The wear debris from conventional brake pads is a growing source of environmental contamination that often leads to life-threatening diseases for human beings. Though the emerging organic show potential serve as an eco-friendly alternative, their mechanical and tribological properties are not adequate withstand demands high-wear resistance functioning braking system under regular use. Metal mat...

BACKGROUND Plantar forefoot pain is commonly experienced by older people and it is often treated with forefoot pads to offload the painful area. However, studies have found inconsistent effects for different forefoot pads on plantar pressure reduction, and optimum forefoot pad placement is still not clear. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of different forefoot pads on plantar pr...

Adhesive pads on the legs of animals can be classified as either 'smooth' or 'hairy' (fibrillar). It has been proposed that the hairy design conveys superior and controllable adhesion. However, no study has yet compared the basic performance of both systems. As such, we measured single-pad friction and adhesion forces in sample hairy (Gastrophysa viridula) and smooth (Carausius morosus) pads an...

Protein citrullination has been shown to regulate numerous physiological pathways (e.g., the innate immune response and gene transcription) and is, when dysregulated, known to be associated with numerous human diseases, including cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis. This modification, also termed deimination, is catalyzed by a group of enzymes called the protein arginine deimin...

BACKGROUND Citrullination catalysed by peptidylarginine deiminases (PADs) plays an important pathogenic role in anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA)-positive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and, possibly, several other inflammatory diseases. Non-physiological reducing agents such as dithiothreitol (DTT) are normally added to the reaction buffer when determining PAD activity in vitro. We investi...

1. Evidence is presented that exposure of epididymal fat-pads from fed rats to insulin leads to a marked diminution in the Km for phosphoenolpyruvate of pyruvate kinase. Effects of insulin may be readily demonstrated in experiments both in vivo and in vitro and are not secondary to the activation by the hormone of glucose transport. No effect of insulin is apparent in tissues from 48 h-starved ...

The use of the paired epididymal fat pads of the rat under carefully controlled conditions has revealed the marked sensitivity of this tissue to insulin in vitro or in viva (l-3) and has permitted the demonstration of numerous abnormalities in the metabolism of adipose tissue from alloxan diabetic rats (4, 5). It has been shown that insulin in vitro or in vivo rapidly increases the depressed ox...