Speckle tracking tissue motion mitral annulus displacement to assess early changes in the left ventricle and its association with lung function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objective: To evaluate the early changes in left ventricular (LV) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by measuring tissue motion mitral annulus displacement (TMAD) and three-dimensional (3D) parameters using speckle tracking imaging (STI), and to explore its correlation with lung function.

Methods: Forty two COPD patients (GOLD I, GOLD II, GOLD III) and 30 healthy individuals (control group) were included. STI was used to assess the changes in LV structure and systolic function.

A systematic analysis of the association between Notch1 expression and the patients with digestive tract cancers.

Aim: Notch1 expression remains controversial on digestive tract cancers. This meta-analysis was performed to assess the clinicopathological significance of Notch1 expression in individuals with digestive tract cancers, mainly involving esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), gastric cancer (GC), pancreatic cancer (PC) and colorectal cancer (CRC).

Methods: Available articles were searched from the online databases, and the meta-analysis was done using Review Manager software 5.