Biomedical subjects

J J Zhuang

Publications and source records attributed to J J Zhuang.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

The Genome Sequence DataBase: towards an integrated functional genomics resource.

During 1998 the primary focus of the Genome Sequence DataBase (GSDB; http://www.ncgr.org/gsdb ) located at the National Center for Genome Resources (NCGR) has been to improve data quality, improve data collections, and provide new methods and tools to access and analyze data. Data quality has been improved by extensive curation of certain data fields necessary for maintaining data collections and for using certain tools. Data quality has also been increased by improvements to the suite of programs that import data from the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (IC). The Sequence Tag Alignment and Consensus Knowledgebase (STACK), a database of human expressed gene sequences developed by the South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI), became available within the last year, allowing public access to this valuable resource of expressed sequences. Data access was improved by the addition of the Sequence Viewer, a platform-independent graphical viewer for GSDB sequence data. This tool has also been integrated with other searching and data retrieval tools. A BLAST homology search service was also made available, allowing researchers to search all of the data, including the unique data, that are available from GSDB. These improvements are designed to make GSDB more accessible to users, extend the rich searching capability already present in GSDB, and to facilitate the transition to an integrated system containing many different types of biological data.

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PubMed1998

The Genome Sequence DataBase (GSDB): improving data quality and data access.

In 1997 the primary focus of the Genome Sequence DataBase (GSDB; www. ncgr.org/gsdb ) located at the National Center for Genome Resources was to improve data quality and accessibility. Efforts to increase the quality of data within the database included two major projects; one to identify and remove all vector contamination from sequences in the database and one to create premier sequence sets (including both alignments and discontiguous sequences). Data accessibility was improved during the course of the last year in several ways. First, a graphical database sequence viewer was made available to researchers. Second, an update process was implemented for the web-based query tool, Maestro. Third, a web-based tool, Excerpt, was developed to retrieve selected regions of any sequence in the database. And lastly, a GSDB flatfile that contains annotation unique to GSDB (e.g., sequence analysis and alignment data) was developed. Additionally, the GSDB web site provides a tool for the detection of matrix attachment regions (MARs), which can be used to identify regions of high coding potential. The ultimate goal of this work is to make GSDB a more useful resource for genomic comparison studies and gene level studies by improving data quality and by providing data access capabilities that are consistent with the needs of both types of studies.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed1997

[Effects of low pH and nicotine on carotid body chemoreceptor activity in the rabbit].

The unit discharges of carotid chemosensory afferent fibers were recorded in the in vitro carotid body (CB)--sinus nerve preparations (n = 55) from 29 rabbits. The results were as follows: (1) The discharge of all the units increased from 0.86 +/- 0.21 to 1.75 +/- 0.40 imp/s (P < 0.001) upon lowering the pH of modified Locke solution. (2) Addition of nicotine at doses of 1, 3, 6, 10 and 15 micrograms/ml to the solution led to a dose-dependent increase in the discharge from 0.60 +/- 0.21 to 0.96 +/- 0.21, 1.19 +/- 0.30. 1.24 +/- 0.29, 1.48 +/- 0.41 and 1.82 +/- 0.39 imp/s, respectively (r = 0.94, P < 0.001, n = 10). Nicotinic stimulation was antagonized by D-tubocurarine but the basal discharge was not significantly affected. (3) Superfusion of the CB with acid solution increased the discharge from 0.95 +/- 0.34 to 1.84 +/- 0.55 imp/s (P < 0.01, n = 19); After injections of nicotine 1-5 micrograms/ml to acid perfusate the unit discharge showed an increase from 0.96 +/- 0.25 to 1.53 +/- 0.24 imp/s. The degree of increase was less as compared with that due to mere acidification (P < 0.05). (4) D-tubocurarine did not alter the action of acid solution on chemosensory discharge (P > 0.05, n = 17). The present results suggest that ACh might act only as a modulator on carotid chemosensory activity without involving N-cholinergic receptor directly as did by low pH perfusion of CB.

Animals↗