Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28938868›Full record

ArticleBMC genomics2017

START: a system for flexible analysis of hundreds of genomic signal tracks in few lines of SQL-like queries.

Xinjie Zhu, Qiang Zhang, Eric Dun Ho, Ken Hung-On Yu, Chris Liu, Tim H Huang, Alfred Sze-Lok Cheng, Ben Kao, Eric Lo, Kevin Y Yip

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC genomics, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Xinjie ZhuDepartment of Computer Science, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Qiang ZhangSchool of Computing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Eric Dun HoDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong.
Ken Hung-On YuDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong.
Chris LiuDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong.
Tim H HuangDepartment of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Alfred Sze-Lok ChengSchool of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong.
Ben KaoDepartment of Computer Science, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, Hong Kong. kao@cs.hku.hk.
Eric LoDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong. ericlo@cse.cuhk.edu.hk.
Kevin Y YipDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong. kevinyip@cse.cuhk.edu.hk.

Funding

Systems Analysis of Epigenomic Architecture in Cancer ProgressionU54CA217297 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCIENCE CENTER · PI HUANG, TIM H.-M. · 2017 to 2021
$9.3M
NCI NIH HHS U54 CA217297
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundA genomic signal track is a set of genomic intervals associated with values of various types, such as measurements from high-throughput experiments. Analysis of signal tracks requires complex computational methods, which often make the analysts focus too much on the detailed computational steps rather than on their biological questions.

resultsHere we propose Signal Track Query Language (STQL) for simple analysis of signal tracks. It is a Structured Query Language (SQL)-like declarative language, which means one only specifies what computations need to be done but not how these computations are to be carried out. STQL provides a rich set of constructs for manipulating genomic intervals and their values. To run STQL queries, we have developed the Signal Track Analytical Research Tool (START, http://yiplab.cse.cuhk.edu.hk/start/ ), a system that includes a Web-based user interface and a back-end execution system. The user interface helps users select data from our database of around 10,000 commonly-used public signal tracks, manage their own tracks, and construct, store and share STQL queries. The back-end system automatically translates STQL queries into optimized low-level programs and runs them on a computer cluster in parallel. We use STQL to perform 14 representative analytical tasks. By repeating these analyses using bedtools, Galaxy and custom Python scripts, we show that the STQL solution is usually the simplest, and the parallel execution achieves significant speed-up with large data files. Finally, we describe how a biologist with minimal formal training in computer programming self-learned STQL to analyze DNA methylation data we produced from 60 pairs of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) samples.

conclusionsOverall, STQL and START provide a generic way for analyzing a large number of genomic signal tracks in parallel easily.

Indexed as

Programming LanguagesCarcinoma, HepatocellularGenomicsHumansLiver NeoplasmsData analysisHuman genomicsSignal tracks

Identifiers

PMID28938868
PMCPMC5610441

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.