Crosslinking, salt-induced aging, and secondary structure formation in Peptide-containing coacervates inspired by spider silk.

Spider silks are exceptional biomaterials: biocompatible, biodegradable, and with remarkable mechanical properties. Unfortunately, attempts to replicate them tend to fail due to the difficulty of synthesizing the proteins that constitute them, and to an incomplete understanding of their processing conditions. Here, we report a synthetic system inspired by spider silk, consisting of a synthetic polyelectrolyte with grafted oligoalanine chains.

CEREBRAL AMYLOID ANGIOPATHY-RELATED INFLAMMATION PRESENTING WITH A STROKE-LIKE EPISODE.

Unlabelled: Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is characterised by β-amyloid deposition in the walls of small to medium sized arteries of the cerebral cortex and the leptomeninges. In a significant proportion of patients, CAA is the probable cause of non-traumatic primary cerebral haemorrhage, particularly in those who are over 55 years of age and have controlled blood pressure. Cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related inflammation (CAA-ri) is an uncommon and aggressive subtype of CAA, which is thought to be caused by an immune reaction to the deposits of β-amyloid.

Emerging insights into the genetic basis of canine hip dysplasia.

Canine hip dysplasia (CHD) is the most common inherited polygenic orthopedic trait in dogs with the phenotype influenced also by environmental factors. This trait was described in the dog in 1935 and leads to a debilitating secondary hip osteoarthritis. The diagnosis is confirmed radiographically by evaluating signs of degenerative joint disease, incongruence, and/or passive hip joint laxity.