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The article concerns integration and disambiguation of data related to the maritime domain. A developed system is described, which collects and merges data about several maritime-related entities (vessels, vessel types, ports, companies etc.) retrieved from different internet sources and feeds the data into a single database. This process is however not trivial. There are few challenges, which need to be faced to successfully conduct it. Firstly, in different sources, entities may be referenced to in different ways, for example, by using different text strings. Additionally, some of these references may be ambiguous, i.e. potentially the reference may point to more than one entity. To enable efficient analysis of data coming from different sources, such ambiguities must be resolved automatically as a preprocessing step, before the data is uploaded to the database and utilized in further computations. The aim of the disambiguation process is to assign artificial, unique identifiers to each entity and then, if possible, automatically assign these identifiers to each data item related to a given entity. In the article, developed methods for resolving such ambiguities are discussed and their evaluation is presented.

Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15), a member of the transforming growth factor-β superfamily, participates in processes associated with myeloma development and its end-organ complications. It plays a significant role in both physiological and abnormal erythropoiesis and regulates iron homeostasis through modulation of hepcidin. It is abnormally secreted in marrow stromal cells of patients with multiple myeloma (MM), which may reflect the tumor microenvironment. We analyzed the associations of serum GDF-15 with clinical characteristics of 73 MM patients (including asymptomatic MM) and the laboratory indices of renal function, anemia, and inflammation. Baseline serum GDF-15 was studied as the predictor of two-year survival. We defined five clinically relevant subgroups of patients (symptomatic MM only, patients with and without remission, patients on chemotherapy, and without treatment). Increased GDF-15 concentrations were associated with more advanced MM stage, anemia, renal impairment (lower glomerular filtration and higher markers of tubular injury), and inflammation. Most of the results were confirmed in the subgroup analysis. Serum cystatin C and urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin were associated with GDF-15 independently of other variables. In the studied MM patients, GDF-15 did not significantly predict survival (p=0.06). Our results suggest that serum GDF-15 reflects myeloma burden and shares a relationship with several markers of prognostic significance, as well as major manifestations.