Blockchain-based platforms for genomic data sharing: a de-centralized approach in response to the governance...

Genomics is the science of genomes: it is the study of all the genetic material of an organism. In humans, the genome consists of information carried in 23 pairs of chromosomes in the nucleus, as well as mitochondrial DNA. In genomics, both coding and non-coding DNA is sequenced and analyzed. Genomics allows a better understanding of all living things, their evolution, and their diversity. It has a myriad of uses: for example, to build phylogenetic trees, to improve productivity and...

Compartmental analysis is a widely adopted approach to characterizing drug pharmacokinetics. It uses compartment models that conceptualize the body as a collection of reversibly communicating compartments, each representing a group of tissues exhibiting similar drug distribution characteristics. The movement rate of the drug between these compartments is typically described by first-order kinetics.
Two primary types of compartment models are recognized: mammillary and catenary. The more...

Physiological models in pharmacokinetics are instrumental in understanding the distribution and elimination of drugs within the body. These models describe the drug concentration within target organs, influenced by factors such as drug uptake, tissue volume, and blood flow. Drug uptake is governed by the partition coefficient, which signifies the drug concentration ratio in tissue to that in the blood. The blood flow rate to a specific tissue is expressed as Qt, and the rate of change in tissue...

Noncompartmental analyses offer an alternative method for describing drug pharmacokinetics without relying on a specific compartmental model. In this approach, the drug's pharmacokinetics are assumed to be linear, with the terminal phase log-linear. This assumption allows for simplified analysis and interpretation of the drug's behavior in the body.
One important characteristic of noncompartmental analyses is that drug exposure increases proportionally with increasing doses. This...

Diploid organisms inherit genetic material through chromosomes from both parents. Copies of the same gene are known as alleles. In most cases, both alleles are simultaneously expressed and allow various cellular processes to function optimally. If one of the alleles is missing or mutated, the expression of the other allele can compensate; however, this is not true for all genes.
The expression of some genes depends on which parent passed the gene to the offspring, through a phenomenon known as...

Pharmacokinetic models are mathematical constructs that represent and predict the time course of drug concentrations in the body, providing meaningful pharmacokinetic parameters. These models are categorized into compartment, physiological, and distributed parameter models.
The distributed parameter models are specifically designed to account for variations and differences in some drug classes. This model is particularly useful for assessing regional concentrations of anticancer or...