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PubMed2006

Informatics and public health at CDC.

Since CDC acquired its first mainframe computer in 1964, the use of information technology in public health practice has grown steadily and, during the past 2 decades, dramatically. Public health informatics (PHI) arrived on the scene during the 1990s after medical informatics (intersecting information technology, medicine, and health care) and bioinformatics (intersecting mathematics, statistics, computer science, and molecular biology). Similarly, PHI merged the disciplines of information science and computer science to public health practice, research, and learning. Using strategies and standards, practitioners employ PHI tools and training to maximize health impacts at local, state, and national levels. They develop and deploy information technology solutions that provide accurate, timely, and secure information to guide public health action.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.↗
PubMed2005

Object-oriented biological system integration: a SARS coronavirus example.

MOTIVATION: The importance of studying biology at the system level has been well recognized, yet there is no well-defined process or consistent methodology to integrate and represent biological information at this level. To overcome this hurdle, a blending of disciplines such as computer science and biology is necessary. RESULTS: By applying an adapted, sequential software engineering process, a complex biological system (severe acquired respiratory syndrome-coronavirus viral infection) has been reverse-engineered and represented as an object-oriented software system. The scalability of this object-oriented software engineering approach indicates that we can apply this technology for the integration of large complex biological systems. AVAILABILITY: A navigable web-based version of the system is freely available at http://people.musc.edu/~zhengw/SARS/Software-Process.htm

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Quantitative definition of toxicity: a mathematical description of life and death with dose and time as variables.

This manuscript raises some fundamental issues about the role of time as a variable in toxicology, with implications for all biological sciences and also for disciplines dealing with inanimate systems. The dose-response has taken center stage ever since its formulation by Paracelsus. Time-responses have been considered in the past in various contexts such as time to tumor development or half-life of a compound in an organism. However, there has been, to my knowledge, no successful attempt to tie together dose and time in a generalizable theory. This paper describes toxicity by the minimum number of variables (dose and time) from a macroscopic point of view. Interestingly, these fundamental considerations of the dose- and time-dependence of toxicity led to a simple mathematical formulation, which consists of parts previously recognized as valid under specific conditions of experimentation (Haber's Law of Inhalation Toxicology, Druckrey's Law of Cancer Development).

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Physical sciences research plans for the International Space Station.

The restructuring of the research capabilities of the International Space Station has forced a reassessment of the Physical Sciences research plans and a re-targeting of the major scientific thrusts. The combination of already selected peer-reviewed flight investigations with the initiation of new research and technology programs will allow the maximization of the ISS scientific and technological potential. Fundamental and applied research will use a combination of ISS-based facilities, ground-based activities, and other experimental platforms to address issues impacting fundamental knowledge, industrial and medical applications on Earth, and the technology required for human space exploration. The current flight investigation research plan shows a large number of principal investigators selected to use the remaining planned research facilities.

Biotechnology↗
PubMed1985

Functional comparative histology. 1. Communication: comparative and functional aspects of histology.

Comparative histology demonstrates the different ways through which a function can be performed by one or more structures. The functional approach offers the widest comparison, much wider than any morphologic comparison would be able to do. The function adds the physiological and biochemical approach to the picture. Histochemistry bridges the gap between both, the comparative and functional aspect, as well as tissue and organ culture. The tissues show a variation in their phylogenetic age of appearance and taxonomic distribution. Comparative functional histology is a basic science of the various biological disciplines. Comparative functional histology is also a basic pillar of experimental pathology. The functional frame of comparative histology has been outlined. The following communications of the series listed below will give a detailed description of special aspects of comparative functional histology.

Animal Population Groups↗
PubMed1991

B. F. Skinner and G. H. Mead: on biological science and social science.

Skinner's contributions to psychology provide a unique bridge between psychology conceptualized as a biological science and psychology conceptualized as a social science. Skinner focused on behavior as a naturally occurring biological phenomenon of interest in its own right, functionally related to surrounding events and, in particular (like phylogenesis), subject to selection by its consequences. This essentially biological orientation was further enhanced by Skinner's emphasis on the empirical foundations provided by laboratory-based experimental analyses of behavior, often with nonhuman subjects. Skinner's theoretical writings, however, also have affinity with the traditions of constructionist social science. The verbal behavior of humans is said to be subject, like other behavior, to functional analyses in terms of its environment, in this case its social context. Verbal behavior in turn makes it possible for us to relate to private events, a process that ultimately allows for the development of consciousness, which is thus said to be a social product. Such ideas make contact with aspects of G. H. Mead's social behaviorism and, perhaps of more contemporary impact in psychology, L. Vygotsky's general genetic law of cultural development. Failure to articulate both the biological and the social science aspects of Skinner's theoretical approach to psychology does a disservice to his unique contribution to a discipline that remains fragmented between two intellectual traditions.

