Procyanidins are potent inhibitors of LOX-1: a new player in the French Paradox

Lectin-like oxidized LDL receptor-1 (LOX-1) is an endothelial receptor for oxidized LDL (oxLDL) and plays multiple roles in the development of cardiovascular diseases. We screened more than 400 foodstuff extracts for identifying materials that inhibit oxLDL binding to LOX-1. Results showed that 52 extracts inhibited LOX-1 by more than 70% in cell-free assays. Subsequent cell-based assays revealed that a variety of foodstuffs known to be rich in procyanidins such as grape seed extracts and apple polyphenols, potently inhibited oxLDL uptake in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells expressing LOX-1. Indeed, purified procyanidins significantly inhibited oxLDL binding to LOX-1 while other ingredients of apple polyphenols did not. Moreover, chronic administration of oligomeric procyanidins suppressed lipid accumulation in vascular wall in hypertensive rats fed with high fat diet. These results suggest that procyanidins are LOX-1 inhibitors and LOX-1 inhibition might be a possible underlying mechanism of the well-known vascular protective effects of red wine, the French Paradox

Stochastic cost frontier and cost inefficiency of Japanese hospitals: a panel data analysis

This letter considers the following two questions: How much are the estimates of the parameters of stochastic cost frontier and cost inefficiency of Japanese hospitals affected (1) by the utilization of the panel structure of data in estimation; and (2) by considering a hospital-specific intercept in the cost frontier? Three models are estimated: a stochastic cost frontier model with a hospital-specific intercept treated as a random variable for panel data; a stochastic cost frontier model without a hospital-specific intercept for panel data; and the conventional stochastic frontier model that treats the data as if they were cross-sectional. The main findings are: (1) the introduction of panel structure into the frontier estimation changes the cost inefficiency estimate significantly compared with the estimate based on cross-sectionally treated data; (2) the intercept of the cost frontier is significantly different among hospitals.