Database Suppliers Research Articles

Congratulations on your retirement, Michele Gaca

Michele Gaca retired on the 13 August 2021 after more than 30 years in a variety of senior roles as an Information / Knowledge Manager. Throughout her career, Michele has contributed to a range of library organisations and services; including affiliatedindustry services from subscription agents, copyright administration, publishers and software / database suppliers. Michele’s contribution to health librarianship has been extensive.

Federated search and discovery solutions

This paper represents Federated search tool which brings together the resources to a library subscribes and allows cross-searching of these resources. They work using the Z39.50 protocol used by database suppliers to enable communication between computers. It also covers search provider. Advantages & disadvantages of federated search have been discussed. Keywords: Federated Search, Search Engines, Discovery tools.

Discovery of Novel PRMT5 Inhibitors by Virtual Screening and Biological Evaluations.

As an important epigenetics related enzyme, protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) has been confirmed as an anticancer therapeutic target in recent years. Among all the reported PRMT5 inhibitors, two small molecules (GSK-3326595 and JNJ-64619178) are currently being assessed in clinical trial. In this study, 40 PRMT5 inhibitor candidates were purchased from SPECS database supplier according to the pharmacophore and molecular docking based virtual screening results. Alpha linked immunosorbent assay (LISA) methylation assay was performed to test their inhibitory activity against PRMT5. The in vitro enzymatic assay results indicated that four compounds (2, 4, 10 and 37) showed PRMT5 inhibitory activity, while 4 and 10 displayed the most potent activity with IC50 values of 8.1 ± 1.1 and 6.5 ± 0.6 µM, respectively. The inhibitory activity results of 20 extra analogs of 4 further confirmed the potency of this scaffold. As expected, compounds 4 and 10 exhibited moderate anti-proliferative activity against mantle cell lymphoma Jeko-1 and leukemia cell MV4-11. Besides, Western blot assay results showed that 4 could reduce the H4R3me2s level in a dose-dependent manner, indicating that it could inhibit the activity of PRMT5 in cellular context. Detailed interactions between 4 and PRMT5 were characterized by binding mode analysis through molecular docking. The compounds discovered in this study will inspire medicinal chemists to further explore this series of PRMT5 inhibitors.

The French national registry for rare diseases: an integrated model from care to epidemiology and research

The first national plan for rare diseases (2005-2008) set the network for care and research in the rare diseases (RD) field across all French hospitals. The 131 RD centers of expertise (CE) initiated then various IT projects to register electronically their RD patients. The CEMARA project [1] up to now registered 235,000 RD patients, from 62 RDCE (out of 131), 383 units of care and described over 4000 rare diseases. The identified limits of the CEMARA model were: i) data collection was not incorporated in the care setting, ii) exposed to data re-entry, iii) coping with data privacy new regulations and iv) gaining a wide national consensus on the data to collect for all RDs and from all CEs. To overcome these limits, the 2nd national plan for rare diseases (2010-2014) promoted the creation of a national data repository for all rare diseases (BNDMR) based on the CEMARA model with the following objectives: i) identifying RD patients within the health information systems in care setting, ii) describing the RD demand of care, and the adequacy of the supply and iii) identifying patients eligible for clinical trials or cohorts. The proposed national architecture incorporates a national minimum data set for all rare diseases (F-MDS-RD) into hospital information care systems to enable electronic patient files re-use for epidemiological studies or research [2]. To ensure a full interoperability between local hospital information systems and the BNDMR, a national interoperability framework is defined. It is set on 3 pillars: i) defining a national patient ID for rare diseases that will help to identify patients across different health IS, ii) defining a common data format for all rare diseases, compatible with EHR standards such as HL7, and iii) setting the necessary technical data flows complying with strict security rules for data privacy [3] and security. The minimum data set for rare diseases is now being implemented in several local systems, and connectors are being rolled out with several database suppliers. Data re-entry is nowadays a major concern for clinicians. Enabling data re-use is not only an interoperability problem; data must be structured, qualified, standardized [4] and suitable for research [5]. The structuration of the data collected is set on a variety of standard terminologies such as Orphanet or the Human Phenotype Ontology which requires to be accompanied with the necessary IT tools to help clinicians coding the data [6].

Patent information in a changing world: Perspectives from a major patent office

The patent information field is in a state of flux, caused by new tools and changing habits and philosophies. In this article a number of major issues arising from this situation are discussed, some ways in which the EPO is responding are described, and some ideas on future developments provided. Patents are increasingly rated as valuable assets, but is patent information, and especially bibliographic patent information, being treated with the same meticulousness as in the past? More people are searching than ever before. But are they squeezing out the information professional? What effect will the IPC reform, the arrival of XML and other developments have? By focussing on completeness, timeliness and correctness, can patent offices make a contribution to alleviate the situation? The author concludes that, more than ever before, it is important that expert patent information professionals ensure that their views and needs are communicated to both initial data suppliers, mainly patent offices, and to commercial database suppliers and hosts.

Oblivious keyword search

In this paper, we introduce a notion of oblivious keyword search ( OKS). Let W be the set of possible keywords. In the commit phase, a database supplier T commits n data. In each transfer subphase, a user U can choose a keyword w∈ W adaptively and find Search( w) without revealing w to T , where Search( w) is the set of all data which includes w as a keyword. We then show two efficient protocols such that the size of the commitments is only O( nB) regardless of the size of W, where B is the size of each data. It is formally proved that U learns nothing more than search( w) and T gains no information on the keywords which U searched for. We further present a more efficient adaptive OT k n protocol than the previous one [19] as an application of our first OKS protocol.

