There are various examination methods for cardiovascular diseases. Non-invasive diagnosis and prognostic information acquisition are the current research hotspots of related imaging examinations. Positron emission tomography (PET)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a new advanced fusion imaging technology that combines the molecular imaging of PET with the soft tissue contrast function of MRI to achieve their complementary advantages. This article briefly introduces several major aspects of cardiac PET/MRI in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, including atherosclerosis, ischemic cardiomyopathy, nodular heart disease, and myocardial amyloidosis, in order to promote cardiac PET/MRI to be more widely used in precision medicine in this field.
Objective To explore the relationship between uric acid (UA) level and cardiovascular disease in patients with OSAHS and its clinical significance. Methods The electronic medical record system of the First hospital of Lanzhou University was used to collect 475 subjects who completed polysomnography (PSG) during hospitalization from January 2019 to May 2020. According to the Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Hypopnea Syndrome (Basic Version), the patients were divided into four group: control group [apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) <5 times/h, n=96], mild group (5≤AHI≤15 times/h, n=130), moderate group (15<AHI≤30 times/h, n=112), and severe group (AHI>30 times/h, n=137). The age, gender, body mass index (BMI), smoking history, drinking history, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and biochemical indexes [including triglyceride, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, glucose, UA, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine, lactate dehydrogenase, homocysteine], PSG indexes were observed and compared among the four groups, and the differences were compared by appropriate statistical methods. Binary logistic regression model was used to evaluate the correlation between various risk factors and cardiovascular disease. Results There were statistically significant differences in age, gender, BMI, drinking history, hypertension and cardiovascular disease among the 4 groups (P<0.05). The levels of UA and BUN in mild, moderate and severe groups were higher than those in the control group, with statistical significance (P<0.05). With the increasing of OSAHS severity, the level of UA increased. There was statistical significance in the incidence of cardiovascular disease among the four groups (P<0.05), and the highest incidence of arrhythmia was found among the four groups. And the incidence of cardiovascular disease increases with the increasing of OSAHS severity. Binary Logistic regression analysis showed that the risk factors for cardiovascular disease in OSAHS patients were age, UA and BUN (P<0.05). Conclusions The occurrence of cardiovascular disease in OSAHS patients is positively correlated with the severity of OSAHS. The level of UA can be used as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease in OSAHS patients. Therefore, reducing the level of UA may have positive significance for the prevention and control of the prevalence and mortality of cardiovascular disease in OSAHS patients.
In recent years, the diversity of gut microbiota and the role of its metabolites in cardiovascular disease (CVD) have attracted widespread attention. Gut microbiota metabolites not only play an important role in maintaining gut health, but may also influence cardiovascular health through a variety of mechanisms. As one of the important products of gut microbiota metabolism, sulfate’s biosynthetic pathway, metabolic dynamics and potential effects on cardiovascular system have become the focus of research. However, the current research on the relationship between sulfate and cardiovascular disease still has some shortcomings, including the mechanism is not clear, and clinical data are limited. This article reviewed the biosynthesis of sulfate and its mechanism of action in cardiovascular diseases, and combined with the existing clinical research results, aimed to provide new perspectives and ideas for future research, in order to promote the in-depth exploration and development of this field.
With the discovery of cardiac stem cell, the conception of the heart considered to be a terminally differentiated organ was changed. Cardiac stem cells possess the common characteristics of self-renew, clone formation and differentiating into cardiomyocyte, smooth muscle cell, and endothelial cell. Because of the properties of tissue specificity and lineage commitment, cardiac stem cells are considered to have great advantages over other stem cells in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. However, the low rate of engraftment still remains a problem to be solved. In recent years, people attempted to combine stem cell therapy with other ways, such as tissue engineering, gene therapy, exosome therapy, to cure cardiovascular diseases, aiming at finding better ways to treat the cardiovascular disease. This article is mainly for the reviewing of the mechanisms underlying the stem cell therapy and the combinatory use of new technology emerged these years.
