Assessment of perioperative cardiac risk using preoperative quantitative flow ratio in patients with coronary artery disease undergoing noncardiac surgery: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Quantitative flow ratio (QFR) is a novel diagnostic modality for the functional testing of coronary artery stenosis, but evidence concerning the postoperative prognostic implication of QFR in noncardiac surgery (NCS) of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of QFR in perioperative risk prediction in patients with coronary heart disease.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted in The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University between 2013 and 2022, and consecutively included patients with CAD who had undergone NCS <1 year after coronary angiography.

Mulberry and -based solid beverage attenuate hyperlipidemia and hepatic steatosis via adipose tissue-liver axis.

Dyslipidemia and hepatic steatosis are the characteristics of the initial stage of nonalcohol fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which can be reversed by lifestyle intervention, including dietary supplementation. However, such commercial dietary supplements with solid scientific evidence and in particular clear mechanistic elucidation are scarce. Here, the health benefits of MHP, a commercial mulberry and -based solid beverage, were evaluated in NAFLD rat model and the underlying molecular mechanisms were investigated.

Mulberry and -based solid beverage promotes weight loss in rats by antagonizing white adipose tissue PPARγ and FGFR1 signaling.

Obesity, a multifactorial disease with many complications, has become a global epidemic. Weight management, including dietary supplementation, has been confirmed to provide relevant health benefits. However, experimental evidence and mechanistic elucidation of dietary supplements in this regard are limited.

LXRα Promotes Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Formation Through UHRF1 Epigenetic Modification of miR-26b-3p.

Background: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a severe aortic disease without effective pharmacological approaches. The nuclear hormone receptor LXRα (liver X receptor α), encoded by the gene, serves as a critical transcriptional mediator linked to several vascular pathologies, but its role in AAA remains elusive.

Methods: Through integrated analyses of human and murine AAA gene expression microarray data sets, we identified as a candidate gene regulating AAA formation.

Do Dosiomic Features Extracted From Planned 3-Dimensional Dose Distribution Improve Biochemical Failure-Free Survival Prediction: an Analysis Based on a Large Multi-Institutional Data Set.

Purpose: The objective of this work was to investigate whether including additional dosiomic features can improve biochemical failure-free survival prediction compared with models with clinical features only or with clinical features as well as equivalent uniform dose and tumor control probability.

Methods And Materials: This retrospective study included 1852 patients who received diagnoses of localized prostate cancer between 2010 and 2016 and were treated with curative external beam radiation therapy in Albert, Canada. A total of 1562 patients from 2 centers were used for developing 3 random survival forest models: Model A included only 5 clinical features; Model B included 5 clinical features, equivalent uniform dose, and tumor control probability; and Model C considered 5 clinical features and 2074 dosiomic features derived from the planned dose distribution of the clinical target volume and planning target volume with further feature selection to determine prognostic features.

Characterizing the cellular and molecular variabilities of peripheral immune cells in healthy recipients of BBIBP-CorV inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine by single-cell RNA sequencing.

Over 3 billion doses of inactivated vaccines for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have been administered globally. However, our understanding of the immune cell functional transcription and T cell receptor (TCR)/B cell receptor (BCR) repertoire dynamics following inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccination remains poorly understood. Here, we performed single-cell RNA and TCR/BCR sequencing on peripheral blood mononuclear cells at four time points after immunization with the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine BBIBP-CorV.

Stability of dosiomic features against variations in dose calculation: An analysis based on a cohort of prostate external beam radiotherapy patients.

Introduction: Interest in using higher order features of the planned 3D dose distributions (i.e., dosiomics) to predict radiotherapy outcomes is growing.

Apply pressure-strain loop to quantify myocardial work in pulmonary hypertension: A prospective cohort study.

Objectives: Pressure-strain loop (PSL) is a novel method to quantify myocardial work in many cardiovascular diseases. To investigate the value of myocardial work parameters derived from PSL for evaluating cardiac function and clinical prognosis in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH).

