Influence of depression trajectories in heart failure patients with preserved ejection fractions: a secondary analysis of adverse outcomes in the TOPCAT trial.

Background: Long-term patterns of depressive symptoms among patients with heart failure, specifically those with a preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), and their relationship with prognoses are not well studied.

Methods: This analysis included 609 participants from the TOPCAT (Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist) trial. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) at baseline and at 1-year, 2-year and 3-year intervals.

Apolipoprotein B modifies the association between lipoprotein(a) and ASCVD risk.

Background: Elevated lipoprotein(a) (Lp[a]) and apolipoprotein B (apoB) are individually associated with the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Moreover, previous basic research has implicated the potential interaction between apoB and Lp(a) in the atherogenic process. We aimed to determine whether apoB levels significantly modulate ASCVD risk associated with Lp(a) in a large community-based population without baseline cardiovascular disease.

Cardiac autonomic neuropathy modified the association between obesity and hypoglycemia in type 2 diabetes.

Background: Previous studies have shown that increasing body mass index (BMI) was associated with decreased hypoglycemia in type 2 diabetes, but it remains uncertain whether this finding could be applied to patients with and without cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN).

Methods: The study included 7789 participants with type 2 diabetes from action to control cardiovascular risk in diabetes (ACCORD) trail. CAN was defined as SDNN < 8.

Effects of a competence-based approach for clerkship teaching under alternating clinical placements: An explanatory sequential mixed-methods research.

Background: It is unclear whether alternating placements during clinical clerkship, without an explicit emphasis on clinical competencies, would bring about optimal educational outcomes.

Methods: This is an explanatory sequential mixed-methods research. We enrolled a convenience sample of 41 eight-year programme medical students in Sun Yat-sen University who received alternating placements during clerkship.

A novel method for septal reduction therapy by three-dimensional guided transvenous intraseptal pulsed-field ablation.

Background: Pulsed-field ablation (PFA) is a nonthermal method for achieving selective cell death with little inflammation response. However, there are no reports of PFA for septal reduction therapy (SRT).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness and safety of PFA for SRT.

Effect of metformin on adverse outcomes in T2DM patients: Systemic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.

Background: The cardiovascular protection effect of metformin on patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) remains inconclusive. This systemic review and meta-analysis were to estimate the effect of metformin on mortality and cardiovascular events among patients with T2DM.

Methods: A search of the Pubmed and EMBASE databases up to December 2021 was performed.

Effectiveness and Safety of DOACs vs. Warfarin in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation and Frailty: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and frailty are a considerable group in clinical practice. However, existing studies provide insufficient evidence of anticoagulation strategies for these patients. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to determine the effectiveness and safety outcomes of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) for these patients.

An electrographic AV optimization for the maximum integrative atrioventricular and ventricular resynchronization in CRT.

Background: Atrioventricular (AV) delay could affect AV and ventricular synchrony in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Strategies to optimize AV delay according to optimal AV synchrony (AV) or ventricular synchrony (AV) would potentially be discordant. This study aimed to explore a new AV delay optimization algorithm guided by electrograms to obtain the maximum integrative effects of AV and ventricular resynchronization (opt-AV).

Visit-to-Visit Blood Pressure Variability and Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction.

[Figure: see text].

Silence Is Golden.

Speech-induced atrial tachycardia (AT) is extremely rare. We presented a case of focal AT that could be triggered by speech and terminated with the cessation of conversation. An electrophysiological study showed that the outbreak was associated with left atrial pressure rose.

Electrophysiological characteristics of epicardial to endocardial breakthrough in intractable cavotricuspid isthmus-dependent atrial flutter.

Background: Epicardial to endocardial breakthrough (EEB) exists widely in atrial arrhythmia and is a cause for intractable cavotricuspid isthmus (CTI)-dependent atrial flutter (AFL). This study aimed to investigate the electrophysiological features of EEB in EEB-related CTI dependent AFL.

Methods: Six patients with EEB-related CTI-dependent AFL were identified among 142 consecutive patients who underwent CTI-dependent AFL catheter ablation with an ultra-high-density, high-resolution mapping system in three institutions.

Automatic annotation of local activation time was improved in idiopathic right ventricular outflow tract ventricular arrhythmia by novel electrogram "Lumipoint" algorithm.

Purpose: Precise automatic annotation of local activation time (LAT) is crucial for rapid high-density activation mapping in arrhythmia. However, it is still challenging in voltage-transitional areas where local low-amplitude near-field potentials are often obscured by large far-field potentials. The aim of this study was to explore the viability and validity of automatic identification of the earliest activation (EA) in idiopathic right ventricular outflow tract ventricular arrhythmias (RVOT VAs) using a novel Lumipoint algorithm.

