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OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of enhanced external counter pulsation (EECP) plus sacubitril/valsartan in the treatment of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and the effect on ankle-arm index and cardiac function. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this retrospective study, 106 patients with chronic heart failure treated in our hospital from September 2020 to April 2022 were recruited and randomly assigned to receive either sacubitril/valsartan (observation group) or EECP plus sacubitril/valsartan (combination group) alternately at the point of admission, with 53 patients in each group. Outcome measures included clinical efficacy, ankle brachial index (ABI), cardiac function indices [N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide precursor (NT-proBNP), 6 min walking distance (6MWD), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF)], and adverse events. RESULTS: EECP plus sacubitril/valsartan resulted in significantly higher treatment efficiency and ABI levels vs. sacubitril/valsartan (p<0.05). Patients receiving combined therapy showed significantly lower NT-proBNP levels than those given monotherapy (p<0.05). EECP plus sacubitril/valsartan resulted in longer 6MWD and higher LVEF than sacubitril/valsartan alone (p<0.05). No significant differences were observed in the adverse events between the two groups (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: EECP plus sacubitril/valsartan substantially improves the ABI levels, cardiac functions, and exercise tolerance of patients with chronic heart failure, with a high safety profile. EECP improves blood supply to myocardial ischemic tissues by increasing ventricular diastolic blood return and blood perfusion to ischemic myocardium, raises aortic diastolic pressure, restores pumping function, improves LVEF, and reduces NT-proBNP secretion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Increasing studies have indicated the important functions of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in tumorigenesis and progression including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The study aims to explore the role of long non-coding RNA AK001796 in HCC progression. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Quantitative Real- time polymerase chain reaction (QRT-PCR) analysis was performed to examine the lncRNA AK001796 expression in 73 cases of human HCC tissue samples and matched adjacent normal tissues. Besides, the relationship between lncRNA AK001796 expression and clinicopathologic characteristics was analyzed. Overall survival (OS) curves of patients were constructed by the Kaplan-Meier methods. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to evaluate independent risk factors affecting HCC prognosis. Cell proliferation and invasion abilities are analyzed by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and transwell invasion assays. RESULTS: We showed that the lncRNA AK001796 expression was significantly up-regulated in HCC tissues and cell lines, compared to their controls, respectively. Higher lncRNA AK001796 expression closely correlated with tumor size (p<0.05), TNM stage (p<0.05) and the poor overall survival (OS) rate of HCC patients (p<0.05). Besides, multivariate Cox regression analysis found that lncRNA AK001796 expression was identified as an independent risk factor for HCC prognosis. In vitro, we showed that lncRNA AK001796 knockdown markedly suppressed cell proliferation and cell invasion abilities. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that lncRNA AK001796 acts as a predictor of HCC prognosis and may provide an important clinical value for HCC treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ni0.5Co0.5Fe2O4(NCFO) nanoparticles were prepared by the chemical co-precipitation process using metal chloride, nitrate and acetate as precursor, after the precursors were annealed and then investigated in detail by employing X-ray diffraction (XRD), magnetic measurement and the bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption on the nanoparticles was analyzed by UV spectrophotometer at room temperature. XRD analysis indicates that all the as-prepared nanocrystals posses a pure cubic spinel structure. The saturation magnetization initially increases and then decreases with increasing annealing temperature, with a maximum value 67.19 emu/g at 950 °C. The coercivity also firstly increases and then decreases with increasing annealing temperature, with a maximum value of 828 Oe at 650°C. The as-prepared Ni0.5Co0.5Fe2O4nanoparticles exhibit a good adsorbing ability for BSA and the optimized adsorption is achieved for the Ni0.5Co0.5Fe2O4nanoparticles annealed at 750°C with grain size about 33.3 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Collaborative studies of Chinese workers, using over four decades of dust monitoring data, are being conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and Tongji Medical University in China. The goal of these projects is to establish exposure–response relationships for the development of diseases such as silicosis or lung cancer in cohorts of pottery and mine workers. It is necessary to convert Chinese dust measurements to respirable silica measurements in order to make results from the Chinese data comparable to other results in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Cigarette smoking can influence the pulmonary disposition of other inhaled materials in humans and laboratory animals. This study was undertaken to investigate the influence of cigarette smoke exposures of rats on the pulmonary clearance of inhaled, relatively insoluble radioactive tracer particles. Following 13 weeks of whole-body exposure to air or mainstream cigarette smoke for 6 hr/day, 5 days/week at concentrations of 0, 100, or 250 mg total particulate matter (TPM)/m, rats were acutely exposed pernasally to Sr-labeled fused aluminosilicate (Sr-FAP) tracer particles, then air or smoke exposures were resumed. A separate group of rats was exposed to the Sr-FAP then serially euthanized through 6 months after exposure to confirm the relative insolubility of the tracer particles. We observed decreased tracer particle clearance from the lungs that was smoke concentration-dependent. By 180 days after exposure to the tracer aerosol, about 14, 20, and 40% of the initial activity of tracer was present in control, 100 mg TPM/m, and 250 mg TPM/m groups, respectively. Body weight gains were less in smoke-exposed rats than in controls. Smoke exposure produced lung lesions which included increased numbers of pigmented alveolar macrophages distributed throughout the parenchyma and focal collections of enlarged alveolar macrophages with concomitant alveolar epithelial hyperplasia and neutro-philic alveolitis. The severity of the lesions increased with smoke exposure duration and concentration to include interstitial aggregates of pigmented macrophages and interstitial fibrosis. Our data confirm previous findings that exposure to cigarette smoke decreases the ability of the lungs to clear inhaled materials. We further demonstrate an exposure-concentration related magnitude of effect, suggesting that the cigarette smoke-exposed rat constitutes a useful model for studies of the effects of cigarette smoke on the disposition of inhaled particles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The fractional deposition of cigarette smoke particles in the respiratory tracts of rats was studied. Male and female rats were conditioned in nose-only exposure tubes 25 min/day for 2 days, exposed to cigarette smoke at mass concentrations of 95 or 341 mg/m 25 min/day for 3 days, and then exposed to smoke at mass concentrations of 212 and 657 mg/m, 25 min/day for 5 days. Mainstream cigarette smoke was generated by a modified Walton smoking machine from two 1R3 research cigarettes burned sequentially for each exposure. Deposition studies were conducted by placing the rats in plethysmograph tubes to allow respiratory minute volume measurements during exposure, then exposing them to [C] cigarette smoke at mass concentrations of 202 or 624 mg/m for 25 min, using the same smoking machine. Size distribution, real-time concentration, and C activity of the smoke particles were determined using a multijet Mercer impactor, a real-time aerosol monitor, and filter samples, respectively. Immediately after the exposure, the rats were terminated to determine the distribution of the C. Individual lung lobes, trachea and lobar bronchi, head, larynx, kidneys, liver, gastrointestinal (GI) tract, blood, and depelted carcass of each rat were analyzed for C content. Results showed that the GI tract contained 16–31% of the total activity, indicating significant clearance from the large airways and nose to the GI tract during the exposure and during the 10–15 min between the cessation of the exposure and the removal ofthe organs. Total deposition of the inhaled C activity was 20.1 ± 1.6% for both exposure concentrations. The intrapulmonary deposition fractions (lung lobes plus airways below the lobar bronchi) were 12.4 ± 0.9 and 15.9 ± 1.4% for concentrations of 202 and 624 mg/m respectively, suggesting a slight enhancement in upper airway deposition for animals exposed to the higher smoke concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]