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Background: Pulmonary artery involvement (PAI) is not rare in Takayasu arteritis (TA). Persistently elevated pulmonary arterial pressure in TA‐PAI patients leads to pulmonary hypertension (PH), and eventually cardiac death. Thus, the early detection of right ventricular dysfunction before the onset of PH is important. Purpose: To explore the potential of right ventricular global peak longitudinal and circumferential strain (RVGLS and RVGCS, respectively) in detecting right ventricular myocardial damage in TA‐PAI patients without PH. Study Type: Retrospective. Population: One hundred and six TA patients (39.6 ± 13.9 years), of whom 52 were non‐PAI and 54 were PAI patients (36 without PH and 18 with PH), along with 58 sex‐ and age‐matched healthy volunteers (HVs) (36.7 ± 13.2 years). The involved arteries were validated by aorta magnetic resonance (MR) angiography and pulmonary artery computed tomography angiography. Field Strength/Sequence: 3 T/Cine imaging sequence with a steady‐state free precession readout. Assessment: Cardiac MRI‐derived parameters measured by two radiologists independently were compared among HVs, and TA patients with and without PAI. In addition, these indices were further compared among HVs, and TA‐PAI patients with and without PH. Statistical Tests: Student's t test, one‐way ANOVA analysis, Pearson and Spearman correlation analysis, and reproducibility analysis. A P‐value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Although the TA‐PAI patients without PH had a similar RV ejection fraction (RVEF) with HV (P = 0.348), RVGLS (non‐PH 20.6 ± 3.7% vs. HV 24.0 ± 3.1%) was significantly lower and RVGCS (non‐PH 14.8 ± 3.9% vs. HV 13.0 ± 2.7%) higher. The TA‐PAI patients with PH had significantly poorer RVGLS (PH 13.5 ± 3.8% vs. non‐PH 20.6 ± 3.7%) and RVGCS (PH 10.9 ± 3.2% vs. non‐PH 14.8 ± 3.9%) than those without PH. Data Conclusion: Right ventricular dysfunction was detected in the TA‐PAI patients without PH. MR‐feature tracking may be an effective method for detecting early cardiac damage in the TA‐PAI patients without PH. Level of Evidence: 3 Technical Efficacy: Stage 3 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Xuanfei Baidu (XFBD) prescription, a traditional Chinese medicine prescription, has demonstrated significant anti‐inflammatory activities; however, the number of its reported constituents is limited, and its anti‐inflammatory constituents are unclear. In this study, the constituents of XFBD granule, a granule dosage of XFBD prescription, were thoroughly examined in vitro and in vivo using liquid chromatography–quadruple‐time‐of‐flight–mass spectrometry, and the anti‐inflammatory constituents were screened. A total of 214 constituents were identified from the XFBD granule, 62 of which were confirmed via comparison with reference standards. After intragastric administration of XFBD granule, 63 and 28 constituents were absorbed into the rat sera and lungs in prototype form, respectively. XFBD granule and XFBD‐containing serum were found to significantly reduce nitric oxide (NO) and interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) secretion in lipopolysaccharide‐induced RAW264.7 cells. Five anti‐inflammatory constituents (verbasoside, scutellarin, luteolin, apigenin, and pogostone) were found to reduce the concentration of NO and IL‐6 in a dose‐dependent manner. Moreover, the combination of these five constituents could significantly reduce NO secretion even when the concentration of each constituent was two to three orders of magnitude lower than their individual minimum effective concentrations. Overall, this study provides a valuable reference for the discovery of effective constituents from the XFBD granule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To predict the vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) efficacy for pediatric drug‐resistant epilepsy (DRE) patients, we aim to identify preimplantation biomarkers through clinical features and electroencephalogram (EEG) signals and thus establish a predictive model from a multi‐modal feature set with high prediction accuracy. Methods: Sixty‐five pediatric DRE patients implanted with VNS were included and followed up. We explored the topological network and entropy features of preimplantation EEG signals to identify the biomarkers for VNS efficacy. A Support Vector Machine (SVM) integrated these biomarkers to distinguish the efficacy groups. Results: The proportion of VNS responders was 58.5% (38/65) at the last follow‐up. In the analysis of parieto‐occipital α band activity, higher synchronization level and nodal efficiency were found in responders. The central‐frontal θ band activity showed significantly lower entropy in responders. The prediction model reached an accuracy of 81.5%, a precision of 80.1%, and an AUC (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve) of 