Objective To evaluate whether High-Dose folic acid supplementation may improve endothelial function in patients with coronary artery disease undergone interventional therapy. Methods Forty six patients with coronary artery disease and undergone interventional therapy were divided into two groups: 23 with folic acid supplement (20 mg/d) and 23 Patients without folic acid as the controls for 6 months. Plasma homocystine (Hcy) was measured by fluorescence polarization immunoassay and Flow-mediated endothelium-dependent dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery was assessed by high resolution ultrasound before and after 6 months. Results Compared with the control, folic acid supplementation resulted in lower plasma Hcy levels (8.82?3.32 ?mol/L vs 13.16?5.06 ?mol/L, P

Objective:To analyze the clinical and echocardiographic features of constrictive pericarditis. Methods: Thirty-six patients diagnosed as having constrictive pericarditis from Oct. 1989 to Jun. 2007 were enrolled in this retrospective study. Clinical manifestations and echocardiographic features were analyzed. Results: The main clinical manifestations were fatigue, effort dyspnea(100%), and sign of pressure elevation of vena cava(97%). Echocardiographic features included thickening of pericardium(67%), abnormal motion of septal and posterior wall of left ventricle in diastole(83%,75% respectively), left and right atrial enlargement(92%,39% respectively), early filling changes of mitral flow with respiration(93%), inferior vena cava dilation and without respiration variation(100%), mitral annulus paradoxical enhanced motion in early diastole. Conclusion: Clinical manifestations of pressure elevation of vena cava were indicators for diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis. Echocardiography could be a valuable method for confirming the diagnosis.

Objective: To assess the predictive value of coronary lfow reserve (CFR) for diagnosing coronary stenosis by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TTDE) in patients with hypertension.
Methods: A total of 132 patients scheduled for elective coronary angiography (CAG) due to chest pain were enrolled. The patients were divided into 2 groups: Hypertension group,n=95 and Non-hypertension group,n=37. The CRF of left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) was measured by ATP stress TTDE at 2 days before CAG in all patients and the results were compared between 2 groups. ROC curve was conducted to assess CFR value in diagnosing LAD stenosis which was deifned by LAD luminal diameter stenosis ≥ 70% in relevant patients.
Results: The condition of LAD stenosis was similar between 2 groups (42.1% vs. 35.1%),P>0.05. The CFR value in Hypertension group was lower than that in Non-hypertension group (2.39 ± 0.86) vs. (2.87 ± 1.12),P<0.05. The ROC curve for diagnosing LAD stenosis in all patients were at 0.884 (95% CI 0.83-0.94,P<0.0001), in Hypertension group at 0.874 (95% CI 0.81-0.94,P<0.0001) and in Non-hypertension group at 0.915 (95% CI 0.82-0.98,P<0.0001). With the cut-off point of CFR ≤ 2.2, it had the diagnostic sensitivity, speciifcity and accuracy in all patients were at 80.3%, 83.5% and 80.3%; in Hypertension group were at 77.5%, 80.0% and 78.9%, in Non-hypertension group were at 69.2, 91.7% and 83.8% respectively.
Conclusion: The patients of hypertension combining chest pain had decreased CFR which implied the dysfunction of their microcirculation. CFR had the better diagnostic value for predicting the signiifcant LAD stenosis in such patients.

Tumor progression locus 2 (Tpl2) is a crucial three-stage kinase of the mitogen-activited protein kinase (MAPK) family,which plays an important role in MAPK pathway and other signaling pathways.In recent years,a large number of studies have found that aberrant expressing Tpl2 is involved in tumorigenesis and development of various cancers,and is expected to serve as a new biomarker and therapeutic target.Therefore,to reveal the mechanism of Tpl2 will provide a feasible theoretical basis and potential interventional target for the diagnosis and treatment of cancers.

It has been estimated that approximately 75% of the human genome is transcribed into RNA, 74% of which would be transcribed into non-coding RNA (ncRNA).The ncRNA can be divided into 2 major groups including small RNA and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA).There is increasing evidence that the dysregulation of lncRNA is closely associated with the occurrence and progression of many tumors.The lncRNA taurine up-regulated gene 1 (TUG1) is originally detected in a genomic screen for genes in response to taurine treatment of developing mouse retinal cells.According to research reports, dysregulation of TUG1 participates in the progression of a variety of tumors.Therefore, the regulatory effects of lncRNA TUG1 on tumorigenesis are summarized in this article.

Objective To analyze the evolutionary trend of clinical features in infective endocarditis.Methods The study enrolled 68 patients who were diagnosed as having infective endocarditis from July 1987 to July 2007.The patients were divided into two groups:group Ⅰ included patients from 1987 to 1997,group Ⅱ included patients from 1997 to 2007.All clinic data were compared.Results In both groups,61 patients(89.7%) had basic heart diseases,67 patients(98.5%) had fever and 62 patients(91.2%)had cardiac murmur;41 patients(60.3%) had positive results in the blood culture.Vegetations were found in 57 cases(83.8%) by echocardiography.The rate of surgical treatment was 19.1%,the total cure rate was 66.7%.Comparing the data between the two groups,age of onset changed from (36.7?12.7)years to (44.4?18.6)years(P

