viper venoms

..The existence of geographical variations in the composition of V.a.a. venom emphasizes on the use of polyvalent antivenom in the treatment of viper envenomations in France...

..They recommend that established objective envenomation severity scores be used to dictate patient treatment, specifically the use of antivenin...

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..In addition, endothelial cells become more susceptible to blood flow-dependent shear stress, which further contributes to capillary wall disruption...

..The criteria for its design are discussed, particularly in terms of the implementation of realistic public health policies targeting mostly rural populations in the continent...

..In West Africa, envenoming by saw-scaled or carpet vipers (Echis ocellatus) causes great morbidity and mortality, but there is a crisis in supply of effective and affordable antivenom (ISRCTN01257358)...

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..Venom proteins are encoded by multigene families that have evolved through a process of gene duplication followed by accelerated evolution in the protein coding region...

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..Until now there is no evidence of the anticoagulant serine enzymes degrading fibrinogen alpha-chain only and lacking esterolytic activity...

..These findings suggest that CLEC-2 is a physiological target protein of podoplanin and imply that it is involved in podoplanin-induced platelet aggregation, tumor metastasis, and other cellular responses related to podoplanin...

..CLEC-2 is the first C-type lectin receptor to be found on platelets which signals through this novel pathway...

..However, certain nonconserved amino acids appear to modify the activity of disintegrins, their specificity for various receptors, and their ability to compete specifically with various ligands...

..Design. Retrospective case review study...

..It constitutes a potentially valuable technology for the alleviation of the critical shortage of antivenom in Africa...

..These mutations may modulate the conformation and/or recognition properties of the integrin-binding loop of ocellatusin...

..Such an approach could be important in solving similar problems in bacterial production of other toxic proteins...

..We report the computed tomographic findings in a case of snake bite resulting in hemoperitoneum, which, to the best of our knowledge, has not been reported in the literature...

..Attempts have been made to identify the toxicity region and to explain the reduced catalytic activity and toxicity of the phospholipase A(2) subunit...

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..These findings identify a new biological function for mast cells in enhancing resistance to the morbidity and mortality induced by animal venoms...

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..A new Fab fragment antivenom specific to Nigerian Echis ocellatus was investigated clinically, just as the local herbs-Aristolochia spp, Guiera spp and Schummaniophyton spp are investigated experimentally...

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..Most significantly, we identified for the first time a conserved alpha(9)beta(1) integrin-binding motif in several SVMPs, and a new group of putative venom toxins, renin-like aspartic proteases...

..Here we exploit recent molecular sequence analysis and DNA immunization tools to design more rational toxin-targeted antivenom...

..It may serve as a lead to design antitoxins to address the role of adenylyl cyclase toxins in bacterial pathogenesis and to fight against anthrax and whooping cough...

..ocellatus metalloproteinase domains may have potential for cross-specific and cross-generic neutralisation of analogous venom toxins...

..a. aspis. These results suggest that the population of neurotoxic V. a. aspis snakes from south-east France may have resulted from interbreeding between V. a. aspis and V. am. ammodytes...

..It may result from expression of preexisting genes, the acidic subunit evolving from an ancestor common to ammodytin I2 from V. ammodytes ammodytes, which we also found in V. aspis aspis...

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..However, the polyclonal antibodies prepared against southern regional venom showed no protection against lethal toxicity of other regional venoms...

..EgyVac antivenom did not fulfil efficacy or safety criteria in 12 patients. On the basis of these results, ET-G and ET-Plus were selected for comparison in a RCT...

..It therefore constitutes a promising therapeutic option for the treatment of snakebite envenoming in this region...

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..A major source of confusion is labelling antivenom with ambiguous snake names that fail to distinguish the Asian species whose venoms are used in their production from the local snakes whose venoms are antigenically dissimilar...

..Expression of complete cDNAs or their modified derivatives will be useful for elucidation of the structure-function relationships of these toxins and peptides of biotechnological interest...

..g. rhinoceros as a separate species, Bitis rhinoceros. Moreover, our proteomic data fit better to a weighted phylogram based on overall genetic distances than to an unweighted maximum-parsimony tree...

Serine proteases are a major component of viper venoms and are thought to disrupt several distinct elements of the blood coagulation system of envenomed victims...

..ocellatus snake venom. This illustrates the absolute need for regional pilot tests to assess the effectiveness of a new antivenom against local snake venoms before its sole and general distribution in a region is initiated...

..We adopt a venom gland transcriptome approach in order to investigate the diversity of toxins in the genus and elucidate the mechanisms which result in prey-specific adaptations of venom composition...

b>Viper venoms contain one of the most potent mixtures of proteases in natural existence and yet the venom gland and proteins in this mixture are refractory to degradation...

