The Value of Interleukin-6 among Several Inflammatory Markers as a Predictor of Respiratory Failure in COVID-19 Patients.

Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) develop severe respiratory failure within a short period during the clinical course. It is essential to predict respiratory deterioration in the short term. We investigated the use of inflammatory markers to predict respiratory distress within three days from their analysis in COVID-19 patients.

p53 promotes cardiac dysfunction in diabetic mellitus caused by excessive mitochondrial respiration-mediated reactive oxygen species generation and lipid accumulation.

Background: Diabetic cardiomyopathy is characterized by energetic dysregulation caused by glucotoxicity, lipotoxicity, and mitochondrial alterations. p53 and its downstream mitochondrial assembly protein, synthesis of cytochrome c oxidase 2 (SCO2), are important regulators of mitochondrial respiration, whereas the involvement in diabetic cardiomyopathy remains to be determined.

Methods And Results: The role of p53 and SCO2 in energy metabolism was examined in both type I (streptozotocin [STZ] administration) and type II diabetic (db/db) mice.

p53-TIGAR axis attenuates mitophagy to exacerbate cardiac damage after ischemia.

Inhibition of tumor suppressor p53 is cardioprotective against ischemic injury and provides resistance to subsequent cardiac remodeling. We investigated p53-mediated expansion of ischemic damage with a focus on mitochondrial integrity in association with autophagy and apoptosis. p53(-/-) heart showed that autophagic flux was promoted under ischemia without a change in cardiac tissue ATP content.

p53 and TIGAR regulate cardiac myocyte energy homeostasis under hypoxic stress.

Bioenergetic homeostasis is altered in heart failure and may play an important role in pathogenesis. p53 has been implicated in heart failure, and although its role in regulating tumorigenesis is well characterized, its activities on cellular metabolism are just beginning to be understood. We investigated the role of p53 and its transcriptional target gene TP53-induced glycolysis and apoptosis regulator (TIGAR) in myocardial energy metabolism under conditions simulating ischemia that can lead to heart failure.

Spironolactone modulates expressions of cardiac mineralocorticoid receptor and 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2 and prevents ventricular remodeling in post-infarct rat hearts.

Aldosterone antagonists have been reported to prevent ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI) via their action to extracellular matrix (ECM). However, it remains largely unknown whether aldosterone antagonists attenuate myocyte loss in the remodeling process. The present study examined whether spironolactone prevents myocyte apoptosis and improves post-infarct ventricular remodeling in rats.

Placement of pacemaker leads via the extrathoracic subclavian vein guided by fluoroscopy and venography in the oblique projection.

Blind needle puncture of the subclavian vein, which is the standard method used for insertion of pacemaker electrodes, causes an increased risk of lead fractures due to entrapment of the lead by the costoclavicular ligament and/or subclavius muscle. The extrathoracic lead insertion technique was developed to prevent such lead fractures. The present study was performed to evaluate the usefulness of extrathoracic subclavian vein puncture under the guidance of both fluoroscopy and venography in the oblique beam projection.

Echocardiographic diagnosis of pulmonary vein varix.

Pulmonary vein varix is a rare abnormality, often resembling a pulmonary or mediastinal mass on chest radiographs, and pulmonary angiography has been the mainstay of diagnosis. An unusual case of pulmonary vein varix was clearly defined by echocardiography performed in a 47-year-old woman with chest discomfort who had been found to have an abnormal structure behind the cardiac silhouette on a chest radiograph. The diagnosis of left lower pulmonary vein varix was noninvasively confirmed by transthoracic echocardiography and transesophageal echocardiography.