Word: matrixes
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Stickiness is central to almost all biological processes. Cells are able to form organs and function as a unit thanks to a fascinating category of complex glues they secrete known as extracellular matrix. Securing cells in their matrix are Velcro-like patches called cellular-adhesion molecules (CAMs), which are present on every cell except red blood cells. These cellular glues not only hold things together but also play a vital role in growth, fetal development, repair of damaged tissue and elimination of noxious invaders...
...when cellular glues become too sticky or fail to hold, the outcome is often disastrous. In cancer, for instance, advancing tumors often secrete an enzyme that chews up their matrix, freeing malignant cells to leak into the bloodstream. Some inevitably stick and proliferate at sites elsewhere in the body. Thus the lethal process of metastasis may be viewed as a breakdown in stickiness...
Furthest along of the new adhesion drugs is an "artificial matrix" designed to promote wound healing. Normally, a wound site looks like the Grand Canyon to arriving rescue cells. But this biodegradable gel, produced by Telios Pharmaceuticals, is peppered with synthesized CAM molecules so that cells arriving at a wound site will have plenty of places to get a grip. With the new gel filling in the gap, repairing wounds, including severe burns or skin ulcers, takes 30% less time and leaves less of a scar, claims company scientific director Michael Pierschbacher...
...list. The best defense of Waspdom is that it always included people who saw that slavery was wrong, and when it came to a fight, they won the war and (thanks to Lincoln) the argument. The way of the Wasp contained the correctives for its vices. It is the matrix of most of the good that America has done as well as the good that needs to be done...
Traditionally, the rallying point of the Catalans is their language -- "our ancient, melodious and abundant tongue," as the 19th century poet Joaquim Rubio i Ors put it -- spoken by about 6 million people today and matrix of an important national literature that goes back to the days of the troubadours. (Catalan and Provencal were sister languages, and poets writing in both moved among the courts of France and Catalunya...