OBJECTIVES: To compare the efficacy of transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement (TTVR) using Lux-Valve and Lux-Valve Plus in patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation. METHODS: A total of 28 consecutive patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation who underwent TTVR with Lux-Valve (n=14) or Lux-Valve Plus (n=14) in the First Affiliated Hospital of the Air Force Medical University from August 2019 to November 2023 were enrolled. Transthoracic echocardiography was performed in all patients before and 6 months after the TTVR. The ultrasound indexes were compared before and 6 months after the TTVR in all patients and between Lux-Valve and Lux-Valve Plus groups. RESULTS: Compared with the Lux-Valve group, the Lux-Valve Plus group showed significantly reduced intraoperative bleeding and shorter postoperative hospital stays (both P<0.05). Six months after the TTVR, none of the patients exhibited more than a mild tricuspid valve regurgitation, and none of the patients had moderate or above perivalvular leakage except for one patient in the Lux-Valve Plus group who had a separation of the clamping member from the anterior tricuspid leaflet. The incidence of perivalvular leakage was significantly lower in the Lux-Valve Plus group (14.29%, 2/14) than in the Lux-Valve group (64.29%, 9/14, P<0.05). At 6 months after operation, the right chamber volume and right ventricle middle transverse diameter were reduced (both P<0.05); the peak blood flow velocity across the tricuspid valve, peak pressure gradient across the tricuspid valve, mean blood flow velocity of tricuspid valve, mean pressure gradient across the tricuspid valve and velocity time integral were increased in both groups (all P<0.05).Compared with the Lux-Valve group, the Lux-Valve Plus group showed higher left ventricular ejection fraction at 6 months postoperatively (P<0.05), while the rest of the indicators were not statistically different (all P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS The efficacy of using Lux-Valve and Lux-Valve Plus for TTVR in patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation is comparable. Six months after the TTVR, the right side of the heart has undergone reverse remodeling.While Lux-Valve Plus offers greater minimally invasive benefits, valve selection should consider device-specific characteristics and differences in individual patients.
Humans ; Tricuspid Valve Insufficiency/surgery* ; Male ; Female ; Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation/methods* ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Tricuspid Valve/surgery* ; Heart Valve Prosthesis ; Treatment Outcome ; Echocardiography ; Adult ; Cardiac Catheterization/methods*

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the application of transesophageal echocar-diography assessment for mitral valve in patients with atrial septal defects undergoing repair surgery. METHODS: The study group comprised of thirty-two adult patients with atrial septal defect who underwent thoracoscopic repair surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of the Air Force Medical University from March to September 2022. Two-dimensional and real-time three-dimensional transesophageal ultrasonography of the mitral valve were performed after anesthesia. The parameters of the mitral valve structure at the late diastolic and late systolic stages were recorded, including anteroposterior and left-right annular diameters, anterior and posterior valves lengths, the vertical distance from the coaptation point of leaflet zone 2 during systole to the annular plane (mitral valve coaptation depth) and mitral valve coaptation length. Data from 32 patients with normal intracardiac structure and no mitral valve regurgitation (control group) were also collected and compared with those of the study group. Concurrent mitral valvoplasty was performed during the atrial septal defect repair surgery for 7 patients with significant mitral valve structural abnormalities and 2 patients with significantly increased mitral regurgitation after cardiac resuscitation. The study group was followed up with transthoracic echocardiography for 2 years postoperatively. RESULTS: In the study group, 26 (81.3%) patients had varying degrees of mitral valve morphological abnormalities. Among them, 10 (31.3%) patients had short mitral valve coaptation length or depth, 12 (37.5%) patients had closure point malposition, and 4 (12.5%) patients had different bulge of anterior and posterior leaflets. Compared with the control group, the study group had significantly smaller systolic and diastolic mitral left-right annular diameter, mitral posterior valves lengths, mitral coaptation length or depth (all P<0.05), a higher pulmonary systemic flow ratio (P<0.01), and a lower maximum blood flow velocity across the mitral valve (P<0.05). After 2 years of follow-up, among the 9 patients who underwent concurrent mitral valvoplasty, the mitral valve maintained no or little regurgitation, and the average mitral valve pressure difference was less than 5 mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa). Among the 23 patients without concurrent mitral valvoplasty, 2 patients had moderate regurgitation 1 year after surgery, with a pulmonary/systemic flow ratio larger than 2.8. CONCLUSIONS Patients with large atrial septal defects often have abnormal mitral valve structure. Therefore transesophageal echocardiography is recommended for mitral valve assessment during the surgery. If significant mitral valve structural abnormalities are detected, concurrent mitral valvoplasty is recommended.
Humans ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial/diagnostic imaging* ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal/methods* ; Mitral Valve/surgery* ; Adult ; Female ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mitral Valve Insufficiency/diagnostic imaging*

