title: Introducing dAUTObase: a first step towards the global scale geoepidemiology of autoimmune syndromes and diseases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  An autoimmune disorder occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys its own healthy body tissues. The initiation of a geoepidemiological database, for recording autoimmune incidents with a focus to clinical manifestations, demographic parameters and geographic background is crucial to detect correlations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The dAUTObase collects an ever increasing number of publications-currently counting 435-on autoimmune diseases' frequencies in various populations and ethnic groups. The respective data have been hosted by a web application developed for the task. It uses three data visualization tools: the PivotViewer, the Disease Treemap and the Disease World Map, to assist the effective data querying.
  
  
  METHODS
  The dAUTObase 2.0 version (www.biodata.gr/dautobase) needs no registration for querying, but data entry and modification is reserved for registered users (curators-administrators).
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  kpoulas@upatras.gr or tzimas@cti.gr.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, Rio Patras, 26500, Greece, Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Rio Patras 26500, Greece, Department of Computer and Informatics Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece, M. Alexandrou 1, Koukouli Patras 26334, Greece.
authors.forename: Vassiliki A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Gkantouna
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, Rio Patras, 26500, Greece, Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Rio Patras 26500, Greece, Department of Computer and Informatics Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece, M. Alexandrou 1, Koukouli Patras 26334, Greece.
authors.forename: Manousos E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Kambouris
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, Rio Patras, 26500, Greece, Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Rio Patras 26500, Greece, Department of Computer and Informatics Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece, M. Alexandrou 1, Koukouli Patras 26334, Greece.
authors.forename: Emmanouil S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Viennas
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, Rio Patras, 26500, Greece, Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Rio Patras 26500, Greece, Department of Computer and Informatics Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece, M. Alexandrou 1, Koukouli Patras 26334, Greece.
authors.forename: Zafeiria-Marina
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Ioannou
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, Rio Patras, 26500, Greece, Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Rio Patras 26500, Greece, Department of Computer and Informatics Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece, M. Alexandrou 1, Koukouli Patras 26334, Greece.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paraskevas
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, Rio Patras, 26500, Greece, Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Rio Patras 26500, Greece, Department of Computer and Informatics Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece, M. Alexandrou 1, Koukouli Patras 26334, Greece.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lagoumintzis
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, Rio Patras, 26500, Greece, Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Rio Patras 26500, Greece, Department of Computer and Informatics Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece, M. Alexandrou 1, Koukouli Patras 26334, Greece.
authors.forename: Zoi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zagoriti
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, Rio Patras, 26500, Greece, Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Rio Patras 26500, Greece, Department of Computer and Informatics Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece, M. Alexandrou 1, Koukouli Patras 26334, Greece.
authors.forename: George P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Patrinos
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, Rio Patras, 26500, Greece, Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Rio Patras 26500, Greece, Department of Computer and Informatics Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece, M. Alexandrou 1, Koukouli Patras 26334, Greece.
authors.forename: Giannis E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Tzimas
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, Rio Patras, 26500, Greece, Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Rio Patras 26500, Greece, Department of Computer and Informatics Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece, M. Alexandrou 1, Koukouli Patras 26334, Greece.
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Poulas
mesh_terms: D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005828:Genetics, Population / Q000379:methods; D015894:Genome, Human; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012984:Software; D013577:Syndrome