Metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease among adult cancer patients: results from NHANES 2007-2018.

BACKGROUND: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), and CVD is a major challenge for cancer patients. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and association of MetS and CVD among adult cancer patients. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included cancer patients aged > 18 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2007 to 2018. The prevalence of MetS and CVD was calculated using weighted analysis. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the association between MetS and CVD. RESULTS: The study included 2658 adult cancer patients, of whom 1260 exhibited MetS and 636 had CVD. The weighted prevalence of MetS and CVD in cancer patients was 45.44%, and 19.23%, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression showed a 79% increased risk in higher CVD prevalence in cancer patients with MetS, with the OR (95% CI) of 1.79 (1.31, 2.44). Notably, obesity, elevated blood pressure (BP), high glucose, and low high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in the MetS components were significantly associated with higher CVD prevalence after adjusting for covariates. Moreover, the risk of CVD prevalence in cancer patients increased with more MetS components. Notably, MetS was more strongly linked to CVD in patients aged < 65 and women. CONCLUSIONS: Among adult cancer patients, over two-fifths (45.44%) were estimated to have MetS, while about one-fifth (19.23%) were considered to have CVD. Notably, obesity, elevated BP, high glucose, low HDL-C, and higher number of MetS components were found to be significantly associated with higher CVD prevalence among cancer adults. Cancer patients under 65 and women with MetS may be at increased risk of CVD.

Global prevalence and disability-adjusted life years of hypertensive heart disease: A trend analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.

Background: As hypertensive heart disease (HHD) presents a significant public health challenge globally, we analysed its global, regional, and national burdens and trends from 1990 to 2019. Methods: We used data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 study, focussing on the age-standardised prevalence rates (ASPRs) of HHD prevalence, age-standardised disability-adjusted life year (DALY) rates, average annual percentage change (AAPC), and risk factor attributions. We compared the HHD burden across sociodemographic index (SDI) strata, gender, age groups, and 204 countries and territories. Results: In 2019, the global prevalence of HHD was estimated at 18 598 thousand cases, with DALYs reaching 21 508 thousand. From 1990 to 2019, the ASPRs increased (AAPC = 0.21; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.17, 0.24), while the age-standardised DALY rates decreased (AAPC = -0.45; 95% CI = -1.23, -0.93). We observed the highest increase in ASPRs in high-middle SDI quantile countries, and an overall negative correlation between age-standardised DALY rates and SDI. Individuals above 70 years of age were the most affected, particularly elderly women. There has been a significant increase in HHD burden attributed to high body mass index (BMI) since 1990. The burden of HHD is concentrated in the middle SDI quintile, with population ageing and growth being major drivers for the increase in DALYs. We identified opportunities for reducing age-standardised DALY rates in the middle SDI quintile or lower. Conclusion: Despite a declining trend in the age-standardised DALY rates, the ASPRs of HHD continue to rise, especially in high-middle SDI regions. Meanwhile, countries in middle and lower SDI quintiles face a higher burden of age-standardised DALY rates. Targeted attention towards elderly women and controlling high BMI, alongside enhancing hypertension and HHD management awareness, is crucial for reducing the global burden of HHD.

Keystroke Biometrics as a Tool for the Early Diagnosis and Clinical Assessment of Parkinson's Disease.

(1) Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. Early diagnosis and reliable clinical assessments are essential for appropriate therapy and improving patients' quality of life. Keystroke biometrics, which capture unique typing behavior, have shown potential for early PD diagnosis. This study aimed to evaluate keystroke biometric parameters from two datasets to identify indicators that can effectively distinguish de novo PD patients from healthy controls. (2) Methods: Data from natural typing tasks in Physionet were analyzed to estimate keystroke biometric parameters. The parameters investigated included alternating-finger tapping (afTap) and standard deviations of interkey latencies (ILSD) and release latencies (RLSD). Sensitivity rates were calculated to assess the discriminatory ability of these parameters. (3) Results: Significant differences were observed in three parameters, namely afTap, ILSD, and RLSD, between de novo PD patients and healthy controls. The sensitivity rates were high, with values of 83%, 88%, and 96% for afTap, ILSD, and RLSD, respectively. Correlation analysis revealed a significantly negative correlation between typing speed and number of words typed with the standard motor assessment for PD, UPDRS-III, in patients with early PD. (4) Conclusions: Simple algorithms utilizing keystroke biometric parameters can serve as effective screening tests in distinguishing de novo PD patients from healthy controls. Moreover, typing speed and number of words typed were identified as reliable tools for assessing clinical statuses in PD patients. These findings underscore the potential of keystroke biometrics for early PD diagnosis and clinical severity assessment.

