text:
|Polypeptide cartilage-inducing factors found in bone
|Seyedin et al.
|Bone morphogenetic agents
|Recombinant DNA cloning vectors and the eukaryotic and prokaryotic transformants thereof
|Santerre et al.
|Composition for stimulating bone growth
|Bone protein purification process
|Caplan et al.
|Biologically functional molecular chimeras
|Cohen et al.
This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 179,101 filed Apr. 8, 1988 now abandoned which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 31,346, filed Mar. 26, 1987, now U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,877,864; 943,332 filed Dec. 17, 1986 now abandoned; and 880,776 filed Jul. 1, 1986 now abandoned. This application also claims priority of PCT/US87/01537 filed Jun. 30, 1987.
The present invention relates to a novel family of purified proteins designated BMP-1 proteins and processes for obtaining them. These proteins (wherein BMP is bone morphogenic protein) may be used to induce bone and/or cartilage formation and in wound healing and tissue repair.
BMP-1 proteins are produced by culturing a cell transformed with a cDNA substantially as shown in Table III and recovering from the culture medium a protein containing substantially the 37 amino acid sequence as shown in Table II.
Some members of the BMP-1 protein family are further characterized by the ability of 200 nanograms of the BMP-1 protein to score at least +2 in the Rosen-modified Sampath-Reddi assay of bone and/or cartilage formation.
The bovine BMP-1 or bBMP-1 is a member of the family of the BMP-1 proteins of the invention. It contains substantially the amino acid sequence represented by amino acid #1 through amino acid #37 of Table I. Bovine BMP-1 is further characterized by the ability of 200 nanograms of this protein to score at least +2 in the Rosen-modified Sampath-Reddi assay of bone and/or cartilage formation.
Another aspect of the invention provides pharmaceutical compositions containing a therapeutically effective amount of a BMP-1 protein in admixture with a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle or carrier. The compositions may be used for bone and/or cartilage formation BMP-1 compositions may also be used for wound healing and tissue repair. Compositions of the invention may further include at least one other therapeutically useful agent such as the BMP proteins BMP-2A, BMP-2B, and BMP-3 disclosed respectively in co-owned, and concurrently filed U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 179,100 and Ser. No. 179,197. Other therapeutically useful agents include growth factors such as epidermal growth factor (EGF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and transforming growth factor (TGF). The compositions may also include an appropriate matrix, for instance, for supporting the composition and providing a surface for bone and/or cartilage growth.
The compositions may be employed in methods for treating a number of bone and/or cartilage defects, periodontal disease, and various types of wounds. These methods, according to the invention, entail administering to a patient needing such cartilage and/or bone formation, wound healing or tissue repair, an effective amount of a BMP-1 composition of the present invention. These methods may also entail the administration of a BMP-1 protein of the invention in conjunction with at least one of the novel BMP proteins disclosed in the co-owned applications described above. In addition, these methods may also include administration of a BMP-1 composition with other growth factors.
Still a further aspect of the invention are DNA sequences coding on expression for a BMP-1 protein. Such sequences include the sequence of nucleotides in a 5' to 3' direction illustrated in Tables I through III or DNA sequences which hybridize under stringent conditions with the DNA sequences of Tables I through III and encode a protein having the ability of 200 nanograms of the protein to score at least +2 in the Rosen-modified Sampath-Reddi assy of bone and/or cartilage formation described in Example III. Finally, allelic or other variations of the sequences of Tables I through III, whether such nucleotide changes result in changes in the peptide sequence or not, are also included in the present invention.
Still a further aspect of the invention is a vector containing a DNA sequence as described above in operative association with an expression control sequence therefor. Such vector may be employed in a novel process for producing a BMP-1 protein of the invention in which a cell line transformed with a DNA sequence encoding expression of a BMP-1 protein in operative association with an expression control sequence therefor, is cultured in a suitable culture medium and a BMP-1 protein is isolated and purified therefrom. This claimed process may employ a number of known cells both prokaryotic and eukaryotic as host cells for expression of the polypeptide.
Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description and preferred embodiments thereof.
(a) nucleotide #294 through nucleotide #404 of FIG. 1;
(b) nucleotide #3440 through nucleotide #3550 of FIG. 2;
(c) nucleotide #36 through nucleotide #2225 of FIG. 3; and
(d) naturally occurring allelic sequences and equivalent degenerative codon sequences of (a), (b), and (c).
FIG. 1 comprises DNA sequence and derived amino acid sequence from a bovine BMP-1 clone bp-50, ATCC #40295. FIG. 1 corresponds to Table 1 further described below.
FIG. 2 comprises DNA sequence and derived amino acid sequence of bovine BMP-1 clone, LP-H1, ATCC #40311. FIG. 2 corresponds to Table II further described below.
FIG. 3 comprises DNA sequence and derived amino acid sequence of human BMP-1 from lambda U2OS-1, ATCC #40343. FIG. 3 corresponds to Table III further described below.
The purified BMP-1 proteins of the present invention are produced by culturing a host cell transformed with a cDNA sequence substantially as shown in Table III and recovered from the culture medium. The recovered BMP-1 proteins are characterized by the 37 amino acid sequence or a substantially homologous sequence as represented by amino acids #1 through 37 of Table II. Bovine BMP-1 is characterized by such a homologous sequence as represented by amino acid #1-#37 of Table I. Some BMP-1 proteins are also characterized by the ability of 200 nanograms (ng) of the protein to score at least +2 in the Rosen-modified Sampath-Reddi assay of bone and/or cartilage formation described in Example III.
The BMP-1 proteins provided herein also include proteins encoded by the sequences similar to those of Tables I-III, but into which modifications are naturally provided (e.g. allelic variations in the nucleotide sequence which may result in amino acid changes in the polypeptide) or deliberately engineered. For example, synthetic polypeptides may wholly or partially duplicate continuous sequences of the amino acid residues of Tables I-III. These sequences, by virtue of sharing primary, secondary, or tertiary structural and conformational characteristics with BMP-1 polypeptides of Tables I-III may possess biological properties in common therewith. Thus, they may be employed as biologically active substitutes for naturally-occurring BMP-1 polypeptides in therapeutic processes.
Other specific mutations of the sequences of BMP-1 proteins described herein involve modifications of one or both of the glycosylation sites The absence of glycosylation or only partial glycosylation results from amino acid substitution or deletion at one or both of the asparagine-linked glycosylation recognition sites present in the sequences of BMP-1 shown in Tables I-III. The asparagine-linked glycosylation recognition sites comprise tripeptide sequences which are specifically recognized by appropriate cellular glycosylation enzymes. These tripeptide sequences are either asparagine-X-threonine or asparagine-X-serine, where X is usually any amino acid. A variety of amino acid substitutions or deletions at one or both of the first or third amino acid positions of a glycosylation recognition site (and/or amino acid deletion at the second position) results in non-glycosylation at the modified tripeptide sequence.
The present invention also encompasses the novel DNA sequences, free of association with DNA sequences encoding other proteinaceous materials, and coding on expression for BMP-1 proteins of the invention. These DNA sequences include those depicted in Tables I-III in a 5' to 3' direction and those sequences which hybridize under stringent hybridization conditions [see, T. Maniatis et al, Molecular Cloning (A Laboratory Manual), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (1982), pages 387 to 389]to the DNA sequences of Tables I-III.
Similarly, DNA sequences which code for BMP-1 polypeptides coded for by the sequences of Tables I-III, but which differ in codon sequence due to the degeneracies of the genetic code or allelic variations (naturally-occurring base changes in the species population which may or may not result in an amino acid change) also encode the novel growth factors described herein. Variations in the DNA sequences of Tables I-III which are caused by point mutations or by induced modifications (including insertion, deletion and substitution) to enhance the activity, half-life or production of the polypeptides encoded thereby are also encompassed in the invention.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a novel method for producing BMP-1 proteins. The method of the present invention involves culturing a suitable cell line, which has been transformed with a DNA sequence coding on expression for a BMP-1 polypeptide of the invention, under the control of known regulatory sequences. Suitable cells or cell lines may be mammalian cells, such as Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO). The selection of suitable mammalian host cells and methods for transformation, culture, amplification, screening and product production and purification are known in the art. See, e.g., Gething and Sambrook, Nature, 293:620-625 (1981), or alternatively, Kaufman et al, Mol. Cell. Biol. 5(7):1750-1759 (1985) or Howley et al, U.S. Pat. 4,419,446. Another suitable mammalian cell line, which is described in the accompanying examples, is the monkey COS-1 cell line. The mammalian cell line CV-1 may also be suitable.
Bacterial cells may also be suitable hosts. For example, the various strains of E. coli (e.g., HB101, MC1061) are well-known as host cells in the field of biotechnology. Various strains of B. subtilis, Pseudomonas, other bacilli and the like may also be employed in this method.
Many strains of yeast cells known to those skilled in the art may also be available as host cells for expression of the polypeptides of the present invention. Additionally, where desired, insect cells may be utilized as host cells in the method of the present invention. See, e.g. Miller et al, Genetic Engineering, 8:277-298 (Plenum Press 1986) and references cited therein.
