Search

Background Wilson disease (WD) is a rare autosomal recessive disease that causes impaired copper excretion, mainly manifestedashepatic and/or neuropsychiatric symptoms, but diversifies with the varying affected organs and severity of the disease. The accumulation of copper in various organs and systems throughout the bodyleads to other (usually milder) clinical symptoms such as Kayser-fleischer ring (K-F), hemolytic disease, impaired renal function, abnormal bone metabolism, myocarditis, arrhythmias, other organ and systemic damage. It has been recently found that WD may result in varying degrees of cardiac damage and even fatal cardiac disorder inextensive studies. Clinical examination of the cardiovascular system has not been included in the routine testing of WD patients. Therefore, early attention and intervention of subclinical cardiac disease in WD patients are of great significance for the treatment and prognosis. Objective To observe the dynamic changes in cardiac structure and function in WD patients based on real-time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (RT-3DE), electrocardiogram (ECG) and serological indicators such as myocardial injury markers, so as to provide objective imaging and serological basis for the assessment of early cardiac involvement in WD and facilitating timely intervention in WD patients with early subclinical cardiac damage. Methods From October 2021 to October 2022, 60 patients with WD admitted to the neurological department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine were selected as the WD group, and 60 healthy physical examiners were selected as the control group during the same time. The included WD patients were divided into the neurologic-type (mainly manifested as neuropsychiatric symptoms) and hepatic-type (mainly manifested ashepatic symptoms) groups according the mainsymptoms. ECG, RT-3DE-related parameters and serum myocardial injury markerssuch ashomocysteine (Hcy), cystatin C (CysC), cardiac troponin I (cTnI), amino-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide precursor (NT-proBNP), and total serum bilirubin (TBIL) of the both groups were recorded. Results There were significant differences in the proportion of abnormal ECG results between the two groups, with 37 abnormal cases in the WD group and 14 abnormal cases in the control group (P

Background: To uncover the diagnostic potential of peripheral blood microRNA-200b (miRNA-200b) in renal interstitial injury in diabetic nephropathy (DN) patients. Methods: A total of 50 diabetes subjects, 50 mild DN subjects, 50 moderate-severe DN subjects and 50 healthy subjects were included. Peripheral blood level of miRNA-200b in every subject was detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Serum levels of renal function indicators were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Meanwhile, relative levels of fibrosis damage indicators were examined by chemiluminescent immunoassay. Diagnostic potentials of miRNA200b in diabetes, mild DN and moderate-severe DN were assessed by depicting receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: Peripheral blood level of miRNA-200b was higher in DN subjects than diabetes subjects without vascular complications, especially moderate-severe DN patients. Peripheral blood level of miRNA-200b in DN subjects was negatively correlated to relative levels of serum creatinine, urinary nitrogen, cystatin, TGF-b, CIV and PCIII. ROC curves demonstrated diagnostic potentials of miRNA-200b in mild and moderate-severe DN. Conclusions: Peripheral blood level of miRNA-200b is closely linked to the degree of renal interstitial injury in DN patients. MiRNA-200b may be a vital indicator in predicting the development of DN.

Objective To investigate the application value of humanistic care for patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm ( AAA ). Methods In this study, 79 patients with AAA were selected from two wards of Vascular Surgery: 38 patients in the first ward ( control group ) were given routine nursing, and 41 patients in the second ward ( Study group ) were given humanistic care on the basis of routine nursing. The hospitalization satisfaction was evaluated by self-made questionnaire, and emotional state of were measured by Self-rating Anxiety Scale ( SAS ) and Self-rating Depression Scale ( SDS ). Results The score of hospitalization satisfaction assessment of the study group after humanistic care was significantly higher than that of the control group (P＜0. 05). The scores of SAS and SDS decreased in both group after intervention, and the scores of SAS and SDS in the study group decreased more significantly compared with those in the control group (P＜0. 05). Conclusion Humanistic care nursing and psychological counseling is implemented in AAA patients, which realizes the perfect combination of psychosomatic nursing, provides patients with satisfactory humanistic medical experience, increases patients’ treatment compliance and treatment effect, improves patients’ quality of life, and promotes patients’ early recovery and community integration. (目的 探讨人文关怀护理在腹主动脉瘤(AAA)患者中的应用效果。方法 79例AAA患者根据病区分为对照组38例和研究组41例。对照组实施常规护理, 研究组在对照组基础上开展人文关怀护理。采用自制量表评价患者护理满意度, 采用焦虑自评量表(SAS)和抑郁自评量表(SDS)评估患者焦虑、抑郁情绪状况。结果 研究组满意度评分高于对照组 , 差异有统计学意义(P＜0. 05)。干预后, 两组SAS、SDS量表评分均较干预前降低, 且研究组评分低于对照组, 差异有统计学意义(P＜0. 05)。结论 人文关怀护理注重人文关怀与心理疏导, 能为AAA患者提供人文化就医体验, 缓解患者的焦虑、抑郁负性情绪, 对促进患者早日康复、重返社会有积极作用。)

