Objective To analyze the incidence rate and risk factors of atrial fibrillation (AF) in elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods A total of 392 patients with COPD in the hospital were selected from December 2020 to December 2024. Patients' data (medical history, echocardiographic data, etc.) were recorded. The incidence rate of AF in patients was recorded and the patients were grouped according to whether or not they developed AF. The differences were compared between the two groups, and the risk factors of AF occurrence in elderly patients with COPD were analyzed. Results Among the 392 patients with COPD, 127 cases (32.40%) met the diagnostic criteria of AF. There were statistically significant differences in age, pulmonary infection, heart failure, diabetes, smoking history, disease duration, LAD, severe renal insufficiency and coronary heart disease between the AF group and the non-AF group (P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis suggested that age, pulmonary infection, heart failure, diabetes mellitus, smoking history, disease course, LAD, severe renal insufficiency and coronary heart disease were all risk factors for elderly patients with COPD (OR=1.129, 4.246, 3.955, 4.125, 2.038, 1.112, 1.102, 4.397, and 3.865, P<0.05). Conclusion The incidence rate of AF is high in elderly patients with COPD. Age, pulmonary infection, heart failure, diabetes mellitus, smoking history, course of disease, LAD, severe renal insufficiency, and coronary heart disease are all risk factors for AF.

Objective:To quantitatively analyze right ventricular reverse remodeling in patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation after transcatheter tricuspid edge-to-edge repair (T-TEER) by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography, and to preliminarily evaluate the clinical efficacy of this procedure.Methods:This study was a prospective single-center cohort study. Patients diagnosed with severe tricuspid regurgitation at the Xiamen Cardiovascular Hospital Xiamen University from March 2021 to June 2023 were enrolled. All patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography and transesophageal three-dimensional echocardiography before T-TEER, and transthoracic echocardiography at 30 days, 6 months, and 9 months after T-TEER. The primary endpoint was major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, including death, stroke, myocardial infarction, reoperation, arrhythmia, and conduction block. Other clinical evaluation indicators included New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification and tricuspid regurgitation grade.Results:A total of 34 patients were enrolled, aged (67.9±9.3) years, and 71% (24/34) were female. The median follow-up duration was 9 months. All patients achieved a reduction of tricuspid regurgitation by ≥2 grades at 9 months after T-TEER, with 79% (27/34) of them having mild to moderate tricuspid regurgitation. Transthoracic echocardiography at 9 months after T-TEER showed that the vena contracta width of tricuspid regurgitation ((5.42±2.33) mm vs. (11.54±4.05) mm, P<0.001), effective regurgitant orifice area ((0.24±0.09) cm2 vs. (0.52±0.14) cm2, P<0.001), regurgitant jet area ((7.95±4.02) cm2 vs. (13.93±6.10) cm2, P<0.001), inferior vena cava diameter ((19.38±2.63) mm vs. (23.56±3.31) mm, P<0.001), right ventricular end-diastolic diameter ((28.03±6.26) mm vs. (33.21±8.24) mm, P=0.001), and tricuspid annular diameter ((36.47±4.40) mm vs. (41.44±7.08) mm, P<0.001) were all reduced compared with baseline; while the tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion ((18.08±5.25) mm vs. (14.91±3.42) mm, P=0.005) and right ventricular fractional area change ((37.61±7.52)% vs. (30.79±9.06)%, P=0.004) were both increased compared with baseline. At 9 months after T-TEER, all patients had a NYHA functional classification of grade Ⅰ or Ⅱ, and no major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular event occurred during the follow-up period. Conclusion:It is preliminarily confirmed that T-TEER is safe and effective in the treatment of severe tricuspid regurgitation, with significant right ventricular reverse remodeling observed in patients at 9 months after T-TEER.

Objective:To quantitatively analyze right ventricular reverse remodeling in patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation after transcatheter tricuspid edge-to-edge repair (T-TEER) by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography, and to preliminarily evaluate the clinical efficacy of this procedure.Methods:This study was a prospective single-center cohort study. Patients diagnosed with severe tricuspid regurgitation at the Xiamen Cardiovascular Hospital Xiamen University from March 2021 to June 2023 were enrolled. All patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography and transesophageal three-dimensional echocardiography before T-TEER, and transthoracic echocardiography at 30 days, 6 months, and 9 months after T-TEER. The primary endpoint was major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, including death, stroke, myocardial infarction, reoperation, arrhythmia, and conduction block. Other clinical evaluation indicators included New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification and tricuspid regurgitation grade.Results:A total of 34 patients were enrolled, aged (67.9±9.3) years, and 71% (24/34) were female. The median follow-up duration was 9 months. All patients achieved a reduction of tricuspid regurgitation by ≥2 grades at 9 months after T-TEER, with 79% (27/34) of them having mild to moderate tricuspid regurgitation. Transthoracic echocardiography at 9 months after T-TEER showed that the vena contracta width of tricuspid regurgitation ((5.42±2.33) mm vs. (11.54±4.05) mm, P<0.001), effective regurgitant orifice area ((0.24±0.09) cm2 vs. (0.52±0.14) cm2, P<0.001), regurgitant jet area ((7.95±4.02) cm2 vs. (13.93±6.10) cm2, P<0.001), inferior vena cava diameter ((19.38±2.63) mm vs. (23.56±3.31) mm, P<0.001), right ventricular end-diastolic diameter ((28.03±6.26) mm vs. (33.21±8.24) mm, P=0.001), and tricuspid annular diameter ((36.47±4.40) mm vs. (41.44±7.08) mm, P<0.001) were all reduced compared with baseline; while the tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion ((18.08±5.25) mm vs. (14.91±3.42) mm, P=0.005) and right ventricular fractional area change ((37.61±7.52)% vs. (30.79±9.06)%, P=0.004) were both increased compared with baseline. At 9 months after T-TEER, all patients had a NYHA functional classification of grade Ⅰ or Ⅱ, and no major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular event occurred during the follow-up period. Conclusion:It is preliminarily confirmed that T-TEER is safe and effective in the treatment of severe tricuspid regurgitation, with significant right ventricular reverse remodeling observed in patients at 9 months after T-TEER.

