ObjectiveTo investigate the association of arterial stiffness with cardiovascular risk factors. MethodsFrom July 2014 to August 2015, 1 599 participants aged over 65 years old were recruited from 10 communities located in the northern Shanghai. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV) was measured by SphygmoCor device. Cardiovascular risk factors were assessed by questionnaire, anthropometry or conventional biochemical measurements. SPSS 20.0 was applied for data management and statistical analysis. ResultsCf-PWV was significantly associated with cardiovascular risk factors (P<0.001). Moreover, with the accumulating cardiovascular risk factors, cf-PWV increased gradually and significantly (P<0.001). The increasing trend remained significant in all participants, in men and in women, respectively. ConclusionArterial stiffness is significantly associated with cardiovascular risk factors and their accumulation.
The main cause of death in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is cardiovascular disease, and trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) has been found to be one of the specific risk factors in the pathogenic process in recent years. TMAO is derived from intestinal bacterial metabolism of dietary choline, carnitine and other substances and subsequently catalyzed by flavin monooxygenase enzymes in the liver. The changes of intestinal bacteria in ESRD patients have contributed to the accumulation of gut-derived uremic toxins such as TMAO, indoxyl sulfate and indole-3-acetic acid. While elevated TMAO concentration accelerates atherosclerosis through mechanisms such as inflammation, increased scavenger receptor expression, and inhibition of reverse cholesterol transport. In this review, this research introduces the biological function, metabolic processes of TMAO and mechanisms by which TMAO promotes the progression of cardiovascular disease in ESRD patients and summarizes current interventions that may be used to reverse gut microbiota disturbances, such as activated carbon, fecal microbial transplantation, dietary improvement, probiotic and probiotic introduction. It also focuses on exploring intervention targets to reduce the gut-derived uremic toxin TMAO in order to explore the possibility of more cardiovascular disease treatments for ESRD patients.
ObjectiveTo explore the causal association between venous thromboembolism (VTE) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risks using a two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) study. MethodsThe single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data associated with VTE and CVD from genome-wide association studies were obtained as instrumental variables. Inverse variance weighted (IVW) was used as the main MR method and other methods were used as supplementary methods. Cochran's Q test, the intercept term of MR-Egger, and MR-PRESSO were used to assess pleiotropy and heterogeneity to ensure the robustness of the results. ResultsThe IVW method suggested a causal association between VTE and atrial fibrillation (OR=1.033, 95%CI 1.009 to 1.058, P=0.008), but no association was identified between VTE and coronary artery disease (OR=0.994, 95%CI 0.974 to 1.023, P = 0.551), heart failure (OR=1.021, 95%CI 0.992 to 1.050, P=0.159) and myocardial infarction (OR=1.012, 95%CI 0.971 to 1.055, P=0.568). The results of Cochran's Q test showed that there was no heterogeneity in the MR analyses of VTE and CVD. The MR-Egger intercept analysis and the MR-PRESSO global testing did not detect potential horizontal pleiotropy, and the results were robust. Reverse MR analysis was used to verify the presence of reverse causal associations. The reverse MR analysis demonstrated that reverse causal associations between VTE and CVD were not evidenced. ConclusionThe results of the MR study demonstrated a causal association between VTE and atrial fibrillation, but not with coronary artery disease, heart failure or myocardial infarction.
