Role of arterial stiffness and endothelial dysfunction on lower limb performance in older adults with type 2 diabetes: A cross-sectional study

AimTo verify whether arterial stiffness and endothelial dysfunction influence lower limb muscle strength and gait speed in older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).MethodsCross-sectional study including seventy-eight older adults with T2DM (aged 67 ± 6 years and 42 % male). Arterial stiffness was assessed using pulse wave velocity (PWV), while endothelial function was measured by flow-mediated dilation (FMD). Lower limb muscle strength and gait speed were assessed using the 30-second chair stand test (30s-CST) and 10-Meter Walk Test, respectively.ResultsBoth PWV (m/s) and FMD (%) were univariately associated with number of repetitions in 30s-CST and gait speed (P < 0.05). After control for age, sex and body mass index, PWV remained associated with repetitions in 30s-CST (95 % CI: ?0.494 to ?0.054; P = 0.015) and gait speed (95 % CI: ?0.039 to ?0.002; P = 0.031). After adjustments for control variables, T2DM duration and glycemic control, FMD was associated with repetitions in 30s-CST (95 % CI: 0.008 to 0.324; P = 0.039) and gait speed (95 % CI: 0.011 to 0.038; P = 0.001).ConclusionIn older adults with T2DM, both arterial stiffness and endothelial dysfunction are associated with decreased leg muscle strength and slower gait speed.     

Gender difference in association between diabetes mellitus and all-cause mortality in atrial fibrillation patients

ObjectiveThere may be gender difference in correlation of diabetes mellitus (DM) and cardiovascular events. We attempt to investigate whether there is gender-heterogeneity in one-year outcomes of atrial fibrillation (AF) patients with DM or not.MethodsPatients who were diagnosed with AF admitted to the emergency departments in the Chinese AF Multicenter Registry study were enrolled. Basic demographics information, initial Blood Pressure and heart rate, medical histories, and treatments of each patient were collected. Follow-up was carried out with a mean duration of one year. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality and systemic embolism.ResultsA total of 2016 patients were selected from September 2008 and April 2011. All-cause mortality was significantly higher in male AF patients with DM than those without (21.8 % & 13.6 %, P = 0.014). Cox regression analysis showed that there was an interaction between gender and DM for one-year all-cause mortality (P = 0.049). DM was significantly associated with one-year all-cause mortality regardless of univariate analysis (HR = 1.436, 95%CI:1.079–1.911, P = 0.013) or multivariate analysis (HR = 1.418, 95%CI: 1.059–1.899, P = 0.019). For male patients with AF, DM was significantly associated with one-year all-cause mortality (P = 0.048), but not for female patients with AF (P = 0.362).ConclusionDM was independently associated with one-year all-cause mortality in the entire cohort of AF patients. This association was found mainly in male patients with AF, but not in female patients. DM management programs may need to reflect gender difference.     

