INTRODUCTION: Data on patients with small aortic annuli (SAA) undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) are limited. We aim to describe the impact of aortic annular size, particularly SAA and TAVI valve type on valve haemodynamics, durability and clinical outcomes. METHOD: All patients in National Heart Centre Singapore who underwent transfemoral TAVI for severe symptomatic native aortic stenosis from July 2012 to December 2019 were included. Outcome measures include valve haemodynamics, prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM), structural valve degeneration (SVD) and mortality. RESULTS: A total of 244 patients were included. The mean Society of Thoracic Surgeons score was 6.22±6.08, with 52.5% patients with small aortic annulus (<23mm), 33.2% patients with medium aortic annulus (23-26mm) and 14.3% patients with large aortic annulus (>26mm). There were more patients with self-expanding valve (SEV) (65.2%) versus balloon-expandable valve (BEV) (34.8%). There were no significant differences in indexed aortic valve area (iAVA), mean pressure gradient (MPG), PPM, SVD or mortality across all aortic annular sizes. However, specific to the SAA group, patients with SEV had larger iAVA (SEV 1.19±0.35cm2/m2 vs BEV 0.88±0.15cm2/m2, P<0.01) and lower MPG (SEV 9.25±4.88 mmHg vs BEV 14.17±4.75 mmHg, P<0.01) at 1 year, without differences in PPM or mortality. Aortic annular size, TAVI valve type and PPM did not predict overall mortality up to 7 years. There was no significant difference in SVD between aortic annular sizes up to 5 years. CONCLUSION Valve haemodynamics and durability were similar across the different aortic annular sizes. In the SAA group, SEV had better haemodynamics than BEV at 1 year, but no differences in PPM or mortality. There were no significant differences in mortality between aortic annular sizes, TAVI valve types or PPM.
Humans ; Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement ; Heart Valve Prosthesis ; Aortic Valve Stenosis/surgery* ; Aortic Valve/surgery* ; Prosthesis Design ; Postoperative Complications/surgery* ; Treatment Outcome ; Hemodynamics

Objective:To estimate in-hospital mortality after knee replacement (KR) and to assess its trend and risk factors in China.Methods:We included patients undergoing KR in the Hospital Quality Monitoring System in China (2013-2019) to estimate in-hospital mortality after KR and assessed relation of patient's and hospital's characteristics (year of surgery, age, gender, marital status, primary indication, Charlson comorbidity index, geographic location, hospital type, hospital volume of KR, and surgery type) to in-hospital mortality using multivariable Poisson regression.Results:The annual amount of KR has increased from 20 307 in 2013 to 35 757 in 2019, and has maintained an upward trend for 7 years. The mean age of patients having KR increased from 64.9 years in 2013 to 66.6 years in 2019. Of the total 218 923 KRs, 63 deaths (0.29‰) occurred within 30 days before discharging. Older age was associated with higher in-hospital mortality ( P for trend <0.001). Male gender had higher incidence of in-hospital mortality compared with female [relative risk (RR), 2.5; 95% CI: 1.5, 4.1]. Single marital status was associated with higher, albeit non-statistically significant, in-hospital mortality than married patients (RR, 2.1; 95% CI: 0.9, 4.6). Higher Charlson comorbidity index was associated with increased risk of in-hospital mortality ( P for trend <0.001). Risk of in-hospital mortality decreased with more hospital-year knee replacement surgeries ( P for trend <0.001). In-hospital mortality varied by geographic regions, with the lowest mortality in East region (0.16‰), followed by South-West (0.31‰), South-Central (0.31‰), North region (0.33‰), North-West (0.54‰) and North-East (0.59‰). Conclusion:In-hospital mortality after KR in China was relatively low. Older age, male gender, higher Charlson comorbidity index and lower hospital-year knee replacement surgeries were risk factors for in-hospital mortality. The mortality varied greatly according to the geographic location of hospital.

Objective To investigate the changes of the gray matter in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) based on the voxel based morphometry (VBM).Methods 35 patients with RA and 30 healthy volunteers with age,sex and education level matched performed a high-resolution 3D-T1-weighted whole brain structural scan by GE Signa HDxt 1.5T MRI scanner.The high resolution T1WI images were preprocessed by the VBM 12 implemented in the SPM 12 software to display the gray matter structures of the RA patients and the healthy volunteers.T test was used to compare the morphological changes of gray matter between the RA patients and the volunteers.Results The gray matter volume gray matter volume in the right lentiform nucleus,left frontal lobe and left cerebellum posterior lobe significantly decreased in RA patients,and their gray matter volume had no correlation with the clinical indications.The increase of gray matter volume was not found in the RA patients.Conclusion RA patients show decreased gray matter volume in several cerebral regions,which suggests that RA can lead to the brain structural abnormalities.VBM can provide an objective imaging evidence to evaluate the cerebral morphological abnormalities of RA.

