Sequence and phylogenetic analysis of viper venom serine proteases

Snakebites are a major neglected tropical disease responsible for as many as 95000 deaths every year worldwide. Viper venom serine proteases disrupt haemostasis of prey and victims by affecting various stages of the blood coagulation system. A better understanding of their sequence, structure, function and phylogenetic relationships will improve the knowledge on the pathological conditions and aid in the development of novel therapeutics for treating snakebites. A large dataset for all available viper venom serine proteases was developed and analysed to study various features of these enzymes. Despite the large number of venom serine protease sequences available, only a small proportion of these have been functionally characterised. Although, they share some of the common features such as a C-terminal extension, GWG motif and disulphide linkages, they vary widely between each other in features such as isoelectric points, potential N-glycosylation sites and functional characteristics. Some of the serine proteases contain substitutions for one or more of the critical residues in catalytic triad or primary specificity pockets. Phylogenetic analysis clustered all the sequences in three major groups. The sequences with substitutions in catalytic triad or specificity pocket clustered together in separate groups. Our study provides the most complete information on viper venom serine proteases to date and improves the current knowledge on the sequence, structure, function and phylogenetic relationships of these enzymes. This collective analysis of venom serine proteases will help in understanding the complexity of envenomation and potential therapeutic avenues.

Percentile growth charts for biomedical studies using a porcine model

Increasing rates of obesity and heart disease are compromising quality of life for a growing number of people. There is much research linking adult disease with the growth and development both in utero and during the first year of life. The pig is an ideal model for studying the origins of developmental programming. The objective of this paper was to construct percentile growth curves for the pig for use in biomedical studies. The body weight (BIN) of pigs was recorded from birth to 150 days of age and their crown-to-rump length was measured over the neonatal period to enable the ponderal index (Pl; kg/m(3)) to be calculated. Data were normalised and percentile curves were constructed using Cole's lambda-mu-sigma (LMS) method for BW and PI. The construction of these percentile charts for use in biomedical research will allow a more detailed and precise tracking of growth and development of individual pigs under experimental conditions.

Health informatics: improving patient-centred healthcare pathway

Nowadays the use of information and communication technology is becoming prevalent in many aspects of healthcare services from patient registration, to consultation, treatment and pathology tests request. Manual interface techniques have dominated data-capture activities in primary care and secondary care settings for decades. Despites the improvements made in IT, usability issues still remain over the use of I/O devices like the computer keyboard, touch-sensitive screens, light pen and barcodes. Furthermore, clinicians have to use several computer applications when providing healthcare services to patients. One of the problems faced by medical professionals is the lack of data integrity between the different software applications which in turn can hinder the provision of healthcare services tailored to the needs of the patients. The use of digital pen and paper technology integrated with legacy medical systems hold the promise of improving healthcare quality. This paper discusses the issue of data integrity in e-health systems and proposes the modelling of "Smart Forms" via semiotics to potentially improve integrity between legacy systems, making the work of medical professionals easier and improve the quality of care in primary care practices and hospitals.

Efficient wireless power delivery for biomedical implants

Power delivery for biomedical implants is a major consideration in their design for both measurement and stimulation. When performed by a wireless technique, transmission efficiency is critically important not only because of the costs associated with any losses but also because of the nature of those losses, for example, excessive heat can be uncomfortable for the individual involved. In this study, a method and means of wireless power transmission suitable for biomedical implants are both discussed and experimentally evaluated. The procedure initiated is comparable in size and simplicity to those methods already employed; however, some of Tesla’s fundamental ideas have been incorporated in order to obtain a significant improvement in efficiency. This study contains a theoretical basis for the approach taken; however, the emphasis here is on practical experimental analysis

A decadal view of biodiversity informatics: challenges and priorities

Biodiversity informatics plays a central enabling role in the research community's efforts to address scientific conservation and sustainability issues. Great strides have been made in the past decade establishing a framework for sharing data, where taxonomy and systematics has been perceived as the most prominent discipline involved. To some extent this is inevitable, given the use of species names as the pivot around which information is organised. To address the urgent questions around conservation, land-use, environmental change, sustainability, food security and ecosystem services that are facing Governments worldwide, we need to understand how the ecosystem works. So, we need a systems approach to understanding biodiversity that moves significantly beyond taxonomy and species observations. Such an approach needs to look at the whole system to address species interactions, both with their environment and with other species.It is clear that some barriers to progress are sociological, basically persuading people to use the technological solutions that are already available. This is best addressed by developing more effective systems that deliver immediate benefit to the user, hiding the majority of the technology behind simple user interfaces. An infrastructure should be a space in which activities take place and, as such, should be effectively invisible.This community consultation paper positions the role of biodiversity informatics, for the next decade, presenting the actions needed to link the various biodiversity infrastructures invisibly and to facilitate understanding that can support both business and policy-makers. The community considers the goal in biodiversity informatics to be full integration of the biodiversity research community, including citizens' science, through a commonly-shared, sustainable e-infrastructure across all sub-disciplines that reliably serves science and society alike.

Efficient wireless power delivery for biomedical implants

Power delivery for biomedical implants is a major consideration in their design for both measurement and stimulation. When performed by a wireless technique, transmission efficiency is critically important not only because of the costs associated with any losses but also because of the nature of those losses, for example, excessive heat can be uncomfortable for the individual involved. In this study, a method and means of wireless power transmission suitable for biomedical implants are both discussed and experimentally evaluated. The procedure initiated is comparable in size and simplicity to those methods already employed; however, some of Tesla’s fundamental ideas have been incorporated in order to obtain a significant improvement in efficiency. This study contains a theoretical basis for the approach taken; however, the emphasis here is on practical experimental analysis.

Fractional order and non-linear system identification algorithms for biomedical applications

We discuss the modelling of dielectric responses of amorphous biological samples. Such samples are commonly encountered in impedance spectroscopy studies as well as in UV, IR, optical and THz transient spectroscopy experiments and in pump-probe studies. In many occasions, the samples may display quenched absorption bands. A systems identification framework may be developed to provide parsimonious representations of such responses. To achieve this, it is appropriate to augment the standard models found in the identification literature to incorporate fractional order dynamics. Extensions of models using the forward shift operator, state space models as well as their non-linear Hammerstein-Wiener counterpart models are highlighted. We also discuss the need to extend the theory of electromagnetically excited networks which can account for fractional order behaviour in the non-linear regime by incorporating nonlinear elements to account for the observed non-linearities. The proposed approach leads to the development of a range of new chemometrics tools for biomedical data analysis and classification.

Biomedical applications of hydrogels: a review of patents and commercial products

Hydrogels have become very popular due to their unique properties such as high water content, softness, flexibility and biocompatibility. Natural and synthetic hydrophilic polymers can be physically or chemically cross-linked in order to produce hydrogels. Their resemblance to living tissue opens up many opportunities for applications in biomedical areas. Currently, hydrogels are used for manufacturing contact lenses, hygiene products, tissue engineering scaffolds, drug delivery systems and wound dressings. This review provides an analysis of their main characteristics and biomedical applications. From Wichterle’s pioneering work to the most recent hydrogel-based inventions and products on the market, it provides the reader with a detailed introduction to the topic and perspective on further potential developments.