G-T haplotype established by rs3785889-rs16941382 in gene is associated with coronary artery disease in Chinese Han population.

Objectives: The aim of the present study is to assess the association between the human gene and coronary artery disease using a haplotype-based case-control study in Chinese Han population.

Methods: A total of 283 coronary artery disease patients and 280 controls were genotyped for the human gene (rs197932, rs3785889, rs197922, rs17608766, and rs16941382). Data were analyzed for three separate groups: the total subjects, men, and women.

Hamilton rating scale for depression-24 (HAM-D) as a novel predictor for diabetic microvascular complications in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.

The study was designed to investigate whether the hamilton rating scale for depression (24-items) (HAM-D) can be used to predict the diabetic microvascular complications in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. 288 hospitalized patients with T2DM were enrolled. Their diabetic microvascular complications including diabetic nephropathy, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic peripheral neuropathy and diabetic foot as well as demographic, clinical data, blood samples and echocardiography were documented.

Association between neutrophilic granulocyte percentage and depression in hospitalized patients with heart failure.

Background: Previous researches reveal that depression is associated with increased inflammatory markers. As a simple and cheap inflammatory marker, we hypothesize that neutrophilic granulocyte percentage is associated with depression in hospitalized heart failure patients, whose prevalence of depression is at a very high level.

Methods: Three hundred sixty-six cases of hospitalized heart failure patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤45% and New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II-IV were enrolled.

Elevation of Fasting Ghrelin in Healthy Human Subjects Consuming a High-Salt Diet: A Novel Mechanism of Obesity?

Overweight/obesity is a chronic disease that carries an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and premature death. Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated a clear relationship between salt intake and obesity, but the pathophysiologic mechanisms remain unknown. We hypothesized that ghrelin, which regulates appetite, food intake, and fat deposition, becomes elevated when one consumes a high-salt diet, contributing to the progression of obesity.

Matrine pretreatment improves cardiac function in rats with diabetic cardiomyopathy via suppressing ROS/TLR-4 signaling pathway.

Aim: Matrine is an alkaloid from Sophora alopecuroides L, which has shown a variety of pharmacological activities and potential therapeutic value in cardiovascular diseases. In this study we examined the protective effects of matrine against diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) in rats.

Methods: Male SD rats were injected with streptozotocin (STZ) to induce DCM.

Prevention of pericardial constriction by transcatheter intrapericardial fibrinolysis with urokinase.

Objective: To investigate whether intrapericardial urokinase irrigation along with pericardiocentesis could prevent pericardial constriction in patients with infectious exudative pericarditis.

Methods: A total of 94 patients diagnosed as infectious exudative pericarditis (34 patients with purulent pericarditis and 60 with tuberculous pericarditis, the disease courses of all patients were less than 1 month), 44 males and 50 females, aged from 9 to 66 years (mean 45.4 +/- 14.