Another aspect of the present invention provides vectors for use in the method of expression of these novel BMP-1 polypeptides. Preferably the vectors contain the full novel DNA sequences described above which code for the novel BMP-1 factors of the invention. Additionally the vectors also contain appropriate expression control sequences permitting expression of the BMP-1 protein sequences. Alternatively, vectors incorporating modified sequences as described above are also embodiments of the present invention and useful in the production of the BMP-1 proteins. The vectors may be employed in the method of transforming cell lines and contain selected regulatory sequences in operative association with the DNA coding sequences of the invention which are capable of directing the replication and expression thereof in selected host cells. Useful regulatory sequences for such vectors are known to one of skill in the art and may be selected depending upon the selected host cells. Such selection is routine and does not form part of the present invention.
A protein of the present invention, which induces cartilage and/or bone growth in circumstances where bone is not normally formed, has application in the healing of bone fractures and cartilage defects in humans and other animals. Such a preparation employing BMP-1 may have prophylactic use in closed as well as open fracture reduction and also in the improved fixation of artificial joints. De novo bone formation induced by an osteogenic agent contributes to the repair of congenital, trauma induced, or oncologic resection induced craniofacial defects, and also is useful in cosmetic plastic surgery. A BMP-1 protein of the invention may be used in the treatment of periodontal disease, and in other tooth repair processes. Such agents may provide an environment to attract bone-forming cells, stimulate growth of bone-forming cells or induce differentiation of progenitors of bone-forming cells. A variety of osteogenic, cartilage-inducing and bone inducing factors have been described. See, e.g. European patent applications 148,155 and 169,016 for discussions thereof.
The proteins of the invention may also be used in wound healing and tissue repair in humans and other animals The types of wounds include burns, incisions and ulcers. (See, e.g. PCT Publication W084/01106 for discussion of wound healing and related tissue repair.)
A further aspect of the invention is a therapeutic method and composition for repairing fractures and other conditions related to cartilage and/or bone defects or periodontal diseases. In addition, the invention comprises therapeutic methods and compositions for wound healing and tissue repair. Such compositions comprise a therapeutically effective amount of a BMP-1 protein in admixture with a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle, carrier or matrix. It is expected that BMP-1 may act in concert with or perhaps synergistically with other related proteins and growth factors. Further therapeutic methods and compositions of the invention therefore comprise a therapeutic amount of BMP-1 with a therapeutic amount of at least one of the other BMP proteins disclosed in co-owned and concurrently filed applications as described above Further, a BMP-1 protein may be combined with other agents beneficial to the treatment of the cartilage and/or bone defect, wound or tissue in question. These agents include various growth factors such as epidermal growth factor (EGF), platelet derived growth factor (PDGF), insulin-like growth factor (IGF), and transforming growth factor (TGF). The preparation and formulation of such physiologically acceptable protein compositions, having due regard to pH, isotonicity, stability and the like, is within the skill of the art. The therapeutic compositions of the invention are also presently valuable for veterinary applications due to the lack of species specificity in BMP proteins. Particularly domestic animals and thoroughbred horses in addition to humans are desired patients for such treatment with BMP-1 proteins.
The therapeutic method includes administering the composition topically, systematically, or locally as an implant or device. When administered, the therapeutic composition for use in this invention is, of course, in a pyrogen-free, physiologically acceptable form. Further, the composition may desirably be encapsulated or injected in a viscous form for delivery to the site of bone, cartilage, or other tissue damage. Topical administration may be suitable for wound healing and related tissue repair. Preferably, for bone and/or cartilage formation the composition would include a matrix capable of delivering the BMP protein to the site of bone and/or cartilage damage, providing a structure for the developing bone and cartilage and optimally capable of being resorbed into the body. Such matrices may be formed of materials presently in use for other implanted medical applications.
The choice of matrix material is based on biocompatibility, biodegradability, mechanical properties, cosmetic appearance and interface properties. The particular application of the BMP-1 compositions will determine the appropriate formulation Potential matrices for the compositions may be biodegradable and chemically defined such as calcium sulfate, tricalciumphosphate, hydroxyapatite, polylactic acid, and polyanhydrides. Other potential materials are biodegradable and biologically well defined, such as bone or dermal collagen. Further matrices are comprised of pure proteins or extracellular matrix components. Other potential matrices are nonbiodegradable and chemically defined, such as sintered hydroxyapatite, bioglass, aluminates, or other ceramics. Matrices may be comprised of combinations of any of the above mentioned types of material, such as polylactic acid and hydroxyapatite or collagen and tricalciumphosphate. The bioceramics may be altered in composition, such as in calcium-aluminate-phosphate and processing to alter pore size, particle size, particle shape, and biodegradability.
The dosage regimen will be determined by the attending physician considering various factors which modify the action of the BMP-1 protein, e.g. amount of bone weight desired to be formed, the site of bone damage, the condition of the damaged bone, the size of a wound, type of damaged tissue, the patient's age, sex, and diet, the severity of any infection, time of administration and other clinical factors. The dosage may vary with the type of matrix used in the reconstitution and the type of BMP protein in the composition. The addition of other known growth factors, such as IGF I (insulin like growth factor I), to the final composition, may also effect the dosage. Progress can be monitored by periodic assessment of bone growth and/or repair, e.g. x-rays.
The following examples illustrate practice of the present invention in recovering and characterizing bovine BMP-1 protein and employing it to recover human BMP-1 protein, obtaining the human BMP-1 and in expressing BMP-1 via recombinant techniques.
Ground bovine bone powder (20-120 mesh, Helitrex) is prepared according to the procedures of M. R. Urist et al., Proc. Natl Acad. Sci USA, 70:3511 (1973) with elimination of some extraction steps as identified below. Ten kgs of the ground powder is demineralized in successive changes of 0.6N HCl at 4° C. over a 48 hour period with vigorous stirring. The resulting suspension is extracted for 16 hours at 4° C. with 50 liters of 2M CaCl2 and 10 mM ethylenediamine-tetraacetic acid [EDTA], and followed by extraction for 4 hours in 50 liters of 0.5M EDTA. The residue is washed three times with distilled water before its resuspension in 20 liters of 4M guanidine hydrochloride [GuCl], 20 mM Tris (pH 7.4), 1 mM N-ethylmaleimide, 1 mM iodoacetamide, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluorine as described in Clin. Orthop. Rel. Res., 171:213 (1982). After 16 to 20 hours the supernatant is removed and replaced with another 10 liters of GuCl buffer The residue is extracted for another 24 hours.
The crude GuCl extracts are combined, concentrated approximately 20 times on a Pellicon apparatus with a 10,000 molecular weight cut-off membrane, and then dialyzed in 50 mM Tris, 0.1M NaCl, 6M urea (pH7.2), the starting buffer for the first column. After extensive dialysis the protein is loaded on a 4 liter DEAE cellulose column and the unbound fractions are collected.
The unbound fractions are concentrated and dialyzed against 50 mM NaAc, 50 mM NaCl (pH 4.6) in 6M urea. The unbound fractions are applied to a carboxymethyl cellulose column. Protein not bound to the column is removed by extensive washing with starting buffer, and the material containing protein having bone and/or cartilage formation activity as measured by the Rosen-modified Sampath-Reddi rat bone formation assay (described in Example III below) is desorbed from the column by 50 mM NaAc, 0.25 mM NaCl, 6M urea (pH 4.6). The protein from this step elution is concentrated 20- to 40- fold, then diluted 5 times with 80 mM KP04, 6M urea (pH6.0). The pH of the solution is adjusted to 6.0 with 500 mM K2 HPO4. The sample is applied to an hydroxylapatite column (LKB) equilibrated in 80 mM KPO4, 6M urea (pH6.0) and all unbound protein is removed by washing the column with the same buffer. Protein having bone and/or cartilage formation activity is eluted with 100 mM KPO4 (pH7.4) and 6M urea.
The protein is concentrated approximately 10 times, and solid NaCl added to a final concentration of 0.15M. This material is applied to a heparin - Sepharose column equilibrated in 50 mM KPO4, 150 mM NaCl, 6M urea (pH7.4). After extensive washing of the column with starting buffer, a protein with bone and/or cartilage formation activity is eluted by 50 mM KPO4, 700 mM NaCl, 6M urea (pH7.4). This fraction is concentrated to a minimum volume, and 0.4ml aliquots are applied to Superose 6 and Superose 12 columns connected in series, equilibrated with 4M GuCl, 20 mM Tris (pH7.2) and the columns developed at a flow rate of 0.25ml/min The protein demonstrating bone and/or cartilage inductive activity has a relative migration on SDS-PAGE corresponding to an approximately 28,000 to 30,000 dalton protein.
The above fractions from the superose columns are pooled, dialyzed against 50 mM NaAc, 6M urea (pH4.6), and applied to a Pharmacia MonoS HR column. The column is developed with a gradient to 1.0M NaCl, 50 mM NaAc, 6M urea (pH4.6). Active fractions are pooled and brought to pH3.0 with 10% trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). The material is applied to a 0.46×25cm Vydac C4 column in 0.1% TFA and the column developed with a gradient to 90% acetonitrile, 0.1% TFA (31.5% acetonitrile, 0.1% TFA to 49.5% acetonitrile, 0.1% TFA in 60 minutes at 1 ml per minute). Active bone and/or cartilage forming material is eluted at approximately 40-44% acetonitrile. Aliquots of the appropriate active fractions are iodinated by one of the following methods: P. J. McConahey et al, Int. Arch. Alleroy, 29:185-189 (1966); A. E. Bolton et al, Biochem J., 133:529 (1973); and D. F. Bowen-Pope, J. Biol. Chem., 237:5161 (1982). The iodinated proteins present in these fractions are analyzed by SDS gel electrophoresis and urea Triton X 100 isoelectric focusing. At this stage, the protein having bone and/or cartilage forming activity is estimated to be approximately 10-50% pure.
