The Multi-temporal and Multi-dimensional Global Urban Centre Database to Delineate and Analyse World Cities.

Monitoring sustainable urban development requires comparable geospatial information on cities across several thematic domains. Here we present the first global database combining such information with city extents. The Global Human Settlement Urban Centre Database (GHS-UCDB) is produced by geospatial data integration to characterise more than 10,000 urban centres worldwide. The database is multi-dimensional and multi-temporal, containing 28 variables across five domains and having multitemporal attributes for one or more epochs when the UC are delineated (1975-1990-2000-2015). Delineation of urban centres for the year 2015 is performed via a logic of grid cell population density, population size, and grid cell contiguity defined by the Degree of Urbanisation method. Each of the urban centres has 160 attributes, including a validation assessment. The novel aspects of this database concern the thematic richness and temporal depth of the variables (across geography, socio-economic, environmental, disaster risk reduction, and sustainable development domains) and the type of geo-information provided (location and extent), featuring an overall consistency that allows comparative analyses across locations and time.

HmtDB, a human mitochondrial genomic resource based on variability studies supporting population genetics and biomedical research.

BACKGROUND: Population genetics studies based on the analysis of mtDNA and mitochondrial disease studies have produced a huge quantity of sequence data and related information. These data are at present worldwide distributed in differently organised databases and web sites not well integrated among them. Moreover it is not generally possible for the user to submit and contemporarily analyse its own data comparing them with the content of a given database, both for population genetics and mitochondrial disease data. RESULTS: HmtDB is a well-integrated web-based human mitochondrial bioinformatic resource aimed at supporting population genetics and mitochondrial disease studies, thanks to a new approach based on site-specific nucleotide and aminoacid variability estimation. HmtDB consists of a database of Human Mitochondrial Genomes, annotated with population data, and a set of bioinformatic tools, able to produce site-specific variability data and to automatically characterize newly sequenced human mitochondrial genomes. A query system for the retrieval of genomes and a web submission tool for the annotation of new genomes have been designed and will soon be implemented. The first release contains 1255 fully annotated human mitochondrial genomes. Nucleotide site-specific variability data and multialigned genomes can be downloaded. Intra-human and inter-species aminoacid variability data estimated on the 13 coding for proteins genes of the 1255 human genomes and 60 mammalian species are also available. HmtDB is freely available, upon registration, at http://www.hmdb.uniba.it. CONCLUSION: The HmtDB project will contribute towards completing and/or refining haplogroup classification and revealing the real pathogenic potential of mitochondrial mutations, on the basis of variability estimation.