Objective To explore perioperative outcomes of coronary artery bypass grafting （CABG） using the radialartery as the second arterial graft. Methods Clinical data of 175 consecutive patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting （OPCAB） in General Hospital of Shenyang Military Command from August 2011 to April 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. All the 175 patients were divided into two groups. There were 75 patients including 49 male and 26 female patients with their age of 56.8±8.2 years in group 1，who received radial artery as a graft vessel. There were 100patients including 66 male and 34 female patients with their age of 57.7±8.1 years in group 2，who received great saphenousvein but not radial artery as the graft vessel. The use of left internal mammary artery as a graft vessel was 100% in both groups. Perioperative cardiovascular events and other clinical results were compared between the two groups. Results All the patients survived OPCAB and there was no 30-day death. There was no statistical difference in operation time，thoracic drainage within the first 24 hours after surgery or postoperative hospital stay between the two groups（P＞0.05）. Length of postoperative ICU stay and mechanical ventilation time of group 1 were shorter than those of group 2，although the differencewas not statistically significant. The percentage of patients receiving prolonged postoperative inotropic therapy of group 2 was higher than that of group 1 ［16% （16/100） vs. 12% （9/75）］，although the difference was not statistically significant. Postoperatively，there was no patient in group 1 who had new-onset myocardial ischemia or received intra-aortic balloon pump （IABP） support for hemodynamic instability. In group 2，3 patients had new-onset myocardial ischemia and 2 patientsreceived IABP support after OPCAB. Conclusion Radial artery can partly replace great saphenous vein as a graft vesselfor OPCAB，which does not increase the risk of perioperative cardiovascular events but is beneficial for postoperativerecovery to some degree. Radial artery can be more extensively used in CABG.
Objective To perform a systematic review on the safety (i.g. cardiovascular, mortality and gastrointestinal bleeding) of clopidogrel versus clopidogrel combined with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for the patients with coronary heart disease. Methods Such databases as The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, SSCI, VIP, CNKI, and CBM were searched from the date of their establishment to September 2010. The bibliographies of the retrieved articles were also checked. The data was extracted and evaluated by two reviewers independently. The RevMan 5.0 software was used for meta-analyses. Results A total of 29 studies were included. The results of meta-analyses showed that the use of clopidogrel combined with PPIs was associated with increasing the risk of cardiovascular events (RR=1.27, 95%CI 1.09 to 1.47), as well as myocardial infarction (RR=1.45, 95% CI 1.20 to 1.76), total mortality (RR=1.23, 95%CI 1.06 to 1.43), and rethrombosis (RR=1.37, 95%CI 1.01 to 1.86). However, there was no enough evidence to reach the conclusion that the combination use could benefit the situation of gastrointestinal bleeding (RR=0.84, 95%CI 0.47 to 1.50). Conclusion?Compared with clopidogrel, the combination use of clopidogrel and PPIs increases cardiovascular events, mortality, and the risks of myocardial infarction and rethrombosis. However, more clinical studies are required to assess the effect of reducing gastrointestinal bleeding.
With the development of molecular and cellar cardiology, gene therapy to cardiovascular disease has become the hot spot and the direction of study. Now, preclinical studies on ultrasound-mediated gene delivery (UMGD) in cardiovascular disease have achieved some success, but it is still hindered by a series of practical challenges for clinical translation. Even so, UMGD still holds the promise to cardiovascular disease in gene therapy for its non-invasiveness, accuracy, safety and ability to deliver multiple genes with repeated deliveries. In this review, we will focus on the basic principle, the current development, the future prospect and drawbacks of UMGD in the therapeutic applications of cardiovascular disease.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for obesity and its comorbidities. MethodsSuch databases as PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library (Issue 11, 2013), CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data, etc. were electronically searched from inception to November 2013, for including all studies on Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for obesity and its comorbidities. According to inclusion and exclusion criteria, two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and evaluated methodological quality of included studies. And then meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 25 before and after self-control studies involving 2 966 cases with overweight or obesity were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that:after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass operation, the patients had significant reduction in BMI (MD=-16.40, 95%CI-17.42 to-15.38, P < 0.000 01), type 2 diabetes mellitus prevalence (RR=0.23, 95%CI 0.17 to 0.31, P < 0.000 01), and hypertension prevalence (RR=0.34, 95%CI 0.26 to 0.43, P < 0.000 01); besides, fasting glucose, blood pressure and serum lipid levels obviously decreased (P < 0.000 01). ConclusionRoux-en-Y gastric bypass for obesity patients is effective in reducing weight loss, type 2 diabetes mellitus incidence and cardiovascular disease incidence. Due to the limitation of the design of the included studies, the conclusion needs to be verified by further conducting high quality randomized controlled trials with large sample-size.
