Recipient hypertonic saline infusion prevents cardiac allograft dysfunction

Objective

Hypertonic saline (HTS) has potent immune and vascular effects. We assessed recipient pretreatment with HTS on allograft function in a porcine model of heart transplantation and hypothesized that HTS infusion would limit endothelial and left ventricular (LV) dysfunction following transplantation.

Multidimensional Ultrasound Doppler Signal Analysis for Fetal Activity Monitoring

Fetal activity parameters such as movements, heart rate and the related parameters are essential indicators of fetal wellbeing, and no device provides simultaneous access to and sufficient estimation of all of these parameters to evaluate fetal health. This work was aimed at collecting these parameters to automatically separate healthy from compromised fetuses. To achieve this goal, we first developed a multi-sensor–multi-gate Doppler system. Then we recorded multidimensional Doppler signals and estimated the fetal activity parameters via dedicated signal processing techniques. Finally, we combined these parameters into four sets of parameters (or four hyper-parameters) to determine the set of parameters that is able to separate healthy from other fetuses. To validate our system, a data set consisting of two groups of fetal signals (normal and compromised) was established and provided by physicians. From the estimated parameters, an instantaneous Manning-like score, referred to as the ultrasonic score, was calculated and was used together with movements, heart rate and the associated parameters in a classification process employing the support vector machine method. We investigated the influence of the sets of parameters and evaluated the performance of the support vector machine using the computation of sensibility, specificity, percentage of support vectors and total classification error. The sensitivity of the four sets ranged from 79% to 100%. Specificity was 100% for all sets. The total classification error ranged from 0% to 20%. The percentage of support vectors ranged from 33% to 49%. Overall, the best results were obtained with the set of parameters consisting of fetal movement, short-term variability, long-term variability, deceleration and ultrasound score. The sensitivity, specificity, percentage of support vectors and total classification error of this set were respectively 100%, 100%, 35% and 0%. This indicated our ability to separate the data into two sets (normal fetuses and pathologic fetuses), and the results highlight the excellent match with the clinical classification performed by the physicians. This work indicates the feasibility of detecting compromised fetuses and also represents an interesting method of close fetal monitoring during the entire pregnancy.     

Effectiveness of a nurse-led multidisciplinary self-management program for patients with coronary heart disease in communities: A randomized controlled trial

ObjectiveTo examine the effectiveness of a nurse-led multidisciplinary self-management program (NMSP) on self-management behaviors, self-efficacy, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and unplanned health service utilization (HSU) among Chinese patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) in communities.MethodsA randomized controlled trial with repeated measurements was used. A convenience sample of 144 participants was recruited from a community health center in China. All participants were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 72) in the newly developed NMSP or a control group (n = 72) in routine care. Outcome measurement was performed at baseline, 3 months and 6 months using Coronary Artery Disease Self-Management Scale (CADSs), Self-efficacy for Chronic Disease 6-item Scale (SECD6), and Short Form-12 health survey questionnaire (SF-12).ResultsOver the six months, the two groups reported significant differences in disease medical and emotional management of CADSs, confidence in symptom and disease management of SECD6, physical and mental component summary of SF-12, as well as emergency and outpatient visits of unplanned HSU.ConclusionsThe NMSP improves self-management behaviors, self-efficacy, HRQoL and reduces unplanned HSU among CHD patients in communities.Practice implicationsThis study provides an effective approach to empower CHD patients with emphasizing on collaboration support of health professionals in communities.     

基于血清代谢组学技术考察通阳化浊方与四妙勇安汤治疗冠心病模型家兔的作用机制＊

目的 通过血清代谢组学技术，考察通阳化浊方与四妙勇安汤在治疗冠心病家兔中的作用机制。方法 40只雄性白兔，随机分为空白组、模型组、通阳化浊方组与四妙勇安汤组4组，每组10只。空白组正常饮食，模型组给予高脂饲料喂养至第8周，于第4周结束后，用球囊法手术损伤实验兔的右侧颈总动脉；在模型组基础上，两个实验组分别在术后，灌胃给予通阳化浊方和四妙勇安汤，连续4周，每日1次。给药结束后，模型组与实验组每组抽取3只家兔，采集全血后，用LC-MS技术进行血清代谢组学检测，运用PCA与OPLS-DA分析法来寻找差异性表达的代谢物和代谢途径。结果 相较于模型组，通阳化浊方与四妙勇安汤组分别存在45和27个差异化合物，通阳化浊方组涉及18条代谢通路，根据Impact值 > 0.05筛选出5条主要代谢通路，包括精氨酸和脯氨酸代谢、组氨酸代谢、牛磺酸和牛磺酸代谢、精氨酸生物合成和α-亚麻酸代谢；四妙勇安汤组涉及11条代谢通路，筛选出2条主要代谢通路分别为牛磺酸和牛磺酸代谢、组氨酸代谢。结论 通阳化浊方与四妙勇安汤在治疗冠心病模型家兔的过程中存在差异性代谢产物，干预相应的代谢通路可能会对药物在模型中的作用产生影响。     

针药并用治疗双心疾病的应用

随着对于双心疾病研究的加深,西医疗法的弊端也开始显现。而中医因其理论架构中早就有对于“心主血脉”和“心主神明”的认识,因此在双心疾病的治疗上有着先天的优势。同时近些年中医疗法的结合应用也取得不错的成绩,本文通过对于双心疾病的病例分析,来研讨这种治疗手段的合理性和先进性。     

Loss of function,missense, and intronic variants in NOTCH1 confer different risks for left ventricular outflow tract obstructive heart defects in two European cohorts

Loss of function variants in NOTCH1 cause left ventricular outflow tract obstructive defects (LVOTO). However, the risk conferred by rare and noncoding variants in NOTCH1 for LVOTO remains largely uncharacterized. In a cohort of 49 families affected by hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a severe form of LVOTO, we discovered predicted loss of function NOTCH1 variants in 6% of individuals. Rare or low-frequency missense variants were found in 16% of families. To make a quantitative estimate of the genetic risk posed by variants in NOTCH1 for LVOTO, we studied associations of 400 coding and noncoding variants in NOTCH1 in 1,085 cases and 332,788 controls from the UK Biobank. Two rare intronic variants in strong linkage disequilibrium displayed significant association with risk for LVOTO amongst European-ancestry individuals. This result was replicated in an independent analysis of 210 cases and 68,762 controls of non-European and mixed ancestry. In conclusion, carrying rare predicted loss of function variants in NOTCH1 confer significant risk for LVOTO. In addition, the two intronic variants seem to be associated with an increased risk for these defects. Our approach demonstrates the utility of population-based data sets in quantifying the specific risk of individual variants for disease-related phenotypes.