Consequences of the Internet – the strategic role of intermediaries in educating end users

The way that the traditional role of intermediaries in the world of patent information retrieval has developed, as the information available at low cost on the Internet has mushroomed, is described. With the increasing public awareness of information resources, but a concomitant lack of understanding of its advantages and disadvantages, the author predicts an expanding educational role for such intermediaries. She also highlights the different approaches of commercial database suppliers to the use of value-added databases by annual subscribers, by the public and by patent search intermediaries.

Hold the front page!

The authors review the new “First Page Database” product that will be made available to the public in the near future in the form of mixed mode CD-ROMs and/or online. The content of the database is examined together with its potential uses in patent searching departments. The authors also look at the possible implications for online patent database suppliers.

Hold the front page!

The authors review the new “First Page Database” product that will be made available to the public in the near future in the form of mixed mode CD-ROMs and/or online. The content of the database is examined together with its potential uses in patent searching departments. The authors also look at the possible implications for online patent database suppliers.

Database copyright issues in the European GIS community

The production and dissemination of European geographic information system (GIS) databases are rapidly outpacing the legal structure's ability to protect and regulate the flow of such information. This situation places increased pressure on users, suppliers, and official copyright authorities to adjust the law to accommodate these changes. Database suppliers argue that the present unevenness of the European legal protection setting creates an uncertain and risky environment which is not conducive to investment. In response, the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) has proposed a Directive on the Copyright of Databases to address the concerns of the database industry. This article outlines the current legal structure of the European GIS database industry, critiques the impending CEC Directive, and emphasizes the inevitable need for global consensus on these important issues.

Molecular Science Research, Molecular Databases and Current Issues of Information Management

This article reviews molecular databases from an information perspective. Key management issues are centred around the effect of the availability of online information upon molecular science research practice, the expectations and user-satisfaction of molecular scientists, how searching can be improved, the current research mix of database search and experiment, the use and value of molecular information, how molecular information can best be represented, the design and development of very large databases, cooperation between database suppliers, the specification of and the adaptation to new types of database, and database control and administration. Because the field has been characterised by rapid expansion and change the problem of management is a complex one.

SQL — problems with an emerging standard

IBM's Structured Query Language (SQL) is becoming established as the standard for relational databases. Nearly all database suppliers use the language. ANSI has ratified a version of it. The article looks at the history of SQL, its current importance, and the problems it currently faces.

Database accuracy: Results from a survey of database vendors

The accuracy of databases is the subject of our survey of vendors of databases. This study examines external databases. Among the issues covered by the survey are: selection criteria for data sources, formats of data, and the approaches followed in maintaining database accuracy. One specific focus of the study is external databases for forecasting. Forecasting, as a tool of managerial planning, is sensitive to the availability and accuracy of databases. The survey results suggest that there are some practices followed by database suppliers that could produce unreliable information.

On-line searching: costly or cost effective? A marketing perspective.

The value of acquiring and using information is not well understood. Decisions to purchase information are made on the basis of the perceived need for the information, the anticipated benefit of using it, and the price. The current pricing of on-line information services, which emphasizes the connect hour as the unit of price, does not relate the price of a search to the value of a search, and the education programs of on-line vendors and database suppliers concentrate on the mechanics of information retrieval rather than on the application of information to the customer's problem. The on-line information industry needs to adopt a strong marketing orientation that focuses on the needs of customers rather than the needs of suppliers or vendors.

PLANNING ONLINE SEARCH SERVICE FOR A PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY

Following a review of the need for online searching in a pharmaceutical company, the planning steps necessary to implement such service are described, including the proposal to management, choice of equipment and database suppliers, staffing, the operational decisions that should be made prior to commencing service and methods of evaluating the service.

Education and training for computer‐based reference services: A case study

AbstractThis article discusses a training program for on‐line searching that was used by the University of California's Computerized Information Services (CIS). After giving an overview of the training program as a whole, it concentrates on database training. One form of intensive database training is the database workshop, presented by the database supplier staff (often in conjunction with search service staff). A second form is the database seminar, where searchers investigate topics on diverse databases and systems and then report to each other in an informal setting. This proved to be a popular and cost‐effective training technique, especially for search strategy. The two kinds of database training seem to complement each other.

Education and training for computer-based reference services: review of training efforts to date.

This article raises several questions regarding training for computer-based reference services, including who is to be trained and who is responsible for training. It discusses these issues and then provides a summary of the training provided to date by search service suppliers, database suppliers, library schools and extension programs, library cooperatives, and professional organizations. The available training materials are also discussed. Some projections are made of likely future activities.

Marketing for online bibliographic services

The marketing of online bibliographic products has been a largely unknown area for the components of the industry — Database Suppliers, System Operators, and Telecommunications Services. Information as to the characteristics of the marketing problem(s) involved has been limited due to the relatively short period in which the services have been available, and in view of the fact that the technological sophistication of the products had developed so rapidly that we have been essentially dealing with a new product or service every year or in even shorter time periods. While stability has not been achieved, patterns are certainly much more valid than ever in the past and BioSciences Information Service (BIOSIS) has been making a start in understanding some of the basic market conditions and attempting some simple correlations. In terms of the BIOSIS experience with its BIOSIS Previews magnetic tape service, we will present information on the geographic distribution of Previews usage, the variety of organizations and institutions employing online service, their distribution in terms of the Systems Operator involved and attempt some conclusions for the short range future.

Lockheed experience in processing large data bases for its commercial information retrieval service.

The last few years have seen the emergence of the information retrieval services industry. This industry consists of three tiers: data base producers, retrieval service vendors, and information centers who service the end user. The experience of Lockheed Information Systems as a retrieval service vendor is recounted as it pertains to its system and to its relationship with the data base suppliers. Government competition is seen as a potential threat to the industry.