with a primer on mechanisms for responding to database anomalies.

CD-ROM-aided Databases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masuyama, Keiichi

CD-ROM has rapidly evolved as a new information medium with large capacity, In the U.S. it is predicted that it will become two hundred billion yen market in three years, and thus CD-ROM is strategic target of database industry. Here in Japan the movement toward its commercialization has been active since this year. Shall CD-ROM bussiness ever conquer information market as an on-disk database or electronic publication? Referring to some cases of the applications in the U.S. the author views marketability and the future trend of this new optical disk medium.

Trends in active pharmaceutical ingredient salt selection based on analysis of the Orange Book database.

PubMed

Paulekuhn, G Steffen; Dressman, Jennifer B; Saal, Christoph

2007-12-27

The Orange Book database published by the U.S. Drug and Food Administration (FDA) was analyzed for the frequency of occurrence of different counterions used for the formation of pharmaceutical salts. The data obtained from the present analysis of the Orange Book are compared to reviews of the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) and of the Martindale "The Extra Pharmacopoeia". As well as showing overall distributions of counterion usage, results are broken down into 5-year increments to identify trends in counterion selection. Chloride ions continue to be the most frequently utilized anionic counterions for the formation of salts as active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), while sodium ions are most widely utilized for the formation of salts starting from acidic molecules. A strong trend toward a wider variety of counterions over the past decade is observed. This trend can be explained by a stronger need to improve physical chemical properties of research and development compounds.

JICST Factual Database JICST DNA Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shirokizawa, Yoshiko; Abe, Atsushi

Japan Information Center of Science and Technology (JICST) has started the on-line service of DNA database in October 1988. This database is composed of EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Library and Genetic Sequence Data Bank. The authors outline the database system, data items and search commands. Examples of retrieval session are presented.

The androgen receptor gene mutations database.

PubMed

Patterson, M N; Hughes, I A; Gottlieb, B; Pinsky, L

1994-09-01

The androgen receptor gene mutations database is a comprehensive listing of mutations published in journals and meetings proceedings. The majority of mutations are point mutations identified in patients with androgen insensitivity syndrome. Information is included regarding the phenotype, the nature and location of the mutations, as well as the effects of the mutations on the androgen binding activity of the receptor. The current version of the database contains 149 entries, of which 114 are unique mutations. The database is available from EMBL (NetServ@EMBL-Heidelberg.DE) or as a Macintosh Filemaker file (mc33001@musica.mcgill.ca).

Assessment of groundwater potential of the crystalline basement of Wadi-Fira (Eastern Chad) using a multi-criteria correlation analysis and Remote Sensing data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brahim Mahamat, Hamza; Coz Mathieu, Le; Abderamane, Hamit; Razack, Moumtaz

2017-04-01

Access to water in the Wadi-Fira aquifer system is a crucial problem in Eastern Chad because of (i) the complexity of the hydrogeological context (fractured basement), (ii) large extent of the study area (50,000 km2); And (iii) hard-to-access field data (only 34 water points were available to determine physicochemical and hydrodynamic parameters) often associated with high uncertainty. This groundwater resource is paramount in this arid environment, to meet the water needs of an increasingly growing population (refugees from Darfur) with a predominant pastoral activity. In order to optimally exploit the available data, correlative analyzes are carried out by integrating the spatial dimension of the data with GIS tools. A three-step strategy is thus implemented, based on: (i) point field data with physicochemical and hydrodynamic parameters; (ii) maps interpolated from point data, to increase the number of ''comparable'' parameters for each site; and (iii) interpolated maps coupled to maps from Remote Sensing results describing the area's structural geomorphology (slopes, hydrographic network, faults). The first results show marked correlations between physico-chemical and hydrodynamical parameters. According to the correlation matrix, the static level correlates significantly with the dominant cations (Ca2+ ; R = 0.52) and anions (HCO3- ; R = 0.53). Correlations are lower between electrical conductivity and transmissivity, and electrical conductivity and measured static level. A negative correlation is observed between Fluorine and transmissivity (r = -0.65), and the altered horizon (r = -0.5). The most significant discharges are obtained in fissured horizons. The correlative analysis allowsto differentiate mapped sectors according to the productivity and chemical quality regarding groundwater resource. Keywords: Hydrodynamics, Hydrochemistry, Remote Sensing, SRTM, Basement aquifer, Alteration, Lineaments, Wadi-Fira, Tchad.

Development and Mining of a Volatile Organic Compound Database

PubMed Central

Abdullah, Azian Azamimi; Ono, Naoaki; Sugiura, Tadao; Morita, Aki Hirai; Katsuragi, Tetsuo; Muto, Ai; Nishioka, Takaaki; Kanaya, Shigehiko

2015-01-01

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are small molecules that exhibit high vapor pressure under ambient conditions and have low boiling points. Although VOCs contribute only a small proportion of the total metabolites produced by living organisms, they play an important role in chemical ecology specifically in the biological interactions between organisms and ecosystems. VOCs are also important in the health care field as they are presently used as a biomarker to detect various human diseases. Information on VOCs is scattered in the literature until now; however, there is still no available database describing VOCs and their biological activities. To attain this purpose, we have developed KNApSAcK Metabolite Ecology Database, which contains the information on the relationships between VOCs and their emitting organisms. The KNApSAcK Metabolite Ecology is also linked with the KNApSAcK Core and KNApSAcK Metabolite Activity Database to provide further information on the metabolites and their biological activities. The VOC database can be accessed online. PMID:26495281

An Introduction to Database Structure and Database Machines.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Detweiler, Karen

1984-01-01

Enumerates principal management objectives of database management systems (data independence, quality, security, multiuser access, central control) and criteria for comparison (response time, size, flexibility, other features). Conventional database management systems, relational databases, and database machines used for backend processing are…

Coverage of pilot parenteral vaccination campaign against canine rabies in N'Djaména, Chad.

PubMed Central

Kayali, U.; Mindekem, R.; Yémadji, N.; Vounatsou, P.; Kaninga, Y.; Ndoutamia, A. G.; Zinsstag, J.

2003-01-01

Canine rabies, and thus human exposure to rabies, can be controlled through mass vaccination of the animal reservoir if dog owners are willing to cooperate. Inaccessible, ownerless dogs, however, reduce the vaccination coverage achieved in parenteral campaigns. This study aimed to estimate the vaccination coverage in dogs in three study zones of N'Djaména, Chad, after a pilot free parenteral mass vaccination campaign against rabies. We used a capture-mark-recapture approach for population estimates, with a Bayesian, Markov chain, Monte Carlo method to estimate the total number of owned dogs, and the ratio of ownerless to owned dogs to calculate vaccination coverage. When we took into account ownerless dogs, the vaccination coverage in the dog populations was 87% (95% confidence interval (CI), 84-89%) in study zone I, 71% (95% CI, 64-76%) in zone II, and 64% (95% CI, 58-71%) in zone III. The proportions of ownerless dogs to owned dogs were 1.1% (95% CI, 0-3.1%), 7.6% (95% CI, 0.7-16.5%), and 10.6% (95% CI, 1.6-19.1%) in the three study zones, respectively. Vaccination coverage in the three populations of owned dogs was 88% (95% CI, 84-92%) in zone I, 76% (95% CI, 71-81%) in zone II, and 70% (95% CI, 66-76%) in zone III. Participation of dog owners in the free campaign was high, and the number of inaccessible ownerless dogs was low. High levels of vaccination coverage could be achieved with parenteral mass vaccination. Regular parenteral vaccination campaigns to cover all of N'Djaména should be considered as an ethical way of preventing human rabies when post-exposure treatment is of limited availability and high in cost. PMID:14758434

The U.S. Geological Survey mapping and cartographic database activities, 2006-2010

USGS Publications Warehouse

Craun, Kari J.; Donnelly, John P.; Allord, Gregory J.

2011-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began systematic topographic mapping of the United States in the 1880s, beginning with scales of 1:250,000 and 1:125,000 in support of geological mapping. Responding to the need for higher resolution and more detail, the 1:62,500-scale, 15-minute, topographic map series was begun in the beginning of the 20th century. Finally, in the 1950s the USGS adopted the 1:24,000-scale, 7.5-minute topographic map series to portray even more detail, completing the coverage of the conterminous 48 states of the United States with this series in 1992. In 2001, the USGS developed the vision and concept of The National Map, a topographic database for the 21st century and the source for a new generation of topographic maps (http://nationalmap.gov/). In 2008, the initial production of those maps began with a 1:24,000-scale digital product. In a separate, but related project, the USGS began scanning the existing inventory of historical topographic maps at all scales to accompany the new topographic maps. The USGS also had developed a digital database of The National Atlas of the United States. The digital version of Atlas is now Web-available and supports a mapping engine for small scale maps of the United States and North America. These three efforts define topographic mapping activities of the USGS during the last few years and are discussed below.

The Eruption Forecasting Information System (EFIS) database project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogburn, Sarah; Harpel, Chris; Pesicek, Jeremy; Wellik, Jay; Pallister, John; Wright, Heather

2016-04-01

The Eruption Forecasting Information System (EFIS) project is a new initiative of the U.S. Geological Survey-USAID Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP) with the goal of enhancing VDAP's ability to forecast the outcome of volcanic unrest. The EFIS project seeks to: (1) Move away from relying on the collective memory to probability estimation using databases (2) Create databases useful for pattern recognition and for answering common VDAP questions; e.g. how commonly does unrest lead to eruption? how commonly do phreatic eruptions portend magmatic eruptions and what is the range of antecedence times? (3) Create generic probabilistic event trees using global data for different volcano 'types' (4) Create background, volcano-specific, probabilistic event trees for frequently active or particularly hazardous volcanoes in advance of a crisis (5) Quantify and communicate uncertainty in probabilities A major component of the project is the global EFIS relational database, which contains multiple modules designed to aid in the construction of probabilistic event trees and to answer common questions that arise during volcanic crises. The primary module contains chronologies of volcanic unrest, including the timing of phreatic eruptions, column heights, eruptive products, etc. and will be initially populated using chronicles of eruptive activity from Alaskan volcanic eruptions in the GeoDIVA database (Cameron et al. 2013). This database module allows us to query across other global databases such as the WOVOdat database of monitoring data and the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program (GVP) database of eruptive histories and volcano information. The EFIS database is in the early stages of development and population; thus, this contribution also serves as a request for feedback from the community.

Scale out databases for CERN use cases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baranowski, Zbigniew; Grzybek, Maciej; Canali, Luca; Lanza Garcia, Daniel; Surdy, Kacper

2015-12-01

Data generation rates are expected to grow very fast for some database workloads going into LHC run 2 and beyond. In particular this is expected for data coming from controls, logging and monitoring systems. Storing, administering and accessing big data sets in a relational database system can quickly become a very hard technical challenge, as the size of the active data set and the number of concurrent users increase. Scale-out database technologies are a rapidly developing set of solutions for deploying and managing very large data warehouses on commodity hardware and with open source software. In this paper we will describe the architecture and tests on database systems based on Hadoop and the Cloudera Impala engine. We will discuss the results of our tests, including tests of data loading and integration with existing data sources and in particular with relational databases. We will report on query performance tests done with various data sets of interest at CERN, notably data from the accelerator log database.

Malnutrition and Mortality Patterns among Internally Displaced and Non-Displaced Population Living in a Camp, a Village or a Town in Eastern Chad

PubMed Central

Guerrier, Gilles; Zounoun, Malaïka; Delarosa, Olimpia; Defourny, Isabelle; Lacharite, Michelo; Brown, Vincent; Pedalino, Biagio

2009-01-01

Background Certain population groups have been rendered vulnerable in Chad because of displacement of more than 200,000 people over the last three years as a result of mass violence against civilians in the east of the country. The objective of the study was to assess mortality and nutritional patterns among displaced and non-displaced population living in camps, villages and a town in the Ouddaï and Salamat regions of Chad. Methodology Between May and October 2007, two stage, 30-cluster household surveys were conducted among 43,900 internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in camps in Ouaddai region (n = 898 households), among 19,400 non-displaced persons (NDPs) living in 42 villages in Ouaddai region (n = 900 households) and among 17,000 NDPs living in a small town in Salamat region (n = 901 households). Data collection included anthropometric measurements, measles vaccination rates and retrospective mortality. Crude mortality rate (CMR), mortality rate among children younger than 5 years (U5MR), causes of death and the prevalence of wasting (weight-for-height z score <−2) among children aged 6 to 59 months were the main outcome measures. Conclusions The CMR among the 4902 IDPs in Gozbeida camps, 4477 NDPs living in a village and 4073 NDPs living in a town surveyed was 1.8 (95% CI, 1.2–2.8), 0.3 (95% CI, 0.2–0.4), 0.3 (95% CI, 0.2–0.5) per 10,000 per day, respectively. The U5MR in a camp (n = 904), a village (n = 956) and a town (n = 901) was 4.1 (95% CI, 2.1–7.7), 0.5 (95% CI, 0.3–0.9) and 0.7 (95% CI, 0.4–1.4) per 10,000 per day, respectively. Diarrhoea was reported to be the main cause of death. Acute malnutrition rates (according to the WHO definition) among 904 IDP children, 956 NDPs children living in a village, 901 NDP children living in a town aged 6 to 59 months were 20.6% (95% CI, 17.9%–23.3%), 16.4% (95% CI, 14.0%–18.8%) and 10.1% (95% CI, 8.1%–12.2%) respectively. The study found a high mortality rate

Malnutrition and mortality patterns among internally displaced and non-displaced population living in a camp, a village or a town in Eastern Chad.

PubMed

Guerrier, Gilles; Zounoun, Malaïka; Delarosa, Olimpia; Defourny, Isabelle; Lacharite, Michelo; Brown, Vincent; Pedalino, Biagio

2009-11-26

Certain population groups have been rendered vulnerable in Chad because of displacement of more than 200,000 people over the last three years as a result of mass violence against civilians in the east of the country. The objective of the study was to assess mortality and nutritional patterns among displaced and non-displaced population living in camps, villages and a town in the Ouddaï and Salamat regions of Chad. Between May and October 2007, two stage, 30-cluster household surveys were conducted among 43,900 internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in camps in Ouaddai region (n = 898 households), among 19,400 non-displaced persons (NDPs) living in 42 villages in Ouaddai region (n = 900 households) and among 17,000 NDPs living in a small town in Salamat region (n = 901 households). Data collection included anthropometric measurements, measles vaccination rates and retrospective mortality. Crude mortality rate (CMR), mortality rate among children younger than 5 years (U5MR), causes of death and the prevalence of wasting (weight-for-height z score <-2) among children aged 6 to 59 months were the main outcome measures. The CMR among the 4902 IDPs in Gozbeida camps, 4477 NDPs living in a village and 4073 NDPs living in a town surveyed was 1.8 (95% CI, 1.2-2.8), 0.3 (95% CI, 0.2-0.4), 0.3 (95% CI, 0.2-0.5) per 10,000 per day, respectively. The U5MR in a camp (n = 904), a village (n = 956) and a town (n = 901) was 4.1 (95% CI, 2.1-7.7), 0.5 (95% CI, 0.3-0.9) and 0.7 (95% CI, 0.4-1.4) per 10,000 per day, respectively. Diarrhoea was reported to be the main cause of death. Acute malnutrition rates (according to the WHO definition) among 904 IDP children, 956 NDPs children living in a village, 901 NDP children living in a town aged 6 to 59 months were 20.6% (95% CI, 17.9%-23.3%), 16.4% (95% CI, 14.0%-18.8%) and 10.1% (95% CI, 8.1%-12.2%) respectively. The study found a high mortality rate among IDPs and an elevated prevalence of wasting not only in IDP camps but also in

Seroprevalence of Rift Valley fever, Q fever, and brucellosis in ruminants on the southeastern shore of Lake Chad.

PubMed

Abakar, Mahamat Fayiz; Naré, Ngandolo B; Schelling, Esther; Hattendorf, Jan; Alfaroukh, Idriss O; Zinsstag, Jakob

2014-10-01

The seroprevalence of Rift Valley fever (RVF), brucellosis, and Q fever among domestic ruminants on the southeastern shore of Lake Chad was studied. The study area consisted of two parts, including mainland and islands. On the mainland, the study was conducted in nine randomly selected villages and camps. On the islands, samples were collected from all four available sites. A total of 985 serum samples were collected and 924 were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for RVF. A total of 561 samples collected from islands were analyzed using ELISA for Q fever and both ELISA and Rose Bengal tests (RBT) for brucellosis. The apparent RVF seroprevalence by species was 37.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] 34.2-41.3) in cattle, 18.8% (95% CI 12.3-25.2) in goats, and 10.8% (95% CI 3.0-18.5) in sheep. For brucellosis and Q fever, only cattle samples from islands were analyzed. For Q fever, the apparent seroprevalence was 7.8% (95% CI 5.6-10.1). For brucellosis, the RBT showed a prevalence of 5.7% (95% CI 3.8-7.6), and ELISA showed 11.9% (95% CI 9.3-14.6) with a kappa value of 0.53 showing a moderate agreement between the two tests. This study confirms the presence of the three diseases in the study area. More research is required to assess the importance for public health and conservation of the Kouri cattle breed.

Influence of the surface permeability on the GRACE water mass variations. Case of the Lake Chad basin.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopez, T.; Ramillien, G.; Antoine, R.; Darrozes, J.; Rabinowicz, M.

2017-12-01

Since its launch in 2002, the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) has been measured the tiny variations of the gravity field due to redistributions of water mass in the surface envelops of Earth. At a spatial resolution of 400 km, these satellite data offer a unique perspective to understand the evolution of continental water storage at regional and global scales, and therefore they enable the monitoring of the hydrological systems such as river basins. It is well known that seasonal cycle, droughts, vegetation and human extractions are the main contributors of the hydrology signals sensed by GRACE. However, the coupling between land surface and the atmosphere is important in semi-arid and arid regions, in particular in West Africa [1]. We propose to quantify the surface water fluxes in the Lake Chad region by using the 10-day water mass solutions of the GRACE mission in the context of the regular West African monsoon. Alternation of the evaporation/condensation cycles during the recent period are interpreted in terms of surface vertical permeability changes that control the thermal evolution in this region [2]. GRACE solutions reveal an interannual increase of surface water mass at the beginning of the dry seasons, especially between 2005 and 2008. We propose that this gain of surface water mass is caused by a seasonal cycle of clay fracturing that controls the evaporation/condensation cycle. [1] Koster et al. (2004). Science, 305, 1138-1140. [2] Lopez et al. (2016). Surv. Geophys., 37 (2), 471-502.

Historical seismometry database project: A comprehensive relational database for historical seismic records

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bono, Andrea

2007-01-01

The recovery and preservation of the patrimony made of the instrumental registrations regarding the historical earthquakes is with no doubt a subject of great interest. This attention, besides being purely historical, must necessarily be also scientific. In fact, the availability of a great amount of parametric information on the seismic activity in a given area is a doubtless help to the seismologic researcher's activities. In this article the project of the Sismos group of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology of Rome new database is presented. In the structure of the new scheme the matured experience of five years of activity is summarized. We consider it useful for those who are approaching to "recovery and reprocess" computer based facilities. In the past years several attempts on Italian seismicity have followed each other. It has almost never been real databases. Some of them have had positive success because they were well considered and organized. In others it was limited in supplying lists of events with their relative hypocentral standards. What makes this project more interesting compared to the previous work is the completeness and the generality of the managed information. For example, it will be possible to view the hypocentral information regarding a given historical earthquake; it will be possible to research the seismograms in raster, digital or digitalized format, the information on times of arrival of the phases in the various stations, the instrumental standards and so on. The relational modern logic on which the archive is based, allows the carrying out of all these operations with little effort. The database described below will completely substitute Sismos' current data bank. Some of the organizational principles of this work are similar to those that inspire the database for the real-time monitoring of the seismicity in use in the principal offices of international research. A modern planning logic in a distinctly historical

SIRSALE: integrated video database management tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brunie, Lionel; Favory, Loic; Gelas, J. P.; Lefevre, Laurent; Mostefaoui, Ahmed; Nait-Abdesselam, F.

2002-07-01

Video databases became an active field of research during the last decade. The main objective in such systems is to provide users with capabilities to friendly search, access and playback distributed stored video data in the same way as they do for traditional distributed databases. Hence, such systems need to deal with hard issues : (a) video documents generate huge volumes of data and are time sensitive (streams must be delivered at a specific bitrate), (b) contents of video data are very hard to be automatically extracted and need to be humanly annotated. To cope with these issues, many approaches have been proposed in the literature including data models, query languages, video indexing etc. In this paper, we present SIRSALE : a set of video databases management tools that allow users to manipulate video documents and streams stored in large distributed repositories. All the proposed tools are based on generic models that can be customized for specific applications using ad-hoc adaptation modules. More precisely, SIRSALE allows users to : (a) browse video documents by structures (sequences, scenes, shots) and (b) query the video database content by using a graphical tool, adapted to the nature of the target video documents. This paper also presents an annotating interface which allows archivists to describe the content of video documents. All these tools are coupled to a video player integrating remote VCR functionalities and are based on active network technology. So, we present how dedicated active services allow an optimized video transport for video streams (with Tamanoir active nodes). We then describe experiments of using SIRSALE on an archive of news video and soccer matches. The system has been demonstrated to professionals with a positive feedback. Finally, we discuss open issues and present some perspectives.

32 CFR 105.15 - Defense Sexual Assault Incident Database (DSAID).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 32 National Defense 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Defense Sexual Assault Incident Database (DSAID... Sexual Assault Incident Database (DSAID). (a) Purpose. (1) In accordance with section 563 of Public Law... activities. It shall serve as a centralized, case-level database for the collection and maintenance of...

32 CFR 105.15 - Defense Sexual Assault Incident Database (DSAID).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 32 National Defense 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Defense Sexual Assault Incident Database (DSAID... Sexual Assault Incident Database (DSAID). (a) Purpose. (1) In accordance with section 563 of Public Law... activities. It shall serve as a centralized, case-level database for the collection and maintenance of...

MPD3: a useful medicinal plants database for drug designing.

PubMed

Mumtaz, Arooj; Ashfaq, Usman Ali; Ul Qamar, Muhammad Tahir; Anwar, Farooq; Gulzar, Faisal; Ali, Muhammad Amjad; Saari, Nazamid; Pervez, Muhammad Tariq

2017-06-01

Medicinal plants are the main natural pools for the discovery and development of new drugs. In the modern era of computer-aided drug designing (CADD), there is need of prompt efforts to design and construct useful database management system that allows proper data storage, retrieval and management with user-friendly interface. An inclusive database having information about classification, activity and ready-to-dock library of medicinal plant's phytochemicals is therefore required to assist the researchers in the field of CADD. The present work was designed to merge activities of phytochemicals from medicinal plants, their targets and literature references into a single comprehensive database named as Medicinal Plants Database for Drug Designing (MPD3). The newly designed online and downloadable MPD3 contains information about more than 5000 phytochemicals from around 1000 medicinal plants with 80 different activities, more than 900 literature references and 200 plus targets. The designed database is deemed to be very useful for the researchers who are engaged in medicinal plants research, CADD and drug discovery/development with ease of operation and increased efficiency. The designed MPD3 is a comprehensive database which provides most of the information related to the medicinal plants at a single platform. MPD3 is freely available at: http://bioinform.info .

Digital Database of Recently Active Traces of the Hayward Fault, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lienkaemper, James J.

2006-01-01

The purpose of this map is to show the location of and evidence for recent movement on active fault traces within the Hayward Fault Zone, California. The mapped traces represent the integration of the following three different types of data: (1) geomorphic expression, (2) creep (aseismic fault slip),and (3) trench exposures. This publication is a major revision of an earlier map (Lienkaemper, 1992), which both brings up to date the evidence for faulting and makes it available formatted both as a digital database for use within a geographic information system (GIS) and for broader public access interactively using widely available viewing software. The pamphlet describes in detail the types of scientific observations used to make the map, gives references pertaining to the fault and the evidence of faulting, and provides guidance for use of and limitations of the map. [Last revised Nov. 2008, a minor update for 2007 LiDAR and recent trench investigations; see version history below.

MIPS: a database for genomes and protein sequences.

PubMed Central

Mewes, H W; Heumann, K; Kaps, A; Mayer, K; Pfeiffer, F; Stocker, S; Frishman, D

1999-01-01

The Munich Information Center for Protein Sequences (MIPS-GSF), Martinsried near Munich, Germany, develops and maintains genome oriented databases. It is commonplace that the amount of sequence data available increases rapidly, but not the capacity of qualified manual annotation at the sequence databases. Therefore, our strategy aims to cope with the data stream by the comprehensive application of analysis tools to sequences of complete genomes, the systematic classification of protein sequences and the active support of sequence analysis and functional genomics projects. This report describes the systematic and up-to-date analysis of genomes (PEDANT), a comprehensive database of the yeast genome (MYGD), a database reflecting the progress in sequencing the Arabidopsis thaliana genome (MATD), the database of assembled, annotated human EST clusters (MEST), and the collection of protein sequence data within the framework of the PIR-International Protein Sequence Database (described elsewhere in this volume). MIPS provides access through its WWW server (http://www.mips.biochem.mpg.de) to a spectrum of generic databases, including the above mentioned as well as a database of protein families (PROTFAM), the MITOP database, and the all-against-all FASTA database. PMID:9847138

The Long Valley Caldera GIS database

USGS Publications Warehouse

Battaglia, Maurizio; Williams, M.J.; Venezky, D.Y.; Hill, D.P.; Langbein, J.O.; Farrar, C.D.; Howle, J.F.; Sneed, M.; Segall, P.

2003-01-01

This database provides an overview of the studies being conducted by the Long Valley Observatory in eastern California from 1975 to 2001. The database includes geologic, monitoring, and topographic datasets related to Long Valley caldera. The CD-ROM contains a scan of the original geologic map of the Long Valley region by R. Bailey. Real-time data of the current activity of the caldera (including earthquakes, ground deformation and the release of volcanic gas), information about volcanic hazards and the USGS response plan are available online at the Long Valley observatory web page (http://lvo.wr.usgs.gov). If you have any comments or questions about this database, please contact the Scientist in Charge of the Long Valley observatory.

Current Status of NASDA Terminology Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kato, Akira

2002-01-01

NASDA Terminology Database System provides the English and Japanese terms, abbreviations, definition and reference documents. Recent progress includes a service to provide abbreviation data from the NASDA Home Page, and publishing a revised NASDA bilingual dictionary. Our next efforts to improve the system are (1) to combine our data with the data of NASA THESAURUS, (2) to add terms from new academic and engineering fields that have begun to have relations with space activities, and (3) to revise the NASDA Definition List. To combine our data with the NASA THESAURUS database we must consider the difference between the database concepts. Further effort to select adequate terms is thus required. Terms must be added from other fields to deal with microgravity experiments, human factors and so on. Some examples of new terms to be added have been collected. To revise the NASDA terms definition list, NASA and ESA definition lists were surveyed and a general concept to revise the NASDA definition list was proposed. I expect these activities will contribute to the IAA dictionary.

HIM-herbal ingredients in-vivo metabolism database.

PubMed

Kang, Hong; Tang, Kailin; Liu, Qi; Sun, Yi; Huang, Qi; Zhu, Ruixin; Gao, Jun; Zhang, Duanfeng; Huang, Chenggang; Cao, Zhiwei

2013-05-31

Herbal medicine has long been viewed as a valuable asset for potential new drug discovery and herbal ingredients' metabolites, especially the in vivo metabolites were often found to gain better pharmacological, pharmacokinetic and even better safety profiles compared to their parent compounds. However, these herbal metabolite information is still scattered and waiting to be collected. HIM database manually collected so far the most comprehensive available in-vivo metabolism information for herbal active ingredients, as well as their corresponding bioactivity, organs and/or tissues distribution, toxicity, ADME and the clinical research profile. Currently HIM contains 361 ingredients and 1104 corresponding in-vivo metabolites from 673 reputable herbs. Tools of structural similarity, substructure search and Lipinski's Rule of Five are also provided. Various links were made to PubChem, PubMed, TCM-ID (Traditional Chinese Medicine Information database) and HIT (Herbal ingredients' targets databases). A curated database HIM is set up for the in vivo metabolites information of the active ingredients for Chinese herbs, together with their corresponding bioactivity, toxicity and ADME profile. HIM is freely accessible to academic researchers at http://www.bioinformatics.org.cn/.

Rapid Contraceptive Uptake and Changing Method Mix With High Use of Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives in Crisis-Affected Populations in Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo

PubMed Central

Rattan, Jesse; Noznesky, Elizabeth; Curry, Dora Ward; Galavotti, Christine; Hwang, Shuyuan; Rodriguez, Mariela

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT The global health community has recognized that expanding the contraceptive method mix is a programmatic imperative since (1) one-third of unintended pregnancies are due to method failure or discontinuation, and (2) the addition of a new method to the existing mix tends to increase total contraceptive use. Since July 2011, CARE has been implementing the Supporting Access to Family Planning and Post-Abortion Care (SAFPAC) initiative to increase the availability, quality, and use of contraception, with a particular focus on highly effective and long-acting reversible methods—intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants—in crisis-affected settings in Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This initiative supports government health systems at primary and referral levels to provide a wide range of contraceptive services to people affected by conflict and/or displacement. Before the initiative, long-acting reversible methods were either unknown or unavailable in the intervention areas. However, as soon as trained providers were in place, we noted a dramatic and sustained increase in new users of all contraceptive methods, especially implants, with total new clients reaching 82,855, or 32% of the estimated number of women of reproductive age in the respective catchment areas in both countries, at the end of the fourth year. Demand for implants was very strong in the first 6 months after provider training. During this time, implants consistently accounted for more than 50% of the method mix, reaching as high as 89% in Chad and 74% in DRC. To ensure that all clients were getting the contraceptive method of their choice, we conducted a series of discussions and sought feedback from different stakeholders in order to modify program strategies. Key program modifications included more focused communication in mass media, community, and interpersonal channels about the benefits of IUDs while reinforcing the wide range of methods available and refresher

The thyrotropin receptor mutation database: update 2003.

PubMed

Führer, Dagmar; Lachmund, Peter; Nebel, Istvan-Tibor; Paschke, Ralf

2003-12-01

In 1999 we have created a TSHR mutation database compiling TSHR mutations with their basic characteristics and associated clinical conditions (www.uni-leipzig.de/innere/tshr). Since then, more than 2887 users from 36 countries have logged into the TSHR mutation database and have contributed several valuable suggestions for further improvement of the database. We now present an updated and extended version of the TSHR database to which several novel features have been introduced: 1. detailed functional characteristics on all 65 mutations (43 activating and 22 inactivating mutations) reported to date, 2. 40 pedigrees with detailed information on molecular aspects, clinical courses and treatment options in patients with gain-of-function and loss-of-function germline TSHR mutations, 3. a first compilation of site-directed mutagenesis studies, 4. references with Medline links, 5. a user friendly search tool for specific database searches, user-specific database output and 6. an administrator tool for the submission of novel TSHR mutations. The TSHR mutation database is installed as one of the locus specific HUGO mutation databases. It is listed under index TSHR 603372 (http://ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au/~cotton/glsdbq.htm) and can be accessed via www.uni-leipzig.de/innere/tshr.

Database citation in full text biomedical articles.

PubMed

Kafkas, Şenay; Kim, Jee-Hyub; McEntyre, Johanna R

2013-01-01

Molecular biology and literature databases represent essential infrastructure for life science research. Effective integration of these data resources requires that there are structured cross-references at the level of individual articles and biological records. Here, we describe the current patterns of how database entries are cited in research articles, based on analysis of the full text Open Access articles available from Europe PMC. Focusing on citation of entries in the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA), UniProt and Protein Data Bank, Europe (PDBe), we demonstrate that text mining doubles the number of structured annotations of database record citations supplied in journal articles by publishers. Many thousands of new literature-database relationships are found by text mining, since these relationships are also not present in the set of articles cited by database records. We recommend that structured annotation of database records in articles is extended to other databases, such as ArrayExpress and Pfam, entries from which are also cited widely in the literature. The very high precision and high-throughput of this text-mining pipeline makes this activity possible both accurately and at low cost, which will allow the development of new integrated data services.