0.838. Conclusion: Our results revealed that, compared to nonresponders, VNS responders had a more efficient α band brain network, especially in the parieto‐occipital region, and less spectral complexity of θ brain activities in the central‐frontal region. We established a predictive model integrating both preimplantation clinical and EEG features and exhibited great potential for discriminating the VNS responders. This study contributed to the understanding of the VNS mechanism and improved the performance of the current predictive model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Relationship between body mass index (BMI), frailty, and clinical adverse events remains unclear in patients with heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) in different patient populations. We aimed to compare the association of BMI, frailty, and clinical adverse events between a US cohort from the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist (TOPCAT) study and a Chinese cohort from the Heart Failure Registry of Patient Outcomes (HERO) study. Methods and results: We used data of 1715 participants enrolled from America in the TOPCAT study and 1487 patients with HFpEF in the Chinese registry study, the HERO. We evaluated the relationship between BMI and frailty using multivariate restricted cubic spline logistic regression. Association between frailty and BMI categories and primary outcomes including HF hospitalization, aborted sudden death, and cardiovascular death, all‐cause mortality, and HF hospitalization were analysed by Cox proportional hazards models. The patients' mean age was 72 ± 11 years for both study populations, with 50% and 46% female for the TOPCAT study and the HERO study, respectively. Patients in the TOPCAT study had a higher mean BMI (33.9 vs. 24 kg/m2), with 72.3% vs. 52.9% defined as moderately to severely frail (frailty index > 0.3). In the TOPCAT study, risk of frailty rose as BMI increased, but not in the HERO study. Patients with frailty were at significant higher risk for the primary composite outcomes [hazard ratio (HR) 1.84 (95% confidence interval: 1.46–2.32)], all‐cause mortality [HR 1.73 (1.34–2.25)], and HF hospitalization [HR 1.83 (1.40–2.40)] in the TOPCAT study. The corresponding numbers in the HERO study were 1.26 (1.01–1.57), 2.21 (1.45–3.35), and 1.15 (0.81–1.37), respectively. The association of frailty with clinical outcomes did not vary with BMI categories in the two studies. Conclusions: BMI distribution and association between BMI and frailty risk were different between the two study populations. Frailty was associated with clinical adverse events and this association was consistent across different BMI categories in both studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Effects of intensive blood pressure (BP) control on cognitive outcomes in patients with excess orthostatic BP changes are unclear. We aimed to evaluate whether orthostatic BP changes modified the effects of BP intervention on cognitive impairment. Methods: We analyzed 8547 participants from the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial Memory and cognition IN Decreased Hypertension. Associations between orthostatic BP changes and incident cognitive outcomes were evaluated by restricted cubic spline curves based on Cox models. The interactions between orthostatic BP changes and intensive BP intervention were assessed. Results: The U‐shaped associations were observed between baseline orthostatic systolic BP changes and cognitive outcomes. However, there were insignificant interactions between either change in orthostatic systolic BP (P for interaction = 0.81) or diastolic BP (P for interaction = 0.32) and intensive BP intervention for the composite outcome of probable dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The hazard ratio of intensive versus standard target for the composite cognitive outcome was 0.82 (95% CI 0.50–1.35) in those with an orthostatic systolic BP reduction of >20 mmHg and 0.41 (95% CI 0.21–0.80) in those with an orthostatic systolic BP increase of >20 mmHg. Results were similar for probable dementia and MCI. The annual changes in global cerebral blood flow (P for interaction = 0.86) consistently favored intensive BP treatment across orthostatic systolic BP changes. Conclusion: Intensive BP control did not have a deteriorating effect on cognitive outcomes among hypertensive patients experiencing significant postural BP changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a joint disease characterized by articular cartilage loss, which afflicts many people worldwide. Knowing the disease severity can improve the recovery rate of OA. Antibody array technology was utilized for protein expression profiling of synovial fluid from eight mild knee OA patients, eight severe knee OA patients and 16 healthy persons. Subsequently, 48 mild OA patients, 56 severe OA patients