Objective To evaluate Left ventricular(LV) diastolic function in essential hypertension by conventional pulse-wave Doppler echocardiography (cPWD) and Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) and compare the two modalities. Methods Two hundred patients with essential hypertension were classified as NLVH subgroup (n = 160) and LVH subgroup (n =40) based on left ventricular mass index (LVMI) with one hundred and sixty health subjects as control group. The mitral valve flow pattern (MVFP) was obtained.Early diastolic (E) and late velocities (A) were measured and E/A was calculated. DTI was used to obtain the left ventricular lateral wall early diastolic mitral annulus velocity (Em) and E/Em was calculated.Results Essential hypertension patients had LV diastolic dysfunction both by cPWD (higher E and lower E/A ratio) and DTI (lower Em and higher E/Em ratio) compared with healthy subjects [E:(0. 88 ±0. 18)cm/s vs (0. 76 ±0. 19) cm/s;E/A ratio:0. 86 ±0. 28 vs 1.02 ±0. 38;Em: (9. 4 ±2. 8)cm/s vs (11. 9 ±3. 8)cm/s;E/Em ratio;7. 9 ± 2. 7 vs 6. 0 ± 1. 8: with all P value ＜0.01]. Em was significantly reduced and E/Em was significantly elevated in LVH subgroup than NLVH subgroup [Em; (7.7 ±2. 6) cm/s vs (9. 9 ± 2. 8) cm/s, E/Em: 9. 6 ± 3. 6 vs 7. 4 ± 2. 4, P ＜ 0. 05]. No significant difference was found in A and E/A between these two subgroups [(0. 90 ± 0. 22) cm/s vs (0. 87 ± 0. 17) cm/s; 0. 80 ± 0. 34 vs 0.88 ±0.28, P ＞ 0.05]. Conclusions cPWD and DTI both had implications to detect diastolic dysfunction in non-hypertrophic stage hypertension. Em、E/Em could be more sensitive and precise to reflect the impairment of diastolic function in the progress of hypertension.

Objective:To explore the related factors of ventricular arrhythmia (VA) complicating acute phase of myocardial infarction and their effects on short term prognosis. Methods:A total of 161 subjects with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were divided into 5 groups according to VA types: frequent single ventricular premature beat group(n=10),bigeminy or paired ventricular premature beat group (n=21),non-sus- tained ventricular tachycardia group (n=31),ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation group (n=11) and control group (n=88). The characteristics of coronary artery and left ventricular ejection fraction were determined. Results:The incidence of left main coronary occlusion was more frequent in ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation group than in control group (P

Objective To assess the differences in carotid artery stiffness properties and endothelium-independent dilation (EID)between elderly and young patients,and evaluate the echotracking (ET)system for vascular stiffness at different ages.Methods A total of 79 outpatients with multiple cardiovascular risks were recruited.Clinical data including medical history,height,weight,blood pressure,fasting blood glucose and blood lipid were collected.We evaluated the arterial stiffness parameters of carotid artery and EID using an ultrasonic ET system in 46 elderly subjects,compared with 33 sex-matched non-elderly subjects.The impaired EID function was defined as brachial artery nitroglycerin mediated dilation (NMD)below 4％.Results All stiffness parameters including pressure-strain elasticity modulus stiffness index β (Ep),pulse wave velocity β (PWVβ)and augmentation index (AI)were significantly increased in elderly group compared with the non-elderly group [(138.9±64.7)kPa vs.(100.6±30.8)kPa,(10.9±4.7)vs.(8.2±2.3),and (6.9±1.4)m/s vs.(6.1±0.9)m/s,P＜0.05 respectively],while the exception of arterial compliance (AC)was reduced (0.9±0.3)mm2/kPa vs.(1.0±0.5)mm2/kPa(P＜0.05).The incidence of impaired EID in elderly group was higher than in non-elderly group [56.5％ (26 cases) vs.33.3％ (11 cases),P＜0.05].ET parameters including Ep,stiffness index β,PWVβ,AC and AI were related to age (r=-0.44,-0.45,-0.40,-0.40,0.34,all P＜0.01)； Ep,stiffness index β,PWVβ and AC were also related to impaired EDI (r=-0.38,-0.40,-0.34,-0.29,all P＜0.01).Conclusions Arterial stiffness properties and EID measured by ET system was more serious in elderly with multiple cardiovascular risks than in non-elderly subjects.As a convenient and accurate assessment of stiffness parameters,ET system is optimal option for measuring arterial stiffness and EID in elderly people.

Objective:To clarify the role of Heat shock proteins (HSPs) on the cardiac function during acute myocardial infarction (AMI) after bone marrow cell implantation (BMT), we examined the expression of HSP32 and HSP70 in a rat model of myocardial infarction. Methods: Myocardial infarction model was induced in the inbred Lewis rats by left anterior descending artery ligation,and 5?10 6 of bone marrow mononuclear cells (BM MNCs) were injected into an ischemic zone. On days 1, 3, 7 and 14 post infarct, the differentiations of transplanted cells and the expressions of HSP32 and HSP70 were determined by immunofluorescence or RT-PCR. The cardiac function was evaluated by echocardiography. Results: Immunofluorescence microscopy of hearts from BMT group revealed that expressions of HSP32 and HSP70 were promoted within cardiomyocytes in the infarction zone and the peri infarct zone,and expressed within some transplanted bone marrow cells as well. RT-PCR also showed the mRNA expression levels of HSP32 and HSP70 in BMT group were significantly higher than those of the control group, peaked on day 3 post infarct (5.0 fold and 2.9 fold, respectively, P