OBJECTIVE We prospectively tested the hypothesis that atrial enlargement and increased level of atrial natriuretic peptide, N-terminal atrial natriuretic peptide and brain natriuretic peptide would predict atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting. METHODS Eighty-eight elective coronary artery bypass grafting patients had preoperative echocardiographic assessment. The level of...

Previously, we reported that a 7-mer HLA-A11-restricted peptide (YVNTNMG) of hepatitis B virus (HBV) core Ag (HBcAg(88-94)) was associated with heat shock protein (HSP) gp96 in liver tissues of patients with HBV-induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This peptide is highly homologous to a human HLA-A11-restricted 9-mer peptide (YVNVNMGLK) and to a mouse H-2-K(d)-restricted 9-mer peptide (SYVNT...

BACKGROUND In an open-label blinded study, we compared intracoronary and transendocardial CD34(+) cell transplantation in patients with nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. METHODS AND RESULTS Of the 40 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy, 20 were randomized to receive intracoronary injection and 20 received transendocardial CD34(+) cell delivery. In both groups, CD34(+) cells were mobilized ...

Natriuretic Peptide: A Probable Culprit in Prevention of Primary Cardiovascular Diseases Using β-Blockers To the Editor: This letter refers to “The Value of N-Terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide in Determining Antihypertensive Benefit: Observations From the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial (ASCOT)” by Welsh et al1 The 2014 evidence-based guideline for the management of high blood p...

Gibberellic acid-stimulated Arabidopsis (GASA) gene family is a class of functional cysteine-rich proteins characterized by an N-terminal signal peptide and C-terminal-conserved GASA domain with 12 invariant cysteine (Cys) residues. are widely distributed among plant species, the majority them involved in transmission hormones, regulation development growth, responses to different environmental...

The conversion from an a-helix to a P-strand has received extensive attention since this structural change may induce many amyloidogenic proteins to self-assemble into fibrils and cause fatal diseases. Here we report the conversion of a peptide segment from a P-strand to an a-helix by a single-site mutation as observed in the crystal structure of Fis mutant Pro26Ala determined at 2.0 8, resolut...

A novel peptidyl inhibitor of K+ channels has been purified to homogeneity from venom of the new world scorpion Centruroides margaritatus. The primary structure of this 39-amino-acid peptide, which we term margatoxin (MgTX), was determined by amino acid compositional analysis and peptide sequencing. Margatoxin potently inhibits binding of radiolabeled charybdotoxin (ChTX) to voltage-activated c...