ABSTRACT
The EST Knowledge Integrated System, EKIS (http://ekis.kribb.re.kr), was established as a part of Korea's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology initiative for genome sequencing and application research of the biological model organisms (GEAR) project. The goals of the EKIS are to collect EST information from GEAR projects and make an integrated database to provide transcriptomic and metabolomic information for biological scientists. The EKIS constitutes five independent categories and several retrieval systems in each category for incorporating massive EST data from high-throughput sequencing of 65 different species. Through the EKIS database, scientists can freely access information including BLAST functional annotation as well as Genechip and pathway information for KEGG. By integrating complex data into a framework of existing EST knowledge information, the EKIS provides new insights into specialized metabolic pathway information for an applied industrial material.
Subject(s)
Data Mining , Expressed Sequence Tags , Genome , Metabolic Networks and Pathways , Metabolomics , Models, BiologicalABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: In diabetic patients, the incidence of atherosclerotic disease are increased, which may be due to decreased fibrinolytic activity. The aim of study is to elucidate the relationship between angiopathies and vascular function evaluated by simplified venous occlusion test in patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and cerebrovascular accident (CVA). METHODS: The study was conducted on 63 patients who were hospitalized during the period from March 1, 1994 to May 30, 1997. The serum concentration of fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) was measured before and 5 min after venous occlusion in 31 NIDDM patients, 16 CVA patients and 16 age-matched control subjects. FDP was measured with the anti-fibrinogen- coated latex particle agglutinin assay system. RESULTS: 1) The basal serum FDP level was higher in diabetic patients with macroangiopathy (12.3+/-5.8 ug/ml) and patients with CVA (11.2+/-5.1 ug/ml) than in control subjects (5.7+/-1.8 ug/ml) (p<0.05). 2) The increment of serum FDP level after venous occlusion in diabetic patients with microangiopathy (6.6+/-2.2 to 10.3+/-4.1 ug/ml) and control subjects (5.7+/-1.8 to 11.4+/-4.3 ug/ml) was significantly higher than basal serum FDP level (p<0.05). But the increment of serum FDP level after venous occlusion in diabetic patients with macroangiopathy (12.3+/-5.8 to 15.2+/-5.1 ug/ml) and patients with CVA (11.2+/-5.1 to 13.7+/-4.8 ug/ml) wasn't significantly higher than basal serum FDP level. 3) The increment rate of serum FDP after venous occlusion in diabetic patients with macroangiopathy (24.4+/-29.3%) and patients with CVA (29.4+/-34.5%) was significantly lower than diabetic patients with microangiopathy (66.3+/-71.7%) and control subjects (84.1+/-69.3%) (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The responsiveness of fibrinolytic activity to venous occlusion was significantly lower in diabetic patients with macroangiopathy, as in patients with CVA, compared with that in control subjects. We conclude that measurement of the increase in serum FDP concentration 5 min after venous occlusion may be useful to detect vascular dysfunction in patients with macrovascular disease caused by atherosclerosis.