With the continuous development of China's aging society and the prevalence of unhealthy lifestyles, the incidence of cardiovascular disease in China has been increasing in recent years. Among them, atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia disease. In recent years, pulsed field ablation (PFA) has been continuously applied to AF treatment as a novel treatment. This paper first introduces the principle of PFA applied to AF treatment, and introduces the research progress of PFA in different directions, such as the comparison of different ablation methods, the study of physical parameters, the study of ablation area, the study of tissue specificity and clinical research. Then, the clinical prior research of PFA is discussed, including the use of simulation software to obtain the simulation effect of different parameters, the evaluation of ablation effect during animal research, and finally the current AF treatment. Various prior studies and clinical studies are summarized, and suggestions are made for the shortcomings found in the study of AF treatment and the future research direction is prospected.

Objective:To investigate the predictive value of cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) indexes for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).Methods:This study was a retrospective cohort study. CHD patients were consecutively enrolled who procedure CPET before discharge from the Department of Cardiology, General Hospital of Northern Theater Command from November 2015 to September 2021 were enrolled. Demographic information, past medical history, CPET indexes and other baseline data were collected and the patients were followed up. Patients were divided into a MACE group and a control group according to the presence or absence of MACE. A multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to analyze the CPET indexes with predictive value for MACE in CHD patients.Results:A total of 3 800 patients were eligible for the criterion, age (57.2±8.8) years, 2 920 (76.84%) males. During a follow-up of 1 237 (695, 1 596) days, 390 (10.26%) patients were in MACE group, and 3 410 (89.74%) patients were in control group. In adjusted multivariable analysis, higher metabolic equivalent of tasks (MET) at anaerobic threshold (AT) is an independent protective factor for MACE in patients with CHD ( HR=0.75, 95% CI 0.62-0.90, P=0.002), higher VE/VCO 2 is an independent risk factor for MACE in CHD patients ( HR=1.05, 95% CI 1.02-1.07, P=0.001). Conclusion:In CPET, high MET at AT is an independent protective factor for MACE in patients with CHD, and high VE/VCO 2 is an independent risk factor for MACE in CHD patients.

Objective:To investigate the changes in cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) characteristics before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).Methods:This is a cross-sectional study that included ACS patients who underwent PCI at the General Hospital of the Northern Theater Command from July 2018 to February 2023. Based on the timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic, patients were divided into two groups: the pre-pandemic group and the during-pandemic group, with January 2020 as the dividing line. Clinical data were collected from both groups, and a comparative analysis was performed on their postoperative CPET outcomes, including peak oxygen uptake (peak VO 2), peak metabolic equivalents (peak MET), and other indicators. Weber′s classification was used to assess cardiac function. In addition, the 7-tiem generalized anxiety disorder scale (GAD-7) and the patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) were used to assess the patients′ psychological anxiety and depression states, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the influencing factors of CPET after PCI. Results:A total of 4 310 post-PCI ACS patients were included, with an average age of (58.7±9.1) years, and 3 464 (80.37%) were male. There were 1 698 patients in the pre-pandemic group and 2 612 patients in the during-pandemic group. The main indicator of the CPET, peak VO 2 (15.04±3.93) ml·min -1·kg -1 in the during-pandemic group, was lower than that in the pre-pandemic group (15.52±3.68) ml·min -1·kg -1, and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that advanced age, female gender, high body mass index, elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, smoking history, history of myocardial infarction, more severe ACS classification, and mild to moderate degree of depression were related to poor cardiopulmonary outcomes ( P<0.05). Conclusion:The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the cardiopulmonary outcomes of ACS patients after PCI. Reduced physical activity, and increased psychological stress should be given consideration and attention regarding their impact on patients′ cardiopulmonary function.

Long term retention of hemodialysis catheters in blood vessels can lead to the formation of fibrin sheath, which is one of the main reasons causing catheter dysfunction. This study aims to explore a new in situ tube replacement technique that breaks through the binding of fibrin sheath. The tunnel-cuffed catheters of right internal jugular vein due to dysfunction were reimplanted with a double guide wire combined with balloon catheter sheathing technique in seven patients. The surgery successfully broke through the fibrin sheath constraint, and postoperative catheter dialysis proceeded smoothly, and none had catheter dysfunction during 6 months of follow-up. The double guide wire combined with balloon catheter sheathing technique is a safe and effective method in situ catheterization.

