Articular calcification correlates with osteoarthritis (OA) severity but its exact role in the disease process is unclear. In examining OA meniscal cell function, Sun and colleagues have shown recently that meniscal cells from end-stage OA subjects can generate calcium crystals and that genes involved in calcification are upregulated in OA meniscal cells. Also, this in vitro calcium deposition ...

Practicing physicians are familiar with the term “aortic unfolding,” which is used in chest X-ray reports to describe an aging change and generally assume that this term represents proximal aortic dilation. “Unfolding” is often associated with aortic calcification, which implies aortic degeneration. The degree of ascending aortic dilation with age is relatively small and out of proportion to th...

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with both extensive vascular calcification and abnormal bone remodeling, namely renal osteodystrophy. Moreover, there is increasing evidence for a close relationship between bone and vessel function. Pathological vascular calcification has been recently recognized as an active, cell-mediated process with similarities to physiological skeletal mineraliz...

ALTHOUGH calcification in the animal body is normaly confined to hypertrophic cartilage and osteoid, in certain abnormal or pathological conditions deposits of calcium salts may also be formed in other tissues, among which are the kidney, the lung and the arteries. Some of these conditions, for example hypervitaminosis D, are associated with exceptionally high concentrations of bloodcalcium or ...

UNLABELLED A 30-year-old female presented with a history of secondary amenorrhoea, acromegalic features and progressive visual deterioration. She had elevated serum IGF1 levels and unsuppressed GH levels after an oral glucose tolerance test. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a heterogeneously enhancing space-occupying lesion with atypical extensive calcification within the sellar and suprasel...

The clinical and pathological features of five cases of calcification of umbilical cord vessels were reviewed. Two distinct lesions were identified: calcification could produce either sclerosis of the wall or obliteration of the lumen. In three cases there was calcification within the media and adventitia of the umbilical arteries, with extension into Wharton's jelly in one case. The pathogenes...

BACKGROUND Pathological calcification in soft tissues (ie, ectopic calcification) can have severe consequences. Hydroxyapatite is the common mineral phase present in all tissue calcifications. In general, the development of tissue calcifications requires a pre-existing injury as an inducer (heterogeneous nucleant), whereas further progression requires the presence of other promoter factors (suc...

Medial calcification in the human aorta accumulates during aging and is known to be aggravated in several diseases. Atherosclerosis, another major cause of cardiovascular calcification, shares some common aggravators. However, the mechanisms of cardiovascular calcification remain poorly understood. To elucidate the relationship between medial aortic calcification and atherosclerosis, we charact...

In the current issue of Circulation, Ix et al demonstrate an inverse correlation between mitral and aortic valve calcification and serum fetuin-A levels in a cross-sectional study of 970 patients with coronary artery disease and without renal disease.1 Increased serum fetuin was significantly associated with diabetes mellitus, hypertriglyceridemia, serum albumin, and body mass index, with a wea...

purpose: to report the clinico-pathologic features of an opacified single-piece hydrophilic acrylic intraocular lens (iol). patient and findings: a 48-year-old male patient was evaluated for glare and markedly decreased vision in his left eye four years after phacoemulsification and implantation of a single-piece hydrophilic acrylic iol (ophthalmed). best-corrected visual acuity was 20/60 and t...