Open clinical trial data provide a valuable opportunity for researchers worldwide to assess new hypotheses, validate published results, and collaborate for scientific advances in medical research. Here, we present a health dataset for the non-invasive detection of cardiovascular disease (CVD), containing 657 data segments from 219 subjects. The dataset covers an age range of 20–89 years and records of diseases including hypertension and diabetes. Data acquisition was carried out under the control of standard experimental conditions and specifications. This dataset can be used to carry out the study of photoplethysmograph (PPG) signal quality evaluation and to explore the intrinsic relationship between the PPG waveform and cardiovascular disease to discover and evaluate latent characteristic information contained in PPG signals. These data can also be used to study early and noninvasive screening of common CVD such as hypertension and other related CVD diseases such as diabetes.

Cold-inducible RNA-binding protein (CIRP) is an RNA-binding protein that is expressed in normal testes and downregulated after heat stress caused by cryptorchidism, varicocele or environmental temperatures. The purpose of this study was to investigate the functions of CIRP in the testes. We employed RNAi technique to knock down the expression of CIRP in the testes, and performed haematoxylin and eosin staining to evaluate morphological changes following knockdown. Germ cell apoptosis was examined by terminal deoxynucleotidal transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL) assay, and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling pathways were investigated by Western blotting to determine the possible mechanism of apoptosis. We found that using siRNA is a feasible and reliable method for knocking down gene expression in the testes. Compared to controls, the mean seminiferous tubule diameter (MSTD) and the thickness of the germ cell layers decreased following siRNA treatment, whereas the percentage of apoptotic seminiferous tubules increased. The p44/p42, p38 and SAPK/JNK MAPK pathways were activated after downregulation of CIRP. In conclusion, we discovered that downregulation of CIRP resulted in increased germ cell apoptosis, possibly via the activation of the p44/p42, p38 and SAPK/JNK MAPK pathways.

Dexmedetomidine has beneficial effects on long term inflammation induced by renal ischemia/reperfusion injury. Its mechanisms may be achieved through inhibiting the HMGB1/TLR4 pathway to exert protective effects.

We aimed to compare the differences of the effects on chronic myocardial ischemia (MI) of acupuncture at PC6 and ST36. The chronic MI model of minipigs was created by implanting an Ameroid constrictor on the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) and then two weeks' acupuncture was stimulated at PC6 or ST36, respectively. The results showed that both acupoints' stimulation decreased the serous cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and ischemia modified albumin (IMA) significantly and improved the ischemic ECG changes. The amplitude of pathological Q wave in the PC6 group decreased more significantly than that of the ST36 group. The cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) results showed that the decreased left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was not improved obviously in both groups. The left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV) and left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV) enlarged progressively even after acupuncture. The left ventricular wall mass (LVWM) in the ST36 group increased more obviously than that of the PC6 group, which paralleled the decreasing angiotensin II (Ang II) concentration in the plasma. These results suggested that acupuncture at PC6 or ST36 was effective for protecting the myocardium from chronic ischemic injury, and the effect of PC6 seemed to be better.

Cardiovascular disease has become a great threat to the health of mankind; current titanium (Ti) stents fail due to late stent thrombosis caused by the lack of re-endothelialization of the Ti stent. The objective of this study was to design a novel cardiovascular Ti implant with improved surface biocompatibility. TiO nanotubes with a diameter of 110 nm were anodized at a constant voltage of 30 V, and fibronectin was immobilized onto the TiO nanotubes using polydopamine. The element composition, morphology, and wettability of the different substrate surfaces were characterized by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and contact angle measurements, respectively, confirming the successful immobilization of fibronectin. In vitro experiments including immunofluorescence staining, Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), and nitric oxide (NO) and prostacyclin (PGI2) release demonstrate that fibronectin modified TiO nanotubes supported cell adhesion, proliferation, and normal cellular functions of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). These methodologies can be applied for future fabrication of cardiovascular stents.

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