Approximately 20 ug protein from Example I is lyophilized and redissolved in 1X SDS sample buffer. After 15 minutes of heating at 37° C., the sample is applied to a 15% SDS polyacrylamide gel and then electrophoresed with cooling. The molecular weight is determined relative to prestained molecular weight standards (Bethesda Research Labs) Immediately after completion, the gel lane containing the bone and/or cartilage forming material is sliced into 0.3cm pieces. Each piece is mashed and 1.4 ml of 0.1% SDS is added. The samples are shaken gently overnight at room temperature to elute the protein. Each gel slice is desalted to prevent interference in the biological assay. The supernatant from each sample is acidified to pH 3.0 with 10% TFA, filtered through a 0.45 micron membrane and loaded on a 0.46cm×5cm C4 Vydac column developed with a gradient of 0.1% TFA to 0.1% TFA, 90% CH3 CN. The appropriate bone and/or cartilage inductive protein-containing fractions are pooled and reconstituted with 20 mg rat matrix and assayed. In this gel system, the majority of bone and/or cartilage formation fractions have the mobility of a protein having a molecular weight of approximately 28,000-30,000 daltons.
The isoelectric point of the protein having bone and/or cartilage formation activity is determined in a denaturing isoelectric focusing system. The Triton X100 urea gel system (Hoeffer Scientific) is modified as follows: 1) 40% of the ampholytes used are Servalyte 3/10; 60% are Servalyte 7-9; and 2) the catholyte used is 40 mM NaOH. Approximately 20 ug of protein from Example I is lyophilized, dissolved in sample buffer and applied to the isoelectrofocusing gel. The gel is run at 20 watts, 10° C for approximately 3 hours. At completion the lane containing bone and/or cartilage inductive factor is sliced into 0.5 cm slices. Each piece is mashed in 1.0 ml 6M urea, 5 mM Tris (pH 7.8) and the samples agitated at room temperature. The samples are acidified, filtered, desalted and assayed as described above. The major portion of activity as determined by the Rosen-modified Sampath-Reddi assay migrates in a manner consistent with a pI of about 8 8-9.2.
The subunit composition of the isolated bovine bone protein is also determined Pure bone protein factor is isolated from a preparative 15% SDS gel as described above. A portion of the sample is then reduced with 5 mM DTT in sample buffer and re-electrophoresed on a 15% SDS gel. The approximately 28-30 kd protein yields two major bands at approximately 18-20 kd and approximately 16-18 kd, as well as a minor band at approximately 28-30 kd. The broadness of the two bands indicates heterogeneity caused most probably by glycosylation, other post translational modification, proteolytic degradation or carbamylation.
A modified version of the rat bone formation assay described in Sampath and Reddi, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 80:6591-6595 (1983) is used to evaluate bone and/or cartilage activity of the bovine protein obtained in Example I and the BMP-1 proteins of the invention. This modified assay is herein called the Rosen-modified Sampath-Reddi assay. The ethanol precipitation step of the Sampath-Reddi procedure is replaced by dialyzing (if the composition is a solution) or diafiltering (if the composition is a suspension) the fraction to be assayed against water. The solution or suspension is then redissolved in 0.1 % TFA, and the resulting solution added to 20 mg of rat matrix. A mock rat matrix sample not treated with the protein serves as a control. This material is frozen and lyophilized and the resulting powder enclosed in #5 gelatin capsules The capsules are implanted subcutaneously in the abdominal thoracic area of 21-49 day old male Long Evans rats. The implants are removed after 7-14 days. Half of each implant is used for alkaline phosphatase analysis [See, A. H. Reddi et al., Proc. Natl Acad Sci., 69:1601 (1972)].
The other half of each implant is fixed and processed for histological analysis. About 1 glycolmethacrylate sections are stained with Von Kossa and acid fuschin to score the amount of induced bone and cartilage formation present in each implant The terms +1 through +5 represent the area of each histological section of an implant occupied by new bone and/or cartilage cells and matrix. A score of 5 indicates that greater than 50% of the implant is new bone and/or cartilage produced as a direct result of protein in the implant. A score of +4, +3, +2 and +1 would indicate that greater than 40%, 30%, 20% and 10% respectively of the implant contains new cartilage and/or bone.
The rat matrix samples containing 200 ng of protein obtained in Example I result in bone and/or cartilage formation that filled more than 20% of the implant areas that was sectioned for histology. This protein therefore scores at least +2 in the Rosen-modified Sampath-Reddi assay. The dose response of the matrix samples indicates that the amount of bone and/or cartilage formed increases with the amount of protein in the sample. The control sample did not result in any bone and/or cartilage formation. The purity of the protein assayed is approximately 10-15% pure.
The bone and/or cartilage formed is physically confined to the space occupied by the matrix. Samples are also analyzed by SDS gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing as described above, followed by autoradiography. Analysis reveals a correlation of activity with protein bands at 28-30 kd and a pI of approximately 8.8-9.2. To estimate the purity of the protein in a particular fraction an extinction coefficient of 1 OD/mg-cm is used as an estimate for protein and the protein is run on SDS PAGE followed by silver staining or radioiodination and autoradiography.
The protein composition of Example IIA of molecular weight 28-30 kd is reduced as described in Example IIC and digested with trypsin Eight tryptic fragments are isolated by standard procedures having the following amino acid sequences:
Fragment 1: A A F L G D I A L D E E D L G
Fragment 2: A F Q V Q Q A A D L
Fragment 3: N Y Q D M V V E G
Fragment 4: S T P A Q D V S R
Fragment 5: N Q E A L R
Fragment 6: L S E P D P S H T L E E
Fragment 7: F D A Y Y
Fragment 8: L K P S N ? A T I Q S I V E
Probes consisting of pools of oligonucleotides (or unique oligonucleotides) are designed according to the method of R. Lathe, J. Mol. Biol., 183 (1):1-12 (1985) and synthesized on an automated DNA synthesizer. The probes are designed from tryptic Fragment 1. One probe consists of a relatively long (32 nucleotides) "guessmer" [See J. J. Toole et al, Nature, 312:342-347 (1984)] of the following nucleotide sequence:
Because the genetic code is degenerate (more than one codon can code for the same amino acid), the number of oligonucleotides in a probe pool is reduced based on the frequency of codon usage in eukaryotes, the relative stability of G:T base pairs, and the relative infrequency of the dinucleotide CpG in eukaryotic coding sequences [see Toole et al., supra.]. The second set of probes consists of shorter oligonucleotides (17 nucleotides in length) which contain all possible sequences that could encode the amino acids. The second set of probes has the following sequences:
(a) A [A/G] [A/G] TC [T/C] TC [T/C] TC [A/G] TC [T/C] AA
(b) A [A/G] [A/G] TC [T/C] TC [T/C] TC [A/G] TCNAG
Bracketed nucleotides are alternatives. "N" means either A, T, C or G.
In both cases the regions of the amino acid sequence used for probe design are chosen by avoiding highly degenerate codons where possible The oligonucleotides are synthesized on an automated DNA synthesizer; the probes are then radioactively labeled with polynucleotide kinase and 32 P-ATP.
These two sets of probes are used to screen a bovine genomic recombinant library. The library is constructed as follows: Bovine liver DNA is partially digested with the restriction endonuclease enzyme Sau 3A and sedimented through a sucrose gradient. Size fractionated DNA in the range of 15-30 kb is then ligated to the bacteriophage Bam HI vector EMBL3 [Frischauf et al, J. Mol. Biol., 170:827-842 (1983)]. The library is plated at 8000 recombinants per plate. Duplicate nitrocellulose replicas of the plaques are made and amplified according to a modification of the procedure of Woo et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 75:3688-91 (1978).
The 32 mer probe is kinased with 32 P-gamma-ATP and hybridized to one set of filters in 5X SSC, 0.1% SDS, 5X Denhardts, 100 ug/ml salmon sperm DNA at 45 degrees C. and washed with 5X SSC, 0.1% SDS at 45 degrees C. The 17 mer probes are kinased and hybridized to the other set of filters in 3M tetramethylammonium chloride (TMAC), 0.1M sodium phosphate pH6.5, 1 mM EDTA, 5X Denhardts, 0.6% SDS, 100 ug/ml salmon sperm DNA at 48 degrees C., and washed in 3M TMAC, 50 mM Tris pH8.0 at 50 degrees C. These conditions minimize the detection of mismatches to the 17 mer probe pool [see, Wood et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci, U.S.A., 82:1585-1588 (1985)]. 400,000 recombinants are screened by this procedure and one duplicate positive is plaque purified DNA is isolated from a plate lysate of this recombinant bacteriophage designated lambda bP-50. bP-50 was deposited Dec. 16, 1986 with the American Type Culture Collection, 12301 Parklawn Drive, Rockville, Md. USA (hereinafter the "ATCC") under accession number 40295. This deposit as well as the other deposits contained herein meets the requirements of the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure and Regulations thereunder. This bp-50 clone encodes at least a portion of the bovine protein which we have designated BMP-1 or bBMP-1.
