Application of pharmacogenetics in clinical practice: problems and solutions.

This paper discusses difficulties of pharmacogenomic data integration into clinical practice. It emphasizes the need for developing simple and easy to use bioinformatics tools to help prescribers to rapidly access and use genetic data in clinical decision-making at the point of encounter.

Genomic-based-breeding tools for tropical maize improvement.

Maize has traditionally been the main staple diet in the Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa and widely grown by millions of resource poor small scale farmers. Approximately, 35.4 million hectares are sown to tropical maize, constituting around 59% of the developing worlds. Tropical maize encounters tremendous challenges besides poor agro-climatic situations with average yields recorded <3 tones/hectare that is far less than the average of developed countries. On the contrary to poor yields, the demand for maize as food, feed, and fuel is continuously increasing in these regions. Heterosis breeding introduced in early 90 s improved maize yields significantly, but genetic gains is still a mirage, particularly for crop growing under marginal environments. Application of molecular markers has accelerated the pace of maize breeding to some extent. The availability of array of sequencing and genotyping technologies offers unrivalled service to improve precision in maize-breeding programs through modern approaches such as genomic selection, genome-wide association studies, bulk segregant analysis-based sequencing approaches, etc. Superior alleles underlying complex traits can easily be identified and introgressed efficiently using these sequence-based approaches. Integration of genomic tools and techniques with advanced genetic resources such as nested association mapping and backcross nested association mapping could certainly address the genetic issues in maize improvement programs in developing countries. Huge diversity in tropical maize and its inherent capacity for doubled haploid technology offers advantage to apply the next generation genomic tools for accelerating production in marginal environments of tropical and subtropical world. Precision in phenotyping is the key for success of any molecular-breeding approach. This article reviews genomic technologies and their application to improve agronomic traits in tropical maize breeding has been reviewed in detail.

MS1-based label-free proteomics using a quadrupole orbitrap mass spectrometer.

Presented is a data set for benchmarking MS1-based label-free quantitative proteomics using a quadrupole orbitrap mass spectrometer. Escherichia coli digest was spiked into a HeLa digest in four different concentrations, simulating protein expression differences in a background of an unchanged complex proteome. The data set provides a unique opportunity to evaluate the proteomic platform (instrumentation and software) in its ability to perform MS1-intensity-based label-free quantification. We show that the presented combination of informatics and instrumentation produces high precision and quantification accuracy. The data were also used to compare different quantitative protein inference methods such as iBAQ and Hi-N. The data can also be used as a resource for development and optimization of proteomics informatics tools, thus the raw data have been deposited to ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD001385.

Radiation dose and safety: informatics standards and tools.

Quality and safety improvements in radiology and medical imaging are substantially affected by radiation dose and its relationship to image quality and patient safety. Because radiation dose has many definitions and meanings, familiarity with and understanding of the basic nuances are important; modalities in general use radiation dose metrics that differ from patient radiation dose. Dose metric data differ among CT, interventional imaging, and digital radiography modalities. Informatics standards and tools assist in the extraction, collation, and analysis of these data and are described here. An informatics infrastructure can provide a pathway to automatically track and record dose metrics individually at the patient level and collectively through a regional or national radiation dose registry. Comparison of reference dose benchmarks to local and national practice values allows personnel at a given institution to objectively evaluate and optimize imaging procedures in regard to radiation dose metrics. Ultimately, enhanced patient care and safety are achieved.

Beyond information access: Support for complex cognitive activities in public health informatics tools.

Public health professionals work with a variety of information sources to carry out their everyday activities. In recent years, interactive computational tools have become deeply embedded in such activities. Unlike the early days of computational tool use, the potential of tools nowadays is not limited to simply providing access to information; rather, they can act as powerful mediators of human-information discourse, enabling rich interaction with public health information. If public health informatics tools are designed and used properly, they can facilitate, enhance, and support the performance of complex cognitive activities that are essential to public health informatics, such as problem solving, forecasting, sense-making, and planning. However, the effective design and evaluation of public health informatics tools requires an understanding of the cognitive and perceptual issues pertaining to how humans work and think with information to perform such activities. This paper draws on research that has examined some of the relevant issues, including interaction design, complex cognition, and visual representations, to offer some human-centered design and evaluation considerations for public health informatics tools.

