The amino acid sequence of bovine blood coagulation Factor IX (Christmas Factor) is presented and compared with the sequences of other vitamin K-dependent plasma proteins and pancreatic trypsinogen. The 416-residue sequence of Factor IX was determined largely by automated Edman degradation of two large segments, containing 181 and 235 residues, isolated after activating Factor IX with a proteas...

Diagnosis of antiphospholipid antibody syndrome includes laboratory testing for lupus anticoagulants (LAs). Guidelines for testing have been published, but approaches vary, often incorporating multiple tests. We evaluated the performance of the activated partial thromboplastin time using 2 reagents, a dilute Russell viper venom time, and a hexagonal phospholipid assay for detecting LAs in 105 a...

An anticoagulant activity from adult Schistosoma mansoni whole worm homogenate is described. The inhibitor appears to be specific for the contact activation step of the intrinsic pathway. Experiments with both human and mouse plasmas have defined the specificity of the inhibitor as follows: (1) It lengthens the partial thromboplastin time of normal plasma. (2) It has no effect on the prothombin...

Phospholipases A2 represent the most abundant family of snake venom proteins. They manifest an array of biological activities, which is constantly expanding. We have recently shown that a protein bitanarin, isolated from the venom of the puff adder Bitis arietans and possessing high phospholipolytic activity, interacts with different types of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and with the acety...

Laboratory-specific cut-off lupus ratios (LR), above which a plasma is judged positive for lupus anticoagulant (LA), were established for both activated partial thromboplastin time-based and dilute Russell viper venom time-based methods. The validity of using these cut-off values to determine the presence of LA in patients on oral anticoagulation (OAC) was assessed. A cohort of 40 patients (23 ...

OBJECTIVE The Sydney classification criteria for antiphospholipid syndrome include lupus anticoagulant or moderate-to-high titre anticardiolipin IgG or IgM. We explored the association of all anticardiolipin isotypes, lupus anticoagulant and the combination with venous and arterial thrombosis. METHODS Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in a large clinical cohort seen quarterly w...

BACKGROUND Plaque rupture with subsequent thrombosis is recognised as the underlying pathophysiology of most acute coronary syndromes. Thus, direct thrombus visualisation in vivo may be beneficial for both diagnosis and guidance of therapy. We sought to test the feasibility of imaging acute thrombosis in vivo using optical coherence tomography (OCT) in an experimental thrombosis animal model. ...

Formation of plaque by fibrils of β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide in the brain is the characteristic feature of Alzheimer disease (AD). Inhibition of the process of aggregate formation from Aβ-monomer and destabilization of the aggregate could be useful for prevention and propagation of the disease respectively. Russell's viper venom (RVV) contains protein(s) that destabilize Aβ aggregates as revealed f...

The venoms extracted from a colubrid snake [Malpolon monspessulanus (Hermann)], seven viperids [Montivipera xanthina (Gray), Montivipera wagneri Nilson &Andrén, Vipera ammodytes (Linnaeus), Vipera kaznakovi (Nikolsky), Vipera eriwanensis (Bonaparte), Vipera barani Böhme & Joger, Macrovipera lebetina (Linnaeus)] and an elapid snake [Walterinnesia aegyptia (Lataste)] collected from various region...