Methods: A total of 52 patients with PH and 27 healthy controls were enrolled in this prospective study.

Nuclear Receptor NR1D1 Regulates Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Development by Targeting the Mitochondrial Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle Enzyme Aconitase-2.

Background: Metabolic disorder increases the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). NRs (nuclear receptors) have been increasingly recognized as important regulators of cell metabolism. However, the role of NRs in AAA development remains largely unknown.

External beam radiation therapy treatment factors prognostic of biochemical failure free survival: A multi-institutional retrospective study for prostate cancer.

Background And Purpose: The goal of this work is to identify specific treatment planning and delivery features that are prognostic of biochemical failure-free survival (BFFS) for prostate cancer patients treated with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT).

Materials And Methods: This study reviewed patients diagnosed with localized prostate adenocarcinoma between 2005 and 2016, and treated with EBRT on a Varian linear accelerator at one of the four cancer centers in Alberta, Canada. BFFS was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier estimator.

Nuclear receptor Nur77 protects against oxidative stress by maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis via regulating mitochondrial fission and mitophagy in smooth muscle cell.

Angiotensin II (AngII) induces disruption of mitochondrial homeostasis and oxidative stress. Nuclear receptor NR4A1 (Nur77) plays an important role in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) function. However, the role of Nur77 in AngII-induced mitochondrial dynamics and oxidative stress in VSMCs remains unknown.

Clinical Impact of Thrombus Aspiration and Interaction With D-Dimer Levels in Patients With ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction Undergoing Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

To evaluate the effect of thrombus aspiration (TA) strategy on the outcomes and its interaction with D-dimer levels in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) during primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in "real-world" settings. This study included 1,295 patients with STEMI who had undergone primary PCI with or without TA between January 2013 and June 2017. Patients were first divided into a TA+PCI group and a PCI-only group, and the baseline characteristics and long-term mortality between the two groups were analyzed.

Nuclear Receptor Nur77 Protects Against Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm by Ameliorating Inflammation Via Suppressing LOX-1.

Background Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a life-threatening vascular disorder characterized by chronic inflammation of the aortic wall, which lacks effective pharmacotherapeutic remedies and has an extremely high mortality. Nuclear receptor NR4A1 (Nur77) functions in various chronic inflammatory diseases. However, the influence of Nur77 on AAA has remained unclear.

Spironolactone Improves the All-Cause Mortality and Re-Hospitalization Rates in Acute Myocardial Infarction with Chronic Kidney Disease Patients.

Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRA) improve outcomes in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. However, the lack of evidence regarding long-term clinical outcomes in the use of MRA, including spironolactone, in patients with AMI combined with CKD. This study aimed to investigate whether spironolactone could significantly reduce the risk of all-cause mortality and re-admission in patients with AMI and CKD.

and Impairments in T Helper Cell and Neutrophil Responses against in Knockout Mice.

is a frequently found fungus in Asia, especially China, and it causes primary cutaneous mucormycosis with a high rate of disfigurement. Caspase recruitment domain-containing protein 9 (Card9) is an essential adaptor molecule downstream of C-type lectin receptors. It mediates the activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), regulates T helper 1 (Th1) and Th17 differentiation, and plays an important role in fungal immune surveillance.

Variation in Interinstitutional Plan Quality When Adopting a Hypofractionated Protocol for Prostate Cancer External Beam Radiation Therapy.

Purpose: This study quantified plan quality differences across the 4 cancer centers in Alberta, Canada for plans that followed the PROstate Fractionated Irradiation Trial protocol.

Methods And Materials: Prostate plans of 235 patients were retrospectively reviewed. Interinstitutional plan quality comparisons were made based on distributions of protocol-specified parameters using 1-way analysis of variance with Games-Howell post hoc analysis.

activities of nine antifungal agents against rare pathogenic fungi.

