Active Database Research Articles

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The article provides an overview of research and development of databases since their appearance in the 60s of the last century to the present time. The following stages are distinguished: the emergence formation and rapid development, the era of relational databases, extended relational databases, post-relational databases and big data. At the stage of formation, the systems IDS, IMS, Total and Adabas are described. At the stage of rapid development, issues of ANSI/X3/SPARC database architecture, CODASYL proposals, concepts and languages of conceptual modeling are highlighted. At the stage of the era of relational databases, the results of E. Codd's scientific activities, the theory of dependencies and normal forms, query languages, experimental research and development, optimization and standardization, and transaction management are revealed. The extended relational databases phase is devoted to describing temporal, spatial, deductive, active, object, distributed and statistical databases, array databases, and database machines and data warehouses. At the next stage, the problems of post-relational databases are disclosed, namely, NOSQL-, NewSQL- and ontological databases. The sixth stage is devoted to the disclosure of the causes of occurrence, characteristic properties, classification, principles of work, methods and technologies of big data. Finally, the last section provides a brief overview of database research and development in the Soviet Union.

Evaluation of Indiana’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program: Physician’s Perceptions

Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) [1] are state funded databases that collect data on prescription output of controlled substances. Currently, 49 states within the U.S. have active databases. These databases were implemented as a response to the opioid epidemic, which was caused by an overproduction of opioids. This surplus of addictive medication resulted in physicians prescribing large and often unnecessary amounts of the opioids to individuals who needed pain management [2]. In 1994, Indiana started a form of PDMP known as the Indiana Scheduled Prescription Electronic Collection and Tracking (INSPECT) [3]. At that time only Schedule II drugs were reported using the electronic system. In 2004 it was expanded to Schedule II to V drugs. Currently, Schedule II to V controlled substances along with pseudoephedrine drugs are reported. Included in the reporting is physicians dispensing more than a 72-hour supply out of their office.

Tracing Baribis active fault continuity in the Subang region using gravity edge detection analysis

Elucidating the Baribis active fault in the central part of West Java is challenging due to the lack of physiography appearance. A gravity survey was conducted on 838 stations around the North of Bandung to Subang region to identify its buried spatial fault continuity. Regular processing routine reduced the observed gravity acceleration to generate the refined Bouguer anomaly map. Additionally, edge detection techniques (e.g., tilt derivative and analytic signal) were analyzed to delineate the proven fault emergence from the published active fault database and surface geological map. The results depict that the Baribis fault was continued to the Subang region and enhanced clearly by applying analytic signal attributes. Thereby, the Baribis fault continuity is better interpreted on the analytic signal anomaly map, whereas the tilt derivative technique explains the factor of unclear surficial discontinuity of Baribis fault on the zone.

Guy\u2019s and St Thomas NHS Foundation active surveillance prostate cancer cohort: a characterisation of a prostate cancer active surveillance database

BackgroundThe routine clinical use of serum prostatic specific antigen (PSA) testing has allowed earlier detection of low-grade prostate cancer (PCa) with more favourable characteristics, leading to increased acceptance of management by active surveillance (AS). AS aims to avoid over treatment in men with low and intermediate-risk PCa and multiple governing bodies have described several AS protocols. This study provides a descriptive profile of the Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT) AS cohort as a platform for future research in AS pathways in PCa.MethodsDemographic and baseline characteristics were retrospectively collected in a database for patients at the GSTT AS clinic with prospective collection of follow-up data from 2012. Seven hundred eighty-eight men being monitored at GSTT with histologically confirmed intermediate-risk PCa, at least 1 follow-up appointment and diagnostic characteristics consistent with AS criteria were included in the profile. Descriptive statistics, Kaplan-Meier survival curves and multivariable Cox proportion hazards regression models were used to characterize the cohort.DiscussionA relatively large proportion of the cohort includes men of African/Afro-Caribbean descent (22%). More frequent use of magnetic resonance imaging and trans-perineal biopsies at diagnosis was observed among patients diagnosed after 2012. Those who underwent trans-rectal ultrasound diagnostic biopsy received their first surveillance biopsy 20 months earlier than those who underwent trans-perineal diagnostic biopsy. At 3 years, 76.1% men remained treatment free. Predictors of treatment progression included Gleason score 3 + 4 (Hazard ratio (HR): 2.41, 95% Confidence interval (CI): 1.79–3.26) and more than 2 positive cores taken at biopsy (HR: 2.65, CI: 1.94–3.62). A decreased risk of progressing to treatment was seen among men diagnosed after 2012 (HR: 0.72, CI: 0.53–0.98).ConclusionAn organised biopsy surveillance approach, via two different AS pathways according to the patient’s diagnostic method, can be seen within the GSTT cohort. Risk of patients progressing to treatment has decreased in the period since 2012 compared with the prior period with more than half of the cohort remaining treatment free at 5 years, highlighting that the fundamental aims of AS at GSTT are being met. Thus, this cohort is a good resource to investigate the AS treatment pathway.