空腹血糖与TG/HDL-C 对非糖尿病患者并发COVID-19 的预测价值研究

目的　探究空腹血糖与三酰甘油/ 高密度脂蛋白胆固醇(triglyceride/high density lipoprotein cholesterol, TG/HDL-C) 比值在对糖尿病患者并发新型冠状病毒肺炎(coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19) 的预测价值。方法　连续收集2021 年12 月～ 2022 年1 月西安市第四医院收治的非糖尿病并发COVID-19 患者39 例，通过倾向性评分匹配同期西安交通大学第二附属医院健康体检者34 例( 健康对照组)，比较两组间临床特征与实验室检验指标，Logistic 回归及受试者工作特征(receiver operating characteristic, ROC) 曲线分析空腹血糖与TG/HDL-C 对非糖尿病患者并发COVID-19 的预测价值。结果　COVID-19 患者均为轻型(30 例) 或普通型(9 例)，整体症状较轻，中位年龄29.0 (20.0, 49.0) 岁，男性24 例(61.5%)，临床预后较好。COVID-19 患者入院时空腹血糖(4.30±0.47 mmol/L) 与HDL-C[1.07(0.86, 1.30) mmol/L]较健康对照组[5.15±0.70 mmol/L, 2.24(1.77, 3.05) mmol/L] 显著降低，差异具有统计学意义(t=6.277, P ＜ 0.001；Z =-6.026,P＜0.001)，而低密度脂蛋白胆固醇(low density lipoprotein cholesterol, LDL-C) [2.40(1.81, 2.91) mmol/L] 与TG/HDL-C [0.91(0.54, 1.52)] 较健康对照组[1.11 (0.99, 1.30) mmol/L, 0.54 (0.33, 0.90)] 显著升高，差异具有统计学意义(Z=-6.271, -2.801,均P ＜ 0.005)。Logistic 回归分析显示入院时空腹血糖可能是非糖尿病患者感染COVID-19 的独立保护因素(OR :0.020,95% CI: 0.003 ～ 0.150)，TG/HDL-C 升高可能是COVID-19 发病的独立危险因素(OR :4.802, 95% CI: 1.249 ～ 18.460)。ROC 曲线结果显示，空腹血糖与TG/HDL-C 能较好地预测COVID-19 发病风险，曲线下面积(area under curve, AUC) 分别为0.871 和0.708，二者联合诊断的AUC 为0.895。结论　空腹血糖降低与TG/HDL-C 升高可能是非糖尿病人群并发COVID-19 的危险因素，对COVID-19 发病具有较好的预测价值。     

范金茹教授治疗颈性眩晕经验举隅

范金茹教授为首批全国优秀中医临床人才,在诊治眩晕类疾病方面积累了丰富经验。颈性眩晕多表现为眩晕、头颈部疼痛、恶心、呕吐、耳鸣等,严重影响了人们的生活质量。范师认为颈性眩晕为本虚标实之证,病位在头颈,肝肾亏虚为本,病性因素多为痰瘀。强调分急性期、缓解期治疗,注重气之升降--引痰饮血瘀下行而出,津气上行以荣脑。自拟颈痹眩晕方,为升降散合泽泻汤加减而成,组方精当,临床运用每获良效。     

Effects of synthetic and biological disease modifying antirheumatic drugs on lipid and lipoprotein parameters in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

BackgroundDyslipidemia in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients is frequently observed, and treatment with anti-rheumatic drugs has an impact on lipid profiles. Pathophysiologically, inflammation leads to decreased blood lipids and lipoproteins; RA treatment reduces inflammation and therefore may increase lipids and lipoproteins. Whether the lipid changes with RA treatment confer an increased risk of cardiovascular disease or just reflect their potentially atheroprotective anti-inflammatory effect is currently unclear due to limited and conflicting data.ObjectiveThe aim of this review is to summarize the current knowledge on the effects of synthetic and biological disease modifying antirheumatic drugs for the treatment of RA on lipid and lipoprotein parameters.ResultsRecent studies on methotrexate emphasize its anti-atherogenic effect. Golimumab combined with methotrexate revealed a trend towards an anti-atherogenic potential. The known pro-atherogenic lipid-spectrum alterations caused by tofacitinib can be effectively treated with atorvastatin. Tocilizumab signals a favorable impact on the extent of lipid modifications when combined with methotrexate. Abatacept indicated a trend towards an anti-atherogenic lipid profile demonstrated by favorable effects on HDL-C and on the TC/HDL-C ratio. Rituximab has beneficial effects on HDL-C and ApoA1, as well as on the ApoB/ApoA1 ratio.Clinical implicationsAnti-rheumatic drugs have various effects on lipid parameters, which in part appear pro-atherogenic. However, because many of these lipid changes may well reflect their potentially atheroprotective anti-inflammatory action the cardiovascular impact of these changes remains unclear. Whatsoever, cardiovascular safety trials for antirheumatic drugs would be valuable.     

