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Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and coronary stenting had a poor prognosis. This study aimed to assess the accuracy of CHA2DS2-VASc score for predicting and grading adverse clinical outcomes in this population.We reviewed the clinical data of all patients with previously documented nonvalvular AF who underwent coronary stenting between January 2010 and June 2015 in 12 hospitals of Beijing, China. The study population was divided into three groups: 1) Low CHA2DS2-VASc score, ≦ 2 points, 2) Intermediate score, 3-4 points, and 3) High score, ≧ 5 points. Major adverse cardiac/cerebrovascular events (MACCE) were defined as a composite of all-cause death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, repeat revascularization and ischemic stroke/systemic thromboembolism (IS/SE).A total of 2394 patients (men: 72.3% vs. women: 27.7%, median age: 67 years) were included, with the CHA2 DS2-VASc score of 3.6 ± 1.6. The median follow-up duration was 36.2 months. All-cause mortality increased 3 folds from the low score (4.8%) to the high score group (15.8%). The high score group had more IS/SE (7.4%) and MACCE (26.3%). The CHA2 DS2-VASc score ≧ 5 points was independently associated with all-cause death (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.303, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.492- 3.555), IS/SE (HR: 4.169, 95% CI: 2.216-7.845) and MACCE (HR: 1.468, 95% CI: 1.113-1.936) on multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the CHA2DS2-VASc score was 0.644 (95% CI: 0.624-0.663) for all-cause death, 0.647 (95% CI: 0.627-0.666) for IS/SE, and 0.592 (95% CI: 0.572-0.611) for MACCE.CHA2DS2-VASc score was a reliable prognostic indicator in patients with AF and coronary stenting.

This study aimed to evaluate predictors for adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing coronary stenting.We retrospectively recruited consecutive patients with previously documented non-valvular AF who underwent coronary stenting between January 2010 and June 2015 in 12 hospitals of Beijing, China. Major adverse cardiac/cerebrovascular events (MACCE) were a composite of all-cause death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, repeat revascularization, and ischaemic stroke/systemic thromboembolism (IS/STE). Major bleeding referred to grade 2 or higher of Bleeding Academic Research Consortium criteria.A total of 2394 patients (men: 72.3%Chinese patients with AF and coronary stenting had high mortality and incidence of MACCE. We compiled separate predictive models for all-cause death, IS/STE, MACCE, and major bleeding.

BACKGROUND Acinetobacter baumannii is an important nosocomial pathogen which shows a high level of mortality risk. Several papers have reported biofilm formation as a well-known pathogenic mechanism in A. baumannii infections and exceptional antibiotic resistance. The study aims to explore the potential relationships between biofilm-related genes and antimicrobial resistance. MATERIAL AND METHODS Samples from 122 patients with lower respiratory tract infections of A. baumannii were collected at Fujian Longyan First Hospital from January 2013 to September 2014. A. baumannii was isolated from sputum specimens. Biofilm-related genes including abaI, csuE, ompA, and bla-PER1 were analyzed by PCR. The minimum inhibitory concentration method was used to determine the sensitivity of each strain to antibiotics. RESULTS The clinical manifestations of A. baumannii-induced lower respiratory tract infections lacked specificity. Infected patients were most commonly admitted to intensive care units (54.9%) and frequently had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (27.0%). The detection rates of abaI and csuE were both 59.8%, and those of ompA and bla-PER1 were 100% and 0%, respectively. After genetic testing, antimicrobial resistance to amikacin, ampicillin/sulbactam, and 14 other types of antimicrobials was higher in abaI- and csuE-positive strains than in abaI- and csuE-negative strains (P

The distributions of local structural units of calcium silicate melts were quantified by means of classical molecular dynamics simulation and a newly constructed structural thermodynamic model. The distribution of five kinds of Si-O tetrahedra Q i from these two methods was compared with each other and also with the experimental Raman spectra, an excellent agreement was achieved. These not only displayed the panorama distribution of microstructural units in the whole composition range, but also proved that the thermodynamic model is suitable for the utilization as the subsequent application model of spectral experiments for the thermodynamic calculation. Meanwhile, the five refined regions mastered by different disproportionating reactions were obtained. Finally, the distributions of two kinds of connections between Q i were obtained, denoted as Q i -Ca-Q j and Q i -[O b ]-Q j , from the thermodynamic model, and a theoretical verification was given that the dominant connections for any composition are equivalent connections.

