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OBJECTIVE: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a typical cardiac arrhythmia. The autonomic nervous system can modulate the myocardial system with complicated mechanisms. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is involved in myocardial diseases, and lncRNA TCONS_00202959 is down-regulated in AF. However, the detailed effects of AF on automatic functions or cardiomyocytes are not well known yet. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into control group, AF group (which was prepared by injecting the acetylcholine-CaCl2 solution) and treatment group (receiving lentiviral transfection of lncRNA TCONS_00202959 on AF rats). Real Time-quantitative PCR (RT-PCR) was used to measure the expression of lncRNA TCONS_00202959. Atrial effective refractory period (AERP) and AF induction rate were measured, along with heart rate variability (HRV) analysis to reveal autonomic nervous function. The expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and choline acetyltransferase (CHAT) was analyzed in atrial tissues. RESULTS: The expression of lncRNA TCONS_00202959 was decreased in the AF group compared to the control group (p < 0.05), which also had shortened AERP and elevated AF induction rate. The analysis of the autonomic nervous function revealed lower standard deviation of NN intervals (SDNN), SDNN of atrial (SDANN), root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) and SDNN intervals in all 5-min segments (SDNNindx), plus elevated power ratio of low frequency (LF)/high frequency (HF). TH expression was increased whilst CHAT expression was decreased (p < 0.05). The treatment group showed enhanced expression of lncRNA TCONS_00202959, elongated AERP plus decreased AF induction rate. The treatment rats also had higher SDNN, SDANN, RMSSD and SDNNindx, lower LF/HF ratio, decreased TH expression and increased CHAT expression (p < 0.05 compared to the AF group). CONCLUSIONS: AF rats had decreased expression of lncRNA TCONS_00202959, which can help to prevent AF pathogenesis by suppressing cardiac autonomic nervous function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the mechanism of exogenous adiponectin in the prevention of no-reflow phenomenon in type 2 diabetic (T2DM) patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 66 patients were randomly divided into control group and observation group, 33 cases in each group. According to the percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) emergency treatment principle, patients from the control group were treated with an intracoronary injection of adenosine combined with a micro-pump intravenous infusion of tirofiban. Patients from the observation group were injected with exogenous adiponectin in addition to the adenosine and tirofiban treatments. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in gender, age, location of the target lesion, degree of stenosis, stent implantation number, length and the inner diameter between control and observation group (p > 0.05). Lower frequent of slow blood flow and no-reflow and shorter interventional procedures were observed in observation group compared with those of control group (p < 0.05). Moreover, the increase of plasma creatine kinase (CK-MB) in patients of observation group was lower than that of the patients in control group (p < 0.05). In addition, the levels of troponin-I (cTnI), IL-6, TNF-α, endothelin-1 (ET-1), vascular endothelial adhesion molecular I (VCAM-1) and bax/Bcl-2 were significantly lower in observation group than those in control (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the occurrence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) during a 12-month follow-up was significantly lower in the observation group than that of control (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Exogenous adiponectin further reduced the no-reflow phenomenon during PCI treatment of the patients with T2DM combined with AMI. The function of exogenous adiponectin is associated with the reduced myocardial and endothelial cell injury and the inhibited inflammation and apoptosis. The application of exogenous adiponectin can significantly improve the clinical outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the dynamic behavior for a group of transmission towers linked together through electrical wires and subjected to a strong ground motion will be investigated in detail. In performing the seismic analysis, the wires and the towers concerned are modeled, respectively, by using the efficient cable elements and the 3-D beam elements both considering geometric nonlinearities. In addition, to enhance the reliability and applicability of analytical outcome, a sophisticated soil-structure interaction model will be utilized in analyses. The strength capacities and the fracture occurrences for the main members of the tower are examined with the employment of the appropriate strength interaction equations. It is expected that by aid of this investigation, those who are engaged in code constitution or in practical designing of transmission towers may gain a better insight into the roles played by the interaction force between towers and wires and by the configurations of transmission lines under strong earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction is presented to the article "The mechanism of exogenous adiponectin in the prevention of no-reflow phenomenon in type 2 diabetic patients with acute myocardial infarction during PCI treatment" which appeared in the 2018 issue.