BackgroundThe relationship between lipids and coronary artery disease has been well established. However, this is not the case between lipids and heart failure. Ironically, high lipid levels are associated with better...BackgroundThe relationship between lipids and coronary artery disease has been well established. However, this is not the case between lipids and heart failure. Ironically, high lipid levels are associated with better outcomes in heart failure, but the mechan-isms underlying the phenomenon are not fully understood. This study was performed to test the hypothesis that reduced intestinal lipid absorption due to venous congestion may lead to low lipid levels.MethodsWe collected data of clinical characteristics, echocardio-graph, and lipid profile in 442 unselected patients with congestive heart failure. Correlations between lipid levels[including total cho-lesterol(TCL), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C), and triglycerides(TG)]and right ventricle end diastolic diameter (RVEDD), left ventricle end diastolic diameter (LVEDD), right atrium diameter (RA), left atrium diameter (LA), or left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) were analyzed using Pearson correlation and partial correlation. RVEDD, LVEDD, RA, and LA were indexed to the body surface area.ResultsThere was a significantly inverse correlation between TCL le-vels and RVEDD (r=-0.34,P〈0.001) and RA (r=-0.36,P〈0.001). Other lipids such as LDL-C, HDL-C, and TG had asimilar inverse correlation with RVEDD and RA. All these correlations remained unchanged after adjusting for age, gender, smoking status, physical activity levels, comorbidities, and medication use.ConclusionsLipid levels were inversely correlated to RVEDD in patients with congestive heart failure; however, because this was an observational study, further investigation is needed to verify our results as wellas identify a causal relationship, if any.展开更多
Subtle changes of articular cartilage(AC) can lead to tissue degeneration and even osteoarthritis(OA).The early degeneration of AC is closely related to a change in proteoglycans(PG) content.The observation of PG is t...Subtle changes of articular cartilage(AC) can lead to tissue degeneration and even osteoarthritis(OA).The early degeneration of AC is closely related to a change in proteoglycans(PG) content.The observation of PG is therefore an appropriate way of studying OA and evaluating the degree of AC degeneration.In this study,20 cartilage-bone samples were prepared from normal porcine femoral condyle cartilage and 10 samples were digested over 2 h using 0.25% trypsin solution.The dynamic process of PG-digestion was explored using a conventional A-mode ultrasound(US) experimental system with a 10 MHz center frequency.Quantitative acoustic parameters were calculated from ultrasonic radio-frequency echo signals and included US speed(USS),US amplitude attenuation coefficient(UAA) and broadband US attenuation coefficient(BUA).The experimental results showed that the conventional A-mode ultrasound is valuable for tracking the degree of PG-digestion.Histology also confirmed the validity of the ultrasound observations.For every AC sample,the degree of PG-digestion within a given time was different and was affected by individual differences.After two hours of degeneration,USS showed a mean decrease of 0.4%(P<0.05).UAA was significantly lower after a two-hour PG depletion period(from(2.45±0.23) to(2.28±0.41) dB mm?1).BUA showed no significant differences during this process.In conclusion,conventional ultrasound can provide useful information about trypsin-induced progressive PG depletion in AC and can reflect variations of PG content via the quantitative acoustic parameters USS and UAA.The results of this study may be used to identify an indirect indicator of cartilage matrix integrity and OA disease progression.展开更多
OBJEVTIVE: To investigate the antioxidant and hepatoprotective properties of the different extracts Guizhencao (Herba Bidentis Bipinnatae) against liver injury in hyperlipidemia rats. METHODS: The rats were divided in...OBJEVTIVE: To investigate the antioxidant and hepatoprotective properties of the different extracts Guizhencao (Herba Bidentis Bipinnatae) against liver injury in hyperlipidemia rats. METHODS: The rats were divided into 7 groups, with 10 rats in each. Rats were treated with high-fat diet for 18 weeks besides the normal control group, then rats in both normal control and model groups were received 5 mL/kg -1 · day -1 of saline and those in the positive control group with 2 mg/kg -1 · day -1 of lovastatin. Rats in the positive control group and different Guizhencao (Herba Bidentis Bipinnatae) extracts treatment groups (ethyl acetate extract group, n-hexane extract group, ethanol extract group, and aqueous extract group) were treated with corresponding extract at a concentration of 5 mL/kg -1 · day -1 . After 8 weeks treatment, all rats were sacrificed and total blood samples were collected. Histological analysis of liver was underdone by hematoxylin and eosin. The levels of serum ala-nine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), glouse (GLU), cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol were measured according to standard procedure using auto-analyzer. The superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in liver were ananlyzed by procedure instruction. RESULTS: The histopathological analysis implied that the administration of Guizhencao (HerbaBidentis Bipinnatae) extracts resulted in hepatoprotective role compared with that of the model group. In addition, the high-fat diet caused a remarkable increase of ALT, AST, GLU, TC, TG, LDL-C and MDA levels. A decline in HDL-C and SOD concentrations and a reversal of effects were observed in different Guizhencao (Herba Bidentis Bipinnatae) extracts groups, especially in the aqueous extract and ethanol extract groups. CONCLUSION: The different extracts of Guizhencao (Herba Bidentis Bipinnatae) can play a protecting role against liver injury in hyperlipidemia rats maybe through decreasing ALT, AST, GLU, TC, TG, LDL-C and MDA levels and enhancing the liver anti-oxidative ability.展开更多
