License. The full terms of the License are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. Permissions beyond the scope of the License are administered by Dove Medical Press Limited. Information on how to request permission may be f...

Coral reefs are oases of life in the oceans, harbouring more than a quarter of all marine species. These vibrant ecosystems are founded on reef structures that are built by the CaCO3 skeletons of “stony” scleractinian corals. While productive and biodiverse, coral reef ecosystems are sensitive to many elements of global environmental change, including “ocean acidification” which impairs the cap...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship between cases of calcifying tendinopathy of the shoulder and symptomatic metabolic diseases such as kidney stones, gallstones and gout. METHODS Calcifying tendinopathy of the shoulder was diagnosed in 63 patients between May 2007 and September 2011. All the patients were treated by the same orthopedic surgeon and were interviewed to gather the following ...

Involvement of cell-derived extracellular particles, coined as matrix vesicles (MVs), in biological bone formation was introduced by Bonucci and Anderson in mid-1960s. In 1983, Anderson et al. observed similar structures in atherosclerotic lesion calcification using electron microscopy. Recent studies employing new technologies and high- resolution microscopy have shown that although they exhib...

Reduction in seawater pH due to rising levels of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) in the world's oceans is a major force set to shape the future of marine ecosystems and the ecological services they provide [1,2]. In particular, ocean acidification is predicted to have a detrimental effect on the physiology of calcifying organisms [3]. Yet, the indirect effects of ocean acidification on calci...

The threat posed to coral reefs by changes in seawater pH and carbonate chemistry (ocean acidification) raises the need for a better mechanistic understanding of physiological processes linked to coral calcification. Current models of coral calcification argue that corals elevate extracellular pH under their calcifying tissue relative to seawater to promote skeleton formation, but pH measuremen...

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...