The oligonucleotide hybridizing region of this BMP-1 clone is localized to an approximately 800bp Eco RI fragment which is subcloned into M13 and sequenced by standard techniques. The partial DNA sequence and derived amino acid sequence of lambda bP-50 are shown below in Table I. The amino acid sequences corresponding to the tryptic fragments described above isolated from the bovine bone 28 to 30 kd material are underlined in Table I. The first underlined portion of the sequence corresponds to tryptic Fragment 1 above from which the oligonucleotide probes are designed The second underlined portion corresponds to tryptic Fragment 2 above. The predicted amino acid sequence indicates that tryptic Fragment 2 is preceded by a basic residue (R) as expected considering the specificity of trypsin. The nucleic acid sequence preceding the couplet CT at nucleotide positions #292-293 in Table I is presumed to be an intron (noncoding sequence) based on the presence of a consensus acceptor sequence (i.e., a pyrimidine rich tract, TCTCTCTCC, followed by AG) and the lack of a basic residue in the appropriate position of the derived amino acid sequence. The presumptive bBMP-1 peptide sequence from this genomic clone is 37 amino acids in length as depicted in Table I from amino acid #1 to amino acid #37 and is encoded by the DNA sequence from nucleotide #294 through #404 in Table I.
The bovine and human BMP-1 genes are presumed to be significantly homologous, therefore the bovine BMP-1 DNA sequence of Table I (or portions thereof) is used as a probe to screen a human genomic library. The 800 bp EcoRI fragment of the bovine genomic clone is labeled with 32 P by nick-translation. A human genomic library (Toole et al., supra) is plated on 20 plates at 40,000 recombinants per plate. Duplicate nitrocellulose filter replicas are made of each plate and hybridized to the nick-translated probe in 5× SSC, 5× Denhardt's, 100 ug/ml denatured salmon sperm DNA, 0.1% SDS (the standard hybridization solution) at 50 degrees centigrade for approximately 14 hours. The filters are then washed in 1× SSC, 0.1% SDS at 50 degrees centigrade and subjected to autoradiography Five duplicate positives are isolated and plaque purified. DNA is obtained from a plate lysate of one of these recombinant bacteriophage, designated LP-H1. LP-H1 was deposited with the ATCC on Mar. 6, 1987 under accession number 40311. This clone encodes at least a portion of the human genomic BMP-1 protein. The hybridizing region of LP-H1 is localized to a 2.5 kb XbaI/HindIII restriction fragment.
The partial DNA sequence and derived amino acid sequence of lambda LP-HI are shown below in Table II. The peptide sequence from this clone is 37 amino acids in length as depicted by amino acid #1 through amino acid #37 and is encoded by the DNA sequence from nucleotide #3440 through nucleotide #3550. The coding sequence of Table II is flanked by approximately 28 nucleotides (a presumptive 5' noncoding sequence) as well as approximately 19 nucleotides (a presumptive 3' noncoding sequence). A comparison of the bBMP-1 sequence of Table I with the hBMP-1 genomic sequence of Table II indicates the significant homology between the two.
Because the size of coding regions and the positions of noncoding regions is generally conserved in homologous genes of different species, the locations of the coding and noncoding regions of the BMP-1 genes may be identified. Regions of homology between the two species' genes, flanked by RNA processing signals at homologous sites, indicate a coding region.
A probe specific for the human coding sequence given in Table II is used to identify a human cell line or tissue which synthesizes BMP-1. The probe is made according to the following method. Two oligonucleotides having the following sequences:
(a) GGGAATTCTGCCTTTCTTGGGGACATTGCCCTGGACGAAGAGGACCTGAG
(b) CGGGATCCGTCTGAGATCCACAGCCTGCTGTACCTGGAAGGCCCTCAGG
are synthesized on an automated synthesizer, annealed, extended using the Klenow fragment of E. coli DNA polymerase I, digested with the restriction enzymes Eco RI and Bam HI, and inserted into an M13 vector. A single-stranded 32 P-labeled probe is then made off a template preparation of this subclone by standard techniques. Polyadenylated RNAs from various cell and tissue sources are electrophoresed on formaldehyde-agarose gels and transferred to nitrocellulose by the method of Toole et al., supra. The probe is then hybridized to the nitrocellulose blot in 50% formamide, 5×SSC, 0.1% SDS, 40 mM sodium phosphate pH 6.5, 100 ug/ml denatured salmon sperm DNA, and 5 mM vanadyl ribonucleosides at 42° C. overnight and washed at 65° C. in 0.2×SSC, 0.1% SDS. Following autoradiography, the lane containing RNA from the human osteosarcoma cell line U-2 OS contains hybridizing bands corresponding to RNA species of approximately 4.3 and 3.0 kb.
cDNA is synthesized from U-2 OS polyadenylated RNA and cloned into lambda gt10 by established techniques (Toole et al., supra). 20,000 recombinants from this library are plated on each of 50 plates. Duplicate nitrocellulose replicas are made of the plates. The above described oligonucleotides are kinased with 32 P-gamma-ATP and hybridized to the two sets of replicas at 55° centigrade in standard hybridization solution overnight. The filters are then washed in 1×SSC, 0.1% SDS at 55° centigrade and subjected to autoradiography. One duplicate positive, designated lambda U20S-1, is plaque purified. Lambda U20S-1 was deposited with the ATCC on Jun. 16, 1987 under accession number 40343.
The entire nucleotide sequence and derived amino acid sequence of the insert of lambda U2OS-1 is given in Table III. This cDNA clone encodes a Met followed by a hydrophobic leader sequence characteristic of a secreted protein, and contains a stop codon at nucleotide positions #2226-190 2228. This clone contains an open reading frame of 2190 bp, encoding a protein of 730 amino acids with a molecular weight of approximately 83kd based on this amino acid sequence. The clone contains sequence identical to the coding region given in Table II. Amino acids #51 to #87 of Table III correspond to amino acids #1 to #37 of Table II. The BMP-1 protein encoded by the sequence of Table III is contemplated to contain this 37 amino acid sequence or a sequence substantially homologous thereto. The amino acid sequence of Table III is contemplated to represent a primary translation product which is cleaved upon secretion to produce the human BMP-1 protein. It is contemplated that BMP-1 corresponds to the approximately 28-30 kd subunit of Example IIC. This clone is therefore a cDNA for human BMP-1 corresponding to the human gene fragment contained in the genomic hBMP-1 sequence lambda LP-H1. It is noted that amino acids #550 to #590 of BMP-1 as shown in Table III are homologous to epidermal growth factor and the "growth factor" domains of various proteins such as Protein C, Factor X and Factor IX.
A comparison of the BMP-1 amino acid sequence of Table III with itself indicates that there are three regions of internal sequence similarity, defining three additional domains. Each block of sequence is 113 amino acid residues long; the first two are tandemly repeated (residues 322-434 and 435-547), the third (591-703) follows the growth factor domain An alignment of these three sequences shows that in each block there are four absolutely conserved cys residues, suggesting a common secondary conformation for these domains.
In order to produce bovine, human or other mammalian BMP-1 proteins, the DNA encoding BMP-1 is transferred into an appropriate expression vector and introduced into mammalian cells or other preferred eukaryotic or prokaryotic hosts by conventional genetic engineering techniques. However the presently preferred expression system for biologically active recombinant human BMP-1 is stably transformed mammalian cells.
One skilled in the art can construct mammalian expression vectors by employing the sequence of Tables I-III or other modified sequences and known vectors, such as pCD [Okayama et al., Mol. Cell Biol., 2:161-170 (1982)] and pJL3, pJL4 [Gough et al., EMBO J., 4:645-653 (1985)]. The transformation of these vectors into appropriate host cells can result in expression of BMP-1. One skilled in the art may manipulate the sequences of Tables I-III by eliminating or replacing the mammalian regulatory sequences flanking the coding sequence with bacterial sequences to create bacterial vectors for intracellular or extracellular expression by bacterial cells. For example, the coding sequences may be further manipulated (e.g. ligated to other known linkers or modified by deleting non-coding sequences there-from or altering nucleotides therein by other known techniques). The modified BMP-1 coding sequence may then be inserted into a known bacterial vector using procedures such as described in T. Taniguchi et al., Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA, 77:5230-5233 (1980). This exemplary bacterial vector may then be transformed into bacterial host cells and BMP-1 expressed thereby For a strategy for producing extracellular expression of BMP-1 in bacterial cells., see, e.g. European patent application EPA 177,343.
Similar manipulations may be performed for the construction of an insect vector [See, e.g. procedures described in published European patent application 155,476] for expression in insect cells A yeast vector may also be constructed employing yeast regulatory sequences for intracellular or extracellular expression of the factors of the present invention by yeast cells. [See, e.g., procedures described in published PCT application WO86/00639 and European patent application EPA 123,289].
