Bioinformatics is the use of software, databases, and networks for gene and open reading frame identification; database homology and pattern searching with both DNA and protein sequences; comparative sequence analysis and multiple sequence alignment; protein structure prediction and mapping of functional sites; protein homology modeling and inverse folding as a means of probing protein structure and function; and the discovery or design of drugs against genes or their products.

Winner L, et al. New model for analysis of mucosal immunity: Intestinal secretion of specific monoclonal immunoglobulin A from hybridoma tumor protects against Vibrio cholerae infection. Infectious Immunity 59(3):977-982, 1991; Burns JW, et al. Protective effect of rotavirus VP6-specific IgA monoclonal antibodies that lack neutralizing activity. Science 272:104, 1996.

Institute of Medicine. The Hidden Epidemic: Confronting Sexually Transmitted Diseases. TR Eng, WT Butler, eds. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1997. The contents of the category "sexually transmitted disease" are not always the same. As noted, WHO categories include only the four curable STDs cited in the text. The U.S. cost figures cited include cervical cancer, chancroid, chlamydial infection, gonorrhea, pelvic inflammatory disease, syphilis, and herpes simplex, human papillomavirus, and hepatitis B virus infections. The burden of disease data cover chlamydial infection, gonorrhea, pelvic inflammatory disease, and syphilis. All of the sources, however, treat sexually transmitted HIV/AIDS as a discrete category.

In addition to PCR and LCR assays, there are transcription-mediated amplification (TMA), self-sustaining sequence amplification (3SR), QB replicase-based amplification (QRA), strand displacement amplification (SDA), and branched DNA amplification (bDNA).

Jaschek G, CA Gaydos, LE Welsh, TC Quinn. Direct detection of Chlamydia trachomatis in urine specimens from symptomatic and asymptomatic men by using a rapid polymerase chain reaction assay. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 31(5): 1209-1212, 1993.

Levy SB. The Antibiotic Paradox: How Miracle Drugs Are Destroying the Miracle. New York: Plenum Press, 1992.

From 1975 to 1990, the annual visit rate to office-based physicians for otitis media more than doubled; for children under 15 years of age, the rate increased almost 150 percent (SM Schappert. Office visits for otitis media: United States, 1975-90. Advance Data from Vital and Health Statistics of the National Center for Health Statistics, No. 214 (PHS) 88-1250. Hyattsville, Md., September 1992).

Kristinsson KG. Effect of antimicrobial use and other risk factors on antimicrobial resistance in pneumococci. Microbial Drug Resistance 3(2):117123, 1997.