Scientific Reports Biology Table of Contents e-alert: 3 March 2015

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03 March 2015      • Visit Scientific Reports • Submit your manuscript to Scientific Reports     Welcome to your Table of Contents e-alert for Scientific Reports               Biological Sciences               The role of seedling recruitment from juvenile populations of Carex brevicuspis (Cyperaceae) at the Dongting Lake wetlands, China ▶     Zheng-miao Deng, Xin-sheng Chen, Yong-hong Xie et al.     Seedlings and vegetative ramets may contribute differentially to the recruitment of clonal populations in different growth phases, but this has rarely been investigated. In this …             Characterization of LGR5 stem cells in colorectal adenomas and carcinomas ▶     Ann-Marie Baker, Trevor A. Graham, George Elia et al.     LGR5 is known to be a stem cell marker in the murine small intestine and colon, however the localization of LGR5 in human adenoma samples has not been examined in detail, and …             A cell-based screening system for anti-influenza A virus agents ▶     Wan Ying Wong, Sheng Wei Loh, Wei Lun Ng et al.     Emerging of drug resistant influenza A virus (IAV) has been a big challenge for anti-IAV therapy. In this study, we describe a relatively easy and safe cell-based screening …             Structural Basis for Substrate-specific Acetylation of Nα-acetyltransferase Ard1 from Sulfolobus solfataricus ▶     Yu-Yung Chang, Chun-Hua Hsu     Nα-acetyltransferases (Nats) possess a wide range of important biological functions. Their structures can vary according to the first two residues of their substrate. However, …             GSK3 inhibitors CHIR99021 and 6-bromoindirubin-3′-oxime inhibit microRNA maturation in mouse embryonic stem cells ▶     Yongyan Wu, Fayang Liu, Yingying Liu et al.     Wnt/β-catenin signalling plays a prominent role in maintaining self-renewal and pluripotency of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). microRNAs (miRNAs) have critical roles in …             Complete genome sequence of hypervirulent and outbreak-associated Acinetobacter baumannii strain LAC-4: epidemiology, resistance genetic determinants and potential virulence factors ▶     Hong-Yu Ou, Shan N. Kuang, Xinyi He et al.     Acinetobacter baumannii is an important human pathogen due to its multi-drug resistance. In this study, the genome of an ST10 outbreak A. baumannii isolate LAC-4 was completely …             Dynamic association of PfEMP1 and KAHRP in knobs mediates cytoadherence during Plasmodium invasion ▶     Akshay Kumar Ganguly, Priyatosh Ranjan, Ashutosh Kumar et al.     Plasmodium falciparum infected erythrocytes display membrane knobs that are essential for their adherence to vascular endothelia and for prevention of clearance by the spleen. …             6-Gingerol reduces Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation and virulence via quorum sensing inhibition ▶     Han-Shin Kim, Sang-Hoon Lee, Youngjoo Byun et al.     Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a well-known pathogenic bacterium that forms biofilms and produces virulence factors via quorum sensing (QS). Interfering with normal QS interactions …             Association of a nicotinic receptor gene polymorphism with spontaneous eyeblink rates ▶     Tamami Nakano, Chiho Kuriyama, Toshiyuki Himichi et al.     Spontaneous eyeblink rates greatly vary among individuals from several blinks to a few dozen blinks per minute. Because dopamine agonists immediately increase the blink rate, …             G-protein-coupled receptor controls steroid hormone signaling in cell membrane ▶     Di Wang, Wen-Li Zhao, Mei-Juan Cai et al.     G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are involved in animal steroid hormone signaling, but their mechanism is unclear. In this research, we report that a GPCR called ErGPCR-2 …             Legacies of Past Exploitation and Climate affect Mammalian Sexes Differently on the Roof of the World - The Case of Wild Yaks ▶     Joel Berger, George B. Schaller, Ellen Cheng et al.     In polar environments, a lack of empirical knowledge about biodiversity prompts reliance on species distribution models to predict future change, yet these ignore the role of …             Nitrogen fertilizer dose alters fungal communities in sugarcane soil and rhizosphere ▶     Chanyarat Paungfoo-Lonhienne, Yun Kit Yeoh, Naga Rup Pinaki Kasinadhuni et al.     Fungi play important roles as decomposers, plant symbionts and pathogens in soils. The structure of fungal communities in the rhizosphere is the result of complex interactions …             Both piston-like and rotational motions are present in bacterial chemoreceptor signaling ▶     Daqi Yu, Xiaomin Ma, Yuhai Tu et al.     