1.Dietary fiber intake and its correlation with cardiac event-free survival in patients with heart failure
Chenglin ZHANG ; Xiaohua WANG ; Nan ZHANG ; Danyu HOU ; Qin SHEN
Chinese Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2021;29(1):35-41
Objective:To investigate the daily dietary fiber intake, the main adverse cardiovascular events during follow-up and the cardiac event-free survival in patients with chronic heart failure, and to analyze the relationship between dietary fiber intake and cardiac event-free survival in this population.Methods:This study was a prospective investigation. The investigation was performed in chronic heart failure patients from three third-class hospitals in Suzhou using general information questionnaire and 3-day diet diary. Major adverse cardiovascular events within 6 months after discharge and event-free survival were obtained by telephone call and medical records.Results:The incidence of major cardiovascular adverse events in 122 patients with heart failure was 27.9% within 6 months after discharge. Their dietary fiber intake was 8.1(5.8-10.9)g/d, lower than the recommended intake. Kaplan-Meier plots and log-rank tests demonstrated that cardiac event-free survival was significantly shorter in patients with dietary fiber deficiency ( P=0.043). Patients with dietary fiber intake ≥6 g/d after discharge showed decreased risk of major adverse cardiovascular events compared to patients with dietary fiber intake<6 g/d ( HR=0.422; 95% CI=0.189-0.942; P=0.035). Conclusions:This study revealed insufficient dietary fiber intake in patients with heart failure. Insufficient dietary fiber intake was associated with higher risk of major adverse cardiovascular events and shorter cardiac event-free survival in heart failure patients within 6 months after discharge. In conclusion, patients with heart failure can increase dietary fiber intake in order to improve prognosis.
2.Causal relationship between sex steroid hormones and myopia:a Mendelian randomization study
Baohua LI ; Zefeng KANG ; Mingming ZHANG ; Xinyue HOU ; Jianquan WANG ; Danyu LI ; Mengyu LIU ; Yipeng SHI
Recent Advances in Ophthalmology 2024;44(12):961-966
Objective To analyze the causal relationship between serum sex steroid hormone levels and myopia with the Mendelian randomization(MR)methods.Methods Sex hormone genetic tools classified by sex were publicly availa-ble summarized statistical data from the Genome-wide association study(GWAS)of the UK Biobank Consortium on sex hormone-binding globulin(SHBG),total testosterone(TT),bioavailable testosterone(BT),and estradiol(E2).The GWAS summarized statistical data for myopia were obtained from publicly available data published by the FinnGen Consorti-um R10.All data were downloaded from April 18 to April 31,2024 from the corresponding databases and analyzed.All re-sults from the MR study were mainly analyzed by inverse-variance weighting(IVW)method.Results The study showed that a higher serum SHBG level in European increased the risk of myopia development in women(IVW,OR=1.152,95%CI:1.014-1.308,P=0.029);low serum TT level(IVW,OR=0.821,95%CI:0.697-0.967,P=0.018)and serum BT lev-el(IVW,OR=0.820,95%CI:0.691-0.972,P=0.022)increased the risk of myopia development in women.There was no causal relationship between serum SHBG,TT,and BT levels and myopia in men.There was no causal effect between E2 level and myopia in women and men.The stability of our findings was supported by sensitivity analysis.Conclusion In-creased serum SHBG level and decreased serum TT and BT levels are associated with an increased risk of myopia in women,whereas no such association is found in men.There is no causal relationship between E2 and myopia.
3.Discussion on the"brain-eye"mechanism of myopia from the"theory of imbalance of the essence and tendon"
Danyu LI ; Zefeng KANG ; Xin YAN ; Hongrui SUN ; Baohua LI ; Mengyu LIU ; Xinyue HOU ; Hua PENG
Journal of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2024;47(7):971-976
Myopia is a significant global health issue,and its exact causes are still not fully understood,leaving a lack of effective and propaqable treatment options.The prevalence of myopia among children and adolescents in China remains high,posing challenges for prevention and control efforts.According to the"theory of imbalance of essence and tendon",an imbalance in the essential elements and tendons can impede the passage of eye essence and blood,resulting in delayed expansion and contraction of the eye meridians and tendons,leading to blurred vision.Modern research indicates that during the development of myopia,there are notable changes in the microstructure,activation range,and signaling of various brain regions,providing a biological basis for the"brain-eye"mechanism.Moreover,abnormal activity in the brain nucleus contributes to alterations in choroid blood flow and the impairment of eye muscle regulation,thereby accelerating the progression of myopia,this phenomenon represents the manifestation of the brain-eye imbalance.Consequently,strategies for myopia prevention and control should prioritize nourishing kidney essence,replenishing brain marrow,promoting liver and blood health,and softening the meridians.These measures aim to optimize the functioning of the brain and eyes,maintain the flexibility of eye tendons,enhance eye regulation,sustain the strength of eye tendons,and delay the advancement of eye axis growth and myopia.By enriching the scientific understanding of the appropriate application of traditional Chinese medicine techniques to prevent and control myopia through the brain,this research provides valuable insights for future explorations in this field.
4.Regulatory role of PI3K/AKT pathway in diabetic retinopathy
Baohua LI ; Zefeng KANG ; Xinyue HOU ; Jianquan WANG ; Man SONG ; Danyu LI ; Mengyu LIU ; Xin YAN
International Eye Science 2024;24(9):1426-1431
Diabetic retinopathy(DR)is one of the major complications of diabetes mellitus, characterized by neurodegeneration and microangiopathy. Currently, the treatment of DR is mainly focused on the management of late complications and has not achieved the desired clinical outcome. Evidence suggests that the PI3K/AKT pathway, as one of the important intracellular signaling pathways during the cell cycle, is involved in the whole process of DR pathogenesis. This article focuses on the structural composition, activation and blocking pathways, conduction pathways, regulatory mechanisms and biological functions of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway to review its role in DR and to explore the potential of targeting the PI3K/AKT pathway for the treatment of DR.