Traumatic vessel injuries initiating hemostasis generate high shear conditions.

Blood flow is a major regulator of hemostasis and arterial thrombosis. The current view is that low and intermediate flows occur in intact healthy vessels, whereas high shear levels (>2000 s-1) are reached in stenosed arteries, notably during thrombosis. To date, the shear rates occurring at the edge of a lesion in an otherwise healthy vessel are nevertheless unknown.

Pharmacological Blockade of Glycoprotein VI Promotes Thrombus Disaggregation in the Absence of Thrombin.

Objective: Atherothrombosis occurs upon rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque and leads to the formation of a mural thrombus. Computational fluid dynamics and numerical models indicated that the mechanical stress applied to a thrombus increases dramatically as a thrombus grows, and that strong inter-platelet interactions are essential to maintain its stability. We investigated whether GPVI (glycoprotein VI)-mediated platelet activation helps to maintain thrombus stability by using real-time video-microscopy.

Platelet function and blood coagulation system status in childhood essential thrombocythemia.

Childhood essential thrombocythemia (ET) is a rare chronic myeloproliferative disorder. The quality of life of ET patients may decrease as a result of ischemic and hemorrhagic complications of unclear origin. Our goal was to characterize the hemostatic system in children with ET.

Reirradiation for Recurrent Pediatric Central Nervous System Malignancies: A Multi-institutional Review.

Purpose: Reirradiation has been proposed as an effective modality for recurrent central nervous system (CNS) malignancies in adults. We evaluated the toxicity and outcomes of CNS reirradiation in pediatric patients.

Methods And Materials: The data from pediatric patients <21 years of age at the initial diagnosis who developed a recurrent CNS malignancy that received repeat radiation therapy (RT) across 5 facilities in an international pediatric research consortium were retrospectively reviewed.

[Transnasal endoscopic surgery of neoplasms in the children with the use of the CT-navigation systems].

The objective of the present article was to report the current literature data concerning the significance of and prospects for the application of the CT-navigation systems in transnasal endoscopic surgery of neoplasms localized in the nasal cavity, nasopharynx, paranasal sinuses, and the base of the skull in the children.

Coagulation factors bound to procoagulant platelets concentrate in cap structures to promote clotting.

Binding of coagulation factors to phosphatidylserine (PS)-exposing procoagulant-activated platelets followed by formation of the membrane-dependent enzyme complexes is critical for blood coagulation. Procoagulant platelets formed upon strong platelet stimulation, usually with thrombin plus collagen, are large "balloons" with a small (∼1 μm radius) "cap"-like convex region that is enriched with adhesive proteins. Spatial distribution of blood coagulation factors on the surface of procoagulant platelets was investigated using confocal microscopy.

The modification of the thrombin generation test for the clinical assessment of dabigatran etexilate efficiency.

A new oral anticoagulant, dabigatran etexilate (DE, a prodrug of direct thrombin inhibitor (DTI) dabigatran), has been used clinically to prevent thrombosis. The assessment of dabigatran efficiency is necessary in some clinical cases, such as renal insufficiency, risk of bleeding, and drug interactions. However, a specific thrombin generation test (TGT) that is one of the most informative and sensitive to anticoagulant therapy (calibrated automated thrombinography (САТ)) shows a paradoxical increase of test parameters, such as endogenous thrombin potential (ETP) and peak thrombin, in patients receiving DE.

Hysteresis-like binding of coagulation factors X/Xa to procoagulant activated platelets and phospholipids results from multistep association and membrane-dependent multimerization.

Binding of coagulation factors X (fX) and Xa (fXa) to activated platelets is required for the formation of membrane-dependent enzymatic complexes of intrinsic tenase and prothrombinase. We carried out an in-depth characterization of fX/fXa binding to phospholipids and gel-filtered, thrombin-activated platelets. Flow cytometry, surface plasmon resonance, and computational modeling were used to investigate interactions of fX/fXa with the membranes.

Bistability of a coupled Aurora B kinase-phosphatase system in cell division.

Aurora B kinase, a key regulator of cell division, localizes to specific cellular locations, but the regulatory mechanisms responsible for phosphorylation of substrates located remotely from kinase enrichment sites are unclear. Here, we provide evidence that this activity at a distance depends on both sites of high kinase concentration and the bistability of a coupled kinase-phosphatase system. We reconstitute this bistable behavior and hysteresis using purified components to reveal co-existence of distinct high and low Aurora B activity states, sustained by a two-component kinase autoactivation mechanism.

Modelling of platelet-fibrin clot formation in flow with a DPD-PDE method.

The paper is devoted to mathematical modelling of clot growth in blood flow. Great complexity of the hemostatic system dictates the need of usage of the mathematical models to understand its functioning in the normal and especially in pathological situations. In this work we investigate the interaction of blood flow, platelet aggregation and plasma coagulation.

Mitosis. Microtubule detyrosination guides chromosomes during mitosis.

Before chromosomes segregate into daughter cells, they align at the mitotic spindle equator, a process known as chromosome congression. Centromere-associated protein E (CENP-E)/Kinesin-7 is a microtubule plus-end-directed kinetochore motor required for congression of pole-proximal chromosomes. Because the plus-ends of many astral microtubules in the spindle point to the cell cortex, it remains unknown how CENP-E guides pole-proximal chromosomes specifically toward the equator.

Kinetochore kinesin CENP-E is a processive bi-directional tracker of dynamic microtubule tips.

During vertebrate mitosis, the centromere-associated kinesin CENP-E (centromere protein E) transports misaligned chromosomes to the plus ends of spindle microtubules. Subsequently, the kinetochores that form at the centromeres establish stable associations with microtubule ends, which assemble and disassemble dynamically. Here we provide evidence that after chromosomes have congressed and bi-oriented, the CENP-E motor continues to play an active role at kinetochores, enhancing their links with dynamic microtubule ends.