Herramientas web e informáticas en el ámbito laboral de nutrición / The use of informatics and web tools in the work field of nutrition

Actualmente es casi indispensable el uso y conocimiento de la tecnología en cualquier área de desempeño profesional. En el sector salud se ha visto un marcado incremento en el uso de herramientas, tanto web como informáticas. Éstas son importantes ya que facilitan el desempeño laboral y la comunicación con los otros. Objetivos: determinar cuáles son las herramientas web e informáticas que los nutricionistas conocen y usan durante el año 2013. Materiales y métodos: estudio descriptivo, retrospectivo y de corte transversal realizado en profesionales del área de nutrición sector público y privado. Se creó un cuestionario para este estudio que se aplicó a través de la plataforma SurveyMonkey para que los participantes completaran online. Resultados: el 50% de la población tiene un nivel de conocimiento básico sobre las herramientas web evaluadas. Sólo el 10% tiene un nivel avanzado. En cuanto al nivel de uso de las mismas, fue aún menor.Conclusiones: es necesario fomentar la creación, selección, transferencia y difusión del conocimiento de las herramientas web e informáticas en el área de Nutrición, y aprovechar las facilidades que éstas brindan.

Introduction: currently, it is almost essential to use the science of technology in every professional area. In the area of Health, we have seen a steep rise in the use of web tools, and of informatics. These are very important tools since they facilitate professional labor and a good communication with others. Objectives: to determine which web and informatics tools nutritionists best knew and used during 2013. Material and methods: descriptive and retrospective study with cross sectional design performed in Professionals of the Nutritional Public Health area and also the private sector. A questionnaire for this study was created and applied through the Survey Monkey platform for participants to complete online. Results: according to results, 50% of the population has a basic knowledge of tools that was presented. But only 10% has the knowledge and ability to use it at a higher level. Regarding the level of their use, the percentage was even lower.Conclusions:it is necessary to promote the creation, selection, transfer and publicity of knowledge in the area of nutrition, and take advantage of facilities offered by web and software tools.

Elevando eficiencia informática mediante arquitectura estructurada de herramientas portables / Improving informatics efficiency by custom structured arquitecture of portable tools

Es de todos conocido el problema de las restricciones para el desarrollo de trabajo y otras operaciones imprescindibles, cuando se cambia de escenario informático. Se enfrentan conflictos frente a las diferentes configuraciones de las computadoras que se encuentren disponibles, falta de privacidad, falta de privilegios para operar los equipos, limitación de instalaciones, problemas con desinstalaciones fallidas o incompletas, ausencia del software necesario o acostumbrado y, en consecuencia, una gran pérdida de tiempo. El uso masivo de memorias y discos externos por puerto USB facilitan y extienden la frecuencia de ocurrencia de los fenómenos anteriormente mencionados. El objetivo del presente trabajo consiste en presentar una respuesta adecuada a este problema. Para ello se recurrió a la búsqueda y análisis de información y software; programación de scripts; configuración de arquitectura, selección y evaluación de herramientas. Se logró determinar un conjunto general de más de 700 herramientas portables clasificadas en 20 categorías. Se precisaron reglas y requisitos para el correcto enfoque y funcionamiento de conjuntos portables(AU)

We all frequently face problems of restrictions with developing work and other necessary operations when changing the computing scenario. Conflict with different computers configurations arise as well as lack of privacy, lack of privileges to operate the equipment, limitation of facilities, problems with failed or incomplete uninstalls, absence of required software and as a result, a predictable waste of time. The massive use of external USB drives facilitates and extends the frequency of occurrence of the above phenomena. This paper presents an adequate response to this problem. This was done through the search and analysis of information and software, scripts programming, configuration of architecture, selection and assessment of tools. It was possible to determine a general set of more than 700 portable tools, classify them in 20 categories. Rules and requirements were established for the proper focus and functioning of portables(AU)