and 24 healthy controls were utilized for validation by ELISA. In the protein expression profiling, inducible costimulator (ICOS) levels were markedly higher in OA patients compared with those in the healthy population, and were significantly higher in severe OA than those in mild OA. Furthermore, ICOS levels were shown to be significantly correlated with WOMAC, MRI‐MOAKS and MRI‐UTE‐T2* scores. The multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that higher levels of ICOS could significantly increase the risk of severe OA. Synovial ICOS levels were positively correlated with the radiographic severity of OA. ICOS may represent a biomarker for predicting the OA severity and may be involved in the development and progression of knee OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blau syndrome (BS) is a rare genetic immune disease which commonly presents in childhood. Currently, the miss‐rate of BS diagnosis is very high, and an effective clinical management of BS has not been well established. This case report depicts a 54‐year‐old male Chinese patient presenting with hand malformation, fever, skin rash and joint pain. His diagnosis was ultimately confirmed according to typical medical history and genetic analysis. This case report will further help clinicians to be aware of this rare clinical entity for correct diagnosis and proper treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify microbial signatures that contribute to the shared etiologies between chronic heart failure (CHF), type 2 diabetes, and chronic kidney disease. The serum levels of 151 microbial metabolites were measured in 260 individuals from the Risk Evaluation and Management of heart failure cohort, and it was found that those metabolites varied by an order of 105 fold. Out of 96 metabolites associated with the three cardiometabolic diseases, most were validated in two geographically independent cohorts. In all three cohorts, 16 metabolites including imidazole propionate (ImP) consistently showed significant differences. Notably, baseline ImP levels were three times higher in the Chinese compared with the Swedish cohorts and increased by 1.1–1.6 fold with each additional CHF comorbidity in the Chinese population. Cellular experiments further supported a causal link between ImP and distinct CHF relevant phenotypes. Additionally, key microbial metabolite‐based risk scores were superior in CHF prognosis than the traditional Framingham or Get with the Guidelines‐Heart Failure risk scores. Interactive visualization of these specific metabolite‐disease links is available on our omics data server (https://omicsdata.org/Apps/REM‐HF/). Synopsis: Targeted metabolomics profiling and cellular experiments revealed that many microbially associated metabolites may mediate the pathogenesis of chronic heart failure (CHF), as well as its related comorbidities including type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney diseases. Alteration of microbially associated metabolites was linked with the shared etiologies and metabolic distinctiveness of chronic heart failure and its related comorbidities.Cardiomyoblasts were used to investigate a causal link between representative metabolites and CHF phenotypes.Superior performance in predicting CHF prognosis was obtained with the metabolite‐based risk score compared to traditional heart failure risk scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium‐oxygen batteries have received great research interest owing to their ultrahigh theoretical energy density and are considered as one of the promising secondary batteries. However, there are still some challenges in their practical application, like liquid organic electrolyte evaporation in the semi‐open system and instability in the high‐voltage oxidizing environment. In this work, a cellulose acetate‐based gel polymer electrolyte (CA@GPE) is proposed, whose cross‐linked microporous structure ensures the ultrahigh liquid electrolyte uptake of 2391%. The prepared CA@GPE exhibits a high lithium‐ion transference number of 0.595, a satisfying ionic conductivity of 0.47 mS cm−1 and a wide electrochemical stability window up to 5.0 V. The Li//Li symmetric cell employing CA@GPE could cycle stably over 1200 h. The lithium‐oxygen battery with CA@GPE presents a superb cycling lifetime of 370 cycles at 0.1 mA cm−2 under 0.25 mAh cm−2. This work offers a possible strategy to realize long‐cycling stability lithium‐oxygen batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is a neuromodulation therapy for children with drug‐resistant epilepsy (DRE). The efficacy of VNS is heterogeneous. A prediction model is needed to predict the efficacy before implantation. Methods: We collected data from children with DRE who underwent VNS implantation and received regular programming for at least 1 year. Preoperative clinical information and scalp video electroencephalography (EEG) were