Longitudinal association of urbanization and risk of myocardial infarction in China: an analysis from the China Health and Nutrition Survey.

Background: The association between urbanization and myocardial infarction in China was not fully understood. We aim to evaluate the association between urbanization level and the risk of myocardial infarction.

Methods: Participants' data from China Health and Nutrition Survey were analyzed.

Estimated pulse wave velocity predicts mortality in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Objective: Estimated pulse wave velocity (ePWV), a newly established arterial stiffness (AS) parameter, predicts the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and death in the general population or in patients with CVD risk factors. However, whether ePWV is associated with adverse outcomes in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) patients remains unknown. Our study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of ePWV on clinical outcomes in HFpEF.

Prognostic impact of abnormal sodium burden in heart failure patients with preserved ejection fraction.

Background: Sodium abnormality is common in patients with heart failure (HF) and is associated with adverse clinical outcomes. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of abnormal sodium burden on long-term mortality and hospitalization in HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

Methods: We analysed participants from the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist (TOPCAT) trial with available baseline and follow-up data (n = 1717).

Clinical Implication of N-Terminal Pro-Brain Natriuretic Peptide Burden in Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction: From the GUIDE-IT.

This study aimed to explore the prognostic implication of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) burden on heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). We performed a post hoc analysis of the GUIDing Evidence Based Therapy Using Biomarker Intensified Treatment in Heart Failure (GUIDE-IT) trial. NT-proBNP burden was defined as the proportion of days with increased NT-proBNP (≥1,800 pg/ml) to the whole observation time.

Hemoglobin to red cell distribution width ratio: A predictor of clinical outcome and diuretic response in patients with acute heart failure.

Background: Hemoglobin to Red Cell Distribution Width Ratio (HRR) is a novel inflammatory marker in the prognostic assessment of tumors. Nevertheless, its focus on the cardiovascular field is relatively limited, particularly regarding its correlation with diuretic responses and clinical outcomes.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of the Renal Optimization Strategies Evaluation (ROSE AHF) clinical trial.

Mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration and outcomes in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Aims: This study aims to evaluate the prognostic value of mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) on clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

Methods And Results: We analysed HFpEF participants from the Americas in the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist (TOPCAT) trial with available baseline data (n = 1747). Patients were grouped into hypochromia or non-hypochromia group according to a MCHC cut-off level of 330 g/L.

Distinct implications of body mass index in different subgroups of nonobese patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a latent class analysis of data from the TOPCAT trial.

Background: Obesity is a well-defined risk factor for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), but it is associated with a better prognosis in patients with diagnosed HFpEF. The paradoxically poor prognosis in nonobese patients with HFpEF may be driven by a subset of high-risk patients, which suggests that the nonobese HFpEF subpopulation is heterogeneous.

Methods: Latent class analysis (LCA) was adopted to identify the potential subgroups of 623 nonobese patients enrolled in the TOPCAT trial.

Prognostic significance of resting cardiac power to left ventricular mass and E/e' ratio in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Background: Cardiac power-to-left ventricular mass (power/mass) is an index reflecting the muscular hydraulic pump capability of the heart, and the E/e' ratio is a specific indicator for identifying increased left ventricular filling pressure. Limited data exist regarding the prognostic value of incorporating power/mass and E/e' ratio in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

Materials And Methods: In total, 475 patients with HFpEF from the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist (TOPCAT) trial with complete baseline echocardiography data were included in our analysis.

Worsening of Renal Function Among Hospitalized Patients With Acute Heart Failure: Phenotyping, Outcomes, and Predictors.

Objective: To define clinical phenotyping and its associated outcome of worsening of renal function (WRF) in hospitalized acute heart failure (AHF) patients.

Patients And Methods: Latent class analysis was performed in 113 AHF patients who developed WRF within 72 hours in the DOSE (Diuretic Optimization Strategies Evaluation) trial (from March 2008 to November 2009) and ROSE-AHF (Renal Optimization Strategies Evaluation in Acute Heart Failure) trial (from September 2010 to March 2013) to identify potential WRF phenotypes. Clinical characteristics and outcome (in-hospital and post-discharge) were compared between different phenotypes.

Identification of a long noncoding RNA Gm17501 as a novel negative regulator of cardiac hypertrophy.

Pathological cardiac hypertrophy is an independent risk factor for the development of heart failure. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), an emerging class of non-protein-coding transcripts, are involved in regulation of multiple cardiac diseases through diverse molecular mechanism, whereas the role of cytoplasmic lncRNAs in regulating cardiac hypertrophy remains unclear. In this study, we identified a novel and functional long noncoding RNA Gm17501, which was predominantly expressed in the cytoplasm of cardiomyocytes.

Modified Exosomes: a Good Transporter for miRNAs within Stem Cells to Treat Ischemic Heart Disease.