A method for producing high levels of a BMP-1 protein of the invention from mammalian cells involves the construction of cells containing multiple copies of the heterologous BMP-1 gene. The heterologous gene can be linked to an amplifiable marker, e.g. the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene for which cells containing increased gene copies can be selected for propagation in increasing concentrations of methotrexate (MTX) according to the procedures of Kaufman and Sharp, J. Mol. Biol., 159:601-629 (1982). This approach can be employed with a number of different cell types. For example, a plasmid containing a DNA sequence for a BMP-1 protein of the invention in operative association with other plasmid sequences enabling expression thereof and the DHFR expression plasmid pAdA26SV(A)3 [Kaufman and Sharp, Mol. Cell. Biol., 2:1304 (1982)] can be co-introduced into DHFR-deficient CHO cells, DUKX-BII, by calcium phosphate coprecipitation and transfection, electroporation or protoplast fusion. DHFR expressing transformants are selected for growth in alpha media with dialyzed fetal calf serum, and subsequently selected for amplification by growth in increasing concentrations of MTX (sequential steps in 0.02, 0.2, 1.0 and 5 uM MTX) as described in Kaufman et al., Mol Cell Biol., 5:1750 (1983). Transformants are cloned, and biologically active BMP-1 expression is monitored by the Rosen-modified Sampath-Reddi rat bone formation assay described above in Example III. BMP-1 expression should increase with increasing levels of MTX resistance. Similar procedures can be followed to produce other BMP-1 family proteins.
As one specific example, to produce a human BMP-1 protein, the insert of U20S-1 is released from the vector arms by digestion with Sal I and subcloned into the mammalian expression vector pMT2CX digested with Xho I. Plasmid DNA from this subclone is transfected into COS cells by the DEAE-dextran procedure [Sompayrac and Danna PNAS 78:7575-7578 (1981); Luthman and Magnusson, Nucl.Acids Res. 11: 1295-1308 (1983)] and the cells are cultured. Serum-free 24 hr. conditioned medium supernatant is collected from the cells starting 40-70 hr. post-transfection.
The mammalian expression vector pMT2 Cla-Xho (pMT2 CX) is a derivative of p91023 (b) (Wong et al., Science 228:810-815, 1985) differing from the latter in that it contains the ampicillin resistance gene in place of the tetracycline resistance gene and further contains a XhoI site for insertion of cDNA clones. The functional elements of pMT2 Cla-Xho have been described (Kaufman, R. J., 1985, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82:689-693) and include the adenovirus VA genes, the SV40 origin of replication including the 72 bp enhancer, the adenovirus major late promoter including a 5' splice site and the majority of the adenovirus tripartite leader sequence present on adenovirus late mRNAs, a 3' splice acceptor site, a DHFR insert, the SV40 early polyadenylation site (SV40), and pBR322 sequences needed for propagation in E. coli.
Plasmid pMT2 Cla-Xho is obtained by EcoRI digestion of pMT2-VWF, which has been deposited with the (ATCC) under accession number ATCC 67122. EcoRI digestion excises the cDNA insert present in pMT2-VWF, yielding pMT2 in linear form which can be ligated and used to transform E. coli HB 101 or DH-5 to ampicillin resistance. Plasmid pMT2 DNA can be prepared by conventional methods. pMT2CX is then constructed by digesting pMT2 with Eco RV and XbaI, treating the digested DNA with Klenow fragment of DNA polymerase I, and ligating Cla linkers (NEBiolabs, CATCGATG). This removes bases 2266 to 2421 starting from the Hind III site near the SV40 origin of replication and enhancer sequences of pMT2. Plasmid DNA is then digested with EcoRI, blunted as above, and ligated to an EcoRI adapter, ##STR49## digested with XhoI, and ligated, yielding pMT2 Cla-Xho, which may then be used to transform E. coli to ampicillin resistance. Plasmid pMT2 Cla-Xho DNA may be prepared by conventional methods.
To measure the biological activity of the expressed BMP-1 obtained in Example VI above, the BMP-1 is partially purified on a Heparin Sepharose column. 4 ml of the collected post transfection conditioned medium supernatant from one 100 mm culture dish is concentrated approximately 10 fold by ultrafiltration on a YM 10 membrane and then dialyzed against 20 mM Tris, 0.15 M NaCl, pH 7.4 (starting buffer). This material is then applied to a 1.1 ml Heparin Sepharose column in starting buffer. Unbound proteins are removed by an 8 ml wash of starting buffer, and bound proteins, including BMP-1, are desorbed by a 3-4 ml wash of 20 mM Tris, 2.0 M NaCl, pH 7.4.
The proteins bound by the Heparin column are concentrated approximately 10-fold on a Centricon 10 and the salt reduced by diafiltration with 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid. Purified BMP-1 is approximately 95% substantially free from other proteinaceous materials. The appropriate amount of this solution is mixed with 20 mg of rat matrix and then assayed for in vivo bone and/or cartilage formation activity by the Rosen-modified Sampath-Reddi assay. A mock transfection supernatant fractionation is used as a control.
The implants containing rat matrix to which specific amounts of human BMP-1 have been added are removed from rats after seven days and processed for histological evaluation. Representative sections from each implant are stained for the presence of new bone mineral with von Kossa and acid fuschin, and for the presence of cartilage-specific matrix formation using toluidine blue. The types of cells present within the section, as well as the extent to which these cells display phenotype are evaluated and scored as described in Example III.
Addition of human BMP-1 to the matrix material resulted in formation of cartilage-like nodules at 7 days post implantation. The chondroblast-type cells were recognizable by shape and expression of metachromatic matrix. The assay results indicate that approximately 200 ng of BMP-1 results in a score of at least +2. The amount of activity observed for BMP-1 indicates that it may be dependent on the amount of BMP-1 added to the matrix sample.
Similar levels of activity are seen in the Heparin Sepharose fractionated COS cell extracts. Partial purification is accomplished in a similar manner as described above except that 6 M urea is included in all the buffers.
The procedures described above may be employed to isolate other related BMP-1 factors of interest by utilizing the bovine BMP-1 or human BMP-1 as a probe source. Such other BMP-1 proteins may find similar utility in, inter alia, fracture repair, wound healing, and tissue repair
The foregoing descriptions detail presently preferred embodiments of the present invention. Numerous modifications and variations in practice thereof are expected to occur to those skilled in the art upon consideration of these descriptions. Those modifications and variations are believed to be encompassed within the claims appended hereto.


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Washington (AFP) -- The Islamic State group on Sunday claimed responsibility for a knife attack that killed two women at the main train station in the French Mediterranean city of Marseilles.
The monitoring group SITE quoted an Arabic language report on the group's Amaq propaganda agency that cited a "security source" as saying: "The executor of the stabbing operation in the city of Marseilles... is from the soldiers of the Islamic State."
The attacker, a man believed to be in his 30s, was shot dead by soldiers serving in a special 7,000-strong force known as Sentinelle set up to guard vulnerable areas in terror-hit France.
Witnesses said he shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) at the start of his rampage.
The latest deaths came with France still on high alert and under a state of emergency following a string of attacks in recent years by extremists linked to the Islamic State group or Al-Qaeda.

subset: commoncrawl


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Top 5 Digestive Tips to Start Today
The modern world is one of immediate gratification. Someone can go to a fast food restaurant and have a full meal in five minutes or less. Many people expect the same thing from diets. We're always looking for diets that promise fast results with little work. We want the pill that will cause us to lose a hundred pounds. With so much information out there, where do we begin?
We got some tips from Jessica, a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® (FDN) Practitioner at Optimize To Thrive, a Holistic Health and Coaching company.
1. Start eating a Whole Foods diet
I can't stress this enough! Eating a whole foods diet allows us to eliminate the following nasties:
- Food Dye
- Chemical Preservatives
- Ingredients that are banned in other countries like: Olestra, Brominated Vegetable Oil, Butylated Hydroxytoluene.
Eating a Whole foods diet also assists in weight loss and management. If we focus on eating veggies, nuts, seeds, fresh cuts of meat and seafood along with fruit and water, it's very hard to overeat. These foods taste good and can be combined in a variety of ways to intensify their flavor, but they never become "hyper-palitable" like snack foods, breads, and heavily processed grains and meats do. When the food companies start combining flavors and removing fats to add sugars they change the make-up of the product and therefore it's no longer a "whole food."
2. Proper Chewing and Mindfulness
The digestive process actually begins outside of your mouth, it starts with the sense of smell and sight. When we see and smell food our mouths start to water and saliva contains a very important enzyme, amylase, that starts the chemical breakdown of starch. Once we begin to chew the physical aspect of digestion begins and we masticate our food making it possible to swallow without choking. Have you ever heard of "inhaling" your food? Better yet are you guilty of doing just that? When we eat too fast we don't allow for the proper time that's required for the chewing process (30+ bites before you swallow). This will not only impact the size of the food you are swallowing, making more work further down the line, but it also impacts the release of the amylase which I spoke of earlier. Let me tell you why this matters and why you should chew each bite 30+ times. Once our stomach receives the signal from the vagus nerve and begins to physically expand from the addition of food the process begins where it becomes more acidic (acid is produced to break down food). This is another step in digestion and allows for the food, more specifically the proteins, to be properly broken down before they move further along in the digestive process. If the timing is rushed during chewing and swallowing then the production of acid will also be impaired. As you can imagine, the process will begin to back up and become delayed just like the busy freeways we travel on. This can set the scene for indigestion and improper digestion.
