Dear Editor-in-Chief   Pilomatrixoma is a benign tumor of hair follicle first described as calcifying epithelium (1). It accounts for 1% of all the benign skin tumors (2). It is a slow-growing, firm, dermal or subcutaneous neoplasm, usually measuring fewer than 3 cm in diameter. Pilomatricomas are considered benign; rarely recur after surgical excisi...

BACKGROUND Calcifying nanoparticles (NPs) have been proven to be associated with a variety of pathological calcification and previously detected in semen samples from patients with testicular microlithiasis (TM). The present study was designed to test the hypothesis if human-derived NPs could invade the seminiferous tubules and induce TM phenotype. METHODS The animals were divided into three ...

AIMS Among various hypotheses proposed for pathological tissue calcification, recent evidence supports the possibility that self-replicating calcifying nanoparticles (CNPs) can contribute to such calcification. These CNPs have been detected and isolated from calcified human tissues, including blood vessels and kidney stones, and are referred to as nanobacteria. We evaluated calcific aortic valv...

BACKGROUND Nano-sized complexes of calcium phosphate mineral and proteins (calcifying nanoparticles [CNPs]) serve as mineral chaperones. Thus, CNPs may be both a result and cause of soft tissue calcification processes. This study determined if CNPs could augment calcification of arterial vascular smooth muscle cells in vitro. METHODS CNPs 210 nm in diameter were propagated in vitro from human...