The cholesterol-raising diterpenes from coffee beans increase serum lipid transfer protein activity levels in humans

Cafestol and kahweol–diterpenes present in unfiltered coffee— strongly raise serum VLDL and LDL cholesterol and slightly reduce HDL cholesterol in humans. The mechanism of action is unknown. We determined whether the coffee diterpenes may affect lipoprotein metabolism via effects on lipid transfer proteins and lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase in a randomized, double-blind cross-over study with 10 healthy male volunteers. Either cafestol (61–64 mg/day) or a mixture of cafestol (60 mg/day) and kahweol (48–54 mg/day) was given for 28 days. Serum activity levels of cholesterylester transfer protein, phospholipid transfer protein and lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase were measured using exogenous substrate assays. Relative to baseline values, cafestol raised the mean (±S.D.) activity of cholesterylester transfer protein by 18±12% and of phospholipid transfer protein by 21±14% (both P<0.001). Relative to cafestol alone, kahweol had no significant additional effects. Lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase activity was reduced by 11±12% by cafestol plus kahweol (P=0.02). It is concluded that the effects of coffee diterpenes on plasma lipoproteins may be connected with changes in serum activity levels of lipid transfer proteins

Characterization of human high-density lipoprotein subclasses LP A-I and LP A-I/A-II and binding to HepG2 cells

Abstract Plasma HDL can be classified according to their apolipoprotein content into at least two types of lipoprotein particles: lipoproteins containing both apo A-I and apo A-II (LP A-I/A-II) and lipoproteins with apo A-I but without apo A-II (LP A-I). LP A-I and LP A-I/A-II were isolated by immuno-affinity chromatography. LP A-I has a higher cholesterol content and less protein compared to LP A-I/A-II. The average particle mass of LP A-I is higher (379 kDa) than the average particle weight of LP A-I/A-II (269 kDa). The binding of 125I-LP A-I to HepG2 cells at 4°C, as well as the uptake of [3H]cholesteryl ether-labelled LP A-I by HepG2 cells at 37° C, was significantly higher than the binding and uptake of LP A-I/A-II. It is likely that both binding and uptake are mediated by apo A-I. Our results do not provide evidence in favor of a specific role for apo A-II in the binding and uptake of HDL by HepG2 cells

Forms and methods of training system for electrical engineers in national higher technical education institutions

Розглянуто визначальні ознаки формування системи вищої електротехнічної освіти України в ХХ ст. Досліджено структурні зміни підготовки фахівців-електриків в провідних вищих технічних навчальних закладах України. На залученні нормативно-правових документів показано етапи формування технічної освіти, підкреслено позитивні та негативні ознаки кожного етапу. Висвітлено особливості організації навчального процесу, виробничої практики, науково-дослідної роботи, створення нових спеціальностей, кафедр, факультетів, філій.The article is shown main features of formation of higher electrotechnical education in Ukraine in the twentieth century. The structural changes in training electricians in the leading higher technical educational institutions of Ukraine are research. The analysis of the technical documents show stages in the formation of technical education, emphasized the positive and negative features of each stage. In the article noted features of the organization of educational process, production practice, research work, creating new disciplines, departments, faculties, branches

Realizing orders as group rings

An order is a commutative ring that as an abelian group is finitely generated and free. A commutative ring is reduced if it has no non-zero nilpotent elements. In this paper we use a new tool, namely, the fact that every reduced order has a universal grading, to answer questions about realizing orders as group rings. In particular, we address the Isomorphism Problem for group rings in the case where the ring is a reduced order. We prove that any non-zero reduced order $R$ can be written as a group ring in a unique ``maximal'' way, up to isomorphism. More precisely, there exist a ring $A$ and a finite abelian group $G$, both uniquely determined up to isomorphism, such that $R\cong A[G]$ as rings, and such that if $B$ is a ring and $H$ is a group, then $R\cong B[H]$ as rings if and only if there is a finite abelian group $J$ such that $B\cong A[J]$ as rings and $J\times H\cong G$ as groups. Computing $A$ and $G$ for given $R$ can be done by means of an algorithm that is not quite polynomial-time. We also give a description of the automorphism group of $R$ in terms of $A$ and $G$

On the photometric variability of blue supergiants in NGC 300 and its impact on the Flux-weighted Gravity-Luminosity Relationship

We present a study of the photometric variability of spectroscopically confirmed supergiants in NGC 300, comprising 28 epochs extending over a period of five months. We find 15 clearly photometrically variable blue supergiants in a sample of nearly 70 such stars, showing maximum light amplitudes ranging from 0.08 to 0.23 magnitudes in the V band, and one variable red supergiant. We show their light curves, and determine semi-periods for two A2 Ia stars. Assuming that the observed changes correspond to similar variations in the bolometric luminosity, we test for the influence of this variability on the Flux-weighted Gravity--Luminosity Relationship and find a negligible effect, showing that the calibration of this relationship, which has the potential to measure extragalactic distances at the Cepheid accuracy level, is not affected by the stellar photometric variability in any significant way.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Dietary trans fatty acids increase serum cholesterylester transfer protein activity in man

The average diet may provide some 8–10 g/day of unsaturated fatty acids with a trans double bond. Previous studies showed that dietary trans fatty acids may simultaneously raise low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and reduce high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Human plasma contains a protein (CETP) which transfers cholesterylesters from HDL to lipoproteins of lower density. We hypothesized that CETP could play a role in the effect of trans fatty acids on lipoproteins and measured the activity levels of CETP in serum samples from a 9-week study in which 55 volunteers were fed three controlled diets with different fatty acid profiles. Mean activity was 114 (% of reference serum) after consumption of a high trans fatty acid diet, as opposed to 96 after linoleic acid and 97 after stearic acid (P < 0.02). We conclude that the increased activity of CETP may contribute to the rise in LDL cholesterol and the fall in HDL cholesterol seen on diets with high contents of trans fatty acids