An investigation of the mechanism of adjacent segment disease in a porcine spine model.

Background: Fusion changes the biomechanics of the spine leading to the potential development of adjacent segment disease. Despite many studies on adjacent segment disease, it is largely unknown how spinal fixation affects the mechanical properties of the adjacent disc. The purpose of this study was to assess whether axial compression causes mechanical disruption to the annulus when the caudal spinal level is immobilized or injured.

Analysis of mutations in precision oncology using the automated, accurate, and user-friendly web tool PredictONCO.

Next-generation sequencing technology has created many new opportunities for clinical diagnostics, but it faces the challenge of functional annotation of identified mutations. Various algorithms have been developed to predict the impact of missense variants that influence oncogenic drivers. However, computational pipelines that handle biological data must integrate multiple software tools, which can add complexity and hinder non-specialist users from accessing the pipeline.

Characteristics of Patients with Adult-Onset Dermatomyositis at 2 Tertiary Care Centres in Ontario, Canada.

Dermatomyositis (DM) is an idiopathic inflammatory myopathy characterized by progressive muscle weakness and distinctive cutaneous findings. The exact incidence and prevalence of DM in the general population is largely unknown, and data on demographic and clinical features in patients in Canada are lacking. This study aimed to comprehensively evaluate the patients with DM in Southwestern Ontario, Canada.

Large-scale annotation of biochemically relevant pockets and tunnels in cognate enzyme-ligand complexes.

Tunnels in enzymes with buried active sites are key structural features allowing the entry of substrates and the release of products, thus contributing to the catalytic efficiency. Targeting the bottlenecks of protein tunnels is also a powerful protein engineering strategy. However, the identification of functional tunnels in multiple protein structures is a non-trivial task that can only be addressed computationally.