Database of Active Faults in Slovenia: Compiling a New Active Fault Database at the Junction Between the Alps, the Dinarides and the Pannonian Basin Tectonic Domains

We present the compilation of a new database of active faults in Slovenia, aiming at introducing geological data for the first time as input for a new national seismic hazard model. The area at the junction of the Alps, the Dinarides, and the Pannonian Basin is moderately seismically active. About a dozen Mw > 5.5 earthquakes have occurred across the national territory in the last millennium, four of which in the instrumental era. The relative paucity of major earthquakes and low to moderate fault slip rates necessitate the use of geologic input for a more representative assessment of seismic hazard. Active fault identification is complicated by complex regional structural setting due to overprinting of different tectonic phases. Additionally, overall high rates of erosion, denudation and slope mass movement processes with rates up to several orders of magnitude larger than fault slip rates obscure the surface definition of faults and traces of activity, making fault parametrization difficult. The presented database includes active, probably active and potentially active faults with trace lengths >5 km, systematically compiled and cataloged from a vast and highly heterogeneous dataset. Input data was mined from published papers, reports, studies, maps, unpublished reports and data from the Geological Survey of Slovenia archives and dedicated studies. All faults in the database are fully parametrized with spatial, geometric, kinematic and activity data with parameter descriptors including data origin and data quality for full traceability of input data. The input dataset was compiled through an extended questionnaire and a set of criteria into a homogenous database. The final database includes 96 faults with 240 segments and is optimized for maximum compatibility with other current maps of active faults at national and EU levels. It is by far the most detailed and advanced map of active faults in Slovenia.

In-silico screening of Indian medicinal plants active constituents database revealed Gmelanone and Litseferine as potential 3CLpro antagonists targeting SARS-CoV-2

In-silico screening of Indian medicinal plants active constituents database revealed Gmelanone and Litseferine as potential 3CLpro antagonists targeting SARS-CoV-2

Fraud Detection in Customers’ Electricity Consumption in Nigeria Using Support Vector Machine and C4.5 Decision Tree Algorithms

Over the years, Electricity theft has been estimated to cost billions of Naira per year in Nigeria. To reduce electricity theft, electric utilities are leveraging data collected by using data analytics to identify abnormal consumption trends and possible fraud. In this study, use of data analytics in detecting electricity theft, and a metric that leverages this threat model in order to evaluate and compare anomaly detectors. Data mining technology have helped several industries and sectors in improving their various forms of technology, this study therefore employ machine learning algorithms for the classification of fraud detection in the electricity consumption of costumers. In this project, Support Vector Machine (SVM) and C4.5 Decision tree classification algorithms were employed for fraud detection using customer electricity consumption data. SVM and C4.5 achieved 63.4% and 65.9% accuracy respectively. Thus, C4.5 outperformed SVM based on the dataset experimented in this project. Keywords: Active databases, distributed processing, intelligent processing, optimization, query processor

A systems-based approach to parameterise seismic hazard in regions with little historical or instrumental seismicity: active fault and seismogenic source databases for southern Malawi

