Thrombin-Activated Platelets Protect Vascular Endothelium against Tumor Cell Extravasation by Targeting Endothelial VCAM-1.

When activated by thrombin, the platelets release their granular store of factors. These thrombin-activated platelets (TAPLT) have been shown to be capable of ameliorating pro-inflammatory processes. In this study, we tested if TAPLT could also protect the endothelium against tumor-related pro-inflammatory changes that promote angiogenesis and metastasis.

Association of urinary ketamine and APOA1 levels with bladder dysfunction in ketamine abusers revealed via proteomics and targeted metabolite analyses.

Chronic ketamine abuse is associated with bladder dysfunction and cystitis. However, the effects of ketamine abuse on the urinary proteome profile and the correlations among urinary proteins, urinary ketamine (and metabolites) and clinicopathological features of ketamine-induced bladder dysfunction remain to be established. Here, we recruited 56 ketamine abusers (KA) and 40 age-matched healthy controls (HC) and applied the iTRAQ-based proteomics approach to unravel quantitative changes in the urine proteome profile between the two groups.

Rapid and Efficient Enrichment of Snake Venoms from Human Plasma Using a Strong Cation Exchange Tip Column to Improve Snakebite Diagnosis.

Snake envenomation is a serious public health issue in many tropical and subtropical countries. Accurate diagnosis and immediate antivenom treatment are critical for effective management. However, the venom concentration in the victims' plasma is usually low, representing one of the bottlenecks in developing clinically applicable assays for venom detection and snakebite diagnosis.

Basic fibroblast growth factor antagonizes activin A-mediated growth inhibition and hemoglobin synthesis in K562 cells by activating ERK1/2 and deactivating p38 MAP kinase.

Activin A can induce erythroid differentiation, whereas basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) can maintain the undifferentiated status of erythroid progenitors. How these two factors together can affect the regulation of erythroid differentiation in hematopoietic cells has not been elucidated. This study demonstrates that bFGF antagonizes activin A-mediated growth inhibition and hemoglobin (Hb) synthesis in K562 cells.