Cardiovascular disease is mainly referred to the artheriosclerosis which is caused by the interaction of multiple risk factors.Controlling for the risk factors can prevent its occurrence effectively.Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease is mainly to improve lifestyle and control all kinds of controllable risk factors positively.In addition to the causes,prevention and drug therapy are included in secondary prevention.

Objective: To explore the impact of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) in patients with left-to-right shunt congenital heart disease (CHD) combining pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and its clinical signiifcance. Methods: A total of 78 relevant patients were enrolled in this study. According to mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) measured during operation, the patients were divided into 4 groups: Non-PAH group, the patients with mPAP≤25 mmHg,n=20, Mild PAH group, 25 mmHg mPAP≤35 mmHg,n=21, Moderate PAH group, 35 mmHg45 mmHg,n=23. 2 mL pulmonary artery blood was taken from each patient and plasma level of NF-κB was measured by ELISA to study the relationship between NF-κB and mPAP. Results: Pulmonary arterial plasma levels of NF-κB were increased accordingly as in Non-PAH group was (180.59 ± 10.16) ng/L, in Mild PAH group was (572.83 ± 34.80) ng/L, in Moderate PAH group was (980.85 ± 24.95) ng/L and in Severe PAH group was (1 253.4 ±130.8) ng/L, allP<0.01; NF-κB level was positively related to mPAP (r=0.856,P<0.01). Conclusion: Plasma level of NF-κB was involved in the pathological physiology process of left-to-right shunt CHD combining PAH, it couldbe used as one of the references for distinguishing the severity of PAH and for monitoring the dynamic changes of PAH in relevant patients.

We investigated the psychological condition of 70 inpatients who had esophageal and cardiac carcinoma before radical operation with Hamilton Anxiety Scales.For the patients with anxiety,we carried out psychological intervention before operation which includes general care,follow-up,collective psychotherapy,keep disease condition individually and so on.The results showed the treatment had great benefit to most of the patients.

Objective: To review the feasibility of transradial percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients elder than 80 years of age. Methods: A total of 661 CAD patients elder than 60 years with PCI in our hospital from 2013-12 to 2015-12 were enrolled and divided into 2 groups: Observation group, the patients with the mean age of (83.2±3.8, 80-92) years,n=76 and Control group, the patients with the mean age of (68.3±5.2, 60-79) years,n=585. Clinical features, coronary lesions, radial puncture failure rate, PCI success rate and intra-, post-operative complications were retrospectively analyzed and compared between 2 groups. Results: In Control group and Observation group, the patients from failed radial artery puncture changing to brachial artery puncture were 1.0% and 2.6%, from failed radial artery puncture changing to femoral artery puncture were 1.5% and 2.6% respectively; PCI success rates were 96.5% and 96.4%, operational times were (45.7±21.2) min and (47.6±18.5) min, the contrast agent used in coronary angiography (CAG) were (28.9±10.2) ml and (30.6±8.8) ml and in CAG+PCI were (150.4±35.7) ml and (155.6±28.2) ml, intra-operative cardiac events were 0.7% and 1.3%, post-operative vascular complications were 0.9% and 2.6%, post-operative hospital stay times were (5.7±1.9) days and (6.3±2.7) days respectively; the above differences had no statistic meaning. Conclusion: Transradial PCI is safe and feasible in elder CAD patients.

Objective Identify novel protein kinase Cε(nPKCε)-interacted proteins in the cortex of hypoxic preconditioned mice.Methods Immunoprecipitation (IP) and two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) combining with ImageMaster 2D Platinum software were applied to analyze the differential expressions of nPKCe-interacted proteins;the target protein spots were identified by matrix-associated laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) and Western blot.Results Compared with control group,there were 34 upregulated protein spots and 20 downregulated protein spots in cytosolic fraction,while 27 upregulated prtein spots and 28 downregulated protein spots were determined in particulate fraction of cerebral cortex of HPC mice.The levels of nPKCε-interacted HSP 70 and 14-3-3γ/protein expressions increased significantly in both cytosolic and particulate fractions;but the protein level of nPKCε-interacted HSP60 increased only in particulate fraction of cerebral cortex of HPC mice.Conclusion nPKCε might be involved in the development of cerebral HPC via the regulation of its interacted proteins such as HSP60,HSP70 and 14-3-3γ.

