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“One of the key components of tissue engineering is a scaffold with suitable morphology, outstanding mechanical properties, and favorable biocompatibility.

In this study, beta-TCP-tricalcium phosphate (beta-TCP) nanoparticles were synthesized and incorporated with poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) to fabricate nanocomposite scaffolds by the thermally induced phase separation method. The PLLA/beta-TCP nanocomposite scaffolds showed a continuous nanofibrous PLLA matrix with strut diameters of 100-750 nm, interconnected micropores with pore diameters in the range of 0.5-10 lm, and high porosity ( bigger than 92 %). beta-TCP nanoparticles were homogeneously dispersed in the PLLA matrix, selleck which significantly improved the compressive modulus and protein adsorption capacity. The prepared nanocomposite scaffolds provided a suitable microenvironment for osteoblast attachment and proliferation, demonstrating the potential of the PLLA/beta-TCP nanocomposite Quizartinib molecular weight scaffolds in bone tissue engineering applications.”
“Myosin storage myopathy (MSM) is a protein aggregate myopathy caused by the accumulation of myosin

in muscle fibres and results from MYH7 mutation. Although MYH7 mutation is also an established cause of variable cardiomyopathy with or without skeletal myopathy, cardiomyopathy with MSM is a rare combination. Here, we update the clinical findings in the two brothers that we previously reported as having selleck kinase inhibitor recessively inherited MSM characterized by scapuloperoneal distribution of weakness and typical hyaline-like bodies in type 1 muscle fibres. One of the patients, weak from

childhood but not severely symptomatic until 28 years of age, had an unusual combination of MSM, severe dilated cardiomyopathy, and respiratory impairment at the age of 44 years. We identified homozygous missense mutation c.5458C bigger than T (p.R1820W) in exon 37 in these patients as the second recessive MYH7 mutation reported to date. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.”
“Enterococcus faecium IT62, a strain isolated from ryegrass in Japan, produces three bacteriocins (enterocins L50A, L50B, and IT) that have been previously purified and the primary structures of which have been determined by amino acid sequencing (E. Izquierdo, A. Bednarczyk, C. Schaeffer, Y. Cai, E. Marchioni, A. Van Dorsselaer, and S. Ennahar, Antimicrob. 4 Agents Chemother., 52: 1917-1923, 2008). Genetic analysis showed that the bacteriocins of E. faecium IT62 are plasmid encoded, but with the structural genes specifying enterocin L50A and enterocin L50B being carried by a plasmid (pTAB1) that is separate from the one (pTIT1) carrying the structural gene of enterocin IT. Sequencing analysis of a 1,475-bp region from pTAB1 identified two consecutive open reading frames corresponding, with the exception of 2 bp, to the genes entL50A and entL50B, encoding EntL50A and EntL50B, respectively. Both bacteriocins are synthesized without N-terminal leader sequences.