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The specific mechanism of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) remains elusive. The present study aimed to explore the underlying mechanism of PAH through the identity of novel biomarkers for PAH using metabolomics approach. Serum samples from 40 patients with idiopathic PAH (IPAH), 20 patients with congenital heart disease‐associated PAH (CHD‐PAH) and 20 healthy controls were collected and analysed by ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with high‐resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC‐HRMS). Orthogonal partial least square‐discriminate analysis (OPLS‐DA) was applied to screen potential biomarkers. These results were validated in monocrotaline (MCT)‐induced PAH rat model. The OPLS‐DA model was successful in screening distinct metabolite signatures which distinguished IPAH and CHD‐PAH patients from healthy controls, respectively (26 and 15 metabolites). Unbiased analysis from OPLS‐DA identified 31 metabolites from PAH patients which were differentially regulated compared to the healthy controls. Our analysis showed dysregulation of the different metabolic pathways, including lipid metabolism, glucose metabolism, amino acid metabolism and phospholipid metabolism pathways in PAH patients compared to their healthy counterpart. Among these metabolites from dysregulated metabolic pathways, a panel of metabolites from lipid metabolism and fatty acid oxidation (lysophosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylcholine, perillic acid, palmitoleic acid, N‐acetylcholine‐d‐sphingomyelin, oleic acid, palmitic acid and 2‐Octenoylcarnitine metabolites) were found to have a close association with PAH. The results from the analysis of both real‐time quantitative PCR and Western blot showed that expression of LDHA, CD36, FASN, PDK1 GLUT1 and CPT‐1 in right heart/lung were significantly up‐regulated in MCT group than the control group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: A hydrogen ion supercapacitor cell was constructed with an electrochemical double‐layer carbon material as positive electrode and an electrochemical hydrogen storage composite material as negative electrode. The electrochemical performances of both electrodes and hybrid device were investigated by varying of the mass ratio of positive and negative electrode. It was found to be that both electrodes went through the different hydrogen ion storage processes and the capacity of this hybrid supercapacitor was highly correlated with the negative to the positive electrode ratio. The highest capacity was achieved at ratio of 1:7; further increasing of this ratio may downgrade the performance of the hybrid system. With this optimized ratio, the hybrid device demonstrated good electrochemical performance. Novelty Statement: A new hybrid supercapacitor is developed using an electrochemical hydrogen storage cobalt/carbon composite material as negative electrode and a double‐layer porous carbon material as positive electrode. In this device, the charge carrier is hydrogen ions generated through the electrolysis of the aqueous electrolyte and, like lithium ion supercapacitor, the H ions rock‐chaired between positive and negative electrode during the operation. The structure of this new device is engineered, and the energy storage and conversion mechanisms on both electrodes during the operation are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Point spread function (PSF) modeling is important for the characterization of the imaging performance of a photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) system. This work aims to study the degradation mechanism of PSF in PACT and investigate the impact of the shape of detection geometry on PSF. PSF modeling of three typical two-dimensional detection geometries, including circular, curved, and linear detector arrays, is presented. Based on the non-ideal detection geometries, the effect of detector bandwidth and detector aperture on PSF is also investigated. Moreover, PSFs of each geometry with typical detector bandwidths and typical detector aperture sizes are presented. Experiments are conducted to validate the results. The proposed PSF modeling approach and corresponding results can help predict and interpret the quality of photoacoustic images produced by a practical PACT system. It is beneficial for the design of detector arrays for enhanced imaging performance.

The development of fast and accurate image reconstruction algorithms under constrained data acquisition conditions is important for photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT). Sparse-view measurements have been used to accelerate data acquisition and reduce system complexity; however, reconstructed images suffer from sparsity-induced streak artifacts. In this paper, a modified back-projection (BP) method termed anti-streak BP is proposed to suppress streak artifacts in sparse-view PACT reconstruction. During the reconstruction process, the anti-streak BP finds the back-projection terms contaminated by high-intensity sources with an outlier detection method. Then, the weights of the contaminated back-projection terms are adaptively adjusted to eliminate the effects of high-intensity sources. The proposed anti-streak BP method is compared with the conventional BP method on both simulation and in vivo data. The anti-streak BP method shows substantially fewer artifacts in the reconstructed images, and the streak index is 54% and 20% lower than that of the conventional BP method on simulation and in vivo data, when the transducer number N =128. The anti-streak BP method is a powerful improvement of the BP method with the ability of artifact suppression.