Objective:To investigate the diagnostic value of independent and combined subtests of the psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score (PHES) in mild hepatic encephalopathy(MHE) of patients with liver cirrhosis, so as to optimize the PHES.Methods:This was a prospective, multicenter and real-world study which was sponsored by the National Clinical Research Center of Infectious Diseases and the Portal Hypertension Consortium. Twenty-six hospitals from 13 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities countrywide participated in this study, induding Tianjin Third Central Hospital, the Fourth People′s Hospital of Qinghai Province, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Baotou Medical College, the Third People′s Hospital of Taiyuan, the Fifth Medical Center of PLA General Hospital and so on. From October 2021 to February 2022, outpatients and hospitalized patients with liver cirrhosis and no obvious hepatic encephalopathy were consecutively enrolled. All patients received 5 PHES subjects in the same order: number connection test(NCT)-A, NCT-B, digit symbol test(DST), line tracing test(LTT) and serial dotting test(SDT), and the scores were calculated. The total score of PHES <-4 was taken as the cut-off value for diagnosing MHE. Compare the differences in each subtest between MHE group and non-MHE group. Receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC) and area under the curve(AUC) was performed to assess the diagnostic value of independent and combined subtests in MHE. Mann-Whitney U test and DeLong test were used for statistical analysis. Results:A total of 581 patients with liver cirrhosis were enrolled, 457 were diagnosed as MHE, and the incidence of MHE was 78.7%. The results of NCT-A, NCT-B, SDT, LTT, DST of MHE group were 60.00 s(47.01 s, 88.00 s), 90.45 s(69.32 s, 125.35 s), 74.00 s(57.65 s, 96.60 s), 74.72(60.00, 98.61) and 27.00(20.00, 36.00), respectively. Compared those of non-MHE group(34.00 s(29.15 s, 44.48 s), 50.00 s(40.98 s, 60.77 s), 50.00 s(41.07 s, 63.03 s), 46.23(38.55, 59.42) and 42.00(34.00, 50.75)), the differences were statistically significant( Z=12.37, 12.98, 9.83, 11.56, 10.66; all P<0.001). The AUC(95% confidence interval(95% CI)) of subtests of PHES NCT-B, NCT-A, LTT, DST and SDT alone in MHE diagnosis were 0.880(0.849 to 0.910), 0.862(0.828 to 0.896), 0.838(0.799 to 0.877), 0.812(0.772 to 0.851) and 0.788(0.743 to 0.832), respectively. The combination of 2 PHES subtests significantly increased the diagnostic efficacy. Among them the diagnostic efficacy of the combination of NCT-B and LTT was the best, the AUC(95% CI) was 0.924(0.902 to 0.947), the specificity was 91.9% and the sensitivity was 79.2%, which was better than a single PHES subtest (NCT-A, NCT-B, SDT, LTT and DST) and the combination of NCT-A and DST(AUC was 0.879, 95% CI0.847 to 0.910) which was recommended by guidelines on the management of hepatic encephalopathy in cirrhosis, the differences were statistically significant ( Z=3.78, 3.83, 5.57, 5.51, 5.38, 2.93; all P<0.01). Furthermore, compared between the combination of NCT-B and LTT and the combination of 3 subests of PHES, only the diagnostic efficacy of combination of NCT-B, LTT and SDT (AUC was 0.936, 95% CI 0.916 to 0.956) was better than that of the combination of NCT-B and LTT, the difference was statistically significant( Z=2.32, P=0.020). Conclusion:Based on the diagnostic efficacy and clinical feasibility of PHES subtests and their combinations, the combination of NCT-B and LTT is recommended for the diagnosis of MHE.

Objective:To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of serological indicators and evaluate the diagnostic value of a new established combined serological model on identifying the minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) in patients with compensated cirrhosis.Methods:This prospective multicenter study enrolled 263 compensated cirrhotic patients from 23 hospitals in 15 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of China between October 2021 and August 2022. Clinical data and laboratory test results were collected, and the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score was calculated. Ammonia level was corrected to the upper limit of normal (AMM-ULN) by the baseline blood ammonia measurements/upper limit of the normal reference value. MHE was diagnosed by combined abnormal number connection test-A and abnormal digit symbol test as suggested by Guidelines on the management of hepatic encephalopathy in cirrhosis. The patients were randomly divided (7∶3) into training set ( n=185) and validation set ( n=78) based on caret package of R language. Logistic regression was used to establish a combined model of MHE diagnosis. The diagnostic performance was evaluated by the area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic curve, Hosmer-Lemeshow test and calibration curve. The internal verification was carried out by the Bootstrap method ( n=200). AUC comparisons were achieved using the Delong test. Results:In the training set, prevalence of MHE was 37.8% (70/185). There were statistically significant differences in AMM-ULN, albumin, platelet, alkaline phosphatase, international normalized ratio, MELD score and education between non-MHE group and MHE group (all P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that AMM-ULN [odds ratio ( OR)=1.78, 95% confidence interval ( CI) 1.05-3.14, P=0.038] and MELD score ( OR=1.11, 95% CI 1.04-1.20, P=0.002) were independent risk factors for MHE, and the AUC for predicting MHE were 0.663, 0.625, respectively. Compared with the use of blood AMM-ULN and MELD score alone, the AUC of the combined model of AMM-ULN, MELD score and education exhibited better predictive performance in determining the presence of MHE was 0.755, the specificity and sensitivity was 85.2% and 55.7%, respectively. Hosmer-Lemeshow test and calibration curve showed that the model had good calibration ( P=0.733). The AUC for internal validation of the combined model for diagnosing MHE was 0.752. In the validation set, the AUC of the combined model for diagnosing MHE was 0.794, and Hosmer-Lemeshow test showed good calibration ( P=0.841). Conclusion:Use of the combined model including AMM-ULN, MELD score and education could improve the predictive efficiency of MHE among patients with compensated cirrhosis.

Acidosis, regardless of hypoxia involvement, is recognized as a chronic and harsh tumor microenvironment (TME) that educates malignant cells to thrive and metastasize. Although overwhelming evidence supports an acidic environment as a driver or ubiquitous hallmark of cancer progression, the unrevealed core mechanisms underlying the direct effect of acidification on tumorigenesis have hindered the discovery of novel therapeutic targets and clinical therapy. Here, chemical-induced and transgenic mouse models for colon, liver and lung cancer were established, respectively. miR-7 and TGF-β2 expressions were examined in clinical tissues (n = 184). RNA-seq, miRNA-seq, proteomics, biosynthesis analyses and functional studies were performed to validate the mechanisms involved in the acidic TME-induced lung cancer metastasis. Our data show that lung cancer is sensitive to the increased acidification of TME, and acidic TME-induced lung cancer metastasis via inhibition of miR-7-5p. TGF-β2 is a direct target of miR-7-5p. The reduced expression of miR-7-5p subsequently increases the expression of TGF-β2 which enhances the metastatic potential of the lung cancer. Indeed, overexpression of miR-7-5p reduces the acidic pH-enhanced lung cancer metastasis. Furthermore, the human lung tumor samples also show a reduced miR-7-5p expression but an elevated level of activated TGF-β2; the expressions of both miR-7-5p and TGF-β2 are correlated with patients' survival. We are the first to identify the role of the miR-7/TGF-β2 axis in acidic pH-enhanced lung cancer metastasis. Our study not only delineates how acidification directly affects tumorigenesis, but also suggests miR-7 is a novel reliable biomarker for acidic TME and a novel therapeutic target for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment. Our study opens an avenue to explore the pH-sensitive subcellular components as novel therapeutic targets for cancer treatment.

Inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-B kinase subunit beta (IKKβ) is one of important kinases in inflammation to phosphorylate inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-B (IκBα) and then activate nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB). Inhibition of IKKβ has been a therapeutic strategy for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Here we report that IKKβ is constitutively activated in healthy donors and healthy Ikkβ ^C46A (cysteine 46 mutated to alanine) knock-in mice although they possess intensive IKKβ-IκBα-NF-κB signaling activation. These indicate that IKKβ activation probably plays homeostatic role instead of causing inflammation. Compared to Ikkβ ^WT littermates, lipopolysaccharides (LPS) could induce high mortality rate in Ikkβ ^C46A mice which is correlated to breaking the homeostasis by intensively activating p-IκBα-NF-κB signaling and inhibiting phosphorylation of 5' adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (p-AMPK) expression. We then demonstrated that IKKβ kinase domain (KD) phosphorylates AMPKα1 via interacting with residues Thr183, Ser184, and Thr388, while IKKβ helix-loop-helix motifs is essential to phosphorylate IκBα according to the previous reports. Kinase assay further demonstrated that IKKβ simultaneously catalyzes phosphorylation of AMPK and IκBα to mediate homeostasis. Accordingly, activation of AMPK rather than inhibition of IKKβ could substantially rescue LPS-induced mortality in Ikkβ ^C46A mice by rebuilding the homeostasis. We conclude that IKKβ activates AMPK to restrict inflammation and IKKβ mediates homeostatic function in inflammation via competitively phosphorylating AMPK and IκBα.