INVESTIGADORES
RABINOVICH Jorge Eduardo
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Integration of triatomine knowledge: MetaTri", a data base for meta-analysis
Autor/es:
JORGE RABINOVICH
Lugar:
Lisboa
Reunión:
Workshop; I Iberoamerican Workshop on Chagas Disease, Triatomine vectors, T. cruzi, and Triatoma virus; 2010
Institución organizadora:
Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT), Lisboa, Portugal
Resumen:
Introduction: Over 4,000
scientific articles have been published on the natural history, anatomy, ecology,
physiology, behavior, genetics, distribution, habitat, diet, molecular biology,
phylogeny, evolution and many other important aspects of the Triatominae. However,
such a wealth of information is difficult to integrate in order to convert knowledge
into understanding.
Objective: Development of a data base
software ("MetaTri") to host updated knowledge on triatomines, and design
of statistical methods for a "meta-analysis".
Methods: The software, programmed
in Delphi used a SQL Server data base engine. The distribution of 116 species
of triatomines was obtained from the "Atlas" of FRIOCRUZ, the climate
information from FAO's "New Loc Clim" software, and the vegetation
data from the EU Ispra Center (Italy), and recorded at a 1/10th degree of resolution.
For some species diet, habitat, and life history data were also recorded. In
addition to utilities for mapping the distribution of the presence/absence and
species richness, tools such as climadiagrams, bivariate diagrams, grid cells
exportation, distribution predictions based on decision trees and neural
network rules are provides. The query capacity allows combining searches from all types of information
recorded in the data base.
Results: "MetaTri" is
completely functional. Queries on the combined conditions of habitat and diet and
the geographical distribution of many species with the effects of geographical
scale have been analyzed, and several papers are ready for publication. The
compilation of the life history data is finished and is being analyzed in
collaboration with the Université Claude Bernard, Lyon, France.
Conclusions: The objective,
although ambitious, has proved feasible, although much more information is
still pending to be recorded. The preliminary results of the use of
"MetaTri" have already suggested new complementary information that
is required; e.g., the phylogenetic information that allows comparisons between
different species and genera.