The intact specimens showed ultimate strengths similar to media in circumferential direction but were twice as strong as the media in the axial direction. Results also indicated that adventitia, media and intact specimens hypoxia-inducible factor pathway exhibited similar extensibility at failure, in both the axial and circumferential directions (stretch ratio 1.50

+/- 0.22). These measurements of the material strength limits for human atherosclerotic carotid arteries could be useful in improving computational models that assess plaque vulnerability. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Factor Xa (FXa) elicits intracellular signaling responses through the activation of protease-activated receptor 2 (PAR2) and possibly also through PAR1 in endothelial cells. In this study, we investigated FXa signaling in endothelial cells when the protease was either in free form or assembled into the prothrombinase complex. Furthermore, we prepared several wild-type and mutant PAR1 and PAR2 cleavage-reporter constructs in which their exodomains were fused to cDNA encoding for a soluble alkaline phosphatase (ALP). In the mutants, P2 residues were exchanged between PAR1 and PAR2 cleavage-reporter constructs and the hirudin-like binding site (HLBS) of PAR1 was inserted into the homologous site of PAR2. In non-transfected cells, FXa

elicited a protective response which could be blocked by a specific anti-PAR2 but not by an anti-PAR1 antibody. A similar protective activity TPX-0005 was observed for FXa in the prothrombinase complex. Further studies revealed that neither the Gla- nor EGF1-domain of FXa is required for its signaling activity, however,

the N-terminus Arg-86 and Lys-87 of the EGF2-domain were essential. In Selleckchem CA4P the cleavage-reporter transfected cells, FXa cleaved the PAR2 construct effectively, however, replacing its P2-Gly with P2-Pro of PAR1 impaired its cleavage by FXa but improved it by thrombin. A PAR2 construct containing both P2-Pro and HLBS of PAR1 was poorly cleaved by FXa, but effectively by thrombin. A PAR1 construct containing P2 and P3 residues of PAR2 was poorly cleaved by thrombin but effectively by FXa. These results provide new insight into mechanisms through which coagulation proteases specifically interact with their target PAR receptors. J. Cell. Biochem. 113: 977984, 2012. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.”
“Objective: Malnutrition, characterized by a loss of lean body mass, enhances the risk of pressure ulcers (PUs). Because the intrinsic risk factor nutritional status in PU development can be influenced by practitioners’ interventions, the use of clinical guidelines might be a satisfactory management approach. This study investigated the influence of using nutritional guidelines in daily practice on the actual nutritional care that PU (prone) patients receive, and barriers with regard to providing nutritional support were also explored.