Foreign body reactions may occur in patients who receive bioabsorbable implants during orthopedic surgery for fractures and ligament repair. The authors describe a 34-year-old man who presented with a palpable tender mass on the lateral aspect of the left knee of 1 month's duration. He underwent posterior cruciate ligament and posterolateral corner reconstruction 3 years earlier. Physical exami...

Virus-like particles (VLPs), comprised of viral structural proteins devoid of genetic material, are tunable nanoparticles that can be chemically or genetically engineered, to be used as platforms for multimeric display of foreign antigens. Here, we report the engineering of chimeric VLPs, derived from rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) for presentation of foreign B-cell antigens to the imm...

Adhesion and friction have been measured on insect wings where contamination (water and/or contaminating particles) can potentially have a detrimental effect on their flight capabilities or daily functioning. Adhesional forces as low as 2 nN were recorded in air for particles with radii of 10–15 nm, and 20 nN for particles of 31 mm radius. The effective coefficients of friction were in the rang...

Degradation of RF accelerating cavities caused by field emission currently limits the design of future linear accelerators. When field emission is the problem, foreign particles often deserve the blame, but they can be ”processed” away if the cavity electric field is high enough to initiate voltage breakdown near the particle site, in which case the troublesome particle vaporizes, leaving behin...

Phagocytosis of foreign pathogens by cells of the immune system is a vitally important function of innate immunity. The phagocytic response is initiated when ligands on the surface of invading microorganisms come in contact with receptors on the surface of phagocytic cells such as neutrophils, monocytes/macrophages, and dendritic cells. The complement receptor CR3 (CD11b/CD18, Mac-1) mediates t...

An antigen delivery system based on subviral particles formed by the self-assembly of the capsid protein of infectious bursal disease virus and carrying foreign peptides at the top of the projection domain was investigated. We report here the effective insertion of the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) immunodominant epitope in one of the four external loops of the subviral particles. Out of ...

The ability of mucus to function as a protective barrier at mucosal surfaces rests on its viscous and elastic properties, which are not well understood at length scales relevant to pathogens and ultrafine environmental particles. Here we report that fresh, undiluted human cervicovaginal mucus (CVM) transitions from an impermeable elastic barrier to non-adhesive objects sized 1 microm and larger...