Association of Plasma Connective Tissue Growth Factor Levels with Hyperthyroid Heart Disease

Hyperthyroid heart disease(HHD)is one of the most severe complications of overt hyperthyroidism and increases the risk of mortality in affected patients.Early identification of patients at a higher risk of developing HHD can improve clinical outcomes through active surveillance and management.Connective tissue growth factor(CTGF),a secreted extracellular protein,plays a significant role in cardiac remodeling and dysfunction.We aimed to investigate the association between plasma CTGF level and the risk of HHD in this study.A total of 142 overt hyperthyroid patients without HHD and 99 patients with HHD were included.The plasma CTGF levels were measured using ELISA kits.Routine clinical medical data and echocardiography parameters were recorded for analysis.The plasma CTGF level was significantly higher in patients with HHD than in those without HHD(P=0.002).The plasma CTGF level was positively correlated with free triiodothyronin,tryrotropin receptor antibody,troponin I and lactate dehydrogenase levels and the left atrium diameters,right atrium diameters,and right ventricular end-diastolic diameters(all P<0.05).Logistic regression analysis showed that quartiles 3 and 4 of plasma CTGF levels were significantly associated with the increased risk of HHD(crude OR:2.529;95%CI:1.188-5.387).However,after adjustment for the potentially confounding variables,quartile 4 alone was significantly associated with the higher risk of HHD relative to quartile I.Hyperthyroid patients with HHD display higher plasma CTGF levels.Furthermore,CTGF is an independent risk factor for HHD.Therefore,the plasma CTGF level may be a potential biomarker for the risk of HHD.

Endovascular management in abdominal visceral arterial aneurysms:A pictorial essay

Visceral artery aneurysms(VAAs) include aneurysms of the splanchnic circulation and those of the renal artery.Their diagnosis is clinically important because of the associated high mortality and potential complications.Splenic,superior mesenteric,gastroduodenal,hepatic and renal arteries are some of the common arteries affected by VAAs.Though surgical resection and anastomosis still remains the treatment of choice in some of the cases,especially cases involving the proximal arteries,increasingly endovascular treatment is being used for more distal vessels.We present a pictorial review of various intra-abdominal VAAs and their endovascular management.

Build infrastructure in publishing scientific journals to benefit medical scientists

There is urgent need for medical journals to optimize their publishing processes and strategies to satisfy the huge need for medical scientists to publish their articles,and then obtain better prestige and impact in scientific and research commtmity.These strategies include optimizing the process of peer-review,utilizing open-access publishing models actively,finding ways of saving costs and getting revenue,smartly dealing with research fraud or misconduct,maintaining sound relationship with pharmaceutical companies,and managing to provide relevant and useful information for clinical practitioners and researchers.Scientists,publishers,societies and organizations need to work together to publish internationally renowned medical journals.