Database Citation in Full Text Biomedical Articles

PubMed Central

Kafkas, Şenay; Kim, Jee-Hyub; McEntyre, Johanna R.

2013-01-01

Molecular biology and literature databases represent essential infrastructure for life science research. Effective integration of these data resources requires that there are structured cross-references at the level of individual articles and biological records. Here, we describe the current patterns of how database entries are cited in research articles, based on analysis of the full text Open Access articles available from Europe PMC. Focusing on citation of entries in the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA), UniProt and Protein Data Bank, Europe (PDBe), we demonstrate that text mining doubles the number of structured annotations of database record citations supplied in journal articles by publishers. Many thousands of new literature-database relationships are found by text mining, since these relationships are also not present in the set of articles cited by database records. We recommend that structured annotation of database records in articles is extended to other databases, such as ArrayExpress and Pfam, entries from which are also cited widely in the literature. The very high precision and high-throughput of this text-mining pipeline makes this activity possible both accurately and at low cost, which will allow the development of new integrated data services. PMID:23734176

Construction of In-house Databases in a Corporation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Senoo, Tetsuo

As computer technology, communication technology and others have progressed, many corporations are likely to locate constructing and utilizing their own databases at the center of the information activities, and aim at developing their information activities newly. This paper considers how information management in a corporation is affected under changing management and technology environments, and clarifies and generalizes what in-house databases should be constructed and utilized from the viewpoints of requirements to be furnished, types and forms of information to be dealt, indexing, use type and frequency, evaluation method and so on. The author outlines an information system of Matsushita called MATIS (Matsushita Technical Information System) as an actual example, and describes the present status and some points to be reminded in constructing and utilizing databases of REP, BOOK and SYMP.

SMALL-SCALE AND GLOBAL DYNAMOS AND THE AREA AND FLUX DISTRIBUTIONS OF ACTIVE REGIONS, SUNSPOT GROUPS, AND SUNSPOTS: A MULTI-DATABASE STUDY

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Muñoz-Jaramillo, Andrés; Windmueller, John C.; Amouzou, Ernest C.

2015-02-10

In this work, we take advantage of 11 different sunspot group, sunspot, and active region databases to characterize the area and flux distributions of photospheric magnetic structures. We find that, when taken separately, different databases are better fitted by different distributions (as has been reported previously in the literature). However, we find that all our databases can be reconciled by the simple application of a proportionality constant, and that, in reality, different databases are sampling different parts of a composite distribution. This composite distribution is made up by linear combination of Weibull and log-normal distributions—where a pure Weibull (log-normal) characterizesmore » the distribution of structures with fluxes below (above) 10{sup 21}Mx (10{sup 22}Mx). Additionally, we demonstrate that the Weibull distribution shows the expected linear behavior of a power-law distribution (when extended to smaller fluxes), making our results compatible with the results of Parnell et al. We propose that this is evidence of two separate mechanisms giving rise to visible structures on the photosphere: one directly connected to the global component of the dynamo (and the generation of bipolar active regions), and the other with the small-scale component of the dynamo (and the fragmentation of magnetic structures due to their interaction with turbulent convection)« less

The Impact of Environment and Occupation on the Health and Safety of Active Duty Air Force Members: Database Development and De-Identification.

PubMed

Erich, Roger; Eaton, Melinda; Mayes, Ryan; Pierce, Lamar; Knight, Andrew; Genovesi, Paul; Escobar, James; Mychalczuk, George; Selent, Monica

2016-08-01

Preparing data for medical research can be challenging, detail oriented, and time consuming. Transcription errors, missing or nonsensical data, and records not applicable to the study population may hamper progress and, if unaddressed, can lead to erroneous conclusions. In addition, study data may be housed in multiple disparate databases and complex formats. Merging methods may be incomplete to obtain temporally synchronized data elements. We created a comprehensive database to explore the general hypothesis that environmental and occupational factors influence health outcomes and risk-taking behavior among active duty Air Force personnel. Several databases containing demographics, medical records, health survey responses, and safety incident reports were cleaned, validated, and linked to form a comprehensive, relational database. The final step involved removing and transforming personally identifiable information to form a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliant limited database. Initial data consisted of over 62.8 million records containing 221 variables. When completed, approximately 23.9 million clean and valid records with 214 variables remained. With a clean, robust database, future analysis aims to identify high-risk career fields for targeted interventions or uncover potential protective factors in low-risk career fields. Reprint & Copyright © 2016 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

Comparison of milk fatty acid profiles measured on Kouri cows near Lake Chad and on dairy cattle as reported by meta-analytical data.

PubMed

Bada Algom, O; Fabry, C; Leroy, P L; Hornick, J-L

2017-06-01

Kouri (Bos taurus) is a breed aboriginal from Lake Chad and threatened with extinction. This study aimed to compare milk fatty acid profiles measured on Kouri cows and on high-yielding dairy cattle in Europe and elsewhere as reported by meta-analytical data (22 experimentations). Milk samples were collected from 14 Kouri dairy cows in dry season (March to June) and fatty acids (FA) were determined by gas chromatography. Overall, 32 FA have been identified. Kouri showed lower values (P < 0.001) in the sum of saturated FA (SFA, -10.9 pts), cis-9, cis-12 18:2 (-1.00 pt) (P < 0.01, higher values (P < 0.001) in the sum of monounsaturated FA (MUFA, +15.3 pts), C18:0) (+3.5 pts), cis-9, trans-11 C18:2-CLA (+1.00 pts), trans-11 18:1 (+1.4 pts) and (P < 0.01) in cis-9, C18:1 (+3.00 pts) acids. The differences between the milk FA profile of the Kouri cows and that obtained from meta-analytical data could be the possible consequence of the use of particular lake pastures by Kouri cows.

Evolution of Database Replication Technologies for WLCG

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baranowski, Zbigniew; Lobato Pardavila, Lorena; Blaszczyk, Marcin; Dimitrov, Gancho; Canali, Luca

2015-12-01

In this article we summarize several years of experience on database replication technologies used at WLCG and we provide a short review of the available Oracle technologies and their key characteristics. One of the notable changes and improvement in this area in recent past has been the introduction of Oracle GoldenGate as a replacement of Oracle Streams. We report in this article on the preparation and later upgrades for remote replication done in collaboration with ATLAS and Tier 1 database administrators, including the experience from running Oracle GoldenGate in production. Moreover, we report on another key technology in this area: Oracle Active Data Guard which has been adopted in several of the mission critical use cases for database replication between online and offline databases for the LHC experiments.

The Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) and Image Database Resource Initiative (IDRI): A Completed Reference Database of Lung Nodules on CT Scans

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

2011-02-15

Purpose: The development of computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) methods for lung nodule detection, classification, and quantitative assessment can be facilitated through a well-characterized repository of computed tomography (CT) scans. The Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) and Image Database Resource Initiative (IDRI) completed such a database, establishing a publicly available reference for the medical imaging research community. Initiated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), further advanced by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), and accompanied by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through active participation, this public-private partnership demonstrates the success of a consortium founded on a consensus-based process.more » Methods: Seven academic centers and eight medical imaging companies collaborated to identify, address, and resolve challenging organizational, technical, and clinical issues to provide a solid foundation for a robust database. The LIDC/IDRI Database contains 1018 cases, each of which includes images from a clinical thoracic CT scan and an associated XML file that records the results of a two-phase image annotation process performed by four experienced thoracic radiologists. In the initial blinded-read phase, each radiologist independently reviewed each CT scan and marked lesions belonging to one of three categories (''nodule{>=}3 mm,''''nodule<3 mm,'' and ''non-nodule{>=}3 mm''). In the subsequent unblinded-read phase, each radiologist independently reviewed their own marks along with the anonymized marks of the three other radiologists to render a final opinion. The goal of this process was to identify as completely as possible all lung nodules in each CT scan without requiring forced consensus. Results: The Database contains 7371 lesions marked ''nodule'' by at least one radiologist. 2669 of these lesions were marked ''nodule{>=}3 mm'' by at least one radiologist, of which 928 (34.7%) received such marks

Simple re-instantiation of small databases using cloud computing.

PubMed

Tan, Tin Wee; Xie, Chao; De Silva, Mark; Lim, Kuan Siong; Patro, C Pawan K; Lim, Shen Jean; Govindarajan, Kunde Ramamoorthy; Tong, Joo Chuan; Choo, Khar Heng; Ranganathan, Shoba; Khan, Asif M

2013-01-01

Small bioinformatics databases, unlike institutionally funded large databases, are vulnerable to discontinuation and many reported in publications are no longer accessible. This leads to irreproducible scientific work and redundant effort, impeding the pace of scientific progress. We describe a Web-accessible system, available online at http://biodb100.apbionet.org, for archival and future on demand re-instantiation of small databases within minutes. Depositors can rebuild their databases by downloading a Linux live operating system (http://www.bioslax.com), preinstalled with bioinformatics and UNIX tools. The database and its dependencies can be compressed into an ".lzm" file for deposition. End-users can search for archived databases and activate them on dynamically re-instantiated BioSlax instances, run as virtual machines over the two popular full virtualization standard cloud-computing platforms, Xen Hypervisor or vSphere. The system is adaptable to increasing demand for disk storage or computational load and allows database developers to use the re-instantiated databases for integration and development of new databases. Herein, we demonstrate that a relatively inexpensive solution can be implemented for archival of bioinformatics databases and their rapid re-instantiation should the live databases disappear.

Simple re-instantiation of small databases using cloud computing

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Small bioinformatics databases, unlike institutionally funded large databases, are vulnerable to discontinuation and many reported in publications are no longer accessible. This leads to irreproducible scientific work and redundant effort, impeding the pace of scientific progress. Results We describe a Web-accessible system, available online at http://biodb100.apbionet.org, for archival and future on demand re-instantiation of small databases within minutes. Depositors can rebuild their databases by downloading a Linux live operating system (http://www.bioslax.com), preinstalled with bioinformatics and UNIX tools. The database and its dependencies can be compressed into an ".lzm" file for deposition. End-users can search for archived databases and activate them on dynamically re-instantiated BioSlax instances, run as virtual machines over the two popular full virtualization standard cloud-computing platforms, Xen Hypervisor or vSphere. The system is adaptable to increasing demand for disk storage or computational load and allows database developers to use the re-instantiated databases for integration and development of new databases. Conclusions Herein, we demonstrate that a relatively inexpensive solution can be implemented for archival of bioinformatics databases and their rapid re-instantiation should the live databases disappear. PMID:24564380

Combined Effect of El Nino Southern Oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation on Lake Chad Level Variability Region

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Okonkwo, Churchill; Demoz, Belay; Sakai, Ricardo; Ichoku, Charles; Anarado, Chigozie; Adegoke, Jimmy; Amadou, Angelina; Abdullahi, Sanusu Imran

2015-01-01

In this study, the combined effect of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the Lake Chad (LC) level variability is explored. Our results show that the lake level at the Bol monitoring station has a statistically significant correlation with precipitation (R2 = 0.6, at the 99.5% confidence level). The period between the late 1960s and early 1970s marked a turning point in the response of the regional rainfall to climatic drivers, thereby severely affecting the LC level. Our results also suggest that the negative impact of the cold phase of AMO on Sahel precipitation masks and supersedes the positive effect of La Niña in the early the 1970s. The drop in the size of LC level from 282.5 m in the early 1960s to about 278.1 m in 1983/1984 was the largest to occur within the period of study (1900-2010) and coincides with the combined cold phase of AMO and strong El Niño phase of ENSO. Further analyses show that the current warm phase of AMO and increasing La Niña episodes appear to be playing a major role in the increased precipitation in the Sahel region. The LC level is responding to this increase in precipitation by a gradual recovery, though it is still below the levels of the 1960s. This understanding of the AMO-ENSO-rainfall-LC level association will help in forecasting the impacts of similar combined episodes in the future. These findings also have implications for long-term water resources management in the LC region.

Risk of stroke and oral anticoagulant use in atrial fibrillation: a cross-sectional survey

PubMed Central

Holt, Tim A; Hunter, Tina D; Gunnarsson, Candace; Khan, Nada; Cload, Paul; Lip, Gregory YH

2012-01-01

Background Oral anticoagulants substantially reduce the risk of stroke in atrial fibrillation but are underutilised in current practice. Aim To measure the distribution of stroke risk in patients with atrial fibrillation (using the CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores) and changes in oral anticoagulant use during 2007–2010. Design and setting Longitudinal series of cross-sectional survey in 583 UK practices linked to the QResearch® database providing 99 351 anonymised electronic records from people with atrial fibrillation. Method The proportion of patients in each CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc risk band in 2010 was calculated; for each of the years 2007–2010, the proportions with risk scores ≥2 that were using anticoagulants or antiplatelet agents were estimated. The proportions identified at high risk were re-estimated using alternative definitions of hypertension based on coded data. Finally, the prevalence of comorbid conditions in treated and untreated high-risk (CHADS2 ≥2) groups was derived. Results The proportion at high risk of stroke in 2010 was 56.9% according to the CHADS2 ≥2 threshold, and 84.5% according to CHA2DS2-VASc ≥2 threshold. The proportions of these groups receiving anticoagulants were 53.0% and 50.7% respectively and increased during 2007–2010. The means of identifying the population of individuals with hypertension significantly influenced the estimated proportion at high risk. Comorbid conditions associated with avoidance of anticoagulants included history of falls, use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and dementia. Conclusion Oral anticoagulant use in atrial fibrillation has increased in UK practice since 2007, but remains suboptimal. Improved coding of hypertension is required to support systematic identification of individuals at high risk of stroke and could be assisted by practice-based software. PMID:23265231

The Danish Inguinal Hernia database.

PubMed

Friis-Andersen, Hans; Bisgaard, Thue

2016-01-01

To monitor and improve nation-wide surgical outcome after groin hernia repair based on scientific evidence-based surgical strategies for the national and international surgical community. Patients ≥18 years operated for groin hernia. Type and size of hernia, primary or recurrent, type of surgical repair procedure, mesh and mesh fixation methods. According to the Danish National Health Act, surgeons are obliged to register all hernia repairs immediately after surgery (3 minute registration time). All institutions have continuous access to their own data stratified on individual surgeons. Registrations are based on a closed, protected Internet system requiring personal codes also identifying the operating institution. A national steering committee consisting of 13 voluntary and dedicated surgeons, 11 of whom are unpaid, handles the medical management of the database. The Danish Inguinal Hernia Database comprises intraoperative data from >130,000 repairs (May 2015). A total of 49 peer-reviewed national and international publications have been published from the database (June 2015). The Danish Inguinal Hernia Database is fully active monitoring surgical quality and contributes to the national and international surgical society to improve outcome after groin hernia repair.

Toxicity Reference Database

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Toxicity Reference Database (ToxRefDB) contains approximately 30 years and $2 billion worth of animal studies. ToxRefDB allows scientists and the interested public to search and download thousands of animal toxicity testing results for hundreds of chemicals that were previously found only in paper documents. Currently, there are 474 chemicals in ToxRefDB, primarily the data rich pesticide active ingredients, but the number will continue to expand.

FDA toxicity databases and real-time data entry.

PubMed

Arvidson, Kirk B

2008-11-15

Structure-searchable electronic databases are valuable new tools that are assisting the FDA in its mission to promptly and efficiently review incoming submissions for regulatory approval of new food additives and food contact substances. The Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition's Office of Food Additive Safety (CFSAN/OFAS), in collaboration with Leadscope, Inc., is consolidating genetic toxicity data submitted in food additive petitions from the 1960s to the present day. The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Office of Pharmaceutical Science's Informatics and Computational Safety Analysis Staff (CDER/OPS/ICSAS) is separately gathering similar information from their submissions. Presently, these data are distributed in various locations such as paper files, microfiche, and non-standardized toxicology memoranda. The organization of the data into a consistent, searchable format will reduce paperwork, expedite the toxicology review process, and provide valuable information to industry that is currently available only to the FDA. Furthermore, by combining chemical structures with genetic toxicity information, biologically active moieties can be identified and used to develop quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) modeling and testing guidelines. Additionally, chemicals devoid of toxicity data can be compared to known structures, allowing for improved safety review through the identification and analysis of structural analogs. Four database frameworks have been created: bacterial mutagenesis, in vitro chromosome aberration, in vitro mammalian mutagenesis, and in vivo micronucleus. Controlled vocabularies for these databases have been established. The four separate genetic toxicity databases are compiled into a single, structurally-searchable database for easy accessibility of the toxicity information. Beyond the genetic toxicity databases described here, additional databases for subchronic, chronic, and teratogenicity studies have been prepared.

FDA toxicity databases and real-time data entry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Arvidson, Kirk B.

Structure-searchable electronic databases are valuable new tools that are assisting the FDA in its mission to promptly and efficiently review incoming submissions for regulatory approval of new food additives and food contact substances. The Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition's Office of Food Additive Safety (CFSAN/OFAS), in collaboration with Leadscope, Inc., is consolidating genetic toxicity data submitted in food additive petitions from the 1960s to the present day. The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Office of Pharmaceutical Science's Informatics and Computational Safety Analysis Staff (CDER/OPS/ICSAS) is separately gathering similar information from their submissions. Presently, these data are distributedmore » in various locations such as paper files, microfiche, and non-standardized toxicology memoranda. The organization of the data into a consistent, searchable format will reduce paperwork, expedite the toxicology review process, and provide valuable information to industry that is currently available only to the FDA. Furthermore, by combining chemical structures with genetic toxicity information, biologically active moieties can be identified and used to develop quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) modeling and testing guidelines. Additionally, chemicals devoid of toxicity data can be compared to known structures, allowing for improved safety review through the identification and analysis of structural analogs. Four database frameworks have been created: bacterial mutagenesis, in vitro chromosome aberration, in vitro mammalian mutagenesis, and in vivo micronucleus. Controlled vocabularies for these databases have been established. The four separate genetic toxicity databases are compiled into a single, structurally-searchable database for easy accessibility of the toxicity information. Beyond the genetic toxicity databases described here, additional databases for subchronic, chronic, and teratogenicity studies have been

Development and validation of a Database Forensic Metamodel (DBFM)

PubMed Central

Al-dhaqm, Arafat; Razak, Shukor; Othman, Siti Hajar; Ngadi, Asri; Ahmed, Mohammed Nazir; Ali Mohammed, Abdulalem

2017-01-01

Database Forensics (DBF) is a widespread area of knowledge. It has many complex features and is well known amongst database investigators and practitioners. Several models and frameworks have been created specifically to allow knowledge-sharing and effective DBF activities. However, these are often narrow in focus and address specified database incident types. We have analysed 60 such models in an attempt to uncover how numerous DBF activities are really public even when the actions vary. We then generate a unified abstract view of DBF in the form of a metamodel. We identified, extracted, and proposed a common concept and reconciled concept definitions to propose a metamodel. We have applied a metamodelling process to guarantee that this metamodel is comprehensive and consistent. PMID:28146585

Improving database enrichment through ensemble docking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, Shashidhar; Sanschagrin, Paul C.; Greenwood, Jeremy R.; Repasky, Matthew P.; Sherman, Woody; Farid, Ramy

2008-09-01

While it may seem intuitive that using an ensemble of multiple conformations of a receptor in structure-based virtual screening experiments would necessarily yield improved enrichment of actives relative to using just a single receptor, it turns out that at least in the p38 MAP kinase model system studied here, a very large majority of all possible ensembles do not yield improved enrichment of actives. However, there are combinations of receptor structures that do lead to improved enrichment results. We present here a method to select the ensembles that produce the best enrichments that does not rely on knowledge of active compounds or sophisticated analyses of the 3D receptor structures. In the system studied here, the small fraction of ensembles of up to 3 receptors that do yield good enrichments of actives were identified by selecting ensembles that have the best mean GlideScore for the top 1% of the docked ligands in a database screen of actives and drug-like "decoy" ligands. Ensembles of two receptors identified using this mean GlideScore metric generally outperform single receptors, while ensembles of three receptors identified using this metric consistently give optimal enrichment factors in which, for example, 40% of the known actives outrank all the other ligands in the database.

Objectively measured physical activity and sedentary time in youth: the International children's accelerometry database (ICAD).

PubMed

Cooper, Ashley R; Goodman, Anna; Page, Angie S; Sherar, Lauren B; Esliger, Dale W; van Sluijs, Esther M F; Andersen, Lars Bo; Anderssen, Sigmund; Cardon, Greet; Davey, Rachel; Froberg, Karsten; Hallal, Pedro; Janz, Kathleen F; Kordas, Katarzyna; Kreimler, Susi; Pate, Russ R; Puder, Jardena J; Reilly, John J; Salmon, Jo; Sardinha, Luis B; Timperio, Anna; Ekelund, Ulf

2015-09-17

Physical activity and sedentary behaviour in youth have been reported to vary by sex, age, weight status and country. However, supporting data are often self-reported and/or do not encompass a wide range of ages or geographical locations. This study aimed to describe objectively-measured physical activity and sedentary time patterns in youth. The International Children's Accelerometry Database (ICAD) consists of ActiGraph accelerometer data from 20 studies in ten countries, processed using common data reduction procedures. Analyses were conducted on 27,637 participants (2.8-18.4 years) who provided at least three days of valid accelerometer data. Linear regression was used to examine associations between age, sex, weight status, country and physical activity outcomes. Boys were less sedentary and more active than girls at all ages. After 5 years of age there was an average cross-sectional decrease of 4.2% in total physical activity with each additional year of age, due mainly to lower levels of light-intensity physical activity and greater time spent sedentary. Physical activity did not differ by weight status in the youngest children, but from age seven onwards, overweight/obese participants were less active than their normal weight counterparts. Physical activity varied between samples from different countries, with a 15-20% difference between the highest and lowest countries at age 9-10 and a 26-28% difference at age 12-13. Physical activity differed between samples from different countries, but the associations between demographic characteristics and physical activity were consistently observed. Further research is needed to explore environmental and sociocultural explanations for these differences.

Computer Databases as an Educational Tool in the Basic Sciences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedman, Charles P.; And Others

1990-01-01

The University of North Carolina School of Medicine developed a computer database, INQUIRER, containing scientific information in bacteriology, and then integrated the database into routine educational activities for first-year medical students in their microbiology course. (Author/MLW)

Stroke risks and patterns of warfarin therapy among atrial fibrillation patients post radiofrequency ablation: A real-world experience.

PubMed

Zhang, Juan; Liu, Xingpeng; Liu, Xiaoqing; Yin, Xiandong; Wang, Yanjiang; Lu, Xiaoying; Yang, Xinchun

2017-11-01

We assessed the thromboembolic risks of atrial fibrillation (AF) patients who had undergone radiofrequency ablation (RFA) using the CHADS2-VASc risk scoring system and further investigated the patterns of warfarin use for thromboprophylaxis according to patient thromboembolic risk scores.In this study, we analyzed the stroke risks of patients who had undergone RFA for AF at our hospital between March 2014 and June 2016 using the CHADS2, CHADS2-VASc, and Hypertension, Abnormal renal/liver function, Stroke, Bleeding history or predisposition, Labile international normalized ratio, Elderly (> 65 years) (HAS-BLED) scoring systems. We retrieved medications, co-morbidities, and initial warfarin dosage data. The primary outcome was the percentage of patients initiated with warfarin therapy for stroke prophylaxis in AF who had a CHADS2-VASc score of 0.Totally, 309 patients were initiated with warfarin therapy for stroke prophylaxis in AF post-RFA. The baseline warfarin dosage was 2.76 ± 0.61 mg. The baseline CHADS2-VASC score was 2.93 ± 1.96 and 40 (12.95%) had a CHADS2-VASC score of 0, 42 (13.6%) had a CHADS2-VASCscore of 1, and 227 (73.5%) had a CHADS2-VASC score ≥2. The baseline CHADS2 score was 2.17 ± 1.55 and 48 (15.5%) had a CHADS2 score of 0, 68 (22.0%) had a CHADS2 score of 1, and 193 (62.5%) had a CHADS2 score ≥2. The baseline HAS-BLED score was 1.25 ± 0.91 and 69 (22.3%) had a HAS-BLED score of 0, 121 (39.2%) had a HAS-BLED score of 1, and 119 (38.5%) had a HAS-BLED score ≥2. Patients aged <65 years or 65 years, male and female patients, patients with or without hypertension, coronary heart disease, or diabetes mellitus, and patients with or without previous stroke/transient ischemic attack differed significantly in stroke risks by CHADS2-VASC, CHADS2, and HAS-BLED scores for stroke risks. Patients with different baseline international normalized ratio differed significantly in CHADS2-VASC scores. Furthermore, angiotensin

High-coercivity minerals from North African Humid Period soil material deposited in Lake Yoa (Chad)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Just, J.; Kroepelin, S.; Wennrich, V.; Viehberg, F. A.; Wagner, B.; Rethemeyer, J.; Karls, J.; Melles, M.

2015-12-01

The Holocene is a period of fundamental climatic change in North Africa. Humid conditions during the so-called African Humid Period (AHP) have favored the formation of big lake systems. Only very few of these lakes persist until today. One of them is Lake Yoa (19°03'N/20°31'E) in the Ounianga Basin, Chad, which maintains its water level by ground water inflow. Here we present the magnetic characteristics together with proxies for lacustrine productivity and biota of a sediment core (Co1240) from Lake Yoa, retrieved in 2010 within the framework of the Collaborative Research Centre 806 - Our Way to Europe (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). Magnetic properties of AHP sediments show strong indications for reductive diagenesis. An up to ~ 80 m higher lake level is documented by lacustrine deposits in the Ounianga Basin, dating to the early phase of the AHP. The higher lake level and less strong seasonality restricted deep mixing of the lake. Development of anoxic conditions consequently lead to the dissolution of iron oxides. An exception is an interval with high concentration of high-coercivity magnetic minerals, deposited between 7800 - 8120 cal yr BP. This interval post-dates the 8.2 event, which was dry in Northern Africa and probably caused a reduced vegetation cover. We propose that the latter resulted in the destabilization of soils around Lake Yoa. After the re-establishment of humid conditions, these soil materials were eroded and deposited in the lake. Magnetic minerals appear well preserved in the varved Late Holocene sequence, indicating (sub-) oxic conditions in the lake. This is surprising, because the occurrence of varves is often interpreted as an indicator for anoxic conditions of the lake water. However, the salinity of lake water rose strongly after the AHP. We therefore hypothesize that the conservation of varves and absence of benthic organisms rather relates to the high salinity than to anoxic conditions.

Production and distribution of scientific and technical databases - Comparison among Japan, US and Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Onodera, Natsuo; Mizukami, Masayuki

This paper estimates several quantitative indice on production and distribution of scientific and technical databases based on various recent publications and attempts to compare the indice internationally. Raw data used for the estimation are brought mainly from the Database Directory (published by MITI) for database production and from some domestic and foreign study reports for database revenues. The ratio of the indice among Japan, US and Europe for usage of database is similar to those for general scientific and technical activities such as population and R&D expenditures. But Japanese contributions to production, revenue and over-countory distribution of databases are still lower than US and European countries. International comparison of relative database activities between public and private sectors is also discussed.

Database Access Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dalrymple, Prudence W.; Roderer, Nancy K.

1994-01-01

Highlights the changes that have occurred from 1987-93 in database access systems. Topics addressed include types of databases, including CD-ROMs; enduser interface; database selection; database access management, including library instruction and use of primary literature; economic issues; database users; the search process; and improving…

Databases for multilevel biophysiology research available at Physiome.jp.

PubMed

Asai, Yoshiyuki; Abe, Takeshi; Li, Li; Oka, Hideki; Nomura, Taishin; Kitano, Hiroaki

2015-01-01

Physiome.jp (http://physiome.jp) is a portal site inaugurated in 2007 to support model-based research in physiome and systems biology. At Physiome.jp, several tools and databases are available to support construction of physiological, multi-hierarchical, large-scale models. There are three databases in Physiome.jp, housing mathematical models, morphological data, and time-series data. In late 2013, the site was fully renovated, and in May 2015, new functions were implemented to provide information infrastructure to support collaborative activities for developing models and performing simulations within the database framework. This article describes updates to the databases implemented since 2013, including cooperation among the three databases, interactive model browsing, user management, version management of models, management of parameter sets, and interoperability with applications.

"Mr. Database" : Jim Gray and the History of Database Technologies.

PubMed

Hanwahr, Nils C

2017-12-01

Although the widespread use of the term "Big Data" is comparatively recent, it invokes a phenomenon in the developments of database technology with distinct historical contexts. The database engineer Jim Gray, known as "Mr. Database" in Silicon Valley before his disappearance at sea in 2007, was involved in many of the crucial developments since the 1970s that constitute the foundation of exceedingly large and distributed databases. Jim Gray was involved in the development of relational database systems based on the concepts of Edgar F. Codd at IBM in the 1970s before he went on to develop principles of Transaction Processing that enable the parallel and highly distributed performance of databases today. He was also involved in creating forums for discourse between academia and industry, which influenced industry performance standards as well as database research agendas. As a co-founder of the San Francisco branch of Microsoft Research, Gray increasingly turned toward scientific applications of database technologies, e. g. leading the TerraServer project, an online database of satellite images. Inspired by Vannevar Bush's idea of the memex, Gray laid out his vision of a Personal Memex as well as a World Memex, eventually postulating a new era of data-based scientific discovery termed "Fourth Paradigm Science". This article gives an overview of Gray's contributions to the development of database technology as well as his research agendas and shows that central notions of Big Data have been occupying database engineers for much longer than the actual term has been in use.

Lessons Learned From Developing Reactor Pressure Vessel Steel Embrittlement Database

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Jy-An John

Materials behaviors caused by neutron irradiation under fission and/or fusion environments can be little understood without practical examination. Easily accessible material information system with large material database using effective computers is necessary for design of nuclear materials and analyses or simulations of the phenomena. The developed Embrittlement Data Base (EDB) at ORNL is this comprehensive collection of data. EDB database contains power reactor pressure vessel surveillance data, the material test reactor data, foreign reactor data (through bilateral agreements authorized by NRC), and the fracture toughness data. The lessons learned from building EDB program and the associated database management activity regardingmore » Material Database Design Methodology, Architecture and the Embedded QA Protocol are described in this report. The development of IAEA International Database on Reactor Pressure Vessel Materials (IDRPVM) and the comparison of EDB database and IAEA IDRPVM database are provided in the report. The recommended database QA protocol and database infrastructure are also stated in the report.« less

CAZymes Analysis Toolkit (CAT): web service for searching and analyzing carbohydrate-active enzymes in a newly sequenced organism using CAZy database.

PubMed

Park, Byung H; Karpinets, Tatiana V; Syed, Mustafa H; Leuze, Michael R; Uberbacher, Edward C

2010-12-01

The Carbohydrate-Active Enzyme (CAZy) database provides a rich set of manually annotated enzymes that degrade, modify, or create glycosidic bonds. Despite rich and invaluable information stored in the database, software tools utilizing this information for annotation of newly sequenced genomes by CAZy families are limited. We have employed two annotation approaches to fill the gap between manually curated high-quality protein sequences collected in the CAZy database and the growing number of other protein sequences produced by genome or metagenome sequencing projects. The first approach is based on a similarity search against the entire nonredundant sequences of the CAZy database. The second approach performs annotation using links or correspondences between the CAZy families and protein family domains. The links were discovered using the association rule learning algorithm applied to sequences from the CAZy database. The approaches complement each other and in combination achieved high specificity and sensitivity when cross-evaluated with the manually curated genomes of Clostridium thermocellum ATCC 27405 and Saccharophagus degradans 2-40. The capability of the proposed framework to predict the function of unknown protein domains and of hypothetical proteins in the genome of Neurospora crassa is demonstrated. The framework is implemented as a Web service, the CAZymes Analysis Toolkit, and is available at http://cricket.ornl.gov/cgi-bin/cat.cgi.