Association of Chronic Kidney Disease with Cardiovascular Disease in Cancer Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: Due to the cardiotoxicity of cancer treatment and traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) such as obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension, cancer patients are at higher risk of developing CVD. However, limited research exists on the correlation between chronic kidney disease (CKD) and CVD risk in cancer patients. METHODS: This cross-sectional study selected cancer patients aged ≥20 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted from 2015 to 2020. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the association between CKD and CVD in cancer patients. Additionally, subgroup analyses were conducted to investigate the association among different groups of cancer patients. RESULTS: We included 1,700 adult cancer patients (52.53% were females). After multivariable adjustment for covariates including traditional CVD factors, CKD was significantly associated with CVD, with an odds ratio (95% confidence interval) and p value of 1.61 (1.18, 2.19) and 0.004. Subgroup analyses after multivariable adjustment showed a significant correlation between CKD and increased CVD risk in the following cancer patients: age ≥60 years, males, white ethnicity, and individuals with or without traditional CVD factors (obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension). CONCLUSIONS: CKD remains a significant factor in the higher risk of CVD among adult cancer patients in the United States, even after adjustment for traditional CVD risk factors. Therefore, to reduce the risk of CVD in cancer patients, it is important to treat CKD as a non-traditional risk factor for CVD and actively manage it.

Long-Term Risks of Stroke in Patients With Type A Aortic Dissection: A Nationwide Cohort Study.

Background Patients with type A aortic dissection (TAAD) have a high short-term risk of stroke. However, whether patients with TAAD have an increased long-term risk of stroke is still undetermined, and our study aims to address this knowledge gap. Methods and Results A nationwide retrospective cohort study was conducted using Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. We included patients with TAAD as well as age- and sex-matched aortic disease-free individuals between 2003 and 2016. Inverse probability of treatment weighting was performed to balance patient characteristics between the groups. The primary outcome was the development of stroke, regardless of subtype; the secondary outcomes were the risk of developing either ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. The hazard ratios (HRs) of stroke were estimated using the Cox proportional hazards model. After inverse probability of treatment weighting, 3556 and 7023 patients were categorized into the TAAD and aortic disease-free cohorts, respectively. The mean follow-up period was 5.71 years. The HRs for overall, ischemic, and hemorrhagic strokes in the TAAD cohort were 3.01 (95% CI, 2.40-3.78), 3.18 (95% CI, 2.47-4.10), and 2.32 (95% CI, 1.58-3.41), respectively, compared with the aortic disease-free cohort. Consistent trends of higher stroke risk in patients with TAAD were revealed in the analyses stratified by age; sex; antiplatelet use; and history of hypertension, diabetes, or dyslipidemia. Conclusions Our study findings revealed that patients with TAAD had an increased long-term risk of both ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes. Further studies are warranted to establish optimal strategies for stroke prevention in these patients.

Oral anticoagulant decreases stroke recurrence in patients with atrial fibrillation detected after stroke.