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment (LOTCA) battery for patients at the early stage of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods 72 patients with TBI hospitalized from January, 2013 to October, 2014 and 30 healthy controls matched gender, age and educational background were assessed with the Chinese version of LOTCA battery and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) respectively. Results The score of MMSE and LOTCA were correlated (r=0.56, P<0.01). Compared with the controls, the scores of all the subtests of LOTCA decreased (P<0.01) in the patients, especially the orientation, visuomo-tor organization and thinking operation;with the more incidence of medium and serious dysfunction of all the subtests of LOTCA except perception (P<0.01), in which thinking operation was the most and attention was the least. The area under the receiver operating curve (ROC) was (0.84±0.04) in LOTCA, less than that of (0.91±0.03) in MMSE (P<0.05). Conclusion Cognition is widely impaired in patients after TBI, most involved thinking operation. LOTCA is less effective to identify cognitive dysfunction than MMSE, and can be used as an al-ternation or a supplement.

Objective To evaluate the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) for detecting the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in brain trauma patients with normal mini-mental state examination (MMSE) scores.Methods Fifty brain trauma patients with normal MMSE scores hospitalized from January 2013 to June 2014 were subjected to the MoCA test.The patients were classified as cognitive impairment group scored less than 26 on the MoCA and cognitive normal group scored 26 or above on the MoCA.Differences in MMSE and MoCA scores of the two groups were compared.Receiver operative characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine the optimal cut-off scores in screening for MCI.Results Overall MMSE and MoCA scores were (27.84 ± 0.89) points and (23.24 ± 2.90) points.There was a positive correlation between MoCA and MMSE total scores (r =0.355 2,P ＜ 0.05).MCI was found in 79％ of the brain trauma patients using the MoCA.MMSE total score and subscores were all similar between the two groups.MoCA total score and subscores of attention,language,abstraction and delayed recall were much higher in cognitive normal group than in cognitive impairment group (P ＜0.05),but there were no significant differences in visuospatial,naming and oritention domains.Area under the ROC curve for MoCA(0.871 ± 0.038) was larger compared with MMSE (0.796 ± 0.054) (Z =3.592,P ＜ 0.05).The optimal cut-off scores of MoCA and MMSE for the identification of MCI were 25.5 and 28.5 respectively.Conclusions MoCA and MMSE total scores are positively correlated.MoCA is a better detector for the identification of MCI in brain trauma patients than the MMSE.

Objective To compare the validity of Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) versus mini-mental state examination (MMSE) in screening cognition impairment in elderly patients with cranio-cerebral trauma.Methods Cognitive function in 40 elderly patients with cranio-cerebral trauma and 40 healthy elderly individuals were assessed by MoCA and MMSE.Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were performed to determine the optimal sensitivity and specificity of MoCA and MMSE.Results The total score and all the sub-test scores of MoCA were much lower in cranio-cerebral trauma patients than in the control group (all P＜0.05).The total score and orientation,calculation,recall,language sub scores of MMSE were significantly decreased in the elderly patients with cranio-cerebral trauma as compared with those in the controls (P＜0.05),while there were no significant differences in the immediate memory and language scores between the two groups (both P＞0.05).The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve showed that MoCA (0.92±0.03) ＞ MMSE (0.74±0.06) (Z=2.460,P＜0.01).When screening the cognition impairment in elderly patients with cranio cerebral trauma,the best cut-off scores of MoCA and MMSE were 24.5 and 27.5 respectively.Conclusions Cognition impairment is decreased in elderly patients with cranio cerebral trauma.The MoCA is superior to the MMSE as a screening instrument in detecting cognition impairment in elderly patients with cranio-cerebral trauma.

