The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) released the "2024 ESC guidelines for the management of elevated blood pressure and hypertension" on August 30, 2024. This guideline updates the 2018 "Guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension." One notable update is the introduction of the concept of "elevated blood pressure" (120-139/70-89 mm Hg). Additionally, a new systolic blood pressure target range of 120-129 mm Hg has been proposed for most patients receiving antihypertensive treatment. The guideline also includes numerous additions or revisions in areas such as non-pharmacological interventions and device-based treatments for hypertension. This article interprets the guideline's recommendations on definition and classification of elevated blood pressure and hypertension, and cardiovascular disease risk assessment, diagnosing hypertension and investigating underlying causes, preventing and treating elevated blood pressure and hypertension. We provide a comparison interpretation with the 2018 "Guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension" and the "2017 ACC/AHA guideline on the prevention, detection, evaluation, and management of high blood pressure in adults."

The World Health Organization (WHO) released the “Global report on hypertension” on September 19, 2023. This report systematically summarizes the prevalence, mortality, diagnosis and treatment of hypertension in various countries, and elucidates the current situation of hypertension management, and gives a series of suggestions on how to manage hypertension, providing new thinking and inspiration for countries to optimize hypertension management. Through the summary of relevant studies and reports, this paper further reviews the present situation, early identification and management of hypertension.

Objective:To explore whether the food additive sodium benzoate(NAB) induces pancreatic inflammation and β cell apoptosis through the benzoylation(Kbz) modification pathway.Methods:In vivo experiments: C57BL/6J male mice(8 weeks old, 18-20 g) were randomly divided into normal control group(double distilled water feeding) and NAB feeding group(1 g/kg NAB feeding). Blood glucose were measured. After 20 weeks, fasting serum insulin, interleukin(IL)-18, IL-1β, and benzoyl-CoA levels were detected by ELISA method. Bax, IL-18, Pan-Kbz and Pan-Kac were detected by immunohistochemistry staining. In vitro experiments: β-TC-6 cells were cultured with NAB(6 mmol/L) or benzoyl-CoA(100 μmol/L) as stimulator and acyltransferase P300 inhibitor A485(10 μmol/L) as intervention factor. 24 hours later, inflammation, apoptosis, insulin secretion and Pan-Kbz level were detected by qRT-PCR, ELISA and Western blotting.Results:In the in vivo experiments, compared to the NC group, mice in the NAB group exhibited impaired glucose tolerance, decreased fasting insulin levels, significantly increased serum benzoyl coenzyme A concentrations, relatively elevated pancreatic IL-1β, IL-18, and Bax protein expressions, increased levels of Pan-Kbz, while Pan-Kac levels were downregulated(all P<0.05); In vitro experiments, NAB dose-dependently inhibited insulin secretion, promoted the release of Pan-Kbz and inflammatory factors IL-18 and TNF- α, inhibited Bcl-2 expression and up-regulated Bax expression, A485 reversed NAB-induced Pan-Kbz modification, improved NAB-induced inflammation and apoptosis, and promoted insulin secretion(all P<0.05). Conclusion:NAB may induce pancreatic inflammation, β-cell apoptosis, and impair insulin secretion through Kbz modification pathway.

Objective    To explore the predictive value of a simplified signs scoring system for the severity and prognosis of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods     Clinical data of 1 605 confirmed patients with COVID-19 from January to May 2020 in 45 hospitals of Sichuan and Hubei Provinces were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into a mild group (n=1 150, 508 males, average age of 51.32±16.26 years) and a severe group (n=455, 248 males, average age of 57.63±16.16 years). Results    Age, male proportion, respiratory rate, systolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure in the severe group were higher than those in the mild group (P<0.05). Peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) and Glasgow coma scale (GCS) were lower than those in the mild group (P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, respiratory rate, SpO2, and GCS were independent risk factors for severe patients with COVID-19. Based on the above indicators, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the area under the curve of the simplified signs scoring system for predicting severe patients was 0.822, which was higher than that of the quick sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA) score and modified early warning score (MEWS, 0.629 and 0.631, P<0.001). The ROC analysis showed that the area under the curve of the simplified signs scoring system for predicting death was 0.796, higher than that of qSOFA score and MEWS score (0.710 and 0.706, P<0.001). Conclusion    Age, respiratory rate, SpO2 and GCS are independent risk factors for severe patients with COVID-19. The simplified signs scoring system based on these four indicators may be used to predict patient's risk of severe illness or early death.