When we have indigestion and improper digestion, the food we eat becomes less of a fuel and more of a hinderance to our health.
Further along in the digestive process the proteins are liberated into amino acids and carbohydrates and fats are further broken down into their building blocks of simple sugars and fatty acids respectively.
When this process is rushed we are making our digestive system work overtime and likely not benefiting from all the nutrients in our food because our bodies are unable to absorb them properly.
Mindfulness is all about being aware. When we slow down our eating we naturally become more mindful of the flavors of our food. We tend to enjoy it more and surprisingly extract more nutrients from it. This can help with our bodies response to satiety as well as nourishment.
Please, slow down, sit and enjoy your meals. Do your best not to eat in a stressful state, remove electronics from the table and don't eat on the run. Your digestive system will thank you!
3. Supplementing with Digestive Enzymes and Limiting Fluid Intake During a Meal
Digestive enzymes are naturally produced in our bodies. The 3 main ones are as follows:
- Amylase – Sugar/Starch
- Pepsin – Protein
- Lipase – Fat
Enzymes are produced in the stomach and also from the liver and pancreas in addition to the small intestine as things progress thru the digestive tract.
There could be several reasons for low production of enzymes and that can take some investigation. Also, as we age the overall production tends to lessen. A great way to combat this and make sure we are getting the most out of nutrition is to supplement with some additional enzymes. I tend to recommend supplementation after I consult with a client to better asses concerns they are having. However, in general, supplementation is safe and can be done without consulting with a practitioner. If your looking to improve digestion this would be a great place to start. I will recommend, however, that you do not supplement with HCL unless you have ruled out H. Pylori and stomach ulcers.
When we eat a meal or snack it's best to limit fluid intake. When we drink with our meals we are diluting the stomach acid that we need to break down our foods. This can start to impact the entire digestive process in a similar way to when you don't chew your food adequately. Keeping fluid intake with the meal to a minimum is another key part to healthy digestion and a healthier you!
4. Fermented Foods and Probiotics
Fermented foods have been part of our natural diet for hundreds if not thousands of years. As foods of convenience slowly took over America, many people stopped making at home ferments. More recently they have seen a resurgence because of all the interest in the Gut Microbiome and the continuing research that is showing the importance of beneficial bacteria for maintaining health. That being said I encourage everyone to start with sauerkraut (raw and organic if possible), just a tablespoon full every day with a meal. Then increase it from there to include a few spoonfuls at every meal. Currently we are seeing a real resurgence in fermented foods and drinks like Kombucha, and Jun, among other trendy drinks in the specialty food markets. I think these can be good options on occasion, but would always suggest a ferment that doesn't need sugar to grow the yeast or bacteria. Yogurt is another good source for fermented food as long as its grass fed and pastured organic dairy. Also, be sure to avoid the added flavors and fruit mixes as they are laden with sugar and work against health. I personally make my own yogurt and have done so for many years. It's very inexpensive and easy to do. I also ferment my own sauerkraut, it too is easy and the best way to control the ingredients that go into making the product. After all, if you are going to be buying it the cost may add up quick for good quality so best to learn to make these staples yourself. Fermenting veggies also has the added benefit of making the nutrients in the veggies more bioavailable. In other words, your body can absorb and use all the nutrients much better than if you were to eat the food raw.
Probiotics can also play an important part in digestive health.
Bacteria in the GI system are responsible for not only immune health, but also for digestion.
Certain beneficial bacteria aid in proper digestion and break down of food. They also make sure that the fatty acids are liberated and turned into energy. Probiotics can be a little powerhouse and there are multiple strains so its a good idea to vary which ones you take including a good soil based product like Prescript Assist and a spore based one like MegaSpore. There are also yeast based sources which have their benefits as well.
5. Meal Timing and Fasting
Meal frequency and spacing is the last digestive tip I will focus on. Throughout the years there have been many different recommendations from eating every 2 hours to eating at intervals that don't allow you to ever get hungry and now fasting seems to be all the rage. Not to get too caught up in the weeds, meals every 2-3 hours was never a recommendation based on science. It was more theory and then food companies jumped on board and turned it into a marketing ploy. Eating "snacks" or small meals every few hours sold more "snack" foods and it also taught people that they could constantly eat and never feel hunger again because they ate based on what time it was, not how hungry they felt.
The digestive system never gets a break when we eat or graze throughout the day.
The only time it has "off" is during sleeping hours and unfortunately that's just not enough time for it to fully rest. The liver, pancreas and entire GI system is working nonstop with food and then the liver also puts in OT because its working on filtering and metabolizing everything that we eat, drink and breathe including prescription pills and supplements. In addition to that it also handles anything that we absorb through our skin to a degree as well so its definitely in need of a vacation when we are snacking or eating every 2-3 hours.
If we were to look back in history we would see that it wasn't all that long ago that snacking became popular. Before that it was 3 square meals a day. People still enjoyed their cakes or chips and pretzels, but it was part of the main meal or not as frequently consumed as it is today. Not mini meals in-between the main meals. It would be common to fast from dinner until breakfast the next day. Now most people are taking in the bulk of their calories during late night mindless snacking thats happening because of stress or boredom.
The key takeaway is to focus on eating main meals and to include any indulgences or special treats as part of a meal. Let the digestive system rest and repair between meals and overnight.
I hope you found this quite to be helpful and thought provoking. Please visit my site and blogs and feel free to start a dialogue with any questions you may have.
Beditations: Mindful Diet
The Mind/Body Connection
Your conscious and sub conscious minds are in constant communication. Try an experiment: move your finger. Easy, right? You might say, "That was a conscious effort."
But what happens on the subconscious level? What about the blood that flowed to the muscles in your finger, allowing it to move? Did you consciously cause your heart to beat, thus sending the blood to the finger? No. It was a joint effort between your conscious and subconscious minds.
As you can see, your conscious mind can have a tremendous impact on your body. Another experiment: think of a time when you were embarrassed. Maybe you feel heat in your cheeks. If you look in a mirror, you might see your face turning red. Your heart rate might increase. These physiological effects are the result of you using your conscious mind to create physical effects.
Your thoughts can influence your body; likewise, your body can influence your thoughts. For example, when you feel tightness in your stomach, you might start thinking about food. When you feel dryness in your mouth, you might look for water. Those are two common examples of your body influencing your mind.
Your thoughts can influence your body; likewise, your body can influence your thoughts.
The whole body is interconnected – physiological components, conscious mind, and subconscious mind. Once you're willing to accept that your goal can be achieved, you're motivated to do so, and you're expecting success.
Then you can give shape and form to your goal. Once you've harnessed the power of your conscious mind, both your subconscious mind, and your body, will accommodate. The key to mastery of the conscious mind is mindfulness: master mindfulness, master yourself.
Mindfulness: The Conscious Mind
Mindfulness meditation is a state in which you become consciously aware of your surroundings. You choose which stimuli are important, and which to exclude. Doing so helps to reprogram your subconscious mind.
Furthermore, mindfulness allows you to become aware not only of your surroundings, but your subconscious mind and physiological state as well. Suppose you've attempted dieting in the past. You probably experienced repeated failures because there is a certain unhealthy food you find irresistible. Attempting to consciously avoid that food is an exercise in futility because somewhere down the line, your subconscious mind learned that it filled a need. Now the need is gone and instead of filling a need, the food undermines your diet. Beditations provide insight into why that food became so irresistible in the first place. Once you are aware of why it has such power over you, it loses its power. You have effectively reprogrammed your subconscious mind and will likely enjoy better results while dieting.
This is the mindful dieting: you're creating a goal, communicating to your subconscious mind that you wish to make this goal a reality, and then following through on your attention, eliminating barriers that may be inhibiting you from reaching your goal.
The Four Noble Truths
The main teachings of the Buddha are summarized and centered in the Four Noble Truths:
- Suffering
- The cause of suffering
- The end of suffering
- The eightfold path to end suffering
It is no secret that the world is full of confusion, hatred, madness, and suffering. This suffering arises because people are trying to manipulate or change the external world to suit their viewpoint and satisfy their desires; they are caught up in greed, hatred, and delusion.
One Buddhist approach advises a person to first change one's inner world, to change and purify one's mind; then the external world will gradually come along and be more peaceful. When people purify their own mind and learn to live peacefully and harmoniously within their surroundings, then they will be able to live at peace with the whole world. This is just a brief and basic overview of the Buddha's teachings.
Mindfulness and meditation play the most important roles in bringing about this inner mental transformation. The inner transformation brings about the outer transformation.
In Buddhist teachings taking care of the body is not often addressed. But the truth is that the mind operates through the body. The mind is not separate form the body and the body is not separate from the mind. They are intimately connected, especially for the day-to-day activity of ordinary persons. If the body is sick and weak, if it has tired blood and/or poor energy, this will affect our life.
Because of poor shallow breathing and stiffness and inflexibility in the body, our psychic energy, the nervous system energy, is not able to flow freely throughout the body. Thus, the body and mind remain lethargic and dull, or will be easily excitable and restless. Our perceptions and thinking ability won't be very orderly and clear. Practice emphasizes and enhances having a healthy nervous system and body, having good posture and blood circulation. The posture is important in meditation to keep the spine straight.
