10 research outputs found
Differences in fibrin fiber diameters in healthy individuals and thromboembolic ischemic stroke patients
Cerebrovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death and the cause of long-term adult disability. An important characteristic of thromboembolic ischemic stroke is a prothrombotic or hypercoagulable state and altered fibrin clot structure, whereas a resistance to fibrinolysis is also present. An expansive fibrin network is created when adding thrombin, and in stroke, the network appears thickened, netted and matted, compared with that of healthy individuals. Although this is clearly visible in micrographs of patients, there is a need to quantify the changes. The current study, therefore, investigates fibrin fiber diameters in stroke patients and compares it to healthy individuals. The fiber diameters were measured in nanometres, with University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) Image Tool. A total of 100 measurements were done for each of the 12 patients in the healthy control group, and the same number of measurements was done for 12 stroke patients. These measurements were statistically analysed with NCSS 2007, using a significance level of 0.05. Normality was assessed with the Shapiro-Wilk W test and the thickest and thinnest fiber of each individual in the two groups was quantified and differences between groups were assessed with the Student's t-test. Results showed that there is a statistical difference in fibrin fiber thickness during thromboembolic ischemic stroke. We conclude that the changed coagulation and hemostasis, typically associated with stroke, causes a statistically relevant change in fibrin thickness, and that this netted and matted network is more resistant to lyses.http://journals.lww.com/bloodcoagulationhb2016AnatomyPhysiolog
Flow cytometric analysis of platelets type 2 diabetes mellitus reveals âangryâ platelets
Red blood cell and platelet interactions in healthy females during early and late pregnancy, as well as postpartum
Eryptosis as a marker of Parkinson's disease.
A major trend in recent Parkinsonâs disease (PD) research is the investigation of biological markers that could
help in identifying atârisk individuals or to track disease progression and response to therapies. Central to this is the
knowledge that inflammation is a known hallmark of PD and of many other degenerative diseases. In the current work, we
focus on inflammatory signalling in PD, using a systems approach that allows us to look at the disease in a more holistic
way. We discuss cyclooxygenases, prostaglandins, thromboxanes and also iron in PD. These particular signalling molecules
are involved in PD pathophysiology, but are also very important in an aberrant coagulation/hematology system. We
present and discuss a hypothesis regarding the possible interaction of these aberrant signalling molecules implicated in PD,
and suggest that these molecules may affect the erythrocytes of PD patients. This would be observable as changes in the
morphology of the RBCs and of PD patients relative to healthy controls. We then show that the RBCs of PD patients are
indeed rather dramatically deranged in their morphology, exhibiting eryptosis (a kind of programmed cell death). This
morphological indicator may have useful diagnostic and prognostic significance.Biotechnology and Biological Sciences
Research Council (grant BB/L025752/1) and the
National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa.http://www.impactaging.com/index.htmlam201