Range of L5 LDL levels in healthy adults and L5's predictive power in patients with hyperlipidemia or coronary artery disease.

Electronegative L5 low-density lipoprotein (LDL) level may be a useful biomarker for predicting cardiovascular disease. We determined the range of plasma L5 levels in healthy adults (n = 35) and examined the power of L5 levels to differentiate patients with coronary artery disease (CAD; n = 40) or patients with hyperlipidemia (HLP) without evidence of CAD (n = 35) from healthy adults. The percent L5 in total LDL (L5%) was quantified by using fast-protein liquid chromatography with an anion-exchange column. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to determine cut-off values for L5 levels. The mean L5% and plasma concentration of L5 (ie, [L5]) were significantly higher in patients with HLP or CAD than in healthy adults (P < 0.001). The ranges of L5% and [L5] in healthy adults were determined to be <1.6% and <1.7 mg/dL, respectively. In individuals with L5% >1.6%, the odds ratio was 9.636 for HLP or CAD. In individuals with [L5] >1.7 mg/dL, the odds ratio was 17.684 for HLP or CAD. The power of L5% or [L5] to differentiate patients with HLP or CAD from healthy adults was superior to that of the LDL/high-density lipoprotein ratio. The ranges of L5% and [L5] in healthy adults determined here may be clinically useful in preventing and treating cardiovascular disease.

Formation and fates of nitrosamines and their formation potentials from a surface water source to drinking water treatment plants in Southern Taiwan.

Nitrosamines are toxic and emerging disinfection byproducts. In this study, three drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) in southern Taiwan treating the same source water in Gaoping River with comparable technologies were selected. The objective was to evaluate the formation and fates of six nitrosamines and their formation potentials (FPs) from a surface water source to drinking water. Albeit decreased further downstream in the river, four nitrosamine-FPs were observed in the source water due to anthropogenic pollution in the upstream areas. In the DWTPs, nitrosamines were formed and NDMA was the main species. While high organic carbon concentrations indicated elevated nitrosamine-FPs in the source water, NDMA formation in the DWTPs was more positively associated with reductions of water parameters that quantify organic matters with double bonded ring structures. Although precursor removal via pre-oxidation is a viable approach to limit nitrosamine formation during post-disinfection, this study clearly indicates that a great portion of NDMA in treated water has been formed in the 1st oxidation step of drinking water treatment. The pre-oxidation simulations in the lab demonstrated the impact of pre-chlorination on nitrosamine formation. Given the limited removal in conventional treatment processes, avoiding nitrosamine-FPs in sources and/or nitrosamine formation during pre-oxidation become important issues to control the threats of nitrosamines in drinking water. Under current circumstance in which pre-oxidation is widely used to optimize the treatment effectiveness in many DWTPs, its adverse effect by forming nitrosamines needs to be carefully minimized and using technologies other than pre-chlorination (e.g., pre-ozonation) may be considered.

Enhanced Sphingomyelinase Activity Contributes to the Apoptotic Capacity of Electronegative Low-Density Lipoprotein.

Sphingomyelinase (SMase) catalyzes the degradation of sphingomyelin to ceramide. In patients with metabolic syndrome or diabetes, circulating plasma ceramide levels are significantly higher than in normal individuals. Our data indicate that electronegative low-density lipoprotein (LDL) shows SMase activity, which leads to increased ceramide levels that can produce pro-inflammatory effects and susceptibility to aggregation. According to sequence alignment and protein structure predictions, the putative catalytic site of SMase activity is in the α2 region of apoB-100. To identify specific post-translational modifications of apoB100 near the catalytic region, we performed data-independent, parallel-fragmentation liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS(E)), followed by data analysis with ProteinLynx GlobalServer v2.4. Results showed that the serine of apoB100 in electronegative LDL was highly O-glycosylated, including S(1732), S(1959), S(2378), S(2408), and S(2429). These findings may support the changing of the α-helix/ß-pleated sheets ratio in protein structure analysis. Further study is necessary to confirm the activation of SMase activity by electronegative LDL.