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Mitral valve repair clip detachment and embolization is a rare phenomenon, with few reported cases. We describe a case of subacute transcatheter mitral valve repair clip embolization presenting as an inferior ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, with subsequent successful percutaneous device retrieval. (Level of Difficulty: Intermediate.)

Objective: To conduct a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis to compare mortality and other clinical outcomes associated with chili pepper (CP) consumption versus no/rare consumption of CP. Methods: A comprehensive search was performed using Ovid, Cochrane, Medline, EMBASE, and Scopus from inception till January 16, 2020. Observational studies and randomized controlled trials were included, while pediatric/animal studies, letters/case reports, reviews, abstracts, and book chapters were excluded. All-cause mortality was studied as the primary outcome. Cardiovascular mortality, cancer-related deaths and cerebrovascular accidents were studied as secondary outcomes. Results: From 4729 studies, four studies met the inclusion criteria. Random effects pooled analysis showed that all-cause mortality among CP consumers was lower, compared to rare/non-consumers, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.87 [95% CI: 0.85–0.90; p

Background: Cardiac arrest (CA) complicating ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is associated with a disproportionately higher risk of mortality. We described the contemporary presentation, management, and outcomes of CA patients in the era of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods: We reviewed 1,272 consecutive STEMI patients who underwent PCI between 1/1/2011-12/31/2016 and compared characteristics and outcomes between non-CA (N = 1,124) and CA patients (N = 148), defined per NCDR definitions as pulseless arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation and/or defibrillation within 24-hr of PCI. Results: Male gender, cerebrovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, in-hospital STEMI, left main or left anterior descending culprit vessel, and initial TIMI 0 or 1 flow were independent predictors for CA. CA patients had longer door-to-balloon-time (106 [83,139] vs. 97 [74,121] minutes, p = 0.003) and greater incidence of cardiogenic shock (48.0% vs. 5.9%, p < 0.001), major bleeding (25.0% vs. 9.4%, p < 0.001), and 30-day mortality (16.2% vs. 4.1%, p < 0.001). Risk score for 30-day mortality based on presenting characteristics provided excellent prognostic accuracy (area under the curve = 0.902). However, over long-term follow-up of 4.5 ± 2.4 years among hospital survivors, CA did not portend any additional mortality risk (HR: 1.01, 95% CI: 0.56–1.82, p = 0.97). Conclusions: In a contemporary cohort of STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI, CA occurs in >10% of patients and is an important mechanism of mortality in patients with in-hospital STEMI. While CA is associated with adverse outcomes, it carries no additional risk of long-term mortality among survivors highlighting the need for strategies to improve the in-hospital care of STEMI patients with CA.

Pea proteins are promising plant proteins in the food industry but their flavor limits consumer acceptance. In this study, the impacts of extraction pH (8.5, 9.5 and 10) and cultivars (Agassiz and Trapeze) on the aromatic flavor profile of spray-dried pea proteins at each one of the three alkaline extraction-isoelectric precipitation steps were investigated by a headspace-solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) metabolomic approach. In total, 53, 54, and 48 representative compounds were obtained for each extraction step, respectively, and were used by Venn diagram, principal component analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis, and heatmap analysis to demonstrate the flavor variations among pea proteins with different extraction pH and cultivars. In addition, the changes of 7 beany-flavor markers during the extraction process were tracked and results showed that, in general, their content peaked in the second extraction step while 28% of the comparisons between the initial and final step showed a significant difference. The results of this study could provide a better understanding of flavor development of pea proteins during their production.

The noncharacterized protein CLOSCI_02528 from Clostridium scindens ATCC 35704 was characterized as D-psicose 3-epimerase. The enzyme showed maximum activity at pH 7.5 and 60°C. The half-life of the enzyme at 50°C was 108 min, suggesting the enzyme was relatively thermostable. It was strictly metal-dependent and required Mn²⁺ as optimum cofactor for activity. In addition, Mn²⁺ improved the structural stability during both heat- and urea-induced unfolding. Using circular dichroism measurements, the apparent melting temperature (T m) and the urea midtransition concentration (C m) of metal-free enzyme were 64.4°C and 2.68 M. By comparison, the Mn²⁺-bound enzyme showed higher T m and C m with 67.3°C and 5.09 M. The Michaelis-Menten constant (K m), turnover number (k cat), and catalytic efficiency (k cat/K m) values for substrate D-psicose were estimated to be 28.3 mM, 1826.8 s⁻¹, and 64.5 mM⁻¹ s⁻¹, respectively. The enzyme could effectively produce D-psicose from D-fructose with the turnover ratio of 28%.

The hypothesis that thiamin diphosphate-dependent enzymes achieve a significant fraction of their catalytic rate acceleration by providing a protein environment was tested experimentally using the intermediate C2alpha-hydroxyethylthiamin diphosphate (HEThDP). The pre-steady state and steady state methods were used to show that HEThDP is a substrate for this enzyme after ionization of the C2alpha-H bond.

The evidence for the N-terminal region of the PDHc-E1 subunit from E. coli playing a major role in the interaction with the PDHc-E2 subunit is presented. It is concluded that PDHc-E2 protects N-terminal residues 1-55 of PDHc-E1 selectively from trypsin digestion, notwithstanding the fact that the sequence spanning residues give no interpretable electron density in the high-resolution X-ray structure of E.