[Therapeutic apartments: feeling 'at home' in order to recover].

There is no recovery without a transformation. This is conveyed by a greater ability to adapt to the demands of daily life and a significant reduction in the behavioural expression of symptoms. This is combined with a positive experience of oneself in the present and a firm belief in the continuity of oneself in the future, over the medium term.

Aneurysm sac shrinkage after endovascular repair: predictive factors and long-term follow-up.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the predictive factors of reduction in diameter ≥10 mm of the aneurysm sac after endovascular treatment and analyze evolution in these patients.

Methods: Between December 1997 and December 2008, all patients electively treated at our center for an infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) were included in a prospective registry. We did a retrospective study between patients whose aneurysm was reduced by at least 10 mm in diameter on computed tomography scan during follow-up (Group 1) and the other patients who did not (Group 2).

Plasmatic level of leukocyte-derived microparticles is associated with unstable plaque in asymptomatic patients with high-grade carotid stenosis.

Objectives: This study sought to analyze whether the plasmatic level of leukocyte-derived microparticles (LMP) is associated with unstable plaques in patients with high-grade carotid stenosis.

Background: Preventive carotid surgery in asymptomatic patients is currently debated given the improvement of medical therapy. Therefore, noninvasive biomarkers that can predict plaque instability are needed.

Circulating lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 in high-grade carotid stenosis: a new biomarker for predicting unstable plaque.

Objective: To test plasma levels of lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) in patients with high-grade carotid stenosis according to plaque histology.

Methods: This cross-sectional single-centre study included patients with ≥70% North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial (NASCET) carotid stenosis, who were treated surgically. Serum Lp-PLA2 and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were determined on the day of surgery.

Secondary procedures after infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms endovascular repair with second-generation endografts.

Background: To study the incidence, the types, and the results of secondary procedures performed after endovascular treatment of infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). To compare the population of patients who underwent secondary procedure (P2) with the population of those who did not require it.

Material And Methods: Between 1998 and 2008, this study included all the patients electively treated for AAA with stentgrafts that were still available on the market on January 1, 2009.

Vena cava filter migration: an unappreciated complication. About four cases and review of the literature.

Inferior vena cava filter placement is performed to prevent pulmonary risk secondary to deep venous thrombosis. Indications for this treatment are limited to patients experiencing recurrences under well-managed anticoagulant treatment or presenting with contraindication to anticoagulant treatment. Nowadays, as these clinical situations are rare, this device is less and less used, all the more since, for several years now, thrombosis, fracture, or infectious complications as well as filter migration have been reported.

[Long-term patency of a popliteal venous aneurysm treated surgically].

Popliteal venous aneurysms are infrequent but should be screened for with venous ultrasound in patients with acute or chronic venous diseases because of the unpredictable high risk of thromboembolism and potential curability. Therapeutic alternatives are discussed: follow-up, anticoagulation, surgery with different techniques. To illustrate this, we report the case of a 51-year-old woman presenting pulmonary embolism and left popliteal venous aneurysm treated surgically.

High-resolution 12-lead electrocardiograms of on-duty professional firefighters: a pilot feasibility study.

Background: Cardiovascular deaths among on-duty firefighters are high--double that of police officers and quadruple that of first responders. The aim of this pilot study was to establish the feasibility of obtaining high-resolution electrocardiograms (ECGs) of on-duty firefighters useful for detecting ECG predictors for cardiac events.

Methods: Twenty-eight professional firefighters (age, 46 ± 6 years) wore a 12-lead ECG Holter for 24 hours (16 hours while on duty and 8 hours postduty).

Acute compartment syndrome: an unusual complication of a previously bypassed popliteal aneurysm--case report and literature review.

An acute compartment syndrome of the calf due to popliteal vein compression is described in a 71-year-old man who had undergone popliteal aneurysm bypass and ligation 10 years previously. Acute pain and extensive edema of the right leg and a pulsatile mass in the right popliteal fossa prompted arteriography that revealed collateral filling of the aneurysm. Aneurysm decompression by using a posterior approach was completed, including genicular artery ligation, and fasciotomy was performed.

Percutaneous angioplasty of the superior gluteal artery for buttock claudication: a report of seven cases and literature review.

Background: Buttock claudication due to stenosis or occlusion of the superior gluteal artery is infrequent. The recent development of noninvasive gluteal duplex scanning, combined with aortoiliac angiography using oblique projections and the availability of low-profile devices for percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), led us to review our recent experience concerning the diagnosis and mid-term results of PTA for superior gluteal artery stenosis or occlusion.

Methods: The files of all patients who had been treated in our department by PTA for superior gluteal artery stenosis or occlusion with buttock claudication were analyzed retrospectively, and any associated arterial lesions, morbidity, restenosis, or recurrent buttock claudication were noted.

Band 3 peptides block the adherence of sickle cells to endothelial cells in vitro.

Malaria-parasitized erythrocytes have increased endothelial adherence due to exposure of previously buried intramembranous sites of band 3. Because sickle erythrocytes also show increased adhesiveness and because the membrane portion of band 3 is aggregated in both types of cells, we examined the role of band 3 in sickle cell adhesiveness. Synthetic peptides derived from the second and third exofacial, interhelical regions of band 3 completely inhibited the abnormal adherence of sickle cells to an endothelial monolayer in a static assay.

