Objective:To investigate the vasorelaxant effect of active fraction from compound Prunella vulgaris L. ( AFCP) on the i-solated thoracic aorta of rats and underlying mechanism. Methods:The study was performed with the tension experiment of the isolate rat thoracic aorta. The changes of vascular ring tension were measured by biological signal acquisition and analysis system, and the vasodila-tor effect of AFCP was observed. Results:AFCP(100-500μg·ml-1)could induce significant relaxation in aorta rings pre-contracted by phenylephrine (PE,1 μmol·L-1), and the relaxation effect was significant(75% ±8%) in endothelium-intact aortic and endothelium-denuded aortic. The vasodilatation effect of AFCP was not significantly affected by nitric oxide synthase ( NOS) inhibitor NG-nitro-L-argi-nine( L-NNA) , guanylate cyclase inhibitor MB,potassium channel blocker TEA and glibenclamide. In Ca2+-free bath solutions, AFCP (300 μg·ml-1 ) could shift downward dose-response curve of CaCl2 and significantly reduce the maximum contraction amplitude of PE. Conclusion:AFCP can relax rat aorta rings in a dose-dependent manner, which is endothelium-independent. The mechanism may be re-lated to the inhibition of intracellular calcium release and extracellular calcium flow, and has nothing to do with NO pathway, prostacyclin generation and calcium-activated potassium channels.

Objective To investigate the application value of spatio-temporal image correlation (STIC) combined with tomographic ultrasound imaging(TUI) in the prenatal diagnosis of conotruncal defects(CTD).Methods Two-dimensional(2D) fetal echocardiography to screen and TUI-STIC volumes from 1508 cases of fetuses of high risk with congenital heart disease.Postnatal work-up and pathological results were available for all fetuses with CTD.Results Thirty nine cases with CTD were found by TUI-STIC while thirty five cases were found by 2D echocardiography,but TUI-STIC had new findings and corrected the diagnosis in 9 cases as compared with 2D echocardiography.The sensitivity,specificity,positivity predictive value,negative predictive value and accuracy of TUI-STIC in evaluating CTD were 97.5 ％,100％,100 ％,99.9 ％ and 99 ％.The Kappa value of consistency test between 2DE and TUI-SIC was 0.244(P ＜ 0.01),McNemar test showed that the difference was statistically significant (P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions TUI-STIC allows a complete sequential analysis of fetal conotruncal defects and supplying additional information over 2D fetal echocardiography,it could improve the prenatal diagnosis rate.TUI-STIC is helpful in diagnosis of prenatal conotruncal defects.

Objective To evaluate the aortomitral angle(AMA)changes in primary hypertension patients with left ventricular normal configuration (LVN) by echocardiography,and explore the correlation with left ventricular systolic function.Methods LVN group included 54 patients,control group included 79 healthy subjects.All subjects were examined by conventional echocardiography,the 2-dimensional gray-scale dynamic images of 5 consecutive cardiac cycles were collected by routine echocardiography;from parasternal left ventricular long axis,the related AMA at the starting isovolumic contraction time (S-IVCT),S-wave peak(SP),starting isovolumic relaxation time(S-IVRT),and starting-end diastole(SD) were measured respectively based on the tissue Doppler imaging,calculating the angle difference(⊿θ) as well as the rate of the angle change.The global systolic longitudinal strain(GLS) and circumferential strain (GCS) of left ventricle were measured by 2-dimensional speckle tracking and quantitative analysis software.Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was measured by Simpson′s biplane method.Results Compared with control group,the ⊿θ and AMA of each phases in cardiac cycles of LVN group were increased (P<0.05);Compared with control group,the GCS of the left ventricular was increased in LVN group (P<0.05).There was a correlation between AMA of the S-IVCT and that of GLS or GCS,and the LVEF of the left ventricular in the control group (r=-0.18,P=0.04;r=-0.17,P=0.04;r=-0.19,P=0.03).Conclusions AMA angle in patients with LVN is significantly greater than the normal population value,which may be to maintain effective left ventricular systolic function and could be used as an quantitative indicator to assess the left ventricular remodeling in patients with LVN.

Objective To explore the application value of real time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT-3DE) on right ventricular systolic function in patients with moderate and severe pulmonary hypertension (PH).Methods Twenty-five patients with moderate PH (group Ⅱ) and 25 patients with severe PH(group Ⅲ) were selected,30 normal cases were selected to be control group(group Ⅰ).Tricuspid annular systolic peak velocity (S'),right ventricular Tei index(RIMP),tricuspid annular planet systolic excursion(TAPSE) and right ventricular fractional area change(RVFAC) were measured by conventional ultrasound echocardiography.Right ventricular end diastolic volume (RVEDV),right ventricular end systolic volume (RVESV),right ventricular stroke volume (RVSV) and right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) were measured by RT-3DE.The correlation between all the parameters and pulmonary artery systolic blood pressure (PASP),and the correlation between RVEF and S',RIMP,TAPSE,RVFAC were analyzed respectively.Results The differences of RVEDV,RVESV,TAPSE,RVFAC in each group were all statistically significant (all P ＜0.01);RIMP,RVEF between group Ⅰ and group Ⅱ,as well as between group Ⅰ and group Ⅲ were statistically significant (all P ＜0.01);S',RVSV only between group Ⅰ and group Ⅲ was statistically significant (P ＜0.01).The correlation coefficients of RVEF and RIMP,S',TAPSE,RVFAC were-0.707,0.402,0.574,0.763,respectively (all P ＜ 0.01).The best parameters associated with RVEF in each group were RVFAC,RIMP,RVFAC,which correlation coefficients were 0.787,-0.679,0.744,respectively (all P ＜0.01).Conclusions RT-3DE is a objective and accurate method to evaluate the right ventricular volume and RVEF in patients with moderate and severe PH,and it can select out the sensitive indicators to evaluate those patients' right ventricular systolic function from conventional echocardiographic parameters,provide important reference value for clinical.

Objective To evaluate the relationship between the change of the aortomitral angle (AMA) with left ventricular systolic function in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) by echocardiography.Methods Thirty-one patients were enrolled in the ICM group,and 59 healthy subjects were selected as the control group.On the parasternal left ventricular long axis plane,AMA were measured at the R wave apex (R-AMA),J-point(J-AMA),ST-segment midpoint(ST-AMA),T-final wave (T-AMA)and P-final wave (P-AMA).The angle difference(⊿ θ) =AMAmax-AMAmin,the angle changing rate =⊿ θ/AMAmax.The global left ventricular longitudinal strain (GLS) and global circumferential strain (GCS) were obtained by 2D-speckle tracking echocardiography.Left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF),left ventricular end-diastolic volume(LVEDV) and left ventricular end-systolic volume(LVESV) were measured using Simpson biplane method.Results The J-AMA was the largest in the control group,while the ST-AMA was the largest in the ICM group.The levels of LVEDV,LVESV and AMA in ICM group were significantly higher than those in control group,while LVEF,GLS,GCS,⊿ θ/AMAmax and ⊿ θ were decreased (P ＜0.05).In the control group,there was a correlation between T-AMA and LVEF (r =-0.349,P =0.007),and ⊿ θ was negatively correlated with GLS (r =-0.372,P =0.004).In the ICM group,⊿1 θ/AMAmax and ⊿ θ were correlated with LVEF (r =0.424,P =0.018;r =0.490,P =0.005).Conclusions AMA in ICM patients is significantly increased.The angle difference and the rate of its change are closely related to the LVEF,which is a manifestation of three-dimensional structure change of the myocardial.

