Thoracic cord compression caused by disk herniation in Scheuermann’s disease: A case report and review of the literature

We present the case of a 14-year-old male with Scheuermann’s disease and significant neurological deficit due to thoracic disk herniation at the apex of kyphosis. He was treated with an anterior decompression, anterior and posterior fusion in the same setting using plate, cage and a segmental instrumentation system. The patient had an excellent outcome with complete neurological recovery

Universal Ecological Patterns in College Basketball Communities

The rank abundance of common and rare species within ecological communities is remarkably consistent from the tropics to the tundra. This invariant patterning provides one of ecology's most enduring and unified tenets: most species rare and a few very common. Increasingly, attention is focused upon elucidating biological mechanisms that explain these species abundance distributions (SADs), but these evaluations remain controversial. We show that college basketball wins generate SADs just like those observed in ecological communities. Whereas college basketball wins are structured by competitive interactions, the result produces a SAD pattern indistinguishable from random wins. We also show that species abundance data for tropical trees exhibits a significant-digit pattern consistent with data derived from complex structuring forces. These results cast doubt upon the ability of SAD analysis to resolve ecological mechanism, and their patterning may reflect statistical artifact as much as biological processes

P2 nucleotide receptors on C2C12 satellite cells

In developing muscle cells environmental stimuli transmitted by purines binding to the specific receptors are crucial proliferation regulators. C2C12 myoblasts express numerous purinergic receptors representing both main classes: P2X and P2Y. Among P2Y receptors we have found the expression of P2Y1, P2Y2, P2Y4, P2Y6 and P2Y12 family members while among P2X receptors P2X4, P2X5 and P2X7 were discovered. We have been able to show that activation of those receptors is responsible for ERK class kinase activity, responsible for regulation of cell proliferation pathway. We have also demonstrated that this activity is calcium dependent suggesting Ca2+ ions as secondary messenger between receptor and kinase regulatory system. More specifically, we do suspect that in C2C12 myoblasts calcium channels of P2X receptors, particularly P2X5 play the main role in proliferation regulation. In further development of myoblasts into myotubes, when proliferation is gradually inhibited, the pattern of P2 receptors is changed. This phenomenon is followed by diminishing of the P2Y2-dependent Ca2+ signaling, while the mRNA expression of P2Y2 receptor reminds still on the high level. Moreover, P2X2 receptor mRNA, absent in myoblasts appears in myotubes. These data show that differentiation of C2C12 cell line satellite myoblasts is accompanied by changes in P2 receptors expression pattern

Application of a Colorimetric Assay to Identify Putative Ribofuranosylaminobenzene 5'-Phosphate Synthase Genes Expressed with Activity in Escherichia coli

Tetrahydromethanopterin (H(4)MPT) is a tetrahydrofolate analog originally discovered in methanogenic archaea, but later found in other archaea and bacteria. The extent to which H(4)MPT occurs among living organisms is unknown. The key enzyme which distinguishes the biosynthetic pathways of H(4)MPT and tetrahydrofolate is ribofuranosylaminobenzene 5'-phosphate synthase (RFAP synthase). Given the importance of RFAP synthase in H(4)MPT biosynthesis, the identification of putative RFAP synthase genes and measurement of RFAP synthase activity would provide an indication of the presence of H(4)MPT in untested microorganisms. Investigation of putative archaeal RFAP synthase genes has been hampered by the tendency of the resulting proteins to form inactive inclusion bodies in Escherichia coli. The current work describes a colorimetric assay for measuring RFAP synthase activity, and two modified procedures for expressing recombinant RFAP synthase genes to produce soluble, active enzyme. By lowering the incubation temperature during expression, RFAP synthase from Archaeoglobus fulgidus was produced in E. coli and purified to homogeneity. The production of active RFAP synthase from Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus was achieved by coexpression of the gene MTH0830 with a molecular chaperone. This is the first direct biochemical identification of a methanogen gene that codes for an active RFAP synthase

Satisfiability Checking and Symbolic Computation

Symbolic Computation and Satisfiability Checking are viewed as individual research areas, but they share common interests in the development, implementation and application of decision procedures for arithmetic theories. Despite these commonalities, the two communities are currently only weakly connected. We introduce a new project SC-square to build a joint community in this area, supported by a newly accepted EU (H2020-FETOPEN-CSA) project of the same name. We aim to strengthen the connection between these communities by creating common platforms, initiating interaction and exchange, identifying common challenges, and developing a common roadmap. This abstract and accompanying poster describes the motivation and aims for the project, and reports on the first activities.Comment: 3 page Extended Abstract to accompany an ISSAC 2016 poster. Poster available at http://www.sc-square.org/SC2-AnnouncementPoster.pd

FAK acts as a suppressor of RTK-MAP kinase signalling in Drosophila melanogaster epithelia and human cancer cells

Receptor Tyrosine Kinases (RTKs) and Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) regulate multiple signalling pathways, including mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway. FAK interacts with several RTKs but little is known about how FAK regulates their downstream signalling. Here we investigated how FAK regulates signalling resulting from the overexpression of the RTKs RET and EGFR. FAK suppressed RTKs signalling in Drosophila melanogaster epithelia by impairing MAPK pathway. This regulation was also observed in MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells, suggesting it is a conserved phenomenon in humans. Mechanistically, FAK reduced receptor recycling into the plasma membrane, which resulted in lower MAPK activation. Conversely, increasing the membrane pool of the receptor increased MAPK pathway signalling. FAK is widely considered as a therapeutic target in cancer biology; however, it also has tumour suppressor properties in some contexts. Therefore, the FAK-mediated negative regulation of RTK/MAPK signalling described here may have potential implications in the designing of therapy strategies for RTK-driven tumours

Integration of decision support systems to improve decision support performance

Decision support system (DSS) is a well-established research and development area. Traditional isolated, stand-alone DSS has been recently facing new challenges. In order to improve the performance of DSS to meet the challenges, research has been actively carried out to develop integrated decision support systems (IDSS). This paper reviews the current research efforts with regard to the development of IDSS. The focus of the paper is on the integration aspect for IDSS through multiple perspectives, and the technologies that support this integration. More than 100 papers and software systems are discussed. Current research efforts and the development status of IDSS are explained, compared and classified. In addition, future trends and challenges in integration are outlined. The paper concludes that by addressing integration, better support will be provided to decision makers, with the expectation of both better decisions and improved decision making processes