Oracle

The relational database model was developed by Codd at IBM in 1970 [9]. Oracle provided the first implementation in 1979. The hierarchical database IMS was replaced by DB2, which is also an RDBMS. There exist himdreds of other DBMSs, such as SQL/DS, XDB, My SQL, and Ingres. 

DayCart is a software cartridge which offers a range of operation on an Oracle database, such as complete structure, similarity, and substructure search. The software can be obtained from Daylight Chemical Information Systems, Inc. (Mission Viejo CA) URL www.daylight.com... 

MACCS-II enables direct interface with other database management systems, such as the Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) and Oracle, so that databases which contain text and numeric data for which special interfaces are normally needed can be constmcted. Eor example, an Oracle MACCS-II linked system is currendy being used by the National Institute on Dmg Abuse (113) to develop a database that will allow scientists to determine the molecular stmctures of cocaine and other controlled substances as well as designer dmgs. 

A database management system (DBMS) is used by most LIMS systems for storing data. Examples of commercially available DBMS are DB2, DBASE, Informix, INGRES, ORACLE, and RDB. AH of these DBMS conform to the "relational" model developed by Codd (19). Eigure 3 demonstrates the use of a relational DBMS for storing LIMS data. Here data is grouped by type so customer and analysis requests are stored separately from sets of sample information which are, in turn, stored separately from sets of analysis results. Individual records are linked or related by unique identification data. 

There is no single "master oracle program that directs the action of all other programs. 

Shall our Reason judge of the Divine Oracles which the Holy Ghost hath brought forth through the Mouth of the Saints, when as Men of God spoke them not in their own Wills, but as they were led by the Spirit.. . the Holy Ghost.. . the only worker of Regeneration ... 

Berger CR. Predictive Analysis Is Data Mining s Future BioIT world 2005, June 20, 2005 http //www.bio-itworld.eom/newsitems/2005/06-05/06-23-05-news-oracle. 

User Authentication. User authentication is a vital required function, particularly for fully electronic systems, but one whose implementation varies widely from one company to another. Different companies may use different authentication mechanisms and technologies to validate their users, for example, Windows username, Oracle usernames, smartcards (such as SAFE-compliant cards provided by a trust authority), and biometrics. Typical enterprise ELN systems will delegate this authentication process to an external module that is customized to match the corporate IT infrastructure. 

Breakdowns in information storage occur when pertinent information is either not stored at all or is kept but without related information that is required to interpret it. For example, a column of assay results may be stored in an Oracle table, but without any cross-referencing to assay protocol information or indication of which values should be considered active. The data are therefore rendered useless except to the person who stored the results. 

A new tool for computational ADME/Tox called MetaDrug includes a manually annotated Oracle database of human drug metabolism information including xenobiotic reactions, enzyme substrates, and enzyme inhibitors with kinetic data. The MetaDrug database has been used to predict some of the major metabolic pathways and identify the involvement of P450s [78]. This database has enabled the generation of over 80 key metabolic... 

Searching Google.com for e-clinical provides many vendors. Some of these are Oracle Clinical v4i from Oracle Corporation [34], DataLabsXC from DataLabs, Inc. [35], TrialMaster from OmniCommSystems [36], and Clin-Plus Data Management (CPDM) by DZS Software Solutions, Inc. [37]. 

Errors and Inconsistencies in Formatting Dates. It is also necessary to use standardized formats to record dates. For example, Oracle stores a date as the number of seconds since January 1, 4712 BC, and then uses various functions to display the dates in more human-friendly formats. There are many different and personal ways for recording dates one of the authors (AS) has noted at least 25 different ways in a single clinical trial submitted for FDA review Should February 1,2007 be recorded as 1 February 2007,1 Feb 2007, 1 Feb 07, or 02/01/07 This problem still exists when data for numerical dates are extracted into software programs such as Excel that do not force the user to select a unique format for dates. 

In most cases, the data that you use for clinical trial analyses are found in some kind of computer file external to the SAS System. The data you need may be found in a permanent SAS data set, a relational database table found in Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server, a Microsoft Access or Excel file, a simple delimited ASCII text file, or even an XML file. In any case SAS provides a wide array of ways in which to import data files into SAS. We explore these tools and the advantages and disadvantages of each in this chapter. 

Most clinical data management systems used for clinical trials today store their data in relational database software such as Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server. A relational database is composed of a set of rectangular data matrices called tables that relate or associate with one another by certain key fields. The language most often used to work with relational databases is structured query language (SQL). The SAS/ACCESS SQL Pass-Through Facility and the SAS/ACCESS LIBNAME engine are the two methods that SAS provides for extracting data from relational databases. 

Program 3.1 Using the SQL Pass-Through Facility to Get Data from Oracle... 

In this program the oratabs libref allows all of the tables found in that Oracle data instance to be treated like SAS data sets. This is a simple and fast way of accessing relational databases, and it requires no knowledge of SQL to implement. 

Although the preceding examples import Oracle data, SAS/ACCESS can be used to access quite a number of relational databases, including Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, DB2, and Informix. The database-specific details on how to set up these SAS/ACCESS connections can be found in the SAS/ACCESS product documentation. 

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