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a common complication of diabetes that can result in severe lower limb pain and amputation. Early detection and treatment of DPN are vital, but this condition is often missed due to a lack of symptoms and the insensitivity of testing methods. This article reviews various ultrasound imaging modalities in the direct and indirect evaluation of peripheral neuropathy. Moreover, how ultrasound‐related therapeutic strategies are playing a role in clinical treatment is discussed. Finally, the application of innovative methodologies in the diagnosis of DPN, including ultrasound attenuation, photoacoustic imaging, and artificial intelligence, is described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high‐frequency alternating magnetic field (AMF) is considered as a fascinating heating treatment that provides a noninvasive solution to enhance the catalytic efficiency of electrocatalyst. However, practical applications of AMF in electrochemistry are primarily concentrated on magnetic mediums. To broaden its application into nonmagnetic catalysts, herein, a practicable method is reported by modifying the working electrode substrate with magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs), which serves as both substrate and self‐heating medium by virtue of its rapid and efficient magnetic heating effect associated with Néel relaxation triggered by external high‐frequency AMF, thus boosting the catalyst performance upon it. To verify it, Pt NPs and Pt single atoms (SAs), as two representative non‐magnetic catalyst, are selected for trials. The results, reveal that, when AMF is applied, Pt NPs@C/Fe3O4/C and Pt SAs@C/Fe3O4/C display remarkable enhancement of hydrogen evolution reaction magnetocurrent density respectively by ≈ 146% and ≈185%, whereas on unmodified bare glassy carbon there both show unnoticeable change in catalytic performance. The developed strategy opens up a vast space for exploiting the energy of a weak, non‐invasive magnetic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract.Measuring the correlation between two random variables is a classic problem in statistics. The common textbook measures are Pearson r, Spearman ρ, and Kendall τ correlation coefficients. These three values are especially useful for two univariate variables, although they have been extended to two random vectors such as RV, which is a linear correlation coefficient for two random vectors. In this article, we propose a truncated correlation coefficient measure to test whether two random vectors are independent, together with some statistical properties. We perform extensive simulation studies to compare powers of RV and the proposed test. Results show that the proposed test is more powerful than RV to detect the independence. Finally, two real data analyses further show the performance of the proposed test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim was to evaluate the effect of beta‐blockers (BB) on the response of heart rate (HR) to 6‐min walk test (6MWT) in atrial fibrillation (AF) and whether the AF patients treated with BB have a similar HR response to 6MWT as the AF and sinus rhythm (SR) patients without BB treatment at the same resting HR level. Methods: The before–after study involving 74 AF patients was to evaluate the effect of BB treatment (pre‐BB and with BB). The comparison study included 74 BB‐treated AF patients (with BB), 74 matched AF patients without BB (no BB), and 74 SR patients. The percentage increase amplitude of HR (HR‐PIA) in 6MWT was calculated: [(the exercise HR − the resting HR)/(the resting HR)] × 100%. Results: The before–after study showed that BB treatment decreased the resting and mean exercise HR (98.6 ± 15.2 vs. 85.5 ± 11.2 bpm and 121.3 ± 17.3 vs. 109.0 ± 16.7 bpm) during 6MWT. The comparison study demonstrated that against the SR, the AF with BB and no BB groups have higher mean exercise HR‐PIA (28.2 ± 17.1% and 22.0 ± 9.6%, vs. 6.9 ± 3.7%) when their resting HR is similar. Moreover, the mean exercise HR‐PIA was also significantly higher in the with BB group than in the no BB group. Conclusion: In AF patients with relatively higher resting HR, BB treatment could decrease the resting and exercise HR during 6MWT. However, BB treatment could not effectively attenuate the exercise HR rise as compared with AF without BB treatment, even with similar resting HR levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]