Obesity, sleep disorders, psychological stress, sedentary are modifiable cardiovascular risk factors. There is growing evidence that these risk factors may accelerate the chronic inflammatory process of atherosclerosis and lead to myocardial infarction. Studies on the role of immune cells and their related immune mechanisms in atherosclerosis have shown that the above modifiable risk factors can affect the hematopoiesis of the bone marrow system, affect the production of immune cells and phenotypes, and then affect the progress of atherosclerosis. This review will focus on the effects of modifiable cardiovascular risk factors on the progression of atherosclerosis through the role of the innate immune system.

The Chinese Guidelines on Diagnosis and Management of Atrial Fibrillation, jointly formulated by the Chinese Society of Cardiology, Chinese Medical Association and the Heart Rhythm Committee of Chinese Society of Biomedical Engineering, was first released on June 15, 2023. The guidelines elaborate the various aspects of atrial fibrillation management, in which emergency management of atrial fibrillation is also an integral part. This article interpreted the emergency management part in the guidelines in detail by reviewing relevant literature.

The Medical Administration and Hospital Administration of the National Health Commission released the "2021 China Chest Pain Center Quality Control Report" in January 2022. This report analyzes the construction ratio of chest pain centers in the second-level and above medical institutions nationwide in 2021 and the construction of standard and basic chest pain centers, mainly from the way of coming to the hospital, symptom onset to first medical contact time, door to wire time, reperfusion therapy ratio, in-hospital mortality, proportion of discharges with medication recommended by the guidelines and average length and cost of hospital stay of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients to comprehensively describe the current status of the construction of the national chest pain centers. This article interprets the report in detail by reviewing relevant literature.

Liddle syndrome and Gordon syndrome are two rare single-gene inherited hypertension diseases. In patients≤40 years, the prevalence of Liddle syndrome is about 1% and Gordon syndrome is uncertain all over the word, for which is often misdiagnosed and mistreated. The therapies of those diseases are targeted at gene mutation sites, as well as combined with modified lifestyle, and can achieve satisfactory diseases control. This paper reports a patient who is diagnosed with Liddle syndrome and Gordon syndrome at the same time. We aimed to consolidate and improve the diagnosis and accurate treatment of those two diseases by sharing, studying and discussing together with clinical doctors.

Objective:To investigate the risk factors of anemia and prognostic value of different grades of anemia in patients with hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF).Methods:Anemia grades of 1 163 patients with HBV-ACLF were analyzed and the effect of different grades on prognosis were evaluated. The risk factors related to anemia were evaluated by Spearman rank correlation analysis and logistic regression analysis.Results:Among 1 163 patients, 942 (80.99%) patients had anemia. The incidence of grade 2 and 3 (moderate and severe) anemia in type B and C HBV-ACLF patients was significantly increased ( χ2=72.908, P<0.001). The incidence of macrocytic anemia among type A, B and C HBV-ACLF ranged from 13.0% to 43.98% and 58.33%, respectively( χ2=46.823, P <0.001). The 1-year cumulative survival rate of patients with grade 2 and 3 anemia decreased significantly( χ2=50.179, P<0.001); Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that the correlation coefficient between ABC type and anemia grade was 0.319, P<0.001. Logistic regression analysis showed that gastrointestinal bleeding, acute kidney injury (AKI) and ABC types were independently associated with grade 2 and 3 anemia in patients with HBV-ACLF. Conclusions:Anemia grade is closely related to the prognosis in patients with HBV-ACLF. Gastrointestinal bleeding, AKI and ABC types are independent risk factors for grade 2 and 3 anemia in patients with HBV-ACLF.