available in 88 children. Synchronization features, including phase lag index (PLI), weighted phase lag index (wPLI), and phase‐locking value (PLV), were compared between responders and non‐responders. We further adapted a support vector machine (SVM) classifier selected from 25 clinical and 18 synchronization features to build a prediction model for efficacy in a discovery cohort (n = 70) and was tested in an independent validation cohort (n = 18). Results: In the discovery cohort, the average interictal awake PLI in the high beta band was significantly higher in responders than non‐responders (p < 0.05). The SVM classifier generated from integrating both clinical and synchronization features had the best prediction efficacy, demonstrating an accuracy of 75.7%, precision of 80.8% and area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC) of 0.766 on 10‐fold cross‐validation. In the validation cohort, the prediction model demonstrated an accuracy of 61.1%. Conclusion: This study established the first prediction model integrating clinical and baseline synchronization features for preoperative VNS responder screening among children with DRE. With further optimization of the model, we hope to provide an effective and convenient method for identifying responders before VNS implantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Multiplexing ion mobility spectrometry with multiple ion injection pulses was used to achieve a high duty cycle and thus improve the signal‐to‐noise (S/N) ratio while maintaining high resolving power compared with the traditional single‐pulse signal averaging method. Historically, an ion mobility spectrum was reconstructed by various multiplexing methods including Fourier transform ion mobility spectrometry (FT‐IMS), Hadamard transform ion mobility spectrometry (HT‐IMS), and linear frequency modulation correlation ion mobility spectrometry (LFM‐CIMS) sequence or Barker code. Methods: To achieve an artifact‐free multiplexing ion mobility spectrum, an almost perfect sequence (APS) with correlation technique was proposed to modulate the Bradbury‐Nielson ion gate and was compared with FT‐IMS, HT‐IMS, LFM‐IMS, and the traditional single‐pulse signal averaging method. Results: Experimental results showed that there are no artifact peaks in the APS‐IMS spectra except an inverted mirror peak, and the S/N ratio was improved 5–8 times with a repetition time of 40–60 ms, corresponding to the improvement in the duty cycle. With the same duty cycle and similar acquisition time, APS‐IMS showed a higher S/N ratio than HT‐IMS for its unique autocorrelation response. Conclusions: The APS‐IMS technique offered a higher duty cycle and relatively shorter modulation period compared with reported multiplexing methods and is suitable to track rapidly changing signals without losing information and adding extra transformation artifact peaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To improve the electrochemical performance of pure poly[(vinylidene fluoride)‐co‐hexafluoropropylene] (P(VDF‐HFP))‐based gel polymer electrolytes, different amounts of monodispersed ZrO2 nanoparticles were introduced to fabricate P(VDF‐HFP)/ZrO2 composite polymer electrolytes (CPEs) using the phase inversion method and activated processes, in which the monodispersed ZrO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by an easy route without any chelating agents or surfactants, and confirmed using scanning electron microscopy, particle size distribution measurement and X‐ray diffraction. The characterization results show that the as‐fabricated CPE membranes present not only an abundant porous structure, but also an improved mechanical strength. In particular, sample CPE‐5 presents the best properties when the doped content of the monodispersed ZrO2 nanoparticles reaches 5 wt% in the polymer matrix, in which the liquid uptake and ionic conductivity at room temperature are about 192.4% and 3.926 mS cm−1, and the electrochemical working window and thermal decomposition temperature can increase to 5.1 V and 420 °C, respectively. Moreover, an assembled LiCoO2/CPE‐5/Li coin cell can deliver excellent rate and cycling performance, in which the discharge specific capacity of the cell can show about 83.95% capacity retention at 2.0 C after 85 cycles. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The organic-inorganic hybrid material poly(styrene-methyl methacrylate)-silica (P(St- MMA)-SiO2) was successfully prepared by in situ polymerization confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and was employed to fabricate poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene) (P( VDF-HFP)) based composite polymer electrolyte ( CPE) membrane. Desirable CPEs can be obtained by immersing the CPE membranes into 1.0 mol L−1 LiPF6-EC/ DMC/ EMC (LiPF6 ethylene carbonate + dimethyl carbonate + ethylmethyl carbonate) liquid electrolyte for about 0.5 h for activation. The corresponding physicochemical properties were characterized by SEM, XRD, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and charge-discharge cycle testing measurements. The results indicate that the as-prepared CPEs have excellent properties when the mass ratio of the hybrid P(St- MMA)- SiO2 particles to polymer matrix P( VDF-HFP) reaches 1:10, at which point the SEM analyses show that the as-prepared P(St- MMA)- SiO2 particles are uniformly dispersed in the membrane and the CPE membrane presents a homogeneous surface with abundant interconnected micropores. The XRD results show that there may exist interaction forces between the P(St- MMA)- SiO2 particles and the polymer matrix, which can obviously decrease the crystallinity of the composite membrane. Moreover, the ionic conductivity at room temperature and the electrochemical working window of the CPE membrane can reach 3.146 mS cm−1 and 4.7 V, respectively. The assembled LiCoO2/ CPE/Li coin cell with the CPE presents excellent charge-discharge and C-rate performance, which indicates that P(St- MMA)- SiO2 hybrid material is a promising additive for the P( VDF-HFP) based CPE of the lithium ion battery. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Catestatin has been reported as a pleiotropic cardioprotective peptide. Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) was considered a heterogeneous syndrome with a complex cause. We sought to investigate the role of catestatin in HFpEF and diastolic dysfunction. METHODS AND RESULTS Administration of recombinant catestatin (1.5 mg/kg/d) improved diastolic dysfunction and left ventricular chamber stiffness in transverse aortic constriction mice with deoxycorticosterone acetate pellet implantation, as reflected by Doppler tissue imaging and pressure-volume loop catheter. Less cardiac hypertrophy and myocardial fibrosis was observed, and transcriptomic analysis revealed downregulation of mitochondrial electron transport chain components after catestatin treatment. Catestatin reversed mitochondrial structural and respiratory chain component abnormality, decreased mitochondrial proton leak, and reactive oxygen species generation in myocardium. Excessive oxidative stress induced by Ru360 abolished catestatin treatment effects on HFpEF-like cardiomyocytes in vitro, indicating the beneficial role of catestatin in HFpEF as a mitochondrial ETC modulator. The serum concentration of catestatin was tested among 81 patients with HFpEF and 76 non-heart failure controls. Compared with control subjects, serum catestatin concentration was higher in patients with HFpEF and positively correlated with E velocity to mitral annular e' velocity ratio, indicating a feedback compensation role of catestatin in HFpEF. Conclusions Catestatin protects against diastolic dysfunction in HFpEF through attenuating mitochondrial electron transport chain-derived reactive oxygen species generation. Serum catestatin concentration is elevated in patients with HFpEF, probably as a relatively insufficient but self-compensatory mechanism.

Background Frailty and cognitive impairment are common in the elderly, with various shared risk factors like hypertension. Frailty is a marker for future cognitive function. Moreover, whether intensive blood pressure interacted with frailty and cognitive impairment is unknown. Methods and Results We performed a post hoc analysis of data from SPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial). The relationship between frailty and a composite of probable dementia (PD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) was analyzed. Also, we evaluated the interaction of intensive blood pressure lowering in the relationship between frailty and cognitive impairment. A total of 8537 patients were included in our study, and 35.1% were women. The mean age of these participants was 67.9±9.3 years. According to the baseline frailty index, 1670, 4637, and 2230 patients were in fit, less fit, and frail statuses, respectively. During a mean follow-up of 4.61 years, 871 cases of PD or MCI occurred. Compared with those in fit status, those with less fit (hazard ratio [HR], 2.14 [95% CI, 1.65-2.77]) and frailty (HR, 4.28 [95% CI, 3.26-5.61]) status had a higher incidence of a composite of PD and MCI. Blood pressure control strategy interacted with the correlation between frailty and cognitive impairment. Intensive blood pressure control (HR, 2.4 [95% CI, 2.0-2.8]) accelerated the relationship between frailty and incidence of PD and MCI compared with the standard treatment group (HR, 1.8 [95% CI, 1.5-2.1]; P for interaction=0.009). Conclusions This study found that the baseline frailty status was a possible marker for the incidence of a composite of PD and MCI. Intensive blood pressure control may strengthen this correlation. Registration URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/; Unique identifier: NCT01206062.