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Abstract Few studies have investigated the relationship between sarcopenia and mild to moderate renal decline. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between chronic kidney disease (CKD) and sarcopenia. In total, 123 patients hospitalized with CKD and 57 healthy volunteers who underwent physical examination during the same period (control group) were analyzed. Body compositions were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and the relative appendicular skeletal muscle index (RASMI) was calculated. Muscular strength was evaluated using hydraulic hand dynamometer. Walking speed within 6 m was measured for muscular function assessment. Single-photon emission computed tomography was performed to measure the glomerular filtration rate of CKD patients, who were then divided into CKD1 (55 patients in CKD stages 1 and 2) and CKD2 (68 patients in CKD stages 3–5). RASMI showed a downward trend with CKD progression (P = 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age and CKD progression were independent risk factors for sarcopenia. The morbidity of sarcopenia was significantly greater in CKD patients than in healthy volunteers, and the degree of muscle loss was closely related to CKD progression.

Abstract There has been interest in the use of nonintubated techniques for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) in both awake and sedated patients. The authors’ centre developed a nonintubated technique with spontaneous ventilation for use in a patient under general anaesthesia using a phrenic nerve block. This treatment was compared with a case-matched control group. The authors believe that this technique is beneficial for optimizing anaesthesia for patients undergoing VATS. The patients were randomly allocated (1:1) to the phrenic nerve block (PNB) group and the control group. Both groups of patients received a laryngeal mask airway (LMA) that was inserted after anaesthetic induction, which permitted spontaneous ventilation and local anaesthesia in the forms of a paravertebral nerve block, a PNB and a vagal nerve block. However, the patients in the PNB group underwent procedures with 2% lidocaine, whereas saline was used in the control group. The primary outcome included the propofol doses. Secondary outcomes included the number of propofol boluses, systolic blood pressure (SBP), pH values of arterial blood gas and lactate (LAC), length of LMA pulled out, length of hospital stay (length of time from the operation to the time of discharge) and complications after 1 month. Intraoperatively, there were increases in lactate (F = 12.31, P = 0.001) in the PNB group. There was less propofol (49.20 ± 8.73 vs. 57.20 ± 4.12, P = 0.000), fewer propofol boluses (P = 0.002), a lower pH of arterial blood gas (F = 7.98, P = 0.006) and shorter hospital stays (4.10 ± 1.39 vs. 5.40 ± 1.22, P = 0.000) in the PNB group. There were no statistically significant differences in the length of the LMA pulled out, SBP or complications after 1 month between the groups. PNB optimizes the anaesthesia of nonintubated VATS.

Abstract Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified multiple loci associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) among predominantly Europeans. However, their relevance to multi-ethnic populations from Southeast Asia is largely unknown. We performed a meta-analysis of four GWAS comprising three Chinese studies and one Malay study (Total N = 2,169 CAD cases and 7,376 controls). Top hits (P T, G185C) in APOA5 for CAD that reached robust genome-wide significance (Meta P = 7.09 × 10−10, OR = 1.636). Conditional probability analysis indicated that the association at rs2075291 was independent of previously reported index SNP rs964184 in APOA5. We further replicated 10 loci previously identified among predominantly Europeans (P: 1.33 × 10−7–0.047). Seven pathways (P: 1.10 × 10−5–0.019) were identified. We identified a missense SNP, rs2075291, in APOA5 associated with CAD at a genome-wide significance level and provided new insights into pathways contributing to the susceptibility to CAD in the multi-ethnic populations from Southeast Asia.