PAPP-A levels were higher in patients with cardiac events than in event-free patients. Patients were divided into 3 groups on the basis of their PAPP-A and BNP levels. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that the group with both high BNP with high PAPP-A had a significantly higher cardiac event rate than other groups.

Conclusions: Serum PAPP-A levels were related to the severity of HF and associated with a high risk for adverse cardiac events in HF patients, suggesting that PAPP-A might be involved in the pathogenesis

of HF. (J Cardiac Fail 2011;17:819-826)”
“Little is known about the role of proteins that lack primary sequence homology with any known motifs (proteins with unknown functions, PUFs); these comprise more than 10% of all proteins. This paper offers a generalized experimental JNK inhibitor strategy for identifying the functions of such proteins, particularly in relation to www.selleckchem.com/products/bay-1895344.html metabolism. Using this strategy, we have identified a novel regulatory function for Arabidopsis locus At3g30720 (which we term QQS for qua-quine starch). QQS expression, revealed through global mRNA profiling, is up-regulated in an Arabidopsis Atss3 mutant that lacks starch synthase III and has increased leaf starch content. Analysis of public microarray data using MetaOmGraph

(metnetdb.org), in combination with transgenic Arabidopsis lines containing QQS promoter-GUS transgenes, indicated that QQS expression responds to a variety of developmental/genetic/environmental perturbations. In addition to the increase in the Atss3 mutant, QQS is up-regulated in the carbohydrate mutants mex1 and sis8. A 586 nt sequence for the QQS mRNA was identified by 5′ and 3′ RACE experiments. The QQS transcript is predicted to encode a protein of 59 amino acids, whose expression was confirmed by immunological Western blot analysis. The QQS gene is recognizable in sequenced Arabidopsis ecotypes, but is not identifiable

in any other sequenced species, including the closely related Brassica napus. Transgenic RNA interference lines in which QQS expression is reduced show excess Selleck Crenolanib leaf starch content at the end of the illumination phase of a diurnal cycle. Taken together, the data identify QQS as a potential novel regulator of starch biosynthesis.”
“BackgroundThe main problem encountered during processing of cereals in distilleries, in particular by pressureless methods, is the relatively high viscosity of mashes that in turn retards their fermentation. It is caused by the extraction (along with starch) of pentosans, ss-glucans, cellulose and hemicelluloses from cereal grains.

ResultsExperiments carried out within this work centered on the determination of the effect of treatment of corn mashes with xylanase, pullulanase, cellulase enzyme complex and cellobiase on chemical composition, viscosity of these mashes and yield of fermentation. The treatment with xylanase caused the greatest decrease in viscosity of the corn mash, by c. 41% in relation to the reference mash (9.080.45 mPa s).