Objective To investigate the effects of nicorandil combined with rosuvastatin calcium on monocyte-to-high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (MHR), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), and cardiac function in patients with coronary slow flow (CSF). Methods A group case-control study was used to select 240 patients with CSF confirmed by coronary angiography, and they were randomly divided into observation group and control group, with 120 patients in each group. On the basis of conventional drug treatment, the control group was treated with rosuvastatin calcium, while the observation group was treated with nicorandil combined with rosuvastatin calcium for 6 months. Clinical efficacy, inflammatory markers[high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), MHR, SII], corrected TIMI frame count (CTFC) of major coronary branches [left anterior descending branch (LAD), left circumflex branch (LCX), right coronary artery (RCA)], cardiac function indicators[left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD), global longitudinal strain (GLS)], and the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) were compared between the two groups. Results The total effective rate in the observation groupwas significantly higher than that in the control group (95.00% versus 80.00%, P < 0.05). After treatment, the duration, severity, andfrequency of angina pectoris attacks were reduced or shortened in both groups, with more changes observed in the observation group (P < 0.05). Serum levels of hs-CRP, MHR, and SII were lower in both groups after 6 months of treatment, and the observation group with significantly was lower compared to the control group (P < 0.05). CTFC values of LAD, LCX, and RCA were also lower in both groups after 6 months, with the observation group showing significantly lower values (P < 0.05). The absolute values of LVEF and GLS increased in both groups after 6 months of treatment, and the observation group was higher than the control group (P < 0.05). However, no significant difference was observed in LVEDD and occurrence of MACE between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion The application of nicorandil combined with rosuvastatin calcium in the treatment of CSF patients can significantly improve the overall treatment efficacy, reduce hs-CRP, MHR, and SII levels, enhance cardiac function indicators such as LVEF, LVEDD, and GLS, and effectively alleviate the severity of angina pectoris attacks.

Objective: To study the effect of artificial intelligence in the pathological diagnosis of periapical cysts and to explore the application of artificial intelligence in the field of oral pathology. Methods: Pathological images of eighty-seven periapical cysts were selected as subjects to read, and a neural network with a U-net structure was constructed. The 87 HE images and labeled images of periapical cysts were divided into a training set (72 images) and a test set (15 images), which were used in the training model and test model, respectively. Finally, the target level index F1 score, pixel level index Dice coefficient and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were used to evaluate the ability of the U-net model to recognize periapical cyst epithelium. Results : The F1 score of the U-net network model for recognizing periapical cyst epithelium was 0.75, and the Dice index and the areas under the ROC curve were 0.685 and 0.878, respectively. Conclusion The U-net network model constructed by artificial intelligence has a good segmentation result in identifying periapical cyst epithelium, which can be preliminarily applied in the pathological diagnosis of periapical cysts and is expected to be gradually popularized in clinical practice after further verification with large samples.