Bacterial chemotaxis signaling is triggered by binding of chemo-effectors to the membrane-bound chemoreceptor dimers. Though much is known about the structure of the …             Important biological information uncovered in previously unaligned reads from chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments (ChIP-Seq) ▶     Wilberforce Zachary Ouma, Maria Katherine Mejia-Guerra, Alper Yilmaz et al.     Establishing the architecture of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) relies on chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by massively parallel sequencing (ChIP-Seq) methods that provide …             High-throughput preparation methods of crude extract for robust cell-free protein synthesis ▶     Yong-Chan Kwon, Michael C. Jewett     Crude extract based cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) has emerged as a powerful technology platform for high-throughput protein production and genetic part characterization. Un…             Differential Effects of AAV.BDNF and AAV.Ntf3 in the Deafened Adult Guinea Pig Ear ▶     Cameron L. Budenz, Hiu Tung Wong, Donald L. Swiderski et al.     Cochlear hair cell loss results in secondary regression of peripheral auditory fibers (PAFs) and loss of spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs). The performance of cochlear implants (CI) …             Acceleration of genetic gain in cattle by reduction of generation interval ▶     Poothappillai Kasinathan, Hong Wei, Tianhao Xiang et al.     Genomic selection (GS) approaches, in combination with reproductive technologies, are revolutionizing the design and implementation of breeding programs in livestock species, …             The lncRNA NRON modulates HIV-1 replication in a NFAT-dependent manner and is differentially regulated by early and late viral proteins ▶     Hasan Imam, Aalia Shahr Bano, Paresh Patel et al.     A majority of the human genome is transcribed into noncoding RNAs, of which the functions of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are poorly understood. Many host proteins and RNAs have …             Using visual lateralization to model learning and memory in zebrafish larvae ▶     Madelene Åberg Andersson, Fredrik Ek, Roger Olsson     Impaired learning and memory are common symptoms of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases. Present, there are several behavioural test employed to assess cognitive …             Selective spatial attention modulates bottom-up informational masking of speech ▶     Simon Carlile, Caitlin Corkhill     To hear out a conversation against other talkers listeners overcome energetic and informational masking. Largely attributed to top-down processes, information masking has also …             Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA on the oral mucosa of tuberculosis patients ▶     Rachel C. Wood, Angelique K. Luabeya, Kris M. Weigel et al.     Diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) usually includes laboratory analysis of sputum, a viscous material derived from deep in the airways of patients with active disease. As a …             Intravital Microscopic Interrogation of Peripheral Taste Sensation ▶     Myunghwan Choi, Woei Ming Lee, Seok Hyun Yun     Intravital microscopy is a powerful tool in neuroscience but has not been adapted to the taste sensory organ due to anatomical constraint. Here we developed an imaging window to …             The scent of mixtures: rules of odour processing in ants ▶     Margot Perez, Martin Giurfa, Patrizia d'Ettorre     Natural odours are complex blends of numerous components. Understanding how animals perceive odour mixtures is central to multiple disciplines. Here we focused on carpenter ants, …             Cocaine exposure impairs multineage hematopoiesis of human hematopoietic progenitor cells mediated by the sigma-1 receptor ▶     Christopher C. Nixon, Brandon H. Schwartz, Dhaval Dixit et al.     Prenatal exposure to cocaine is a significant source of fetal and neonatal developmental defects. While cocaine associated neurological and cardiac pathologies are …             Understanding the influence of all nodes in a network ▶     Glenn Lawyer     Centrality measures such as the degree, k-shell, or eigenvalue centrality can identify a network's most influential nodes, but are rarely usefully accurate in quantifying the …             Mirror neuron therapy for hemispatial neglect patients ▶     Wei Wang, Xin Zhang, Xiangtong Ji et al.     Mirror neuron system(MNS) based therapy has been employed to treat stroke induced movement disorders. However, its potential effects on patients with hemispatial neglect were …             Symbiodinium thermophilum sp. nov., a thermotolerant symbiotic alga prevalent in corals of the world's hottest sea, the Persian/Arabian Gulf ▶     B. C. C. Hume, C. D'Angelo, E. G. Smith et al.     