Background: Atrial fibrillation detected after stroke (AFDAS) has a lower risk of ischemic stroke recurrence than known atrial fibrillation (KAF). While the benefit of oral anticoagulants (OAC) for preventing ischemic stroke recurrence in KAF is well established, their role in patients with AFDAS is more controversial. This study aimed to evaluate the association between OAC use and the risk of recurrent ischemic stroke in patients with AFDAS in a real-world setting. Methods: This nationwide retrospective cohort study was conducted using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Patients hospitalized with a first-ever ischemic stroke and AFDAS confirmed within 30 days after hospitalization were assigned to OAC and non-OAC cohorts. Inverse probability of treatment weighting was applied to balance the baseline characteristics of the cohorts. The primary outcome was ischemic stroke recurrence. Secondary outcomes were intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), death, and the composite outcome of "ischemic stroke recurrence, ICH, or death." Multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: A total of 4,508 hospitalized patients with stroke and AFDAS were identified. Based on OAC use, 2,856 and 1,652 patients were assigned to the OAC and non-OAC groups, respectively. During the follow-up period (median duration, 2.76 years), the OAC cohort exhibited a lower risk of ischemic stroke recurrence (aHR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.70-0.99), death (aHR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.58-0.73), and composite outcome (aHR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.63-0.78) than did the non-OAC cohort. The risk of ICH (aHR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.62-1.50) was not significantly different between the two cohorts. Conclusion: OAC use in patients with AFDAS was associated with reduced risk of ischemic stroke recurrence, without an increased risk of ICH. This supports current guidelines recommending OACs for secondary stroke prevention in patients with AF, regardless of the time of diagnosis.

Novel Application of Multiscale Cross-Approximate Entropy for Assessing Early Changes in the Complexity between Systolic Blood Pressure and ECG R-R Intervals in Diabetic Rats.

Cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) is a common complication of diabetes mellitus, and can be assessed using heart rate variability (HRV) and the correlations between systolic blood pressure (SBP) and ECG R-R intervals (RRIs), namely baroreflex sensitivity (BRS). In this study, we propose a novel parameter for the nonlinear association between SBP and RRIs based on multiscale cross-approximate entropy (MS-CXApEn). Sixteen male adult Wistar Kyoto rats were equally divided into two groups: streptozotocin-induced diabetes and age-matched controls. RRIs and SBP were acquired in control rats and the diabetic rats at the onset of hyperglycemia and insulin-treated euglycemia to determine HRV by the ratio of low-frequency to high-frequency power (LF/HF) and Poincaré plot as SSR (SD1/SD2), BRS, and MS-CXApEn. SSR and BRS were not significantly different among the three groups. The LF/HF was significantly higher in the hyperglycemic diabetics than those in the controls and euglycemic diabetic rats. MS-CXApEn was higher in the diabetic hyperglycemic rats than the control rats from scales 2 to 10, and approached the values of controls in diabetic euglycemic rats at scales 9 and 10. Conclusions: We propose MS-CXApEn as a novel parameter to quantify the dynamic nonlinear interactions between SBP and RRIs that reveals more apparent changes in early diabetic rats. Furthermore, changes in this parameter were related to correction of hyperglycemia and could be useful for detecting and assessing CAN in early diabetes.

Dynamic Changes and Temporal Association with Ambient Temperatures: Nonlinear Analyses of Stroke Events from a National Health Insurance Database.

BACKGROUND: The associations between ambient temperatures and stroke are still uncertain, although they have been widely studied. Furthermore, the impact of latitudes or climate zones on these associations is still controversial. The Tropic of Cancer passes through the middle of Taiwan and divides it into subtropical and tropical areas. Therefore, the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database can be used to study the influence of latitudes on the association between ambient temperature and stroke events. METHODS: In this study, we retrieved daily stroke events from 2010 to 2015 in the New Taipei and Taipei Cities (the subtropical areas) and Kaohsiung City (the tropical area) from the National Health Insurance Research Database. Overall, 70,338 and 125,163 stroke events, including ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage, in Kaohsiung City and the Taipei Area were retrieved from the database, respectively. We also collected daily mean temperatures from the Taipei and Kaohsiung weather stations during the same period. The data were decomposed by ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) into several intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). There were consistent 6-period IMFs with intervals around 360 days in most decomposed data. Spearman's rank correlation test showed moderate-to-strong correlations between the relevant IMFs of daily temperatures and events of stroke in both areas, which were higher in the northern area compared with those in the southern area. CONCLUSIONS: EEMD is a useful tool to demonstrate the regularity of stroke events and their associations with dynamic changes of the ambient temperature. Our results clearly demonstrate the temporal association between the ambient temperature and daily events of ischemic stroke and intracranial hemorrhage. It will contribute to planning a healthcare system for stroke seasonally. Further well-designed prospective studies are needed to elucidate the meaning of these associations.

