Terminological cooperation in the biomedical field

This paper deals with collaborative terminological activities in the biomedical field. Efficient communication based on uniform language use is a prerequisite for safe and cost-efficient patient care. Terminological consistency and standardization are therefore central issues in healthcare with high societal relevance. The objectives of this contribution are (1) to show how actors from different disciplines and institutions are involved in the standardization of medical terminology and electronic terminology systems; (2) to describe how translation-oriented terminological principles affect the translation of the Systematic Nomenclature of Medicine – Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT). The challenges of this approach will be discussed and some suggestions for its further development will be made.

Torsion Failures in Handling Operations for Power Cables, Umbilicals and Flexible Pipes

Over the past 10 years, SINTEF has investigated, or been informed about, a range of torsion failures in cables, umbilicals or flexible pipes. These failures have occurred while the flexible products were being transported along a route during production, loadout, installation. One failure occured during operation. There are no guidelines on how to minimize the risk of such failures. This may be attributed to a lack of knowledge in the industry about the mechanisms that cause torsional moments to appear. Further, some buckling patterns of the components of a flexible product under excessive torsion, closely resemble patterns caused by excessive bending or compressive load, so that some torsion-induced failures are wrongly attributed. Hence, there is a need to increase the knowledge and awareness of torsion failures in the industry. Previous papers by the authors have considered some of the mechanisms that lead to the appearance of torque in handling operations. The present paper is a continuation which focuses on torque-induced failure modes. It begins by providing a systematic nomenclature for the description of torsion kinematics. It then provides a qualitative description of known torque-induced failure modes. The literature provides some models for torque-induced failures, as well as models of component failures due to excessive bending or compression of the flexible product, which are also relevant for the study of torsion. These are reviewed, and their relevance to torsion-induced failures are discussed. Knowledge gaps and challenges are highlighted.

Streptomerocyanine dyes

Dyes synthesized by condensation of e. g. 4-N,N-dialkylaminobenzaldehydes, 5-N,N-dialkylamino-2-thiophenaldehydes or 5-N,N-dialkylamino-2-furaldehydes, with open chain active methylene compounds have been given the labels merocyanine, neutrocyanine, methine or styryl dyes. All these classifications are misnomers. In terms of systematic nomenclature, their proper classification is as streptomerocyanine dyes. They are used in textile coloration and in dye diffusion thermal transfer printing (D2T2). Furthermore, they have been investigated for their potential as sensitizer dyes in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) and for photorefractive applications.

Hemioxonol dyes

Following the classification of hemicyanine dyes Leslie G. S. Brooker suggested the term hemioxonol dye be applied to the case of an oxonol colorant in which one of its terminal unsaturated heterocycles has been replaced by an open chain N(R1)R2 group or saturated heterocyclic ring. For historical reasons, dyes formed from the reaction of 4-N,N-dialkylaminobenzaldehydes or 4-N,N-dialkylaminocinnamaldehydes with a heterocycle containing an active methylene group adjacent to a carbonyl group are often called benzylidene dyes and cinnamylidene dyes, respectively. In terms of systematic nomenclature, their proper classification is as hemioxonol dyes. They are used as filter dyes and antihalation dyes in silver halide photography. Their current main usage is in dye diffusion thermal transfer printing (D2T2).

The Sugar Porter gene family of Piriformospora indica: Nomenclature, Transcript Profiling and Characterization

Piriformospora indica is one of the prominent mutualistic root endophyte known to overcome phosphate and nitrogen limitation in a wide variety of plant species, reciprocally takes up carbohydrates for its survival and growth. A total of nineteen potential hexose transporters have been identified from P. indica genome, that may contributes to its potential of carbohydrate assimilation from host plant. Phylogenetic analysis assembles it in 10 groups within 3 clusters. To ease the study, systematic nomenclature were provided to 19 putative hexose transporters as “PiST1-PiST19” in accordance to their appearance on the supercontigs genome sequence of P. indica. The protein length ranges from 487 to 608 amino acids. Out of 19 putative hexose transporters, 9 have been predicted to contain 12 transmembrane domains (PiST1, PiST2, PiST5, PiST6, PiST9, PiST10, PiST11, PiST12 and PiST17), along with MFS family and Sugar porter subfamily motif. Therefore, transcripts were detected for these 9 genes. During colonization, three P. indica genes PiST1, PiST5 and PiST9 have shown induction as compared to axenic culture. Similarly during phosphate starvation, revealed PiST12 to be strongly enhanced. Carbon starvation study in liquid axenic culture resulted in induction of 4 genes, PiST6, PiST9, PiST12 and PiST17. We found co-relation in the expression pattern of PiPT and PiST12 during phosphate starvation. In silico analysis revealed the presence of functional conserved fucose permease (FucP) domain, involved in fructose transport. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that PiST12 groups closely with basidiomycetes hexose transporters. Further, functional complementation of Δhxt null mutant revealed, PiST12 is able to complement growth on fructose and galactose but negligible on glucose.

Towards systematic nomenclature for cell-free DNA

Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) has become widely recognized as a promising candidate biomarker for minimally invasive characterization of various genomic disorders and other clinical scenarios. However, among the obstacles that currently challenge the general progression of the research field, there remains an unmet need for unambiguous universal cfDNA nomenclature. To address this shortcoming, we classify in this report the different types of cfDNA molecules that occur in the human body based on its origin, genetic traits, and locality. We proceed by assigning existing terms to each of these cfDNA subtypes, while proposing new terms and abbreviations where clarity is lacking and more precise stratification would be beneficial. We then suggest the proper usage of these terms within different contexts and scenarios, focusing mainly on the nomenclature as it relates to the domains of oncology, prenatal testing, and post-transplant surgery surveillance. We hope that these recommendations will serve as useful considerations towards the establishment of universal cfDNA nomenclature in the future. In addition, it is conceivable that many of these recommendations can be transposed to cell-free RNA nomenclature by simply exchanging “DNA” with “RNA” in each acronym/abbreviation. Similarly, when describing DNA and RNA collectively, the suffix can be replaced with “NAs” to indicate nucleic acids.

Noble Gas Bonding Interactions Involving Xenon Oxides and Fluorides

Noble gas (or aerogen) bond (NgB) can be outlined as the attractive interaction between an electron-rich atom or group of atoms and any element of Group-18 acting as an electron acceptor. The IUPAC already recommended systematic nomenclature for the interactions of groups 17 and 16 (halogen and chalcogen bonds, respectively). Investigations dealing with noncovalent interactions involving main group elements (acting as Lewis acids) have rapidly grown in recent years. They are becoming acting players in essential fields such as crystal engineering, supramolecular chemistry, and catalysis. For obvious reasons, the works devoted to the study of noncovalent Ng-bonding interactions are significantly less abundant than halogen, chalcogen, pnictogen, and tetrel bonding. Nevertheless, in this short review, relevant theoretical and experimental investigations on noncovalent interactions involving Xenon are emphasized. Several theoretical works have described the physical nature of NgB and their interplay with other noncovalent interactions, which are discussed herein. Moreover, exploring the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) and Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD), it is demonstrated that NgB interactions are crucial in governing the X-ray packing of xenon derivatives. Concretely, special attention is given to xenon fluorides and xenon oxides, since they exhibit a strong tendency to establish NgBs.