..Specific antivenom therapy (10 ml/dog) was not associated with a higher survival rate, thus its use, dose and timing of administration should be further investigated...

..Most of the European viper venoms studied contained either a myotoxin or a neurotoxin, and all contained ammodytin I1 and ammodytin I2...

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..The possibilities of generation of such clones via trans-splicing of the primary gene transcript, by exon shuffling or by unequal crossing-over on the genome level are discussed...

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..The omnipresence of nucleotidase and DNase activities in viperid venoms implies a role for them within the repertoire of enzymes involved in immobilization and death of preys...

..Vipera lebetina venom from a single snake contains mainly one form of lebetase. Lebetase I is more stable at low pH than lebetase II. The lebetases I and II inhibit platelet aggregation induced by ADP in a dose-dependent manner...

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..This may be a functionally significant difference as this region is crucial for receptor binding and vasoactivity...

..VLFXA could not activate prothrombin nor had any effect on fibrinogen, and it had no arginine esterase activity toward benzoylarginine ethyl ester...

..This could indicate that antivenoms may lack antibodies to potentially important venom components...

..These are the first cloned factor X activator heavy and light chains. We demonstrate that the heavy and light chains are synthesized from different genes...

..The sequence of the disintegrin-like part of Le-3 is identical to A-chain of the heterodimeric disintegrin VLO5 from Vipera lebetina obtusa venom (Calvete et al., 2003)...

..In addition, it was demonstrated that a specific tandem alignment of the two benzamidine sorbents enables the purification of three other enzymes from B. jararacussu venom...

..In this paper, we report on the successful treatment of three cases of snakebite in pregnancy...

..Optimal treatment of envenoming is by early administration of specific antivenom, and avoidance of ineffective and potentially-dangerous ancillary methods...

..It is thought that the sheep antivenom is better than the equine one considering a lack of allergic side effects. As a result of applied treatment the local and general symptoms including ocular symptoms subsided...

..The present results will provide novel insight into VEGF-heparin interaction and may facilitate the design of new anti-VEGF drugs based on novel strategies...

..Preliminary immunogenicity testing in terms of determination of specific antibodies revealed similar immunogenicity and high cross-reactivity for three samples tested...

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..This disintegrin also affected adhesion and migration of endothelial cells and exhibited an anti-angiogenic effect in vivo when using the 8-day-old embryo chick chorioallantoic membrane model...

..Administration of antivenom results in prompt clinical improvement and in a significantly shorter hospital stay...

..She otherwise responded well to antivenom and blood components. A hysterotomy was performed and the postoperative course was unremarkable...

..Anti-2 kGy irradiated venom had more protective ability than anti-native venom, as tested in mice...

..Antivenom can be given in all 10 without reactions. In conclusion, the incidence of early reactions to antivenoms was low in Thailand and skin test is not helpful at all in predicting this adverse reaction...

..In the paper, we present current knowledge of mechanisms of the Vipera berus venom's action, classification of the poisoning severity and dependent on it methods of treatment...

..Clinical information is reported on 12 victims bitten by definitively identified E sochureki, and 2 clinical cases are described in greater detail to illustrate the severity of envenoming by this snake...

..Furthermore, an attempt is made to correlate the sequence and structural determinants of these toxins with their enzymatic activities and their pharmacological effects...

..It should be replaced by the model introduced in the 1980s by the World Health Organization, which has not received adequate circulation and implementation...

..Five cases of illegitimate bite by captive specimens of the Gaboon viper (Bitis gabonica) snake have demonstrated the dangers of keeping exotic African snakes in captivity...

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..This phenomenon could be due to envenomation caused by a snake, probably from Viperidae family, which is not covered by the polyvalent antivenom available in India...

..However, a comparative analysis of currently available disintegrin(-like) genes outlines the view that a minimization of both the gene organization and the protein structure underlies the evolution of the snake venom disintegrin family...

..Sepharose CL-6B used as galactose-affinity chromatography provides a simple and fast method for isolating C-type beta-galactoside binding lectins from crude sample preparations...

..The loss of physiological activity is explained in terms of the modeled bound conformation and the ensemble of solution conformations obtained using the NMR constraints...

..Unexpectedly, we report for the first time that camelid serum contains a non-IgG, highly potent inhibitor of venom-induced haemorrhage...

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..Pretreatment of LM-PLA2-II with p-bromophenacyl bromide abolished all of these actions, clearly indicating that the biological activities, including the edematogenic effect, are dependent entirely on its enzymatic activity...

