Publications by authors named "Houxiang Hu"

Despite improvements in clinical outcomes of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), mortality rates remain high, indicating the need for further understanding of the pathogenesis and developing more effective cardiac protection strategies. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) carry proteins and noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) derived from different cardiac cell populations, mainly including cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, endothelial progenitor cells, cardiac progenitor cells, cardiosphere-derived cells, immune cells, fibroblasts and cardiac telocytes have vital roles under both physiological and pathological process such as myocardial infarction (MI). The content of EVs can also indicate the status of their parental cells and serve as a biomarker for monitoring the risk of cardiac injury.

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Myoferlin (MYOF) is a muscle-derived secretory protein. Recent studies have found that MYOF protects against cell damage. However, the role of MYOF in cardiac hypertrophy remains unclear.

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Article Synopsis
  • A recent clinical trial studied the Chinese traditional medicine Qiliqiangxin (QLQX) in patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) to evaluate its effectiveness and safety.
  • The trial involved over 3,100 patients across 133 hospitals in China and found that QLQX significantly reduced hospitalizations for heart failure and cardiovascular deaths compared to a placebo.
  • Overall, while QLQX showed promising results in improving heart failure outcomes, there was no significant difference in all-cause mortality or adverse events compared to the placebo group.
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Background: Although compliance with the guideline recommendations for heart failure (HF) is associated with improved survival, the effects of medication on clinical practice often fail to meet expectations due to physician and/or patient-related reasons that are unclear. This study analyzed physicians' compliance with guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) based on real-world clinical data and identified risk factors of low compliance.

Methods: This study included patients with HF, who were treated at the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College from July 2017 to June 2021.

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Division of the anterior descending branch into many small arteries is a rare coronary anomaly. We report the case of a 64-year-old female with severe stenosis (>75%) in the proximal region of the anterior descending branch as indicated by coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA). In addition, coronary angiography showed that the anterior descending branch of the coronary artery split into numerous small arteries, an anomaly that can confound clinical examination.

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To investigate the factors that influence readmissions in patients with acute non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) by using multiple machine learning (ML) methods to establish a predictive model. In this study, 1576 NSTEMI patients who were hospitalized at the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College were selected as the research subjects. They were divided into two groups: the readmitted group and the non-readmitted group.

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Coronary heart disease (CHD) is one of the major causes of death and disability worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries and among older populations. Conventional diagnostic and therapeutic approaches have limitations such as low sensitivity, high cost and side effects. Nanotechnology offers promising alternative strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of CHD by exploiting the unique properties of nanomaterials.

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Radiation-induced heart disease is a serious side effect of radiation therapy that can lead to severe consequences. However, effective and safe methods for their prevention and treatment are presently lacking. This study reports the crucial function of fullerenols in protecting cardiomyocytes from radiation injury.

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Lead halide perovskites (LHPs) are outstanding candidates for next-generation optoelectronic materials, with considerable prospects of use and commercial value. However, knowledge about their toxicity is scarce, which may limit their commercialization. Here, for the first time, we studied the cardiotoxicity and molecular mechanisms of representative CsPbBr nanoparticles in LHPs.

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Lead-based perovskite nanoparticles (Pb-PNPs) have found extensive applications across diverse fields. However, because of poor stability and relatively strong water solubility, the potential toxicity of Pb-PNPs released into the environment during their manufacture, usage, and disposal has attracted significant attention. Inhalation is a primary route through which human exposure to Pb-PNPs occurs.

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Background: In a large randomized controlled trial (PARADIGM-HF), ARNI has been shown to significantly reduce cardiovascular mortality and hospitalization for patients with reduced ejection fraction in heart failure. This study analyzed the efficacy and safety of ARNI on the basis of various types of heart failure patients in southwestern Sichuan Province.

Methods: This study included patients with heart failure who were treated at the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College from July 2017 to June 2021.

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Doxorubicin (DOX) is an anthracycline antineoplastic agent that has limited clinical utility due to its dose-dependent cardiotoxicity. Although the exact mechanism remains unknown, inflammatory responses have been implicated in DOX-induced cardiotoxicity (DIC). In this study, we analyzed the transcriptomic, metabolomic as well as lipidomic changes in the DOX-treated mice to explore the underlying mechanisms of DIC.

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Myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (MI/R) injury is a life-threatening disease with high morbidity and mortality. Herein, the present study is conducted to explore the regulatory mechanism of GSK3 in MI/R injury regarding cardiomyocyte apoptosis and oxidative stress. The MI/R injury mouse model and hypoxic reoxygenation (H/R) cell model were established.

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Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress plays a central role in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Irisin has been reported to have protective properties in ischemia disease. In this study, we aimed at investigating whether irisin could alleviate myocardial I/R injury by ER stress attenuation.

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Recent evidence indicates that exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) confer protective effects against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Exosomes are carriers of potentially protective endogenous molecules, including microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs). The current study set out to test the effects of transferring miR-182-5p from MSC-derived exosomes into myocardial cells on myocardial I/R injury.

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Doxorubicin (DOX) is a widely used antitumor drug that causes severe cardiotoxicity in patients; no effective strategy yet exists to address this problem. We previously reported that 8-formylophiopogonanone B (8-FOB), a natural isoflavone in Ophiopogon japonicas, antagonizes paraquat-induced hepatotoxicity. Here, we explored the mechanisms underlying DOX-induced cardiotoxicity as well as whether 8-FOB can alleviate DOX-induced cardiotoxicity.

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The exact mechanism of myocardial hypertrophy has not been completely elucidated. NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) and the pyroptotic cascade play a critical role in cardiac hypertrophy and inflammation. The myokine irisin can inhibit NLRP3 activation, although its exact mechanism of action is unknown.

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Mitochondrial calcium uptake 1 (MICU1) is a pivotal molecule in maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis under stress conditions. However, it is unclear whether MICU1 attenuates mitochondrial stress in angiotensin II (Ang-II)-induced cardiac hypertrophy or if it has a role in the function of melatonin. Here, small-interfering RNAs against MICU1 or adenovirus-based plasmids encoding MICU1 were delivered into left ventricles of mice or incubated with neonatal murine ventricular myocytes (NMVMs) for 48 h.

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Cadmium (Cd) is an occupational and environmental heavy metal pollutant derived from many sources that is linked to endothelial homeostasis. The endothelium is an important site of Cd deposition, while increasing evidence has revealed there is a close relationship between endothelial dysfunction and abnormal lipid metabolism. However, the effects of the alterations in lipid metabolism on endothelial cells (ECs) after Cd exposure still remain unclear.

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The exploration of an old drug for new biomedical applications has an absolute predominance in shortening the clinical conversion time of drugs for clinical application. In this work, carbon nanoparticles suspension injection (CNSI), the first clinically approved carbon nanoparticles in China, is explored as a new nano-radioprotective agent for potent intestinal radioprotection. CNSI shows powerful radioprotective performance in the intestine under oral administration, including efficient free radical scavenging ability, good biosafety, high chemical stability, and relatively long retention time.

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Background: Previous Caucasian studies have described venous thromboembolism in pregnancy; however, little is known about its incidence during pregnancy and early postpartum period in the Chinese population. We investigated the risk of venous thromboembolism in a "real-world" cohort of pregnant Chinese women with no prior history of venous thromboembolism.

Methods: In this observational study, 15,325 pregnancies were identified in 14,162 Chinese women at Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong between January 2004 and September 2016.

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Aims: Prior to reperfusion, Calpains remain inactive due to the acidic pH and elevated ionic strength in the ischemic myocardium; but Calpain is activated during myocardial reperfusion. The underlying mechanism of Calpain activation in the ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) is yet to be determined. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the mechanism of Calpain in I/R-induced mice.

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Background: Patients who survive myocardial infarction (MI) are at risk of recurrent cardiovascular (CV) events. This study stratified post-MI patients for risk of recurrent CV events using the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) Risk Score for Secondary Prevention (TRS 2°P).

Methods and results: This was an observational study that applied TRS 2°P to a consecutive cohort of post-MI patients.

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The timely resolution of pulmonary inflammation coordinated by endogenous pro-resolving mediators helps limit lung tissue injury, but few endogenous pro-resolving mediators that are normally operative during acute inflammation. The protective effects of BML-111 (5(S)-6(R)-7-trihydroxyheptanoic acid methyl ester), a potent commercially available anti-inflammatory and pro-resolving mediator, on ventilation-induced lung injury (VILI) have been extensively studied, but its characteristics as a pro-resolving mediator have not. Here, anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats were ventilated with a high tidal volume (20 mL/kg, HV) for 1 h and randomly allocated to recover for 6, 12, 24, 48, 72, 96 or 168 h; BML-111 was administered at the peak of inflammation to evaluate its pro-resolving effect on VILI.

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Bacterial vaccines have been widely used to prevent infectious diseases, especially in veterinary medicine. Although there are many reports on bacterin adjuvants, only a few contain innovations in bacterin adjuvants. Taking this into consideration, in this study we designed and synthesized a new aluminum (oxy) hydroxide (AlOOH) nanorod (Al-NR) with a diameter of 200 ± 80 nm and a length of 1.

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