Abstract. Seismic hazard is commonly characterised using instrumental seismic records. However, these records are short relative to earthquake repeat times, and extrapolating to estimate seismic hazard can misrepresent the probable location, magnitude, and frequency of future large earthquakes. Although paleoseismology can address this challenge, this approach requires certain geomorphic setting, is resource intensive, and can carry large inherent uncertainties. Here, we outline how fault slip rates and recurrence intervals can be estimated by combining fault geometry, earthquake-scaling relationships, geodetically derived regional strain rates, and geological constraints of regional strain distribution. We apply this approach to southern Malawi, near the southern end of the East African Rift, and where, although no on-fault slip rate measurements exist, there are constraints on strain partitioning between border and intra-basin faults. This has led to the development of the South Malawi Active Fault Database (SMAFD), a geographical database of 23 active fault traces, and the South Malawi Seismogenic Source Database (SMSSD), in which we apply our systems-based approach to estimate earthquake magnitudes and recurrence intervals for the faults compiled in the SMAFD. We estimate earthquake magnitudes of MW 5.4–7.2 for individual fault sections in the SMSSD and MW 5.6–7.8 for whole-fault ruptures. However, low fault slip rates (intermediate estimates ∼ 0.05–0.8 mm/yr) imply long recurrence intervals between events: 102–105 years for border faults and 103–106 years for intra-basin faults. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the large range of these estimates can best be reduced with improved geodetic constraints in southern Malawi. The SMAFD and SMSSD provide a framework for using geological and geodetic information to characterise seismic hazard in regions with few on-fault slip rate measurements, and they could be adapted for use elsewhere in the East African Rift and globally.

Ligand-based approach for predicting drug targets and for virtual screening against COVID-19.

Discovering efficient drugs and identifying target proteins are still an unmet but urgent need for curing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Protein structure-based docking is a widely applied approach for discovering active compounds against drug targets and for predicting potential targets of active compounds. However, this approach has its inherent deficiency caused by e.g. various different conformations with largely varied binding pockets adopted by proteins, or the lack of true target proteins in the database. This deficiency may result in false negative results. As a complementary approach to the protein structure-based platform for COVID-19, termed as D3Docking in our previous work, we developed in this study a ligand-based method, named D3Similarity, which is based on the molecular similarity evaluation between the submitted molecule(s) and those in an active compound database. The database is constituted by all the reported bioactive molecules against the coronaviruses, viz., severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS), severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), human betacoronavirus 2c EMC/2012 (HCoV-EMC), human CoV 229E (HCoV-229E) and feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV), some of which have target or mechanism information but some do not. Based on the two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) similarity evaluation of molecular structures, virtual screening and target prediction could be performed according to similarity ranking results. With two examples, we demonstrated the reliability and efficiency of D3Similarity by using 2D × 3D value as score for drug discovery and target prediction against COVID-19. The database, which will be updated regularly, is available free of charge at https://www.d3pharma.com/D3Targets-2019-nCoV/D3Similarity/index.php.

Effectiveness and safety of fully oral modified shorter treatment regimen for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Georgia, 2019-2020.

Tuberculosis treatment is challenging, especially among people with drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis. The introduction of fully oral modified short treatment regimen has a great potential to shorten duration of treatment, improve safety and ultimately increase treatment success rate. In 2019 Georgia has piloted the modified fully oral shorter treatment regimen in a routine programmatic condition. Our study aimed to evaluate effectiveness and safety of the modified shorter treatment regimen in Georgia among the first 25 consecutively enrolled patients with rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis with proven sensitivity to fluoroquinolone and without prior exposure to second-line tuberculosis drugs. Regimen consisted of 9-month daily administration of bedaquilline, linezolid, levofloxacin, clofazimine and cycloserine. Study patients were enrolled between March-August 2019. We used a national electronic surveillance system, medical records and active TB drug-safety monitoring and management database to extract study related data. The mean age of the study participants was 48 years, 68% were male, 8% were HIV positive, 16% had diabetes and 12% tested positive for hepatitis C infection. The median time to culture conversion among 16 patients who were culture positive at treatment initiation was 1.0 (95% CI: 1.0–2.0) month. Of those, by the end of treatment 15 patients converted to negative. Out of 25 patients in the study cohort 22 (88%) had successful treatment outcome, one patient (4%) died and two (8%) were lost to follow up. The regimen was largely well tolerated. Three patients (12%) experienced serious adverse events - two cases were possibly related to TB drugs in the regimen. Seven patients developed adverse events of interest in eight instances, including musculoskeletal (twice), psychiatric, gas-trointestinal disorders, hepatotoxicity, peripheral neuropathy, cardiotoxicity and myelosuppression (once each). In four patients (16%) the duration of the treatment was extended beyond nine months due to insufficient radiological improvements. Our findings demonstrate that good treatment outcomes are achievable in people with fluoroquinolone-sensitive tuberculosis within routine programmatic conditions using fully oral modified short treatment regimen. The extensive use of fully oral modified shorter treatment regimen in Georgia and other high priority countries in the World Health Organization European Region is warranted.

ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ПОДХОДОВ ДЛЯ АУТЕНТИФИКАЦИИ ПОЛЬЗОВАТЕЛЕЙ БЕСПРОВОДНОЙ СЕТИ С ПРИМЕНЕНИЕМ РАЗЛИЧНЫХ LDAP РЕШЕНИЙ.

Intoduction: every year, the technology of the IEEE802.11 family of networks is becoming more widespread and popular. Based on the possible risks, IT administrators take measures to protect their organizations. One of the ways to improve information security is to use IEEE802.1 x for user authorization. Purpose: the purpose of the study is to study various LDAP solutions for user authorization in a wireless network. Results: three variants of the centralized solution for authorization of users of a wireless network on the basis of operating systems are developed: Windows Server, Ubuntu Linux, and Astra Linux. When working with Windows Server, it was found that you can use the Active Directory LDAP database to store user credentials. The study also showed that if the network infrastructure of the organization needs to implement a server using the Linux operating system, then the FreeIPA database can be used as an LDAP database, and the role of the RADIUS server must be entrusted to the FreeRADIUS software. The advantage of this approach is that all the software required for user authorization is free. Despite the fact that Active Directory is the most popular LDAP database-FreeIPA meets all the needs that arise during security administration. Practical relevance: each solution has passed load testing and can be implemented in the network infrastructure of organizations. Discussion: the choice of operating system and LDAP database for user authorization completely depends on the requirements of the organization, so one of the proposed implementation options will fit each requirement.

Targets and Mechanism Used by Cinnamaldehyde, the Main Active Ingredient in Cinnamon, in the Treatment of Breast Cancer.

Background: Breast cancer has become one of the most common malignant tumors in women owing to its increasing incidence each year. Clinical studies have shown that Cinnamomum cassia (L.) J. Presl (cinnamon) has a positive influence on the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. Aim: We aimed to screen the potential targets of cinnamon in the treatment of breast cancer through network pharmacology and explore its potential therapeutic mechanism through cell experiments. Methods: We used the TCMSP, TCM Database @ Taiwan, and TCMID websites and established the active ingredient and target database of cinnamon. Thereafter, we used the GeneCards and OMIM databases to establish a breast cancer-related target database, which matched the cinnamon target database. Based on the matching results, the STRING database was used to analyze the interaction between the targets, and the biological information annotation database was used to analyze the biological process of the target (gene ontology) and the pathway enrichment of Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). After establishing the layout of the analysis, we used Cytoscape 3.6.0 software for network analysis. Finally, the cell experiment was used to verify the anti-breast cancer effect of cinnamaldehyde. Results: Our research showed that the main components of cinnamon, including cinnamaldehyde, can play a role in the treatment of breast cancer through 59 possible important targets. Subsequently, enrichment analysis by gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes showed that 83 cell biological processes and 37 pathways were associated with breast cancer (p < 0.05), including the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor and PI3K-Akt pathway, which are closely related to tumor cell apoptosis. In vitro cell verification experiments showed that cinnamaldehyde can significantly inhibit cell proliferation, change cell morphology, inhibit cell migration and invasion ability, and promote cell apoptosis. Conclusion: Our results showed that cinnamaldehyde is a potential novel drug for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer.