ObjectiveTo explore the impact of Gegen Qinliantang（GQT） on the fecal short-chain fatty acids（SCFAs） metabolism in antibiotic-associated diarrhea（AAD） through targeted metabolomics. MethodA total of 240 SD rats were randomly divided into six groups（n=40， half male and half female）， including blank group， model group， bifidobiogen group（0.15 g·kg^-1）， and GQT high-， medium-， and low-dose groups（10.08， 5.04， 2.52 g·kg^-1）， except for the blank group， clindamycin（250 mg·kg^-1） was given to all groups by gavage for modeling every day for 7 d. After successful modeling， each administered group was gavaged with the corresponding dose of the drug， and the blank and model groups were gavaged with an equal volume of normal saline solution， 1 time/d， for 14 d. At 0， 3， 7， 14 d after the drug intervention， eight rats were randomly selected from each group， respectively. Gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry（GC-TOF-MS） was used to perform targeted metabolomic analysis of SCFAs in the feces of rats， and partial least squares-discriminant analysis（PLS-DA） was applied to compare the differences in metabolic profiles between groups at different treatment times， and to compare the changes in the contents of SCFAs in rat feces between groups. ResultPLS-DA results showed that the blank group could be clearly distinguishable from the model group， with GQT exhibiting a closer proximity to the blank group after 7 d of treatment. After further analyzing the composition of SCFAs， it was found that the proportion of acetic acid increased and the proportions of butyric acid， valeric acid， hexanoic acid and isovaleric acid decreased in the model group compared with the blank group. After the treatment with GQT， the proportions of butyric acid， isobutyric acid， valeric acid， and isovaleric acid increased， and the proportions of acetic acid， propionic acid and caproic acid decreased. Subsequent differential analysis revealed that GQT could significantly improve the content of butyric acid， and had a certain retrogressive effect on the contents of valeric acid and hexanoic acid. ConclusionThe medium dose group of GQT can improve the contents of SCFAs in AAD feces after 7 days of treatment， which may be related to the improvement of the composition ratio of SCFAs and the contents of butyric acid， valeric acid and caproic acid.

Objective To investigate changes in the intestinal flora and function in rats with antibiotic-associated diarrhea(A AD)treated with GeGen QinLian Decoction(GQD).Methods Sixty male or female SPF-grade SD rats were fed for 7 days and then divided randomly into Control(Con)and modeling groups(1∶5 ratio).Rats in the modeling group received clindamycin 250 mg/kg by gavage once a day for 7 consecutive days.After successful modeling,the rats were divided randomly into model(Mod),high-dose GQD(GQD-H,10.08 g/kg),medium-dose GQD(GQD-M,5.04 g/kg),low-dose GQD(GQD-L,2.52 g/kg),and live Bifidobacterium power(LBP,0.15 g/kg)groups(n=10 rats per group).GQD and LBP were administered by gavage,and the Con and Mod groups were given an equal volume of saline by gavage once a day.Feces were collected after 7 consecutive days of administration for macrogenomics sequencing analysis.Results α diversity and β diversity suggested that intestinal microbial diversity differed between the Mod and GQD-treated groups.GQD increased the abundance of thick-walled bacteria and decreased the abundance of Aspergillus at the phylum level,and increased the relative abundances of the intestinal mucus bacteria Blautia,Bacteroides,Thomasclavelia,and Mediterraneibacter,and decreased the relative abundances of Adlercreutzia,Muribaculum,and Escherichia at the genus level.GQD also up-regulated the amino acid,carbohydrate,and immune disease pathways.Conclusions GQD improves the abundance ratio of beneficial and pathogenic intestinal bacteria in rats with antibiotic-associated diarrhea,which in turn reduces the intestinal inflammatory response and repairs the intestinal immune system.

Objective To investigate changes in the intestinal flora and function in rats with antibiotic-associated diarrhea(A AD)treated with GeGen QinLian Decoction(GQD).Methods Sixty male or female SPF-grade SD rats were fed for 7 days and then divided randomly into Control(Con)and modeling groups(1∶5 ratio).Rats in the modeling group received clindamycin 250 mg/kg by gavage once a day for 7 consecutive days.After successful modeling,the rats were divided randomly into model(Mod),high-dose GQD(GQD-H,10.08 g/kg),medium-dose GQD(GQD-M,5.04 g/kg),low-dose GQD(GQD-L,2.52 g/kg),and live Bifidobacterium power(LBP,0.15 g/kg)groups(n=10 rats per group).GQD and LBP were administered by gavage,and the Con and Mod groups were given an equal volume of saline by gavage once a day.Feces were collected after 7 consecutive days of administration for macrogenomics sequencing analysis.Results α diversity and β diversity suggested that intestinal microbial diversity differed between the Mod and GQD-treated groups.GQD increased the abundance of thick-walled bacteria and decreased the abundance of Aspergillus at the phylum level,and increased the relative abundances of the intestinal mucus bacteria Blautia,Bacteroides,Thomasclavelia,and Mediterraneibacter,and decreased the relative abundances of Adlercreutzia,Muribaculum,and Escherichia at the genus level.GQD also up-regulated the amino acid,carbohydrate,and immune disease pathways.Conclusions GQD improves the abundance ratio of beneficial and pathogenic intestinal bacteria in rats with antibiotic-associated diarrhea,which in turn reduces the intestinal inflammatory response and repairs the intestinal immune system.