文摘BackgroundThe relationship between lipids and coronary artery disease has been well established. However, this is not the case between lipids and heart failure. Ironically, high lipid levels are associated with better outcomes in heart failure, but the mechan-isms underlying the phenomenon are not fully understood. This study was performed to test the hypothesis that reduced intestinal lipid absorption due to venous congestion may lead to low lipid levels.MethodsWe collected data of clinical characteristics, echocardio-graph, and lipid profile in 442 unselected patients with congestive heart failure. Correlations between lipid levels[including total cho-lesterol(TCL), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C), and triglycerides(TG)]and right ventricle end diastolic diameter (RVEDD), left ventricle end diastolic diameter (LVEDD), right atrium diameter (RA), left atrium diameter (LA), or left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) were analyzed using Pearson correlation and partial correlation. RVEDD, LVEDD, RA, and LA were indexed to the body surface area.ResultsThere was a significantly inverse correlation between TCL le-vels and RVEDD (r=-0.34,P〈0.001) and RA (r=-0.36,P〈0.001). Other lipids such as LDL-C, HDL-C, and TG had asimilar inverse correlation with RVEDD and RA. All these correlations remained unchanged after adjusting for age, gender, smoking status, physical activity levels, comorbidities, and medication use.ConclusionsLipid levels were inversely correlated to RVEDD in patients with congestive heart failure; however, because this was an observational study, further investigation is needed to verify our results as wellas identify a causal relationship, if any.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31170896)State Key Laboratory of Software De-velopment Environment (Grant No. SKLSDE-2011ZX-11)
文摘Subtle changes of articular cartilage(AC) can lead to tissue degeneration and even osteoarthritis(OA).The early degeneration of AC is closely related to a change in proteoglycans(PG) content.The observation of PG is therefore an appropriate way of studying OA and evaluating the degree of AC degeneration.In this study,20 cartilage-bone samples were prepared from normal porcine femoral condyle cartilage and 10 samples were digested over 2 h using 0.25% trypsin solution.The dynamic process of PG-digestion was explored using a conventional A-mode ultrasound(US) experimental system with a 10 MHz center frequency.Quantitative acoustic parameters were calculated from ultrasonic radio-frequency echo signals and included US speed(USS),US amplitude attenuation coefficient(UAA) and broadband US attenuation coefficient(BUA).The experimental results showed that the conventional A-mode ultrasound is valuable for tracking the degree of PG-digestion.Histology also confirmed the validity of the ultrasound observations.For every AC sample,the degree of PG-digestion within a given time was different and was affected by individual differences.After two hours of degeneration,USS showed a mean decrease of 0.4%(P<0.05).UAA was significantly lower after a two-hour PG depletion period(from(2.45±0.23) to(2.28±0.41) dB mm?1).BUA showed no significant differences during this process.In conclusion,conventional ultrasound can provide useful information about trypsin-induced progressive PG depletion in AC and can reflect variations of PG content via the quantitative acoustic parameters USS and UAA.The results of this study may be used to identify an indirect indicator of cartilage matrix integrity and OA disease progression.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of Henan(No.122102310103)
文摘OBJEVTIVE: To investigate the antioxidant and hepatoprotective properties of the different extracts Guizhencao (Herba Bidentis Bipinnatae) against liver injury in hyperlipidemia rats. METHODS: The rats were divided into 7 groups, with 10 rats in each. Rats were treated with high-fat diet for 18 weeks besides the normal control group, then rats in both normal control and model groups were received 5 mL/kg -1 · day -1 of saline and those in the positive control group with 2 mg/kg -1 · day -1 of lovastatin. Rats in the positive control group and different Guizhencao (Herba Bidentis Bipinnatae) extracts treatment groups (ethyl acetate extract group, n-hexane extract group, ethanol extract group, and aqueous extract group) were treated with corresponding extract at a concentration of 5 mL/kg -1 · day -1 . After 8 weeks treatment, all rats were sacrificed and total blood samples were collected. Histological analysis of liver was underdone by hematoxylin and eosin. The levels of serum ala-nine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), glouse (GLU), cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol were measured according to standard procedure using auto-analyzer. The superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in liver were ananlyzed by procedure instruction. RESULTS: The histopathological analysis implied that the administration of Guizhencao (HerbaBidentis Bipinnatae) extracts resulted in hepatoprotective role compared with that of the model group. In addition, the high-fat diet caused a remarkable increase of ALT, AST, GLU, TC, TG, LDL-C and MDA levels. A decline in HDL-C and SOD concentrations and a reversal of effects were observed in different Guizhencao (Herba Bidentis Bipinnatae) extracts groups, especially in the aqueous extract and ethanol extract groups. CONCLUSION: The different extracts of Guizhencao (Herba Bidentis Bipinnatae) can play a protecting role against liver injury in hyperlipidemia rats maybe through decreasing ALT, AST, GLU, TC, TG, LDL-C and MDA levels and enhancing the liver anti-oxidative ability.