High 1-year risk of stroke in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: a nationwide registry-based cohort study.

Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) might be more vulnerable to develop stroke than other cancer patients because of HCC-associated coagulation dysfunction. However, limited studies have investigated the relationship between HCC and stroke. This nationwide population-based cohort study enrolled all patients with HCC diagnosed between 2011 and 2015 from the Taiwan Cancer Registry and Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database; an age- and sex-matched cohort without cancer was included. The primary outcome was the 1-year risk for first-ever stroke after the index date. The Fine and Gray competing risk regression model was used to estimate the 1-year stroke risk with adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs). After propensity score matching, each cohort has 18,506 patients with similar baseline characteristics. Compared with the cancer-free cohort, the aHRs in the HCC cohort for overall, ischemic, and hemorrhagic strokes were 1.59 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.35-1.88], 1.38 [95% CI, 1.15-1.65], and 2.62 [95% CI, 1.79-3.84], respectively. On subgroup analysis, HCC patients without cirrhosis, those with stage 3 or 4 cancer had a higher stroke risk than cancer-free cohort. Therefore, stroke prevention should be considered in patients with HCC, especially in those without cirrhosis and with stage 3 or 4 cancer.

Lower Risk of Dementia in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation Taking Non-Vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study.

Background A higher risk of developing dementia is observed in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Results are inconsistent regarding the risk of dementia when patients with AF use different anticoagulants. We aimed to investigate the risk of dementia in patients with AF receiving non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) compared with those receiving warfarin. Methods and Results We conducted a nationwide population-based cohort study of incident cases using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. We initially enlisted all incident cases of AF and then selected those treated with either NOACs or warfarin for at least 90 days between 2012 and 2016. First-ever diagnosis of dementia was the primary outcome. We performed propensity score matching to minimize the difference between each cohort. We used the Fine and Gray competing risk regression model to calculate the hazard ratio (HR) for dementia. We recruited 12 068 patients with AF (6034 patients in each cohort). The mean follow-up time was 3.27 and 3.08 years in the groups using NOACs and warfarin, respectively. Compared with the HR for the group using warfarin, the HR for dementia was 0.82 (95% CI, 0.73-0.92; P=0.0004) in the group using NOACs. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that users of NOAC aged 65 to 74 years, with a high risk of stroke or bleeding were associated with a lower risk of dementia than users of warfarin with similar characteristics. Conclusions Patients with AF using NOACs were associated with a lower risk of dementia than those using warfarin. Further randomized clinical trials are greatly needed to prove these findings.

Development of a Neurodegenerative Disease Gait Classification Algorithm Using Multiscale Sample Entropy and Machine Learning Classifiers.

The prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases (NDD) has grown rapidly in recent years and NDD screening receives much attention. NDD could cause gait abnormalities so that to screen NDD using gait signal is feasible. The research aim of this study is to develop an NDD classification algorithm via gait force (GF) using multiscale sample entropy (MSE) and machine learning models. The Physionet NDD gait database is utilized to validate the proposed algorithm. In the preprocessing stage of the proposed algorithm, new signals were generated by taking one and two times of differential on GF and are divided into various time windows (10/20/30/60-sec). In feature extraction, the GF signal is used to calculate statistical and MSE values. Owing to the imbalanced nature of the Physionet NDD gait database, the synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) was used to rebalance data of each class. Support vector machine (SVM) and k-nearest neighbors (KNN) were used as the classifiers. The best classification accuracies for the healthy controls (HC) vs. Parkinson's disease (PD), HC vs. Huntington's disease (HD), HC vs. amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), PD vs. HD, PD vs. ALS, HD vs. ALS, HC vs. PD vs. HD vs. ALS, were 99.90%, 99.80%, 100%, 99.75%, 99.90%, 99.55%, and 99.68% under 10-sec time window with KNN. This study successfully developed an NDD gait classification based on MSE and machine learning classifiers.