BACKGROUND:Progressive fracture of the cartilage is considered the characteristic lesion in later osteoarthritis, the expression of osteoarthritis-related factors such as hyaluronic acid, osteopontin and CD44 in osteoarthritic cartilage is increased.
OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effect of hyaluronic acid on the expression of osteopontin mRNA and CD44 mRNA of chondrocytes in the in vitro cultured chondrocytes of patients with knee osteoarthritis.
METHODThe cartilage samples obtained from osteoarthritic patients were cultured and purified into acquire chondrocytes in vitro, and the cells were divided into three groupblank control group, hyaluronic acid (100 mg/mL) group and hyaluronidase (200 mg/mL) group. After 48 hours of cellculture, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay was used to detect the expression of CD44 mRNA and osteopontin mRNA. The difference of the expression levels before and after the intervention of hyaluronic acid was compared and analyzed using SPSS 17.0 software.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Compared with the blank control group, hyaluronic acid (100 mg/mL) upregulated osteopontin mRNA expression in the chondrocytes, hyaluronidase (200 mg/mL) also reduced osteopontin mRNA expression in the chondrocytes. The CD44 mRNA expression in the chondrocytes of hyaluronic acid (100 mg/mL) group and hyaluronidase (200 mg/mL) group was lower than that in the blank control group. Hyaluronic acid can upregulate the expression of the osteopontin mRNA expression in the osteoarthritic chondrocytes;the biphasic effects of hyaluronic acid on CD44 mRNA expression in osteoarthritic chondrocytes might be associated with the molecule weight of hyaluronic acid.

Objective To observe the effect of cognitive rehabilitation training based on games on cognition of the traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients.Methods 60 cases of patients according with the inclusion and exclusion criteria were divided into the control group and the training group with 30 cases in each group.The Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) test scores of all patients were lower than 26 points.The training group accepted the cognitive rehabilitation training based on games such as exactly the same game,drum game and picture memory game,while the control group did not accept the training.After one month,all patients accepted the MoCA test again.Then we analyzed the differences of the cognition between the two groups.Results After 30 days of training,all items of the cognitive function increased except the sub-item of abstraction.While in the control group,only the scores of attention,delayed recall,orientation and the total score showed alleviation.And all the scores of the training group were higher than those of the control group except the sub-item of abstraction.Conclusions Cognitive rehabilitation training based on games can effectively improve the cognitive function of TBI patients.

Objective To characterize the MR features of intraductal papilloma of the breast.Methods The MRI data of 24 patients with intraductal papillomas of the breast verified by histopathology were analyzed.The MRI features analyzed included morphology,signal intensity on pre-enhanced T1 WI and FE T2 WI,the patterns of dynamic enhancement,and the mean ADC on DWI.The ADC values for intraductal papilloma and normal breast tissue were compared using paired t test.Results The maximum diameter of the tumors ranged from 0.3 cm to 2.0 cm.Of the 24 tumors,17 were round or oval and 7 were irregular in shape:the margins were well-defined in 18 cases,and ill-defined in 6 cases.AII tumors were isointensity or hypointensity on T1 WI,and slight hyperintensity on T2 WI.On dynamic enhanced images,all the 24 tumors showed rapid initial enhancement.and the mean early phase enhancement rate was(156.50±19.67)%.In the early phase.homogenous enhancement was shown in 15 cases and heterogeneous enhancement in 9 cases.In the delayed phases,the most tumors(18/24)had ring-like enhancement pattern in which signal intensity in peripheral is higher than that in center.The patterns of time-signal intensitycurves were type Ⅲ(washout)in 19 cases and type Ⅱ(plateau)in 5 cases.With b=1000 s/mm2,the mean ADC value for intraductal papilloma[(1.14±0.29)×10-3mm2/s]was significantly lower than that of the normal breast tissue [(1.83±0.32)x 10-3mm2/s (t=5.53,P=0.000).Conclusions MRI features of intraductal papilloma are similar to breast cancer in washout pattern on DCE-MRI and lower ADC value on DWL However,relative lower early enhancement rate and dynamic signal intensity course on DCE-MRI are characteristic clues to differentiating intraductal papilloma from breast eancer.

The use of opioid analgesics has a long history in clinical settings, although the functions of opioid receptors, especially their role in the brain, are not well understood yet. Recent studies have generated abundant new data on opioid receptor-mediated functions and the underlying mechanisms. The most exciting finding in the past decade is probably the neuroprotection against hypoxic/ischemic stress mediated by delta-opioid receptors (DOR). An up-regulation of DOR expression and the release of endogenous opioids may increase neuronal tolerance to hypoxic/ischemic stress. The DOR signal triggers, depending on stress duration and severity, different mechanisms at multiple levels to preserve neuronal survival, including the stabilization of ionic homeostasis, an increase in pro-survival signaling (e.g., PKC-ERK-Bcl 2) and the enhanced anti-oxidative capacity. Recent data on DOR-mediated neuroprotection provide us a new concept of neuroprotection against neurological disorders and have a potentially significant impact on the prevention and treatment of some serious neurological conditions, such as stroke.
Analgesics, Opioid ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Hypoxia ; metabolism ; Neurons ; metabolism ; Neuroprotective Agents ; pharmacology ; Receptors, Opioid, delta ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction