Association between Body Mass Index and Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Non-valvular Atrial Fibrillation Receiving Direct Oral Anticoagulants: A New Piece of Evidence on the Obesity Paradox from China.

Purpose: We conducted a multicenter real-world study in China to assess the association between body mass index (BMI) and clinical outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) taking direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs).

Method: This is a retrospective multicenter cohort study conducted in 15 centers in China. We collected demographic information through the hospital information system and obtained clinical events through follow-up visits to patients or relatives.

Effectiveness of cascading time series models based on meteorological factors in improving health risk prediction.

Meteorological factors, which are periodic and regular in a long run, have an unignorable impact on human health. Accurate health risk prediction based on meteorological factors is essential for optimal allocation of resource in healthcare units. However, due to the non-stationary and non-linear nature of the original hospitalization sequence, traditional methods are less robust in predicting it.

The effect of nitrogen dioxide and atmospheric pressure on hospitalization risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Guangzhou, China.

Background: The relationship between air pollution and meteorological factors on diseases has become a research hotspot recently. Nevertheless, few studies have touched the inferences of nitrogen dioxide (NO) and atmospheric pressure (AP) on hospitalization risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Objectives: To investigate the short-term impact of particulate air pollutants and meteorology factors on hospitalizations for COPD and quantify the corresponding risk burden of hospital admission.

[The expression of macrophage migration inhibition factor in pulmonary tissues of smokers with or without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease].

Objective: To investigate the expression of macrophage migration inhibition factor (MIF) in pulmonary tissues of the smokers with and without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Methods: The subjects were assigned into three groups: non-smokers without COPD (control group, n = 12), smokers without COPD (smoker group, n = 13) and smokers with COPD (COPD group, n = 16). The specimens were obtained from lung tissues as far away from cancer focus as possible (> 5 cm).

Cumulated Ca2⁺ spike duration underlies Ca2⁺ oscillation frequency-regulated NFκB transcriptional activity.

[Ca(2+)](i) oscillations drive downstream events, like transcription, in a frequency-dependent manner. Why [Ca(2+)](i) oscillation frequency regulates transcription has not been clearly revealed. A variation in [Ca(2+)](i) oscillation frequency apparently leads to a variation in the time duration of cumulated [Ca(2+)](i) elevations or cumulated [Ca(2+)](i) spike duration.