Soluble receptor for advanced glycation end-products positively correlated to kidney injury with coronary heart disease.

Aims: Coronary heart disease (CHD) patients with changed serum soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE) will experience microalbuminuria and even kidney dysfunction. However, the role of sRAGE for microalbuminuria in CHD is still not established. This study aimed to evaluate the association between sRAGE and early kidney dysfunction in CHD patients.

Association of mononucleotide polymorphisms of angiotensinogen gene at promoter region with antihypertensive response to angiotensin receptor blockers in hypertensive Chinese.

Introduction:: This study aimed to investigate whether mononucleotide polymorphisms of the angiotensinogen gene at promoter were associated with the blood-pressure-lowering response to telmisartan treatment.

Materials And Methods:: After a two-week single-blind placebo run-in period, 148 patients with mild-to-moderate primary hypertension received monotherapy with 80 mg/day of telmisartan and then were followed up for eight weeks. The -6A/G and -20A/C polymorphisms of the angiotensinogen gene at promoter were determined through polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphsim analysis.

The impact of visit-to-visit systolic blood pressure variability on residual renal function and left ventricular hypertrophy in peritoneal dialysis patients.

Background/aim: Blood pressure (BP) variability is more closely associated with adverse outcomes than ‘usual’ BP in the general population. Residual renal function (RRF) and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) are thought to be predictors of poor outcome in dialysis patients. However, only a few studies have focused on BP variation and its link to RRF, LVH, and outcome in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients.

The standard deviation of extracellular water/intracellular water is associated with all-cause mortality and technique failure in peritoneal dialysis patients.

Purpose: The mortality rate of peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients is still high, and the predicting factors for PD patient mortality remain to be determined. This study aimed to explore the relationship between the standard deviation (SD) of extracellular water/intracellular water (E/I) and all-cause mortality and technique failure in continuous ambulatory PD (CAPD) patients.

Methods: All 152 patients came from the PD Center between January 1st 2006 and December 31st 2007.

Soluble receptor for advanced glycation end-products protects against ischemia/reperfusion-induced myocardial apoptosis via regulating the ubiquitin proteasome system.

Aim: Apoptosis participated in the pathological process of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Previous studies have reported that endogenous substance sRAGE protect against I/R injury through inhibiting myocardial apoptosis. But the mechanisms are currently unknown.

A soluble receptor for advanced glycation end-products inhibits myocardial apoptosis induced by ischemia/reperfusion via the JAK2/STAT3 pathway.

sRAGE can protect cardiomyocytes from apoptosis induced by ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). However, the signaling mechanisms in cardioprotection by sRAGE are currently unknown. We investigated the cardioprotective effect and potential molecular mechanisms of sRAGE inhibition on apoptosis in the mouse myocardial I/R as an in vivo model and neonatal rat cardiomyocyte subjected to ischemic buffer as an in vitro model.

Diagnostic value of combined parameters derived from ambulatory electrocardiography for detecting coronary artery disease in non-active chest pain patients.

Background And Objective: The diagnostic value of ST-segment deviation detected by ambulatory electrocardiography (AECG) is controversial in identifying coronary artery disease (CAD) referred for coronary angiography (CAG). Recently, many parameters which evaluate CAD can be derived from AECG. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the diagnostic value of AECG in screening CAD referred for CAG when several parameters were combined.

Effect of blood pressure variability on cardiovascular outcome in diabetic and nondiabetic patients with stroke.

Background: The association between blood pressure (BP) variability and stroke outcome is controversial, and there are few studies that have focused on the impact of BP variability in diabetic patients with stroke. Therefore, we aimed to examine the impact of BP variability on cardiovascular outcome in diabetic and nondiabetic patients with stroke.

Methods: A total of 373 ischemic stroke patients with large artery atherosclerosis were recruited and followed up.

Cardioprotective effects of adipokine apelin on myocardial infarction.

