Structure and function of the endothelial surface layer: unraveling the nanoarchitecture of biological surfaces.

Among the unsolved mysteries of modern biology is the nature of a lining of blood vessels called the 'endothelial surface layer' or ESL. In venous micro-vessels, it is half a micron in thickness. The ESL is 10 times thicker than the endothelial glycocalyx (eGC) at its base, has been presumed to be comprised mainly of water, yet is rigid enough to exclude red blood cells.

Resurrecting FUS: Adrenal Androgens as an Ultimate Cause of Hematuria, Periuria, Pollakuria, Stranguria, Urolithiasis and Obstruction in Neutered Cats.

Although many authors have doubted that "feline urological syndrome" (FUS) describes a real pathogenetic entity, because it subsumes such a large variety of signs, Sumner's recent finding that urethral obstruction occurs most frequently in springtime adds to a large body of evidence that lower urinary tract problems occur most commonly in late winter and spring. This suggests that FUS may be a unitary disorder, with a hormonal basis, driven by increasing day length. We argue that rising adrenal androgens (AA) in neutered cats induce stress, and other more concrete manifestations of FUS through androgen-driven mechanisms.

Is rheumatoid arthritis premature osteoarthritis with fetal-like healing?

Rheumatoid arthritis is now known to share many pathogenetic features with osteoarthritis including synovial activation with release of pro-inflammatory cytokines into the synovial fluid. As premature chondrocyte aging and dedifferentiation is increasingly accepted as integral to OA pathogenesis, premature aging of chondrocytes and perhaps subchondral bone may underlie RA. This hypothesis explains many otherwise enigmatic features of RA joint pathology such as the homing of pannus to cartilage.