Apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) mimetic peptides have been pursued as new therapeutic agents for the treatment of atherosclerosis, yet their precise mechanism responsible for atheroprotection remains unclear. Like apoA-I itself, most of these peptides are capable of stimulating cholesterol efflux from macrophages or foam cells, and some of them stimulate lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) ...

Systemic inflammation induces a multiple organ dysfunction syndrome that contributes to morbidity and mortality in septic patients. Since increasing plasma apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) and HDL may reduce the complications of sepsis, we tested the hypothesis that the apoA-I mimetic peptide 4F confers similar protective effects in rats undergoing cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) injury. Male Spra...

Lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) plays a key role in the reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) process by converting cholesterol to cholesteryl ester to form mature HDL particles, which in turn deliver cholesterol back to the liver for excretion and catabolism. HDL levels in human plasma are negatively correlated with cardiovascular risk and HDL functions are believed to be more import...

Novel strategies to control the binding of adhesion molecules belonging to the selectin family are required for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. We tested the possibility that synthetic monosaccharide analogs can compete with naturally occurring sugars to alter the O-glycan content on human leukocyte cell surface selectin-ligand, P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 (PSGL-1). Resulting reduc...

The amino acid 4-fluoro-L-phenylalanine (4F-Phe) was introduced at the positions of Phe6 and Phe22 in the 29-residue polypeptide hormone glucagon by expressing glucagon in E. coli in the presence of an excess of 4F-Phe. Glucagon regulates blood glucose homeostasis by interaction with the glucagon receptor (GCGR), a class B GPCR. By referencing to the 4F-Phe chemical shifts at varying D2O concen...

The stability of ferr* and antiferrornagnetism in 4f-systems with valence fluctuations between magnetic and nonmagnetic configurations is investigated in the framework of an extended s-f model. Intensifying the electronic transitions by varying the 5 f hybridization or the 4f-level position tends to quench the local magnetic 4f-moments and, competingly, the enhance the coupling between them. Th...

Possible Kondo effect in Pr skutterudite is studied with attention to characteristic features of low-lying crystalline electric field (CEF) levels and the conduction band. A mechanism for the small CEF splitting between a singlet and a triplet is proposed as combination of the point-charge interaction and hybridization of 4f with ligand p states. Provided 4f configurations dominate over 4f as i...

We present the Monte Carlo generator RacoonWW that computes cross sections to all processes e+e− → 4f and e+e− → 4fγ and calculates the complete O(α) electroweak radiative corrections to e+e− → WW → 4f in the electroweak Standard Model in double-pole approximation. The calculation of the tree-level processes e+e− → 4f and e+e− → 4fγ is based on the full matrix elements for massless (polarized) ...

Momentum-transfer (q) dependent non-resonant inelastic X-ray scattering measurements were made at the N4,5 edges for several rare-earth compounds. With increasing q, giant dipole resonances diminish, to be replaced by strong multiplet lines at lower energy transfer. These multiplets result from two different orders of multipole scattering and are distinct for systems with simple 4f and 4f initi...

We presented the first case of four-factor prothrombin complex concentrate (4F-PCC) for the alleviation of bleeding for emergent on-pump coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) with the patient discharged by postoperative day (POD) 9 with no sequelae. Until direct antidotes are available, 4F-PCC may play a role in the management of mitigating rivaroxaban-induced bleeding in surgical procedure.