Virtual Queue in a Centralized Database Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kar, Amitava; Pal, Dibyendu Kumar

2010-10-01

Today is the era of the Internet. Every matter whether it be a gather of knowledge or planning a holiday or booking of ticket etc everything can be obtained from the internet. This paper intends to calculate the different queuing measures when some booking or purchase is done through the internet subject to the limitations in the number of tickets or seats. It involves a lot of database activities like read and write. This paper takes care of the time involved in the requests of a service, taken as arrival and the time involved in providing the required information, taken as service and thereby tries to calculate the distribution of arrival and service and the various measures of the queuing. This paper considers the database as centralized database for the sake of simplicity as the alternating concept of distributed database would rather complicate the calculation.

Far-infrared Line Spectra of Active Galaxies from the Herschel/PACS Spectrometer: The Complete Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernández-Ontiveros, Juan Antonio; Spinoglio, Luigi; Pereira-Santaella, Miguel; Malkan, Matthew A.; Andreani, Paola; Dasyra, Kalliopi M.

2016-10-01

We present a coherent database of spectroscopic observations of far-IR fine-structure lines from the Herschel/Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer archive for a sample of 170 local active galactic nuclei (AGNs), plus a comparison sample of 20 starburst galaxies and 43 dwarf galaxies. Published Spitzer/IRS and Herschel/SPIRE line fluxes are included to extend our database to the full 10-600 μm spectral range. The observations are compared to a set of Cloudy photoionization models to estimate the above physical quantities through different diagnostic diagrams. We confirm the presence of a stratification of gas density in the emission regions of the galaxies, which increases with the ionization potential of the emission lines. The new [O IV]{}25.9μ {{m}}/[O III]{}88μ {{m}} versus [Ne III]{}15.6μ {{m}}/[Ne II]{}12.8μ {{m}} diagram is proposed as the best diagnostic to separate (1) AGN activity from any kind of star formation and (2) low-metallicity dwarf galaxies from starburst galaxies. Current stellar atmosphere models fail to reproduce the observed [O IV]{}25.9μ {{m}}/[O III]{}88μ {{m}} ratios, which are much higher when compared to the predicted values. Finally, the ([Ne III]{}15.6μ {{m}} + [Ne II]{}12.8μ {{m}})/([S IV]{}10.5μ {{m}} +[S III]{}18.7μ {{m}}) ratio is proposed as a promising metallicity tracer to be used in obscured objects, where optical lines fail to accurately measure the metallicity. The diagnostic power of mid- to far-infrared spectroscopy shown here for local galaxies will be of crucial importance to study galaxy evolution during the dust-obscured phase at the peak of the star formation and black hole accretion activity (1\\lt z\\lt 4). This study will be addressed by future deep spectroscopic surveys with present and forthcoming facilities such as the James Webb Space Telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, and the Space Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics.

Pathogen Research Databases

Science.gov Websites

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) database project is funded by the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The HCV database project started as a spin-off from the HIV database project. There are two databases for HCV, a sequence database

Integration of Oracle and Hadoop: Hybrid Databases Affordable at Scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Canali, L.; Baranowski, Z.; Kothuri, P.

2017-10-01

This work reports on the activities aimed at integrating Oracle and Hadoop technologies for the use cases of CERN database services and in particular on the development of solutions for offloading data and queries from Oracle databases into Hadoop-based systems. The goal and interest of this investigation is to increase the scalability and optimize the cost/performance footprint for some of our largest Oracle databases. These concepts have been applied, among others, to build offline copies of CERN accelerator controls and logging databases. The tested solution allows to run reports on the controls data offloaded in Hadoop without affecting the critical production database, providing both performance benefits and cost reduction for the underlying infrastructure. Other use cases discussed include building hybrid database solutions with Oracle and Hadoop, offering the combined advantages of a mature relational database system with a scalable analytics engine.

US Gateway to SIMBAD Astronomical Database

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eichhorn, G.

1998-01-01

During the last year the US SIMBAD Gateway Project continued to provide services like user registration to the US users of the SIMBAD database in France. User registration is required by the SIMBAD project in France. Currently, there are almost 3000 US users registered. We also provide user support by answering questions from users and handling requests for lost passwords. We have worked with the CDS SIMBAD project to provide access to the SIMBAD database to US users on an Internet address basis. This will allow most US users to access SIMBAD without having to enter passwords. This new system was installed in August, 1998. The SIMBAD mirror database at SAO is fully operational. We worked with the CDS to adapt it to our computer system. We implemented automatic updating procedures that update the database and password files daily. This mirror database provides much better access to the US astronomical community. We also supported a demonstration of the SIMBAD database at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in January. We shipped computer equipment to the meeting and provided support for the demonstration activities at the SIMBAD booth. We continued to improve the cross-linking between the SIMBAD project and the Astro- physics Data System. This cross-linking between these systems is very much appreciated by the users of both the SIMBAD database and the ADS Abstract Service. The mirror of the SIMBAD database at SAO makes this connection faster for the US astronomers. The close cooperation between the CDS in Strasbourg and SAO, facilitated by this project, is an important part of the astronomy-wide digital library initiative called Urania. It has proven to be a model in how different data centers can collaborate and enhance the value of their products by linking with other data centers.

TIPdb: a database of anticancer, antiplatelet, and antituberculosis phytochemicals from indigenous plants in Taiwan.

PubMed

Lin, Ying-Chi; Wang, Chia-Chi; Chen, Ih-Sheng; Jheng, Jhao-Liang; Li, Jih-Heng; Tung, Chun-Wei

2013-01-01

The unique geographic features of Taiwan are attributed to the rich indigenous and endemic plant species in Taiwan. These plants serve as resourceful bank for biologically active phytochemicals. Given that these plant-derived chemicals are prototypes of potential drugs for diseases, databases connecting the chemical structures and pharmacological activities may facilitate drug development. To enhance the utility of the data, it is desirable to develop a database of chemical compounds and corresponding activities from indigenous plants in Taiwan. A database of anticancer, antiplatelet, and antituberculosis phytochemicals from indigenous plants in Taiwan was constructed. The database, TIPdb, is composed of a standardized format of published anticancer, antiplatelet, and antituberculosis phytochemicals from indigenous plants in Taiwan. A browse function was implemented for users to browse the database in a taxonomy-based manner. Search functions can be utilized to filter records of interest by botanical name, part, chemical class, or compound name. The structured and searchable database TIPdb was constructed to serve as a comprehensive and standardized resource for anticancer, antiplatelet, and antituberculosis compounds search. The manually curated chemical structures and activities provide a great opportunity to develop quantitative structure-activity relationship models for the high-throughput screening of potential anticancer, antiplatelet, and antituberculosis drugs.

TIPdb: A Database of Anticancer, Antiplatelet, and Antituberculosis Phytochemicals from Indigenous Plants in Taiwan

PubMed Central

Lin, Ying-Chi; Wang, Chia-Chi; Chen, Ih-Sheng; Jheng, Jhao-Liang; Li, Jih-Heng; Tung, Chun-Wei

2013-01-01

The unique geographic features of Taiwan are attributed to the rich indigenous and endemic plant species in Taiwan. These plants serve as resourceful bank for biologically active phytochemicals. Given that these plant-derived chemicals are prototypes of potential drugs for diseases, databases connecting the chemical structures and pharmacological activities may facilitate drug development. To enhance the utility of the data, it is desirable to develop a database of chemical compounds and corresponding activities from indigenous plants in Taiwan. A database of anticancer, antiplatelet, and antituberculosis phytochemicals from indigenous plants in Taiwan was constructed. The database, TIPdb, is composed of a standardized format of published anticancer, antiplatelet, and antituberculosis phytochemicals from indigenous plants in Taiwan. A browse function was implemented for users to browse the database in a taxonomy-based manner. Search functions can be utilized to filter records of interest by botanical name, part, chemical class, or compound name. The structured and searchable database TIPdb was constructed to serve as a comprehensive and standardized resource for anticancer, antiplatelet, and antituberculosis compounds search. The manually curated chemical structures and activities provide a great opportunity to develop quantitative structure-activity relationship models for the high-throughput screening of potential anticancer, antiplatelet, and antituberculosis drugs. PMID:23766708

Aptamer Database

PubMed Central

Lee, Jennifer F.; Hesselberth, Jay R.; Meyers, Lauren Ancel; Ellington, Andrew D.

2004-01-01

The aptamer database is designed to contain comprehensive sequence information on aptamers and unnatural ribozymes that have been generated by in vitro selection methods. Such data are not normally collected in ‘natural’ sequence databases, such as GenBank. Besides serving as a storehouse of sequences that may have diagnostic or therapeutic utility, the database serves as a valuable resource for theoretical biologists who describe and explore fitness landscapes. The database is updated monthly and is publicly available at http://aptamer.icmb.utexas.edu/. PMID:14681367

Solving Relational Database Problems with ORDBMS in an Advanced Database Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Ming

2011-01-01

This paper introduces how to use the object-relational database management system (ORDBMS) to solve relational database (RDB) problems in an advanced database course. The purpose of the paper is to provide a guideline for database instructors who desire to incorporate the ORDB technology in their traditional database courses. The paper presents…

Database resources for the Tuberculosis community

PubMed Central

Lew, Jocelyne M.; Mao, Chunhong; Shukla, Maulik; Warren, Andrew; Will, Rebecca; Kuznetsov, Dmitry; Xenarios, Ioannis; Robertson, Brian D.; Gordon, Stephen V.; Schnappinger, Dirk; Cole, Stewart T.; Sobral, Bruno

2013-01-01

Summary Access to online repositories for genomic and associated “-omics” datasets is now an essential part of everyday research activity. It is important therefore that the Tuberculosis community is aware of the databases and tools available to them online, as well as for the database hosts to know what the needs of the research community are. One of the goals of the Tuberculosis Annotation Jamboree, held in Washington DC on March 7th–8th 2012, was therefore to provide an overview of the current status of three key Tuberculosis resources, TubercuList (tuberculist.epfl.ch), TB Database (www.tbdb.org), and Pathosystems Resource Integration Center (PATRIC, www.patricbrc.org). Here we summarize some key updates and upcoming features in TubercuList, and provide an overview of the PATRIC site and its online tools for pathogen RNA-Seq analysis. PMID:23332401

Generalized Database Management System Support for Numeric Database Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dominick, Wayne D.; Weathers, Peggy G.

1982-01-01

This overview of potential for utilizing database management systems (DBMS) within numeric database environments highlights: (1) major features, functions, and characteristics of DBMS; (2) applicability to numeric database environment needs and user needs; (3) current applications of DBMS technology; and (4) research-oriented and…

Earthquake Model of the Middle East (EMME) Project: Active Fault Database for the Middle East Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gülen, L.; Wp2 Team

2010-12-01

The Earthquake Model of the Middle East (EMME) Project is a regional project of the umbrella GEM (Global Earthquake Model) project (http://www.emme-gem.org/). EMME project region includes Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Both EMME and SHARE projects overlap and Turkey becomes a bridge connecting the two projects. The Middle East region is tectonically and seismically very active part of the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt. Many major earthquakes have occurred in this region over the years causing casualties in the millions. The EMME project will use PSHA approach and the existing source models will be revised or modified by the incorporation of newly acquired data. More importantly the most distinguishing aspect of the EMME project from the previous ones will be its dynamic character. This very important characteristic is accomplished by the design of a flexible and scalable database that will permit continuous update, refinement, and analysis. A digital active fault map of the Middle East region is under construction in ArcGIS format. We are developing a database of fault parameters for active faults that are capable of generating earthquakes above a threshold magnitude of Mw≥5.5. Similar to the WGCEP-2007 and UCERF-2 projects, the EMME project database includes information on the geometry and rates of movement of faults in a “Fault Section Database”. The “Fault Section” concept has a physical significance, in that if one or more fault parameters change, a new fault section is defined along a fault zone. So far over 3,000 Fault Sections have been defined and parameterized for the Middle East region. A separate “Paleo-Sites Database” includes information on the timing and amounts of fault displacement for major fault zones. A digital reference library that includes the pdf files of the relevant papers, reports is also being prepared. Another task of the WP-2 of the EMME project is to prepare

Database of Standardized Questionnaires About Walking & Bicycling

Cancer.gov

This database contains questionnaire items and a list of validation studies for standardized items related to walking and biking. The items come from multiple national and international physical activity questionnaires.

Investigating the American Time Use Survey from an exposure modeling perspective.

PubMed

George, Barbara Jane; McCurdy, Thomas

2011-01-01

This paper describes an evaluation of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey (ATUS) for potential use in modeling human exposures to environmental pollutants. The ATUS is a large, on-going, cross-sectional survey of where Americans spend time and what activities they undertake in those locations. The data are reported as a series of sequential activities over a 24-h time period--a "diary day"--starting at 0400 hours. Between 12,000 and 13,000 surveys are obtained each year and the Bureau has plans to continue ATUS for the foreseeable future. The ATUS already has about 73,000 diary days of data, more than twice as many as that which currently exists in the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) "Consolidated Human Activity Database" (CHAD) that the Agency uses for exposure modeling purposes. There are limitations for using ATUS in modeling human exposures to environmental pollutants. The ATUS does not report the location for a number of activities regarded as "personal." For 2006, personal activities with missing location information totaled 572 min/day, on average, for survey participants: about 40% of their day. Another limitation is that ATUS does not distinguish between indoor and outdoor activities at home, two of the traditional locational demarcations used in human exposure modeling. This lack of information affects exposure estimates to both indoor and outdoor air pollutants and potentially affects non-dietary ingestion estimates for children, which can vary widely depending on whether or not a child is indoors. Finally, a detailed analysis of the work travel activity in a subsample from ATUS 2006 indicates that the coding scheme is not fully consistent with a CHAD-based exposure modeling approach. For ATUS respondents in this subsample who reported work as an activity, roughly 48% of their days were missing work travel at one or both ends of the work shift or reported within work-shift travel inconsistently. An extensive effort

Settlement Patterns and the Intensity of Violence in Ethnic Conflicts

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-01

Marind-anim, Sentani 8500710 19400 Papua 719 Mashona 5410719 23600 Shona-Ndau 723 Matebele 5522006 22200 Africans 127 GREGid GREG Name CowGREGid...6252003 483 Chad Arabs 999 4830999 19104 483 Chad Arabs 1028 4831028 19104 483 Chad Tama 1054 4831054 19104 4832005 552 Zimbabwe Mashona 719

Rapid Contraceptive Uptake and Changing Method Mix With High Use of Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives in Crisis-Affected Populations in Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

PubMed

Rattan, Jesse; Noznesky, Elizabeth; Curry, Dora Ward; Galavotti, Christine; Hwang, Shuyuan; Rodriguez, Mariela

2016-08-11

The global health community has recognized that expanding the contraceptive method mix is a programmatic imperative since (1) one-third of unintended pregnancies are due to method failure or discontinuation, and (2) the addition of a new method to the existing mix tends to increase total contraceptive use. Since July 2011, CARE has been implementing the Supporting Access to Family Planning and Post-Abortion Care (SAFPAC) initiative to increase the availability, quality, and use of contraception, with a particular focus on highly effective and long-acting reversible methods-intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants-in crisis-affected settings in Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This initiative supports government health systems at primary and referral levels to provide a wide range of contraceptive services to people affected by conflict and/or displacement. Before the initiative, long-acting reversible methods were either unknown or unavailable in the intervention areas. However, as soon as trained providers were in place, we noted a dramatic and sustained increase in new users of all contraceptive methods, especially implants, with total new clients reaching 82,855, or 32% of the estimated number of women of reproductive age in the respective catchment areas in both countries, at the end of the fourth year. Demand for implants was very strong in the first 6 months after provider training. During this time, implants consistently accounted for more than 50% of the method mix, reaching as high as 89% in Chad and 74% in DRC. To ensure that all clients were getting the contraceptive method of their choice, we conducted a series of discussions and sought feedback from different stakeholders in order to modify program strategies. Key program modifications included more focused communication in mass media, community, and interpersonal channels about the benefits of IUDs while reinforcing the wide range of methods available and refresher training for

Seismic databases of The Caucasus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gunia, I.; Sokhadze, G.; Mikava, D.; Tvaradze, N.; Godoladze, T.

2012-12-01

The Caucasus is one of the active segments of the Alpine-Himalayan collision belt. The region needs continues seismic monitoring systems for better understanding of tectonic processes going in the region. Seismic Monitoring Center of Georgia (Ilia State University) is operating the digital seismic network of the country and is also collecting and exchanging data with neighboring countries. The main focus of our study was to create seismic database which is well organized, easily reachable and is convenient for scientists to use. The seismological database includes the information about more than 100 000 earthquakes from the whole Caucasus. We have to mention that it includes data from analog and digital seismic networks. The first analog seismic station in Georgia was installed in 1899 in the Caucasus in Tbilisi city. The number of analog seismic stations was increasing during next decades and in 1980s about 100 analog stations were operated all over the region. From 1992 due to political and economical situation the number of stations has been decreased and in 2002 just two analog equipments was operated. New digital seismic network was developed in Georgia since 2003. The number of digital seismic stations was increasing and in current days there are more than 25 digital stations operating in the country. The database includes the detailed information about all equipments installed on seismic stations. Database is available online. That will make convenient interface for seismic data exchange data between Caucasus neighboring countries. It also makes easier both the seismic data processing and transferring them to the database and decreases the operator's mistakes during the routine work. The database was created using the followings: php, MySql, Javascript, Ajax, GMT, Gmap, Hypoinverse.

Database Administrator

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Pam

2010-01-01

The Internet and electronic commerce (e-commerce) generate lots of data. Data must be stored, organized, and managed. Database administrators, or DBAs, work with database software to find ways to do this. They identify user needs, set up computer databases, and test systems. They ensure that systems perform as they should and add people to the…

FIREMON Database

Treesearch

John F. Caratti

2006-01-01

The FIREMON database software allows users to enter data, store, analyze, and summarize plot data, photos, and related documents. The FIREMON database software consists of a Java application and a Microsoft® Access database. The Java application provides the user interface with FIREMON data through data entry forms, data summary reports, and other data management tools...

The Innate Immune Database (IIDB)

PubMed Central

Korb, Martin; Rust, Aistair G; Thorsson, Vesteinn; Battail, Christophe; Li, Bin; Hwang, Daehee; Kennedy, Kathleen A; Roach, Jared C; Rosenberger, Carrie M; Gilchrist, Mark; Zak, Daniel; Johnson, Carrie; Marzolf, Bruz; Aderem, Alan; Shmulevich, Ilya; Bolouri, Hamid

2008-01-01

Background As part of a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funded collaborative project, we have performed over 150 microarray experiments measuring the response of C57/BL6 mouse bone marrow macrophages to toll-like receptor stimuli. These microarray expression profiles are available freely from our project web site . Here, we report the development of a database of computationally predicted transcription factor binding sites and related genomic features for a set of over 2000 murine immune genes of interest. Our database, which includes microarray co-expression clusters and a host of web-based query, analysis and visualization facilities, is available freely via the internet. It provides a broad resource to the research community, and a stepping stone towards the delineation of the network of transcriptional regulatory interactions underlying the integrated response of macrophages to pathogens. Description We constructed a database indexed on genes and annotations of the immediate surrounding genomic regions. To facilitate both gene-specific and systems biology oriented research, our database provides the means to analyze individual genes or an entire genomic locus. Although our focus to-date has been on mammalian toll-like receptor signaling pathways, our database structure is not limited to this subject, and is intended to be broadly applicable to immunology. By focusing on selected immune-active genes, we were able to perform computationally intensive expression and sequence analyses that would currently be prohibitive if applied to the entire genome. Using six complementary computational algorithms and methodologies, we identified transcription factor binding sites based on the Position Weight Matrices available in TRANSFAC. For one example transcription factor (ATF3) for which experimental data is available, over 50% of our predicted binding sites coincide with genome-wide chromatin immnuopreciptation (ChIP-chip) results. Our database can

Rice Annotation Project Database (RAP-DB): an integrative and interactive database for rice genomics.

PubMed

Sakai, Hiroaki; Lee, Sung Shin; Tanaka, Tsuyoshi; Numa, Hisataka; Kim, Jungsok; Kawahara, Yoshihiro; Wakimoto, Hironobu; Yang, Ching-chia; Iwamoto, Masao; Abe, Takashi; Yamada, Yuko; Muto, Akira; Inokuchi, Hachiro; Ikemura, Toshimichi; Matsumoto, Takashi; Sasaki, Takuji; Itoh, Takeshi

2013-02-01

The Rice Annotation Project Database (RAP-DB, http://rapdb.dna.affrc.go.jp/) has been providing a comprehensive set of gene annotations for the genome sequence of rice, Oryza sativa (japonica group) cv. Nipponbare. Since the first release in 2005, RAP-DB has been updated several times along with the genome assembly updates. Here, we present our newest RAP-DB based on the latest genome assembly, Os-Nipponbare-Reference-IRGSP-1.0 (IRGSP-1.0), which was released in 2011. We detected 37,869 loci by mapping transcript and protein sequences of 150 monocot species. To provide plant researchers with highly reliable and up to date rice gene annotations, we have been incorporating literature-based manually curated data, and 1,626 loci currently incorporate literature-based annotation data, including commonly used gene names or gene symbols. Transcriptional activities are shown at the nucleotide level by mapping RNA-Seq reads derived from 27 samples. We also mapped the Illumina reads of a Japanese leading japonica cultivar, Koshihikari, and a Chinese indica cultivar, Guangluai-4, to the genome and show alignments together with the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and gene functional annotations through a newly developed browser, Short-Read Assembly Browser (S-RAB). We have developed two satellite databases, Plant Gene Family Database (PGFD) and Integrative Database of Cereal Gene Phylogeny (IDCGP), which display gene family and homologous gene relationships among diverse plant species. RAP-DB and the satellite databases offer simple and user-friendly web interfaces, enabling plant and genome researchers to access the data easily and facilitating a broad range of plant research topics.

Object-oriented structures supporting remote sensing databases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wichmann, Keith; Cromp, Robert F.

1995-01-01

Object-oriented databases show promise for modeling the complex interrelationships pervasive in scientific domains. To examine the utility of this approach, we have developed an Intelligent Information Fusion System based on this technology, and applied it to the problem of managing an active repository of remotely-sensed satellite scenes. The design and implementation of the system is compared and contrasted with conventional relational database techniques, followed by a presentation of the underlying object-oriented data structures used to enable fast indexing into the data holdings.

Database resources for the tuberculosis community.

PubMed

Lew, Jocelyne M; Mao, Chunhong; Shukla, Maulik; Warren, Andrew; Will, Rebecca; Kuznetsov, Dmitry; Xenarios, Ioannis; Robertson, Brian D; Gordon, Stephen V; Schnappinger, Dirk; Cole, Stewart T; Sobral, Bruno

2013-01-01

Access to online repositories for genomic and associated "-omics" datasets is now an essential part of everyday research activity. It is important therefore that the Tuberculosis community is aware of the databases and tools available to them online, as well as for the database hosts to know what the needs of the research community are. One of the goals of the Tuberculosis Annotation Jamboree, held in Washington DC on March 7th-8th 2012, was therefore to provide an overview of the current status of three key Tuberculosis resources, TubercuList (tuberculist.epfl.ch), TB Database (www.tbdb.org), and Pathosystems Resource Integration Center (PATRIC, www.patricbrc.org). Here we summarize some key updates and upcoming features in TubercuList, and provide an overview of the PATRIC site and its online tools for pathogen RNA-Seq analysis. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparison of the NCI open database with seven large chemical structural databases.

PubMed

Voigt, J H; Bienfait, B; Wang, S; Nicklaus, M C

2001-01-01

Eight large chemical databases have been analyzed and compared to each other. Central to this comparison is the open National Cancer Institute (NCI) database, consisting of approximately 250 000 structures. The other databases analyzed are the Available Chemicals Directory ("ACD," from MDL, release 1.99, 3D-version); the ChemACX ("ACX," from CamSoft, Version 4.5); the Maybridge Catalog and the Asinex database (both as distributed by CamSoft as part of ChemInfo 4.5); the Sigma-Aldrich Catalog (CD-ROM, 1999 Version); the World Drug Index ("WDI," Derwent, version 1999.03); and the organic part of the Cambridge Crystallographic Database ("CSD," from Cambridge Crystallographic Data Center, 1999 Version 5.18). The database properties analyzed are internal duplication rates; compounds unique to each database; cumulative occurrence of compounds in an increasing number of databases; overlap of identical compounds between two databases; similarity overlap; diversity; and others. The crystallographic database CSD and the WDI show somewhat less overlap with the other databases than those with each other. In particular the collections of commercial compounds and compilations of vendor catalogs have a substantial degree of overlap among each other. Still, no database is completely a subset of any other, and each appears to have its own niche and thus "raison d'être". The NCI database has by far the highest number of compounds that are unique to it. Approximately 200 000 of the NCI structures were not found in any of the other analyzed databases.

Object-oriented parsing of biological databases with Python.

PubMed

Ramu, C; Gemünd, C; Gibson, T J

2000-07-01

While database activities in the biological area are increasing rapidly, rather little is done in the area of parsing them in a simple and object-oriented way. We present here an elegant, simple yet powerful way of parsing biological flat-file databases. We have taken EMBL, SWISSPROT and GENBANK as examples. EMBL and SWISS-PROT do not differ much in the format structure. GENBANK has a very different format structure than EMBL and SWISS-PROT. Extracting the desired fields in an entry (for example a sub-sequence with an associated feature) for later analysis is a constant need in the biological sequence-analysis community: this is illustrated with tools to make new splice-site databases. The interface to the parser is abstract in the sense that the access to all the databases is independent from their different formats, since parsing instructions are hidden.

PrimateLit Database

Science.gov Websites

Primate Info Net Related Databases NCRR PrimateLit: A bibliographic database for primatology Top of any problems with this service. We welcome your feedback. The PrimateLit database is no longer being Resources, National Institutes of Health. The database is a collaborative project of the Wisconsin Primate

Drug-Path: a database for drug-induced pathways

PubMed Central

Zeng, Hui; Cui, Qinghua

2015-01-01

Some databases for drug-associated pathways have been built and are publicly available. However, the pathways curated in most of these databases are drug-action or drug-metabolism pathways. In recent years, high-throughput technologies such as microarray and RNA-sequencing have produced lots of drug-induced gene expression profiles. Interestingly, drug-induced gene expression profile frequently show distinct patterns, indicating that drugs normally induce the activation or repression of distinct pathways. Therefore, these pathways contribute to study the mechanisms of drugs and drug-repurposing. Here, we present Drug-Path, a database of drug-induced pathways, which was generated by KEGG pathway enrichment analysis for drug-induced upregulated genes and downregulated genes based on drug-induced gene expression datasets in Connectivity Map. Drug-Path provides user-friendly interfaces to retrieve, visualize and download the drug-induced pathway data in the database. In addition, the genes deregulated by a given drug are highlighted in the pathways. All data were organized using SQLite. The web site was implemented using Django, a Python web framework. Finally, we believe that this database will be useful for related researches. Database URL: http://www.cuilab.cn/drugpath PMID:26130661

The transboundary non-renewable Nubian Aquifer System of Chad, Egypt, Libya and Sudan: classical groundwater questions and parsimonious hydrogeologic analysis and modelin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Voss, Clifford I.; Soliman, Safaa M.

2014-01-01

Parsimonious groundwater modeling provides insight into hydrogeologic functioning of the Nubian Aquifer System (NAS), the world’s largest non-renewable groundwater system (belonging to Chad, Egypt, Libya, and Sudan). Classical groundwater-resource issues exist (magnitude and lateral extent of drawdown near pumping centers) with joint international management questions regarding transboundary drawdown. Much of NAS is thick, containing a large volume of high-quality groundwater, but receives insignificant recharge, so water-resource availability is time-limited. Informative aquifer data are lacking regarding large-scale response, providing only local-scale information near pumps. Proxy data provide primary underpinning for understanding regional response: Holocene water-table decline from the previous pluvial period, after thousands of years, results in current oasis/sabkha locations where the water table still intersects the ground. Depletion is found to be controlled by two regional parameters, hydraulic diffusivity and vertical anisotropy of permeability. Secondary data that provide insight are drawdowns near pumps and isotope-groundwater ages (million-year-old groundwaters in Egypt). The resultant strong simply structured three-dimensional model representation captures the essence of NAS regional groundwater-flow behavior. Model forecasts inform resource management that transboundary drawdown will likely be minimal—a nonissue—whereas drawdown within pumping centers may become excessive, requiring alternative extraction schemes; correspondingly, significant water-table drawdown may occur in pumping centers co-located with oases, causing oasis loss and environmental impacts.

The transboundary non-renewable Nubian Aquifer System of Chad, Egypt, Libya and Sudan: classical groundwater questions and parsimonious hydrogeologic analysis and modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voss, Clifford I.; Soliman, Safaa M.

2014-03-01

Parsimonious groundwater modeling provides insight into hydrogeologic functioning of the Nubian Aquifer System (NAS), the world's largest non-renewable groundwater system (belonging to Chad, Egypt, Libya, and Sudan). Classical groundwater-resource issues exist (magnitude and lateral extent of drawdown near pumping centers) with joint international management questions regarding transboundary drawdown. Much of NAS is thick, containing a large volume of high-quality groundwater, but receives insignificant recharge, so water-resource availability is time-limited. Informative aquifer data are lacking regarding large-scale response, providing only local-scale information near pumps. Proxy data provide primary underpinning for understanding regional response: Holocene water-table decline from the previous pluvial period, after thousands of years, results in current oasis/sabkha locations where the water table still intersects the ground. Depletion is found to be controlled by two regional parameters, hydraulic diffusivity and vertical anisotropy of permeability. Secondary data that provide insight are drawdowns near pumps and isotope-groundwater ages (million-year-old groundwaters in Egypt). The resultant strong simply structured three-dimensional model representation captures the essence of NAS regional groundwater-flow behavior. Model forecasts inform resource management that transboundary drawdown will likely be minimal—a nonissue—whereas drawdown within pumping centers may become excessive, requiring alternative extraction schemes; correspondingly, significant water-table drawdown may occur in pumping centers co-located with oases, causing oasis loss and environmental impacts.

Facilitating Collaboration, Knowledge Construction and Communication with Web-Enabled Databases.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McNeil, Sara G.; Robin, Bernard R.

This paper presents an overview of World Wide Web-enabled databases that dynamically generate Web materials and focuses on the use of this technology to support collaboration, knowledge construction, and communication. Database applications have been used in classrooms to support learning activities for over a decade, but, although business and…

PAMDB: a comprehensive Pseudomonas aeruginosa metabolome database.

PubMed

Huang, Weiliang; Brewer, Luke K; Jones, Jace W; Nguyen, Angela T; Marcu, Ana; Wishart, David S; Oglesby-Sherrouse, Amanda G; Kane, Maureen A; Wilks, Angela

2018-01-04

The Pseudomonas aeruginosaMetabolome Database (PAMDB, http://pseudomonas.umaryland.edu) is a searchable, richly annotated metabolite database specific to P. aeruginosa. P. aeruginosa is a soil organism and significant opportunistic pathogen that adapts to its environment through a versatile energy metabolism network. Furthermore, P. aeruginosa is a model organism for the study of biofilm formation, quorum sensing, and bioremediation processes, each of which are dependent on unique pathways and metabolites. The PAMDB is modelled on the Escherichia coli (ECMDB), yeast (YMDB) and human (HMDB) metabolome databases and contains >4370 metabolites and 938 pathways with links to over 1260 genes and proteins. The database information was compiled from electronic databases, journal articles and mass spectrometry (MS) metabolomic data obtained in our laboratories. For each metabolite entered, we provide detailed compound descriptions, names and synonyms, structural and physiochemical information, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and MS spectra, enzymes and pathway information, as well as gene and protein sequences. The database allows extensive searching via chemical names, structure and molecular weight, together with gene, protein and pathway relationships. The PAMBD and its future iterations will provide a valuable resource to biologists, natural product chemists and clinicians in identifying active compounds, potential biomarkers and clinical diagnostics. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Genome databases

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Courteau, J.

