Objective To evaluate left ventricular regional systolic myocardial function quantitatively before and after coronary artery bypass graft(CABG) in patients with coronary artery disease(CAD) by strain rate imaging(SRI),and determine the effect of CABG.The diagnostic value of two-dimensional echocardiography(2-DE) method and SRI parameter method was compared.Methods The values of systolic strain rate(SRs) at 9 segments supplied by left anteior descending were measured in study group(20 patients with CAD) at 1 d before and 10 d,1 month,3 months and 6 months after CABG.The regional myocardial function befose CABG was analyzed and compared with that of controls,and abnormal segments were found.Then the values of these abnormal segments before and after CABG were compared.Results In control group,SRs displayed a wide and negative peak and was homogeneous in every segments.The SRs peak values decreased,and the homogeneity disappeared in study group.Beginning from 1 month after CABG,the SRs peak values at the graft segments increased in varying degrees,and there was significant difference at basal segments of anterior wall,middle segments of anteroseptal,and middle segments of posteroseptal in the different periods(P

This study was aimed to investigate the dose-response relations and synergy effects of bioactive components in Ginkgo bilobaon antiplatelet aggregation and DPPH free radical scavenging.The antiplatelet aggregation experiment and DPPH free radical scavenging experiment were conducted respectively to investigate the dose-response relations and synergy effects.Firstly,the effect of inhibiting platelet aggregation induced by PAF of ginkgolides in rabbits was investigated.And then,the effect of DPPH free radical scavenging by ginkgo flavonoids was also investigated.Finally,the synergy effects among effective components were studied.The results showed that ginkgolide A,ginkgolide B,ginkgolide C and bilobalide had dose-response relations on antiplatelet aggregation.Quercetin,kaempferol and isorhamnetin had DPPH free radical scavenging effects with dose-response relation.It was concluded that ginkgolide had the dose-response relation on antiplatelet aggregation.Ginkgolide A and ginkgolide B had synergy effect.Ginkgo flavonoids had DPPH free radical scavenging effect.Quercetin and isorhamnetin had synergy effect.

Liver-Softening Anti-Fibrotic Decoction", a preparation consisted mainly of medicinal qerbs with touifying "Qi", flourishing"Yin", activating blood and eliminating stasis, was given by gavage to Dimethyl nitrosamine (DMN) induced fibrotic rat to assess its effect on ative and inactive liver fibrosis. It was found that this preparation, besides its promoting growth aud protein metabolism activeties, can also lower serum alkaline phosphatase, decrease serum hyaluronate and liver hydroxy proline, with a better curative effect on experimental liver fibrosis in rats than its prophylactic effect

Objective To explore the differential diagnostic value of speckle-tracking imaging (STI) between dilated cardiomyopathy(DCM) and ischemic cardiomyopathy(ICM).Methods 40 DCM patients,32 ICM patients and 30 normal controls were enrolled for this study.Different views of high frame images of left ventricle were recorded.The time to peak radial strain,circumferential strain and longitudinal strain of 18 myocardial segments were measured by STI,and the maximum differential (Ts-dif) and the standard deviation(Ts-SD) of time to the peak strain were calculated.The left ventricular parameters measured by STI were compared between DCM and ICM,and the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were investigated by the areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.Results Parameters of different segments of ICM were obviously higher than those of DCM (P ＜ 0.05),and there were significant differences between ICM and DCM.The areas under the ROC curves of Ts-dif and Ts-SD to radial strain were 0.920 and 0.946 respectively.At the cut off of 170 ms and 53 ms for diagnosing DCM and ICM,the sensitivity,specificity and accuracy were 87.5％,87.5％,87.5％ and 90.6％,90％,90.2％ respectively.Conclusions These strain parameters by STI,especially Ts-SD to peak strain can offer a new quantitative diagnostic method in distinguishing DCM from ICM.

ObjectiveTo evaluate regional and global systolic function of left ventricle (LV) after mitral valve replacement(MVR) of different methods by 2-dimensional strain (2DS).MethodsAccording to the operational method whether preserve the posterior leaflet and its subvalvular apparatus,48 patients who underwent MVR were divided into two groups,the preservation group (group A) and the resection group (group B).Echocardiography was examinated before and after MVR and the apical four-chamber view,two-chamber view and long-axis view of LV were acquired.Regional peak strain (Sp) and global strain (GS) of LV longitudinal movement were analysed by 2DS software.Results①Compared to preoperation,the Sp in basal segment of posterior septum and inferior wall and middle segment of lateral wall in group A increased significantly ( P ＜0.01 or P ＜0.05).The Sp of group B were improved in both basal and middle segments of posterior septum ( P ＜0.05),while declined in middle segment of lateral wall and anterior wall,basal segment of lateral wall and apical segment of anterior wall significantly (P ＜0.01 or P ＜0.05).②Compared with group A,subtractions between preoperative and postoperative Sp of group B decreased in middle segment and apical segment of anterior wall,middle segment of lateral wall and middle segment of inferior wall significantly ( P ＜0.01 or P ＜0.05).③The GS of group A increased significantly ( P ＜0.05),while that in group B tended to reduce with no statistical significance ( P ＞0.05).Compared with group A,subtractions between preoperative and postoperative GS of group B droped significantly (P ＜ 0.05).ConclusionsAppropriate preservation of the posterior leaflet and its subvalvular apparatus has morebeneficial effect in improving the early regional and global function of LV after surgery,which would be recommended in MVR.Early regional and global systolic function of LV after MVR could be accurately evaluated by 2DS relatively,which has the application value of guiding clinical treatment and estimating prognosis.

Objective To evaluate left ventricular(LV)global and regional systolic function by three-dimensional speckle tracking imaging (3D-STI)in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods Twenty-two patients with SLE were selected randomly as SLE group and twenty-two healthy people were included as control group.3D-STI was performed in all participants to get global and regional strain parameters,including global longitudinal peak systolic strain(GLS),global circular peak systolic strain (GCS ),global radial peak systolic strain (GRS ),global area peak systolic strain (GAS ),segmental longitudinal peak systolic strain (SLS),segmental circumferential peak systolic strain (SCS),segmental radial peak systolic strain (SRS),and segmental area peak systolic strain (SAS).The sensitivity and specificity of GCS and GAS reflecting LV systolic function in patients with SLE were analyzed under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC)curve.Results ①The global strain:compared with the control group,GCS and GAS decreased significantly in SLE group (P <0.01),there was no significant change in GLS and GRS(P >0.05).②The regional strain:compared with the control group,the SCS in segments of basal anteroseptal,basal inferoseptal,mid anterior,mid inferosptal,mid anterolateral,apical inferior,apical lateral decreased significantly in SLE group.The SAS of basal anterior,basal inferoseptal,mid inferosptal, mid anterolateral,apical anterioe,apical lateral decreased significantly in SLE group (P <0.01).The SCS in segments of apex and the SAS of mid anterior,apical septal,apex decreased in SLE group (P <0.05).③The ROC curve:the sensitivity and specificity of GCS on detecting the LV systolic dysfunction were 59.1%and 87.5%,and those of GAS were 77.3% and 83.3%,respectively.Conclusions 3D-STI is a convenient and accurate way to early detect LV global and regional systolic dysfunction in SLE patients.

Objective To assess the clinical application value of vector flow mapping (VFM) in evaluating the left ventricular diastolic function in hypertensive patients with different left ventricular geometric patterns.Methods One hundred and sixty-nine patients with hypertension and 50 healthy volunteers were enrolled.Hypertensive patients were divided into four groups with different ventricular configurations according to ASE guide line in 2005:normal geometry group,concentric remodeling group,concentric hypertrophy group and eccentric hypertrophy group.The quantitative parameters,including average energy loss(aEL) and circulation were measured.Difference was evaluated among five groups at apical,mid and basal segments and at different periods.The correlationship was analyzed between aEL,circulation and E/e',respectively.Results ① Compared to control group,aEL was higher in four hypertension groups at three segments of atrial systole(P ＜0.05).aEL in eccentric hypertrophy group was higher than those in control group,normal geometry group or concentric remodeling group at apical and mid segments of atrial systole,and higher than those in other hypertensive groups at basal segment (P ＜ 0.05).In four hypertension groups,circulations in rapid filling phase of anterior mitral valve were lower than that in control group,but circulations in slow filling phase of posterior mitral valve were higher than that in control group(P ＜0.05).The circulation in slow filling phase of posterior mitral valve in concentric remodeling group was higher than that in normal geometry group,and that in eccentric hypertrophy group was higher than those in normal geometry group and concentric remodeling group(P ＜0.05).②When intra-group comparison,aEL were different in different segments of same phase or at different phases of same segment(P ＜0.05).③aEL had a good correlation with E/e'at basal segment of atrial systole in four hypertension groups(r =0.66,P ＜0.01).Conclusions VFM can be utilized to analyze left ventricular hemodynamics features of hypertensive patients with different left ventricular geometric patterns,it may be a good supplement for assessing cardiac diastolic function and reflect the extent of damage.

