ABSTRACT
A major barrier to progress in systems biology is the absence of suitable infrastructure for data and software integration, which would enable working biologists to use and manipulate the techniques directly. We describe the incremental development of key components of such an infrastructure for a research community focused on a specific (but important) biological system. EUCLOCK combines the expertise of 34 chronobiology laboratories from 29 institutions in 11 European countries in a 5-year effort to understand how circadian clocks are synchronised to their specific cyclic environment (entrainment). We envision that the EUCLOCK Information System (EUCLIS) will subsequently evolve to support the worldwide chronobiology community. The architecture of EUCLIS integrates a database for circadian systems biology, containing modules for experimental data (Clock Experiments) and models (Clock Models) with a digital library (Clock KnowledgeBase) for the research community. The digital library paradigm is superior to the simple 'access' or 'mining' as well as the 'data warehouse' approaches currently used in other systems as it provides a flexible framework for community information needs and the potential to use emerging reference models and standards, which will enable easier integration with other systems in the future. The main Clock KnowledgeBase components for EUCLIS V1.0, Clock Genes and Clock Library, are described in detail. An important aspect this work will need to address in the future is the integration of the database and digital library management functions.
Subject(s)
Biological Clocks/physiology , Cell Cycle Proteins/metabolism , Circadian Rhythm/physiology , Databases, Factual , Signal Transduction/physiology , Systems Biology/methods , Animals , Cell Cycle Proteins/genetics , Database Management Systems , Humans , Information Dissemination/methods , Information Storage and Retrieval/methods , Internet , Transcription Factors/metabolismABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Because of continuing reports from many countries of increasing resistance of group A streptococci to macrolide antibiotics, we determined the antibiotic susceptibility of recent group A streptococcal isolates from the United States. METHODS: We evaluated 301 Streptococcus pyogenes isolates (245 from patients with uncomplicated pharyngitis and 56 isolates from patients with invasive systemic infections) for susceptibility using the Etest technique. The isolates came from 24 states and the District of Columbia during the years 1994 through 1997. Thirteen antibiotics (azithromycin, ceftriaxone, cephalothin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, erythromycin, imipenem, levofloxacin, oxacillin, penicillin G, tetracycline and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole) were studied. RESULTS: The MIC90 for penicillin was 0.016 microg/ml, which is not significantly different from previous reports. Of the 301 isolates only 2.6% were resistant to a macrolide antibiotic and only 4% were resistant to tetracycline. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that antibiotic resistance among recent isolates of group A streptococci (including those from patients with severe infections) currently is not a clinically significant problem in the United States.