1991-10-11

Since the Genome Project began several years ago, a plethora of databases have been developed or are in the works. They range from the massive Genome Data Base at Johns Hopkins University, the central repository of all gene mapping information, to small databases focusing on single chromosomes or organisms. Some are publicly available, others are essentially private electronic lab notebooks. Still others limit access to a consortium of researchers working on, say, a single human chromosome. An increasing number incorporate sophisticated search and analytical software, while others operate as little more than data lists. In consultation with numerous experts inmore » the field, a list has been compiled of some key genome-related databases. The list was not limited to map and sequence databases but also included the tools investigators use to interpret and elucidate genetic data, such as protein sequence and protein structure databases. Because a major goal of the Genome Project is to map and sequence the genomes of several experimental animals, including E. coli, yeast, fruit fly, nematode, and mouse, the available databases for those organisms are listed as well. The author also includes several databases that are still under development - including some ambitious efforts that go beyond data compilation to create what are being called electronic research communities, enabling many users, rather than just one or a few curators, to add or edit the data and tag it as raw or confirmed.« less

Mineral dust emission from the Bodélé Depression, northern Chad, during BoDEx 2005

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Todd, Martin C.; Washington, Richard; Martins, José Vanderlei; Dubovik, Oleg; Lizcano, Gil; M'bainayel, Samuel; Engelstaedter, Sebastian

2007-03-01

Mineral dust in the atmosphere is an important component of the climate system but is poorly quantified. The Bodélé Depression of northern Chad stands out as the world's greatest source region of mineral dust into the atmosphere. Frequent dust plumes are a distinguishing feature of the region's climate. There is a need for more detailed information on processes of dust emission/transport and dust optical properties to inform model simulations of this source. During the Bodélé Dust Experiment (BoDEx) in 2005, instrumentation was deployed to measure dust properties and boundary layer meteorology. Observations indicate that dust emission events are triggered when near-surface wind speeds exceed 10 ms-1, associated with synoptic-scale variability in the large-scale atmospheric circulation. Dust emission pulses in phase with the diurnal cycle of near-surface winds. Analysis of dust samples shows that the dust consists predominantly of fragments of diatomite sediment. The particle size distribution of this diatomite dust estimated from sun photometer data, using a modified Aeronet retrieval algorithm, indicates a dominant coarse mode (radius centered on 1-2 μm) similar to other Saharan dust observations. Single-scattering albedo values are high, broadly in line with other Saharan dust even though the diatomite composition of dust from the Bodélé is likely to be unusual. The radiative impact of high dust loadings results in a reduction in surface daytime maximum temperature of around 7°C in the Bodélé region. Using optical and physical properties of dust obtained in the field, we estimate the total dust flux emitted from the Bodélé to be 1.18 ± 0.45 Tg per day during a substantial dust event. We speculate that the Bodélé Depression (˜10,800 km2) may be responsible for between 6-18% of global dust emissions, although the uncertainty in both the Bodélé and global estimates remains high.

Academic impact of a public electronic health database: bibliometric analysis of studies using the general practice research database.

PubMed

Chen, Yu-Chun; Wu, Jau-Ching; Haschler, Ingo; Majeed, Azeem; Chen, Tzeng-Ji; Wetter, Thomas

2011-01-01

Studies that use electronic health databases as research material are getting popular but the influence of a single electronic health database had not been well investigated yet. The United Kingdom's General Practice Research Database (GPRD) is one of the few electronic health databases publicly available to academic researchers. This study analyzed studies that used GPRD to demonstrate the scientific production and academic impact by a single public health database. A total of 749 studies published between 1995 and 2009 with 'General Practice Research Database' as their topics, defined as GPRD studies, were extracted from Web of Science. By the end of 2009, the GPRD had attracted 1251 authors from 22 countries and been used extensively in 749 studies published in 193 journals across 58 study fields. Each GPRD study was cited 2.7 times by successive studies. Moreover, the total number of GPRD studies increased rapidly, and it is expected to reach 1500 by 2015, twice the number accumulated till the end of 2009. Since 17 of the most prolific authors (1.4% of all authors) contributed nearly half (47.9%) of GPRD studies, success in conducting GPRD studies may accumulate. The GPRD was used mainly in, but not limited to, the three study fields of "Pharmacology and Pharmacy", "General and Internal Medicine", and "Public, Environmental and Occupational Health". The UK and United States were the two most active regions of GPRD studies. One-third of GRPD studies were internationally co-authored. A public electronic health database such as the GPRD will promote scientific production in many ways. Data owners of electronic health databases at a national level should consider how to reduce access barriers and to make data more available for research.

Data-based diffraction kernels for surface waves from convolution and correlation processes through active seismic interferometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chmiel, Malgorzata; Roux, Philippe; Herrmann, Philippe; Rondeleux, Baptiste; Wathelet, Marc

2018-05-01

We investigated the construction of diffraction kernels for surface waves using two-point convolution and/or correlation from land active seismic data recorded in the context of exploration geophysics. The high density of controlled sources and receivers, combined with the application of the reciprocity principle, allows us to retrieve two-dimensional phase-oscillation diffraction kernels (DKs) of surface waves between any two source or receiver points in the medium at each frequency (up to 15 Hz, at least). These DKs are purely data-based as no model calculations and no synthetic data are needed. They naturally emerge from the interference patterns of the recorded wavefields projected on the dense array of sources and/or receivers. The DKs are used to obtain multi-mode dispersion relations of Rayleigh waves, from which near-surface shear velocity can be extracted. Using convolution versus correlation with a grid of active sources is an important step in understanding the physics of the retrieval of surface wave Green's functions. This provides the foundation for future studies based on noise sources or active sources with a sparse spatial distribution.

DataBase on Demand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaspar Aparicio, R.; Gomez, D.; Coterillo Coz, I.; Wojcik, D.

2012-12-01

At CERN a number of key database applications are running on user-managed MySQL database services. The database on demand project was born out of an idea to provide the CERN user community with an environment to develop and run database services outside of the actual centralised Oracle based database services. The Database on Demand (DBoD) empowers the user to perform certain actions that had been traditionally done by database administrators, DBA's, providing an enterprise platform for database applications. It also allows the CERN user community to run different database engines, e.g. presently open community version of MySQL and single instance Oracle database server. This article describes a technology approach to face this challenge, a service level agreement, the SLA that the project provides, and an evolution of possible scenarios.

Warfarin and Aspirin Use for Stroke Prevention Among Patients With Atrial Fibrillation: The US National Health and Wellness Survey.

PubMed

Goren, Amir; Liu, Xianchen; Gupta, Shaloo; Simon, Teresa A; Phatak, Hemant

2015-01-01

Vitamin K antagonist (VKA) and aspirin (ASA) are recommended for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). This study examined VKA and ASA use and their clinical correlates, including CHADS2 stroke risk scores, among adult patients with AF in the general population. Participants included 1290 (1.72%) adults reporting diagnosis with AF (mean age, 64.9 years; 65% men) from the 2009 US National Health and Wellness Survey, an online, self-administered, nationwide, stratified random sample survey of 75,000 adults. Antithrombotic use patterns, including VKA, ASA, VKA+ASA, and non-VKA/ASA, and their correlates were examined using logistic regressions. Respondents with AF were treated with VKA (26.6%), ASA (34.5%), VKA+ASA (15.4%), or neither (23.5%). Among those with CHADS2 ≥1, 19.3% did not report use of VKA or ASA. Among those with CHADS2 ≥2, 35.7% were treated only with ASA. Adjusting for covariates in logistic regressions, CHADS2 ≥1 was associated with VKA and/or ASA (vs. non-VKA/ASA) use (P ≤ 0.02), but CHADS2 score did not differentiate VKA versus ASA use (P > 0.4). Comorbidities were associated with ASA versus VKA use (P ≤ 0.01). Older age, male gender, married status, and obesity were each associated with use of at least one of the treatments investigated (all P < 0.05). One-in-five AF patients with CHADS2 ≥1 were untreated and more than one-third with CHADS2 ≥2 treated with only ASA for stroke prevention. Our findings suggest that although patient characteristics including CHADS2 score were associated with either VKA or ASA use, CHADS2 score was unrelated to VKA versus ASA treatment.

Using a Semi-Realistic Database to Support a Database Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yue, Kwok-Bun

2013-01-01

A common problem for university relational database courses is to construct effective databases for instructions and assignments. Highly simplified "toy" databases are easily available for teaching, learning, and practicing. However, they do not reflect the complexity and practical considerations that students encounter in real-world…

Secure Database Management Study.

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-12-01

covers cases Involving indus- trial economics (e.g., Industrial spies) and commercial finances (e.g., fraud). Priv¢j--Protection of date about people...California, Berke - lay [STONM76aI. * The approach to protection taken in INGRE (STOM74| has attracted a lot of Interest* Queries, in a high level query...Material Command Support Activity (NMCSA), and another DoD agency, Cullinane Corporation developed a prototype version of the IDS database system on a

Construction of In-house Databases in a Corporation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dezaki, Kyoko; Saeki, Makoto

Rapid progress in advanced informationalization has increased need to enforce documentation activities in industries. Responding to it Tokin Corporation has been engaged in database construction for patent information, technical reports and so on accumulated inside the Company. Two results are obtained; One is TOPICS, inhouse patent information management system, the other is TOMATIS, management and technical information system by use of personal computers and all-purposed relational database software. These systems aim at compiling databases of patent and technological management information generated internally and externally by low labor efforts as well as low cost, and providing for comprehensive information company-wide. This paper introduces the outline of these systems and how they are actually used.

NATIVE HEALTH DATABASES: NATIVE HEALTH RESEARCH DATABASE (NHRD)

EPA Science Inventory

The Native Health Databases contain bibliographic information and abstracts of health-related articles, reports, surveys, and other resource documents pertaining to the health and health care of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Canadian First Nations. The databases provide i...

Access to antiretroviral treatment, issues of well-being and public health governance in Chad: what justifies the limited success of the universal access policy?

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Universal access to antiretroviral treatment (ART) in Chad was officially declared in December 2006. This presidential initiative was and is still funded 100% by the country’s budget and external donors’ financial support. Many factors have triggered the spread of AIDS. Some of these factors include the existence of norms and beliefs that create or increase exposure, the low-level education that precludes access to health information, social unrest, and population migration to areas of high economic opportunities and gender-based discrimination. Social forces that influence the distribution of dimensions of well-being and shape risks for infection also determine the persistence of access barriers to ART. The universal access policy is quite revolutionary but should be informed by the systemic barriers to access so as to promote equity. It is not enough to distribute ARVs and provide health services when health systems are poorly organized and managed. Comprehensive access to ART raises many organizational, ethical and policy problems that need to be solved to achieve equity in access. This paper argues that the persistence of access barriers is due to weak health systems and a poor public health leadership. AIDS has challenged health systems in a manner that is essentially different from other health problems. PMID:23902732

TIPdb-3D: the three-dimensional structure database of phytochemicals from Taiwan indigenous plants

PubMed Central

Tung, Chun-Wei; Lin, Ying-Chi; Chang, Hsun-Shuo; Wang, Chia-Chi; Chen, Ih-Sheng; Jheng, Jhao-Liang; Li, Jih-Heng

2014-01-01

The rich indigenous and endemic plants in Taiwan serve as a resourceful bank for biologically active phytochemicals. Based on our TIPdb database curating bioactive phytochemicals from Taiwan indigenous plants, this study presents a three-dimensional (3D) chemical structure database named TIPdb-3D to support the discovery of novel pharmacologically active compounds. The Merck Molecular Force Field (MMFF94) was used to generate 3D structures of phytochemicals in TIPdb. The 3D structures could facilitate the analysis of 3D quantitative structure–activity relationship, the exploration of chemical space and the identification of potential pharmacologically active compounds using protein–ligand docking. Database URL: http://cwtung.kmu.edu.tw/tipdb. PMID:24930145

Using Web Database Tools To Facilitate the Construction of Knowledge in Online Courses.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McNeil, Sara G.; Robin, Bernard R.

This paper presents an overview of database tools that dynamically generate World Wide Web materials and focuses on the use of these tools to support research activities, as well as teaching and learning. Database applications have been used in classrooms to support learning activities for over a decade, but, although business and e-commerce have…

SQLGEN: a framework for rapid client-server database application development.

PubMed

Nadkarni, P M; Cheung, K H

1995-12-01

SQLGEN is a framework for rapid client-server relational database application development. It relies on an active data dictionary on the client machine that stores metadata on one or more database servers to which the client may be connected. The dictionary generates dynamic Structured Query Language (SQL) to perform common database operations; it also stores information about the access rights of the user at log-in time, which is used to partially self-configure the behavior of the client to disable inappropriate user actions. SQLGEN uses a microcomputer database as the client to store metadata in relational form, to transiently capture server data in tables, and to allow rapid application prototyping followed by porting to client-server mode with modest effort. SQLGEN is currently used in several production biomedical databases.

The 2015 Nucleic Acids Research Database Issue and molecular biology database collection.

PubMed

Galperin, Michael Y; Rigden, Daniel J; Fernández-Suárez, Xosé M

2015-01-01

The 2015 Nucleic Acids Research Database Issue contains 172 papers that include descriptions of 56 new molecular biology databases, and updates on 115 databases whose descriptions have been previously published in NAR or other journals. Following the classification that has been introduced last year in order to simplify navigation of the entire issue, these articles are divided into eight subject categories. This year's highlights include RNAcentral, an international community portal to various databases on noncoding RNA; ValidatorDB, a validation database for protein structures and their ligands; SASBDB, a primary repository for small-angle scattering data of various macromolecular complexes; MoonProt, a database of 'moonlighting' proteins, and two new databases of protein-protein and other macromolecular complexes, ComPPI and the Complex Portal. This issue also includes an unusually high number of cancer-related databases and other databases dedicated to genomic basics of disease and potential drugs and drug targets. The size of NAR online Molecular Biology Database Collection, http://www.oxfordjournals.org/nar/database/a/, remained approximately the same, following the addition of 74 new resources and removal of 77 obsolete web sites. The entire Database Issue is freely available online on the Nucleic Acids Research web site (http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research 2014. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

US Gateway to SIMBAD Astronomical Database

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eichhorn, G.; Oliversen, R. (Technical Monitor)

1999-01-01

During the last year the US SIMBAD Gateway Project continued to provide services like user registration to the US users of the SIMBAD database in France. Currently there are over 3400 US users registered. We also provide user support by answering questions from users and handling requests for lost passwords when still necessary. We have implemented in cooperation with the CDS SIMBAD project access to the SIMBAD database for US users on an Internet address basis. This allows most US users to access SIMBAD without having to enter passwords. We have maintained the mirror copy of the SIMBAD database on a server at SAO. This has allowed much faster access for the US users. We also supported a demonstration of the SIMBAD database at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in January. We shipped computer equipment to the meeting and provided support for the demonstration activities at the SIMBAD booth. We continued to improve the cross-linking between the SIMBAD project and the Astrophysics Data System. This cross-linking between these systems is very much appreciated by the users of both the SIMBAD database and the ADS Abstract Service. The mirror of the SIMBAD database at SAO makes this connection faster for the US astronomers. We exchange information between the ADS and SIMBAD on a daily basis. The close cooperation between the CDS in Strasbourg and SAO, facilitated by this project, is an important part of the astronomy-wide digital library initiative called Urania. It has proven to be a model in how different data centers can collaborate and enhance the value of their products by linking with other data centers.

Energy Consumption Database

Science.gov Websites

Consumption Database The California Energy Commission has created this on-line database for informal reporting ) classifications. The database also provides easy downloading of energy consumption data into Microsoft Excel (XLSX

Human Mitochondrial Protein Database

National Institute of Standards and Technology Data Gateway

SRD 131 Human Mitochondrial Protein Database (Web, free access)   The Human Mitochondrial Protein Database (HMPDb) provides comprehensive data on mitochondrial and human nuclear encoded proteins involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and function. This database consolidates information from SwissProt, LocusLink, Protein Data Bank (PDB), GenBank, Genome Database (GDB), Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), Human Mitochondrial Genome Database (mtDB), MITOMAP, Neuromuscular Disease Center and Human 2-D PAGE Databases. This database is intended as a tool not only to aid in studying the mitochondrion but in studying the associated diseases.

15 years of zooming in and zooming out: Developing a new single scale national active fault database of New Zealand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ries, William; Langridge, Robert; Villamor, Pilar; Litchfield, Nicola; Van Dissen, Russ; Townsend, Dougal; Lee, Julie; Heron, David; Lukovic, Biljana

2014-05-01

In New Zealand, we are currently reconciling multiple digital coverages of mapped active faults into a national coverage at a single scale (1:250,000). This seems at first glance to be a relatively simple task. However, methods used to capture data, the scale of capture, and the initial purpose of the fault mapping, has produced datasets that have very different characteristics. The New Zealand digital active fault database (AFDB) was initially developed as a way of managing active fault locations and fault-related features within a computer-based spatial framework. The data contained within the AFDB comes from a wide range of studies, from plate tectonic (1:500,000) to cadastral (1:2,000) scale. The database was designed to allow capture of field observations and remotely sourced data without a loss in data resolution. This approach has worked well as a method for compiling a centralised database for fault information but not for providing a complete national coverage at a single scale. During the last 15 years other complementary projects have used and also contributed data to the AFDB, most notably the QMAP project (a national series of geological maps completed over 19 years that include coverage of active and inactive faults at 1:250,000). AFDB linework and attributes was incorporated into this series but simplification of linework and attributes has occurred to maintain map clarity at 1:250,000 scale. Also, during this period on-going mapping of active faults has improved upon these data. Other projects of note that have used data from the AFDB include the National Seismic Hazard Model of New Zealand and the Global Earthquake Model (GEM). The main goal of the current project has been to provide the best digital spatial representation of a fault trace at 1:250,000 scale and combine this with the most up to date attributes. In some areas this has required a simplification of very fine detailed data and in some cases new mapping to provide a complete coverage

The Primate Life History Database: A unique shared ecological data resource

PubMed Central

Strier, Karen B.; Altmann, Jeanne; Brockman, Diane K.; Bronikowski, Anne M.; Cords, Marina; Fedigan, Linda M.; Lapp, Hilmar; Liu, Xianhua; Morris, William F.; Pusey, Anne E.; Stoinski, Tara S.; Alberts, Susan C.

2011-01-01

Summary The importance of data archiving, data sharing, and public access to data has received considerable attention. Awareness is growing among scientists that collaborative databases can facilitate these activities.We provide a detailed description of the collaborative life history database developed by our Working Group at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) to address questions about life history patterns and the evolution of mortality and demographic variability in wild primates.Examples from each of the seven primate species included in our database illustrate the range of data incorporated and the challenges, decision-making processes, and criteria applied to standardize data across diverse field studies. In addition to the descriptive and structural metadata associated with our database, we also describe the process metadata (how the database was designed and delivered) and the technical specifications of the database.Our database provides a useful model for other researchers interested in developing similar types of databases for other organisms, while our process metadata may be helpful to other groups of researchers interested in developing databases for other types of collaborative analyses. PMID:21698066

MIPS: a database for protein sequences and complete genomes.

PubMed Central

Mewes, H W; Hani, J; Pfeiffer, F; Frishman, D

1998-01-01

The MIPS group [Munich Information Center for Protein Sequences of the German National Center for Environment and Health (GSF)] at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry, Martinsried near Munich, Germany, is involved in a number of data collection activities, including a comprehensive database of the yeast genome, a database reflecting the progress in sequencing the Arabidopsis thaliana genome, the systematic analysis of other small genomes and the collection of protein sequence data within the framework of the PIR-International Protein Sequence Database (described elsewhere in this volume). Through its WWW server (http://www.mips.biochem.mpg.de ) MIPS provides access to a variety of generic databases, including a database of protein families as well as automatically generated data by the systematic application of sequence analysis algorithms. The yeast genome sequence and its related information was also compiled on CD-ROM to provide dynamic interactive access to the 16 chromosomes of the first eukaryotic genome unraveled. PMID:9399795

The Astrobiology Habitable Environments Database (AHED)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lafuente, B.; Stone, N.; Downs, R. T.; Blake, D. F.; Bristow, T.; Fonda, M.; Pires, A.

2015-12-01

The Astrobiology Habitable Environments Database (AHED) is a central, high quality, long-term searchable repository for archiving and collaborative sharing of astrobiologically relevant data, including, morphological, textural and contextural images, chemical, biochemical, isotopic, sequencing, and mineralogical information. The aim of AHED is to foster long-term innovative research by supporting integration and analysis of diverse datasets in order to: 1) help understand and interpret planetary geology; 2) identify and characterize habitable environments and pre-biotic/biotic processes; 3) interpret returned data from present and past missions; 4) provide a citable database of NASA-funded published and unpublished data (after an agreed-upon embargo period). AHED uses the online open-source software "The Open Data Repository's Data Publisher" (ODR - http://www.opendatarepository.org) [1], which provides a user-friendly interface that research teams or individual scientists can use to design, populate and manage their own database according to the characteristics of their data and the need to share data with collaborators or the broader scientific community. This platform can be also used as a laboratory notebook. The database will have the capability to import and export in a variety of standard formats. Advanced graphics will be implemented including 3D graphing, multi-axis graphs, error bars, and similar scientific data functions together with advanced online tools for data analysis (e. g. the statistical package, R). A permissions system will be put in place so that as data are being actively collected and interpreted, they will remain proprietary. A citation system will allow research data to be used and appropriately referenced by other researchers after the data are made public. This project is supported by the Science-Enabling Research Activity (SERA) and NASA NNX11AP82A, Mars Science Laboratory Investigations. [1] Nate et al. (2015) AGU, submitted.

New Directions in Library and Information Science Education. Final Report. Volume 2.6: Database Distributor/Service Professional Competencies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffiths, Jose-Marie; And Others

This document contains validated activities and competencies needed by librarians working in a database distributor/service organization. The activities of professionals working in database distributor/service organizations are listed by function: Database Processing; Customer Support; System Administration; and Planning. The competencies are…

Biofuel Database

National Institute of Standards and Technology Data Gateway

Biofuel Database (Web, free access)   This database brings together structural, biological, and thermodynamic data for enzymes that are either in current use or are being considered for use in the production of biofuels.

Teaching Case: Adapting the Access Northwind Database to Support a Database Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dyer, John N.; Rogers, Camille

2015-01-01

A common problem encountered when teaching database courses is that few large illustrative databases exist to support teaching and learning. Most database textbooks have small "toy" databases that are chapter objective specific, and thus do not support application over the complete domain of design, implementation and management concepts…

TIPdb-3D: the three-dimensional structure database of phytochemicals from Taiwan indigenous plants.

PubMed

Tung, Chun-Wei; Lin, Ying-Chi; Chang, Hsun-Shuo; Wang, Chia-Chi; Chen, Ih-Sheng; Jheng, Jhao-Liang; Li, Jih-Heng

2014-01-01

The rich indigenous and endemic plants in Taiwan serve as a resourceful bank for biologically active phytochemicals. Based on our TIPdb database curating bioactive phytochemicals from Taiwan indigenous plants, this study presents a three-dimensional (3D) chemical structure database named TIPdb-3D to support the discovery of novel pharmacologically active compounds. The Merck Molecular Force Field (MMFF94) was used to generate 3D structures of phytochemicals in TIPdb. The 3D structures could facilitate the analysis of 3D quantitative structure-activity relationship, the exploration of chemical space and the identification of potential pharmacologically active compounds using protein-ligand docking. Database URL: http://cwtung.kmu.edu.tw/tipdb. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

Applications of GIS and database technologies to manage a Karst Feature Database

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gao, Y.; Tipping, R.G.; Alexander, E.C.

2006-01-01

This paper describes the management of a Karst Feature Database (KFD) in Minnesota. Two sets of applications in both GIS and Database Management System (DBMS) have been developed for the KFD of Minnesota. These applications were used to manage and to enhance the usability of the KFD. Structured Query Language (SQL) was used to manipulate transactions of the database and to facilitate the functionality of the user interfaces. The Database Administrator (DBA) authorized users with different access permissions to enhance the security of the database. Database consistency and recovery are accomplished by creating data logs and maintaining backups on a regular basis. The working database provides guidelines and management tools for future studies of karst features in Minnesota. The methodology of designing this DBMS is applicable to develop GIS-based databases to analyze and manage geomorphic and hydrologic datasets at both regional and local scales. The short-term goal of this research is to develop a regional KFD for the Upper Mississippi Valley Karst and the long-term goal is to expand this database to manage and study karst features at national and global scales.

Academic Impact of a Public Electronic Health Database: Bibliometric Analysis of Studies Using the General Practice Research Database

PubMed Central

Chen, Yu-Chun; Wu, Jau-Ching; Haschler, Ingo; Majeed, Azeem; Chen, Tzeng-Ji; Wetter, Thomas

2011-01-01

Background Studies that use electronic health databases as research material are getting popular but the influence of a single electronic health database had not been well investigated yet. The United Kingdom's General Practice Research Database (GPRD) is one of the few electronic health databases publicly available to academic researchers. This study analyzed studies that used GPRD to demonstrate the scientific production and academic impact by a single public health database. Methodology and Findings A total of 749 studies published between 1995 and 2009 with ‘General Practice Research Database’ as their topics, defined as GPRD studies, were extracted from Web of Science. By the end of 2009, the GPRD had attracted 1251 authors from 22 countries and been used extensively in 749 studies published in 193 journals across 58 study fields. Each GPRD study was cited 2.7 times by successive studies. Moreover, the total number of GPRD studies increased rapidly, and it is expected to reach 1500 by 2015, twice the number accumulated till the end of 2009. Since 17 of the most prolific authors (1.4% of all authors) contributed nearly half (47.9%) of GPRD studies, success in conducting GPRD studies may accumulate. The GPRD was used mainly in, but not limited to, the three study fields of “Pharmacology and Pharmacy”, “General and Internal Medicine”, and “Public, Environmental and Occupational Health”. The UK and United States were the two most active regions of GPRD studies. One-third of GRPD studies were internationally co-authored. Conclusions A public electronic health database such as the GPRD will promote scientific production in many ways. Data owners of electronic health databases at a national level should consider how to reduce access barriers and to make data more available for research. PMID:21731733

Proteomics: Protein Identification Using Online Databases

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eurich, Chris; Fields, Peter A.; Rice, Elizabeth

2012-01-01

Proteomics is an emerging area of systems biology that allows simultaneous study of thousands of proteins expressed in cells, tissues, or whole organisms. We have developed this activity to enable high school or college students to explore proteomic databases using mass spectrometry data files generated from yeast proteins in a college laboratory…

Open Geoscience Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bashev, A.

2012-04-01

Currently there is an enormous amount of various geoscience databases. Unfortunately the only users of the majority of the databases are their elaborators. There are several reasons for that: incompaitability, specificity of tasks and objects and so on. However the main obstacles for wide usage of geoscience databases are complexity for elaborators and complication for users. The complexity of architecture leads to high costs that block the public access. The complication prevents users from understanding when and how to use the database. Only databases, associated with GoogleMaps don't have these drawbacks, but they could be hardly named "geoscience" Nevertheless, open and simple geoscience database is necessary at least for educational purposes (see our abstract for ESSI20/EOS12). We developed a database and web interface to work with them and now it is accessible at maps.sch192.ru. In this database a result is a value of a parameter (no matter which) in a station with a certain position, associated with metadata: the date when the result was obtained; the type of a station (lake, soil etc); the contributor that sent the result. Each contributor has its own profile, that allows to estimate the reliability of the data. The results can be represented on GoogleMaps space image as a point in a certain position, coloured according to the value of the parameter. There are default colour scales and each registered user can create the own scale. The results can be also extracted in *.csv file. For both types of representation one could select the data by date, object type, parameter type, area and contributor. The data are uploaded in *.csv format: Name of the station; Lattitude(dd.dddddd); Longitude(ddd.dddddd); Station type; Parameter type; Parameter value; Date(yyyy-mm-dd). The contributor is recognised while entering. This is the minimal set of features that is required to connect a value of a parameter with a position and see the results. All the complicated data

The MAR databases: development and implementation of databases specific for marine metagenomics

PubMed Central

Klemetsen, Terje; Raknes, Inge A; Fu, Juan; Agafonov, Alexander; Balasundaram, Sudhagar V; Tartari, Giacomo; Robertsen, Espen

2018-01-01

Abstract We introduce the marine databases; MarRef, MarDB and MarCat (https://mmp.sfb.uit.no/databases/), which are publicly available resources that promote marine research and innovation. These data resources, which have been implemented in the Marine Metagenomics Portal (MMP) (https://mmp.sfb.uit.no/), are collections of richly annotated and manually curated contextual (metadata) and sequence databases representing three tiers of accuracy. While MarRef is a database for completely sequenced marine prokaryotic genomes, which represent a marine prokaryote reference genome database, MarDB includes all incomplete sequenced prokaryotic genomes regardless level of completeness. The last database, MarCat, represents a gene (protein) catalog of uncultivable (and cultivable) marine genes and proteins derived from marine metagenomics samples. The first versions of MarRef and MarDB contain 612 and 3726 records, respectively. Each record is built up of 106 metadata fields including attributes for sampling, sequencing, assembly and annotation in addition to the organism and taxonomic information. Currently, MarCat contains 1227 records with 55 metadata fields. Ontologies and controlled vocabularies are used in the contextual databases to enhance consistency. The user-friendly web interface lets the visitors browse, filter and search in the contextual databases and perform BLAST searches against the corresponding sequence databases. All contextual and sequence databases are freely accessible and downloadable from https://s1.sfb.uit.no/public/mar/. PMID:29106641

Drug-Path: a database for drug-induced pathways.

PubMed

Zeng, Hui; Qiu, Chengxiang; Cui, Qinghua

2015-01-01

Some databases for drug-associated pathways have been built and are publicly available. However, the pathways curated in most of these databases are drug-action or drug-metabolism pathways. In recent years, high-throughput technologies such as microarray and RNA-sequencing have produced lots of drug-induced gene expression profiles. Interestingly, drug-induced gene expression profile frequently show distinct patterns, indicating that drugs normally induce the activation or repression of distinct pathways. Therefore, these pathways contribute to study the mechanisms of drugs and drug-repurposing. Here, we present Drug-Path, a database of drug-induced pathways, which was generated by KEGG pathway enrichment analysis for drug-induced upregulated genes and downregulated genes based on drug-induced gene expression datasets in Connectivity Map. Drug-Path provides user-friendly interfaces to retrieve, visualize and download the drug-induced pathway data in the database. In addition, the genes deregulated by a given drug are highlighted in the pathways. All data were organized using SQLite. The web site was implemented using Django, a Python web framework. Finally, we believe that this database will be useful for related researches. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

Toward Phase IV, Populating the WOVOdat Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ratdomopurbo, A.; Newhall, C. G.; Schwandner, F. M.; Selva, J.; Ueda, H.

