OBJECTIVE: To characterize the effect of plant sterols/stanols on serum lipids in hypercholesterolemic patients on concurrent statin therapy, we conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled ...trials. METHODS: A systematic literature search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL, and the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database was conducted from the earliest possible date through May 2008. Trials were included in the analysis if they were randomized controlled trials evaluating the use of plant sterols/stanols in combination with statins in hypercholesterolemic patients that reported efficacy data on total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, or triglycerides. The weighted mean difference (WMD) of the change from baseline (in mg/dL) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated as the difference between the mean in the plant sterol/stanol groups and the control groups, using a random-effects model. RESULTS: Eight studies (n = 306 patients) met the inclusion criteria. Upon meta-analysis, the use of plant sterols/stanols in combination with statin therapy significantly lowered total cholesterol (WMD, -14.01 mg/dL 95% CI, -18.66 to -9.37, p < 0.0001) and LDL cholesterol (WMD, -13.26 mg/dL 95% CI, -17.34 to -9.18, p < 0.0001) but not HDL cholesterol or triglycerides. CONCLUSIONS: Based upon the current literature, we can only say that plant sterols/stanols, when administered in addition to statins, favorably affect total and LDL cholesterol with 95% confidence. Randomized trials examining the impact of plant sterols/stanols in combinatation with statins on patient morbidity and mortality are needed.
We describe a bacteriophage M13 substrate library encoding the AviTag (BirA substrate) and combinatorial heptamer peptides displayed at the N terminus of the mature form of capsid protein III. Phages ...are biotinylated efficiently (≥50 %) when grown in E. coli cells coexpressing BirA, and such viral particles can be immobilized on a streptavidin-coated support and released by protease cleavage within the combinatorial peptide. We have used this library to map the specificity of human Factor Xa and a neuropeptidase, neurolysin (EC3.4.24.16). Validation by analysis of isolated peptide substrates has revealed that neurolysin recognizes the motif hydrophobic-X-Pro-Arg-hydrophobic, where Arg-hydrophobic is the scissile bond.
Theoretical investigations are made on the influence of a sinusoidal bottom topography on a gravity driven, Newtonian film flow. Neglecting inertia effects the surface shape is obtained for small ...amplitudes of the bottom profile using perturbation theory. For thick films and large bottom amplitudes an exact analytical approach is developed.
We consider the creeping film flow down an inclined wavy plane. For large wavelengths and thin films we consider two different approaches depending on the order of the amplitude of the wavy bottom ...profile and compare them to experimental results.
Thioredoxin (Trx) is a highly conserved redox protein involved in several essential cellular processes. In this study, our goal was to isolate peptide ligands to
Escherichia coli Trx that mimic ...protein–protein interactions, specifically the T7 polymerase-Trx interaction. To do this, we subjected Trx to affinity selection against a panel of linear and cysteine-constrained peptides using M13 phage display. A novel cyclized conserved peptide sequence, with a motif of C(D/N/S/T/G)D(S/T)-hydrophobic-C-X-hydrophobic-P, was isolated to Trx. These peptides bound specifically to the
E. coli Trx when compared to the human and spirulina homologs. An alanine substitution of the active site cysteines (CGPC) resulted in a significant loss of peptide binding affinity to the Cys-32 mutant. The peptides were also characterized in the context of Trx's role as a processivity factor of the T7 DNA polymerase (gp5). As the interaction between gp5 and Trx normally takes place under reducing conditions, which might interfere with the conformation of the disulfide-bridged peptides, we made use of a 22 residue deletion mutant of gp5 in the thioredoxin binding domain (gp5Δ22) that bypassed the requirements of reducing conditions to interact with Trx. A competition study revealed that the peptide selectively inhibits the interaction of gp5Δ22 with Trx, under oxidizing conditions, with an IC50 of ∼
10 μM.
Within the Lagrange formalism Noether's theorem is a well-known tool for connecting symmetries of a physical system with homogeneous balance equations. In the context of this paper we call them ...balance equations of the volume type. They are associated with symmetry groups of the Lie type. However, in physics there are a lot of different balance equations which we call balance equations of the area type. Physically, they are associated with the dynamics of line-shaped objects. In this paper a general theory is presented which supplements Noether's theorem in so far as the area-type balances are associated with regauging symmetry groups of the non-Lie type. The theory is demonstrated for three prominent examples: for the Helmholtz laws of the vortex dynamics in an ideal fluid, for the dislocation dynamics in the dynamical eigenstress problem of elastic crystals, and for the homogeneous Maxwell equations. The theory will also be a valuable tool for solving inverse variational problems, i.e. to construct Lagrangians for physical systems.
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