In a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), University of California San Diego researchers moved one step closer to the ability to make heparin in cultured cells. Heparin is ...
Biotechnology
Apr 10, 2020
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534
(Phys.org) —One of the risks of any large operation is the occurrence of blood clots. To prevent this, patients are routinely given the anticoagulant heparin or related drugs. American scientists have now introduced a new ...
Biochemistry
Oct 11, 2013
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Scientists are reporting refinement of a new test that promises to help assure the safety of supplies of heparin, the blood thinner taken by millions of people worldwide each year to prevent blood clots. The test can quickly ...
Analytical Chemistry
Sep 21, 2011
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(PhysOrg.com) -- New nano-systems developed in York may eventually help patients recover from surgery without the danger of allergic reactions to drugs.
Bio & Medicine
Apr 27, 2011
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A University of York scientist's experience in seeing his partner in hospital recovering from a double lung transplant prompted him to design and synthesise new chemical agents that could revolutionise post-operative patient ...
Bio & Medicine
Feb 11, 2014
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0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Most immunizations currently involve an injection in the arm. In the future, vaccination may be accomplished without the unpleasant jab of a needle: a team led by Victor C. Yang at the University of Michigan ...
Biochemistry
Apr 1, 2010
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Nature seems to have an inexhaustible supply of inspiration when it comes to butterflies. With over 18,000 species, each with a unique geometry and color combination, butterflies look as though they're trying their best to ...
Evolution
Nov 1, 2022
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30
A nanofiber hydrogel infused with snake venom may be the best material to stop bleeding quickly, according to Rice University scientists.
Biochemistry
Oct 26, 2015
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39
Researchers at the University of Tokyo and Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine have demonstrated that heparin, a type of sulfated polysaccharide, inhibits infection with Cryptosporidium parvum, a protozoan ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 7, 2015
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13
A study performed by researchers from the Institute for Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (IQAC-CSIC) from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has discovered and synthesized several molecules that inhibit the effect ...
Biochemistry
Mar 11, 2022
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22
Heparin (from Ancient Greek ηπαρ (hepar), liver), also known as unfractionated heparin, a highly sulfated glycosaminoglycan, is widely used as an injectable anticoagulant, and has the highest negative charge density of any known biological molecule. It can also be used to form an inner anticoagulant surface on various experimental and medical devices such as test tubes and renal dialysis machines.
Although it is used principally in medicine for anticoagulation, its true physiological role in the body remains unclear, because blood anti-coagulation is achieved mostly by heparan sulfate proteoglycans derived from endothelial cells. Heparin is usually stored within the secretory granules of mast cells and released only into the vasculature at sites of tissue injury. It has been proposed that, rather than anticoagulation, the main purpose of heparin is defense at such sites against invading bacteria and other foreign materials. In addition, it is conserved across a number of widely different species, including some invertebrates that do not have a similar blood coagulation system.
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