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death in Chinese population. It is of great significance to further explore the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. Ferroptosis is a recently discovered iron-dependent and non-apoptotic form of regulated cell death, which exerts a regulatory role in a variety of biological events. Some studies have shown that ferroptosis plays an important role in the development of cardiovascular diseases. According to newly scientific reports, we summarized the mechanism and regulation in ferroptosis, and reviewed the results of ferroptosis in common cardiovascular diseases such as cardiac ischemia-reperfusion/myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathy, cardiac hypertrophy, atherosclerosis and abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Circular RNA (circRNA) is a non-coding RNA which exists widely in eukaryotic cells with a structure of covalently closed continuous loop. Its generation, characteristics and functions have received extensive attention, making it one of the hot spots in the field of non-coding RNA research. Many studies have found that circRNA plays an important role in the development of various diseases including cardiovascular disease, nervous system disease and cancer. Cardiovascular disease is a worldwide common disease with high incidence and poor prognosis. Its exact pathogenesis has not been found, which blocks the development of cardiovascular disease treatment. In this review, we summarize the loop-forming mechanisms, the functions and the progress of current researches of circRNA in cardiovascular diseases.
Cardiovascular disease has caused a huge burden of disease worldwide, and the rapid advancement of smart wearable devices has provided new means for early diagnosis, real-time monitoring, and event prevention of cardiovascular disease. Smart wearable devices can be classified into various categories based on detection signals and physical carrier types. Based on an overview of the composition of such devices, this article further introduces the current cutting-edge research and related market products related to smart blood pressure monitoring, electrocardiogram monitoring, and ultrasound monitoring. It also discusses the future development and challenges of such devices, aiming to provide evidence support for the research and development of smart wearable devices in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases in the future.
Objective To investigate the relationship between estimated glucose disposal rate (eGDR) and the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in individuals without diabetes and those with diabetes. Methods Participants were drawn from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study from 2011 to 2018. Participants were divided into four subgroups based on quartiles of baseline eGDR. In this study, data were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves, Cox proportional hazards models, restricted cubic spline curves, subgroup analyses, and receiver operator characteristic curves. Results A total of 6 283 participants were included. Among them, 47.2% are male, with an average age of (59.6±9.5) years; 285 cases (4.5%) had diabetes; there were 1 571 cases in Q1 group, 1 572 cases in Q2 group, 1 583 cases in Q3 group, and 1 557 cases in Q4 group. A total of 761 CVD events occurred. According to the multivariate-adjusted model, baseline eGDR levels were significantly associated with the risk of CVD events (P<0.05). Baseline eGDR was associated with the risk of CVD events in individuals without diabetes (P<0.05), but the results were not entirely consistent for those with diabetes [CVD: hazard ratio (HR)=0.85, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.75, 0.96), P=0.012; heart disease: HR=0.91, 95%CI (0.78, 1.06), P=0.211; stroke: HR=0.74, 95%CI (0.58, 0.93), P=0.012]. Restricted cubic spline curves revealed significant negative linear relationships between baseline eGDR and CVD, heart disease, and stroke. Subgroup analyses with interaction testing revealed that the association between baseline eGDR and CVD was not modified by age, sex, smoking status, alcohol consumption, or dyslipidemia. Receiver operator characteristic curves further demonstrated that baseline eGDR exhibited significantly better predictive performance than the triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index, obesity indices, and the TyG index-obesity composite. Conclusions Low level baseline eGDR is associated with an increased risk of CVD in individuals without diabetes. This finding may help improve risk stratification to guide preventive measures and enhance the prognosis of CVD.
Cardiovascular diseases is the leading cause of threat to human life and health worldwide. Early risk assessment, timely diagnosis, and prognosis evaluation are critical to the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Currently, the evaluation of diagnosis and prognosis of cardiovascular diseases mainly relies on imaging examinations such as coronary CT and coronary angiography, which are expensive, time-consuming, partly invasive, and require high professional competence of the operator, making it difficult to promote in the community or in areas where medical resources are scarce. The fundus microcirculation is a part of the human microcirculation and has similar embryological origins and physiopathological features to cardiovascular circulation. Several studies have revealed fundus imaging biomarkers associated with cardiovascular diseases, and developed and validated intelligent diagnosis and treatment models for cardiovascular diseases based on fundus imaging data. Fundus imaging is expected to be an important adjunct to cardiovascular disease diagnosis and treatment given its noninvasive and convenient nature. The purpose of this review is to summarize the current research status, challenges, and future prospects of the application of artificial intelligence based on multimodal fundus imaging data in cardiovascular disease diagnosis and treatment.