Deep Phenotyping and Prediction of Long-term Cardiovascular Disease: Optimized by Machine Learning

BackgroundPrediction of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is important in clinical practice. Machine learning (ML) may offer an improved alternative to current CVD risk stratification in individual patients. We aim to identify important predictors and compare ML models with traditional models according to their prediction performance in a large long-term follow-up cohort.MethodsThe Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study was designed to study the progression of subclinical disease to cardiovascular events over a 25-year follow-up period. All phenotypic variables at visit 1 were obtained. All-cause death, CVD, and coronary heart disease were the outcomes for analysis. The ML framework involved variable selection using the random survival forest (RSF) method, model building, and 5-fold cross-validation. Model performance was evaluated by discrimination using the Harrell concordance index (C-index), accuracy using the Brier score (BS), and interpretability using the number of variables in the model.ResultsOf the 14,842 participants in ARIC, the average age was 54.2 years, with 45.2% male and 26.2% Black participants. Thirty-eight unique variables were selected in the RSF top 20 importance ranking of all 6 outcomes. Aging, hypertension, glucose metabolism, renal function, coagulation, adiposity, and sodium retention dominated the predictions of all outcomes. The ML models outperformed the regression models and established risk scores with a higher C-index, lower BS, and varied interpretability.ConclusionsThe ML framework is useful for identifying important predictors of CVD and for developing models with robust performance compared with existing risk models.     

Severe periodontitis is associated with the serum levels of hypersensitive C reactive protein and lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 in the patients of acute ischemic stroke

BackgroundPeriodontitis is associated with the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic plaque, and hypersensitive C reactive protein (hs-CRP) and lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) are the serum biomarkers of the stability of atherosclerotic plaque. Whether periodontitis is associated with the serum level of hs-CRP and Lp-PLA2 of acute ischemic stroke remains unclear.Material and MethodsWe recruited 103 cases with acute ischemic stroke within 7 days after stroke onset. Pocket depth and clinical attachment loss were assessed by oral examination to define the severe periodontitis. Demographic information including gender, age and body weight index, income level, education level, past medical history include smoking history, drinking history, ischemic stroke history, coronary heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia were collected, and serum biomarkers including white blood cell (WBC), fibrinogen, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), lower density lipoprotein (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein (HDL-C), hs-CRP, HemoglobinA1c (HbAlc), Homocysteine (HCY) and Lp-PLA2 were tested.Results65 (63.1%) cases were diagnosed as severe periodontitis. Severe periodontitis group showed more male, age, drinking history, higher levels of hs-CRP and Lp-PLA2. Multivariate logistic regression showed that severe periodontitis was were significantly associated with hs-CRP (OR = 2.367, 95%CI: 1.182–4.738; P = .015) and Lp-PLA2 (OR = 2.577, 95% CI: 1.010–6.574; P = .048).ConclusionsSevere periodontitis is independently associated with the serum Level of hs-CRP and Lp-PLA2 in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Whether the improvement of periodontitis could decrease the occurrence and re-occurrence of ischemic stroke by stablizating atherosclerotic plaque need be further studied in future.     

The Impact of Testosterone on the QT Interval: A Systematic Review

Humans and mammals have sex-specific differences in cardiac electrophysiology, linked to the action of sex hormones in the cardiac muscle. These hormones can upregulate or downregulate the expression of ionic channels modulating the cardiac cycle through genomic and non-genomic interactions. Systematic search in PubMed, Medline and EMBASE including keywords pertaining to testosterone and QT interval. Included experimental studies and observation studies and case reports presenting the results of testosterone administration, excess or deficiency in humans and animals. Testosterone has been shown to shorten the action potential duration, by enhancing the expression of K⁺ channels and downregulating I_CaL increasing the repolarization reserve of the cardiac muscle. This effect has been observed in both genders and animals. Testosterone deficient states can promote arrhythmogenesis. The evidence in this paper may be used to guide clinical considerations, such as increased clinical surveillance of patients in testosterone deficient states using ECG.