Recently, an alternative pathway for factor XI activation has been described in which factor XI is activated by thrombin. Patients with a factor XI deficiency bleed mostly from tissues with high local fibrinolytic activity. Therefore, the role of thrombin-mediated factor XI activation in both fibrin formation and fibrinolysis was studied in a plasma system. Clotting was induced by the addition ...

BACKGROUND Monitoring low molecular weight heparins (LMWH's) in the perioperative period is prudent in patients at high risk of coagulative complications, especially when the patient has an epidural catheter requiring withdrawal, which is associated with the risk of spinal haematoma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro dose-responses of two different LMWH's on two different visco...

BACKGROUND Although plasminogen activator therapy has been shown to reduce mortality in patients with severe myocardial infarction, several problems fuel the search for more potent and specific thrombolytic agents. METHODS AND RESULTS To explore the effect of plasminogen activator targeting to platelets, we covalently linked urokinase that had been modified with N-succinimidyl-3-(2-pyridyldit...

Factor XIII (F XIII) is an essential parameter for final clot stability. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the addition of factor (F)XIII on clot stability as assessed by Rotation Thromboelastometry (ROTEM). In 90 intensive care patients ROTEM measurements were performed after in vitro addition of F XIII 0.32 IU, 0.63 IU, 1.25 IU and compared to diluent controls (DC; aqua...

Fibrinogen is cleaved by thrombin to fibrin, which provides the blood clot with its essential structural backbone. As an acute phase protein, the plasma levels of fibrinogen are increased in response to inflammatory conditions. In addition to fibrinogen levels, fibrin clot structure is altered by a number of factors. These include thrombin levels, treatment with common cardiovascular medication...

A lumbrokinase gene encoding a blood-clot dissolving protein was cloned from earthworm (Eisenia fetida) by RT-PCR amplification. The gene designated as CST1 (GenBank No. AY840996) was sequence analyzed. The cDNA consists of 888 bp with an open reading frame of 729 bp, which encodes 242 amino acid residues. Multiple sequence alignments revealed that CST1 shares similarities and conserved amino a...