WIMP: web server tool for missing data imputation.

The imputation of unknown or missing data is a crucial task on the analysis of biomedical datasets. There are several situations where it is necessary to classify or identify instances given incomplete vectors, and the existence of missing values can much degrade the performance of the algorithms used for the classification/recognition. The task of learning accurately from incomplete data raises a number of issues some of which have not been completely solved in machine learning applications. In this sense, effective missing value estimation methods are required. Different methods for missing data imputations exist but most of the times the selection of the appropriate technique involves testing several methods, comparing them and choosing the right one. Furthermore, applying these methods, in most cases, is not straightforward, as they involve several technical details, and in particular in cases such as when dealing with microarray datasets, the application of the methods requires huge computational resources. As far as we know, there is not a public software application that can provide the computing capabilities required for carrying the task of data imputation. This paper presents a new public tool for missing data imputation that is attached to a computer cluster in order to execute high computational tasks. The software WIMP (Web IMPutation) is a public available web site where registered users can create, execute, analyze and store their simulations related to missing data imputation.

Occupational allergy caused by cow dander: detection and identification of the allergenic fractions.

We describe two cases involving cow farmers, both males, one aged 28 and the other 45, who attended our center because his presented symptoms of rhinoconjunctivitis and asthma with 18 months and 4 year of evolution respectively, related to this laboral environment. The study included the following tests: skin tests (prick tests) to inhalant allergens (mites, pollens, moulds, dog and cat epithelium), foods, cow epithelium-dander, cow serum, beef and milk proteins. We determined the total seric IgE, specific IgE (RAST-CAP System) to cow meat and cow dander. Nasal provocation test with freeze-dried biological standardized extract of cow epithelium-dander were carried out. We observed the symptoms and realized control with a previous active computerized rhinomanometry. Cow dander proteins used for the provocation test were separated by means of SDS-PAGE or isoelectric focusing (IEF). The allergenic component were identified by immunoblotting with the patients' serum. The skin tests were positive to cow dander, and negative to the other allergens tested, including cow serum, cow milk and beef. The seric IgE were 383 and 477 kU/L, and the RAST was positive to cow dander, 20.10 and 36.4 kU/L (class 4). The provocation test were positive with a concentration of 500 SBU. We observed that the IgE of the two patients reacted with the same allergens: 3 major bands were identified with MW of 11, 15, 62.3 kDa. All these bands correspond to protein with acid pl.