The levels and pathophysiological role of amino terminal C-type natriuretic peptide in heart failure are unknown. The potential of plasma amino-terminal C-type natriuretic peptide (N-CNP) as a marker of cardiac function was investigated in symptomatic patients. In 305 patients with recent-onset dyspnea and/or peripheral edema, presenting to primary care, assay of plasma amino-terminal C-type na...

NT-proBNP is produced from both atria and ventricles. The primary regulation of production is at the synthesis level. The plasma half-life of NT-proBNP is 60-120 min. Cutoff value of NT-proBNP for diagnosis of heart failure is 125 pg/ml in the age group below 75 years and 450 pg/ml in the age group above 75 years. It increases in atrial fibrillation and drops after successful cardioversion. Hig...

The RNA genome of tobacco etch potyvirus (TEV) was engineered to express bacterial beta-glucuronidase (GUS) fused to the virus helper component proteinase (HC-Pro). It was shown previously that prolonged periods (approximately 1 month) of TEV-GUS propagation in plants resulted in the appearance of spontaneous deletion variants. Nine deletion mutants were identified by nucleotide sequence analys...

The fragmentation behavior of a set of model peptides containing proline, its four-membered ring analog azetidine-2-carboxylic acid (Aze), its six-membered ring analog pipecolic acid (Pip), an acyclic secondary amine residue N-methyl-alanine (NMeA), and the D stereoisomers of Pro and Pip has been determined using collision-induced dissociation in ESI-tandem mass spectrometers. Experimental resu...

AIMS We sought to define the predictive value and evolution of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels following transcutaneous aortic valve implantation (TAVI). METHODS AND RESULTS We investigated 91 consecutive patients who underwent TAVI (59 transfemoral [TF], 32 transapical [TA]) in our institution. The balloon-expandable valve was implanted in 75 and the self-expandi...

BACKGROUND Reductions in N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentrations after treatment have been associated with improved survival in people with congestive heart failure (CHF), but have not been reported in cats with CHF. OBJECTIVES To evaluate changes in NT-proBNP concentrations in cats with CHF after treatment and determine whether serial NT-proBNP measurements provi...

UNLABELLED The evaluation of natriuretic peptides has become increasingly valuable in a clinical setting, where information is often needed promptly. OBJECTIVES To compare the usefulness of the recently released Roche Cardiac Reader NT-proBNP assay against the Roche Elecsys NT-proBNP laboratory system in a clinical setting. DESIGN AND RESULTS Blood samples from 440 patients, who were either...

Peptides derived from chymotryptic and tryptic digests of papain are under investigation, and the sequences of a number of these peptides have been reported earlier (1). The recognition of the NHz-terminal peptide of the protein from each digest is based on a knowledge of the NHz-terminal sequence of the intact protein. Thompson (2) established the first 3 residues as Ileu-Pro-Glu from his stud...

Cell biology methods have greatly influenced the elucidation of the biosynthetic pathways of apolipoproteins. In vitro and tissue culture systems allow the study, to a large extent, of the process of synthesis, intracellular processing, secretion, and extracellular processing of the major high density lipoprotein apoproteins apoA-I and A-II and also of a minor component, apoA-IV. Whereas the la...

Microbial transglutaminase (MTG) is widely used as a protein crosslinking enzyme. Pro-transglutaminase from Streptomyces mobaraensis was expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein carrying a C-terminal histidine tag (pro-MTG-His(6)) under high-density culture. A new method of on-column activation was designed for production. According to SDS-PAGE, 88.9% of pro-MTG-His(6) was transferred ...