2009-12-01

One of challenges for volcanologists is the fact that more and more people are likely to live on volcanic slopes. Information about volcanic activity during unrest should be accurate and rapidly distributed. As unrest may lead to eruption, evacuation may be necessary to minimize damage and casualties. The decision to evacuate people is usually based on the interpretation of monitoring data. Over the past several decades, monitoring volcanoes has used more and more sophisticated instruments. A huge volume of data is collected in order to understand the state of activity and behaviour of a volcano. WOVOdat, The World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) Database of Volcanic Unrest, will provide context within which scientists can interpret the state of their own volcano, during and between crises. After a decision during the 2000 IAVCEI General Assembly to create WOVOdat, development has passed through several phases, from Concept Development (Phase-I in 2000-2002), Database Design (Phase-II, 2003-2006) and Pilot Testing (Phase-III in 2007-2008). For WOVOdat to be operational, there are still two (2) steps to complete, which are: Database Population (Phase-IV) and Enhancement and Maintenance (Phase-V). Since January 2009, the WOVOdat project is hosted by Earth Observatory of Singapore for at least a 5-year period. According to the original planning in 2002, this 5-year period will be used for completing the Phase-IV. As the WOVOdat design is not yet tested for all types of data, 2009 is still reserved for building the back-end relational database management system (RDBMS) of WOVOdat and testing it with more complex data. Fine-tuning of the WOVOdat’s RDBMS design is being done with each new upload of observatory data. The next and main phase of WOVOdat development will be data population, managing data transfer from multiple observatory formats to WOVOdat format. Data population will depend on two important things, the availability of SQL database in volcano

Active fault databases and seismic hazard calculations: a compromise between science and practice. Review of case studies from Spain.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia-Mayordomo, Julian; Martin-Banda, Raquel; Insua-Arevalo, Juan Miguel; Alvarez-Gomez, Jose Antonio; Martinez-Diaz, Jose Jesus

2017-04-01

Since the Quaternary Active Faults Database of Iberia (QAFI) was released in February 2012 a number of studies aimed at producing seismic hazard assessments have made use of it. We will present a summary of the shortcomings and advantages that were faced when QAFI was considered in different seismic hazard studies. These include the production of the new official seismic hazard map of Spain, performed in the view of the foreseen adoption of Eurocode-8 throughout 2017. The QAFI database was considered as a complementary source of information for designing the seismogenic source-zone models used in the calculations, and particularly for the estimation of maximum magnitude distribution in each zone, as well as for assigning the predominant rupture mechanism based on style of faulting. We will also review the different results obtained by other studies that considered QAFI faults as independent seismogenic-sources in opposition to source-zones, revealing, on one hand, the crucial importance of data-reliability and, on the other, the very much influence that ground motion attenuation models have on the actual impact of fault-sources on hazard results. Finally, we will present briefly the updated version of the database (QAFI v.3, 2015), which includes an original scheme for evaluating the reliability of fault seismic parameters specifically devised to facilitate decision-making to seismic hazard practitioners.

Geospatial database for heritage building conservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basir, W. N. F. W. A.; Setan, H.; Majid, Z.; Chong, A.

2014-02-01

Heritage buildings are icons from the past that exist in present time. Through heritage architecture, we can learn about economic issues and social activities of the past. Nowadays, heritage buildings are under threat from natural disaster, uncertain weather, pollution and others. In order to preserve this heritage for the future generation, recording and documenting of heritage buildings are required. With the development of information system and data collection technique, it is possible to create a 3D digital model. This 3D information plays an important role in recording and documenting heritage buildings. 3D modeling and virtual reality techniques have demonstrated the ability to visualize the real world in 3D. It can provide a better platform for communication and understanding of heritage building. Combining 3D modelling with technology of Geographic Information System (GIS) will create a database that can make various analyses about spatial data in the form of a 3D model. Objectives of this research are to determine the reliability of Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) technique for data acquisition of heritage building and to develop a geospatial database for heritage building conservation purposes. The result from data acquisition will become a guideline for 3D model development. This 3D model will be exported to the GIS format in order to develop a database for heritage building conservation. In this database, requirements for heritage building conservation process are included. Through this research, a proper database for storing and documenting of the heritage building conservation data will be developed.

The MAR databases: development and implementation of databases specific for marine metagenomics.

PubMed

Klemetsen, Terje; Raknes, Inge A; Fu, Juan; Agafonov, Alexander; Balasundaram, Sudhagar V; Tartari, Giacomo; Robertsen, Espen; Willassen, Nils P

2018-01-04

We introduce the marine databases; MarRef, MarDB and MarCat (https://mmp.sfb.uit.no/databases/), which are publicly available resources that promote marine research and innovation. These data resources, which have been implemented in the Marine Metagenomics Portal (MMP) (https://mmp.sfb.uit.no/), are collections of richly annotated and manually curated contextual (metadata) and sequence databases representing three tiers of accuracy. While MarRef is a database for completely sequenced marine prokaryotic genomes, which represent a marine prokaryote reference genome database, MarDB includes all incomplete sequenced prokaryotic genomes regardless level of completeness. The last database, MarCat, represents a gene (protein) catalog of uncultivable (and cultivable) marine genes and proteins derived from marine metagenomics samples. The first versions of MarRef and MarDB contain 612 and 3726 records, respectively. Each record is built up of 106 metadata fields including attributes for sampling, sequencing, assembly and annotation in addition to the organism and taxonomic information. Currently, MarCat contains 1227 records with 55 metadata fields. Ontologies and controlled vocabularies are used in the contextual databases to enhance consistency. The user-friendly web interface lets the visitors browse, filter and search in the contextual databases and perform BLAST searches against the corresponding sequence databases. All contextual and sequence databases are freely accessible and downloadable from https://s1.sfb.uit.no/public/mar/. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Toxicological database of soil and derived products (BDT).

PubMed

Uricchio, Vito Felice

2008-01-01

The Toxicological database of soil and derived products is a project firstly proposed by the Regional Environmental Authority of Apulia. Such a project aims to provide comprehensive and updated information on the regional environmental characteristics, on the pollution state of the regional soil, on the main pollutants and on the reclaim techniques to be used in case of both non-point (agricultural activities) and point (industrial activities) sources of pollution. The project's focus is on the soil pollution because of the fundamental role played by the soil in supporting the biological cycle. Furthermore, the reasons for the project are related both to the reduction of human health risks due to toxic substances ingestion (these substances are present in some ring of the eating chain), and to the recognition of the importance of the groundwater quality safety (primary source of fresh water in many Mediterranean Regions). The essential requirements of a data entry are the following: speed and simplicity of the data entry; reliability and stability of the database structures; speed, easiness and pliability of the queries. Free consultation of the database represents one of the most remarkable advantages coming from the use of an "open" system.

The Icelandic 16-electrode electrohysterogram database

PubMed Central

Alexandersson, Asgeir; Steingrimsdottir, Thora; Terrien, Jeremy; Marque, Catherine; Karlsson, Brynjar

2015-01-01

External recordings of the electrohysterogram (EHG) can provide new knowledge on uterine electrical activity associated with contractions. Better understanding of the mechanisms underlying labor can contribute to preventing preterm birth which is the main cause of mortality and morbidity in newborns. Promising results using the EHG for labor prediction and other uses in obstetric care are the drivers of this work. This paper presents a database of 122 4-by-4 electrode EHG recordings performed on 45 pregnant women using a standardized recording protocol and a placement guide system. The recordings were performed in Iceland between 2008 and 2010. Of the 45 participants, 32 were measured repeatedly during the same pregnancy and participated in two to seven recordings. Recordings were performed in the third trimester (112 recordings) and during labor (10 recordings). The database includes simultaneously recorded tocographs, annotations of events and obstetric information on participants. The publication of this database enables independent and novel analysis of multi-electrode EHG by the researchers in the field and hopefully development towards new life-saving technology. PMID:25984349

The Icelandic 16-electrode electrohysterogram database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexandersson, Asgeir; Steingrimsdottir, Thora; Terrien, Jeremy; Marque, Catherine; Karlsson, Brynjar

2015-04-01

External recordings of the electrohysterogram (EHG) can provide new knowledge on uterine electrical activity associated with contractions. Better understanding of the mechanisms underlying labor can contribute to preventing preterm birth which is the main cause of mortality and morbidity in newborns. Promising results using the EHG for labor prediction and other uses in obstetric care are the drivers of this work. This paper presents a database of 122 4-by-4 electrode EHG recordings performed on 45 pregnant women using a standardized recording protocol and a placement guide system. The recordings were performed in Iceland between 2008 and 2010. Of the 45 participants, 32 were measured repeatedly during the same pregnancy and participated in two to seven recordings. Recordings were performed in the third trimester (112 recordings) and during labor (10 recordings). The database includes simultaneously recorded tocographs, annotations of events and obstetric information on participants. The publication of this database enables independent and novel analysis of multi-electrode EHG by the researchers in the field and hopefully development towards new life-saving technology.

Databases for LDEF results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bohnhoff-Hlavacek, Gail

1992-01-01

One of the objectives of the team supporting the LDEF Systems and Materials Special Investigative Groups is to develop databases of experimental findings. These databases identify the hardware flown, summarize results and conclusions, and provide a system for acknowledging investigators, tracing sources of data, and future design suggestions. To date, databases covering the optical experiments, and thermal control materials (chromic acid anodized aluminum, silverized Teflon blankets, and paints) have been developed at Boeing. We used the Filemaker Pro software, the database manager for the Macintosh computer produced by the Claris Corporation. It is a flat, text-retrievable database that provides access to the data via an intuitive user interface, without tedious programming. Though this software is available only for the Macintosh computer at this time, copies of the databases can be saved to a format that is readable on a personal computer as well. Further, the data can be exported to more powerful relational databases, capabilities, and use of the LDEF databases and describe how to get copies of the database for your own research.

Translating the Immunogenicity of Prime-boost Immunization With ChAd63 and MVA ME-TRAP From Malaria Naive to Malaria-endemic Populations

PubMed Central

Kimani, Domtila; Jagne, Ya Jankey; Cox, Momodou; Kimani, Eva; Bliss, Carly M; Gitau, Evelyn; Ogwang, Caroline; Afolabi, Muhammed O; Bowyer, Georgina; Collins, Katharine A; Edwards, Nick; Hodgson, Susanne H; Duncan, Christopher J A; Spencer, Alexandra J; Knight, Miguel G; Drammeh, Abdoulie; Anagnostou, Nicholas A; Berrie, Eleanor; Moyle, Sarah; Gilbert, Sarah C; Soipei, Peninah; Okebe, Joseph; Colloca, Stefano; Cortese, Riccardo; Viebig, Nicola K; Roberts, Rachel; Lawrie, Alison M; Nicosia, Alfredo; Imoukhuede, Egeruan B; Bejon, Philip; Chilengi, Roma; Bojang, Kalifa; Flanagan, Katie L; Hill, Adrian V S; Urban, Britta C; Ewer, Katie J

2014-01-01

To induce a deployable level of efficacy, a successful malaria vaccine would likely benefit from both potent cellular and humoral immunity. These requirements are met by a heterologous prime-boost immunization strategy employing a chimpanzee adenovirus vector followed by modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA), both encoding the pre-erythrocytic malaria antigen ME-thrombospondin-related adhesive protein (TRAP), with high immunogenicity and significant efficacy in UK adults. We undertook two phase 1b open-label studies in adults in Kenya and The Gambia in areas of similar seasonal malaria transmission dynamics and have previously reported safety and basic immunogenicity data. We now report flow cytometry and additional interferon (IFN)-γ enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) data characterizing pre-existing and induced cellular immunity as well as anti-TRAP IgG responses. T-cell responses induced by vaccination averaged 1,254 spot-forming cells (SFC) per million peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) across both trials and flow cytometry revealed cytokine production from both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells with the frequency of CD8+ IFN-γ-secreting monofunctional T cells (previously shown to associate with vaccine efficacy) particularly high in Kenyan adults. Immunization with ChAd63 and MVA ME-TRAP induced strong cellular and humoral immune responses in adults living in two malaria-endemic regions of Africa. This prime-boost approach targeting the pre-erythrocytic stage of the malaria life-cycle is now being assessed for efficacy in a target population. PMID:24930599

Databases for Microbiologists

DOE PAGES

Zhulin, Igor B.

2015-05-26

Databases play an increasingly important role in biology. They archive, store, maintain, and share information on genes, genomes, expression data, protein sequences and structures, metabolites and reactions, interactions, and pathways. All these data are critically important to microbiologists. Furthermore, microbiology has its own databases that deal with model microorganisms, microbial diversity, physiology, and pathogenesis. Thousands of biological databases are currently available, and it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with their development. Finally, the purpose of this minireview is to provide a brief survey of current databases that are of interest to microbiologists.

Databases for Microbiologists

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhulin, Igor B.

Databases play an increasingly important role in biology. They archive, store, maintain, and share information on genes, genomes, expression data, protein sequences and structures, metabolites and reactions, interactions, and pathways. All these data are critically important to microbiologists. Furthermore, microbiology has its own databases that deal with model microorganisms, microbial diversity, physiology, and pathogenesis. Thousands of biological databases are currently available, and it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with their development. Finally, the purpose of this minireview is to provide a brief survey of current databases that are of interest to microbiologists.

Databases for Microbiologists

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Databases play an increasingly important role in biology. They archive, store, maintain, and share information on genes, genomes, expression data, protein sequences and structures, metabolites and reactions, interactions, and pathways. All these data are critically important to microbiologists. Furthermore, microbiology has its own databases that deal with model microorganisms, microbial diversity, physiology, and pathogenesis. Thousands of biological databases are currently available, and it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with their development. The purpose of this minireview is to provide a brief survey of current databases that are of interest to microbiologists. PMID:26013493

RAACFDb: Rheumatoid arthritis ayurvedic classical formulations database.

PubMed

Mohamed Thoufic Ali, A M; Agrawal, Aakash; Sajitha Lulu, S; Mohana Priya, A; Vino, S

2017-02-02

In the past years, the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has undergone remarkable changes in all therapeutic modes. The present newfangled care in clinical research is to determine and to pick a new track for better treatment options for RA. Recent ethnopharmacological investigations revealed that traditional herbal remedies are the most preferred modality of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). However, several ayurvedic modes of treatments and formulations for RA are not much studied and documented from Indian traditional system of medicine. Therefore, this directed us to develop an integrated database, RAACFDb (acronym: Rheumatoid Arthritis Ayurvedic Classical Formulations Database) by consolidating data from the repository of Vedic Samhita - The Ayurveda to retrieve the available formulations information easily. Literature data was gathered using several search engines and from ayurvedic practitioners for loading information in the database. In order to represent the collected information about classical ayurvedic formulations, an integrated database is constructed and implemented on a MySQL and PHP back-end. The database is supported by describing all the ayurvedic classical formulations for the treatment rheumatoid arthritis. It includes composition, usage, plant parts used, active ingredients present in the composition and their structures. The prime objective is to locate ayurvedic formulations proven to be quite successful and highly effective among the patients with reduced side effects. The database (freely available at www.beta.vit.ac.in/raacfdb/index.html) hopefully enables easy access for clinical researchers and students to discover novel leads with reduced side effects. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

BIOPEP database and other programs for processing bioactive peptide sequences.

PubMed

Minkiewicz, Piotr; Dziuba, Jerzy; Iwaniak, Anna; Dziuba, Marta; Darewicz, Małgorzata

2008-01-01

This review presents the potential for application of computational tools in peptide science based on a sample BIOPEP database and program as well as other programs and databases available via the World Wide Web. The BIOPEP application contains a database of biologically active peptide sequences and a program enabling construction of profiles of the potential biological activity of protein fragments, calculation of quantitative descriptors as measures of the value of proteins as potential precursors of bioactive peptides, and prediction of bonds susceptible to hydrolysis by endopeptidases in a protein chain. Other bioactive and allergenic peptide sequence databases are also presented. Programs enabling the construction of binary and multiple alignments between peptide sequences, the construction of sequence motifs attributed to a given type of bioactivity, searching for potential precursors of bioactive peptides, and the prediction of sites susceptible to proteolytic cleavage in protein chains are available via the Internet as are other approaches concerning secondary structure prediction and calculation of physicochemical features based on amino acid sequence. Programs for prediction of allergenic and toxic properties have also been developed. This review explores the possibilities of cooperation between various programs.

Public participation in genetic databases: crossing the boundaries between biobanks and forensic DNA databases through the principle of solidarity

PubMed Central

Machado, Helena; Silva, Susana

2015-01-01

The ethical aspects of biobanks and forensic DNA databases are often treated as separate issues. As a reflection of this, public participation, or the involvement of citizens in genetic databases, has been approached differently in the fields of forensics and medicine. This paper aims to cross the boundaries between medicine and forensics by exploring the flows between the ethical issues presented in the two domains and the subsequent conceptualisation of public trust and legitimisation. We propose to introduce the concept of ‘solidarity’, traditionally applied only to medical and research biobanks, into a consideration of public engagement in medicine and forensics. Inclusion of a solidarity-based framework, in both medical biobanks and forensic DNA databases, raises new questions that should be included in the ethical debate, in relation to both health services/medical research and activities associated with the criminal justice system. PMID:26139851

Online Databases in Physics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sievert, MaryEllen C.; Verbeck, Alison F.

1984-01-01

This overview of 47 online sources for physics information available in the United States--including sub-field databases, transdisciplinary databases, and multidisciplinary databases-- notes content, print source, language, time coverage, and databank. Two discipline-specific databases (SPIN and PHYSICS BRIEFS) are also discussed. (EJS)

DefenseLink.mil - Special Report - Travels With Mullen

Science.gov Websites

photography by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley Grammy award-winning musician Kid Rock and Zac servicemembers and their families stationed overseas. DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint

Sudan: The Crisis in Darfur and Status of the North-South Peace Agreement

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-10-01

10 The United States and the North-South Peace Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Darfur Conflict and Impact on Chad...mid-2004. The Darfur Conflict and Impact on Chad and CAR The crisis in Darfur continues to affect Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR), in...current regime only responds to real pressure. The Clinton Administration imposed comprehensive economic and trade sanctions in 1997; the impacts of these

Development of a personalized training system using the Lung Image Database Consortium and Image Database resource Initiative Database.

PubMed

Lin, Hongli; Wang, Weisheng; Luo, Jiawei; Yang, Xuedong

2014-12-01

The aim of this study was to develop a personalized training system using the Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) and Image Database resource Initiative (IDRI) Database, because collecting, annotating, and marking a large number of appropriate computed tomography (CT) scans, and providing the capability of dynamically selecting suitable training cases based on the performance levels of trainees and the characteristics of cases are critical for developing a efficient training system. A novel approach is proposed to develop a personalized radiology training system for the interpretation of lung nodules in CT scans using the Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) and Image Database Resource Initiative (IDRI) database, which provides a Content-Boosted Collaborative Filtering (CBCF) algorithm for predicting the difficulty level of each case of each trainee when selecting suitable cases to meet individual needs, and a diagnostic simulation tool to enable trainees to analyze and diagnose lung nodules with the help of an image processing tool and a nodule retrieval tool. Preliminary evaluation of the system shows that developing a personalized training system for interpretation of lung nodules is needed and useful to enhance the professional skills of trainees. The approach of developing personalized training systems using the LIDC/IDRL database is a feasible solution to the challenges of constructing specific training program in terms of cost and training efficiency. Copyright © 2014 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Data, knowledge and method bases in chemical sciences. Part IV. Current status in databases.

PubMed

Braibanti, Antonio; Rao, Rupenaguntla Sambasiva; Rao, Gollapalli Nagesvara; Ramam, Veluri Anantha; Rao, Sattiraju Veera Venkata Satyanarayana

2002-01-01

Computer readable databases have become an integral part of chemical research right from planning data acquisition to interpretation of the information generated. The databases available today are numerical, spectral and bibliographic. Data representation by different schemes--relational, hierarchical and objects--is demonstrated. Quality index (QI) throws light on the quality of data. The objective, prospects and impact of database activity on expert systems are discussed. The number and size of corporate databases available on international networks crossed manageable number leading to databases about their contents. Subsets of corporate or small databases have been developed by groups of chemists. The features and role of knowledge-based or intelligent databases are described.

The Ruby UCSC API: accessing the UCSC genome database using Ruby.

PubMed

Mishima, Hiroyuki; Aerts, Jan; Katayama, Toshiaki; Bonnal, Raoul J P; Yoshiura, Koh-ichiro

2012-09-21

The University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) genome database is among the most used sources of genomic annotation in human and other organisms. The database offers an excellent web-based graphical user interface (the UCSC genome browser) and several means for programmatic queries. A simple application programming interface (API) in a scripting language aimed at the biologist was however not yet available. Here, we present the Ruby UCSC API, a library to access the UCSC genome database using Ruby. The API is designed as a BioRuby plug-in and built on the ActiveRecord 3 framework for the object-relational mapping, making writing SQL statements unnecessary. The current version of the API supports databases of all organisms in the UCSC genome database including human, mammals, vertebrates, deuterostomes, insects, nematodes, and yeast.The API uses the bin index-if available-when querying for genomic intervals. The API also supports genomic sequence queries using locally downloaded *.2bit files that are not stored in the official MySQL database. The API is implemented in pure Ruby and is therefore available in different environments and with different Ruby interpreters (including JRuby). Assisted by the straightforward object-oriented design of Ruby and ActiveRecord, the Ruby UCSC API will facilitate biologists to query the UCSC genome database programmatically. The API is available through the RubyGem system. Source code and documentation are available at https://github.com/misshie/bioruby-ucsc-api/ under the Ruby license. Feedback and help is provided via the website at http://rubyucscapi.userecho.com/.

The Ruby UCSC API: accessing the UCSC genome database using Ruby

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) genome database is among the most used sources of genomic annotation in human and other organisms. The database offers an excellent web-based graphical user interface (the UCSC genome browser) and several means for programmatic queries. A simple application programming interface (API) in a scripting language aimed at the biologist was however not yet available. Here, we present the Ruby UCSC API, a library to access the UCSC genome database using Ruby. Results The API is designed as a BioRuby plug-in and built on the ActiveRecord 3 framework for the object-relational mapping, making writing SQL statements unnecessary. The current version of the API supports databases of all organisms in the UCSC genome database including human, mammals, vertebrates, deuterostomes, insects, nematodes, and yeast. The API uses the bin index—if available—when querying for genomic intervals. The API also supports genomic sequence queries using locally downloaded *.2bit files that are not stored in the official MySQL database. The API is implemented in pure Ruby and is therefore available in different environments and with different Ruby interpreters (including JRuby). Conclusions Assisted by the straightforward object-oriented design of Ruby and ActiveRecord, the Ruby UCSC API will facilitate biologists to query the UCSC genome database programmatically. The API is available through the RubyGem system. Source code and documentation are available at https://github.com/misshie/bioruby-ucsc-api/ under the Ruby license. Feedback and help is provided via the website at http://rubyucscapi.userecho.com/. PMID:22994508

Contextualizing Solar Cycle 24: Report on the Development of a Homogenous Database of Bipolar Active Regions Spanning Four Cycles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Munoz-Jaramillo, A.; Werginz, Z. A.; DeLuca, M. D.; Vargas-Acosta, J. P.; Longcope, D. W.; Harvey, J. W.; Martens, P.; Zhang, J.; Vargas-Dominguez, S.; DeForest, C. E.; Lamb, D. A.

2015-12-01

The solar cycle can be understood as a process that alternates the large-scale magnetic field of the Sun between poloidal and toroidal configurations. Although the process that transitions the solar cycle between toroidal and poloidal phases is still not fully understood, theoretical studies, and observational evidence, suggest that this process is driven by the emergence and decay of bipolar magnetic regions (BMRs) at the photosphere. Furthermore, the emergence of BMRs at the photosphere is the main driver behind solar variability and solar activity in general; making the study of their properties doubly important for heliospheric physics. However, in spite of their critical role, there is still no unified catalog of BMRs spanning multiple instruments and covering the entire period of systematic measurement of the solar magnetic field (i.e. 1975 to present).In this presentation we discuss an ongoing project to address this deficiency by applying our Bipolar Active Region Detection (BARD) code on full disk magnetograms measured by the 512 (1975-1993) and SPMG (1992-2003) instruments at the Kitt Peak Vacuum Telescope (KPVT), SOHO/MDI (1996-2011) and SDO/HMI (2010-present). First we will discuss the results of our revitalization of 512 and SPMG KPVT data, then we will discuss how our BARD code operates, and finally report the results of our cross-callibration.The corrected and improved KPVT magnetograms will be made available through the National Solar Observatory (NSO) and Virtual Solar Observatory (VSO), including updated synoptic maps produced by running the corrected KPVT magnetograms though the SOLIS pipeline. The homogeneous active region database will be made public by the end of 2017 once it has reached a satisfactory level of quality and maturity. The Figure shows all bipolar active regions present in our database (as of Aug 2015) colored according to the sign of their leading polarity. Marker size is indicative of the total active region flux. Anti

Mycobacteriophage genome database.

PubMed

Joseph, Jerrine; Rajendran, Vasanthi; Hassan, Sameer; Kumar, Vanaja

2011-01-01

Mycobacteriophage genome database (MGDB) is an exclusive repository of the 64 completely sequenced mycobacteriophages with annotated information. It is a comprehensive compilation of the various gene parameters captured from several databases pooled together to empower mycobacteriophage researchers. The MGDB (Version No.1.0) comprises of 6086 genes from 64 mycobacteriophages classified into 72 families based on ACLAME database. Manual curation was aided by information available from public databases which was enriched further by analysis. Its web interface allows browsing as well as querying the classification. The main objective is to collect and organize the complexity inherent to mycobacteriophage protein classification in a rational way. The other objective is to browse the existing and new genomes and describe their functional annotation. The database is available for free at http://mpgdb.ibioinformatics.org/mpgdb.php.

Maize databases

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This chapter is a succinct overview of maize data held in the species-specific database MaizeGDB (the Maize Genomics and Genetics Database), and selected multi-species data repositories, such as Gramene/Ensembl Plants, Phytozome, UniProt and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), ...

Construction of In-house Databases in a Corporation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujii, Yohzo

The author outlines the inhouse technical information system, OSTI of Osaka Research Institute, Sumitomo Chemical company as an example of inhouse database construction and use at a chemical industry. This system is to compile database for technical information generated inside the Laboratory and to provide online searching as well as title lists of the latest data output from it aiming at effective use of information among the departments, prevention from overlapped research thema, and support of research activities. The system outline, characteristics, materials to be covered, input items and search examples are described.

The Coral Trait Database, a curated database of trait information for coral species from the global oceans

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Madin, Joshua S.; Anderson, Kristen D.; Andreasen, Magnus Heide; Bridge, Tom C. L.; Cairns, Stephen D.; Connolly, Sean R.; Darling, Emily S.; Diaz, Marcela; Falster, Daniel S.; Franklin, Erik C.; Gates, Ruth D.; Hoogenboom, Mia O.; Huang, Danwei; Keith, Sally A.; Kosnik, Matthew A.; Kuo, Chao-Yang; Lough, Janice M.; Lovelock, Catherine E.; Luiz, Osmar; Martinelli, Julieta; Mizerek, Toni; Pandolfi, John M.; Pochon, Xavier; Pratchett, Morgan S.; Putnam, Hollie M.; Roberts, T. Edward; Stat, Michael; Wallace, Carden C.; Widman, Elizabeth; Baird, Andrew H.

2016-03-01

Trait-based approaches advance ecological and evolutionary research because traits provide a strong link to an organism’s function and fitness. Trait-based research might lead to a deeper understanding of the functions of, and services provided by, ecosystems, thereby improving management, which is vital in the current era of rapid environmental change. Coral reef scientists have long collected trait data for corals; however, these are difficult to access and often under-utilized in addressing large-scale questions. We present the Coral Trait Database initiative that aims to bring together physiological, morphological, ecological, phylogenetic and biogeographic trait information into a single repository. The database houses species- and individual-level data from published field and experimental studies alongside contextual data that provide important framing for analyses. In this data descriptor, we release data for 56 traits for 1547 species, and present a collaborative platform on which other trait data are being actively federated. Our overall goal is for the Coral Trait Database to become an open-source, community-led data clearinghouse that accelerates coral reef research.

The Coral Trait Database, a curated database of trait information for coral species from the global oceans

PubMed Central

Madin, Joshua S.; Anderson, Kristen D.; Andreasen, Magnus Heide; Bridge, Tom C.L.; Cairns, Stephen D.; Connolly, Sean R.; Darling, Emily S.; Diaz, Marcela; Falster, Daniel S.; Franklin, Erik C.; Gates, Ruth D.; Hoogenboom, Mia O.; Huang, Danwei; Keith, Sally A.; Kosnik, Matthew A.; Kuo, Chao-Yang; Lough, Janice M.; Lovelock, Catherine E.; Luiz, Osmar; Martinelli, Julieta; Mizerek, Toni; Pandolfi, John M.; Pochon, Xavier; Pratchett, Morgan S.; Putnam, Hollie M.; Roberts, T. Edward; Stat, Michael; Wallace, Carden C.; Widman, Elizabeth; Baird, Andrew H.

2016-01-01

Trait-based approaches advance ecological and evolutionary research because traits provide a strong link to an organism’s function and fitness. Trait-based research might lead to a deeper understanding of the functions of, and services provided by, ecosystems, thereby improving management, which is vital in the current era of rapid environmental change. Coral reef scientists have long collected trait data for corals; however, these are difficult to access and often under-utilized in addressing large-scale questions. We present the Coral Trait Database initiative that aims to bring together physiological, morphological, ecological, phylogenetic and biogeographic trait information into a single repository. The database houses species- and individual-level data from published field and experimental studies alongside contextual data that provide important framing for analyses. In this data descriptor, we release data for 56 traits for 1547 species, and present a collaborative platform on which other trait data are being actively federated. Our overall goal is for the Coral Trait Database to become an open-source, community-led data clearinghouse that accelerates coral reef research. PMID:27023900

The Coral Trait Database, a curated database of trait information for coral species from the global oceans.

PubMed

Madin, Joshua S; Anderson, Kristen D; Andreasen, Magnus Heide; Bridge, Tom C L; Cairns, Stephen D; Connolly, Sean R; Darling, Emily S; Diaz, Marcela; Falster, Daniel S; Franklin, Erik C; Gates, Ruth D; Harmer, Aaron; Hoogenboom, Mia O; Huang, Danwei; Keith, Sally A; Kosnik, Matthew A; Kuo, Chao-Yang; Lough, Janice M; Lovelock, Catherine E; Luiz, Osmar; Martinelli, Julieta; Mizerek, Toni; Pandolfi, John M; Pochon, Xavier; Pratchett, Morgan S; Putnam, Hollie M; Roberts, T Edward; Stat, Michael; Wallace, Carden C; Widman, Elizabeth; Baird, Andrew H

2016-03-29

Trait-based approaches advance ecological and evolutionary research because traits provide a strong link to an organism's function and fitness. Trait-based research might lead to a deeper understanding of the functions of, and services provided by, ecosystems, thereby improving management, which is vital in the current era of rapid environmental change. Coral reef scientists have long collected trait data for corals; however, these are difficult to access and often under-utilized in addressing large-scale questions. We present the Coral Trait Database initiative that aims to bring together physiological, morphological, ecological, phylogenetic and biogeographic trait information into a single repository. The database houses species- and individual-level data from published field and experimental studies alongside contextual data that provide important framing for analyses. In this data descriptor, we release data for 56 traits for 1547 species, and present a collaborative platform on which other trait data are being actively federated. Our overall goal is for the Coral Trait Database to become an open-source, community-led data clearinghouse that accelerates coral reef research.

Specialist Bibliographic Databases

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Specialist bibliographic databases offer essential online tools for researchers and authors who work on specific subjects and perform comprehensive and systematic syntheses of evidence. This article presents examples of the established specialist databases, which may be of interest to those engaged in multidisciplinary science communication. Access to most specialist databases is through subscription schemes and membership in professional associations. Several aggregators of information and database vendors, such as EBSCOhost and ProQuest, facilitate advanced searches supported by specialist keyword thesauri. Searches of items through specialist databases are complementary to those through multidisciplinary research platforms, such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Familiarizing with the functional characteristics of biomedical and nonbiomedical bibliographic search tools is mandatory for researchers, authors, editors, and publishers. The database users are offered updates of the indexed journal lists, abstracts, author profiles, and links to other metadata. Editors and publishers may find particularly useful source selection criteria and apply for coverage of their peer-reviewed journals and grey literature sources. These criteria are aimed at accepting relevant sources with established editorial policies and quality controls. PMID:27134485

Specialist Bibliographic Databases.