Accurate preoperative differentiation of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the setting of cirrhotic liver is of great clinical significance because the treatment and prognosis of these entities differ markedly. Through a retrospectively research, we sought to determine the diagnostic performances of intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) parameters in the differentiating of ICC and HCC. According to the results, we found that apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) derived from mono-exponential model and true ADC (ADC slow ) derived from bi-exponential model can be used to distinguish the ICC and HCC, and ADC slow entailed the higher diagnostic performance than ADC. However, pseudo-ADC (ADC fast ) and perfusion fraction (f) can not be used to differentiate ICC and HCC. These results suggested that IVIM and DWI parameters can be useful in differentiating ICC and HCC and might be helpful in selecting the treatment plan and predicting prognosis., Competing Interests: CONFLICTS OF INTEREST Competing financial interests: The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Objective: Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator has become the first-line therapy for prevention of sudden cardiac death. Controversial results still exist regarding the effectiveness of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) in non-ischemic heart failure., Methods: The PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central databases were searched for randomized trials comparing implantable cardioverter-defibrillator in combination with medical treatment versus medical treatment for non-ischemic heart failure. The primary endpoint was incidence of all-cause death. We derived pooled risk ratios with fixed-effects models., Results: Five studies enrolling 2573 patients were included. Compared with medical treatment, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator with medical treatment was associated with a significantly lower risk for all-cause mortality (Risk ratio: 0.83; 95% confidence interval 0.71 to 0.97)., Conclusion: Compared with medical treatment only, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator in combination with medical treatment reduces all-cause mortality.

The aim of the study was to determine whether extrapancreatic inflammation on computed tomography (EPIC) is helpful in predicting organ failure in the early phase of acute pancreatitis (AP) as defined by the 2012 revised Atlanta classification.Patients (n = 208) who underwent abdominal computed tomography (CT) within 24 hours after AP onset and admission were retrospectively identified. Each patient's EPIC score, Balthazar score, bedside index of severity in acute pancreatitis (BISAP), and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score were obtained. Primary endpoints were organ failure occurrence and death. Scores were evaluated by receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC) analysis.Median age was 45 years (range: 18-83 years). Forty-seven patients (22.6%) developed organ failure, and 5 patients (2.4%) developed infection and underwent surgery. Two patients died. The median EPIC score was 2 (range: 0-7). EPIC score accuracy (AUC = 0.724) in predicting organ failure was similar to that of BISAP (0.773) and SIRS (0.801) scores, whereas Balthazar scoring was not significant (P = .293). An EPIC score of 3 or greater had a sensitivity and specificity of 80.65% and 63.16%, respectively. EPIC scores correlated moderately with organ failure severity (Spearman r = 0.321) and number of failed organs (r = 0.343).The EPIC scoring system can be useful in predicting the occurrence of organ failure, but it does not differentiate severity and number of failed organs in early phase AP.

Objective: To analyze the clinical outcomes of emergency percutaneous intervention in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) during hospital, and to find the relevant risk factors for the prognosis and cardiac events. 
 Methods: We retrospective analyzed the patient with acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction, who was successfully performed emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the Cardiac Cath Lab of the Second Xiangya Hospital from January 2010 to December 2014. According to situation for cardiovascular events, patients were divided into 2 groups. The clinical factors were compared between the 2 groups.
 Results: The incidence of adverse event was 22% (67/304). By using t test and χ2 analysis, we found that Cr, NT-proBNP, HCT, WBC, age>75, Killip grade≥2, TIMI flow after PCI≤2, arrhythmia, multi-vessel lesion, ST-segment resolution≥50%, long D2B time are statistically different between the 2 groups. Logistic analysis revealed that HCT, NT-proBNP, Killip grade≥2, TIMI flow after PCI≤2, ST-segment resolution≥50%, long D2B time were important predictors for cardiac events in-hospital.
 Conclusion: HCT, NT-proBNP, Killip grade≥2, TIMI flow after PCI≤2, ST-segment resolution≥50%, long D2B time are important predictors for cardiac events in-hospital. The prognosis for AMI patient after emergency PCI could be improved and the incidence of cardiac event in hospital could be reduced if the high risk factors can be properly handled.

Objective: To explore the impact of sitagliptin on aspirin resistance (AR) in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
, Methods: A total of 68 cases of AR were chosen from 136 cases of T2DM patients. The clinical data, including blood samples, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbAlc), and high sensitive C reactive protein (hs-CRP) were collected. Aenosine diphosphate (ADP) and arachidonic acid (AA) -induced platelet aggregation rate (PAG) were detected in 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after the treatment to evaluate the impact of sitagliptin on AR. 
, Results: After 6 months of hypoglycemic treatment, FPG and HbAlc in two groups were at the normal level. The hypoglycemic effect was not obviously different (P>0.05), but the hsCRP and ADP or AA-induced PAG were decreased in the sitagliptin group with statistical significance when compared with the metformin group (P<0.05).
, Conclusion: Sitagliptin can significantly improve the oxidative stress inflammatory state in T2DM patients and AR, which is independent on blood glucose control.