Behaviorism↗
PubMed2006

From peptide-based material science to protein fibrils: discipline convergence in nanobiology.

This paper illustrates the merits of convergence in nanobiology of two seemingly disparate fields, material science and computational biology. Traditionally, material science has been a discipline involving design and fabrication of synthetic polymers consisting of repeating units. Collaboration with synthetic organic chemists allowed design of new polymers, with a range of altered conformations. Yet, naturally occurring proteins are also materials. Their varied sequences and structures should enrich material science providing more complex shapes, scaffolds and chemical properties. For material scientists, the enhanced coverage of chemical space obtained by integrating proteins and synthetic organic chemistry through the introduction of non-natural residues allows a range of new useful potential applications.

Biocompatible Materials↗
PubMed1996

Biological sciences in Project 2000: an exploration of status.

Through Project 2000 preregistration nursing courses it was intended to establish a broad knowledge base for nurse education. This is likely to affect the way biological sciences are viewed as subjects within the curriculum. The aim of this study was to investigate the status of biological sciences in the curriculum following educational reform. A small-scale, descriptive study was undertaken investigating one institution. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered using a postal questionnaire; this was complemented by contextual information obtained from documents. Findings indicated that there was a lack of consensus amongst teachers regarding what emphasis should be given to different subjects within the curriculum. It was commented that 'nursing' may have been displaced by pure subject disciplines, and that application of biological theory to practice was inadequate. Biological sciences, social sciences and behavioural sciences were allotted equal hours in the curriculum; concern was expressed, however, that there was insufficient time available for some subjects. This appeared to foster competition and tension, in particular between proponents of biological and social sciences. Teachers demonstrated subject loyalty, and promoted their own discipline within the curriculum. In an attempt to explain findings a conceptual framework based upon the sociology of knowledge and conflicts and tensions between groups within a profession was employed. Issues identified in the study suggest that there is cause for concern with respect to the structuring, teaching and learning of biological concepts, and their application to nursing practice.

Biological Science Disciplines↗
PubMed1999

From cell cycle regulation to angiogenesis: dialogue between the basic and clinical sciences.

Basic research in biological and medical disciplines has revealed fundamental aspects of the differentiation of single cells as well as the development of multicellular organisms. The combination of knowledge of intracellular and intercellular pathways controlling development and homeostasis in higher organisms is the key to understanding certain diseases that are associated with abnormalities in these pathways and developing strategies for fighting them. Today's high scientific output in a rapidly growing number of scientific journals requires great effort to keep up with the latest developments outside one's specialization. The tenth international conference of the International Society of Differentiation (ISD) therefore was a great opportunity for scientists of diverse fields of biological and medical research to learn about the latest developments in even remotely related branches of research and opening new perspectives. The authors have tried to conserve this spirit in reviewing main aspects of research presented at the conference.

Apoptosis↗
PubMed2005

Branching out of single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy: challenges for chemistry and influence on biology.

In the last decade emerging single-molecule fluorescence-spectroscopy tools have been developed and adapted to analyze individual molecules under various conditions. Single-molecule-sensitive optical techniques are now well established and help to increase our understanding of complex problems in different disciplines ranging from materials science to cell biology. Previous dreams, such as the monitoring of the motility and structural changes of single motor proteins in living cells or the detection of single-copy genes and the determination of their distance from polymerase molecules in transcription factories in the nucleus of a living cell, no longer constitute unsolvable problems. In this Review we demonstrate that single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy has become an independent discipline capable of solving problems in molecular biology. We outline the challenges and future prospects for optical single-molecule techniques which can be used in combination with smart labeling strategies to yield quantitative three-dimensional information about the dynamic organization of living cells.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Social research in an integrated science of nutrition: future directions.

This paper is one in a series from the American Society of Nutritional Sciences Long Range Planning Committee, in which we are attempting to map out the implications of future directions in nutritional sciences for ASNS. Here, we address the area of social nutrition research and identify a series of orientations that are now emerging and likely to shape future research in this area. As with other areas of nutrition, a key feature is the importance of an integrated approach, both across social science disciplines and between social and biological scientists.

Nutritional Physiological Phenomena↗
PubMed2001

Exploring relationships in gene expressions: a partial least squares approach.

Microarray technology has revolutionized the way gene functions are monitored. Analysis of microarray data is a fast growing research area that interfaces various disciplines such as biology, biochemistry, computer science, and statistics. While various clustering and classification techniques have been successfully employed to group genes based on the similarity of their expression patterns, much is yet to be learned about the interrelationship of the expression levels among various genes. We approach this problem with a statistical technique called partial least squares that is capable of modeling a large number of variables each with relatively few observations. This property of the partial least squares methodology appears to be attractive for application to microarray data sets where the simultaneous expression levels of many genes are collected each at a few time points (or individuals). We use it to analyze publicly available microarray data on sporulation of budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). We investigate a number of representative genes, one from each temporal group (based on the time of first induction) of positively expressed genes and show that in each case most of the variability was explained by only two partial regression terms based on all remaining genes. Moreover, the predicted expression levels of the representative genes from partial least squares fit very well on the average with the true expression levels over time. Finally, we compare the biological functions of the genes with largest coefficients with those of the predicted genes. In many cases, the genes are involved in similar or related biological functions including negative relationships. We show that this method can identify established gene relationships; we argue that it can be an exploratory tool for identifying potential gene relationships requiring further biological investigation.

Gene Expression Profiling↗
PubMed2003

Astrobiology, the transcendent science: the promise of astrobiology as an integrative approach for science and engineering education and research.

Astrobiology is rapidly gaining the worldwide attention of scientists, engineers and the public. Astrobiology's captivation is due to its inherently interesting focus on life, its origins and distribution in the Universe. Because of its remarkable breadth as a scientific field, astrobiology touches on virtually all disciplines in the physical, biological and social sciences as well as engineering. The multidisciplinary nature and the appeal of its subject matter make astrobiology ideal for integrating the teaching of science at all levels in educational curricula. The rationale for implementing novel educational programs in astrobiology is presented along with specific research and educational policy recommendations.

Biological Evolution↗
PubMed2004

Mixed-membership models of scientific publications.

PNAS is one of world's most cited multidisciplinary scientific journals. The PNAS official classification structure of subjects is reflected in topic labels submitted by the authors of articles, largely related to traditionally established disciplines. These include broad field classifications into physical sciences, biological sciences, social sciences, and further subtopic classifications within the fields. Focusing on biological sciences, we explore an internal soft-classification structure of articles based only on semantic decompositions of abstracts and bibliographies and compare it with the formal discipline classifications. Our model assumes that there is a fixed number of internal categories, each characterized by multinomial distributions over words (in abstracts) and references (in bibliographies). Soft classification for each article is based on proportions of the article's content coming from each category. We discuss the appropriateness of the model for the PNAS database as well as other features of the data relevant to soft classification.

Biology↗
PubMed1984

The Life Sciences Programme of the European Space Agency, and opportunities for radiation biology experiments.

With the advent of Europe's commitment to contribute the European Space Agency (ESA) to the NASA Space Transportation System (STS) by means of the Spacelab programme, a new area for research opportunities on Life Sciences has been created for the European scientific community. Although considered as a young and new discipline, the goals of Life Sciences research in space had soon been defined by the ESA advising Life Sciences Working Group in the beginning of 1977. The programme proposals of the various subdisciplines concentrated on the advantageous use of the microgravity environment, to study in more depth the gravity relevance of biological systems. It included, however, also the use of other factors during space flight which cannot be reproduced or adequately simulated on the ground: cosmic radiation in its total spectrum, particularly HZE particles, solar and UV radiation, vacuum, and the combination of radiation and weightlessness, etc. On this basis, call for proposals in the various subdisciplines resulted in experiments also in the field of radiation biology which were flown on the Spacelab 1 mission and which were selected for later missions. In particular, ESA is providing the science community with mission opportunities on Spacelab, either European or International, with platforms to be launched by STS, and with so called multi-user facilities (e.g. Biorack). Typically, the experiments will be the responsibility of the scientists, the integration and mission phase the responsibility of ESA. Both mission definition and experiment selection rests with the ultimate decision of the responsible ESA Programme Board. A further description of missions envisioned, the Spacelab facility, platforms, multi-user facilities and areas of research applicable to radiobiology will be given. ESA's continuing interaction with the scientific community through the Life Sciences Working Group, and the advice on future programmes will be stressed as a vital factor contributing to a European Life Sciences Programme in Space.

Adaptation, Physiological↗