Turning to critical illness is a common stage of various diseases and injuries before death. Patients usually have complex health conditions, while the treatment process involves a wide range of content, along with high requirements for doctor′s professionalism and multi-specialty teamwork, as well as a great demand for time-sensitive treatments. However, this is not matched with critical care professionals and the current state of medical care in China. Telemedicine, which shortens the distance of medical professionals and the gap of disease diagnosis and treatments in various regions through electronic information, can effectively solve the current problem. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a standardized, high-quality visualization telemedicine round system .Therefore, experts have been organized to search domestic and foreign literature on telemedicine round for critically ill patients and to form this consensus based on clinical experiences so as to further improve the level of critical care treatments in regions.

Turning to critical illness is a common stage of various diseases and injuries before death. Patients usually have complex health conditions, while the treatment process involves a wide range of content, along with high requirements for doctor′s professionalism and multi-specialty teamwork, as well as a great demand for time-sensitive treatments. However, this is not matched with critical care professionals and the current state of medical care in China. Telemedicine, which shortens the distance of medical professionals and the gap of disease diagnosis and treatments in various regions through electronic information, can effectively solve the current problem. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a standardized, high-quality visualization telemedicine round system .Therefore, experts have been organized to search domestic and foreign literature on telemedicine round for critically ill patients and to form this consensus based on clinical experiences so as to further improve the level of critical care treatments in regions.

Objective To explore the mechanism of 3-methyladenine(3-MA)for alleviating early diabetic renal injury.Methods Mouse models of streptozotocin(STZ)-induced diabetes mellitus were randomized into model group and 3-MA treatment group for daily treatments with normal saline and 10 mg/kg 3-MA by gavage for 6 weeks,respectively.Body weight and fasting blood glucose of the mice were recorded every week.After the treatments,the kidneys of the mice were collected for measurement kidney/body weight ratio,examination of glomerular size with PAS staining,and detection of α-SMA and PCNA expressions using Western blotting and immunohistochemistry.SV40 MES 13 cells cultured in normal glucose(5.6 mmol/L)and high glucose(30 mmol/L)were treated with 24.4 mmol/L mannitol and 5 mmol/L 3-MA for 24 h,respectively,and the changes in cell viability and PCNA expression were examined using CCK8 assay and Western blotting.Bioinformatics analysis of the intersecting gene targets of diabetic kidney disease(DKD)and 3-MA was performed,and the results were verified by Western blotting both in vivo and in vitro.Results In the diabetic mice,treatment with 3-MA produced a short-term hypoglycemic effect,reduced the kidney/body weight ratio and glomerular hypertrophy,and decreased the expressions of α-SMA and PCNA in the renal cortex.In the in vitro study,3-MA significantly lowered the viability and reduced PCNA expression in SV40 MES 13 cells exposed to high glucose.The results of bioinformatic analysis identified AKT1 as the key gene in the therapeutic mechanism of 3-MA for DKD.Western blotting confirmed that 3-MA inhibited the phosphorylation of AKT and S6 in both the renal cortex of diabetic mice and high glucose-treated SV40 MES 13 cells.Conclusion 3-MA suppresses mesangial cell proliferation and alleviates early diabetic renal injury in mice possibly by inhibiting AKT signaling.

Objective To explore the mechanism of 3-methyladenine(3-MA)for alleviating early diabetic renal injury.Methods Mouse models of streptozotocin(STZ)-induced diabetes mellitus were randomized into model group and 3-MA treatment group for daily treatments with normal saline and 10 mg/kg 3-MA by gavage for 6 weeks,respectively.Body weight and fasting blood glucose of the mice were recorded every week.After the treatments,the kidneys of the mice were collected for measurement kidney/body weight ratio,examination of glomerular size with PAS staining,and detection of α-SMA and PCNA expressions using Western blotting and immunohistochemistry.SV40 MES 13 cells cultured in normal glucose(5.6 mmol/L)and high glucose(30 mmol/L)were treated with 24.4 mmol/L mannitol and 5 mmol/L 3-MA for 24 h,respectively,and the changes in cell viability and PCNA expression were examined using CCK8 assay and Western blotting.Bioinformatics analysis of the intersecting gene targets of diabetic kidney disease(DKD)and 3-MA was performed,and the results were verified by Western blotting both in vivo and in vitro.Results In the diabetic mice,treatment with 3-MA produced a short-term hypoglycemic effect,reduced the kidney/body weight ratio and glomerular hypertrophy,and decreased the expressions of α-SMA and PCNA in the renal cortex.In the in vitro study,3-MA significantly lowered the viability and reduced PCNA expression in SV40 MES 13 cells exposed to high glucose.The results of bioinformatic analysis identified AKT1 as the key gene in the therapeutic mechanism of 3-MA for DKD.Western blotting confirmed that 3-MA inhibited the phosphorylation of AKT and S6 in both the renal cortex of diabetic mice and high glucose-treated SV40 MES 13 cells.Conclusion 3-MA suppresses mesangial cell proliferation and alleviates early diabetic renal injury in mice possibly by inhibiting AKT signaling.