PubMed

Gasparyan, Armen Yuri; Yessirkepov, Marlen; Voronov, Alexander A; Trukhachev, Vladimir I; Kostyukova, Elena I; Gerasimov, Alexey N; Kitas, George D

2016-05-01

Specialist bibliographic databases offer essential online tools for researchers and authors who work on specific subjects and perform comprehensive and systematic syntheses of evidence. This article presents examples of the established specialist databases, which may be of interest to those engaged in multidisciplinary science communication. Access to most specialist databases is through subscription schemes and membership in professional associations. Several aggregators of information and database vendors, such as EBSCOhost and ProQuest, facilitate advanced searches supported by specialist keyword thesauri. Searches of items through specialist databases are complementary to those through multidisciplinary research platforms, such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Familiarizing with the functional characteristics of biomedical and nonbiomedical bibliographic search tools is mandatory for researchers, authors, editors, and publishers. The database users are offered updates of the indexed journal lists, abstracts, author profiles, and links to other metadata. Editors and publishers may find particularly useful source selection criteria and apply for coverage of their peer-reviewed journals and grey literature sources. These criteria are aimed at accepting relevant sources with established editorial policies and quality controls.

A Web-based database for pathology faculty effort reporting.

PubMed

Dee, Fred R; Haugen, Thomas H; Wynn, Philip A; Leaven, Timothy C; Kemp, John D; Cohen, Michael B

2008-04-01

To ensure appropriate mission-based budgeting and equitable distribution of funds for faculty salaries, our compensation committee developed a pathology-specific effort reporting database. Principles included the following: (1) measurement should be done by web-based databases; (2) most entry should be done by departmental administration or be relational to other databases; (3) data entry categories should be aligned with funding streams; and (4) units of effort should be equal across categories of effort (service, teaching, research). MySQL was used for all data transactions (http://dev.mysql.com/downloads), and scripts were constructed using PERL (http://www.perl.org). Data are accessed with forms that correspond to fields in the database. The committee's work resulted in a novel database using pathology value units (PVUs) as a standard quantitative measure of effort for activities in an academic pathology department. The most common calculation was to estimate the number of hours required for a specific task, divide by 2080 hours (a Medicare year) and then multiply by 100. Other methods included assigning a baseline PVU for program, laboratory, or course directorship with an increment for each student or staff in that unit. With these methods, a faculty member should acquire approximately 100 PVUs. Some outcomes include (1) plotting PVUs versus salary to identify outliers for salary correction, (2) quantifying effort in activities outside the department, (3) documenting salary expenditure for unfunded research, (4) evaluating salary equity by plotting PVUs versus salary by sex, and (5) aggregating data by category of effort for mission-based budgeting and long-term planning.

Creating Your Own Database.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blair, John C., Jr.

1982-01-01

Outlines the important factors to be considered in selecting a database management system for use with a microcomputer and presents a series of guidelines for developing a database. General procedures, report generation, data manipulation, information storage, word processing, data entry, database indexes, and relational databases are among the…

Open Clients for Distributed Databases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chayes, D. N.; Arko, R. A.

2001-12-01

We are actively developing a collection of open source example clients that demonstrate use of our "back end" data management infrastructure. The data management system is reported elsewhere at this meeting (Arko and Chayes: A Scaleable Database Infrastructure). In addition to their primary goal of being examples for others to build upon, some of these clients may have limited utility in them selves. More information about the clients and the data infrastructure is available on line at http://data.ldeo.columbia.edu. The available examples to be demonstrated include several web-based clients including those developed for the Community Review System of the Digital Library for Earth System Education, a real-time watch standers log book, an offline interface to use log book entries, a simple client to search on multibeam metadata and others are Internet enabled and generally web-based front ends that support searches against one or more relational databases using industry standard SQL queries. In addition to the web based clients, simple SQL searches from within Excel and similar applications will be demonstrated. By defining, documenting and publishing a clear interface to the fully searchable databases, it becomes relatively easy to construct client interfaces that are optimized for specific applications in comparison to building a monolithic data and user interface system.

NASA STI Database, Aerospace Database and ARIN coverage of 'space law'

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buchan, Ronald L.

1992-01-01

The space-law coverage provided by the NASA STI Database, the Aerospace Database, and ARIN is briefly described. Particular attention is given to the space law content of the two Databases and of ARIN, the NASA Thesauras space law terminology, space law publication forms, and the availability of the space law literature.

Databases: Beyond the Basics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whittaker, Robert

This presented paper offers an elementary description of database characteristics and then provides a survey of databases that may be useful to the teacher and researcher in Slavic and East European languages and literatures. The survey focuses on commercial databases that are available, usable, and needed. Individual databases discussed include:…

Magmatismes tholéiitique et alcalin des demi-grabens crétacés de Mayo Oulo Léré et de Babouri Figuil (Nord du Cameroun Sud du Tchad) en domaine d'extension continentaleTholeiitic and alkaline magmatisms of the Early-Cretaceous half-grabens of Mayo Oulo Léré and Babouri Figuil (Northern Cameroon Southern Chad) in extensional structural settings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ngounouno, Ismaı̈la; Déruelle, Bernard; Guiraud, René; Vicat, Jean-Paul

2001-08-01

Two major dykes of basalts, microgabbros, olivine dolerites (continental tholeiites), and of camptonites and benmoreites (alkaline rocks) are respectively exposed in the Mayo Oulo-Léré and Babouri-Figuil Early Cretaceous half-grabens (Northern Cameroon-Southern Chad). The tholeiites were probably derived from an asthenospheric source in connection with a lithospheric thinning occurring between Santonian and Eocene times. In contrast, the alkaline rocks may be derived from a deeper metasomatized mantle source.

Teaching Children to Use Databases through Direct Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rooze, Gene E.

1988-01-01

Provides a direct instruction strategy for teaching skills and concepts required for database use. Creates an interactive environment which motivates, provides a model, imparts information, allows active student participation, gives knowledge of results, and presents guidance. (LS)

Database Dictionary for Ethiopian National Ground-Water DAtabase (ENGDA) Data Fields

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kuniansky, Eve L.; Litke, David W.; Tucci, Patrick

2007-01-01

Introduction This document describes the data fields that are used for both field forms and the Ethiopian National Ground-water Database (ENGDA) tables associated with information stored about production wells, springs, test holes, test wells, and water level or water-quality observation wells. Several different words are used in this database dictionary and in the ENGDA database to describe a narrow shaft constructed in the ground. The most general term is borehole, which is applicable to any type of hole. A well is a borehole specifically constructed to extract water from the ground; however, for this data dictionary and for the ENGDA database, the words well and borehole are used interchangeably. A production well is defined as any well used for water supply and includes hand-dug wells, small-diameter bored wells equipped with hand pumps, or large-diameter bored wells equipped with large-capacity motorized pumps. Test holes are borings made to collect information about the subsurface with continuous core or non-continuous core and/or where geophysical logs are collected. Test holes are not converted into wells. A test well is a well constructed for hydraulic testing of an aquifer in order to plan a larger ground-water production system. A water-level or water-quality observation well is a well that is used to collect information about an aquifer and not used for water supply. A spring is any naturally flowing, local, ground-water discharge site. The database dictionary is designed to help define all fields on both field data collection forms (provided in attachment 2 of this report) and for the ENGDA software screen entry forms (described in Litke, 2007). The data entered into each screen entry field are stored in relational database tables within the computer database. The organization of the database dictionary is designed based on field data collection and the field forms, because this is what the majority of people will use. After each field, however, the

Management of neglected open extremity fractures in low-resource settings: Experience of the French Army Medical Service in Chad.

PubMed

Mathieu, L; Mottier, F; Bertani, A; Danis, J; Rongiéras, F; Chauvin, F

2014-11-01

The purpose of this study was to report the experience of the French Army Medical Service in the management of neglected open extremity fractures and related-complications in Chad. Delayed treatment of open extremity fractures is possible in a low-resource setting. An observational prospective study was performed in a French Forward Surgical Team deployed in N'Djamena for six months. Twenty-seven patients, 24 men and three women, mean age 30 years old with an open fracture that was managed more than 24 hours after it occurred were included. The mean treatment delay was 83 days. Fractures were located in the tibia in 20 cases. There were 15 non-infected and twelve infected fractures. The number of cases of debridement, flap coverage, and the overall number of procedures were higher in the group with infection, but the difference was not significant. Treatment of infected fractures was complicated by six early recurrent infections, while there were no complications in the group without infection. The mean follow-up was 4.4 months. Infection was controlled in eleven cases, however evaluation of fracture healing was limited because of the short follow-up in the group with infection. Functional outcome of the lower extremities was often complicated by knee stiffness. Delayed management of open fractures depends on the available resources. In low-resource settings, the goals of surgery should be modest. Treatment of non-infected injuries and osteomyelitis is possible. On the other hand, treatment of infected fractures and septic nonunions should be undertaken with caution if all the necessary aspects of treatment, in particular extended antibiotic treatment and sequential procedures are not possible. level IV. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Report on Wind Turbine Subsystem Reliability - A Survey of Various Databases (Presentation)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sheng, S.

2013-07-01

Wind industry has been challenged by premature subsystem/component failures. Various reliability data collection efforts have demonstrated their values in supporting wind turbine reliability and availability research & development and industrial activities. However, most information on these data collection efforts are scattered and not in a centralized place. With the objective of getting updated reliability statistics of wind turbines and/or subsystems so as to benefit future wind reliability and availability activities, this report is put together based on a survey of various reliability databases that are accessible directly or indirectly by NREL. For each database, whenever feasible, a brief description summarizingmore » database population, life span, and data collected is given along with its features & status. Then selective results deemed beneficial to the industry and generated based on the database are highlighted. This report concludes with several observations obtained throughout the survey and several reliability data collection opportunities in the future.« less

Reflective Database Access Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olson, Lars E.

2009-01-01

"Reflective Database Access Control" (RDBAC) is a model in which a database privilege is expressed as a database query itself, rather than as a static privilege contained in an access control list. RDBAC aids the management of database access controls by improving the expressiveness of policies. However, such policies introduce new interactions…

Mining databases for protein aggregation: a review.

PubMed

Tsiolaki, Paraskevi L; Nastou, Katerina C; Hamodrakas, Stavros J; Iconomidou, Vassiliki A

2017-09-01

Protein aggregation is an active area of research in recent decades, since it is the most common and troubling indication of protein instability. Understanding the mechanisms governing protein aggregation and amyloidogenesis is a key component to the aetiology and pathogenesis of many devastating disorders, including Alzheimer's disease or type 2 diabetes. Protein aggregation data are currently found "scattered" in an increasing number of repositories, since advances in computational biology greatly influence this field of research. This review exploits the various resources of aggregation data and attempts to distinguish and analyze the biological knowledge they contain, by introducing protein-based, fragment-based and disease-based repositories, related to aggregation. In order to gain a broad overview of the available repositories, a novel comprehensive network maps and visualizes the current association between aggregation databases and other important databases and/or tools and discusses the beneficial role of community annotation. The need for unification of aggregation databases in a common platform is also addressed.

Activity computer program for calculating ion irradiation activation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palmer, Ben; Connolly, Brian; Read, Mark

2017-07-01

A computer program, Activity, was developed to predict the activity and gamma lines of materials irradiated with an ion beam. It uses the TENDL (Koning and Rochman, 2012) [1] proton reaction cross section database, the Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter (SRIM) (Biersack et al., 2010) code, a Nuclear Data Services (NDS) radioactive decay database (Sonzogni, 2006) [2] and an ENDF gamma decay database (Herman and Chadwick, 2006) [3]. An extended version of Bateman's equation is used to calculate the activity at time t, and this equation is solved analytically, with the option to also solve by numeric inverse Laplace Transform as a failsafe. The program outputs the expected activity and gamma lines of the activated material.

The ITPA disruption database

DOE PAGES

Eidietis, N. W.; Gerhardt, S. P.; Granetz, R. S.; ...

2015-05-22

A multi-device database of disruption characteristics has been developed under the auspices of the International Tokamak Physics Activity magneto hydrodynamics topical group. The purpose of this ITPA Disruption Database (IDDB) is to find the commonalities between the disruption and disruption mitigation characteristics in a wide variety of tokamaks in order to elucidate the physics underlying tokamak disruptions and to extrapolate toward much larger devices, such as ITER and future burning plasma devices. Conversely, in order to previous smaller disruption data collation efforts, the IDDB aims to provide significant context for each shot provided, allowing exploration of a wide array ofmore » relationships between pre-disruption and disruption parameters. Furthermore, the IDDB presently includes contributions from nine tokamaks, including both conventional aspect ratio and spherical tokamaks. An initial parametric analysis of the available data is presented. Our analysis includes current quench rates, halo current fraction and peaking, and the effectiveness of massive impurity injection. The IDDB is publicly available, with instruction for access provided herein.« less

SATPdb: a database of structurally annotated therapeutic peptides

PubMed Central

Singh, Sandeep; Chaudhary, Kumardeep; Dhanda, Sandeep Kumar; Bhalla, Sherry; Usmani, Salman Sadullah; Gautam, Ankur; Tuknait, Abhishek; Agrawal, Piyush; Mathur, Deepika; Raghava, Gajendra P.S.

2016-01-01

SATPdb (http://crdd.osdd.net/raghava/satpdb/) is a database of structurally annotated therapeutic peptides, curated from 22 public domain peptide databases/datasets including 9 of our own. The current version holds 19192 unique experimentally validated therapeutic peptide sequences having length between 2 and 50 amino acids. It covers peptides having natural, non-natural and modified residues. These peptides were systematically grouped into 10 categories based on their major function or therapeutic property like 1099 anticancer, 10585 antimicrobial, 1642 drug delivery and 1698 antihypertensive peptides. We assigned or annotated structure of these therapeutic peptides using structural databases (Protein Data Bank) and state-of-the-art structure prediction methods like I-TASSER, HHsearch and PEPstrMOD. In addition, SATPdb facilitates users in performing various tasks that include: (i) structure and sequence similarity search, (ii) peptide browsing based on their function and properties, (iii) identification of moonlighting peptides and (iv) searching of peptides having desired structure and therapeutic activities. We hope this database will be useful for researchers working in the field of peptide-based therapeutics. PMID:26527728

Sudan: The Crisis in Darfur and Status of the North-South Peace Agreement

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-07-23

The United States and the North-South Peace Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Darfur Conflict and Impact on Chad and CAR...since mid-2004. The Darfur Conflict and Impact on Chad and CAR The crisis in Darfur continues to affect Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR...economic and trade sanctions in 1997; the impacts of these sanctions are mixed. Over the past decade, a number of punitive measures have been imposed on

A Ruby API to query the Ensembl database for genomic features.

PubMed

Strozzi, Francesco; Aerts, Jan

2011-04-01

The Ensembl database makes genomic features available via its Genome Browser. It is also possible to access the underlying data through a Perl API for advanced querying. We have developed a full-featured Ruby API to the Ensembl databases, providing the same functionality as the Perl interface with additional features. A single Ruby API is used to access different releases of the Ensembl databases and is also able to query multi-species databases. Most functionality of the API is provided using the ActiveRecord pattern. The library depends on introspection to make it release independent. The API is available through the Rubygem system and can be installed with the command gem install ruby-ensembl-api.

Policy dialogues - the "bolts and joints" of policy-making: experiences from Cabo Verde, Chad and Mali.

PubMed

Dovlo, Delanyo; Nabyonga-Orem, Juliet; Estrelli, Yolanda; Mwisongo, Aziza

2016-07-18

Policy processes that yield good outcomes are inherently complex, requiring interactions of stakeholders in problem identification, generation of political will and selection of practical solutions. To make policy processes rational, policy dialogues are increasingly being used as a policy-making tool. Despite their increasing use for policy-making in Africa, evidence is limited on how they have evolved and are being used on the continent or in low and middle income countries elsewhere. This was an exploratory study using qualitative methods. It utilised data related to policy dialogues for three specific policies and strategies to understand the interplay between policy dialogue and policy-making in Cabo Verde, Chad and Mali. The specific methods used to gather data were key informant interviews and document review. Data were analysed inductively and deductively using thematic content analysis. Participation in the policy dialogues was inclusive, and in some instances bottom-up participatory approaches were used. The respondents felt that the execution of the policy dialogues had been seamless, and the few divergent views expressed often were resolved in a unanimous manner. The policies and strategies developed were seen by all stakeholders as relating to priority issues. Other specific process factors that contributed to the success of the dialogues included the use of innovative approaches, good facilitation, availability of resources for the dialogues, good communication, and consideration of the different opinions. Among the barriers were contextual issues, delays in decision-making and conflicting coordination roles and mandates. Policy dialogues have proved to be an effective tool in health sector management and could be a crucial component of the governance dynamics of the sector. The policy dialogue process needs to be institutionalised for continuity and maintenance of institutional intelligence. Other essential influencing factors include building

Image Databases.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pettersson, Rune

Different kinds of pictorial databases are described with respect to aims, user groups, search possibilities, storage, and distribution. Some specific examples are given for databases used for the following purposes: (1) labor markets for artists; (2) document management; (3) telling a story; (4) preservation (archives and museums); (5) research;…

Blending Education and Polymer Science: Semiautomated Creation of a Thermodynamic Property Database

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tchoua, Roselyne B.; Qin, Jian; Audus, Debra J.; Chard, Kyle; Foster, Ian T.; de Pablo, Juan

2016-01-01

Structured databases of chemical and physical properties play a central role in the everyday research activities of scientists and engineers. In materials science, researchers and engineers turn to these databases to quickly query, compare, and aggregate various properties, thereby allowing for the development or application of new materials. The…

A large outbreak of Hepatitis E virus genotype 1 infection in an urban setting in Chad likely linked to household level transmission factors, 2016-2017.

PubMed

Spina, Alexander; Lenglet, Annick; Beversluis, David; de Jong, Marja; Vernier, Larissa; Spencer, Craig; Andayi, Fred; Kamau, Charity; Vollmer, Simone; Hogema, Boris; Irwin, Andrea; Ngueremi Yary, Roger; Mahamat Ali, Açyl; Moussa, Ali; Alfani, Prince; Sang, Sibylle

2017-01-01

In September 2016, three acutely jaundiced (AJS) pregnant women were admitted to Am Timan Hospital, eastern Chad. We described the outbreak and conducted a case test-negative study to identify risk factors for this genotype of HEV in an acute outbreak setting. Active case finding using a community based surveillance network identified suspected AJS cases. Pregnant or visibly ill AJS cases presenting at hospital were tested with Assure® IgM HEV rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) and some with Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) in Amsterdam; confirmed cases were RDT-positive and controls were RDT-negative. All answered questions around: demographics, household makeup, area of residence, handwashing practices, water collection behaviour and clinical presentation. We calculated unadjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Between September and April 2017, 1443 AJS cases (1293 confirmed) were detected in the town(attack rate: 2%; estimated 65,000 population). PCR testing confirmed HEV genotype 1e. HEV RDTs were used for 250 AJS cases; 100 (40%) were confirmed. Risk factors for HEV infection, included: having at least two children under the age of 5 years (OR 2.1, 95%CI 1.1-4.3), having another household member with jaundice (OR 2.4, 95%CI 0.90-6.3) and, with borderline significance, living in the neighbourhoods of Riad (OR 3.8, 95%CI 1.0-1.8) or Ridina (OR 3.3, 95%CI 1.0-12.6). Cases were more likely to present with vomiting (OR 3.2, 9%CI 1.4-7.9) than controls; possibly due to selection bias. Cases were non-significantly less likely to report always washing hands before meals compared with controls (OR 0.33, 95%CI 0.1-1.1). Our study suggests household factors and area of residence (possibly linked to access to water and sanitation) play a role in HEV transmission; which could inform future outbreak responses. Ongoing sero-prevalence studies will elucidate more aspects of transmission dynamics of this virus with genotype 1e.

Searching for religion and mental health studies required health, social science, and grey literature databases.

PubMed

Wright, Judy M; Cottrell, David J; Mir, Ghazala

2014-07-01

To determine the optimal databases to search for studies of faith-sensitive interventions for treating depression. We examined 23 health, social science, religious, and grey literature databases searched for an evidence synthesis. Databases were prioritized by yield of (1) search results, (2) potentially relevant references identified during screening, (3) included references contained in the synthesis, and (4) included references that were available in the database. We assessed the impact of databases beyond MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO by their ability to supply studies identifying new themes and issues. We identified pragmatic workload factors that influence database selection. PsycINFO was the best performing database within all priority lists. ArabPsyNet, CINAHL, Dissertations and Theses, EMBASE, Global Health, Health Management Information Consortium, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Sociological Abstracts were essential for our searches to retrieve the included references. Citation tracking activities and the personal library of one of the research teams made significant contributions of unique, relevant references. Religion studies databases (Am Theo Lib Assoc, FRANCIS) did not provide unique, relevant references. Literature searches for reviews and evidence syntheses of religion and health studies should include social science, grey literature, non-Western databases, personal libraries, and citation tracking activities. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Status Report for Remediation Decision Support Project, Task 1, Activity 1.B – Physical and Hydraulic Properties Database and Interpretation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rockhold, Mark L.

2008-09-26

The objective of Activity 1.B of the Remediation Decision Support (RDS) Project is to compile all available physical and hydraulic property data for sediments from the Hanford Site, to port these data into the Hanford Environmental Information System (HEIS), and to make the data web-accessible to anyone on the Hanford Local Area Network via the so-called Virtual Library. In past years efforts were made by RDS project staff to compile all available physical and hydraulic property data for Hanford sediments and to transfer these data into SoilVision{reg_sign}, a commercial geotechnical software package designed for storing, analyzing, and manipulating soils data.more » Although SoilVision{reg_sign} has proven to be useful, its access and use restrictions have been recognized as a limitation to the effective use of the physical and hydraulic property databases by the broader group of potential users involved in Hanford waste site issues. In order to make these data more widely available and useable, a decision was made to port them to HEIS and to make them web-accessible via a Virtual Library module. In FY08 the objectives of Activity 1.B of the RDS Project were to: (1) ensure traceability and defensibility of all physical and hydraulic property data currently residing in the SoilVision{reg_sign} database maintained by PNNL, (2) transfer the physical and hydraulic property data from the Microsoft Access database files used by SoilVision{reg_sign} into HEIS, which has most recently been maintained by Fluor-Hanford, Inc., (3) develop a Virtual Library module for accessing these data from HEIS, and (4) write a User's Manual for the Virtual Library module. The development of the Virtual Library module was to be performed by a third party under subcontract to Fluor. The intent of these activities is to make the available physical and hydraulic property data more readily accessible and useable by technical staff and operable unit managers involved in waste site

The Chicago Thoracic Oncology Database Consortium: A Multisite Database Initiative.

PubMed

Won, Brian; Carey, George B; Tan, Yi-Hung Carol; Bokhary, Ujala; Itkonen, Michelle; Szeto, Kyle; Wallace, James; Campbell, Nicholas; Hensing, Thomas; Salgia, Ravi

2016-03-16

An increasing amount of clinical data is available to biomedical researchers, but specifically designed database and informatics infrastructures are needed to handle this data effectively. Multiple research groups should be able to pool and share this data in an efficient manner. The Chicago Thoracic Oncology Database Consortium (CTODC) was created to standardize data collection and facilitate the pooling and sharing of data at institutions throughout Chicago and across the world. We assessed the CTODC by conducting a proof of principle investigation on lung cancer patients who took erlotinib. This study does not look into epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations and tyrosine kinase inhibitors, but rather it discusses the development and utilization of the database involved.  We have implemented the Thoracic Oncology Program Database Project (TOPDP) Microsoft Access, the Thoracic Oncology Research Program (TORP) Velos, and the TORP REDCap databases for translational research efforts. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) were created to document the construction and proper utilization of these databases. These SOPs have been made available freely to other institutions that have implemented their own databases patterned on these SOPs. A cohort of 373 lung cancer patients who took erlotinib was identified. The EGFR mutation statuses of patients were analyzed. Out of the 70 patients that were tested, 55 had mutations while 15 did not. In terms of overall survival and duration of treatment, the cohort demonstrated that EGFR-mutated patients had a longer duration of erlotinib treatment and longer overall survival compared to their EGFR wild-type counterparts who received erlotinib. The investigation successfully yielded data from all institutions of the CTODC. While the investigation identified challenges, such as the difficulty of data transfer and potential duplication of patient data, these issues can be resolved with greater cross-communication between

Chemical Kinetics Database

National Institute of Standards and Technology Data Gateway

SRD 17 NIST Chemical Kinetics Database (Web, free access)   The NIST Chemical Kinetics Database includes essentially all reported kinetics results for thermal gas-phase chemical reactions. The database is designed to be searched for kinetics data based on the specific reactants involved, for reactions resulting in specified products, for all the reactions of a particular species, or for various combinations of these. In addition, the bibliography can be searched by author name or combination of names. The database contains in excess of 38,000 separate reaction records for over 11,700 distinct reactant pairs. These data have been abstracted from over 12,000 papers with literature coverage through early 2000.

The HISTMAG database: combining historical, archaeomagnetic and volcanic data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arneitz, Patrick; Leonhardt, Roman; Schnepp, Elisabeth; Heilig, Balázs; Mayrhofer, Franziska; Kovacs, Peter; Hejda, Pavel; Valach, Fridrich; Vadasz, Gergely; Hammerl, Christa; Egli, Ramon; Fabian, Karl; Kompein, Niko

2017-09-01

Records of the past geomagnetic field can be divided into two main categories. These are instrumental historical observations on the one hand, and field estimates based on the magnetization acquired by rocks, sediments and archaeological artefacts on the other hand. In this paper, a new database combining historical, archaeomagnetic and volcanic records is presented. HISTMAG is a relational database, implemented in MySQL, and can be accessed via a web-based interface (http://www.conrad-observatory.at/zamg/index.php/data-en/histmag-database). It combines available global historical data compilations covering the last ∼500 yr as well as archaeomagnetic and volcanic data collections from the last 50 000 yr. Furthermore, new historical and archaeomagnetic records, mainly from central Europe, have been acquired. In total, 190 427 records are currently available in the HISTMAG database, whereby the majority is related to historical declination measurements (155 525). The original database structure was complemented by new fields, which allow for a detailed description of the different data types. A user-comment function provides the possibility for a scientific discussion about individual records. Therefore, HISTMAG database supports thorough reliability and uncertainty assessments of the widely different data sets, which are an essential basis for geomagnetic field reconstructions. A database analysis revealed systematic offset for declination records derived from compass roses on historical geographical maps through comparison with other historical records, while maps created for mining activities represent a reliable source.

Database Search Strategies & Tips. Reprints from the Best of "ONLINE" [and]"DATABASE."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Online, Inc., Weston, CT.

Reprints of 17 articles presenting strategies and tips for searching databases online appear in this collection, which is one in a series of volumes of reprints from "ONLINE" and "DATABASE" magazines. Edited for information professionals who use electronically distributed databases, these articles address such topics as: (1)…

HEDD: Human Enhancer Disease Database

PubMed Central

Wang, Zhen; Zhang, Quanwei; Zhang, Wen; Lin, Jhih-Rong; Cai, Ying; Mitra, Joydeep

2018-01-01

Abstract Enhancers, as specialized genomic cis-regulatory elements, activate transcription of their target genes and play an important role in pathogenesis of many human complex diseases. Despite recent systematic identification of them in the human genome, currently there is an urgent need for comprehensive annotation databases of human enhancers with a focus on their disease connections. In response, we built the Human Enhancer Disease Database (HEDD) to facilitate studies of enhancers and their potential roles in human complex diseases. HEDD currently provides comprehensive genomic information for ∼2.8 million human enhancers identified by ENCODE, FANTOM5 and RoadMap with disease association scores based on enhancer–gene and gene–disease connections. It also provides Web-based analytical tools to visualize enhancer networks and score enhancers given a set of selected genes in a specific gene network. HEDD is freely accessible at http://zdzlab.einstein.yu.edu/1/hedd.php. PMID:29077884

Digital release of the Alaska Quaternary fault and fold database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koehler, R. D.; Farrell, R.; Burns, P.; Combellick, R. A.; Weakland, J. R.

2011-12-01

The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) has designed a Quaternary fault and fold database for Alaska in conformance with standards defined by the U.S. Geological Survey for the National Quaternary fault and fold database. Alaska is the most seismically active region of the United States, however little information exists on the location, style of deformation, and slip rates of Quaternary faults. Thus, to provide an accurate, user-friendly, reference-based fault inventory to the public, we are producing a digital GIS shapefile of Quaternary fault traces and compiling summary information on each fault. Here, we present relevant information pertaining to the digital GIS shape file and online access and availability of the Alaska database. This database will be useful for engineering geologic studies, geologic, geodetic, and seismic research, and policy planning. The data will also contribute to the fault source database being constructed by the Global Earthquake Model (GEM), Faulted Earth project, which is developing tools to better assess earthquake risk. We derived the initial list of Quaternary active structures from The Neotectonic Map of Alaska (Plafker et al., 1994) and supplemented it with more recent data where available. Due to the limited level of knowledge on Quaternary faults in Alaska, pre-Quaternary fault traces from the Plafker map are shown as a layer in our digital database so users may view a more accurate distribution of mapped faults and to suggest the possibility that some older traces may be active yet un-studied. The database will be updated as new information is developed. We selected each fault by reviewing the literature and georegistered the faults from 1:250,000-scale paper maps contained in 1970's vintage and earlier bedrock maps. However, paper map scales range from 1:20,000 to 1:500,000. Fault parameters in our GIS fault attribute tables include fault name, age, slip rate, slip sense, dip direction, fault line type

Protecting child health and nutrition status with ready-to-use food in addition to food assistance in urban Chad: a cost-effectiveness analysis

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Despite growing interest in use of lipid nutrient supplements for preventing child malnutrition and morbidity, there is inconclusive evidence on the effectiveness, and no evidence on the cost-effectiveness of this strategy. Methods A cost effectiveness analysis was conducted comparing costs and outcomes of two arms of a cluster randomized controlled trial implemented in eastern Chad during the 2010 hunger gap by Action contre la Faim France and Ghent University. This trial assessed the effect on child malnutrition and morbidity of a 5-month general distribution of staple rations, or staple rations plus a ready-to-use supplementary food (RUSF). RUSF was distributed to households with a child aged 6–36 months who was not acutely malnourished (weight-for-height > = 80% of the NCHS reference median, and absence of bilateral pitting edema), to prevent acute malnutrition in these children. While the addition of RUSF to a staple ration did not result in significant reduction in wasting rates, cost-effectiveness was assessed using successful secondary outcomes of cases of diarrhea and anemia (hemoglobin <110 g/L) averted among children receiving RUSF. Total costs of the program and incremental costs of RUSF and related management and logistics were estimated using accounting records and key informant interviews, and include costs to institutions and communities. An activity-based costing methodology was applied and incremental costs were calculated per episode of diarrhea and case of anemia averted. Results Adding RUSF to a general food distribution increased total costs by 23%, resulting in an additional cost per child of 374 EUR, and an incremental cost per episode of diarrhea averted of 1,083 EUR and per case of anemia averted of 3,627 EUR. Conclusions Adding RUSF to a staple ration was less cost-effective than other standard intervention options for averting diarrhea and anemia. This strategy holds potential to address a broad array of health and

Forensic DNA databases in Western Balkan region: retrospectives, perspectives, and initiatives

PubMed Central

Marjanović, Damir; Konjhodžić, Rijad; Butorac, Sara Sanela; Drobnič, Katja; Merkaš, Siniša; Lauc, Gordan; Primorac, Damir; Anđelinović, Šimun; Milosavljević, Mladen; Karan, Željko; Vidović, Stojko; Stojković, Oliver; Panić, Bojana; Vučetić Dragović, Anđelka; Kovačević, Sandra; Jakovski, Zlatko; Asplen, Chris; Primorac, Dragan

2011-01-01

The European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) recommended the establishment of forensic DNA databases and specific implementation and management legislations for all EU/ENFSI members. Therefore, forensic institutions from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia launched a wide set of activities to support these recommendations. To assess the current state, a regional expert team completed detailed screening and investigation of the existing forensic DNA data repositories and associated legislation in these countries. The scope also included relevant concurrent projects and a wide spectrum of different activities in relation to forensics DNA use. The state of forensic DNA analysis was also determined in the neighboring Slovenia and Croatia, which already have functional national DNA databases. There is a need for a ‘regional supplement’ to the current documentation and standards pertaining to forensic application of DNA databases, which should include regional-specific preliminary aims and recommendations. PMID:21674821

Forensic DNA databases in Western Balkan region: retrospectives, perspectives, and initiatives.