Efficacy and safety of xuezhikang once per day versus two times per day in patients with mild to moderate hypercholesterolaemia (APEX study): a protocol for a multicentre, prospective randomised controlled, open-label, non-inferiority study.

Introduction: Reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) improves clinical outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease. However, rates of lipid-lowering medication adherence are far from ideal. Reducing dosage frequency from multiple dosing to once-daily dosing may improve patients' medication adherence.

A novel cholchicine/gadolinium-loading tubulin self-assembly nanocarrier for MR imaging and chemotherapy of glioma.

To enhance the therapeutic efficiency and reduce side effects from drug delivery and chemotherapy, image-guided nanoscale systems have attracted tremendous attention in recent decades. In this study, we developed a novel method to fabricate a colchicine/gadolinium-loaded tubulin self-assembly nanocarrier (Col-Gd@Tub NC) for the image-guided chemotherapy of glioma. The Col-Gd@Tub NCs were spontaneously formed via tubulin self-assembly and were subsequently functionalized by colchicine and gadolinium elements.

Transcribed Ultraconserved Regions, Uc.323, Ameliorates Cardiac Hypertrophy by Regulating the Transcription of CPT1b (Carnitine Palmitoyl transferase 1b).

Transcribed ultraconserved regions (T-UCRs) are a novel class of long noncoding RNAs transcribed from UCRs, which exhibit 100% DNA sequence conservation among humans, mice, and rats. However, whether T-UCRs regulate cardiac hypertrophy remains unclear. We aimed to explore the effects of T-UCRs on cardiac hypertrophy.

Maf1 ameliorates cardiac hypertrophy by inhibiting RNA polymerase III through ERK1/2.

: An imbalance between protein synthesis and degradation is one of the mechanisms of cardiac hypertrophy. Increased transcription in cardiomyocytes can lead to excessive protein synthesis and cardiac hypertrophy. Maf1 is an RNA polymerase III (RNA pol III) inhibitor that plays a pivotal role in regulating transcription.

Association of Cyr61-cysteine-rich protein 61 and short-term mortality in patients with acute heart failure and coronary heart disease.

The protein CCN1/CYR61 exerts critical functions in myocardial ischemic injury. We sought to investigate the prognostic value of CCN1 in patients with acute heart failure (AHF) and coronary heart disease (CAD). We prospectively enrolled 113 patients with AHF and CAD.

Overdrive pacing mapping: An alternative approach used in scar associated localized atrial tachycardia.

Background: Mapping and ablation of localized reentry atrial tachycardia (AT) can be challenging, especially in those with varying cycle length (CL).

Objective: We attempted to use the traditional maneuver of overdrive pacing to facilitate AT mapping.

Methods: Data were collected from 12 patients with localized ATs.

Prognostic Value of Cysteine-Rich Protein 61 Combined with N-Terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide for Mortality in Acute Heart Failure Patients with and without Chronic Kidney Disease.

Background: The ability of most biomarkers, such as N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), to predict prognosis in heart failure can be affected by the state of renal function; therefore, there is the need for a biomarker that can predict prognosis accurately without the influence of renal function. The prognostic value of cysteine-rich protein 61 (CYR61/CCN1) in acute heart failure (AHF) patients has been proven.

Methods: A total of 248 patients hospitalized with AHF were recruited in this study, and serum CCN1 levels, NT-proBNP levels, and other necessary data of patients were collected upon admission.

Lycopene protects against pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy by attenuating oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress is considered an important pathogenic process of cardiac hypertrophy. Lycopene is a kind of carotenoid antioxidant that protects the cardiovascular system, so we hypothesized that lycopene might inhibit cardiac hypertrophy by attenuating oxidative stress. Phenylephrine and pressure overload were used to set up the hypertrophic models in vitro and in vivo respectively.

Electrophysiological characteristics of the earliest activation site in idiopathic right ventricular outflow tract arrhythmias under mini-electrode mapping.

Introduction: Right ventricular outflow tract ventricular arrhythmias (RVOT VAs) often originate in the voltage-transitional zone. The target electrogram could be compromised by the architecture of the roving catheter. Mini-electrodes could improve the mapping resolution, especially in low-voltage areas.

Fisetin inhibits cardiac hypertrophy by suppressing oxidative stress.

Cardiac hypertrophy is a pathophysiological response to various pathological stresses and ultimately leads to heart failure. Oxidative stress is one of the critical processes involved in hypertrophy development. Fisetin, a small molecular flavonoid, has been shown to have anti-oxidative, anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory properties.