Most people have difficulty in meditation because they are not able to keep their back straight. This is because we sit in chairs most of the time; when we travel in the car, sit at the computer, watch television or sit at the dining table, people are usually slouching or hunched over. So the trunk muscles are not very strong and it is difficult to keep the back straight. It becomes a constant battle to your back and head erect in order to have a clear and relatively painless meditation. Despite keeping the back straight, however, there will still be a certain amount of physical discomfort and pain involved in meditation.
Learning how to skillfully deal with physical pain and mental pain is a large part of meditation.
There is a saying: "Pain is a fact of life, suffering is optional." When people are born into this world pain is "a given;" they're going to experience pain. But the struggles against pain and the mental anguish that arises is optional. When you have pain and then add mental suffering onto it, then you get "double trouble." There is also a mathematic formula you can remember: "suffering = pain × resistance." The Buddha's teaching and meditation practice is not about removing pain. However, it is about the lessening and eventual eradication of the causes of suffering.
What is mindfulness?
The simplest, most basic definition of mindfulness is "to remember." To remember what? In the Dhamma teaching, mindfulness is very specific. It means remembering the present moment, remembering what the body is doing right now and remembering what the mind is doing right now. Normally, our body is doing one thing and the mind is doing another. We might be eating or driving a car but we are often lost in thought and/or distractions. The first stage of mindfulness then is to bring the mind back to the body, remembering what the body is doing. The beginning of mindfulness practice is mindfulness of the body. The body is always in the present moment, it is always here and now. Now you're sitting. That's what the body is doing right now. But, as you will see in meditation, after five minutes of sitting your mind may have gone traveling around the world several times already. So, when your body is sitting you should be mindful that it is sitting; when breathing in and out, you should be mindful of breathing in, breathing out. At any time of the day the body is sitting, walking, standing, or lying down, and, of course, breathing. To remember that this body is sitting/breathing, or standing/breathing, walking/breathing or that it is lying-down/breathing, this is the basic grounding in mindfulness practice. This is our bodily life process that is going on 24/7. You have heard the expression 24/7, but we have to add one number, 24/7/365. It's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
We use our centered attention on the body to act as a home base or anchor in order to restrain the wild mind, to tame the "monkey mind." The mind of the untrained person is constantly thinking about this and that, getting lost in worries or anxieties, is in the past or future, is running here and there all over the inner world or all over the external universe. This is what produces stress, tension, anxiety, and suffering. The mind is usually lost in the past and future; all problems arise from dwelling in the past or the future. When the mind is resting fully in the present moment no problems can exist. This is an essential but hidden truth. So the basic practice is remembering what the body and mind are doing right now. You remember by directly feeling your body: you feel the weight or heaviness of the buttocks pressing into the seat; you feel the way your feet are tucked under your body; you feel the straightness of the back or the head balanced between the shoulders; you feel the hands touching together. You are aware of "sitting" and aware of "breathing in—breathing out."
Breathing awareness forms a special focus of concentrated mindfulness. In the beginning we want to develop what is called "deep slow breathing." The breath and the mind are related. The quicker and shorter your breaths are, the more agitated your mind is. However, the slower and deeper the breaths are, the more calm and peaceful the mind is. That is because the body needs oxygen to live. Every cell in this body needs oxygen to do its work, but because we often breathe in a very shallow way, the cells do not get enough of this essential life force. We have to breathe faster and the heart and lungs have to work harder. This causes wear and tear in the body and agitation in the nervous system. When you breathe deeply, you get enough oxygen in one breath. When you hold the breath in for two or three seconds, even more oxygen will absorb into the blood and enter into circulation. So the heart does not need to beat faster. The body and mind become more peaceful and we can get into meditation more easily.
Beditations: Appreciate your strengths
You are on a journey as a human being. A journey paved by experiences that help you grow. When every experience, good or bad, becomes a learning opportunity then life starts to look richer and full of exciting possibilities. This is a great foundation for realistic optimism.
No-one is defined by one episode of success or one failed project. Perfection is a burden and an impossibility.
Imagine releasing yourself from the pursuit of the perfect. You are now free to learn from life rather than being weighed down by your expectations. Nothing makes you truly afraid, because even during your worst times you will be able to learn valuable lessons.
Sometimes you cannot take the most direct route to a goal or outcome. You need to accept that life is full of detours. Taking time to recalculate your route and forge a new path is time well spent. Frustration is normal and sometimes failure is inevitable, but optimism gives you the power you need to keep pressing forward. You can overcome roadblocks and achieve your dreams.
Imagine yourself living, working and socializing in a more optimistic frame of mind. Imagine how your posture, language and facial expression will change to reflect your new mindset. When you feel as though you cannot see the best in a situation, ask yourself what you would do if you felt more optimistic. Draw on your strengths and move into a more positive mindset.
An astonishing transformation will occur. Once you commit to living an optimistic life, your behaviors and entire outlook will change. At first you may not feel like praising yourself and seeking out new opportunities, but over time you will learn how to bolster your new sense of self. See yourself moving in the world with such confidence and self-belief that failure cannot knock you back and the opinions of others hold no fear for you.


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Published at Sunday, December 17th, 2017 - 02:04:38 AM. Bedding. By Darcel Leroux.
These days, traditional six-piece Bedroom Furniture Sets have been replaced by the seven- and eight-piece furniture sets, which are now extremely popular. They are specifically crafted from classy and striking maple, rather than normal particleboard or thin layers. All the furniture in this bed set is polished with a non-toxic finish to provide a sound and tranquil sleep. All the Bedroom Furniture Sets available on the market are said to be free from any defects in material or craftsmanship. Normal Bedroom Furniture Sets usually have nightstands, chests, dressers, vanity cases and a jewelry chest. They are designed to harmonize with each other. Now you can easily find reasonable and fashionable Bedroom Furniture Sets at any furniture store.
Bed size standards vary around the world. Not only are the names of the standard sizes sometimes different but even beds and mattresses with the same name can have different measurements in different countries. Even within a single country different manufacturers interpret the "standard" bed sizes differently. Some might shave a couple of inches off to reduce cost, others add a little for comfort.
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Posts from — May 2011
The Connector Addict?
I love the Pen Addict's slogan: There are worse addictions…..right?
I'm not a connector addict, although I do like trying out new connectors. Partly it's because I haven't found the ideal connector system (or systems; I often want some variety so that the same connector type isn't used for a variety of incompatible uses, and thus you have to be careful where you plug a connector in).
But I still enjoy receiving the occasional Mouser order with some new connectors. So along with an order for some MDR connectors for my Copley Accelnets, I included connectors I haven't tried such as:
- Kycon USB B high retention force connector. The big feature: minimum removal force is increased from 10N (standard USB) to 15N. I like them; USB plugs come out too easily, but this connector makes it a lot harder for a USB cable to become accidentally unplugged.
- Amphenol USB A locking connector. The big feature: the connector has a locking tab that grabs onto the little square holes on a USB A-type plug. That's even better than the Kycon: it takes over 95N to separate the plug from the jack without unlocking.
- TE/AMP MTE connector. Nice, affordable IDC connectors, except you need really expensive tooling to use them easily.
- Molex Micro-Fit Jr 3.0mm BMI. I wanted to check out the blind mate version of the Micro-Fit; I'm still not a Micro-Fit fan.
- Phoenix PST 1.3/8-LV-5.0 header with shroud. The shroud provides polarization. The Phoenix PST headers and PT terminal block plugs are a very affordable removable terminal block system.
- One gotcha: you have to use the shrouded headers with the PT 2.5 series (e.g. PT 2.5/8-PVH-5.0) not the 1.5 series (e.g. PT 1.5/8-PVH-5.0).
- Phoenix ST-Combi connector and ST-Twin terminal block. I'm looking at using these for DC power distribution.
May 23, 2011 No Comments
Autodesk 123D MCAD and PCB Models
Autodesk just released the beta version of the 123D 3D mechanical CAD program. It's meant for hobbyists, but Autodesk surprised me by including both STEP file import and export. (Free or low cost commercial CAD programs almost always don't include free STEP file export).
123D is the standalone version of Inventor Fusion, so it is a direct modeler (not a history based like SolidWorks or Alibre). So put together free, easier to use (direct modeling), and STEP file import/export, and it should work great for creating 3D PCB models. There could be some problems, such as assembly limitations (such as a low maximum number of parts), or the EULA (so far the 123D End User License Agreement appears to be the standard Autodesk one, with no mentions of restrictions on commercial use).
I haven't been able to check out 123D's PCB prowess yet because I haven't been able to get it to start successfully. I'll give it another try in a while.
May 22, 2011 No Comments
Analog Pranks
Pretty funny post over at Paul Rako's Anablog on pranks, starring analog chip designers.
May 11, 2011 No Comments
My Toolbox — Oscilloscope
Why do I have an oscilloscope? The real answer is that scopes are cool, and many years ago, I couldn't resist when Fry's had Fluke Scopemeters on sale — at 50% off! So I own a 100MHz dual trace Fluke 196 Scopemeter. Later I bought the yellow the Pelican case for it; the two are a great combination.
Since software ties everything together, I'm also the "systems" guy, and thus I should be able to troubleshoot the entire machine. I do use my multi-meter much more than my scope, but the oscilloscope is essential when troubleshooting encoders, hall sensors, and the occasional electrical glitch which won't show up on a DMM.
