Objective To investigate the relationship between thyroid hormones and Lp(a) the pituitary-thyroid axis in elder patients with congestive heart failure(CHF). Methods 50 normal controls and 158 elder patients with CHF who had not thyroid gland illness were involved in this study. Levels of FT 3, FT 4, TSH and Lp(a) in serum were measured. Patients were divided into two groups according to the course of chronic heart failure: patients with the course of CHF

Objective To investigate the effect of breviscapine on lung injury in children undergoing open heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass(CPB).Methods Forty-five ASA Ⅱ or Ⅲ children aged 3-65 months weighing 5-21 kg undergoing open heart surgery with CPB were randomly assigned to 3 groups ( n =15 each):control group (group C),low dose breviscapine group (group B1 ) and high dose breviscapine group (group B2).Normal saline 15 ml(group C),breviscapine 0.5 mg/kg (group B1 )or 1.0 mg/kg(group B2 ) were injected iv over 30min after anesthesia induction.Blood samples were taken before operation ( T0 ),at 30 min and 1 h of aortic unclamping (T1,T2 ),at 3 h and 6 h after operation (T3,T4 ) for determination of plasma procalcitonin (PCT)and neutrophil elastase(NE) concentrations.PaO2 and PaCO2 were recorded at T0,T3,T4 for caculation of oxygenation index (OI) and alveolo-arterial oxygen partial pressure difference (PA-a O2 ).Results There were no significant differences in OI and PA-a O2 among the 3 groups( P ＞ 0.05).Plasma concentration of PCT was higher at T1～4in 3 groups,and plasma concentration of NE was higher at T1 in group C than that at T0 ( P ＜ 0.01 ).Plasma concentrations of PCT and NE were lower in groups B1 and B2 than in group C ( P ＜ 0.01).There were no significant differences in plasma concentrations of PCT and NE between groups B1 and B2 ( P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion Breviscapine(0.5,1 mg/kg) can inhibite systemic inflammatory response and attenuate lung injury in children undergoing open heart surgery with CPB.

Objective:To evaluate the role of cathepsin B (CTSB) in mechanical ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) in rats and the relationship with NOD-like receptor pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome.Methods:Thirty-six SPF-grade healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats, aged 6-8 weeks, weighing 220-300 g, were divided into 3 groups ( n=12 each) by the random number table method: control group (group C), VILI group (group V) and VILI + CA074-me group (group Me). CA074-me 5 mg/kg was intraperitoneally injected in group Me, while the equal volume of normal saline was given instead in group C and group V. Group C kept spontaneous breathing for 4 h, and the animals were mechanically ventilated (tidal volume 20 ml/kg, respiratory rate 80 breaths/min, fraction of inspired oxygen 21%, PEEP 0 cmH 2O). Blood samples from femoral artery were collected for arterial blood gas analysis before tracheal intubation and after spontaneous breathing or ventilation, and PaO 2 was recorded.Rats were sacrificed, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was collected and lung tissues were collected for determination of the wet/dry lung weight ratio (W/D ratio), serum interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) and IL-18 concentrations in BALF (by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), expression of CTSB, NLRP3, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase-1 recruitment domain (ASC) and caspase-1 mRNA in lung tissues (quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction), and expression of CTSB, NLRP3, ASC and caspase-1 in lung tissues (by Western blot) and for microscopic examination of the pathological changes (using HE staining). Lung injury was assessed and scored. Results:Compared with group C, PaO 2 was significantly decreased after the end of ventilation, the lung injury score, W/D ratio and concentrations of IL-1β and IL-18 in serum and BALF were increased, and the expression of CTSB, NLRP3, ASC and caspase-1 protein and mRNA in lung tissues was up-regulated in group V and group Me ( P<0.01). Compared with group V, PaO 2 was significantly increased after the end of ventilation, the lung injury score, W/D ratio and concentrations of IL-1β and IL-18 in serum and BALF were decreased, and the expression of CTSB, NLRP3, ASC and caspase-1 protein and mRNA in lung tissues was down-regulated in group Me ( P<0.01). Conclusions:CTSB is involved in VILI in the rats, and the mechanism may be related to activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes.