Measuring Activated Clotting Time during Cardiac Catheterization and PCI: The Effect of the Sampling Site.

Results: In 100 patients (mean age 67.1, 65% male), no significant differences were observed in ACT values obtained from the guiding catheter and arterial sheath (mean difference (MD) -18.3 s; standard deviation (SD) 96 s; =0.

Advances in percutaneous coronary intervention for chronic total occlusions: current antegrade dissection and reentry techniques and updated algorithm.

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for chronic total occlusions (CTO) is considered relatively complex with low success rates and high complication rates. Treating a CTO with PCI using the hybrid algorithm increases success rates with acceptable complication rates. An essential part of the hybrid algorithm is antegrade dissection and reentry (ADR).

The Alkmaar CTO Registry: A Retrospective Cohort Evaluating the Introduction of a Dedicated CTO Program.

Background: Percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) of chronic total occlusions (CTO) are high risk procedures with low success rates compared to standard PCI. Recently the 'hybrid approach' method has been developed to increase success rate. In 2015 we set up a dedicated program to systematically treat CTOs by this hybrid approach.

The transmembrane CXC-chemokine ligand 16 is induced by IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha and shed by the activity of the disintegrin-like metalloproteinase ADAM10.

The novel CXC-chemokine ligand 16 (CXCL16) functions as transmembrane adhesion molecule on the surface of APCs and as a soluble chemoattractant for activated T cells. In this study, we elucidate the mechanism responsible for the conversion of the transmembrane molecule into a soluble chemokine and provide evidence for the expression and shedding of CXCL16 by fibroblasts and vascular cells. By transfection of human and murine CXCL16 in different cell lines, we show that soluble CXCL16 is constitutively generated by proteolytic cleavage of transmembrane CXCL16 resulting in reduced surface expression of the transmembrane molecule.

CCR2: characterization of the antagonist binding site from a combined receptor modeling/mutagenesis approach.

We describe here a classical molecular modeling exercise that was carried out to provide a basis for the design of novel antagonist ligands of the CCR2 receptor. Using a theoretical model of the CCR2 receptor, docking studies were carried out to define plausible binding modes for the various known antagonist ligands, including our own series of indole piperidine compounds. On the basis of these results, a number of site-directed mutations (SDM) were designed that were intended to verify the proposed docking models.