Publications by authors named "Cun Tai Zhang"

Objective: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) related to obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) mainly results from chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH)-induced renal injury. This study aimed to explore the interaction between the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) growth arrest-specific transcript 5 (GAS5) and recombinant adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT) in CIH-induced renal injury.

Methods: A rat intermittent hypoxia model was constructed, total RNA was extracted from kidney tissue, and transcriptome sequencing was performed using high-throughput sequencing technology.

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Purpose: The Tongji Cardiovascular Health Study aimed to further explore the onset and progression mechanisms of cardiovascular disease (CVD) through a combination of traditional cohort studies and multiomics analysis, including genomics, metabolomics and metagenomics.

Study Design And Participants: This study included participants aged 20-70 years old from the Geriatric Health Management Centre of Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. After enrollment, each participant underwent a comprehensive series of traditional and novel cardiovascular risk factor assessments at baseline, including questionnaires, physical examinations, laboratory tests, cardiovascular health assessments and biological sample collection for subsequent multiomics analysis (whole genome sequencing, metabolomics study from blood samples and metagenomics study from stool samples).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how aging affects the immune system of elderly individuals, particularly looking at protein markers like prealbumin, transferrin, and albumin, related to immune function.
  • A total of 93 participants aged 65 and older were analyzed to compare lymphocyte subsets between those with high and low serum protein levels.
  • Results showed that lower serum protein levels were associated with a decrease in certain immune cells (CD4+ cells) and an increase in others (CD8 cells), indicating that these protein markers may serve as indicators of immunosenescence and that protein energy malnutrition could worsen immune decline in older males.
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The age-related decline in T-cell function among elderly individuals remains unclear. We thus investigated the interrelationship between T-cell subsets and age to identify the changes in T-cell phenotypes and develop an age prediction model for the elderly population. A total of 127 individuals aged >60 years were divided into three groups (youngest-old group, 61-70 years, = 34; middle-old group, 71-80 years, = 53; and oldest-old group, ≥ 81 years, = 40).

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Method: This was a study recording 637 patients who were diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction. Our patients were grouped according to the combination of platelet count and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio. The prognostic role of the combination of platelet count and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio on mortality was assessed by the univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis.

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Fibulin-1 (FBLN-1), an elastin-associated extracellular matrix protein, has been found in blood and may play a role in the pathophysiological processes leading to cardiovascular disease (CVD). We aimed to investigate the relationship between fibulin-1 levels and the risk of CVD by evaluating vascular age derived from the Framingham Heart Study and brachial-ankle Pulse Wave Velocity (baPWV) in patients with asymptomatic hyperuricemia (AHU). In total, 66 patients with AHU and 66 gender- and age-matched healthy individuals were enrolled.

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Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae) is a common respiratory pathogen associated with many inflammatory diseases. There are few data concerning the lymphocyte subsets in middle-aged and elderly individuals with C.

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Background: The association between the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) and prognosis in the patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is not fully understood. We performed this systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the correlation between LMR and mortality or major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in patients with ACS.

Methods: A systematic search was performed in PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Web of science.

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The population is commonly susceptible to the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), especially the elderly with comorbidities. Elderly patients infected with 2019-nCoV tend to have higher rates of severe illness and mortality. Immunosenescence is an important cause of severe novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) in the elderly.

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Background: The importance of the lipid-related biomarkers has been implicated in the pathological process and prognosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Our work was conducted to discuss and compare the predictive ability of the neutrophil to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio (NHR) with other existing prognostic indices, for instance, the monocyte to HDL-C ratio (MHR) and the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) to HDL-C ratio (LDL-C/HDL-C) in elderly patients with AMI.

Methods: Our population was 528 consecutive elderly AMI patients (65-85 years) who were enrolled from Tongji Hospital and grouped according to the cutoff points which were depicted by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC).

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Background: Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is acute renal failure observed after administration of iodinated contrast media during angiographic or other medical procedures. In recent years, many studies have focused on biomarkers that recognize CIN and/or predict its development in advance. One of the many biomarkers studied is the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to evaluate malnutrition risk among elderly inpatients in China using two screening tools: Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS2002) and Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA).
  • Conducted in eight medical centers, the study involved 425 patients aged 70 and older and found a high prevalence of malnutrition, with 40.9% identified by NRS2002 and 58.6% by MNA.
  • Both screening tools showed significant correlations with age, BMI, and laboratory parameters, demonstrating that they are effective for assessing malnutrition risk in this population, with NRS2002 showing moderate agreement with MNA.
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Objective: Humour is a powerful resource in medical education. The purpose of this study is to investigate what students and teachers think about the use of humour. What challenges do teachers face in using humour and how they address them are also the subject of the present study.

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T-wave alternans (TWA) is a potent arrhythmia substrate under the conditions of acute myocardial ischemia. Abnormal intracellular calcium cycling contributes to the genesis of cardiac alternans. Ryanodine receptor (RyR) is a pivotal Ca cycling protein central to Ca signaling in the heart.

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miR-128 is expressed in various tumors, but its expression and function in gastric cancer have not been defined. Thus, the goal of this study was to characterize miR-128 in gastric cancer. We found first that miR-128 is down-regulated in gastric cancer cell lines and tissues, and this dysregulation is correlated with DNA methylation and the transcription factor SNAIL.

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In heart failure patients with preserved ejection fraction, their hemodynamic parameters usually change when they are from recumbent to passive leg raising. The authors designed this study to investigate the relationship between hemodynamic parameters measured by impedance cardiography (ICG) and 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF). We recruited 49 subjects with HFPEF in the study, and all the subjects were separated into 2 groups: the patients whose hemodynamic parameters rose after passive leg raising were in group 1 (n = 26) and the patients whose hemodynamic parameters did not rise after passive leg raising were in group 2 (n = 23).

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Background: The correlation between impedance cardiography (ICG) and 6 min walk distance (6MWD) in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients remains unknown.

Methods: We recruited 49 subjects in the study (21 AF patients and 28 patients without AF) and estimated hemodynamic parameters: cardiac output (CO), stroke volume (SV), stroke volume index (SVI), left stroke work (LSW), left stroke work index (LSWI), stroke systemic vascular resistance (SSVR), stroke systemic vascular resistance index (SSVRI); 6MWD, left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF), NT-pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro BNP) for the two groups.

Results: The AF group have apparently lower CO (2.

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Aim: Neferine is an isoquinoline alkaloid isolated from seed embryos of Nelumbo nucifera (Gaertn), which has a variety of biological activities. In this study we examined the effects of neferine on Kv4.3 channels, a major contributor to the transient outward current (I(to)) in rabbit heart, and on ex vivo electrophysiology of rabbit hearts.

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Salidroside (SAL) is a phenylpropanoid glycoside isolated from the medicinal plant Rhodiola rosea. A recent study has reported that SAL can efficiently decrease atherosclerotic plaque formation in low-density lipoprotein receptor-deficient mice. This study was to investigate the molecular mechanism of antiatherogenic effects of SAL.

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Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) has been applied to the evaluation of cardiac contraction dysfunction. However, there were few studies on alteration of global and regional STE parameters in the process of myocardial hypertrophy and heart failure. In this study, STE was applied to evaluate the global and regional cardiac function under heart failure and hypertrophy in the mice model of pressure overload.

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A 62-year-old woman was found to have multiple bilateral pulmonary nodules showing different (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptakes on positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT). Only the largest nodule in the left lower lobe showed an increased (18)F-FDG uptake on PET/CT. Three nodules were surgically resected from different lobes of the left lung.

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Background: Exercise-based spectral T-wave alternans (TWA) has been proposed as a noninvasive tool-identifying patients at risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) and cardiac mortality. Prior studies have indicated that ambulatory electrocardiogram (AECG)-based TWA is an important alternative platform to exercise for risk stratification of cardiac events. This study sought to review data regarding 24-hour AECG-based TWA and to discuss its potential role in risk stratification of fatal cardiac events across a series of patient risk profiles.

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Abnormal enhanced transmural dispersion of repolarization (TDR) plays an important role in the maintaining of the severe ventricular arrhythmias such as torsades de pointes (TDP) which can be induced in long-QT (LQT) syndrome. Taking advantage of an in vitro rabbit model of LQT2, we detected the effects of KN-93, a CaM-dependent kinase (CaMK) II inhibitor on repolarization heterogeneity of ventricular myocardium. Using the monophasic action potential recording technique, the action potentials of epicardium and endocardium were recorded in rabbit cardiac wedge infused with hypokalemic, hypomagnesaemic Tyrode's solution.

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Objective: Stem cells transplantation is a promising strategy in cardiology. This meta-analysis summarizes the efficacy and safety of stem cells transplantation on top of standard medication on chronic heart failure patients.

Methods: The following databases were searched, including Cochrane Library (Issue 4, 2011), PubMed (1980 to 2011), Embase (1990 to 2011), CBM (1978 to 2011), CNKI (1994 to 2011), VIP (1989 to 2011), and WanFang Data (1998 to 2011).

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