Objective:To predict the risk of systolic anterior motion (SAM) after mitral valvuloplasty(MVP) by intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and its diagnostic value.Methods:From August 2016 to May 2020, 215 patients with mitral valve degeneration underwent MVP, including 182 patients without SAM (non-SAM group), and 33 patients with SAM (SAM group). TEE examination was performed immediately after operation to determine whether SAM phenomenon was relieved. According to the physiological basis of SAM, before cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and immediately after CPB, the parameters of SAM group and non-SAM group were measured and compared, including left atrial dimension(LAD), left ventricular end diastolic diameter(LVEDD), left ventricular end systolic diameter(LVESD), left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF), basal septal diameter(basal-IVDd), left ventricular posterior wall thickness(LVPW), left ventricular outflow tract diameter(LVOTD), left ventricular outflow tract maximum velocity(LVOT-Vmax), left ventricular outflow tract pressure gradient(LVOTG), mitral valve maximum velocity(MV-Vmax), mitral valve mean pressure gradient(MVG-mean), mitral regurgitation area(MR-area), bulging subaortic septum, anterior leaflet length, posterior leaflet length, ratio between the lengths of the anterior and posterior leaflets, coaptation-septum distance(c-sept), nnular diameter of mitral valve, aorto-mitral angle (AMA) to screen the independent risk factors of SAM after MVP.Results:① Compared with the non-SAM group, LVEDd, LVESD, ratio between the length of the anterior and posterior leaflets, c-sep and AMA decreased in SAM group (all P<0.05), while basal-IVDd, LVEF, posterior leaflet length and bulging subaortic septum increased in SAM group (all P<0.05). ②Compared with that before the "edge to edge" technique, LVOT-Vmax decreased from (4.31±2.26)m/s to (2.55±1.39)m/s, LVOTG decreased from (43.58±10.89)mmHg to (23.36±12.76)mmHg, MVG-mean increased from (0.46±0.33)mmHg to (2.27±0.43)mmHg, and MR-area increased from (3.52±0.79)cm 2 to (0.96±0.57)cm 2 (all P<0.05). ③Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that independent risk factors of SAM were LVEDd<45.430 mm ( OR=0.267, 95% CI=0.084-0.847), basal-IVDd>14.870 mm ( OR=12.049, 95% CI=1.619-89.661), length ratio of anterior and posterior leaflets of mitral valve>1.371 ( OR=0.159, 95% CI=0.045-0.562), angle of bulging angulated subaortic septum>62.330°( OR=18.246, 95% CI=2.824-117.896), c-sept<23.965 mm( OR=0.177, 95% CI=0.05-0.628), and AMA<123.730°( OR=0.197, 95% CI=0.098-0.396). Conclusions:Intraoperative TEE can evaluate the risk factors of SAM before MVP, and find the SAM phenomenon after MVP in time, which is helpful for surgeons to prevent and correct SAM after MVP and avoid secondary operation.

Objective To assess the left ventricular systolic function in young strength male athletes by three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (3D-STE).Methods A total of 45 young strength male athletes (athlete group) and 30 healthy young men (control group)were enrolled.Traditional echocardiography combined with 3D-STE were applied for all the subjects to obtain heart rate (HR),left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD),the thickness of interventricular septum (IVS) and posterior wall thickness (PWT),relative wall thickness (RWT),left ventricular end-diastolic volume (EDV),endsystolic volume (ESV),left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF),stroke volume (SV),left ventricular mass (LVM),left ventricular global longitudinal strain (GLS),global circumferential strain (GCS),global area strain (GAS),global radial strain (GRS).Results There were a significant increase inLVEDD,IVS,PWT,RWT,EDV,ESV,SV,LVM and significant decrease in HR,GLS,GCS,GAS and GRS in athlete group compared with the control group (P ＜ 0.05).However,there was no significant difference in LVEF between two groups (P ＞0.05).Conclusions There are subclinical changes of left ventricular systolic functionin of young strength male athletes.3D-STE can accurately assess the changes,and provide reliable information for clinical assessment of athletes' heart function.