Objectives: . Considerable research has been focused on independent predictors of difficult laryngeal exposure (DLE) during suspension laryngoscopy. However, previous studies have yielded inconsistent results and conclusions. Consequently, we performed a meta-analysis of the existing literature with the aim of identifying significant parameters for a standardized preoperative DLE prediction system. Methods: . We systematically retrieved articles from the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang databases up to October 2022. Data from eligible studies were extracted and analyzed using the R programming language. The effect measures included odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for dichotomous variables and mean differences (MDs) with 95% CIs for continuous variables. Results: . The search yielded 1,574 studies, of which 18 (involving a total of 2,263 patients) were included. Pooled analysis demonstrated that patients with DLE during microsurgery tended to be male (OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.16–2.57); were older (MD, 5.47 years, 95% CI, 2.44–8.51 years); had a higher body mass index (BMI; MD, 1.19 kg/m2; 95% CI, 0.33–2.05 kg/m2); had a greater neck circumference (MD, 2.50 cm; 95% CI, 1.56–3.44 cm); exhibited limited mouth opening (MD, −0.52 cm; 95% CI, −0.88 to −0.15 cm); had limited neck flexibility (MD, −10.05 cm; 95% CI, −14.10 to −6.00 cm); displayed various other anatomical characteristics; and had a high modified Mallampati index (MMI) or test score (OR, 3.37; 95% CI, 2.07–5.48). Conclusion . We conducted a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the factors relevant to DLE. Ultimately, we identified sex, age, BMI, neck circumference, MMI, inter-incisor gap, hyomental distance, thyromental distance, sternomental distance, and flexion-extension angle as factors highly correlated with DLE.

Ischemic stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide with limited medications and neuroinflammation was recognized as a critical player in the progression of stroke, but how to control the overactive neuroinflammation is still a long-standing challenge. Here, we designed a novel SIRT6 activator MDL-811 which remarkably inhibited inflammatory response in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages and primary mouse microglia, which were abolished by silencing SIRT6. RNA-seq screening identified the forkhead box C1 (

Objective: To evaluate the association of long-term ambient fine particulate matters (PM_2.5) exposure with elevated blood pressure in children. Methods: From April 2012 to June 2013, we used cluster randomized sampling method to investigate 9 354 children aged 5-17 years old from 68 primary and middle schools in the seven Northeastern Cities (Shenyang, Dalian, Fushun, Anshan, Benxi, Liaoyang and Dandong) in Liaoning Province, and measured their blood pressure (BP). A spatial statistical model nested by aerosol optical depth (AOD) was used to inverse PM_2.5 concentrations. Generalized additive model was used to quantify the association between PM_2.5 exposure and blood pressure in children. To examine the associations, two-level regression model was used to evaluate individual characteristics′ modifying effect on the health influence of PM_2.5. Results: The prevalence of hypertension in children was 13.78% (1 289/9 354). The results showed that there was an associations between hypertension and pollutants, and the multivariable regression analysis indicated that the increase in mean systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and the OR of hypertension associated with a 10 μg/m³ increase for PM₂.5 were 3.12 (95%CI: 2.71-3.54) mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa), 1.45 (95%CI:1.12-1.78) mmHg, and 1.55 (95%CI: 1.10-2.19), respectively. Compared with non-breastfeeding children (OR=2.10, 95%CI: 1.39-3.17), children who were breastfeeding (OR=1.49, 95%CI: 1.00-2.20) exhibited consistently weaker effects, and the interaction effect of P value was 0.002. Conclusion Study findings indicate that long-term exposure to PM_2.5 is associated with increased arterial BP and hypertension among the children. Breastfeeding may reduce this association.