Coral reefs are in rapid decline on a global scale due to human activities and a changing climate. Shallow water reefs depend on the obligatory symbiosis between the habitat …             In North America, Some Ovarian Cancers Express the Oncogenes of Preventable Human Papillomavirus HPV-18 ▶     Patrick Roos, Paul A. Orlando, Richard M. Fagerstrom et al.     Some researchers in other regions have recommended human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination to reduce risk of ovarian cancer, but not in North America, where evidence has …             The multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor vandetanib plays a bifunctional role in non-small cell lung cancer cells ▶     Yan Zhou, Yuanliang Zhang, Hanbing Zou et al.     Vandetanib, a multikinase inhibitor, is a target of drug treatments for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, phase II and III clinical trials have not conclusively …             Proteomic identification of early salicylate- and flg22-responsive redox-sensitive proteins in Arabidopsis ▶     Pei Liu, Huoming Zhang, Boying Yu et al.     Accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is one of the early defense responses against pathogen infection in plants. The mechanism about the initial and direct regulation of …             Comparative genome analysis reveals the molecular basis of nicotine degradation and survival capacities of Arthrobacter ▶     Yuxiang Yao, Hongzhi Tang, Fei Su et al.     Arthrobacter is one of the most prevalent genera of nicotine-degrading bacteria; however, studies of nicotine degradation in Arthrobacter species remain at the plasmid level …             Impacts of the Three Gorges Dam on microbial structure and potential function ▶     Qingyun Yan, Yonghong Bi, Ye Deng et al.     The Three Gorges Dam has significantly altered ecological and environmental conditions within the reservoir region, but how these changes affect bacterioplankton structure and …             Regulation of Primary Metabolic Pathways in Oyster Mushroom Mycelia Induced by Blue Light Stimulation: Accumulation of Shikimic Acid ▶     Masanobu Kojima, Ninako Kimura, Ryuhei Miura     Shikimic acid is a key intermediate in the aromatic amino acid pathway as well as an important starting material for the synthesis of Tamiflu, a potent and selective inhibitor of …             Structurally Governed Cell Mechanotransduction through Multiscale Modeling ▶     John Kang, Kathleen M. Puskar, Allen J. Ehrlicher et al.     Mechanotransduction has been divided into mechanotransmission, mechanosensing, and mechanoresponse, although how a cell performs all three functions using the same set of …             Organ-specific PTB1-associated microRNAs determine expression of pyruvate kinase isoforms ▶     Kohei Taniguchi, Yuko Ito, Nobuhiko Sugito et al.     The Warburg effect is a well-known feature of cancer cells. However, its' functional significance hasn't been elucidated yet. Pyruvate kinase muscle (PKM), which is a …             Number of sons contributes to ageing-associated inflammation ▶     Saara Marttila, Tapio Nevalainen, Laura Kananen et al.     The rate of inflammation increases in elderly individuals, a phenomenon called inflammaging, and is associated with degenerative diseases. However, the causes of inflammaging and …             Interleukin-23 promotes the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of oesophageal carcinoma cells via the Wnt/β-catenin pathway ▶     Deyu Chen, Wei Li, Shenzha Liu et al.     As the eighth most common malignant tumour worldwide, oesophageal cancer (OC) is often diagnosed during the metastasis of its advanced stage. Interleukin (IL)-23 is an …             Response surface optimization of culture medium for enhanced docosahexaenoic acid production by a Malaysian thraustochytrid ▶     Vidyah Manikan, Mohd Sahaid Kalil, Aidil Abdul Hamid     Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6n-3) plays a vital role in the enhancement of human health, particularly for cognitive, neurological, and visual functions. Marine microalgae, …             Multiple mechanisms sustain a plant-animal facilitation on a coastal ecotone ▶     Qiang He, Baoshan Cui     Theory suggests that species distributions are expanded by positive species interactions, but the importance of facilitation in expanding species distributions at physiological …             Tonsil-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Ameliorate CCl4–induced Liver Fibrosis in Mice via Autophagy Activation ▶     Minhwa Park, Yu-Hee Kim, So-Youn Woo et al.     