BACKGROUND Involuntary coughing such as that evoked from the larynx, the laryngeal cough reflex (LCR), triggers a coordinated contraction of the thoracic, abdominal and pelvic muscles, which increases intra-abdominal pressure (IAP), displaces the diaphragm upwards and generates the expiratory force for cough and airway clearance. Changes in the IAP during voluntary cough (VC) and the LCR can be...

Livin, also called melanoma inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) or kidney IAP, is a member of the IAP family of caspase inhibitors that selectively binds the endogenous IAP antagonist SMAC and caspase-3, caspase-7, and caspase-9. As such, Livin inhibits apoptosis, and its overexpression renders malignant cells resistant to chemotherapy. Therefore, inhibitors of Livin could be useful adjuncts t...

Prone positioning may even in patients without abdominal hypertension result in an increased intra-abdominal pressure (IAP). Previous research could not demonstrate a marked increase in IAP associated with cardiovascular, renal, or hepato-splanchnic dysfunction when patients were proned in air-cushioned beds. Michelet and colleagues in this issue of Critical Care report that the increase in IAP...

Intra-abdominal hypertension is increasingly recognized to be both prevalent and clinically important in medical and surgical intensive care units. Intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) can impact organ function throughout the body, and it can also complicate standard measurements used in intensive care units. The article by Krebs and colleagues reports the effect of IAP on respiratory function, gas e...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the importance of intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) and abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS), based on the December 2004 consensus definition, on outcome after surgery for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (rAAA). METHODS Twenty-seven patients underwent open surgery for rAAA after the introduction of intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) measurements among patients at ris...

The spinal canal diameter (SCD) is one of the most studied factors for the assessment of cervical spinal canal stenosis. The inner anteroposterior diameter (IAP), the SCD, and the cross-sectional area (CSA) of the atlas have been used for the evaluation of the size of the atlas in patients with atlas hypoplasia, a rare form of developmental spinal canal stenosis, however, there is little inform...

Background—PR39 is a prolineand arginine-rich peptide implicated in wound healing and myocardial ischemia protection. To determine the potential mechanisms of PR39 in ischemia, we examined the role of PR39 in hypoxia-induced apoptosis in vascular endothelial cells. Methods and Results—Hypoxia results in an increase of apoptosis in bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs), as determined by termin...

A 50-kDa integrin-associated protein (IAP), identified by its role in activation of neutrophils by extracellular matrix proteins, has recently been found to have a primary sequence that predicts five transmembrane domains, raising the possibility that the protein participates in ion transport. In endothelial cells, extracellular matrix proteins and anti-integrin antibodies have been shown to tr...

Cell migration requires a dynamic interaction between the cell, its substrate, and the cytoskeleton-associated motile apparatus. Integrin-associated protein (IAP)/CD47 is a 50-kd cell surface protein that is physically associated with beta3 integrins and that modulates the functions of beta3 integrins in various cells. However, in B-lymphocytes that express beta1 integrins but few beta3 integri...

background: malignant melanoma is a highly metastatic cutaneous cancer and typically refractory to chemotherapy. deregulated apoptosis has been identified as a major cause of cancer drug resistance, and upregulated expression of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein melanom, an inhibitor of apoptosis (ml-iap) is frequent in melanoma. methods: based on the conclusion that ml-iap expression contribu...