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..These observations suggest that lebecetin is a C-type lectin-like protein that selectively binds to platelet GPIb...

..Furthermore, the surface of the rCC-PPP molecule is characterized by a hydrophobic pocket, comprising the 90 loop (Phe(90)-Val(99)), Tyr(172), and Trp(215) residues, which might be involved in the fibrinogen clotting activity of rCC-PPP...

..9 A. Phase determination is underway by means of molecular replacement with the structure of blood coagulation factor IX-binding protein (IX-bp) from habu snake venom (PDB code 1bj3) as the search model...

..This lacks any substantial helical structure and is surrounded by several basic residues, which may form a novel binding motif for CaM on the molecular surface of the PLA2 toxin...

..Based on its molecular mass, VaH1 (as well as VaH2) is a Class P-III metalloproteinase. Partial amino acid sequences of its CNBr fragments demonstrated a high level of identity with the reprolysin subfamily of zinc-metalloproteinases...

..Multiple alignment was performed with the aminoacid sequences of all the gammaPLIs described so far and this used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree...

..PLA2 is thought to be toxic to cell membrane, thereby, can cause local cell and tissue damage, as well as systemic effects in snake bite victims. This PLA2 cDNA clone would facilitate in vivo studies of the pathophysiology of RV bite...

..russelli formosensis PLA2 activity. The limited changes in the structure of the two highly homologous neurotoxins lead to considerable differences in their interaction with native peptides...

..A three-dimensional model of obtustatin, built by homology-modeling structure calculations using different templates and alignments, strongly indicates that the novel KTS motif may reside at the tip of a flexible loop...

..Therefore, we conclude that this venom-derived ICPP exerts its biological action (permeability and angiogenesis) through activation of VEGF receptor signaling (VEGF-R2 and possibly VEGF-R1)...

..palaestinae envenomation is unjustified, especially since the introduction of a specific monovalent anti-venom into the therapeutic armamentarium...

..This is the first report on the presence of such a postsynaptic neurotoxin from D. r. russelli venom...

..Adder bites rarely cause severe reactions and when they occur there are specific antivenoms with few side effects that may be used in addition to supportive therapy. The antivenom is manufactured from sheep and consists of Fab fragments...

..The clinical course of several envenomations created the impression that the recommended fixed dose regimen of antivenom (50 ml) may not always be sufficient...

..Comparison of the amino acid sequences of five new and four known isolated disintegrins from snake venoms of six Echis species and their distribution strongly support the recent re-classification of the genus Echis...

..EIA also revealed that one patient had been bitten by Lachesis muta, although the clinical features in this case were not distinctive...

..This information will, in turn, lead to a rational design of therapeutic agents which would target these cells. ..

..Segal with the necessary support for successful completion ..

..Project Description Page 6 ..

..Answers to these questions will provide a basic understanding of venous function that could lead to better pharmacological approaches not only for hypertension treatment but also for any disease in which there is a vein dysfunction. ..

..Findings from this proposed study should help clarify the proper premises and parameters on which to base future prospective qualitative and quantitative research in homeopathy. ..

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..This study will contribute to our long-range goal of understanding the neurophysiological and biopsychosocial mechanisms of classical homeopathic remedy treatment in patients with specific clinical conditions. ..

..Therefore, understanding the various mechanisms by which TNF-alpha signaling is regulated will help us identify new and novel therapeutic targets to treat atherosclerosis. ..

..Understanding the impact of hypertension and inflammation on renal vascular function will provide unique insights capable of reducing hypertensive kidney injury. ..

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..The current proposal reflects several enhancements from an administrative, academic, and curricular perspective that emerged from experience in the first five years of implementing this T32 program. ..

..We have established a system to study phospholipids-driven macromolecular complex formation, which may be a model for the generation of complexes that form extra-and intra-cellularly. ..

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..This project may reveal an important interaction between neural regulation of body fluid homeostasis and neural regulation of the cardiovascular system in hypertension. ..

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..The ultimate goal of this work is to define the functional relationships between cardiovascular and body fluid regulatory mechanisms in the central nervous system...

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..Aim 2 experiments will assess the rate and extent of alveolar bone turnover using histomorphometric means. These data may demonstrate the usefulness of the RGD peptide in modulating both bone formation and resorption during OTM. ..

..These investigations should provide new insights into the link between abnormalities in renal function and/or body fluid regulation and the pathogenesis of hypertension. ..

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..This application will address the mechanisms responsible for hypertension-induced impairment of renal vascular function and its relationship to hypertensive kidney damage. ..