Liver transplantation is the treatment of choice for chronic liver failure, although it is complicated by donor shortage, surgery-related complications, and immunological …             Self-similarity of human protein interaction networks: a novel strategy of distinguishing proteins ▶     Emad Fadhal, Junaid Gamieldien, Eric C. Mwambene     The successful determination of reliable protein interaction networks (PINs) in several species in the post-genomic era has hitherto facilitated the quest to understanding …             An efficient process for wastewater treatment to mitigate free nitrous acid generation and its inhibition on biological phosphorus removal ▶     Jianwei Zhao, Dongbo Wang, Xiaoming Li et al.     Free nitrous acid (FNA), which is the protonated form of nitrite and inevitably produced during biological nitrogen removal, has been demonstrated to strongly inhibit the …             Precision Assembly of Complex Cellular Microenvironments using Holographic Optical Tweezers ▶     Glen R. Kirkham, Emily Britchford, Thomas Upton et al.     The accurate study of cellular microenvironments is limited by the lack of technologies that can manipulate cells in 3D at a sufficiently small length scale. The ability to build …             SNORD76, a box C/D snoRNA, acts as a tumor suppressor in glioblastoma ▶     Luyue Chen, Lei Han, Jianwei Wei et al.     Glioblastoma (GBM) is associated with disproportionately high morbidity and mortality, reflecting the need to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic targets for this disease. …             Quantification of the binding potential of cell-surface receptors in fresh excised specimens via dual-probe modeling of SERS nanoparticles ▶     Lagnojita Sinha, Yu Wang, Cynthia Yang et al.     The complete removal of cancerous tissue is a central aim of surgical oncology, but is difficult to achieve in certain cases, especially when the removal of surrounding normal …             Cardioprotective activity of iron oxide nanoparticles ▶     Fei Xiong, Hao Wang, Yidong Feng et al.     Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) are chemically inert materials and have been mainly used for imaging applications and drug deliveries. However, the possibility whether they can …             Low-frequency magnetic fields do not aggravate disease in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ▶     Martina P. Liebl, Johannes Windschmitt, Anna S. Besemer et al.     Low-frequency magnetic fields (LF-MF) generated by power lines represent a potential environmental health risk and are classified as possibly carcinogenic by the World Health …             Relieving the Attentional Blink in the Amblyopic Brain with Video Games ▶     Roger W. Li, Charlie V. Ngo, Dennis M. Levi     Video game play induces a generalized recovery of a range of spatial visual functions in the amblyopic brain. Here we ask whether video game play also alters temporal processing …             Widespread presence of the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in wild amphibian communities in Madagascar ▶     Molly C. Bletz, Gonçalo M. Rosa, Franco Andreone et al.     Amphibian chytridiomycosis, an emerging infectious disease caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), has been a significant driver of amphibian declines. While …             Optimization of the heme biosynthesis pathway for the production of 5-aminolevulinic acid in Escherichia coli ▶     Junli Zhang, Zhen Kang, Jian Chen et al.     5-Aminolevulinic acid (ALA), the committed intermediate of the heme biosynthesis pathway, shows significant promise for cancer treatment. Here, we identified that in addition to …             Mechanisms of recovery of visual function in adult amblyopia through a tailored action video game ▶     Indu Vedamurthy, Mor Nahum, Daphne Bavelier et al.     Amblyopia is a deficit in vision that arises from abnormal visual experience early in life. It was long thought to develop into a permanent deficit, unless properly treated …             Phenotypic population screen identifies a new mutation in bovine DGAT1 responsible for unsaturated milk fat ▶     Klaus Lehnert, Hamish Ward, Sarah D. Berry et al.     Selective breeding has strongly reduced the genetic diversity in livestock species, and contemporary breeding practices exclude potentially beneficial rare genetic variation from …             Induced pluripotent stem cells as a model for diabetes investigation ▶     J. Stepniewski, N. Kachamakova-Trojanowska, D. Ogrocki et al.     Mouse and human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) may represent a novel approach for modeling diabetes. Taking this into consideration, the aim of this study was to generate …             Rapid preparation of rare ginsenosides by acid transformation and their structure-activity relationships against cancer cells ▶     Kai Quan, Qun Liu, Jin-Yi Wan et al.     The anticancer activities of ginsenosides are widely reported. The structure-activity relationship of ginsenosides against cancer is not well elucidated because of the …             Responses of Solid Tumor Cells in DMEM to Reactive Oxygen Species Generated by Non-Thermal Plasma and Chemically Induced ROS Systems ▶     Neha Kaushik, Nizam Uddin, Geon Bo Sim et al.     