To assess activities of nine antifungal agents (amphotericin B, fluconazole, voriconazole, itraconazole, posaconazole, caspofungin, micafungin, terbinafine and 5-flucytosine) against 93 strains of rare pathogenic fungi and the combined effects of drug combinations against several multidrug-resistant fungi. The broth microdilution method M38-A3 and M27-A4 from the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute and the checkerboard method were performed in this study. Low MICs for fluconazole were observed in moulds including and yeasts.

Impairment of Th cell response in Card9 knockout mice with cutaneous mucormycosis caused by Rhizopus arrhizus.

Card9 is a signalling adaptor protein in the downstream of many innate pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and exerts a significant role in antifungal immunity. To date, Card9 deficiency has been reported to be related to increased susceptibility to many fungal infections. In this study, we established mucormycosis murine model of Rhizopus arrhizus (R.

In vitro activities of six antifungal agents and their combinations against Chaetomium spp.

Purpose: To assess in vitro activities of six antifungal agents (amphotericin B, itraconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, caspofungin and terbinafine) and the combined effects of eight pairs of them (caspofungin or terbinafine with amphotericin B, itraconazole, voriconazole or posaconazole) against 22 isolates of Chaetomium spp.

Methodology: The broth microdilution method drafted by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute and the checkerboard method were used in this study to evaluate in vitro activities of antifungal drugs both alone and in combination against Chaetomium spp.

Results: Amphotericin B and triazoles exhibited lower geometric mean, MIC50 and MIC90 than caspofungin and terbinafine.

Serum relaxin level predicts recurrence of atrial fibrillation after radiofrequency catheter ablation.

Relaxin, an emerging biomarker in heart failure, is involved in fibrosis and inflammation. The value of relaxin in predicting recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) after radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) is unknown and the subject of this study. We prospectively enrolled 248 consecutive patients with AF (paroxysmal in 127 and persistent in 121) who underwent RFCA at our center after measurement of circulating levels of relaxin by ELISA.

Dosimetric effect of body contour changes for prostate and head and neck volumetric modulated arc therapy plans.

Body contour changes are commonly seen in prostate and head and neck (H&N) patients undergoing volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) treatments, which may cause a discrepancy between the planned dose and the delivered dose. Dosimetrists, radiation oncologists or medical physicists sometimes are required to visually assess the dosimetric impact of body contour changes and make a judgment call on whether further re-assessment of the plan is needed. However, an intuitive judgment cannot always be made in a timely manner due to the complexity of VMAT plans as well as the complicated forms of body contour changes.

A quantitative assessment of the consequences of allowing dose heterogeneity in prostate radiation therapy planning.

Target dose uniformity has been historically an aim of volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) planning. However, for some sites, this may not be strictly necessary and removing this constraint could theoretically improve organ-at-risk (OAR) sparing and tumor control probability (TCP). This study systematically investigates the consequences of PTV dose uniformity that results from the application or removal of an upper dose constraint (UDC) in the inverse planning process for prostate VMAT treatments.

High molecular weight fibroblast growth factor-2 as a promising prognostic biomarker to predict the occurrence of heart failure in atrial fibrillation patients.

Heart failure (HF) has a significant effect on the prognosis of the patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), and also it is an important risk factor for overall mortality. High molecular weight fibroblast growth factor-2 (Hi-FGF-2) is emerging as a prognostic marker with HF and AF. The aim of this study was to prove that Hi-FGF-2 would predict occurrence of HF in the patients with AF.

Potential Roles of Serum Caveolin-3 Levels in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation.

To explore serum caveolin-3 (Cav-3) levels in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and to evaluate the role of Cav-3 as a biomarker for AF and incident heart failure (HF). Three hundred and five patients were enrolled in the study and divided into three groups: sinus rhythm (Group SR), paroxysmal AF (Group paAF), and persistent AF (Group peAF). Serum Cav-3 concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay at baseline.