PubMed

Marjanović, Damir; Konjhodzić, Rijad; Butorac, Sara Sanela; Drobnic, Katja; Merkas, Sinisa; Lauc, Gordan; Primorac, Damir; Andjelinović, Simun; Milosavljević, Mladen; Karan, Zeljko; Vidović, Stojko; Stojković, Oliver; Panić, Bojana; Vucetić Dragović, Andjelka; Kovacević, Sandra; Jakovski, Zlatko; Asplen, Chris; Primorac, Dragan

2011-06-01

The European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) recommended the establishment of forensic DNA databases and specific implementation and management legislations for all EU/ENFSI members. Therefore, forensic institutions from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia launched a wide set of activities to support these recommendations. To assess the current state, a regional expert team completed detailed screening and investigation of the existing forensic DNA data repositories and associated legislation in these countries. The scope also included relevant concurrent projects and a wide spectrum of different activities in relation to forensics DNA use. The state of forensic DNA analysis was also determined in the neighboring Slovenia and Croatia, which already have functional national DNA databases. There is a need for a 'regional supplement' to the current documentation and standards pertaining to forensic application of DNA databases, which should include regional-specific preliminary aims and recommendations.

Dutch Treat for U.S. Database Producers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boumans, Jak

1984-01-01

Reports on investments in the United States (including database activities) by four Dutch publishing companies--Elsevier-NDU, VNU, Kluwer, Wolters Samsom Group. An analysis of the reasons behind these investments, the solidness of the companies, the approach to the U.S. information market, and the knowledge transfer to Europe are highlighted. (EJS)

Organization's Orderly Interest Exploration: Inception, Development and Insights of AIAA's Topics Database

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marshall, Jospeh R.; Morris, Allan T.

2007-01-01

Since 2003, AIAA's Computer Systems and Software Systems Technical Committees (TCs) have developed a database that aids technical committee management to map technical topics to their members. This Topics/Interest (T/I) database grew out of a collection of charts and spreadsheets maintained by the TCs. Since its inception, the tool has evolved into a multi-dimensional database whose dimensions include the importance, interest and expertise of TC members and whether or not a member and/or a TC is actively involved with the topic. In 2005, the database was expanded to include the TCs in AIAA s Information Systems Group and then expanded further to include all AIAA TCs. It was field tested at an AIAA Technical Activities Committee (TAC) Workshop in early 2006 through live access by over 80 users. Through the use of the topics database, TC and program committee (PC) members can accomplish relevant tasks such as: to identify topic experts (for Aerospace America articles or external contacts), to determine the interest of its members, to identify overlapping topics between diverse TCs and PCs, to guide new member drives and to reveal emerging topics. This paper will describe the origins, inception, initial development, field test and current version of the tool as well as elucidate the benefits and insights gained by using the database to aid the management of various TC functions. Suggestions will be provided to guide future development of the database for the purpose of providing dynamics and system level benefits to AIAA that currently do not exist in any technical organization.

[Implementation of a computerized pharmacological database for pediatric use].

PubMed

Currò, V; Grimaldi, V; Polidori, G; Cascioli, E; Lanni, R; De Luca, F; D'Atri, A; Bernabei, A

1990-01-01

The authors present a pharmacological database to support teaching and care activity carried out in the Divisional Paediatric Ambulatory of the Catholic University of Rome. This database is included in a integrated system, ARPIA (Ambulatory and Research in Pediatric by Information Assistance), devoted to manage ambulatory paediatric data. ARPIA has been implemented by using a relational DBMS, very cheap and highly diffused on personal computers. The database specifies: active ingredient and code number related to it, clinical uses, doses, contra-indications and precautions, adverse effects, besides the possible wrapping available on the market. All this is showed on a single for that appears on the screen and allows a fast reading of the most important elements characterizing every drug. The search of the included drugs can be made on the basis of three different detailed lists: active ingredient, proprietary preparation and clinical use. It is, besides, possible to have a complete report about the drugs requested by the user. This system allows the user, without modifying the program, to interact with the included data modifying each element of the form. In the system there is also a fast consultation handbook containing for every active ingredient, the complete list of italian proprietary medicines. This system aims to give a better knowledge of the most commonly used drugs, not only limited to the paediatrician but also to the ambulatory health staff; an improvement of the therapy furthering, a more effective use of several pharmacological agents and first of all a training device not only to specialists but also to students.

Databases applicable to quantitative hazard/risk assessment-Towards a predictive systems toxicology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Waters, Michael; Jackson, Marcus

2008-11-15

The Workshop on The Power of Aggregated Toxicity Data addressed the requirement for distributed databases to support quantitative hazard and risk assessment. The authors have conceived and constructed with federal support several databases that have been used in hazard identification and risk assessment. The first of these databases, the EPA Gene-Tox Database was developed for the EPA Office of Toxic Substances by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and is currently hosted by the National Library of Medicine. This public resource is based on the collaborative evaluation, by government, academia, and industry, of short-term tests for the detection of mutagens andmore » presumptive carcinogens. The two-phased evaluation process resulted in more than 50 peer-reviewed publications on test system performance and a qualitative database on thousands of chemicals. Subsequently, the graphic and quantitative EPA/IARC Genetic Activity Profile (GAP) Database was developed in collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). A chemical database driven by consideration of the lowest effective dose, GAP has served IARC for many years in support of hazard classification of potential human carcinogens. The Toxicological Activity Profile (TAP) prototype database was patterned after GAP and utilized acute, subchronic, and chronic data from the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards. TAP demonstrated the flexibility of the GAP format for air toxics, water pollutants and other environmental agents. The GAP format was also applied to developmental toxicants and was modified to represent quantitative results from the rodent carcinogen bioassay. More recently, the authors have constructed: 1) the NIEHS Genetic Alterations in Cancer (GAC) Database which quantifies specific mutations found in cancers induced by environmental agents, and 2) the NIEHS Chemical Effects in Biological Systems (CEBS) Knowledgebase that integrates genomic and other biological data

Hawaii bibliographic database

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wright, T.L.; Takahashi, T.J.

1998-01-01

The Hawaii bibliographic database has been created to contain all of the literature, from 1779 to the present, pertinent to the volcanological history of the Hawaiian-Emperor volcanic chain. References are entered in a PC- and Macintosh-compatible EndNote Plus bibliographic database with keywords and abstracts or (if no abstract) with annotations as to content. Keywords emphasize location, discipline, process, identification of new chemical data or age determinations, and type of publication. The database is updated approximately three times a year and is available to upload from an ftp site. The bibliography contained 8460 references at the time this paper was submitted for publication. Use of the database greatly enhances the power and completeness of library searches for anyone interested in Hawaiian volcanism.

Methods and pitfalls in searching drug safety databases utilising the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA).

PubMed

Brown, Elliot G

2003-01-01

The Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) is a unified standard terminology for recording and reporting adverse drug event data. Its introduction is widely seen as a significant improvement on the previous situation, where a multitude of terminologies of widely varying scope and quality were in use. However, there are some complexities that may cause difficulties, and these will form the focus for this paper. Two methods of searching MedDRA-coded databases are described: searching based on term selection from all of MedDRA and searching based on terms in the safety database. There are several potential traps for the unwary in safety searches. There may be multiple locations of relevant terms within a system organ class (SOC) and lack of recognition of appropriate group terms; the user may think that group terms are more inclusive than is the case. MedDRA may distribute terms relevant to one medical condition across several primary SOCs. If the database supports the MedDRA model, it is possible to perform multiaxial searching: while this may help find terms that might have been missed, it is still necessary to consider the entire contents of the SOCs to find all relevant terms and there are many instances of incomplete secondary linkages. It is important to adjust for multiaxiality if data are presented using primary and secondary locations. Other sources for errors in searching are non-intuitive placement and the selection of terms as preferred terms (PTs) that may not be widely recognised. Some MedDRA rules could also result in errors in data retrieval if the individual is unaware of these: in particular, the lack of multiaxial linkages for the Investigations SOC, Social circumstances SOC and Surgical and medical procedures SOC and the requirement that a PT may only be present under one High Level Term (HLT) and one High Level Group Term (HLGT) within any single SOC. Special Search Categories (collections of PTs assembled from various SOCs by

The Chicago Thoracic Oncology Database Consortium: A Multisite Database Initiative

PubMed Central

Carey, George B; Tan, Yi-Hung Carol; Bokhary, Ujala; Itkonen, Michelle; Szeto, Kyle; Wallace, James; Campbell, Nicholas; Hensing, Thomas; Salgia, Ravi

2016-01-01

Objective: An increasing amount of clinical data is available to biomedical researchers, but specifically designed database and informatics infrastructures are needed to handle this data effectively. Multiple research groups should be able to pool and share this data in an efficient manner. The Chicago Thoracic Oncology Database Consortium (CTODC) was created to standardize data collection and facilitate the pooling and sharing of data at institutions throughout Chicago and across the world. We assessed the CTODC by conducting a proof of principle investigation on lung cancer patients who took erlotinib. This study does not look into epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations and tyrosine kinase inhibitors, but rather it discusses the development and utilization of the database involved. Methods:  We have implemented the Thoracic Oncology Program Database Project (TOPDP) Microsoft Access, the Thoracic Oncology Research Program (TORP) Velos, and the TORP REDCap databases for translational research efforts. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) were created to document the construction and proper utilization of these databases. These SOPs have been made available freely to other institutions that have implemented their own databases patterned on these SOPs. Results: A cohort of 373 lung cancer patients who took erlotinib was identified. The EGFR mutation statuses of patients were analyzed. Out of the 70 patients that were tested, 55 had mutations while 15 did not. In terms of overall survival and duration of treatment, the cohort demonstrated that EGFR-mutated patients had a longer duration of erlotinib treatment and longer overall survival compared to their EGFR wild-type counterparts who received erlotinib. Discussion: The investigation successfully yielded data from all institutions of the CTODC. While the investigation identified challenges, such as the difficulty of data transfer and potential duplication of patient data, these issues can be resolved

An Evaluation of Database Solutions to Spatial Object Association

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kumar, V S; Kurc, T; Saltz, J

2008-06-24

Object association is a common problem encountered in many applications. Spatial object association, also referred to as crossmatch of spatial datasets, is the problem of identifying and comparing objects in two datasets based on their positions in a common spatial coordinate system--one of the datasets may correspond to a catalog of objects observed over time in a multi-dimensional domain; the other dataset may consist of objects observed in a snapshot of the domain at a time point. The use of database management systems to the solve the object association problem provides portability across different platforms and also greater flexibility. Increasingmore » dataset sizes in today's applications, however, have made object association a data/compute-intensive problem that requires targeted optimizations for efficient execution. In this work, we investigate how database-based crossmatch algorithms can be deployed on different database system architectures and evaluate the deployments to understand the impact of architectural choices on crossmatch performance and associated trade-offs. We investigate the execution of two crossmatch algorithms on (1) a parallel database system with active disk style processing capabilities, (2) a high-throughput network database (MySQL Cluster), and (3) shared-nothing databases with replication. We have conducted our study in the context of a large-scale astronomy application with real use-case scenarios.« less

StraPep: a structure database of bioactive peptides

PubMed Central

Wang, Jian; Yin, Tailang; Xiao, Xuwen; He, Dan; Xue, Zhidong; Jiang, Xinnong; Wang, Yan

2018-01-01

Abstract Bioactive peptides, with a variety of biological activities and wide distribution in nature, have attracted great research interest in biological and medical fields, especially in pharmaceutical industry. The structural information of bioactive peptide is important for the development of peptide-based drugs. Many databases have been developed cataloguing bioactive peptides. However, to our knowledge, database dedicated to collect all the bioactive peptides with known structure is not available yet. Thus, we developed StraPep, a structure database of bioactive peptides. StraPep holds 3791 bioactive peptide structures, which belong to 1312 unique bioactive peptide sequences. About 905 out of 1312 (68%) bioactive peptides in StraPep contain disulfide bonds, which is significantly higher than that (21%) of PDB. Interestingly, 150 out of 616 (24%) bioactive peptides with three or more disulfide bonds form a structural motif known as cystine knot, which confers considerable structural stability on proteins and is an attractive scaffold for drug design. Detailed information of each peptide, including the experimental structure, the location of disulfide bonds, secondary structure, classification, post-translational modification and so on, has been provided. A wide range of user-friendly tools, such as browsing, sequence and structure-based searching and so on, has been incorporated into StraPep. We hope that this database will be helpful for the research community. Database URL: http://isyslab.info/StraPep PMID:29688386

Kentucky geotechnical database.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-03-01

Development of a comprehensive dynamic, geotechnical database is described. Computer software selected to program the client/server application in windows environment, components and structure of the geotechnical database, and primary factors cons...

NREL: U.S. Life Cycle Inventory Database - About the LCI Database Project

Science.gov Websites

About the LCI Database Project The U.S. Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Database is a publicly available data collection and analysis methods. Finding consistent and transparent LCI data for life cycle and maintain the database. The 2009 U.S. Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Data Stakeholder meeting was an

The EpiSLI Database: A Publicly Available Database on Speech and Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tomblin, J. Bruce

2010-01-01

Purpose: This article describes a database that was created in the process of conducting a large-scale epidemiologic study of specific language impairment (SLI). As such, this database will be referred to as the EpiSLI database. Children with SLI have unexpected and unexplained difficulties learning and using spoken language. Although there is no…

Drinking Water Database

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murray, ShaTerea R.

2004-01-01

This summer I had the opportunity to work in the Environmental Management Office (EMO) under the Chemical Sampling and Analysis Team or CS&AT. This team s mission is to support Glenn Research Center (GRC) and EM0 by providing chemical sampling and analysis services and expert consulting. Services include sampling and chemical analysis of water, soil, fbels, oils, paint, insulation materials, etc. One of this team s major projects is the Drinking Water Project. This is a project that is done on Glenn s water coolers and ten percent of its sink every two years. For the past two summers an intern had been putting together a database for this team to record the test they had perform. She had successfully created a database but hadn't worked out all the quirks. So this summer William Wilder (an intern from Cleveland State University) and I worked together to perfect her database. We began be finding out exactly what every member of the team thought about the database and what they would change if any. After collecting this data we both had to take some courses in Microsoft Access in order to fix the problems. Next we began looking at what exactly how the database worked from the outside inward. Then we began trying to change the database but we quickly found out that this would be virtually impossible.

Kalium: a database of potassium channel toxins from scorpion venom.

PubMed

Kuzmenkov, Alexey I; Krylov, Nikolay A; Chugunov, Anton O; Grishin, Eugene V; Vassilevski, Alexander A

2016-01-01

Kalium (http://kaliumdb.org/) is a manually curated database that accumulates data on potassium channel toxins purified from scorpion venom (KTx). This database is an open-access resource, and provides easy access to pages of other databases of interest, such as UniProt, PDB, NCBI Taxonomy Browser, and PubMed. General achievements of Kalium are a strict and easy regulation of KTx classification based on the unified nomenclature supported by researchers in the field, removal of peptides with partial sequence and entries supported by transcriptomic information only, classification of β-family toxins, and addition of a novel λ-family. Molecules presented in the database can be processed by the Clustal Omega server using a one-click option. Molecular masses of mature peptides are calculated and available activity data are compiled for all KTx. We believe that Kalium is not only of high interest to professional toxinologists, but also of general utility to the scientific community.Database URL:http://kaliumdb.org/. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

Aviation Safety Issues Database

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morello, Samuel A.; Ricks, Wendell R.

2009-01-01

The aviation safety issues database was instrumental in the refinement and substantiation of the National Aviation Safety Strategic Plan (NASSP). The issues database is a comprehensive set of issues from an extremely broad base of aviation functions, personnel, and vehicle categories, both nationally and internationally. Several aviation safety stakeholders such as the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) have already used the database. This broader interest was the genesis to making the database publically accessible and writing this report.

Database for landscape-scale carbon monitoring sites

Treesearch

Jason A. Cole; Kristopher D. Johnson; Richard A. Birdsey; Yude Pan; Craig A. Wayson; Kevin McCullough; Coeli M. Hoover; David Y. Hollinger; John B. Bradford; Michael G. Ryan; Randall K. Kolka; Peter Wieshampel; Kenneth L. Clark; Nicholas S. Skowronski; John Hom; Scott V. Ollinger; Steven G. McNulty; Michael J. Gavazzi

2013-01-01

This report describes the database used to compile, store, and manage intensive ground-based biometric data collected at research sites in Colorado, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Wyoming, supporting research activities of the U.S. North American Carbon Program (NACP). This report also provides details of each site, the sampling design and...

Back to the Scriptorium: Database Marketplace 2009

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tenopir, Carol; Baker, Gayle; Grogg, Jill E.

2009-01-01

The 2009 database marketplace is bounded by two extremes: massive digitization projects to increase access, and retrenchment owing to budget worries. Picture medieval monks hunched over their desks in the scriptorium as they labor to copy manuscripts. A 21st-century version of this activity is being repeated daily in the world's libraries and…

A blue carbon soil database: Tidal wetland stocks for the US National Greenhouse Gas Inventory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feagin, R. A.; Eriksson, M.; Hinson, A.; Najjar, R. G.; Kroeger, K. D.; Herrmann, M.; Holmquist, J. R.; Windham-Myers, L.; MacDonald, G. M.; Brown, L. N.; Bianchi, T. S.

2015-12-01

Coastal wetlands contain large reservoirs of carbon, and in 2015 the US National Greenhouse Gas Inventory began the work of placing blue carbon within the national regulatory context. The potential value of a wetland carbon stock, in relation to its location, soon could be influential in determining governmental policy and management activities, or in stimulating market-based CO2 sequestration projects. To meet the national need for high-resolution maps, a blue carbon stock database was developed linking National Wetlands Inventory datasets with the USDA Soil Survey Geographic Database. Users of the database can identify the economic potential for carbon conservation or restoration projects within specific estuarine basins, states, wetland types, physical parameters, and land management activities. The database is geared towards both national-level assessments and local-level inquiries. Spatial analysis of the stocks show high variance within individual estuarine basins, largely dependent on geomorphic position on the landscape, though there are continental scale trends to the carbon distribution as well. Future plans including linking this database with a sedimentary accretion database to predict carbon flux in US tidal wetlands.

BDVC (Bimodal Database of Violent Content): A database of violent audio and video

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rivera Martínez, Jose Luis; Mijes Cruz, Mario Humberto; Rodríguez Vázqu, Manuel Antonio; Rodríguez Espejo, Luis; Montoya Obeso, Abraham; García Vázquez, Mireya Saraí; Ramírez Acosta, Alejandro Álvaro

2017-09-01

Nowadays there is a trend towards the use of unimodal databases for multimedia content description, organization and retrieval applications of a single type of content like text, voice and images, instead bimodal databases allow to associate semantically two different types of content like audio-video, image-text, among others. The generation of a bimodal database of audio-video implies the creation of a connection between the multimedia content through the semantic relation that associates the actions of both types of information. This paper describes in detail the used characteristics and methodology for the creation of the bimodal database of violent content; the semantic relationship is stablished by the proposed concepts that describe the audiovisual information. The use of bimodal databases in applications related to the audiovisual content processing allows an increase in the semantic performance only and only if these applications process both type of content. This bimodal database counts with 580 audiovisual annotated segments, with a duration of 28 minutes, divided in 41 classes. Bimodal databases are a tool in the generation of applications for the semantic web.

NUREBASE: database of nuclear hormone receptors.

PubMed

Duarte, Jorge; Perrière, Guy; Laudet, Vincent; Robinson-Rechavi, Marc

2002-01-01

Nuclear hormone receptors are an abundant class of ligand activated transcriptional regulators, found in varying numbers in all animals. Based on our experience of managing the official nomenclature of nuclear receptors, we have developed NUREBASE, a database containing protein and DNA sequences, reviewed protein alignments and phylogenies, taxonomy and annotations for all nuclear receptors. The reviewed NUREBASE is completed by NUREBASE_DAILY, automatically updated every 24 h. Both databases are organized under a client/server architecture, with a client written in Java which runs on any platform. This client, named FamFetch, integrates a graphical interface allowing selection of families, and manipulation of phylogenies and alignments. NUREBASE sequence data is also accessible through a World Wide Web server, allowing complex queries. All information on accessing and installing NUREBASE may be found at http://www.ens-lyon.fr/LBMC/laudet/nurebase.html.

Effects of a behavior change campaign on household drinking water disinfection in the Lake Chad basin using the RANAS approach.

PubMed

Lilje, Jonathan; Mosler, Hans-Joachim

2018-04-01

Worldwide, an estimated 700 million people rely on unimproved drinking water sources; even more consume water that is not safe to drink. Inadequate drinking water quality constitutes a major risk factor for cholera and other diarrheal diseases around the globe, especially for young children in developing countries. Household water treatment and safe storage systems represent an intermediate solution for settings that lack infrastructure supplying safe drinking water. However, the correct and consistent usage of such treatment technologies rely almost exclusively on the consumer's behavior. This study targeted at evaluating effects of a behavior change campaign promoting the uptake of household drinking water chlorination in communities along the Chari and Logone rivers in Chad. The campaign was based on formative research using health psychological theory and targeted several behavioral factors identified as relevant. A total of 220 primary caregivers were interviewed concerning their household water treatment practices and mindset related to water treatment six months after the campaign. The Risks, Attitudes, Norms, Abilities, and Self-regulation (RANAS) model was used to structure the interviews as the RANAS approach had been used for designing the campaign. Results show significantly higher self-reported drinking water chlorination among participants of the intervention. Significant differences from a control group were identified regarding several behavioral factors. Mediation analysis revealed that the intervention positively affected participants' individual risk estimation for diarrheal disease, health knowledge, perceived efforts and benefits of water treatment, social support strategies, knowledge of how to perform chlorination, and perceived ability to do so. The campaign's effect on water treatment was mainly mediated through differences in health knowledge, changes in norms, and self-efficacy convictions. The findings imply that water treatment behavior

The Danish Testicular Cancer database.

PubMed

Daugaard, Gedske; Kier, Maria Gry Gundgaard; Bandak, Mikkel; Mortensen, Mette Saksø; Larsson, Heidi; Søgaard, Mette; Toft, Birgitte Groenkaer; Engvad, Birte; Agerbæk, Mads; Holm, Niels Vilstrup; Lauritsen, Jakob

2016-01-01

The nationwide Danish Testicular Cancer database consists of a retrospective research database (DaTeCa database) and a prospective clinical database (Danish Multidisciplinary Cancer Group [DMCG] DaTeCa database). The aim is to improve the quality of care for patients with testicular cancer (TC) in Denmark, that is, by identifying risk factors for relapse, toxicity related to treatment, and focusing on late effects. All Danish male patients with a histologically verified germ cell cancer diagnosis in the Danish Pathology Registry are included in the DaTeCa databases. Data collection has been performed from 1984 to 2007 and from 2013 onward, respectively. The retrospective DaTeCa database contains detailed information with more than 300 variables related to histology, stage, treatment, relapses, pathology, tumor markers, kidney function, lung function, etc. A questionnaire related to late effects has been conducted, which includes questions regarding social relationships, life situation, general health status, family background, diseases, symptoms, use of medication, marital status, psychosocial issues, fertility, and sexuality. TC survivors alive on October 2014 were invited to fill in this questionnaire including 160 validated questions. Collection of questionnaires is still ongoing. A biobank including blood/sputum samples for future genetic analyses has been established. Both samples related to DaTeCa and DMCG DaTeCa database are included. The prospective DMCG DaTeCa database includes variables regarding histology, stage, prognostic group, and treatment. The DMCG DaTeCa database has existed since 2013 and is a young clinical database. It is necessary to extend the data collection in the prospective database in order to answer quality-related questions. Data from the retrospective database will be added to the prospective data. This will result in a large and very comprehensive database for future studies on TC patients.

Drinking Water Treatability Database (Database)

EPA Science Inventory

The drinking Water Treatability Database (TDB) will provide data taken from the literature on the control of contaminants in drinking water, and will be housed on an interactive, publicly-available USEPA web site. It can be used for identifying effective treatment processes, rec...

Scopus database: a review.

PubMed

Burnham, Judy F

2006-03-08

The Scopus database provides access to STM journal articles and the references included in those articles, allowing the searcher to search both forward and backward in time. The database can be used for collection development as well as for research. This review provides information on the key points of the database and compares it to Web of Science. Neither database is inclusive, but complements each other. If a library can only afford one, choice must be based in institutional needs.

Scopus database: a review

PubMed Central

Burnham, Judy F

2006-01-01

The Scopus database provides access to STM journal articles and the references included in those articles, allowing the searcher to search both forward and backward in time. The database can be used for collection development as well as for research. This review provides information on the key points of the database and compares it to Web of Science. Neither database is inclusive, but complements each other. If a library can only afford one, choice must be based in institutional needs. PMID:16522216

Public variant databases: liability?

PubMed

Thorogood, Adrian; Cook-Deegan, Robert; Knoppers, Bartha Maria

2017-07-01

Public variant databases support the curation, clinical interpretation, and sharing of genomic data, thus reducing harmful errors or delays in diagnosis. As variant databases are increasingly relied on in the clinical context, there is concern that negligent variant interpretation will harm patients and attract liability. This article explores the evolving legal duties of laboratories, public variant databases, and physicians in clinical genomics and recommends a governance framework for databases to promote responsible data sharing.Genet Med advance online publication 15 December 2016.

Occurrence of water-borne enteric viruses in two settlements based in Eastern Chad: analysis of hepatitis E virus, hepatitis A virus and human adenovirus in water sources.

PubMed

Guerrero-Latorre, Laura; Carratala, Anna; Rodriguez-Manzano, Jesus; Calgua, Byron; Hundesa, Ayalkibet; Girones, Rosina

2011-09-01

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a common cause of water-borne acute hepatitis in areas with poor sanitation. In 2004 an outbreak of HEV infection affected around 2,000 people in Eastern Chad (Dar Sila). This paper describes the decrease in the incidence of acute jaundice syndrome (AJS) from 2004 until 2009 when a mean incidence of 0.48 cases/1,000 people/year was recorded in the region. Outbreaks of AJS were identified in some of the camps in 2007 and 2008. Moreover, water samples from drinking water sources were screened for human adenoviruses considered as viral indicators and for hepatitis A virus and HEV. Screening of faecal samples from donkeys for HEV gave negative results. Some of the samples were also analysed for faecal coliforms showing values before disinfection treatment between 3 and >50 colony forming units per 100 mL. All water samples tested were negative for HEV and HAV; however, the presence of low levels of human adenoviruses in 4 out of 16 samples analysed indicates possible human faecal contamination of groundwater. Consequently, breakdowns in the treatment of drinking water and/or increased excretion of hepatitis viruses, which could be related to the arrival of a new population, could spread future outbreaks through drinking water.

THE ECOTOX DATABASE

EPA Science Inventory

The database provides chemical-specific toxicity information for aquatic life, terrestrial plants, and terrestrial wildlife. ECOTOX is a comprehensive ecotoxicology database and is therefore essential for providing and suppoirting high quality models needed to estimate population...

Initiation of a Database of CEUS Ground Motions for NGA East

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cramer, C. H.

2007-12-01

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has funded the first stage of development of a database of central and eastern US (CEUS) broadband and accelerograph records, along the lines of the existing Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) database for active tectonic areas. This database will form the foundation of an NGA East project for the development of CEUS ground-motion prediction equations that include the effects of soils. This initial effort covers the development of a database design and the beginning of data collection to populate the database. It also includes some processing for important source parameters (Brune corner frequency and stress drop) and site parameters (kappa, Vs30). Besides collecting appropriate earthquake recordings and information, existing information about site conditions at recording sites will also be gathered, including geology and geotechnical information. The long-range goal of the database development is to complete the database and make it available in 2010. The database design is centered on CEUS ground motion information needs but is built on the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center's (PEER) NGA experience. Documentation from the PEER NGA website was reviewed and relevant fields incorporated into the CEUS database design. CEUS database tables include ones for earthquake, station, component, record, and references. As was done for NGA, a CEUS ground- motion flat file of key information will be extracted from the CEUS database for use in attenuation relation development. A short report on the CEUS database and several initial design-definition files are available at https://umdrive.memphis.edu:443/xythoswfs/webui/_xy-7843974_docstore1. Comments and suggestions on the database design can be sent to the author. More details will be presented in a poster at the meeting.

High-throughput ab-initio dilute solute diffusion database.

PubMed

Wu, Henry; Mayeshiba, Tam; Morgan, Dane

2016-07-19

We demonstrate automated generation of diffusion databases from high-throughput density functional theory (DFT) calculations. A total of more than 230 dilute solute diffusion systems in Mg, Al, Cu, Ni, Pd, and Pt host lattices have been determined using multi-frequency diffusion models. We apply a correction method for solute diffusion in alloys using experimental and simulated values of host self-diffusivity. We find good agreement with experimental solute diffusion data, obtaining a weighted activation barrier RMS error of 0.176 eV when excluding magnetic solutes in non-magnetic alloys. The compiled database is the largest collection of consistently calculated ab-initio solute diffusion data in the world.

Public participation in genetic databases: crossing the boundaries between biobanks and forensic DNA databases through the principle of solidarity.

PubMed

Machado, Helena; Silva, Susana

2015-10-01

The ethical aspects of biobanks and forensic DNA databases are often treated as separate issues. As a reflection of this, public participation, or the involvement of citizens in genetic databases, has been approached differently in the fields of forensics and medicine. This paper aims to cross the boundaries between medicine and forensics by exploring the flows between the ethical issues presented in the two domains and the subsequent conceptualisation of public trust and legitimisation. We propose to introduce the concept of 'solidarity', traditionally applied only to medical and research biobanks, into a consideration of public engagement in medicine and forensics. Inclusion of a solidarity-based framework, in both medical biobanks and forensic DNA databases, raises new questions that should be included in the ethical debate, in relation to both health services/medical research and activities associated with the criminal justice system. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Geothermal NEPA Database on OpenEI (Poster)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Young, K. R.; Levine, A.

2014-09-01

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) developed the Geothermal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Database as a platform for government agencies and industry to access and maintain information related to geothermal NEPA documents. The data were collected to inform analyses of NEPA timelines, and the collected data were made publically available via this tool in case others might find the data useful. NREL staff and contractors collected documents from agency websites, during visits to the two busiest Bureau of Land Management (BLM) field offices for geothermal development, and through email and phone call requests from other BLM field offices. Theymore » then entered the information into the database, hosted by Open Energy Information (http://en.openei.org/wiki/RAPID/NEPA). The long-term success of the project will depend on the willingness of federal agencies, industry, and others to populate the database with NEPA and related documents, and to use the data for their own analyses. As the information and capabilities of the database expand, developers and agencies can save time on new NEPA reports by accessing a single location to research related activities, their potential impacts, and previously proposed and imposed mitigation measures. NREL used a wiki platform to allow industry and agencies to maintain the content in the future so that it continues to provide relevant and accurate information to users.« less

Public variant databases: liability?

PubMed Central

Thorogood, Adrian; Cook-Deegan, Robert; Knoppers, Bartha Maria

2017-01-01

Public variant databases support the curation, clinical interpretation, and sharing of genomic data, thus reducing harmful errors or delays in diagnosis. As variant databases are increasingly relied on in the clinical context, there is concern that negligent variant interpretation will harm patients and attract liability. This article explores the evolving legal duties of laboratories, public variant databases, and physicians in clinical genomics and recommends a governance framework for databases to promote responsible data sharing. Genet Med advance online publication 15 December 2016 PMID:27977006

Database for propagation models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kantak, Anil V.

