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Scientists at Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University and Harvard Medical School have revealed how, in the case of limb formation, the electrical patterns formed within an embryo initiate a cascade of molecular changes ...
Biotechnology
Oct 7, 2019
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660
The unparalleled liquid strength of cartilage, which is about 80 percent water, withstands some of the toughest forces on our bodies.
Nanomaterials
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4312
In 2007, MIT scientists developed a type of microscopy that allowed them to detail the interior of a living cell in three dimensions, without adding any fluorescent markers or other labels. This technique also revealed key ...
General Physics
Mar 21, 2014
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(Phys.org) —The ability of a cell to move, replicate, and recast itself according to the needs of the organism which it serves, comes at it price. The extreme flexibility of cells takes its origin from the constant turnover ...
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For the first time, scientists have made star-shaped, biodegradable polymers that can self-assemble into hollow, nanofiber spheres, and when the spheres are injected with cells into wounds, these spheres biodegrade, but the ...
Bio & Medicine
Apr 17, 2011
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It might seem obvious that a dinosaur's leg bone connects to the hip bone, but what came between the bones has been less obvious. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri and Ohio University have found that dinosaurs ...
Archaeology
Sep 30, 2010
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Materials Science
May 13, 2010
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Cartilage is a type of dense connective tissue existing within many joints. It is composed of specialized cells called chondrocytes that produce a large amount of extracellular matrix composed of collagen fibers, abundant ground substance rich in proteoglycan, and elastin fibers. Cartilage is classified in three types, elastic cartilage, hyaline cartilage and fibrocartilage, which differ in the relative amounts of these three main components.
Cartilage is found in many areas in the body, including the articular surface of the bones, the rib cage, the ear, the nose, the bronchial tubes and the intervertebral discs. Its mechanical properties are intermediate between bone and dense connective tissue like tendon.
Unlike other connective tissues, cartilage does not contain blood vessels. The chondrocytes are fed by diffusion, helped by the pumping action generated by compression of the articular cartilage or flexion of the elastic cartilage. Thus, compared to other connective tissues, cartilage grows and repairs more slowly.
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