4.

PEID shows a satisfying outcome with a minimal rate of complications. It has the advantages of minimal traumatization and scar formation and is a safe and effective treatment for PLDH.

Background: Soluble suppression of tumorigenicity (sST2) has been proposed to be a marker for biomechanical strain and a possible predictor of mortality in patients with chronic heart failure. The use of sST2 in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has not been well defined. Hypothesis: Plasma sST2 levels may correlate with the disease severity and predict clinical worsening in PAH. Methods: We performed a cohort study of 40 idiopathic PAH patients with data on demographics, exercise capacity, echocardiographic parameters, laboratory tests, hemodynamics, and medications. Plasma sST2 was assessed with the high-sensitivity ST2 ELISA kit at diagnostic catheterization. All patients were followed up from the date of blood sampling. The endpoint was clinical worsening. Results: sST2 was significantly elevated in patients with idiopathic PAH compared with control subjects (28.9 ± 13.9 vs 20.7 ± 7.5 ng/mL, P = 0.003). Pearson correlation analysis revealed that sST2 levels correlated with cardiac index (r = −0.534, P = 0.000) and pulmonary vascular resistance (r = 0.350, P = 0.027), and could reflect disease severity of PAH. After a mean follow-up of 14 ± 5 months, 12 patients showed clinical worsening. Receiver operating characteristic analysis suggested that sST2 levels >31.4 ng/mL discriminated clinical worsening with a sensitivity and specificity of 83.3% and 78.6%, respectively. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that higher sST2 levels (>31.4 ng/mL) were associated with poor clinical outcomes (P = 0.008). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that sST2 was an independent predictor of clinical worsening (hazard ratio: 6.067, 95% confidence interval: 1.317-27.948, P = 0.021). Conclusions: sST2 correlates with disease severity and is a significant predictor of clinical worsening in patients with PAH.

No abstract

A rat model of type II diabetic neuropathic pain can be established by feeding rats a high-fat, high-sugar diet for 8 weeks, in combination with intraperitoneal injection of 35 mg/kg STZ. This model can be stably maintained for at least 2 weeks.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract