Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) has become one of the most prevalent chronic liver diseases worldwide, bringing risk of multiorgan disfunctions including cardiovascular events, complications of cirrhosis, and even malignance. In terms of health burden management, screening patients with high risk of MAFLD and providing individual comprehensive treatment is critical. Although there are numerous agents entering clinical trials for MAFLD treatment every year, there is still no effective approved drug. The nomenclature of MAFLD highlighted the concomitant metabolic disorders and obesity. MAFLD patients with type 2 diabetes had higher risk of developing liver cirrhosis and cancer, and would benefit from anti-hyperglycemic agents; overweight and obese patients may benefit more from weight loss therapies; for patients with metabolic syndrome, individual comprehensive management is needed to reduce the risk of adverse outcomes. In this review, we introduced the current status and advances of the treatment of MAFLD based on weight loss, improving insulin resistance, and management of cardiometabolic disorders, in order to provide individualized therapy approaches for patients with MAFLD.
Hypertension is the leading risk factor for global mortality and morbidity and those with hypertension are more likely to develop severe symptoms in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular system, which is closely related to abnormal renin-angiotensin system and elabela/apelin-apelin receptor (APJ) axis. The elabela/apelin-APJ axis exerts essential roles in regulating blood pressure levels, vascular tone, and cardiovascular dysfunction in hypertension by counterbalancing the action of the angiotensin II/angiotensin II type 1 receptor axis and enhancing the endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase/NO signaling. Furthermore, the elabela/apelin-APJ axis demonstrates beneficial effects in cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology, including angiogenesis, cellular proliferation, fibrosis, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and cardiovascular remodeling and dysfunction during hypertension. More importantly, effects of the elabela/apelin-APJ axis on vascular tone may depend upon blood vessel type or various pathological conditions. Intriguingly, the broad distribution of elabela/apelin and alternative isoforms implicates its distinct functions in diverse cardiac and vascular cells and tissue types. Finally, both loss-of-function and gain-of-function approaches have defined critical roles of the elabela/apelin-APJ axis in reducing the development and severity of hypertensive diseases. Thus, targeting the elabela/apelin-APJ axis has emerged as a pre-warning biomarker and a novel therapeutic approach against progression of hypertension, and an increased understanding of cardiovascular actions of the elabela/apelin-APJ axis will help to develop effective interventions for hypertension. In this review, we focus on the physiology and biochemistry, diverse actions, and underlying mechanisms of the elabela/apelin-APJ axis, highlighting its role in hypertension and hypertensive cardiovascular injury and dysfunction, with a view to provide a prospective strategy for hypertensive disease therapy.
Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) has become indispensable in the current management of hypertension. ABPM is particularly useful in the accurate diagnosis of hypertension. Its diagnostic thresholds had been recently established based on hard clinical outcomes. Cross-classification of patients according to office and ambulatory blood pressure identifies white-coat, masked, and sustained hypertension. ABPM is also useful in cardiovascular (CV) risk assessment. It provides information on daytime and nighttime blood pressure and circadian rhythm, particularly nighttime blood pressure dipping. Nighttime blood pressure is predictive of CV risk independent of office and daytime blood pressure. Isolated nocturnal hypertension is a special form of masked hypertension, with normal daytime but elevated nocturnal blood pressure. It also helps in the evaluation of blood pressure fluctuation and variation, such as morning blood pressure surge and reading-to-reading blood pressure variability. ABPM may derive several other indexes, such as ambulatory blood pressure index and salt sensitivity index, which may be useful in CV evaluations.
Yongjun Liu, Xiangyou Yu, Duming Zhu, Jun Zeng, Qinhan Lin, Bin Zang, Chuanxi Chen, Ning Liu, Xiao Liu, Wei Gao 等
中华医学杂志英文版2022年 135卷 09期
DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000001912
摘要
Background:
Ciprofol (HSK3486; Haisco Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., Chengdu, China), developed as a novel 2,6-disubstituted phenol derivative showed similar tolerability and efficacy characteristics as propofol when applicated as continuous intravenous infusion for 12 h maintenance sedation in a previous phase 1 trial. The phase 2 trial was designed to investigate the safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetic characteristics of ciprofol for sedation of patients undergoing mechanical ventilation.
Methods:
In this multicenter, open label, randomized, propofol positive-controlled, phase 2 trial, 39 Chinese intensive care unit patients receiving mechanical ventilation were enrolled and randomly assigned to a ciprofol or propofol group in a 2:1 ratio. The ciprofol infusion was started with a loading infusion of 0.1-0.2 mg/kg for 0.5-5.0 min, followed by an initial maintenance infusion rate of 0.30 mg·kg-1·h-1, which could be adjusted to an infusion rate of 0.06 to 0.80 mg·kg-1·h-1, whereas for propofol the loading infusion dose was 0.5-1.0 mg/kg for 0.5-5.0 min, followed by an initial maintenance infusion rate of 1.50 mg·kg-1·h-1, which could be adjusted to 0.30-4.00 mg·kg-1·h-1 to achieve -2 to +1 Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale sedation within 6-24 h of drug administration.
Results:
Of the 39 enrolled patients, 36 completed the trial. The median (min, max) of the average time to sedation compliance values for ciprofol and propofol were 60.0 (52.6, 60.0) min and 60.0 (55.2, 60.0) min, with median difference of 0.00 (95% confidence interval: 0.00, 0.00). In total, 29 (74.4%) patients comprising 18 (69.2%) in the ciprofol and 11 (84.6%) in the propofol group experienced 86 treatment emergent adverse events (TEAEs), the majority being of severity grade 1 or 2. Drug- and sedation-related TEAEs were hypotension (7.7% vs. 23.1%, P = 0.310) and sinus bradycardia (3.8% vs. 7.7%, P = 1.000) in the ciprofol and propofol groups, respectively. The plasma concentration-time curves for ciprofol and propofol were similar.
Conclusions:
ciprofol is comparable to propofol with good tolerance and efficacy for sedation of Chinese intensive care unit patients undergoing mechanical ventilation in the present study setting.
Trial registration:
ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04147416.
Sanbao Chai, Shanshan Wu, Sixu Xin, Ning Yuan, Jianbin Sun, Xiaomei Zhang, Linong Ji
中华医学杂志英文版2022年 135卷 09期
DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000001914
摘要
Background:
Time in range (TIR) refers to the time an individual spends within their target glucose range, which now has been popularized as an important metric to classify glycemic management and also recognized as an important outcome of current diabetes therapies. This study aimed to investigate the association between TIR and the severity of the urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
Methods:
We retrospectively analyzed the data of 1014 inpatients with T2DM at the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism of Peking University International Hospital, China. TIR was defined as the percentage of blood glucose within the target range of 3.90-10.00 mmol/L. Urine samples for assessment of UAER were collected for 3 consecutive days from the start of hospitalization.
Results:
The TIR values for patients with normal urine levels of albumin, microalbuminuria, and macroalbuminuria were 70% ± 20%, 50% ± 20%, and 30% ± 20%, respectively (all P < 0.001). The patients were stratified according to quartiles of TIR as follows: quartile (Q) 1, <55%; Q2, 55%-72%; Q3, 73%-83%; and Q4, >83%. The incidences of microalbuminuria in Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 were 41.1%, 21.6%, 7.1%, and 5.5% (all P < 0.001), respectively. The respective incidences of macroalbuminuria were 24.2%, 1.1%, 1.4%, and 0% (all P < 0.001). In multinomial logistic regression analyses, TIR was significantly correlated with microalbuminuria (odds ratio [OR] 0.58, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.52-0.65, P < 0.001) and macroalbuminuria (OR 0.26, 95% CI: 0.18-0.38, P < 0.001) after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, diabetes duration, systolic blood pressure, and levels of triglycerides, glycosylated hemoglobin A1c, and creatinine.
Conclusion:
The proportion of blood glucose in TIR is closely related to the severity of UAER in patients with T2DM.
Background:
Gestational weight gain (GWG) is associated with the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). However, the effect of weight gain in different trimesters on the risk of GDM is unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of GWG on GDM during different trimesters.
Methods:
A birth cohort study was conducted from 2017 to 2020 in Shenzhen, China. In total, 51,205 participants were included comprising two models (early pregnancy model and middle pregnancy model). Gestational weight (kg) was measured at each prenatal clinical visit using a standardized weight scale. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the risk of GDM. Interaction analysis and mediation effect analysis were performed in the middle pregnancy model.
Results:
In the early pregnancy model, the risk of GDM was 0.858 times lower (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.786, 0.937) with insufficient GWG (iGWG) and 1.201 times higher (95% CI: 1.097, 1.316) with excessive GWG after adjustment. In the middle pregnancy model, the risk of GDM associated with iGWG increased 1.595 times (95% CI: 1.418, 1.794) after adjustment; for excessive GWG, no significant difference was found (P = 0.223). Interaction analysis showed no interaction between GWG in early pregnancy (GWG-E) and GWG in middle pregnancy (GWG-M) (F = 1.268; P = 0.280). The mediation effect analysis indicated that GWG-M plays a partial mediating role, with an effect proportion of 14.9%.
Conclusions:
eGWG-E and iGWG-M are associated with an increased risk of GDM. Strict control of weight gain in early pregnancy is needed, and sufficient nutrition should be provided in middle pregnancy.
Xi Rui, Fen Dong, Xudong Ma, Longxiang Su, Guangliang Shan, Yanhong Guo, Yun Long, Dawei Liu, Xiang Zhou
中华医学杂志英文版2022年 135卷 09期
DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000001933
摘要
Background:
It is crucial to improve the quality of care provided to ICU patient, therefore a national survey of the medical quality of intensive care units (ICUs) was conducted to analyze adherence to quality metrics and outcomes among critically ill patients in China from 2015 to 2019.