Distance between Cys-201 in erythrocyte band 3 and the bilayer measured by single-photon radioluminescence.

Single-photon radioluminescence (SPR), the excitation of fluorophores by short-range beta-decay electrons, was developed for the measurement of submicroscopic distances. The cytoplasmic domain of band 3 (cdb3) is the primary, multisite anchorage for the erythrocyte skeleton. To begin to define the membrane arrangement of the highly asymmetrical cdb3 structure, the distance from the bilayer of Cys-201 next to the "hinge" of cdb3 was measured by both SPR and resonance energy transfer (RET).

Anisotropy decay measurement of segmental dynamics of the anion binding domain in erythrocyte band 3.

Time-resolved anisotropy was utilized to detect nanosecond segmental motions of the band 3 intramembrane domain. Band 3 at lysine 430 was fluorescently labeled in ghost membranes by fluorescein or eosin maleimide treatment of intact human erythrocytes followed by hypotonic lysis. Single lifetimes for fluorescein (3.

Calculation of resonance energy transfer in crowded biological membranes.

Analytical and numerical models were developed to describe fluorescence resonance energy transfer (RET) in crowded biological membranes. It was assumed that fluorescent donors were linked to membrane proteins and that acceptors were linked to membrane lipids. No restrictions were placed on the location of the donor within the protein or the partitioning of acceptors between the two leaflets of the bilayer; however, acceptors were excluded from the area occupied by proteins.

Segmental dynamics of the cytoplasmic domain of erythrocyte band 3 determined by time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy: sensitivity to pH and ligand binding.

Interactions between the erythrocyte membrane and its skeleton are mediated primarily by binding of cytoskeletal components to a conformationally sensitive structure, the cytoplasmic domain of band 3 (cdb3). To examine the nanosecond segmental motions of cdb3, band 3 was labeled selectively by fluorescein maleimide at Cys-201 near the proposed hinge in cdb3 about which pH-dependent conformational changes occur. Time-resolved anisotropy of labeled cdb3 in isolated form and in stripped erythrocyte membranes was measured by parallel-acquisition frequency-domain microfluorimetry.

A novel photoactivatable cross-linker for the functionally-directed region-specific fluorescent labeling of proteins.

A cleavable cross-linking reagent, sulfosuccinimidyl-2(7-azido-4-methylcoumarin-3-acetamido)-ethyl-1,3'- dithiopropionate (SAED), was synthesized for the selective transfer of a coumarin fluorophore from a 'donor' protein to a position near the binding site of an interacting 'target' protein. SAED contains a terminal N-sulfosuccinimidyl ester for conjugation to the donor, a terminal photoactivatable azido-coumarin species for cross-linking with the interacting target, and a central disulfide spacer for the release of the labeled target after cleavage. To evaluate the effectiveness of this labeling reagent, soybean trypsin inhibitor (STI) was derivatized (approximately 0.

Conformational changes in the foot protein of the sarcoplasmic reticulum assessed by site-directed fluorescent labeling.

Ca2+ release from sarcoplasmic reticulum during excitation--contraction coupling is likely to be mediated by conformational changes in the foot protein moiety of the triadic vesicles. As a preparative step toward the studies of dynamic conformational changes in the foot protein moiety, we have developed a new method that permits specific labeling of the foot protein moiety of the isolated membranes with a fluorophore. A novel fluorescent cleavable photoaffinity cross-linking reagent, sulfosuccinimidyl 3-((2-(7-azido-4-methylcoumarin-3-acetamido)ethyl)dithio)propionate (SAED), was conjugated with site-directing carriers, polylysine (Ca(2+)-release inducer) and neomycin (Ca(2+)-release blocker).

Kinetics and regulation of the ankyrin-band 3 interaction of the human red blood cell membrane.

In an attempt to identify potential regulatory mechanisms for erythrocyte membrane-cytoskeletal interactions, the kinetics and pH dependence of the band 3-ankyrin interaction were investigated. Association of 125I-ankyrin with KI-stripped inside-out erythrocyte membrane vesicles was found to proceed in two kinetic phases. The initial, fast phase (t1/2 approximately 15-30 min) involved predominantly the binding of ankyrin to low affinity sites (KD approximately 130 nM) in a pH-dependent manner.

The redox state of cysteines 201 and 317 of the erythrocyte anion exchanger is critical for ankyrin binding.

Previous studies have demonstrated that modification of erythrocyte membrane cysteine residues via disulfide cross-briding or direct derivatization with thiol reagents promotes massive morphological, rheological, and structural changes in the cell. To determine whether disruption of the band 3-ankyrin interaction, the major membrane-cytoskeletal linkage, might contribute to the above lesions, we quantitatively measured the band 3-ankyrin interaction following modification of Cys-201 and/or Cys-317 of the cytoplasmic domain of band 3. It was observed that irreversible alkylating agents (e.

Localization of the ankyrin-binding site on erythrocyte membrane protein, band 3.

The predominant attachment site of the spectrin-based cytoskeleton to the erythrocyte membrane occurs via the interaction of ankyrin with the cytoplasmic domain of band 3 (cdb3). In order to further characterize this interaction, we have conducted experiments to localize the ankyrin-binding site on cdb3. Four monoclonal and three antipeptide polyclonal antibodies were raised against cdb3 and used in competition studies to identify regions of close association of cdb3 with ankyrin.