Microalbuminuria in nondiabetic and nonhypertensive systolic heart failure patients.

The American Diabetes Association and the National Kidney Foundation define microalbuminuria as an albumin (microg)/creatinine (mg) ratio (ACR) between 30 and 300 microg/mg regardless of sex. Microalbuminuria is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. The authors evaluated the prevalence of microalbuminuria in nondiabetic and nonhypertensive systolic heart failure (SHF) patients. Twenty-seven SHF patients, 18 years and older, with New York Heart Association functional classes II through IV and left ventricular ejection fraction < or =40%, who were nondiabetic and nonhypertensive and not receiving angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, were selected. Twenty-seven healthy individuals, paired according to sex, ethnicity, and age, were used as controls. Early-morning midstream urine was used. Data are expressed as medians. Excretion of albumin in SHF patients (39 microg/mL urine) was significantly higher than in controls (26 microg/mL urine). Creatinine excretion was not significantly different between patients and controls. ACR was significantly higher in patients (54 microg/mg) than in controls (24 microg/mg). The results indicate that microalbuminuria was significantly present in nondiabetic and nonhypertensive SHF patients.

Emprego do carvão ativado para a remoção de fenilalanina de leite em pó / Utilization of activated carbon for the removal of phenylalanine from skim milk powder

Visando o desenvolvimento de formulações dietéticas especiais para fenilcetonúricos foram preparados cinco hidrolisados enzimáticos de leite em pó desnatado com papaína (PA) e pesina (PE), isoladamente ou em associação com a protease do Aspergillus oryzar (AO). O carvão ativado foi utiliado para remover a fenilalanina (Phe) dos hidrolisados, sendo testados os tratamentos em béquer e em coluna. O tratamento em coluna por corrida direta em seringa de 20mL, utilizando o carvão hidratado na quantaidade de 90 g/g de caseína, foi a condição escolhida para a remoção de Phe dos hidrolisados enzimáticos de leite em pó desnatado. A ação isolada da PA e PE, e a associação de PA com AO resultaram nos maiores percentuais de remoção de Phe (97 por cento a 98 por cento). A espectrofotometria derivada de segunda ordem permitiu avaliar a eficiência da remoção de fenilalanina.

Kinetic peculiarities of human tissue kallikrein: 1--substrate activation in the catalyzed hydrolysis of H-D-valyl-L-leucyl-L-arginine 4-nitroanilide and H-D-valyl-L-leucyl-L-lysine 4-nitroanilide; 2--substrate inhibition in the catalyzed hydrolysis of N alpha-p-tosyl-L-arginine methyl ester.

Hydrolysis of D-valyl-L-leucyl-L-lysine 4-nitroanilide (1), D-valyl-L-leucyl-L-arginine 4-nitroanilide (2), and N alpha-p-tosyl-L-arginine methyl ester (3) by human tissue kallikrein was studied throughout a wide range of substrate concentrations. At low substrate concentrations, the hydrolysis followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics but, at higher substrate concentrations, a deviation from Michaelis-Menten behavior was observed. With the nitroanilides, a significant increase in hydrolysis rates was observed, while with the ester, a significant decrease in hydrolysis rates was observed. The results for substrates (1) and (3) can be accounted for by a model based on the hypothesis that a second substrate molecule binds to the ES complex to produce a more active or an inactive SES complex. The deviation observed for substrate (2) can be explained as a bimolecular reaction between the enzyme-substrate complex and a free substrate molecule.