Integrated Analysis of fMRI-EEG Data for the Detection of Epilepsy Disorder

In this paper, new fusion model of EEG-fMRI is proposed, where the EEG correlation is developed with functional activity of the brain imaging (fMRI) to derive features. The fMRI slices and the EEG signals are correlated using the spectral correlation of selective spectral bands and the MRI spectral density in EEG-fMRI sample. Previously the mapping approach of peak spike active of EEG signal over large spectral density of MRI sample is assumed to beprocessed under no-artefact scenario. Secondly a redundant time feature magnitude is not effective in deriving the epileptic diagnosis of EEG signalling. Both challenges are addressed by our methodology in which feature reduction and feature mapping of selective spectral bands of EEG and MRI spectral density is proposed taking into considerationartefacts present in EEG signal. The proposed methodologies are adopted for the detection of epilepsy disorder. Experimentations are conducted in the openly available fMRI data of six subjects and active database, ACTIVE project at TelAviv Sourasky Medical Center (TASMC) Israel and comparisons are made with existing mapping models. The comparative results and analysis demonstrate the superiority and the reliability of the proposed methodology.

MASI: microbiota-active substance interactions database.

Xenobiotic and host active substances interact with gut microbiota to influence human health and therapeutics. Dietary, pharmaceutical, herbal and environmental substances are modified by microbiota with altered bioavailabilities, bioactivities and toxic effects. Xenobiotics also affect microbiota with health implications. Knowledge of these microbiota and active substance interactions is important for understanding microbiota-regulated functions and therapeutics. Established microbiota databases provide useful information about the microbiota-disease associations, diet and drug interventions, and microbiota modulation of drugs. However, there is insufficient information on the active substances modified by microbiota and the abundance of gut bacteria in humans. Only ∼7% drugs are covered by the established databases. To complement these databases, we developed MASI, Microbiota—Active Substance Interactions database, for providing the information about the microbiota alteration of various substances, substance alteration of microbiota, and the abundance of gut bacteria in humans. These include 1,051 pharmaceutical, 103 dietary, 119 herbal, 46 probiotic, 142 environmental substances interacting with 806 microbiota species linked to 56 diseases and 784 microbiota–disease associations. MASI covers 11 215 bacteria-pharmaceutical, 914 bacteria-herbal, 309 bacteria-dietary, 753 bacteria-environmental substance interactions and the abundance profiles of 259 bacteria species in 3465 patients and 5334 healthy individuals. MASI is freely accessible at http://www.aiddlab.com/MASI.

Xylanolytic Extremozymes Retrieved From Environmental Metagenomes: Characteristics, Genetic Engineering, and Applications.

Xylanolytic enzymes have extensive applications in paper, food, and feed, pharmaceutical, and biofuel industries. These industries demand xylanases that are functional under extreme conditions, such as high temperature, acidic/alkaline pH, and others, which are prevailing in bioprocessing industries. Despite the availability of several xylan-hydrolyzing enzymes from cultured microbes, there is a huge gap between what is available and what industries require. DNA manipulations as well as protein-engineering techniques are also not quite satisfactory in generating xylan-hydrolyzing extremozymes. With a compound annual growth rate of 6.6% of xylan-hydrolyzing enzymes in the global market, there is a need for xylanolytic extremozymes. Therefore, metagenomic approaches have been employed to uncover hidden xylanolytic genes that were earlier inaccessible in culture-dependent approaches. Appreciable success has been achieved in retrieving several unusual xylanolytic enzymes with novel and desirable characteristics from different extreme environments using functional and sequence-based metagenomic approaches. Moreover, the Carbohydrate Active Enzymes database includes approximately 400 GH-10 and GH-11 unclassified xylanases. This review discusses sources, characteristics, and applications of xylanolytic enzymes obtained through metagenomic approaches and their amelioration by genetic engineering techniques.