I've used other scopes, such as the Tek THS720 handheld, the Tek TDS 210 desktop, Tek analog scopes, and a Heathkit analog scope. Recently, I participated in a hands-on demo of the new Rhode and Schwartz RTO1014 1GHZ oscilloscope. It's quite impressive, even intimidating at first, with all the buttons and things it can do. Fortunately, such high powered scopes aren't needed for typical factory troubleshooting; a dual channel, 20-100MHz real time digital does fine most of the time.
There is uncommon feature that's really handy: isolated channels (each channel's ground is isolated from the others). With a typical dual channel scope such as the TDS 210, I can only view one differential encoder signal (channel 1 probe on A+ signal, channel 2 on A- signal, display mode set to combine channels). But with a dual isolated channels, I can view two differential signals (channel 1 probe on A+, channel 1 ground on A-, channel 2 probe on B+, channel 2 ground on B-).
Hand-held scopes, such as the Fluke 196 and Tek THS 720, typically have isolated channels, along with ruggedness, battery power, small size, and a hefty price tag. However, a 4 channel desktop scope is often cheaper than a 2 channel isolated channel scope.
I once spent a lot of extra time because I was too enamored with isolated channels. The system had a servo motor with the differential encoder output split, with one set of signals going to a motion controller and the other set going to a custom board. The motion controller was counting correctly, but the custom board wasn't.
I set up my Fluke 196 to look at the differential signals. The B+/B- signal did look smaller (less voltage swing) than the A+/A- signal, but it had to be OK because the motion controller was picking it up. So I started swapping out components — and kept getting the same problem.
I figured it out when I looked at each signal (A+, A-, B+, B-) individually; the B- signal was dead (because of a broken wire in the cable from the motor). The motion controller worked because it was less sensitive, managing to count the smaller transitions. My lesson learned: check everything, and don't make unsupported assumptions.
May 10, 2011 3 Comments
Japantown Pens
Recently I visited San Francisco's Japantown, and couldn't resist picking up even more Japanese pens…so here's what I bought along with some brief commentary (pens described in order from left to right).
All of these pens were made in Japan, although some of the Sailor 0.38 pens (in colors I didn't buy) were made in Thailand.
Pens from Kinokuniya Stationery (operated by Maido Stationery)
- Uni-ball Signo DX 0.38 Light Blue gel pen. I love my burgandy red Signo DX, so I had to pick up another DX. This one is also very sweet.
- Zebra Surari 0.5 Blue emulsion ink pen. In the past, I haven't been impressed with Zebra's pens, but the Surari's are sweet; I think I like them better than the Uni Jetstream or Pentel Energel. The 0.5 color range is restricted, but I do like this shade of blue.
- Zebra Surari 0.7 Purple emulsion ink pen. Zebra has an interesting range of colors for their 0.7 mm Surari's, so I went for purple. I like this pen.
- Pilot Petit 1 fountain pen. I've been wanting to try a cheap fountain pen, and after extensive testing at Maido, I decided that the Petit 1 is substantially smoother than the Platinum Preppy. I like the older style better than the new Petit 1.
- Pilot Petit ink (black and red).
- Pilot Petit 3 brush pen (solid tip). I bought this because it's cheap, cute, refillable, and uses the same refills as the Petit 1.
- Mitsubishi (Uni-ball) PFK-206 brush pen (solid tip). It has a fine tip and broad tip.
Pens from Ichiban Kan
- Kuretake brush pen (bristle tip). I love this playing with this pen, even though I'm not artistic; it's a steal at $1.75, and I should've bought more.
- Uni-ball PIN 01 pen. I'm not a big fan of felt tip / marker style pens for writing, but I'm interesting in comparing it to the Sakura Pigma Micron.
- Uni-ball Noble Metal Gold pen. I wanted to check out the Sakura Gelly Roll competition.
Pens from Daiso Japan
- Sailor 0.38 Light Blue gel pen. It writes well, color is similar to the Signo DX, automatically retracts when put into shirt pocket, but it's kind of ugly. Even though I like retractable pens, I think I'd take the Signo DX over this pen.
- Zebra brush pen (solid tip).
May 10, 2011 2 Comments


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2018 Geppetto Sauvignon Blanc
The cool clean fermentation has helped preserve the wine's wonderfully fresh aromatics. The nose of gooseberries and lemon zest is matched perfectly on the palate by characters of fresh lime juice and a vibrant/zippy acid finish.
In Stock
Wine Profile
Vineyard Notes
Production Notes
A nose of gooseberries & lemon zest is matched on the palate by characters of fresh lime and a vibrant acid finish.
Winemaker Notes
Drink now or over the next 2 years.
Food Pairing Notes
Chilli garlic prawns, Thai food, fennel salad, fish and chips.


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Product Details
Austin Air HealthMate Junior FilterKeep your air fresh and clean with this replacement filter from Austin Air. The HealthMate Junior Filter is designed to fit in the Austin Air HealthMate Junior Air Purifier unit. Choose between a black or white filter to match or complement your unit.
How Does It Work?
Air goes through the 4 stage filter to purify your air. The replacement filter includes the prefilter as well as the HEPA and carbon filter.
- 1st Stage - Large Particle Prefilter that takes out particles like dust, hair, and pet dander from the air.
- 2nd Stage - Medium Particle Prefilter that catches smaller particles like mold, spores, and pollen.
- 3rd Stage - 6.5 lbs. of activated carbon and zeolite that are designed to remove chemicals, gasses, and odors.
- 4th Stage - 30 feet of medical grade HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Arresting) filter that takes out 99.97% of all particles larger than 0.3 microns including harmful microbes like viruses and bacteria.
Air filters should be changed every 5 years.
Please note that this replacement filter was designed to fit on units manufactured after August 1995.
Comes with a 5 year pro-rated filter warranty
Product Weight (lbs)
- 8
Dimensions (inches)
- 9.75l 9.75w 11.25h
Country of Origin
- Made in U.S.A.
Manufacturer Style


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Ref: Bila mau dilihat video footage, click pada situs : http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/04/201042443854795459.html
Saturday, April 24, 2010 10:56 Mecca time, 07:56 GMT Indonesia juveniles in adult jails Indonesian law allows children as young as eight to be sent to prison, often for crimes such as petty theft and schoolyard fighting. But a lack of juvenile jails means child offenders - often from poor families - end up sharing space for months or even years with hardened adult criminals. Calls to change the harsh laws are growing against child offenders and the constitutional court will soon make a decision about raising the minimum age for imprisonment from eight to 12 years. Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen reports from Bogor in West Java. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


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When Karlene Khor started an eclectic pop-up store on Main Street in Kalispell earlier this year, she had no idea it would open the door to some pretty interesting inventory.
Her shop, Seasons, is open four to six weeks at a time, four times a year to sell locally made furniture and an arrange of other home goods.
It now also offers a bevy of luxurious clothing that found its way to Kalispell from a now defunct 1918 department store in Williston, North Dakota.
Khor recently emailed me to share the story. This summer, a woman walked into Seasons and asked if the store took consignment items.
�I flippantly replied, �only to my friends,�� Khor said. �She responded she could be my friend and as she sauntered out the shop door she said she owned a department store. I thought to myself, �sure you do.��
Several weeks later Khor, who was home sick in bed with bronchitis, got a text at 10 p.m. one night saying �we are outside the front door of your building.�
She couldn�t resist seeing what had been brought to her retail door-step, so she drove downtown and was greeted by two older sisters standing in front of Seasons, which is housed in Kalispell�s only Art Deco building, at 222 Main St.
For the next 45 minutes the women hauled in furs from fox jackets to full-length mink coats, wedding gowns, leather jackets, cashmere coats and all sorts of other upscale garments.
�They just hung them all over every piece of furniture and display in the shop,� Khor said. �It was an overwhelming sight.�
It turns out the sisters had tapped into the storage vault of the store they owned � Joseph�s Ready to Wear � a department store that had been founded in Williston a century ago. They had to close the store recently when their mother, the last general manager of Joseph�s, could no longer handle the job and moved into an assisted-living facility. Their mother had been a model and knew fashion inside and out.
Khor said her store already has established a niche for high-end brand such as Prada and Versace.
�But now, thanks to Joseph�s of Williston, we have an array of Made in America clothes,� Khor told me. �It�s amazing the quality of clothes our country used to produce. The fabrics vary from cottons to mohair to cashmere to silk and the styles are classic and chic � modern and vintage � but all new!�
Khor said she�d barely begun to organize the clothing when a man stopped in to asked whether Seasons takes consignments.
After a tentative nod, he hauled in an 1899 quarter-sawed solid oak architect/banker�s desk from the Union Stockyard in Texas.
�It is a Texas-size desk, as it is almost 5 feet tall,� she said. �It sits in one of our large display windows, complete with chair, lamp and a walrus skull with 24-inch ivory tusks � We checked with Montana Fish and Wildlife and the walrus can be sold, too.�
It�s looking like a bountiful fall for Khor�s quirky shop, and it just goes to show the kind of unusual wares that are out there when one ventures into the world of consignment merchandise.
Seasons is open Tuesdawwy through Friday 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Satuday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
News Editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or email@example.com.