Methods:
This was an ICU-level study based on a 15-indicator online survey conducted in China. Considering that ICU care quality may vary between secondary and tertiary hospitals, direct standardization was adopted to compare the rates of ICU quality indicators among provinces/regions. Multivariate analysis was performed to identify potential factors for in-hospital mortality and factors related to ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs), and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs).
Results:
From the survey, the proportions of structural indicators were 1.83% for the number of ICU inpatients relative to the total number of inpatients, 1.44% for ICU bed occupancy relative to the total inpatient bed occupancy, and 51.08% for inpatients with Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II scores ≥15. The proportions of procedural indicators were 74.37% and 76.60% for 3-hour and 6-hour surviving sepsis campaign bundle compliance, respectively, 62.93% for microbiology detection, 58.24% for deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis, 1.49% for unplanned endotracheal extubations, 1.99% for extubated inpatients reintubated within 48 hours, 6.38% for unplanned transfer to the ICU, and 1.20% for 48-hour ICU readmission. The proportions of outcome indicators were 1.28‰ for VAP, 3.06‰ for CRBSI, 3.65‰ for CAUTI, and 10.19% for in-hospital mortality. Although the indicators varied greatly across provinces and regions, the treatment level of ICUs in China has been stable and improved based on various quality control indicators in the past 5 years. The overall mortality rate has dropped from 10.19% to approximately 8%.
Conclusions:
The quality indicators of medical care in China’s ICUs are heterogeneous, which is reflected in geographic disparities and grades of hospitals. This study is of great significance for improving the homogeneity of ICUs in China.
Background:
Fibrosis in the peripheral airways contributes to airflow limitation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, the key proteins involved in its development are still poorly understood. Thus, we aimed to identify the differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) between smoker patients with and without COPD and elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved by investigating the effects of the identified biomarker candidate on lung fibroblasts.
Methods:
The potential DEPs were identified by isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ)-based proteomic analysis. The messenger RNA and protein levels of clusterin (CLU) in COPD patients and 12% cigarette smoke extract (CSE)-treated human bronchial epithelial cells were determined at the indicated time points. Furthermore, an in vitro COPD model was established via the administration of 8% CSE to normal human lung fibroblasts (NHLFs) at indicated time points. The effects of CSE treatment and CLU silencing on proliferation and activation of lung fibroblasts were analyzed.
Results:
A total of 144 DEPs were identified between COPD patients and normal smokers. The iTRAQ-based proteomics and bioinformatics analyses identified CLU as a serum biomarker candidate. We also discovered that CLU levels were significantly increased (P < 0.0001) in Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease II, III, and IV patients and correlated (P < 0.0001) with forced expiratory volume in 1 s (R=-0.7705), residual volume (RV) (R = 0.6281), RV/total lung capacity (R = 0.5454), and computerized tomography emphysema (R = 0.7878). Similarly, CLU levels were significantly increased in CSE-treated cells at indicated time points (P < 0.0001). The CSE treatment significantly inhibited the proliferation, promoted the inflammatory response, differentiation of NHLFs, and collagen matrix deposition, and induced the apoptosis of NHLFs; however, these effects were partially reversed by CLU silencing.
Conclusion:
Our findings suggest that CLU may play significant roles during airway fibrosis in COPD by regulating lung fibroblast activation.
Xiaoming Yan, Fangzhao Yin, Cuiping Xu, Tao Yu, Xiaonan Li, Wei Wang, Xi Zhang, Kai Ma, Guojun Zhang
中华医学杂志英文版2022年 135卷 09期
DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000001909
摘要
Background:
The combination of high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) with single-mode imaging methods has been proved useful in identifying epileptogenic zones, whereas few studies have examined HFOs combined with multimodal imaging methods. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of ripples, an HFO subtype with a frequency of 80 to 200 Hz is combined with multimodal imaging methods in predicting epilepsy surgery outcome.
Methods:
HFOs were analyzed in 21 consecutive medically refractory epilepsy patients who underwent epilepsy surgery. All patients underwent positron emission tomography (PET) and deep electrode implantation for stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG); 11 patients underwent magnetoencephalography (MEG). Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy in predicting surgical outcome were calculated for ripples combined with PET, MEG, both PET and MEG, and PET combined with MEG. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were conducted in each group to estimate prognostic value.
Results:
The study included 13 men and 8 women. Accuracy for ripples, PET, and MEG alone in predicting surgical outcome was 42.9%, 42.9%, and 81.8%, respectively. Accuracy for ripples combined with PET and MEG was the highest. Resection of regions identified by ripples, MEG dipoles, and combined PET findings was significantly associated with better surgical outcome (P < 0.05).
Conclusions:
Intracranial electrodes are essential to detect regions which generate ripples and to remove these areas which indicate good surgical outcome for medically intractable epilepsy. With the assistance of presurgical noninvasive imaging examinations, PET and MEG, for example, the SEEG electrodes would identify epileptogenic regions more effectively.