The polarized Brillouin scattering spectra were systematically measured to study the elastic properties of bulk hexagonal close-packed (hcp) ZnO single crystal in this paper. The peak polarizations of all modes in spectra were analyzed firstly. The elastic properties, such as the whole set of Elastic constants were accordingly calculated and compared with the previous literatures. Also investigated were the effects of the rotation of the sample in the (0001) plane perpendicular to the z axis on different acoustic modes. The results show that the quasi-longitudinal and quasi-transverse modes perpendicular to the (0001) plane act as the expected trigonometric function of the rotation angle, while the longitudinal and transverse modes on the (0001) plane remain constant.

The accelerating factor (AF) method is a simple and appropriate way to investigate the atomic long-time deep diffusion at solid-solid interface. In the framework of AF hyperdynamics (HD) simulation, the relationship between the diffusion coefficient along the direction of z-axis which is normal to the Mg/Zn interface and temperature was investigated, and the AF's impact on the diffusion constant (D0) and activation energy (Q*) was studied. Then, two steps were taken to simulate the atomic diffusion process and the formation of new phases: one for acceleration and the other for equilibration. The results show that: the Arrhenius equation works well for the description of Dz with different accelerating factors; the AF has no effect on the diffusion constant D0 in the case of no phase transition; and the relationship between Q* and Q conforms to Q*=Q/A. Then, the new Arrhenius equation for AFHD is successfully constructed as Dz=D0exp[-Q/(ART)]. Meanwhile, the authentic equilibrium conformations at any dynamic moment can only be reproduced by the equilibration simulation of the HD-simulated configurations.

A small amount of Fe3O4 catalyst is known to substantially improve the adsorption and desorption thermodynamics and kinetics of Mg-based materials. Using density functional theory in combination with nudged elastic band method, the dissociative chemisorptions of hydrogen on both pure and Fe-doped Mg(0001) surfaces were studied. The adsorption energy calculations show that a weakly physisorbed state above pure and Fe-doped Mg surface atoms can serve as a precursor state to dissociative chemisorption. Then, the dissociation pathway of H2 and the relative barrier were investigated. The calculated dissociation barrier (1.08 eV) of hydrogen molecule on a pure Mg(0001) surface is in good agreement with comparable experimental and theoretical studies. For the Fe-doped Mg(0001) surface, the activated barrier decreases to 0.101 eV due to the strong interaction between the s orbital of H and the d orbital of Fe.

Relaxin is known to inhibit cardiac fibrosis. However, it is unclear whether relaxin could regulate the effects of Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA, PKC activator) on cardiac fibrosis. So the influence of relaxin on the cell proliferation and collagen expression induced by PMA in cultured cardiac fibroblasts was studied. It showed that PMA significantly increased cardiac fibroblasts proliferation, Type I pro-collagen protein expression, Type I pro-collagen mRNA expression, and rhRLX absolutely significantly decreased PMA induced effects on cardiac fibroblasts proliferation and Type I pro-collagen expressions, indicating that relaxin could inhibit cardiac fibrosis induced by PMA.

By measuring left ventricular diastolic function and arterial stiffness, this study aims to probe into the effect of diabetes mellitus (DM) on left ventricular diastolic function and arterial stiffness, and evaluate the correlation between left ventricular diastolic function and arterial stiffness.Seventy-six inpatients were enrolled. According to their coronary angiography, OGTT test results and past history of DM, patients were divided into controlled, CHD (coronary heart disease with no DM), and CHD + DM groups. Through invasive hemodynamic monitoring during left ventricular angiography, left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) and tau index were collected. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (c-f PWV), reflected wave augmentation index (AIx@75) and other data reflecting the degree of arterial stiffness were collected bedside with non-invasive means. SPSS 18.0 was used for statistical analysis.No significant difference was found between groups for LVEDP, tau index, and AIx@75. In terms of c-f PMV, The CHD + DM group (8.79 ± 1.59) cm/s differed significantly from the CHD group (7.43 ± 1.42) cm/s and the controlled group (6.83 ± 1.14) cm/s. No correlations were found between c-f PMV and LVEDP or tau index. A positive correlation was found between AIx@75 and tau index.Compared with the controlled group and CHD patients with no DM, CHD + DM patients show worse arterial stiffness with no difference in ventricular diastolic function. There is a positive correlation between arterial stiffness and diastolic dysfunction.

The association between increased serum uric acid (SUA) levels and cardiovascular risk has been debated for decades. Several large studies have provided conflicting results regarding the clinical significance of elevated SUA levels in cardiovascular disease (CVD) or cerebrovascular disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between SUA and CVD and all-cause mortality and their potential diagnostic value.A total of 3570 in-patients ranging in age from 56 to 95 years (mean (67.36 +/- 11.36) years) were selected from 20 hospitals in Beijing and Shanghai. A carefully designed questionnaire was used to gather baseline data of each patient. All patients were divided into two main groups according to their SUA levels: high SUA and normal SUA groups. Serum indices and other important parameters were measured.Compared with normal SUA group, high SUA group had significant difference in systolic blood pressure (SBP), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), body mass index (BMI), and age (P0.05 or P0.01). High SUA prevailed in female and patients with history of essential hypertension, while history of smoking and diabetes showed no significant difference between two groups. All-cause and CVD mortality occurred more frequently in high SUA group than in normal SUA group. In the accumulative survival analysis, high SUA group had lower survival rate than normal SUA group both in CVD and all-cause mortality. COX regression analysis indicated that the history of smoking, age and high SUA were independent risk factors for the development of CVD.These preliminary observations suggest that patients with high SUA levels would face higher risk of mortality. SUA measurement may be applied as a routine predictor for clinical assessment.

To investigate the association between glucose metabolism status and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) in Chinese patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).baPWV values were measured in 198 CAD patients. Plasma glucose, serum lipids, hsCRP and other baseline data were obtained in all the patients. According to the glucose level, the participants were divided into 3 groups: normal glucose tolerance (NGT) group, impaired glucose regulation (IGR) group and diabetes mellitus (DM) group.baPWV values in the DM group (1807 +/- 381) cm/s were significantly higher than those in the NGT group [(1615 +/- 248) cm/s, P = 0.000] and IGR group [(1674 +/- 277) cm/s, P = 0.035]. Multiple stepwise linear regression analyses indicated that higher baPWV values were associated with aging and hsCRP levels in 198 patients. In DM group, higher baPWV values were independently associated with aging and HbA1c levels.In patients with coronary artery disease, baPWV values increase with different glucose metabolism status from NGT to IGR then DM. baPWV values in the patients with DM were significantly higher than those in the other two groups. Glycemic control may ameliorate arterial stiffness.

To investigate the relationship between brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and different stage of cardiac dysfunction.253 consecutive patients with coronary atherosclerotic heart disease were enrolled from August 2006 to February 2007. Patients were grouped according to the functional classification of New York Heart Association (NYHA). The baPWV was measured non-invasively with a VP1000 automated PWV/ABI analyzer (PWV/ABI, Colin CO. Ltd., Komaki, Japan). At the same time, BNP, EF, LAEDV and LVESV were measured in all the patients.Brachial-ankle PWV was significantly correlated with cardiac function classification of NYHA (r = 0. 444, P0.001), BNP( r = 0.394,0.001) and left ventricular end diastolic volume (r = - 0.130, P0.05). The under area of receiver operating charachateistic (ROC) curve was 73.9%. The ROC curve demonstrated that when the value of brachial-ankle PWV was equal to or larger than 1717 cm/s (1717 cm/s), the sensitivity of diagnosing mild cardiac dysfunction was 72.9% and specifity 61.8%. When its value was equal to or larger than 1900 cm/s (or = 1900 cm/s), the sensitivity and specificity were 61.5% and 81.9% respectively.Brachial-ankle PWV is significantly correlated to the NYHA classification of heart failure and it may be a prospective index to diagnose early stage of cardiac dysfunction.

Based on the frequency and time domain characters of heat radiation, high temperature Raman spectroscopy techniques were aralyzed and summarized. Thereby, two high temperature Raman systems were set up. One is an accumulated time-resolved macro-Raman spectroscopy system, and the other is an accumulated time-resolved and confocal coupled micro-Raman spectroscopy system. Finally, their applications in the study of high temperature processes such as melt structure and phase transformation, crystallization as well as samples with high fluorescence were intrtoduced.

To investigate the relation between of the angiotensin II receptors 1 and 2 (AT1-R and AT2-R), and aldosterone (Ald) synthetase CYP11B2 gene expression and atrial structural remodeling.Thirty-eight patients were divided into three groups: sinus rhythm (SR) group (n = 11), paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (pAF) group (n = 13, with a duration of AF6 months), and constant atrial fibrillation (cAF) group (n = 14, with a duration of AF6 months) and underwent open thoracic surgery. 500 mg of tissue of right appendage was taken during the off-pump operation (tissue of left appendage was also taken in 8 patients of the cAF group). The levels of AT1-R, AT2-R, and CYP11B2 were detected. With semiquantitative polymerase chain reaction. Immunohistochemistry was used to localize AT1-R.The mean diameter of the left atrium of the cAF group was (5.8 +/- 0.6) cm, significantly greater than those of the pAF and SR groups (4.2 +/- 0.7) cm and (3.3 +/- 0.4) cm respectively, (both P0.01). However, there was not significant difference in the mean diameter of left atrium between the pAF and SR groups (P0.05). The CYP11B2R mRNA expression of the cAF group was 0.41 +/- 0.03, significantly higher than those of the pAF and SR groups (0.27 +/- 0.09 and 0.23 +/- 0.01 respectively, both P0.05). The AT1-R mRN expression level of the cAF group was 1.03 +/- 0.04, significantly lower than that of the SR group (0.90 +/- 0.10, P0.05). The AT2-R mRNA expression level of the cAF group was 1.16 +/- 0.16, significantly higher than that of the SR group (0.90 +/- 0.10, P0.05). In the SR group the AT1-R protein expression was mainly seen in the cellular membrane of the atrial cardiac muscle cells and rarely seen in the fibroblasts and vascular sooth muscle cells, however, in the pAF group AT1-R positive staining was seen in the cellular membrane, cytoplasm of the atrial cardiac cells, fibroblasts, and vascular sooth muscle cells, and the AT1-R positive staining of the cAF group was stronger than that of the pAF group and weaker then that of the SR group.The atrial structural remodeling is mediated by tissue RAS. The downregulation of AT1-R mRNA is probably an excessive reaction of atrial myocardium to tissue Ang II, while the upregulation of AT2-R mRNA is probably an adaptive and compensatory reaction of atrial myocardium to tissue Ang II. The regulation of AT-R may occur at the level of transcription and translation of the protein synthesis. In the cAF and pAF patients, the increase of the gene expression of CYP11B2 shows that Ald may be involved in the pathophysiological process of atrial remodeling in AF.

Combined with time accumulated resolution and space resolution the SU-HTRS(T/S) set has been realized at Shanghai University. It is impossible to avoid noise at high temperature, so different mathematic methods, such as Savitzky-Golay method, FFT and wavelet methods have been adopted for denoising. For various noise levels, the effects of three methods on the peak location, intensity and covering area as well as the smoothing degree of the reduced spectra were analyzed. It can be concluded that Savitzky-Golay method is simple and quick, while wavelet method offers the best results in denoising process.

To assess the predictive value of heart rate turbulence (HRT) in patients with acute myocardial infarction.One hundred and twenty-five patients with acute myocardial infarction were enrolled in this study. During the period from 6 to 21 days after onset of acute myocardial infarction, they were undergone 24-hour Holter recordings to collect the mean RR interval and heart rate variability (HRV) SDNN. The Holter files were processed with software of "HRT! View V0.60-1" to obtain the value of Turbulence Onset (TO) and Turbulence Slope (TS) and the value of "heart rate variability (HRV) SDNN". LVEF and EDD were measured by Ultrasonic Cardiography. Endpoint of follow-up was cardiac death. According to the results, patients were divided into two groups (the "survivors" and the "nonsurvivors"). The predictive value for high-risk patients with acute myocardial infarction was assessed by variables between the two groups.In the period of follow-up (mean 225.4 +/- 99.8 days), 14 patients died and 111 patients survived. In the univariate Cox regression analysis, "TS" was a strong univariate predictor of mortality (hazard ratio 11.46, P0.01); "TO" was a relatively weak predictor and the hazard ratio was 2.76 (P0.05). Combination of abnormal TO and abnormal TS was the strongest mortality predictor (hazard ratio 26.70, P0.01); in the multivariate Cox regression analysis, TSor = 2.5 ms/RR and EDDor = 5.6 cm were the independent predictors of mortality with hazard ratios 9.49 (P0.01) and 3.64 (P0.05), respectively.The absence of the heart rate turbulence after ventricular premature beats is a very potent post-infarction risk predictor which is independent of and stronger than other known risk predictors.