Objective To investigate the global and regional dyssynchrony of left ventricle in patients with coronary artery disease before and after revascularization by tissue synchronization imaging(TSI).Methods Subjects with the left anterior descending coronary artery(LAD)stenosis＞75% who underwent revascularization(n=26)and normal controls(n=30)were studied with TSI.Echocardiography was performed one day before revascularization,then repeated one month and three month after the operation,respectively.The sample volumes were located at the mid-myocardium of base and middle segments in apical four-,two- and three-chamber view of left ventricle.The time-to-peak velocity(Tp)of all myocardial segments were examined to access the regional dyssynchrony,and the standard deviations of Tp of 12 segments(TSD)were calculated to evaluate the global dyssynchrony.Results Before revascularization,Tp of segments in the anterior wall and the interventricutar septum in patients were more delayed than those of control group(P＜0.01),and the color coding of ischemic segments were red and yellow.After operation,Tp of delayed segments were significant improved,and the color coding turn to yellow or even green,but there was still significant difference of Tp between disease group and control group(P＜0.01 or P＜0.05).TSD decreased gradually on the preoperatative,early postoperative,and later postoperative echocardiogram,and it on each time point of the disease group were all longer than that of control group.An improvement of TSD was observed after revascularization,especially for the three month examination(P＜0.01),but the difference between early and later postoperation was not significant(P＞0.05).Conclusions The asynchronous motion of LV is very obvious in CAD patients.After revascularization,both global and regional dyssynchrony were improved gradually.Moreover,TSI is a convenient and non-invasive way to quantitate left ventricular asynchrony with the parameters.

Objective To quantitatively assess left ventricular systolic function in rabbits with dilated cardiomyopathy(DCM) by quantitative tissue velocity imaging (QTVI). Methods Thirty rabbits were divided into two groups: group A(adriamycin group) and group B(sodium chloride group). Group A( n = 20) were given adriamycin 2 mg/kg intravenously once a week for eight weeks (total dose, 16 mg/kg) to induce DCM model, group B were given with the same dose of sodium chloride injection solution. Two dimensional echocardiography and QTVI examination were performed in all rabbits before and three weeks after the administration,respectively. Peak systolic velocity(Vs), peak displacement(D) and other common parameters were analyzed. Results Common parameters assessed after administration in group B did not show significant changes. The QTVI curves of left ventricle myocardium were regular and the value of Vs and D decreased gradually from the basal segments to the apical segments after the administration. The diameters of atrium and ventricle of group A increased,while the ejection fraction and fractional shortening of left ventricle decreased significantly ( P <0. 05 or P < 0.01). The pattern of the curves still had the regularity. But Vs and D value decreased significantly ( P <0. 05 or P <0. 01). Pathology of myocardium samples of group A showed the cardiomyocyte changes like dilated cardiomyopathy, while samples of group B had no significant change. Conclusions QTVI can accurately evaluate regional systolic function of left ventricle in rabbits with dilated cardiomyopathy, therefore provides experimental foundation for clinical observation and treatment.

Objective To evaluate the capability of strain rate imaging(SRI)for monitoring regional systolic deformation and synchronicity of left ventricle after coronary artery bypass graft(CABG)and for evaluating effect of surgery and predicting restenosis.Methods The values of systolic strain rate(SRsys),systolic strain(Ssys)and post systolic strain index(PSI)in 5 segments supplied by left anterior descending coronary artery were measured in study group(60 patients with coronary artery disease)at 1 day before and 10 days,1 month,3 months and 6 months after CABG.Forty healthy participants served as a baseline control group.The regional myocardial function before and after CABG was compared and analyzed.Results The peak values of SRsys and Ssys decreased before CABG in study group.In 52 of the 60 patients,SRsys and Ssys in the graft segments increased gradually and showed statistical significance in most studied segments at 3 and 6 months after surgery.In the above 52 patients,value of PSI increased before CABG and reduced significantly in all analyzed segments at 6 months after surgery.The restenosis of graft artery was suspected in 8 patients by SRI and the positive predictive value was 75%.The diagnosis sensitivity of SRI parameter method was higher than that of 2-dimensional echocardiography and the sensitivity of Ssys was higher than that of SRsys.Conclusions SRI can be used to quantitatively assess the regionsl systolic deformation and synchronicity and monitor the improvement of myocardial function after CABG and determine the effect of surgery and predict restenosis of graft artery.