Objective:To determine the risk factors of extubation failure and its effect on the prognosis of patients who had successfully passed a spontaneous breathing trial (SBT).Methods:The clinical data of patients with mechanical ventilation more than 24 hours who passed SBT admitted to department of intensive care unit (ICU) of First Hospital of Qinhuangdao from November 2018 to November 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the outcome of weaning within 48 hours after weaning, patients were divided into weaning success group and weaning failure group. The baseline data, the presence of basic cardiopulmonary diseases, B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), fluid balance, albumin and hemoglobin within 24 hours before weaning, the time of mechanical ventilation before weaning, rapid shallow breathing index (RSBI) during SBT, oxygenation index, cough peak flow at the end of SBT, and prognostic indicators were collected. The outcome of weaning was taken as the dependent variable, and the observation factors were taken as the independent variable for univariate analysis. The factors with statistical significance in univariate analysis were analyzed by binary Logistic regression to determine the influencing factors of weaning failure.Results:Of the 204 patients, 167 (81.9%) were successfully weaned, and 37 (18.1%) failed. Compared with the weaning success group, the total duration of mechanical ventilation and the length of ICU stay in the weaning failure group were significantly longer [days: 13.0 (7.5, 23.5) vs. 5.0 (3.0, 8.0), 17.0 (12.5, 31.0) vs. 10.0 (6.0, 15.0), both P < 0.01], and the tracheotomy rate and mortality were significantly higher (32.4% vs. 0%, 51.4% vs. 0%, both P < 0.01). Univariate analysis showed that there were significant differences in age, proportion of patients with cardiopulmonary diseases, BNP and cough peak flow between weaning failure group and weaning success group [age (years old): 70.65±15.78 vs. 62.69±15.82, cardiopulmonary diseases: 62.2% vs. 24.6%, BNP (ng/L): 416.87 (32.70, 1 225.80) vs. 45.36 (10.00, 273.60), cough peak flow (L/min): 59.89±9.06 vs. 83.84±16.52, all P < 0.01]. However, there were no significant differences in gender, acute physiology and chronic health evaluationⅡ (APACHEⅡ) at admission, mechanical ventilation time before weaning, albumin, hemoglobin, oxygenation index, RSBI and fluid balance 24 hours before weaning between weaning failure group and weaning success group [male: 51.4% vs. 68.3%, APACHEⅡ: 16.70±6.65 vs. 15.67±6.28, mechanical ventilation time before weaning (days): 6.0 (2.5, 11.0) vs. 5.0 (3.0, 8.0), albumin (g/L): 27.78±4.15 vs. 27.76±4.46, hemoglobin (g/L): 102.43±15.80 vs. 100.61±17.19, oxygenation index (mmHg, 1 mmHg = 0.133 kPa): 359.33±79.83 vs. 365.75±78.23, RSBI (times·L -1·min -1): 50.73±24.97 vs. 46.76±15.53, positive fluid balance: 70.3% vs. 69.5%, all P > 0.05]. The results of binary Logistic regression analysis showed that age ≥ 75 years old [odds ratio ( OR) = 3.099, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was 1.003-9.574, P = 0.049], presence of cardiopulmonary diseases ( OR = 3.599, 95% CI was 1.126-11.498, P = 0.031), BNP within 24 hours before weaning ( OR = 1.002, 95% CI was 1.000-1.003, P = 0.005) were the risk factors of extubation failure, while cough peak flow at the end of SBT was the protective factor ( OR = 0.869, 95% CI was 0.823-0.917, P = 0.000). Conclusions:For patients who had successfully passed SBT, age ≥ 75 years old, the presence of cardiopulmonary diseases and an increased level of BNP within 24 hours were the risk factors of extubation failure. In addition, the higher the cough peak flow at the end of SBT, the lower the risk of weaning failure will be.

Objective:To explore the prevalence and influencing factors of mental violence in intimate partner violence.Methods:A total of 900 people, who aged 18 to 65 with marriage or love experience, were selected from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region using stratification cluster method. A self-designed questionnaire for general information, the brief conflict tactics scale 2 (CTS-2), perceived stress scales (PSS) and personality diagnostic questionnaire-4+ (PDQ-4+ ) were used for questionnaire investigation. The influencing factors of mental violence were analyzed by binary logistic regression analysis model using SPSS 17.0 software.Results:The scores of CTS-2, PPS and PDQ-4+ were (21.46±6.38), (42.48±18.91), and (3.05±0.62), respectively. In the past one year, the incidence of abusing partners, emotional violence, destroying each other's goods and threatening to hit each other in mental violence were 41.67% (375/900), 33.44% (301/900), and 8.44% (76/900), respectively. Based on the scores of three items, the incidence of mental violence was 55.44% (499/900). Multi-factor logistic regression analysis showed age≤29 ( β=0.57, OR=2.53, 95% CI=1.11-5.99), male ( β=0.64, OR=3.68, 95% CI=1.22-4.56), rural ( β=0.12, OR=2.49, 95% CI=1.17-5.36), moderate and severe drinking ( β=0.33, OR=2.87, 95% CI=2.57-6.63), higher perceived stress level ( β=0.51, OR=1.05, 95% CI=1.03-1.09), personality factors deviate ( β=0.43, OR=2.26, 95% CI=2.13-2.39), lower marital satisfaction ( β=0.18, OR=2.05, 95% CI=1.03-8.76), behavior control over partner ( β=0.16, OR=2.55, 95% CI=1.68-3.69), economic control over partners ( β=0.19, OR=1.36, 95% CI=1.28-1.55) were risk factors of mental violence in intimate partner violence, while individual opposed attitude towards violence ( β=0.29, OR=0.88, 95% CI=0.80-0.94) was the protective factor of mental violence in intimate partner violence. Conclusion:The annual incidence of mental violence is high. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the young, male, rural and personality deviant people. The incidence of mental violence may be reduced by reducing the individual's perceived stress level, drinking level, behavior control and economic control over partners, and strengthening the marital satisfaction and the individual's opposition to violence.

Objective:To investigate the changes of brain energy metabolism and cognitive function in mice with specifically knocking out AMP-activated protein kinase α1 subunit ( AMPKα1) gene in the excitatory neurons by Cre-loxP recombination system. Methods:Sixteen 6-month-old mice with genotype AMPKα1 flox/flox/Camk2a-Cre/ERT2 obtained by hybrid breeding were randomly divided into AMPKα1 knockout group ( n=8) and AMPKα1 wild-type group ( n=8). Mice in the AMPKα1 knockout group were intraperitoneally injected 0.1 mL tamoxifen (20 mg/mL, dissolved in corn oil) daily for a consecutive 5 d to control AMPKα1 gene knockout in the excitatory neurons; and mice in the AMPKα1 wild-type group were intraperitoneally injected 0.1 mL corn oil daily for a consecutive 5 d. Seven d after that, Morris water maze and T maze experiments were employed to detect the spatial learning and memory abilities and spatial working memory of these mice; chemical exchange saturation transfer imaging (CEST) was used to observe the glucose metabolism in the hippocampus and cortex surrounding the hippocampus; Western blotting was used to detect the AMPKα1 and glutamate receptor 1 (GluR1) protein expressions in the hippocampus and cortex surrounding hippocampus of two groups. Results:(1) Morris water maze showed that, as compared with those in the AMPKα1 wild-type group, mice in the AMPKα1 knockout group had significantly prolonged escape latency ([13.90±3.72] s vs. [22.40±6.28] s; [11.95±3.86] s vs. [22.39±9.77] s]) on the 3 rd and 4 th d of experiment, statistically decreased times crossing the platform ([5.25±1.83] times vs. [1.75±1.28] times, P<0.05). (2) T-maze experiment showed that as compared with that of the AMPKα1 wild-type group, the free alternation rate in mice of the AMPKα1 knockout group was significantly decreased ([73.21±9.16]% vs. [48.21±11.29]%, P<0.05). (3) CEST showed that the glucose metabolism levels in the hippocampus and cortex surrounding the hippocampus of AMPKα1 knockout group were significantly lower than those in AMPKα1 wild-type group (1.51±0.81 vs. 2.77±0.67; 1.31±0.83 vs. 2.42±0.95, P<0.05). (4) Western blotting showed that the AMPKα1 and GluR1 protein expressions in the hippocampus and cortex surrounding the hippocampus of the AMPKα1 wild-type group were significantly higher than those of the AMPKα1 knockout group (AMPKα1: 0.70±0.05 vs. 0.49±0.03, 0.98±0.04 vs. 0.64±0.06; GluR1: 1.22±0.18 vs. 0.60±0.11, 0.96±0.08 vs. 0.79±0.04, P<0.05). Conclusion:Specifically knocking out AMPKα1 in excitatory neurons can result in abnormal glucose metabolism in the brain of mice, and thus cause cognitive dysfunction, whose mechanism may be related to excitatory synaptic disorder caused by energy metabolism disorder.

Objective:To summarize and review a Chinese family with cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis (CTX) so as to improve understanding of the disease.Methods:The proband was admitted to the Department of Neurology， the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University on May 30, 2019. The medical history, neuro-imaging, pathology, CYP27A1 gene of the proband and CYP27A1 gene of her family were analyzed. Clinical features of similar cases from published literatures were retrieved and systematically summarized.Results:The proband was a 39-year-old female who was admitted to the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University due to weakness of both lower limbs lasted for more than five years and aggravated for one year with speech slurred. The proband manifested with mental retardation, bilateral pyramidal tract impairment and cerebellar lesions, and had cholesterol crystal in xanthomas and compound heterozygous mutations of c.435G>A and c.1263+1G>A in CYP27A1 gene. The proband′s sister had the same mutation as the proband′s. The proband′s mother was the carrier of c.435G>A mutation, and father was the carrier of c.1263+1G>A mutation. Seventeen related cases concerning CTX with detailed clinical data were searched with major domestic databases. Combined with this case, clinical features with the frequency more than 50% were pyramidal sign, mental decline, ataxia, dysarthria, achilles tendon neoplasm, cataract, high arch foot.Conclusions:The onset of CTX is hidden, which can be diagnosed by its pathology and CYP27A1 gene detection. The possibility of CTX should be considered when there are unexplained clinical manifestations in common diseases such as pyramidal sign, mental decline, ataxia, dysarthria, achilles tendon neoplasm, cataract, high arch foot and so on.