P61 Patient perspectives on switching to an infliximab biosimilar in paediatric inflammatory bowel disease (PIBD)

AimTo establish patient perspectives on switching to an infliximab biosimilar, which will enable the PIBD team to improve patient experience during future biosimilar switches.MethodsFamilies of patients receiving treatment with an Infliximab biosimilar (Remsima®) 2 years after switching from the originator (Remicade®) were selected from the active patient database for telephone interview. One family who chose not to switch was also included for interview. A 5-question interview was prepared, which asked parents to rate their overall experience according to a satisfaction rating scale from 1–5. Parents were asked about their knowledge of reasons for switching, if they needed to look up additional information resources and, finally, ways to improve the switching process.Results18 patients were identified, 16 parents were available for interview. 13 parents gave overall positive feedback with satisfaction scores of 4 or 5 on the numerical satisfaction scale. 3 parents were dissatisfied with the switching process, giving scores of 0, 1 and 3. This resulted in an average satisfaction score of 4.1. The majority of satisfied parents had little knowledge of the switch, not remembering details and indicating the switch was best performed this way. Nonetheless, most recognised costs as the reason for switching. The majority of parents did not need to look up additional information resources, 2 parents named The Crohn’s and Colitis Charity and Facebook support groups as useful resources. Two dissatisfied patients requested to switch back to Remicade® therapy due to side effects. The family of the patient who chose not to switch made this decision because Remsima® was not yet available in the United States, where they also received treatment.ConclusionBiosimilar biologics continue to be approved by the EMA as originators come off patent. Efficacy of infliximab biosimilars in paediatric IBD patients is extrapolated from adult rheumatology data, with limited long term outcome data.1 2 Successful switches for NHS trusts lead to financial benefits; these savings allow for NHS investment to enable more patients to be treated.3Patient autonomy and, in paediatrics, parental views must be respected during this switching process. The majority of interviews with parents were positive, re-affirming the process of this switch. Parental perceptions of side effects attributed to Remicade® highlight the importance of discussing realistic outcomes of therapy with both the originator and biosimilar. When questioned, the parent who refused to switch explained that they did not have faith in the efficacy of the biosimilar and had major concerns of treatment failure. A fear of treatment failure may be described as a ‘nocebo’ effect 4 which hypothesises that negative attitudes incur less effective results. Increasing our awareness of patient perceptions on switching biosimilars and monitoring reasons for switch failure will better inform us going forward with future biologic switches.ReferencesDanese S, Fiorino G, Raine T, et al. ECCO position statement on the use of biosimilars for inflammatory bowel disease—an update. J Crohn’s Colitis 2017;11:26–34.de Ridder L, Waterman M, Turner D, et al. Use of biosimilars in paediatric inflammatory bowel disease. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr 2015;61:503–508.Healy M, Crook J, Chavda C, et al. P35 An experience of switching paediatric inflammatory bowel disease patients on infliximab therapy to the biosimilar ‘remsima.’Arch Dis Child 2018;103:e1.39–e1.Ordinet J, Day C, Cruz J, et al. The biosimilar nocebo effect? A systematic review of double-blinded versus open-label studies. J Manag Care Spec Pharm 2018;24:952–959.

The GEM Global Active Faults Database

The GEM Global Active Faults Database (GAF-DB) is the first public, comprehensive database of active faults with worldwide coverage. The GAF-DB is a compilation of many regional datasets. The GAF-DB contains ∼13,500 faults, each with associated attributes that describe the geometry, kinematics, slip rate, references, and other characteristics, as the information is available. Spatial completeness is high, and about 77% of the faults have slip rate information. The GAF-DB is built from its constituent datasets algorithmically and is designed to fluidly incorporate changes to or addition of any of the underlying datasets. This process reflects a philosophy of easily incorporating a change to avoid obsolescence and to quickly provide the most up-to-date information possible to the users. The database is licensed under a free and open-source license (CC-BY-SA 4.0) and is available at https://github.com/GEMScienceTools/gem-global-active-faults .

Probabilistic seismic hazard assessments for Northern Southeast Asia (Indochina): Smooth seismicity approach

We present an evaluation of the 2018 Northern Southeast Asia Seismic Hazard Model (NSAHM18) based on a combination of smoothed seismicity, subduction zone, and fault models. The smoothed seismicity is used to model observed distributed seismicity from largely unknown sources in the current study area. In addition, due to a short instrumental earthquake catalog, slip rate and characteristic earthquake magnitudes are incorporated through the fault model. To achieve this objective, the compiled earthquake catalogs and updated active fault databases in this region were reexamined with consistent use of these input parameters. To take into account epistemic uncertainty, logic tree analysis has been implemented incorporating basic quantities such as ground-motion models (GMMs) for three different tectonic regions (shallow active, subduction interface, and subduction intraslab), maximum magnitude, and earthquake magnitude frequency relationships. The seismic hazard results are presented in peak ground acceleration maps at 475- and 2475-year return periods.

Exploration of potential efficacy markers of Astragali Radix for invigorating Qi based on systematic traditional Chinese medicine

Astragali Radix is the elixir for invigorating Qi, with the effects of invigorating Qi, promoting Yang and nourishing the body. With the deepening researches on the chemical constituents of Astragali Radix, it is used more extensively in clinical application. Based on systematic traditional Chinese medicine theory, in this paper, we characterized the effect of Astragali Radix on invigo-rating Qi from the molecular level, and explored the markers of Astragali Radix on invigorating Qi. Through TCMSP and ChEMBL databases, the active components-targets database of Astragali Radix was constructed to clarify the targets(elements) involved in Astragali Radix's Qi invigorating efficacy system. According to the relationship between the targets, the protein interaction network was constructed, and the network modules(structure) were divided according to the theoretic clustering algorithm molecular complex detection(MCODE), and the boundary of the Qi invigorating efficacy system was defined by the pharmacological function of Astragali Radix. The active components of Astragali Radix for invigorating Qi were characterized from the aspects of composition, target and efficacy. The results showed that eight key components of Astragali Radix, such as hederagenin, quercetin, calycosin, formononetin, jaranol, isorhamnetin, astragalosideⅢ, and 9,10-dimethoxypterocarpan-3-O-β-D-glucoside, could act on eight functional modules composed of 17 key targets, and participate in G-protein coupled receptor protein signaling pathway, regulation of lipid metabolic process, positive regulation of nitrogen compound metabolic process, positive regulation of programmed cell death, fatty acid metabolic process and other biological processes to produce pharmacological effects such as regulating immune function, strengthening heart, protecting myocardial cells, improving material metabolism, and antioxidation effects, thus playing the role of invigorating Qi. Based on the systematic Chinese medicine theory, this study explored the effective markers of Astragali Radix at the level of molecular network, which provided new ideas for the interpretation of the effective substance basis of systematic traditional Chinese medicine and the quality control of traditional Chinese medicine. In the future, it can focus on the compatibility research of these components, and then carry out more in-depth studies on the efficacy of Astragali Radix in invigorating Qi, and strengthen the development of the corresponding pharmacological mechanism and related preparations.

CCAF-DB: the Caribbean and Central American active fault database

Abstract. A database of ∼250 active fault traces in the Caribbean and Central American regions has been assembled to characterize the seismic hazard and tectonics of the area, as part of the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation's Caribbean and Central American Risk Assessment (CCARA) project. The dataset is available in many vector GIS formats and contains fault trace locations as well as attributes describing fault geometry and kinematics, slip rates, data quality and uncertainty, and other metadata as available. The database is public and open source (available at: https://github.com/GEMScienceTools/central_am_carib_faults, last access: 23 March 2020), will be updated progressively as new data become available, and is open to community contribution. The active fault data show deformation in the region to be centered around the margins of the Caribbean plate. Northern Central America has sinistral and reverse faults north of the sinistral Motagua–Polochic fault zone, which accommodates sinistral Caribbean–North American relative motion. The Central Highlands in Central America extend east–west along a broad array of normal faults, bound by the Motagua–Polochic fault zone in the north and trench-parallel dextral faulting in the southwest between the Caribbean plate and the Central American forearc. Faulting in southern Central America is complicated, with trench-parallel reverse and sinistral faults. The northern Caribbean–North American plate boundary is sinistral off the shore of Central America, with transpressive stepovers through Jamaica, southern Cuba and Hispaniola. Farther east, deformation becomes more contractional closer to the Lesser Antilles subduction zone, with minor extension and sinistral shear throughout the upper plate, accommodating oblique convergence of the Caribbean and North American plates.