In this study, we assessed the role of different reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by soft jet plasma and chemical-induced ROS systems with regard to cell death in T98G, …             Highly Stable and Sensitive Fluorescent Probes (LysoProbes) for Lysosomal Labeling and Tracking ▶     Nazmiye B. Yapici, Yue Bi, Pengfei Li et al.     We report the design, synthesis and application of several new fluorescent probes (LysoProbes I-VI) that facilitate lysosomal pH monitoring and characterization of …             Spouses and Depressive Symptoms in Older Adulthood ▶     Neeti Pradeep, Angelina R. Sutin     Depressive symptoms may co-occur within couples and follow similar trajectories, but relatively little is known about this process in old age. This study thus examined the …             A novel mechanism of post-translational modulation of HMGA functions by the histone chaperone nucleophosmin ▶     Laura Arnoldo, Riccardo Sgarra, Eusebio Chiefari et al.     High Mobility Group A are non-histone nuclear proteins that regulate chromatin plasticity and accessibility, playing an important role both in physiology and pathology. Their …             Cross-talk between signaling pathways: The link between plant secondary metabolite production and wounding stress response ▶     Daniel A. Jacobo-Velázquez, Mauricio González-Agüero, Luis Cisneros-Zevallos     Plants subjected to wounding stress produce secondary metabolites. Several of these metabolites prevent chronic diseases and can be used as colorants, flavors, and as …             A Novel Mitosomal β-Barrel Outer Membrane Protein in Entamoeba ▶     Herbert J. Santos, Kenichiro Imai, Takashi Makiuchi et al.     Entamoeba possesses a highly divergent mitochondrion-related organelle known as the mitosome. Here, we report the discovery of a novel protein in Entamoeba, which we name M…             Diversity trends in bread wheat in Italy during the 20th century assessed by traditional and multivariate approaches ▶     Leonardo Ormoli, Corrado Costa, Stefano Negri et al.     A collection of 157 Triticum aestivum accessions, representative of wheat breeding in Italy during the 20th century, was assembled to describe the evolutionary trends of …             Reliable Genotypic Tropism Tests for the Major HIV-1 Subtypes ▶     Kieran Cashin, Lachlan R. Gray, Katherine L. Harvey et al.     Over the past decade antiretroviral drugs have dramatically improved the prognosis for HIV-1 infected individuals, yet achieving better access to vulnerable populations remains a …             Identification of Two Structural Elements Important for Ribosome-Dependent GTPase Activity of Elongation Factor 4 (EF4/LepA) ▶     Evelina Ines De Laurentiis, Hans-Joachim Wieden     The bacterial translational GTPase EF4/LepA is structurally similar to the canonical elongation factor EF-G. While sharing core structural features with other translational …             Whole-mount single molecule FISH method for zebrafish embryo ▶     Yuma Oka, Thomas N. Sato     Noise in gene expression renders cells more adaptable to changing environment by imposing phenotypic and functional heterogeneity on genetically identical individual cells. …             ATP Exhibits Antimicrobial Action by Inhibiting Bacterial Utilization of Ferric Ions ▶     Yutaka Tatano, Yuichi Kanehiro, Chiaki Sano et al.     ATP up-regulates macrophage antimycobacterial activity in a P2X7-dependent manner, but little is known about whether ATP directly exhibits antimicrobial effects against …             Site-specific integration in CHO cells mediated by CRISPR/Cas9 and homology-directed DNA repair pathway ▶     Jae Seong Lee, Thomas Beuchert Kallehauge, Lasse Ebdrup Pedersen et al.     Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are the most widely used mammalian hosts for production of therapeutic proteins. However, development of recombinant CHO cell lines has been …             An ensemble-averaged, cell density-based digital model of zebrafish embryo development derived from light-sheet microscopy data with single-cell resolution ▶     Andrei Y. Kobitski, Jens C. Otte, Masanari Takamiya et al.     A new era in developmental biology has been ushered in by recent advances in the quantitative imaging of all-cell morphogenesis in living organisms. Here we have developed a …             A Dual-Intein Autoprocessing Domain that Directs Synchronized Protein Co-Expression in Both Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes ▶     Bei Zhang, Madhusudhan Rapolu, Zhibin Liang et al.     