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Biomedical subjects

S Schiffman

Publications and source records attributed to S Schiffman.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Trypsin activation of human factor XI.

Human factor XI circulates as a zymogen composed of two similar or identical chains of Mr = 80,000. Upon activation either by trypsin or by blood-clotting proteins involving clotting factors XII and high molecular weight kininogen, it undergoes proteolytic cleavage in which the Mr = 80,000 chain reportedly is cleaved to a heavy and light chain of Mr of about 48,000 and 33,000, respectively. In these studies, we have reinvestigated trypsin activation of factor XI and demonstrate that trypsin-activated factor XI contains three chains of apparent Mr = 46,000, 37,000, and 26,000. Kinetic studies lead to the conclusion that the parent chain of Mr = 80,000 is cleaved into chains of Mr = 46,000 and 37,000. This cleavage is followed by a second nondestructive cleavage, most probably of the chain of Mr = 46,000, to yield the third product which migrates as a band of Mr = 26,000.

Enzyme Activation↗
PubMed1979

Decreased discrimination of food odors in the elderly.

Sixteen young students, aged 19-25, and 16 healthy elderly subjects, aged 72-78, rated the odor similarity for all 91 combinations of pairs of 14 commercial food flavors. Hedonic ratings were also obtained. Two multidimensional scaling procedures, INDSCAL (Carroll & Chang, 1970) and SSAI-MINISSA (Guttman, 1968; Lingoes, 1965), were applied to the similarity data, yielding flavor spaces or maps which were similar to one another. INDSCAL, an individual difference model, provided weights for each subject on each of the dimensions of a multidimensional space common to all subjects; the weights indicated that the young subjects, but not the elderly ones, were well represented by the common multidimensional arrangement with some idiosyncratic stretching along the axes. The weights and individual subject spaces suggested that the ability of subjects to judge qualitative odor differences between food flavors may decrease with age. Elderly subjects were best at discriminating fruits from the rest of the stimuli.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Food recognition by the elderly.

While blindfolded, 27 young college students and 29 elderly subjects tasted and smelled a series of unseasoned blended foods. The elderly subjects were significantly less able to identify the foods than young subjects. The elderly subjects rated the foods on adjective scales in such a way that a multidimensional scaling of these ratings yielded only one dimension, related to the hedonic aspect of the foods. The multidimensional solution for youthful subjects' ratings was two-dimensional, indicating more discrimination among foods for young subjects compared with the elderly. Significantly more elderly subjects commented on the weakness of the smell or taste of the foods.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Factor XI and platelets: Evidence that platelets contain only minimal factor XI activity and antigen.

Factor-XI activity of platelets has been studied in platelet-rich plasmas and isolated platelet suspensions. Fresh platelets in both environments had little or no measurable factor-XI activity. Frozen and thawed platelet-rich normal plasma had markedly elevated apparent factor-XI activity and factor-XI activity as compared to platelet-poor plasma. Frozen and thawed platelet-rich and platelet-poor normal plasmas had equivalent factor-XI antigen. Platelets isolated from normal blood and from factor-XI deficient blood had the same small amounts of apparent factor-XI activity, which increased slightly on freezing and thawing. The data indicates that minimal factor XI is associated with the platelet. The markedly elevated apparent factor-XI activity of frozen and thawed platelet-rich plasma is shown to reflect the interaction of a platelet activator with plasma clotting factors to produce a later activated-clotting-intermediate.

Antigens↗
PubMed1977

Relationship of contact activation cofactor (CAC) procoagulant activity to kininogen.

Contact activation cofactor (CAC) facilitates the interaction of factors XI and XII. Patients lacking CAC have a coagulation defect and are deficient in high molecular weight kininogen. The coincidence of these two defects suggests that a single protein may be responsible for both physiologic functions. Immunologic and activity studies have been made on isolated CAC to clarify the relationship between CAC and kininogen. CAC forms a single precipitin line with anti-human kininogen, and antikininogen neutralizes CAC activity. CAC and high molecular weight kininogen show a reaction of identity on immunodiffusion against rabbit anti-CAC. Anti-CAC forms two precipitin lines with normal plasma which can be identified as high and low molecular weight kininogen. Monospecific immunoabsorbed anti-CAC forms a single precipitin line with plasma high molecular weight kininogen and neutralizes CAC activity. Cleavage of kinin fragment from CAC by insoluble trypsin or kalikrein does not proportionally reduce procoagulant activity. CAC neutralized by anti-CAC can release kinins on exposure to trypsin or kallikrein. The results support the conclusions that CAC procoagulant activity is a function of high molecular weight kininogen, that antigenic determinants unique to high molecular weight kininogen are shared by the CAC portion of the molecule, and that the clotting reactions may occur at a site removed from the kinin peptide.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Factor XI activity and factor XI antigen in homozygous and heterozygous factor XI deficiency.

A relatively potent antiserum against highly purified, unactivated human factor XI antigen was raised in a rabbit. This antiserum, after concentration, neutralized 50% of the factor XI clotting activity of a standard normal plasma at an antiserum dilution of 1/900. The antiserum was used in a neutralization-inhibition assay to study the relation between factor XI clotting activity and factor XI antigen in plasma from ten unrelated patients with homozygous factor XI deficiency and from 12 heterozygous family members of these patients. No evidence of factor XI antigen significantly in excess of factor XI activity was found in either group. All data to date have been consistent with the hypothesis that hereditary factor XI deficiency represents a genetic disorder resulting from the absence of factor XI molecule. Severity of bleeding in factor XI deficiency could not be correlated with the level of factor XI activity or factor XI antigen.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Partial purification and characterization of contact activation cofactor.

The contact phase of intrinsic clotting involves Factor XI, Factor XII, Fletcher factor, and a fourth activity that we call contact activation cofactor (CAC). All four of these activities are reduced or absent in Dicalite-adsorbed plasma. A modified activated partial thromboplastin time assay for CAC has been defined by using a substrate of Dicalite-adsorbed plasma combined with partially purified sources of Factors XI and XII, and Fletcher factor. The following properties of CAC in plasma have been determined by using the assay: it is stable up to 60 min at 56 degrees C; gradually loses activity at 80 degrees C; is stable between pH 6 and 9; is precipitated by ammonium sulfate between 40% and 50% saturation; is slightly adsorbed by A1(OH)3; and is eluted from DEAE-cellulose after the major protein peaks. A purification procedure has been devised that separates CAC from other known clotting factors. Isolated CAC was less stable than CAC in plasma, but in the presence of dilute human serum albumin it retained full activity for 80 min at 56 degrees C. On gel filtration CAC had an apparent mol wt of 220,000 daltons. These properties are consistent with those described for Fitzgerald factor, which further supports the conclusion that CAC and Fitzgerald factor represent the same activity. Isolated CAC promoted the generation of activated Factor XI (XIa) in a mixture containing purified Factor XI, Factor XII, and kaolin. The amount of Factor XIa generated was proportional to the amount of added CAC. No time-consuming reaction between Factor XI or Factor XII and CAC could be demonstrated.

Blood Coagulation Factors↗