CO2 response screen in grass Brachypodium reveals the key role of a MAP kinase in CO2-triggered stomatal closure.

Plants respond to increased CO2 concentrations through stomatal closure, which can contribute to increased water use efficiency. Grasses display faster stomatal responses than eudicots due to dumbbell-shaped guard cells flanked by subsidiary cells working in opposition. However, forward genetic screening for stomatal CO2 signal transduction mutants in grasses has yet to be reported.

Rate of Total Hip Replacement after Legg Calve Perthes Disease in a Canadian Province.

Legg Calve Perthes disease is a pediatric hip condition that leads to early hip degeneration. The efficacy of operative and nonoperative treatment is not well defined in the literature. Using the rate of total hip arthroplasty as a surrogate measure for symptomatic hip degeneration, the rate of total hip arthroplasty was compared in Legg Calve Perthes disease patients with and without previous surgical intervention in the province of Manitoba, Canada.

Correction of Genu Recurvatum Deformity Using a Hexapod Frame: A Case Series and Review of the Literature.

Aim And Objective: Genu recurvatum is a rare deformity for which minimal literature exists. Non-operative management typically gives unsatisfactory results. This study aims to evaluate the treatment of genu recurvatum with a hexapod frame.

Incidence of Total Knee Replacement in Patients With Previous Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

Objective: To determine the rate of total knee replacement (TKR) after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACL-R) compared to the general population.

Design: Retrospective review.

Setting: All hospitals that performed TKR and ACL-R in Manitoba between 1980 and 2015.

Epidemiological Trends of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in a Canadian Province.

Objective: To determine epidemiological trends of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACL-R) in a Canadian province, estimate the national incidence, and compare with internationally published data.

Design: Retrospective review.

Setting: All hospitals that performed ACL reconstructions in Manitoba between 1980 and 2015.

Mapping the allosteric sites of the A adenosine receptor.

The A adenosine receptor (A AR) is a G protein-coupled receptor that is pharmacologically targeted for the treatment of inflammation, sepsis, cancer, neurodegeneration, and Parkinson's disease. Recently, we applied long-timescale molecular dynamics simulations on two ligand-free receptor conformations, starting from the agonist-bound (PDB ID: 3QAK) and antagonist-bound (PDB ID: 3EML) X-ray structures. This analysis revealed four distinct conformers of the A AR: the active, intermediate 1, intermediate 2, and inactive.

A Molecular Dynamics Investigation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Prenyl Synthases: Conformational Flexibility and Implications for Computer-aided Drug Discovery.

With the rise in antibiotic resistance, there is interest in discovering new drugs active against new targets. Here, we investigate the dynamic structures of three isoprenoid synthases from Mycobacterium tuberculosis using molecular dynamics (MD) methods with a view to discovering new drug leads. Two of the enzymes, cis-farnesyl diphosphate synthase (cis-FPPS) and cis-decaprenyl diphosphate synthase (cis-DPPS), are involved in bacterial cell wall biosynthesis, while the third, tuberculosinyl adenosine synthase (Rv3378c), is involved in virulence factor formation.

Large B-cell lymphoma mimicking iliopsoas abscess following open revision of proximal femur infected non-union: a case report.

Background: Extranodal presentation of lymphoma is a rare occurrence. It has been postulated that chronic antigen stimulation may predispose a patient to the development of lymphoma.

Case Presentation: We present a case report of a large extranodal B-cell lymphoma mimicking a postoperative abscess following surgery for an infected proximal femur nonunion in an 80-year-old Caucasian male of Italian descent.

Structure-based network analysis of an evolved G protein-coupled receptor homodimer interface.

Crystallographic structures and experimental assays of human CXC chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) provide strong evidence for the capacity to homodimerize, potentially as a means of allosteric regulation. Even so, how this homodimer forms and its biological significance has yet to be fully characterized. By applying principles from network analysis, sequence-based approaches such as statistical coupling analysis to determine coevolutionary residues, can be used in conjunction with molecular dynamics simulations to identify residues relevant to dimerization.

Molecular basis of calcium-sensitizing and desensitizing mutations of the human cardiac troponin C regulatory domain: a multi-scale simulation study.

Troponin C (TnC) is implicated in the initiation of myocyte contraction via binding of cytosolic Ca²⁺ and subsequent recognition of the Troponin I switch peptide. Mutations of the cardiac TnC N-terminal regulatory domain have been shown to alter both calcium binding and myofilament force generation. We have performed molecular dynamics simulations of engineered TnC variants that increase or decrease Ca²⁺ sensitivity, in order to understand the structural basis of their impact on TnC function.

ADAPTIVE FINITE ELEMENT MODELING TECHNIQUES FOR THE POISSON-BOLTZMANN EQUATION.

We consider the design of an effective and reliable adaptive finite element method (AFEM) for the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation (PBE). We first examine the two-term regularization technique for the continuous problem recently proposed by Chen, Holst, and Xu based on the removal of the singular electrostatic potential inside biomolecules; this technique made possible the development of the first complete solution and approximation theory for the Poisson-Boltzmann equation, the first provably convergent discretization, and also allowed for the development of a provably convergent AFEM. However, in practical implementation, this two-term regularization exhibits numerical instability.

Spinal cord injury in Manitoba: a provincial epidemiological study.

Objective: To define the epidemiological trends and identify populations at risk of traumatic and non-traumatic spinal cord injury (NTSCI) for the province of Manitoba, Canada.

Methods: We reviewed records retrospectively for subjects in three cohorts (1981-1985, 1998-2002, and 2003-2007). A total of 553 individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) were studied for variables such as age, level of injury, severity of injury, First Nations (FN) status, and etiology of injury.

New insights into the GABA(A) receptor structure and orthosteric ligand binding: receptor modeling guided by experimental data.

GABA(A) receptors (GABA(A)Rs) are ligand gated chloride ion channels that mediate overall inhibitory signaling in the CNS. A detailed understanding of their structure is important to gain insights in, e.g.