Blood pressure variability (BPV) refers to the fluctuations of blood pressure in a certain period of time. In recent years, BPV is becoming a predictive marker for cardiovascular events. Given the hemodynamic and internal environmental change brought by hemodialysis as well as the complex complications, hemodialysis patients always have complex BPV. Nowadays there is no consensus on an optimal standard to evaluate BPV in hemodialysis population. Metrics usually used are as follows: blood pressure change during a certain period of time, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, variation independent of mean, average real variability, weighted mean of daytime and night-time standard deviation, residual derived from generalized linear models, and residual standard deviation. Impact factors of BPV in hemodialysis patients include age, ultrafitration volume, hemodialysis frequency and time length, peripheral vascular disease, serum calcium, antihypertensive drugs and so on. Recent studies showed significant associations between both long-term and short-term BPV with prognosis of hemodialysis patients. This review focuses on the evaluation methods, the influencing factors and the impact on prognosis of BPV.
Objective To evaluate the efficacy of n-3 PUFAs (fish oil) for prevention of cardiovascular events. Methods Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were searched from the following electronic databases: PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library (Issue 1, 2009), CBM, and CNKI. Quality assessment and data extraction were conducted by two reviewers independently. Disagreement was resolved through discussion. All data were analyzed by using Review Manager 4.2 software. Results Five studies involving 37 689 participants met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis results showed that: 1) Compared with placebo, the incidence rates of the cardiovascular death (RR=0.91, 95% CI 0.84 to 0.98), cardiovascular events (RR=0.95, 95%CI 0.91 to 0.98), angina (RR=0.79, 95%CI 0.64 to 0.96), and myocardial infarction (RR=0.79, 95%CI 0.65 to 0.96) could be reduced by n-3 PUFAs (fish oil). 2) There were no significant differences in death from any cause, the hospitalization rates of cardiovascular disease, sudden death, and heart failure (RR=0.95, 95%CI 0.90 to 1.00; RR=0.97, 95%CI 0.93 to 1.02; RR=0.90, 95%CI 0.79 to 1.01; RR=0.98, 95%CI 0.91 to 1.06). 3) Compared with placebo, the incidence rates of the arrhythmia and stroke could be increased, but there were no significant differences (RR=1.14, 95%CI: 0.80 to 1.62; RR=1.12, 95%CI 0.97 to 1.30). Conclusion Compared with placebo, n-3 PUFAs (fish oil) has good effects on reducing the incidence rates of total cardiovascular events, cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, and angina pectoris, and it has the same efficacy in death from all cause, sudden death, heart failure, and the hospitalization rates of cardiovascular disease. There are no significant differences in the increased rates of arrhythmia and stroke.
Abstract： Objective To analyze the manifestation, treatment，outcome and potentially predisposing risk factors of perioperative thromboembolism after cavo-pulmonary connection, and to assess the effects of our prophylactic antithrombotic strategy.?Methods?Clinical data of 264 cases of bidirectional Glenn and 224 cases of total cavopulmonary connection （TCPC） operations undertaken from September 2005 to December 2010 in Fu wai hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Perioperative thromboembolic complications occurred in 9 patients. 5 of them were after bidirectional Glenn, 4 were after TCPC. Most of the 9 patients had at least one thrombi-related risk factor. The routine prophylactic antithrombotic therapy after these operations were intravenous infusion of heparin 10 U/（kg·h） initially, followed with oral aspirin 1-3 mg/（kg·d）. Results Thromboembolic events occurred within 7 days after the operation in 6 cases, appeared 2 to 4 weeks after the surgery in 3 cases. All 9 patients received anticoagulation with heparin. One patient also undertook take-down operation. 3 （33%） patients died, accounting for 33% （1/3）, and 18% （2/11） of the early deaths after bidirectional Glenn and TCPC operations. Clinical symptoms improved or disappeared in the remaining 6 patients. Conclusion The mortality of perioperative thromboembolic complications after cavo-pulmonary connection is high, consisting of the important cause of early deaths after these procedures. Our prophylactic anticoagulation strategy proved to be effective, though some thrombi-relatedrisk factors still need to be avoided.