Angiogenesis plays an important role in myocardial infarction. Apelin and its natural receptor (angiotensin II receptor-like 1, AGTRL-1 or APLNR) induce sprouting of endothelial cells in an autocrine or paracrine manner. The aim of this study is to investigate whether apelin can improve the cardiac function after myocardial infarction by increasing angiogenesis in infarcted myocardium.

The electrocardiographic changes in acute brain injury patients.

Background: Electrocardiographic (ECG) changes occurring during the course of acute brain injury (ABI) have been described frequently, but their significances remain uncertain. The present study was designed to investigate the relation of ECG abnormalities to outcome in the patients with ABI.

Methods: We performed a retrospective, observational study on the ABI patients admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery of the Beijing Tiantan Hospital between December 2005 and December 2007.

Cytochrome P450 2J3/epoxyeicosatrienoic acids mediate the cardioprotection induced by ischaemic post-conditioning, but not preconditioning, in the rat.

1. Cytochrome P450 (CYP) epoxygenases and their arachidonic acid metabolites play a protective role against ischaemia-reperfusion injury. In the present study, we investigated whether endogenous CYP2J3/epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (EET) mediates the cardioprotective effects of ischaemic preconditioning (IPC) and ischaemic post-conditioning (IPost).

Residual renal function and arterial stiffness mediated the blood pressure change during interdialytic weight gain in hemodialysis patients.

Volume overload is thought to be the main cause of hypertension in dialysis patients. However, the effect of interdialytic weight gain (IDWG) in hemodialysis (HD) patients, which was considered as an increase in extracellular water (ECW), on blood pressure (BP) change, was controversial. Our aim was to examine the changes in hemodynamics and arterial stiffness during IDWG in HD patients and attempt to explore the possible mechanism of diverse BP change.

[Analysis of the changes in aortic root dimension in patients with anterior cerebral infarction].

Objective: To analyze the relationship between aortic root dimension (ARD) and anterior circulation infarction (ACI) by measuring ARD of ACI patients.

Methods: The ARD of 110 ACI patients (56 men and 54 women) were measured with 2-dimensional ultrasonography during ventricular systole. 66 control subjects (32 men and 34 women) without the clinical signs of cerebral infarction or organic heart disease and cardiac insufficiency were selected after carrying out detailed case history inquiring, physical examination, CT or MRI and ultrasonic examination.

[A randomized, double-blind, double-dummy study comparing a fixed dose combination of telmisartan 80 mg plus hydrochlorothiazide 12.5 mg to telmisartan 80 mg in Chinese hypertensive patients who failed to respond adequately to telmisartan 80 mg].

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a fixed dose combination of telmisartan 80 mg plus hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) 12.5 mg (TH) to telmisartan 80 mg (T) in Chinese patients who failed to respond adequately to treatment with T.

Method: This is a multi-center, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy clinical study.

Peripheral resistance modulates the response to volume overload in peritoneal dialysis patients.

Background: Volume overload is thought to be the most important cause of hypertension in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. However, there is also evidence that normalization of volume overload is not always accompanied by a drop in blood pressure (BP). In the present study, we hypothesized that dysregulation of peripheral resistance due to endothelial dysfunction would constitute an important determinant of BP response in overhydrated PD patients.

The prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy in Chinese hemodialysis patients is higher than that in peritoneal dialysis patients.

Background: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is common in dialysis patients, and an independent predictor of mortality. While recent studies have shown no differences in mortality between the two most common dialysis modalities, hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD), their impact on LVH is controversial. We thus performed cardiac ultrasound studies in prevalent dialysis patients receiving either HD or PD and compared LVH.

Why is there significant overlap in volume status between hypertensive and normotensive patients on dialysis?

Background/aim: Volume overload is believed to play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of hypertension in dialysis patients. Although the extracellular water (ECW) content in hypertensive dialysis patients was significantly higher than in normotensive dialysis patients on the whole, there was considerable overlap in ECW between the two groups. Little is known about the hemodynamic characteristics in subgroups of patients with normotension but a high volume (HV) status or with hypertension but a normal volume (NV) status.