Genome Complexity Browser: Visualization and quantification of genome variability.

Comparative genomics studies may be used to acquire new knowledge regarding genome architecture, which defines the rules for combining sets of genes in the genome of living organisms. Hundreds of thousands of prokaryotic genomes have been sequenced and assembled. However, computational tools capable of simultaneously comparing large numbers of genomes are lacking. We developed the Genome Complexity Browser, a tool that allows the visualization of gene contexts, in a graph-based format, and the quantification of variability for different segments of a genome. The graph-based visualization allows the inspection of changes in gene contents and neighborhoods across hundreds of genomes, simultaneously, which may facilitate the identification of conserved and variable segments of operons or the estimation of the overall variability associated with a particular genome locus. We introduced a measure called complexity, to quantify genome variability. Intraspecies and interspecies comparisons revealed that regions with high complexity values tended to be located in areas that are conserved across different strains and species.

Prototype Expert System for Gout Diagnosis on an Outpatient Basis.

Gout is a systemic disease that is caused by the deposition of monosodium urate crystals in various tissues which leads to inflammation in them. This disease is often misdiagnosed. It leads to the lack of adequate medical care and development of serious complications, such as urate nephropathy and disability. The current situation can be improved by optimizing the medical care provided to patients, which requires searching for new strategies in terms of diagnosis. One of these strategies is the development of an expert system for providing information assistance to medical specialists which was a purpose of this study. The developed prototype expert system for gout diagnosis has knowledge base including 1144 medical concepts and 5 640 522 links, intelligent knowledge base editor and software which helps practitioner make the final decision. It has sensitivity of 91,3% [95% CI, 89,1%-93,1%], specificity of 85,4% [95% CI, 82,9%-87,6%] and AUROC 0,954 [95% CI, 0,944-0,963].