Pacemaker and Atrioventricular Junction Ablation in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation-A Systematic Review of Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) could be considered for heart failure (HF) patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) unless a potent ventricular capture strategy is conducted. However, the benefit of a pacemaker (PM; as part of CRT) in patients with AF and whether atrioventricular junction (or nodal) ablation (AVAB) can improve the prognosis of these patients compared with those treated medically to support ventricular capture are unclear.

Methods And Results: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses investigating the roles of PMs and AVAB in patients with AF were obtained in a search of the PubMed, Embase, and Medline databases and then analyzed with respect to the following outcomes: mortality, left ventricular ejection fraction, and clinical findings including the New York Heart Association class, 6-min walk distance (6MWD), quality of life as assessed in a specific questionnaire, and response to CRT.

Identification and Functional Prediction of Long Non-Coding RNAs in Dilated Cardiomyopathy by Bioinformatics Analysis.

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a relatively common cause of heart failure and the leading cause of heart transplantation. Aberrant changes in long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in DCM disorder; however, the detailed mechanisms underlying DCM initiation and progression require further investigation, and new molecular targets are needed. Here, we obtained lncRNA-expression profiles associated with DCM and non-failing hearts through microarray probe-sequence re-annotation.

Key Enzymes for the Mevalonate Pathway in the Cardiovascular System.

Isoprenylation is an important post-transcriptional modification of small GTPases required for their activation and function. Isoprenoids, including farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP) and geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate, are indispensable for isoprenylation by serving as donors of a prenyl moiety to small G proteins. In the human body, isoprenoids are mainly generated by the mevalonate pathway (also known as the cholesterol-synthesis pathway).

The Biomarkers for Acute Myocardial Infarction and Heart Failure.

The use of a large number of cardiovascular biomarkers, meant to complement the use of the electrocardiogram, echocardiography cardiac imaging, and clinical symptom assessment, has become a routine in clinical diagnosis, differential diagnosis, risk stratification, and prognosis and guides the management of patients with suspected cardiovascular diseases. There is a broad consensus that cardiac troponin and natriuretic peptides are the preferred biomarkers in clinical practice for the diagnosis of the acute coronary syndrome and heart failure, respectively, while the roles and possible clinical applications of several other potential biomarkers are still under study. This review mainly focuses on the recent studies of the roles and clinical applications of troponin and natriuretic peptides, which seem to be the best-validated markers in distinguishing and predicting the future cardiac events of patients with suspected cardiovascular diseases.

Comparison of transesophageal echocardiography findings after different anticoagulation strategies in patients with atrial fibrillation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: High risk of embolic events exists in both patients with chronic atrial fibrillation (AF) and patients in the perioperative period of ablation (effective treatment for AF). Therefore, anticoagulant therapy is important. Oral anticoagulants can be divided into two major categories: vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) and non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs).

Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and depression among bereaved and non-bereaved survivors following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

Many studies have suggested that unexpected death of a loved one is an important risk factor of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression among disaster survivors, but few have examined the magnitude of psychiatric morbidities among bereaved survivors. This study examined the prevalence rates of clinically significant PTSD and depressive symptoms and their associated risk factors among Chinese adult survivors following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Two hundred and fifty-one bereaved adults were compared with 1474 non-bereaved adult survivors.

Tamoxifen lowers the MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio and inhibits the invasion capacity of ER-positive non-small cell lung cancer cells.

Tamoxifen (TAM) serves for decades as a therapy drug for the prevention and treatment of breast cancers, especially effective for the estrogen receptor (ER)-positive ones. An increasing number of studies are trying to explore its potential application in treating other types of tumor including lung cancer. However, the effects of TAM on lung cancer cells, especially ER-positive ones, remain unclear.

Blocking neuropilin-2 enhances corneal allograft survival by selectively inhibiting lymphangiogenesis on vascularized beds.

Purpose: To investigate the potential inhibitory effects of RNA interference-mediated knockdown of neuropilin-2 (NP2) on inflammation-induced corneal hemangiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis, and whether selective inhibition of lymphangiogenesis on vascularized recipient beds before transplantation improves the graft survival.

Methods: Mouse lymphatic endothelial cells were transfected with the plasmid expressing artificial microRNA (amiRNA) against mouse NP2, and the down-regulation of VEGF-C-induced NP2 expression by NP2 amiRNA was evaluated by real-time PCR and western blot assays. Next, NP2 amiRNA or negative control amiRNA was injected intrastromally into BALB/c mouse model of suture-induced corneal neovascularization three days after surgery.

[Study on the relationship between microsatellite alterations of RASSF1A gene and the development of cervical carcinoma].

Objective: To explore the relationship between microsatellite alterations of RASSF1A gene and the development of cervical carcinoma, and HPV16 infection.

Methods: Two sites of microsatellite polymorphism of RASSF1A gene were selected, we used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique to detect the LOH and MSI of cervical tissues, and to detect the infection state of HPV16.

Results: There were significant differences of LOH rates at the two sites between clinical stage and pathological grade (P < 0.