Stem cell-based therapy for ischemic heart disease (IHD) has become a promising but controversial strategy during the past two decades. The fate and effects of stem cells engrafted into ischemia myocardium are still not fully understood. Stem cell-derived exosomes, a subcategory of extracellular vesicles with nano size, have been considered as an efficient and safe transporter for microRNAs (miRNAs) and a central mediator of the cardioprotective potentials of the parental cells.

Role of N6-methyladenosine Modification in Cardiac Remodeling.

Cardiac remodeling is the critical process in heart failure due to many cardiovascular diseases including myocardial infarction, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and cardiomyopathy. However, treatments for heart failure focusing on cardiac remodeling show relatively limited effectiveness. In recent decades, epitranscriptomic modifications were found abundantly present throughout the progression of cardiac remodeling, and numerous types of biochemical modifications were identified.

Prognostic significance of blood urea nitrogen/creatinine ratio in chronic HFpEF.

Background: The prognostic significance of blood urea nitrogen (BUN)/creatinine ratio specifically in chronic heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) patients remained unclear. We aimed to evaluate the association of BUN/creatinine ratio (baseline level and visit-to-visit variation) with the risk of adverse clinical outcomes among patients with chronic HFpEF.

Methods And Results: This is a secondary analysis of the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist (TOPCAT) trial.

Clinical Significance of Mean and Pulse Pressure in Patients With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction.

It remains debated whether pulse pressure is associated with left ventricular traits and adverse outcomes over and beyond mean arterial pressure (MAP) in patients with heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction. We investigated these associations in 3428 patients with HF with preserved ejection fraction (51.5% women; mean age, 68.

Chest pain in a mid-aged woman, not simply myopericarditis: a case report of anti-Ku positive polymyositis.

Background: Anti-Ku is a rare antibody which can be positive in some rheumatic diseases and it might be related to cardiac involvement. Polymyositis is an inflammatory myopathy, and its cardiac involvement seldom presents as myopericarditis and anti-Ku positive.

Case Presentation: In this case, we report a mid-aged woman with chest pain, upper limbs weakness and fever unrelated with infection.

Association of Body-Weight Fluctuation With Outcomes in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction.

To investigate the relationship between body-weight fluctuation and risks of clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). We measured intra-individual variations in body weight from baseline and follow-up visits in 1,691 participants with HFpEF from the Americas from the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist (TOPCAT) trial. The primary endpoint was any cardiovascular events (a composite of death from cardiovascular disease, non-fatal myocardial infarction, aborted cardiac arrest, or hospitalization for HF).

Effect of aggressive diuresis in acute heart failure with reduced and preserved ejection fraction.

Aims: Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) had distinct haemodynamic characteristics in the setting of acute heart failure. The aim of our study is to evaluate the differential response to aggressive diuresis in HFrEF and HFpEF.

Methods And Results: Patients in the Diuretic Optimization Strategies Evaluation trial with left ventricular ejection fraction measurement were included (n = 300) and classified into HFrEF [left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) < 40%] (n = 193) and HFpEF (LVEF ≥ 40%) (n = 107).

Prognostic Implication of Liver Function Tests in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction Without Chronic Hepatic Diseases: Insight From TOPCAT Trial.

Liver dysfunction is prevalent in patients with heart failure (HF), but the prognostic significance of liver function tests (LFTs) remains controversial. Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) had been introduced for some time, but no previous study had focused on LFTs in HFpEF. Thus, we aim to evaluate the prognostic significance of LFTs in well-defined HFpEF patients.

Living Alone and Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction.

Objective: In patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), whether living alone could contribute to a poor prognosis remains unknown. We sought to investigate the association of living alone with clinical outcomes in patients with HFpEF.

Methods: Symptomatic patients with HFpEF with a follow-up of 3.

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

[Figure: see text].

CHEST score predicts clinical outcomes in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a secondary analysis of the TOPCAT trial.

Background: The CHEST score has been validated for predicting AF in the general population or post-stroke patients. We aimed to assess whether this risk score could predict incident AF and other clinical outcomes in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) patients.

Methods: A total of 2202 HFpEF patients without baseline AF in the TOPCAT trial were stratified by baseline CHEST score.

Meta-analysis of metabolic syndrome and its individual components with risk of atrial fibrillation in different populations.

Background: Recent studies have reported the effects of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components on atrial fibrillation (AF), but the results remain controversial. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the relationship between MetS and AF risk.

Methods: Studies were searched from the Cochrane library, PubMed, and Embase databases through May 2020.

Association of long-term SBP with clinical outcomes and quality of life in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: an analysis of the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist trial.

Aims: To determine the associations of long-term SBP (LT-SBP) levels with clinical outcomes and health-related quality of life in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

Methods And Results: We analyzed participants from the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist (TOPCAT) study with available different SBP measurements from different follow-ups (n = 3310). LT-SBP was the mean SBP value from 4-week measurement to the last one.

Meta-analysis of type 1 diabetes mellitus and risk of cardiovascular disease.

Background: Individuals with diabetes have a high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the association between type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and the risk of CVD has not been well addressed. This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the association between T1DM and CVD.