1,720,968 research outputs found

    Vitamin E-related inhibition of monocyte 5-lipoxygenase and cardiovascular outcome in maintenance hemodialysis patients

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    A daily supplement of vitamin E is recommended for the secondary prevention of cardiovascular events in end-stage renal disease patients on maintenance hemodialysis. Vitamin E has been entrusted with therapeutic properties against cardiovascular disease for more than 60 years. Several epidemiological studies and intervention trials have been performed with vitamin E, and some of them showed that it prevents atherosclerosis. For a long time, vitamin E was assumed to act by decreasing the oxidation of low-density lipoproteins, a key step in atherosclerosis initiation. However, at the cellular level vitamin E interferes with smooth muscle cell proliferation, platelet aggregation, monocyte adhesion, and oxidized low-density lipoproteins uptake and cytokine production, all reactions implied in the progression of atherosclerosis. Recent research points out that these effects may be not only the result of the antioxidant activity of vitamin E but also of its distinct molecular actions. These biological properties of vitamin E may allow to design better strategies for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, with a potential exploitation of vitamin E supplements in primary and secondary prevention of major adverse cardiovascular events in all uremic patients. In this review, we also outline relevant patents on vitamin E and lipoxygenase inhibitors

    Structural stability of soybean lipoxygenase-1 in solution as probed by small angle X-ray scattering

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    Soybean lipoxygenase-1 (LOX-1) is used widely as a model for Studying the structural and functional properties of the homologous family of lipoxygenases. The crystallographic structure revealed that LOX-1. is organized in a beta-sheet N-terminal domain and a larger, mostly helical, C-terminal domain. Here, we describe the overall structural characterization of native unliganded LOX-1 in solution, using small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). We show that the scattering pattern of the unliganded enzyme in solution does not display any significant difference compared with that calculated from the crystal structure, and that models of the overall shape of the protein calculated ab initio from the SAXS pattern provide a close envelope to the crystal structure. These data, demonstrating that LOX-1 has a compact structure also in solution, rule out any major motional flexibility of the LOX-1 molecule in aqueous solutions. In addition we show that eicosatetraynoic acid, an irreversible inhibitor of lipoxygenase used to mimic the effect Of Substrate binding, does not alter the overall conformation of LOX-1 nor its ability to bind to membranes. In contrast, the addition of glycerol (to 5%, v/v) causes an increase in the binding of the enzyme to membranes without altering its catalytic efficiency towards linoleic acid nor its SAXS pattern, suggesting that the global conformation of the enzyme is unaffected. Therefore, the compact structure determined in the crystal appears to be essentially preserved in these various solution conditions. During the preparation of this article, a paper by M. Hammel and co-workers showed instead a sharp difference between crystal and solution conformations of rabbit 15-LOX-1. The possible cause of this difference might be the presence of oligomers in the rabbit lipoxygenase preparations. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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