1991-07-01

A propagation researcher or a systems engineer who intends to use the results of a propagation experiment is generally faced with various database tasks such as the selection of the computer software, the hardware, and the writing of the programs to pass the data through the models of interest. This task is repeated every time a new experiment is conducted or the same experiment is carried out at a different location generating different data. Thus the users of this data have to spend a considerable portion of their time learning how to implement the computer hardware and the software towards the desired end. This situation may be facilitated considerably if an easily accessible propagation database is created that has all the accepted (standardized) propagation phenomena models approved by the propagation research community. Also, the handling of data will become easier for the user. Such a database construction can only stimulate the growth of the propagation research it if is available to all the researchers, so that the results of the experiment conducted by one researcher can be examined independently by another, without different hardware and software being used. The database may be made flexible so that the researchers need not be confined only to the contents of the database. Another way in which the database may help the researchers is by the fact that they will not have to document the software and hardware tools used in their research since the propagation research community will know the database already. The following sections show a possible database construction, as well as properties of the database for the propagation research.

Current situation and future usage of anticancer drug databases.

PubMed

Wang, Hongzhi; Yin, Yuanyuan; Wang, Peiqi; Xiong, Chenyu; Huang, Lingyu; Li, Sijia; Li, Xinyi; Fu, Leilei

2016-07-01

Cancer is a deadly disease with increasing incidence and mortality rates and affects the life quality of millions of people per year. The past 15 years have witnessed the rapid development of targeted therapy for cancer treatment, with numerous anticancer drugs, drug targets and related gene mutations been identified. The demand for better anticancer drugs and the advances in database technologies have propelled the development of databases related to anticancer drugs. These databases provide systematic collections of integrative information either directly on anticancer drugs or on a specific type of anticancer drugs with their own emphases on different aspects, such as drug-target interactions, the relationship between mutations in drug targets and drug resistance/sensitivity, drug-drug interactions, natural products with anticancer activity, anticancer peptides, synthetic lethality pairs and histone deacetylase inhibitors. We focus on a holistic view of the current situation and future usage of databases related to anticancer drugs and further discuss their strengths and weaknesses, in the hope of facilitating the discovery of new anticancer drugs with better clinical outcomes.

FishTraits Database

USGS Publications Warehouse

Angermeier, Paul L.; Frimpong, Emmanuel A.

2009-01-01

The need for integrated and widely accessible sources of species traits data to facilitate studies of ecology, conservation, and management has motivated development of traits databases for various taxa. In spite of the increasing number of traits-based analyses of freshwater fishes in the United States, no consolidated database of traits of this group exists publicly, and much useful information on these species is documented only in obscure sources. The largely inaccessible and unconsolidated traits information makes large-scale analysis involving many fishes and/or traits particularly challenging. FishTraits is a database of >100 traits for 809 (731 native and 78 exotic) fish species found in freshwaters of the conterminous United States, including 37 native families and 145 native genera. The database contains information on four major categories of traits: (1) trophic ecology, (2) body size and reproductive ecology (life history), (3) habitat associations, and (4) salinity and temperature tolerances. Information on geographic distribution and conservation status is also included. Together, we refer to the traits, distribution, and conservation status information as attributes. Descriptions of attributes are available here. Many sources were consulted to compile attributes, including state and regional species accounts and other databases.

CB Database: A change blindness database for objects in natural indoor scenes.

PubMed

Sareen, Preeti; Ehinger, Krista A; Wolfe, Jeremy M

2016-12-01

Change blindness has been a topic of interest in cognitive sciences for decades. Change detection experiments are frequently used for studying various research topics such as attention and perception. However, creating change detection stimuli is tedious and there is no open repository of such stimuli using natural scenes. We introduce the Change Blindness (CB) Database with object changes in 130 colored images of natural indoor scenes. The size and eccentricity are provided for all the changes as well as reaction time data from a baseline experiment. In addition, we have two specialized satellite databases that are subsets of the 130 images. In one set, changes are seen in rooms or in mirrors in those rooms (Mirror Change Database). In the other, changes occur in a room or out a window (Window Change Database). Both the sets have controlled background, change size, and eccentricity. The CB Database is intended to provide researchers with a stimulus set of natural scenes with defined stimulus parameters that can be used for a wide range of experiments. The CB Database can be found at http://search.bwh.harvard.edu/new/CBDatabase.html .

Anticoagulant use for prevention of stroke in a commercial population with atrial fibrillation.

PubMed

Patel, Aarti A; Lennert, Barb; Macomson, Brian; Nelson, Winnie W; Owens, Gary M; Mody, Samir H; Schein, Jeff

2012-07-01

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, and patients with AF are at an increased risk for stroke. Thromboprophylaxis with vitamin K antagonists reduces the annual incidence of stroke by approximately 60%, but appropriate thromboprophylaxis is prescribed for only approximately 50% of eligible patients. Health plans may help to improve quality of care for patients with AF by analyzing claims data for care improvement opportunities. To analyze pharmacy and medical claims data from a large integrated commercial database to determine the risk for stroke and the appropriateness of anticoagulant use based on guideline recommendations for patients with AF. This descriptive, retrospective claims data analysis used the Anticoagulant Quality Improvement Analyzer software, which was designed to analyze health plan data. The data for this study were obtained from a 10% randomly selected sample from the PharMetrics Integrated Database. This 10% sample resulted in almost 26,000 patients with AF who met the inclusion criteria for this study. Patients with a new or existing diagnosis of AF between July 2008 and June 2010 who were aged ≥18 years were included in this analysis. The follow-up period was 1 year. Demographics, stroke risk level (CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores), anticoagulant use, and inpatient stroke hospitalizations were analyzed through the analyzer software. Of the 25,710 patients with AF (CHADS2 score 0-6) who were eligible to be included in this study, 9093 (35%) received vitamin K antagonists and 16,617 (65%) did not receive any anticoagulant. Of the patients at high risk for stroke, as predicted by CHADS2, 39% received an anticoagulant medication. The rates of patients receiving anticoagulant medication varied by age-group-16% of patients aged <65 years, 22% of those aged 65 to 74 years, and 61% of elderly ≥75 years. Among patients hospitalized for stroke, only 28% were treated with an anticoagulant agent in the outpatient

The 2014 Nucleic Acids Research Database Issue and an updated NAR online Molecular Biology Database Collection.

PubMed

Fernández-Suárez, Xosé M; Rigden, Daniel J; Galperin, Michael Y

2014-01-01

The 2014 Nucleic Acids Research Database Issue includes descriptions of 58 new molecular biology databases and recent updates to 123 databases previously featured in NAR or other journals. For convenience, the issue is now divided into eight sections that reflect major subject categories. Among the highlights of this issue are six databases of the transcription factor binding sites in various organisms and updates on such popular databases as CAZy, Database of Genomic Variants (DGV), dbGaP, DrugBank, KEGG, miRBase, Pfam, Reactome, SEED, TCDB and UniProt. There is a strong block of structural databases, which includes, among others, the new RNA Bricks database, updates on PDBe, PDBsum, ArchDB, Gene3D, ModBase, Nucleic Acid Database and the recently revived iPfam database. An update on the NCBI's MMDB describes VAST+, an improved tool for protein structure comparison. Two articles highlight the development of the Structural Classification of Proteins (SCOP) database: one describes SCOPe, which automates assignment of new structures to the existing SCOP hierarchy; the other one describes the first version of SCOP2, with its more flexible approach to classifying protein structures. This issue also includes a collection of articles on bacterial taxonomy and metagenomics, which includes updates on the List of Prokaryotic Names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN), Ribosomal Database Project (RDP), the Silva/LTP project and several new metagenomics resources. The NAR online Molecular Biology Database Collection, http://www.oxfordjournals.org/nar/database/c/, has been expanded to 1552 databases. The entire Database Issue is freely available online on the Nucleic Acids Research website (http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/).

The SpaceInn-SISMA Database: Characterization of a Large Sample of Variable and Active Stars by Means of Harps Spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rainer, M.; Poretti, E.; Mistò, A.; Panzera, M. R.; Molinaro, M.; Cepparo, F.; Roth, M.; Michel, E.; Monteiro, M. J. P. F. G.

2016-12-01

We created a large database of physical parameters and variability indicators by fully reducing and analyzing the large number of spectra taken to complement the asteroseismic observations of the COnvection, ROtation and planetary Transits (CoRoT) satellite. 7103 spectra of 261 stars obtained with the ESO echelle spectrograph HARPS have been stored in the VO-compliant database Spectroscopic Indicators in a SeisMic Archive (SISMA), along with the CoRoT photometric data of the 72 CoRoT asteroseismic targets. The remaining stars belong to the same variable classes of the CoRoT targets and were observed to better characterize the properties of such classes. Several useful variability indicators (mean line profiles, indices of differential rotation, activity and emission lines) together with v\\sin I and radial-velocity measurements have been extracted from the spectra. The atmospheric parameters {T}{eff},{log}g, and [Fe/H] have been computed following a homogeneous procedure. As a result, we fully characterize a sample of new and known variable stars by computing several spectroscopic indicators, also providing some cases of simultaneous photometry and spectroscopy.

Structural Ceramics Database

National Institute of Standards and Technology Data Gateway

SRD 30 NIST Structural Ceramics Database (Web, free access)   The NIST Structural Ceramics Database (WebSCD) provides evaluated materials property data for a wide range of advanced ceramics known variously as structural ceramics, engineering ceramics, and fine ceramics.

Mission and Assets Database

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baldwin, John; Zendejas, Silvino; Gutheinz, Sandy; Borden, Chester; Wang, Yeou-Fang

2009-01-01

Mission and Assets Database (MADB) Version 1.0 is an SQL database system with a Web user interface to centralize information. The database stores flight project support resource requirements, view periods, antenna information, schedule, and forecast results for use in mid-range and long-term planning of Deep Space Network (DSN) assets.

The 2018 Nucleic Acids Research database issue and the online molecular biology database collection.

PubMed

Rigden, Daniel J; Fernández, Xosé M

2018-01-04

The 2018 Nucleic Acids Research Database Issue contains 181 papers spanning molecular biology. Among them, 82 are new and 84 are updates describing resources that appeared in the Issue previously. The remaining 15 cover databases most recently published elsewhere. Databases in the area of nucleic acids include 3DIV for visualisation of data on genome 3D structure and RNArchitecture, a hierarchical classification of RNA families. Protein databases include the established SMART, ELM and MEROPS while GPCRdb and the newcomer STCRDab cover families of biomedical interest. In the area of metabolism, HMDB and Reactome both report new features while PULDB appears in NAR for the first time. This issue also contains reports on genomics resources including Ensembl, the UCSC Genome Browser and ENCODE. Update papers from the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology and DrugBank are highlights of the drug and drug target section while a number of proteomics databases including proteomicsDB are also covered. The entire Database Issue is freely available online on the Nucleic Acids Research website (https://academic.oup.com/nar). The NAR online Molecular Biology Database Collection has been updated, reviewing 138 entries, adding 88 new resources and eliminating 47 discontinued URLs, bringing the current total to 1737 databases. It is available at http://www.oxfordjournals.org/nar/database/c/. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Surgical research using national databases

PubMed Central

Leland, Hyuma; Heckmann, Nathanael

2016-01-01

Recent changes in healthcare and advances in technology have increased the use of large-volume national databases in surgical research. These databases have been used to develop perioperative risk stratification tools, assess postoperative complications, calculate costs, and investigate numerous other topics across multiple surgical specialties. The results of these studies contain variable information but are subject to unique limitations. The use of large-volume national databases is increasing in popularity, and thorough understanding of these databases will allow for a more sophisticated and better educated interpretation of studies that utilize such databases. This review will highlight the composition, strengths, and weaknesses of commonly used national databases in surgical research. PMID:27867945

Surgical research using national databases.

PubMed

Alluri, Ram K; Leland, Hyuma; Heckmann, Nathanael

2016-10-01

Recent changes in healthcare and advances in technology have increased the use of large-volume national databases in surgical research. These databases have been used to develop perioperative risk stratification tools, assess postoperative complications, calculate costs, and investigate numerous other topics across multiple surgical specialties. The results of these studies contain variable information but are subject to unique limitations. The use of large-volume national databases is increasing in popularity, and thorough understanding of these databases will allow for a more sophisticated and better educated interpretation of studies that utilize such databases. This review will highlight the composition, strengths, and weaknesses of commonly used national databases in surgical research.

Lessons Learned from Deploying an Analytical Task Management Database

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

O'Neil, Daniel A.; Welch, Clara; Arceneaux, Joshua; Bulgatz, Dennis; Hunt, Mitch; Young, Stephen

2007-01-01

Defining requirements, missions, technologies, and concepts for space exploration involves multiple levels of organizations, teams of people with complementary skills, and analytical models and simulations. Analytical activities range from filling a To-Be-Determined (TBD) in a requirement to creating animations and simulations of exploration missions. In a program as large as returning to the Moon, there are hundreds of simultaneous analysis activities. A way to manage and integrate efforts of this magnitude is to deploy a centralized database that provides the capability to define tasks, identify resources, describe products, schedule deliveries, and generate a variety of reports. This paper describes a web-accessible task management system and explains the lessons learned during the development and deployment of the database. Through the database, managers and team leaders can define tasks, establish review schedules, assign teams, link tasks to specific requirements, identify products, and link the task data records to external repositories that contain the products. Data filters and spreadsheet export utilities provide a powerful capability to create custom reports. Import utilities provide a means to populate the database from previously filled form files. Within a four month period, a small team analyzed requirements, developed a prototype, conducted multiple system demonstrations, and deployed a working system supporting hundreds of users across the aeros pace community. Open-source technologies and agile software development techniques, applied by a skilled team enabled this impressive achievement. Topics in the paper cover the web application technologies, agile software development, an overview of the system's functions and features, dealing with increasing scope, and deploying new versions of the system.

[The database server for the medical bibliography database at Charles University].

PubMed

Vejvalka, J; Rojíková, V; Ulrych, O; Vorísek, M

1998-01-01

In the medical community, bibliographic databases are widely accepted as a most important source of information both for theoretical and clinical disciplines. To improve access to medical bibliographic databases at Charles University, a database server (ERL by Silver Platter) was set up at the 2nd Faculty of Medicine in Prague. The server, accessible by Internet 24 hours/7 days, hosts now 14 years' MEDLINE and 10 years' EMBASE Paediatrics. Two different strategies are available for connecting to the server: a specialized client program that communicates over the Internet (suitable for professional searching) and a web-based access that requires no specialized software (except the WWW browser) on the client side. The server is now offered to academic community to host further databases, possibly subscribed by consortia whose individual members would not subscribe them by themselves.

A RESEARCH DATABASE FOR IMPROVED DATA MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS IN LONGITUDINAL STUDIES

PubMed Central

BIELEFELD, ROGER A.; YAMASHITA, TOYOKO S.; KEREKES, EDWARD F.; ERCANLI, EHAT; SINGER, LYNN T.

2014-01-01

We developed a research database for a five-year prospective investigation of the medical, social, and developmental correlates of chronic lung disease during the first three years of life. We used the Ingres database management system and the Statit statistical software package. The database includes records containing 1300 variables each, the results of 35 psychological tests, each repeated five times (providing longitudinal data on the child, the parents, and behavioral interactions), both raw and calculated variables, and both missing and deferred values. The four-layer menu-driven user interface incorporates automatic activation of complex functions to handle data verification, missing and deferred values, static and dynamic backup, determination of calculated values, display of database status, reports, bulk data extraction, and statistical analysis. PMID:7596250

Ukrainian Database and Atlas of Light Curves of Artificial Space Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koshkin, N.; Savanevich, V.; Pohorelov, A.; Shakun, L.; Zhukov, V.; Korobeynikova, E.; Strakhova, S.; Moskalenko, S.; Kashuba, V.; Krasnoshchokov, A.

This paper describes the Ukrainian database of long-term photometric observations of resident space objects (RSO). For the purpose of using this database for the outer space monitoring and space situational awareness (SSA) the open internet resource has been developed. The paper shows examples of using the Atlas of light curves of RSO's for analyzing the state of rotation around the center of mass of several active and non-functioning satellites in orbit.

A-type granites from the Guéra Massif, Central Chad: Petrology, geochemistry, geochronology, and petrogenesis.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pham, Ngoc Ha T.; Shellnutt, J. Gregory; Yeh, Meng-Wan; Lee, Tung-Yi

2017-04-01

The poorly studied Saharan Metacraton of North-Central Africa is located between the Arabian-Nubian Shield in the east, the Tuareg Shield in the west and the Central African Orogenic Belt in the south. The Saharan Metacraton is composed of Neoproterozoic juvenile crust and the relics of pre-Neoproterozoic components reactivated during the Pan-African Orogeny. The Republic of Chad, constrained within the Saharan Metacraton, comprises a Phanerozoic cover overlying Precambrian basement outcroppings in four distinct massifs: the Mayo Kebbi, Tibesti, Ouaddaï, and the Guéra. The Guéra massif is the least studied of the four massifs but it likely preserves structures that were formed during the collision between Congo Craton and Saharan Metacraton. The Guéra Massif is composed of mostly granitic rocks. The granitoids have petrologic features that are consistent with A-type granite, such as micrographic intergrowth of sodic and potassic feldspar, the presence of sodic- and iron-rich amphibole, and iron-rich biotite. Compositionally, the granitic rocks of the Guéra Massif have high silica (SiO2 ≥ 68.9 wt.%) content and are metaluminous to marginally peraluminous. The rocks are classified as ferroan calc-alkalic to alkali-calcic with moderately high to very high Fe* ratios. The first zircon U/Pb geochronology of the silicic rocks from the Guéra Massif yielded three main age groups: 590 Ma, 570 Ma, 560 Ma, while a single gabbro yielded an intermediate age ( 580 Ma). A weakly foliated biotite granite yielded two populations, in which the emplacement age is interpreted to be 590 ± 10 Ma, whereas the younger age (550 ± 11 Ma) is considered to be a deformation age. Furthermore, inherited Meso- to Paleoproterozoic zircons are found in this sample. The geochemical and geochronology data indicate that there is a temporal evolution in the composition of rocks with the old, high Mg# granitoids shifting to young, low Mg# granitoids. This reveals that the A-type granites in

The ID Database: Managing the Instructional Development Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piña, Anthony A.; Sanford, Barry K.

2017-01-01

Management is evolving as a foundational domain to the field of instructional design and technology. However, there are few tools dedicated to the management of instructional design and development projects and activities. In this article, we describe the development, features and implementation of an instructional design database--built from a…

Heterogeneous database integration in biomedicine.

PubMed

Sujansky, W

2001-08-01

The rapid expansion of biomedical knowledge, reduction in computing costs, and spread of internet access have created an ocean of electronic data. The decentralized nature of our scientific community and healthcare system, however, has resulted in a patchwork of diverse, or heterogeneous, database implementations, making access to and aggregation of data across databases very difficult. The database heterogeneity problem applies equally to clinical data describing individual patients and biological data characterizing our genome. Specifically, databases are highly heterogeneous with respect to the data models they employ, the data schemas they specify, the query languages they support, and the terminologies they recognize. Heterogeneous database systems attempt to unify disparate databases by providing uniform conceptual schemas that resolve representational heterogeneities, and by providing querying capabilities that aggregate and integrate distributed data. Research in this area has applied a variety of database and knowledge-based techniques, including semantic data modeling, ontology definition, query translation, query optimization, and terminology mapping. Existing systems have addressed heterogeneous database integration in the realms of molecular biology, hospital information systems, and application portability.

Development of a Consumer Product Ingredient Database for ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Consumer products are a primary source of chemical exposures, yet little structured information is available on the chemical ingredients of these products and the concentrations at which ingredients are present. To address this data gap, we created a database of chemicals in consumer products using product Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) publicly provided by a large retailer. The resulting database represents 1797 unique chemicals mapped to 8921 consumer products and a hierarchy of 353 consumer product “use categories” within a total of 15 top-level categories. We examine the utility of this database and discuss ways in which it will support (i) exposure screening and prioritization, (ii) generic or framework formulations for several indoor/consumer product exposure modeling initiatives, (iii) candidate chemical selection for monitoring near field exposure from proximal sources, and (iv) as activity tracers or ubiquitous exposure sources using “chemical space” map analyses. Chemicals present at high concentrations and across multiple consumer products and use categories that hold high exposure potential are identified. Our database is publicly available to serve regulators, retailers, manufacturers, and the public for predictive screening of chemicals in new and existing consumer products on the basis of exposure and risk. The National Exposure Research Laboratory’s (NERL’s) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts resear

A World Wide Web (WWW) server database engine for an organelle database, MitoDat.

PubMed

Lemkin, P F; Chipperfield, M; Merril, C; Zullo, S

1996-03-01

We describe a simple database search engine "dbEngine" which may be used to quickly create a searchable database on a World Wide Web (WWW) server. Data may be prepared from spreadsheet programs (such as Excel, etc.) or from tables exported from relationship database systems. This Common Gateway Interface (CGI-BIN) program is used with a WWW server such as available commercially, or from National Center for Supercomputer Algorithms (NCSA) or CERN. Its capabilities include: (i) searching records by combinations of terms connected with ANDs or ORs; (ii) returning search results as hypertext links to other WWW database servers; (iii) mapping lists of literature reference identifiers to the full references; (iv) creating bidirectional hypertext links between pictures and the database. DbEngine has been used to support the MitoDat database (Mendelian and non-Mendelian inheritance associated with the Mitochondrion) on the WWW.

The National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium (NNTC) Database: an integrated database for HIV-related studies

PubMed Central

Cserhati, Matyas F.; Pandey, Sanjit; Beaudoin, James J.; Baccaglini, Lorena; Guda, Chittibabu; Fox, Howard S.

2015-01-01

We herein present the National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium-Data Coordinating Center (NNTC-DCC) database, which is the only available database for neuroAIDS studies that contains data in an integrated, standardized form. This database has been created in conjunction with the NNTC, which provides human tissue and biofluid samples to individual researchers to conduct studies focused on neuroAIDS. The database contains experimental datasets from 1206 subjects for the following categories (which are further broken down into subcategories): gene expression, genotype, proteins, endo-exo-chemicals, morphometrics and other (miscellaneous) data. The database also contains a wide variety of downloadable data and metadata for 95 HIV-related studies covering 170 assays from 61 principal investigators. The data represent 76 tissue types, 25 measurement types, and 38 technology types, and reaches a total of 33 017 407 data points. We used the ISA platform to create the database and develop a searchable web interface for querying the data. A gene search tool is also available, which searches for NCBI GEO datasets associated with selected genes. The database is manually curated with many user-friendly features, and is cross-linked to the NCBI, HUGO and PubMed databases. A free registration is required for qualified users to access the database. Database URL: http://nntc-dcc.unmc.edu PMID:26228431

Morchella MLST database

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Welcome to the Morchella MLST database. This dedicated database was set up at the CBS-KNAW Biodiversity Center by Vincent Robert in February 2012, using BioloMICS software (Robert et al., 2011), to facilitate DNA sequence-based identifications of Morchella species via the Internet. The current datab...

Dictionary as Database.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Painter, Derrick

1996-01-01

Discussion of dictionaries as databases focuses on the digitizing of The Oxford English dictionary (OED) and the use of Standard Generalized Mark-Up Language (SGML). Topics include the creation of a consortium to digitize the OED, document structure, relational databases, text forms, sequence, and discourse. (LRW)

Freshwater Biological Traits Database (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA announced the release of the final report, Freshwater Biological Traits Database. This report discusses the development of a database of freshwater biological traits. The database combines several existing traits databases into an online format. The database is also...

High-throughput ab-initio dilute solute diffusion database

PubMed Central

Wu, Henry; Mayeshiba, Tam; Morgan, Dane

2016-01-01

We demonstrate automated generation of diffusion databases from high-throughput density functional theory (DFT) calculations. A total of more than 230 dilute solute diffusion systems in Mg, Al, Cu, Ni, Pd, and Pt host lattices have been determined using multi-frequency diffusion models. We apply a correction method for solute diffusion in alloys using experimental and simulated values of host self-diffusivity. We find good agreement with experimental solute diffusion data, obtaining a weighted activation barrier RMS error of 0.176 eV when excluding magnetic solutes in non-magnetic alloys. The compiled database is the largest collection of consistently calculated ab-initio solute diffusion data in the world. PMID:27434308

Improving Database Simulations for Bayesian Precipitation Retrieval using Non-Spherical Ice Particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ringerud, S.; Skofronick Jackson, G.; Kulie, M.; Randel, D.

2016-12-01

NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) provides a wealth of both active and passive microwave observations aimed at furthering understanding of global precipitation and the hydrologic cycle. Employing a constellation of passive microwave radiometers increases global coverage and sampling, while the core satellite acts as a transfer standard, enabling consistent retrievals across individual constellation members. The transfer standard is applied in the form of a physically based a priori database constructed for use in Bayesian retrieval algorithms for each radiometer. The database is constructed using hydrometeor profiles optimized for the best fit to simultaneous active/passive core satellite measurements via the GPM Combined Algorithm. Initial validation of GPM rainfall products using the combined database suggests high retrieval errors for convective precipitation over land and at high latitudes. In such regimes, the signal from ice scattering observed at the higher microwave frequencies becomes particularly important for detecting and retrieving precipitation. For cross-track sounders such as MHS and SAPHIR, this signal is crucial. It is therefore important that the scattering signals associated with precipitation are accurately represented and modeled in the retrieval database. In the current GPM combined retrieval and constellation databases, ice hydrometeors are represented as "fluffy spheres", with assumed density and scattering parameters calculated using Mie theory. Resulting simulated Tb agree reasonably well at frequencies up to 89 GHz, but show significant biases at higher frequencies. In this work the database is recreated using an ensemble of non-spherical ice particles with single scattering properties calculated using discrete dipole approximation. Simulated Tb agreement is significantly improved across the high frequencies, decreasing biases by an order of magnitude in several of the channels. The new database is applied for a

EMU Lessons Learned Database

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matthews, Kevin M., Jr.; Crocker, Lori; Cupples, J. Scott

2011-01-01

As manned space exploration takes on the task of traveling beyond low Earth orbit, many problems arise that must be solved in order to make the journey possible. One major task is protecting humans from the harsh space environment. The current method of protecting astronauts during Extravehicular Activity (EVA) is through use of the specially designed Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). As more rigorous EVA conditions need to be endured at new destinations, the suit will need to be tailored and improved in order to accommodate the astronaut. The Objective behind the EMU Lessons Learned Database(LLD) is to be able to create a tool which will assist in the development of next-generation EMUs, along with maintenance and improvement of the current EMU, by compiling data from Failure Investigation and Analysis Reports (FIARs) which have information on past suit failures. FIARs use a system of codes that give more information on the aspects of the failure, but if one is unfamiliar with the EMU they will be unable to decipher the information. A goal of the EMU LLD is to not only compile the information, but to present it in a user-friendly, organized, searchable database accessible to all familiarity levels with the EMU; both newcomers and veterans alike. The EMU LLD originally started as an Excel database, which allowed easy navigation and analysis of the data through pivot charts. Creating an entry requires access to the Problem Reporting And Corrective Action database (PRACA), which contains the original FIAR data for all hardware. FIAR data are then transferred to, defined, and formatted in the LLD. Work is being done to create a web-based version of the LLD in order to increase accessibility to all of Johnson Space Center (JSC), which includes converting entries from Excel to the HTML format. FIARs related to the EMU have been completed in the Excel version, and now focus has shifted to expanding FIAR data in the LLD to include EVA tools and support hardware such as

An Overview of ARL’s Multimodal Signatures Database and Web Interface

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

ActiveX components, which hindered distribution due to license agreements and run-time license software to use such components. g. Proprietary...Overview The database consists of multimodal signature data files in the HDF5 format. Generally, each signature file contains all the ancillary...only contains information in the database, Web interface, and signature files that is releasable to the public. The Web interface consists of static

High-Performance Secure Database Access Technologies for HEP Grids

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Matthew Vranicar; John Weicher

2006-04-17

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN Laboratory will become the largest scientific instrument in the world when it starts operations in 2007. Large Scale Analysis Computer Systems (computational grids) are required to extract rare signals of new physics from petabytes of LHC detector data. In addition to file-based event data, LHC data processing applications require access to large amounts of data in relational databases: detector conditions, calibrations, etc. U.S. high energy physicists demand efficient performance of grid computing applications in LHC physics research where world-wide remote participation is vital to their success. To empower physicists with data-intensive analysismore » capabilities a whole hyperinfrastructure of distributed databases cross-cuts a multi-tier hierarchy of computational grids. The crosscutting allows separation of concerns across both the global environment of a federation of computational grids and the local environment of a physicist’s computer used for analysis. Very few efforts are on-going in the area of database and grid integration research. Most of these are outside of the U.S. and rely on traditional approaches to secure database access via an extraneous security layer separate from the database system core, preventing efficient data transfers. Our findings are shared by the Database Access and Integration Services Working Group of the Global Grid Forum, who states that "Research and development activities relating to the Grid have generally focused on applications where data is stored in files. However, in many scientific and commercial domains, database management systems have a central role in data storage, access, organization, authorization, etc, for numerous applications.” There is a clear opportunity for a technological breakthrough, requiring innovative steps to provide high-performance secure database access technologies for grid computing. We believe that an innovative database architecture where

Intelligent communication assistant for databases

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jakobson, G.; Shaked, V.; Rowley, S.

1983-01-01

An intelligent communication assistant for databases, called FRED (front end for databases) is explored. FRED is designed to facilitate access to database systems by users of varying levels of experience. FRED is a second generation of natural language front-ends for databases and intends to solve two critical interface problems existing between end-users and databases: connectivity and communication problems. The authors report their experiences in developing software for natural language query processing, dialog control, and knowledge representation, as well as the direction of future work. 10 references.

Comparison of the Frontier Distributed Database Caching System to NoSQL Databases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dykstra, Dave

2012-12-01

One of the main attractions of non-relational “NoSQL” databases is their ability to scale to large numbers of readers, including readers spread over a wide area. The Frontier distributed database caching system, used in production by the Large Hadron Collider CMS and ATLAS detector projects for Conditions data, is based on traditional SQL databases but also adds high scalability and the ability to be distributed over a wide-area for an important subset of applications. This paper compares the major characteristics of the two different approaches and identifies the criteria for choosing which approach to prefer over the other. It also compares in some detail the NoSQL databases used by CMS and ATLAS: MongoDB, CouchDB, HBase, and Cassandra.

A spatial database for landslides in northern Bavaria: A methodological approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jäger, Daniel; Kreuzer, Thomas; Wilde, Martina; Bemm, Stefan; Terhorst, Birgit

2018-04-01

Landslide databases provide essential information for hazard modeling, damages on buildings and infrastructure, mitigation, and research needs. This study presents the development of a landslide database system named WISL (Würzburg Information System on Landslides), currently storing detailed landslide data for northern Bavaria, Germany, in order to enable scientific queries as well as comparisons with other regional landslide inventories. WISL is based on free open source software solutions (PostgreSQL, PostGIS) assuring good correspondence of the various softwares and to enable further extensions with specific adaptions of self-developed software. Apart from that, WISL was designed to be particularly compatible for easy communication with other databases. As a central pre-requisite for standardized, homogeneous data acquisition in the field, a customized data sheet for landslide description was compiled. This sheet also serves as an input mask for all data registration procedures in WISL. A variety of "in-database" solutions for landslide analysis provides the necessary scalability for the database, enabling operations at the local server. In its current state, WISL already enables extensive analysis and queries. This paper presents an example analysis of landslides in Oxfordian Limestones in the northeastern Franconian Alb, northern Bavaria. The results reveal widely differing landslides in terms of geometry and size. Further queries related to landslide activity classifies the majority of the landslides as currently inactive, however, they clearly possess a certain potential for remobilization. Along with some active mass movements, a significant percentage of landslides potentially endangers residential areas or infrastructure. The main aspect of future enhancements of the WISL database is related to data extensions in order to increase research possibilities, as well as to transfer the system to other regions and countries.