Being able to coordinate co-expression of multiple proteins is necessary for a variety of important applications such as assembly of protein complexes, trait stacking, and …             Plasma Metabolite Profiling and Chemometric Analyses of Lung Cancer along with Three Controls through Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ▶     Syed Ghulam Musharraf, Shumaila Mazhar, Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary et al.     Lung cancer has been the most common death causing cancer in the world for several decades. This study is focused on the metabolite profiling of plasma from lung cancer (LC) …             Establishment and characterization of patient-derived tumor xenograft using gastroscopic biopsies in gastric cancer ▶     Yan Zhu, Tiantian Tian, Zhongwu Li et al.     The patient-derived tumor xenograft (PDTX) model has become the most realistic model for preclinical studies. PDTX models of gastric cancer using surgical tissues are reported …             Ultrasensitive Biosensors Using Enhanced Fano Resonances in Capped Gold Nanoslit Arrays ▶     Kuang-Li Lee, Jhih-Bin Huang, Jhih-Wei Chang et al.     Nanostructure-based sensors are capable of sensitive and label-free detection for biomedical applications. However, plasmonic sensors capable of highly sensitive detection with …             Design and Application of a Novel High-throughput Screening Technique for 1-Deoxynojirimycin ▶     Peixia Jiang, Shanshan Mu, Heng Li et al.     High-throughput screening techniques for small molecules can find intensive applications in the studies of biosynthesis of these molecules. A sensitive, rapid and cost-effective …             Molecular basis for convergent evolution of glutamate recognition by pentameric ligand-gated ion channels ▶     Timothy Lynagh, Robin N. Beech, Maryline J. Lalande et al.     Glutamate is an indispensable neurotransmitter, triggering postsynaptic signals upon recognition by postsynaptic receptors. We questioned the phylogenetic position and the …             The TLR4 Agonist Fibronectin Extra Domain A is Cryptic, Exposed by Elastase-2; use in a fibrin matrix cancer vaccine ▶     Ziad Julier, Mikaël M. Martino, Alexandre de Titta et al.     Fibronectin (FN) is an extracellular matrix (ECM) protein including numerous fibronectin type III (FNIII) repeats with different functions. The alternatively spliced FN variant …             Genome-wide profiling of DNA methylation provides insights into epigenetic regulation of fungal development in a plant pathogenic fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae ▶     Junhyun Jeon, Jaeyoung Choi, Gir-Won Lee et al.     DNA methylation is an important epigenetic modification that regulates development of plants and mammals. To investigate the roles of DNA methylation in fungal development, we …             Associations of Three Well-Characterized Polymorphisms in the IL-6 and IL-10 Genes with Pneumonia: A Meta-Analysis ▶     Hong Chen, Ning Li, Huanying Wan et al.     Published data on the associations between three well-characterized polymorphisms in the interleukin 6 and 10 (IL-6 and IL-10) genes and the risk of pneumonia are inconclusive. A …             The catalytic role of the M2 metal ion in PP2Cα ▶     Chang Pan, Jun-yi Tang, Yun-fei Xu et al.     PP2C family phosphatases (the type 2C family of protein phosphatases; or metal-dependent phosphatase, PPM) constitute an important class of signaling enzymes that regulate many …             Expression variations of connective tissue growth factor in pulmonary arteries from smokers with and without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ▶     Si-jing Zhou, Min Li, Da-xiong Zeng et al.     Cigarette smoking contributes to the development of pulmonary hypertension (PH) complicated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and the pulmonary vascular …             Genetic variants in the Hippo pathway predict biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer ▶     Chao-Yuan Huang, Shu-Pin Huang, Victor C. Lin et al.     While localized prostate cancer is potentially curative, many patients still show biochemical recurrence (BCR) after curative treatments such as radical prostatectomy (RP). The …             The genome of Leishmania panamensis: insights into genomics of the L. (Viannia) subgenus. ▶     Alejandro Llanes, Carlos Mario Restrepo, Gina Del Vecchio et al.     Kinetoplastid parasites of the Leishmania genus cause several forms of leishmaniasis. Leishmania species pathogenic to human are separated into two subgenera, Leishmania (…                 Epigenome Roadmap Nature Publishing Group presents an online portal - the Epigenome Roadmap - which collects key research papers from The NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Program, complemented by thematical 'threads' to help the readers mine the wealth of available information. 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