Compatibility of pulse-pulse intervals with R-R intervals in assessing cardiac autonomic function and its relation to risks of atherosclerosis.

OBJECTIVE: Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis using electrocardiographic R-R intervals (RRIs) in either a time or a frequency domain is a useful tool for assessing cardiac autonomic dysfunction in clinical research. For convenience, pulse-pulse intervals (PPIs) acquired by photoplethysmography have been used to assess HRV. However, the compatibility of PPI with RRI is controversial. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we investigated the compatibility of PPI with RRI in five groups of participants, including nonoverweight young individuals with a body mass index (BMI) <24 kg/m2 (Group 1, n = 20, aged 18-40 years), overweight young individuals with a BMI ≥24 kg/m2 (Group 2, n = 13, aged 21-38 years), nonoverweight upper middle-aged individuals with a BMI <24 kg/m2 (Group 3, n = 21, aged 45-89 years), overweight upper middle-aged individuals with a BMI ≥24 kg/m2 (Group 4, n = 14, aged 43-74 years), and diabetic patients with a BMI ≥24 kg/m2 (Group 5, n = 19, aged 35-74 years). We then used cross-approximate entropy (CAE) to assess the compatibility between RRI and PPI and analyzed HRV in the time and frequency domains derived from PPR and RRI with traditional methods. RESULTS: The CAE values in Group 1 were significantly lower than those in Group 2 (1.68 ± 0.16 vs. 1.78 ± 0.15, P = 0.041), Group 3 (1.68 ± 0.16 vs. 2.05 ± 0.27, P < 0.001), Group 4 (1.68 ± 0.16 vs. 1.87 ± 0.23, P = 0.023), and Group 5 (1.68 ± 0.16 vs. 2.09 ± 0.23, P < 0.001). There were no significant differences in HRV acquired by PPI and RRI, except for proportion of pairs of adjacent NN intervals differing by more than 50 ms in the entire recording in Group 1. All HRVs derived from PPI were different from those acquired from RRI in the other groups. CONCLUSION: PPI may be an alternative parameter for effectively assessing cardiac autonomic function in nonoverweight healthy individuals. It should be used carefully in overweight, elderly, or diabetic individuals.

In vivo assessment of endothelial function in small animals using an infrared pulse detector.

OBJECTIVE: Endothelial dysfunction is the earliest change in atherosclerosis. Flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) is used to assess endothelial function in humans. However, this assessment is not easy in small animals. This study demonstrated the reliability and reproducibility of a proposed instrument for in vivo assessment of FMD in a rodent model using infrared pulse sensors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used 24 adult male Wistar Kyoto rats randomly divided into three groups. FMD was measured under continuous infusion of normal saline followed by intra-arterial infusion of acetylcholine (Ach; n = 8), sodium nitroprusside (SNP; n = 8), or Nω-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME; n = 8). RESULTS: The dilatation indices (DIs) of all three groups were similar before application of the vasoactive agents (1.82 ± 0.46, 1.81 ± 0.44, and 1.93 ± 0.40, P = 0.877, by one-way analysis of variance). The DI was significantly increased during infusion of Ach (2.97 ± 1.03 vs. 1.82 ± 0.46, P = 0.015), unchanged during infusion of SNP (1.81 ± 0.44 vs. 1.98 ± 0.40, P = 0.574), and attenuated during infusion of L-NAME (1.91 ± 0.40 vs. 1.42 ± 0.35; P = 0.028). CONCLUSION: The results of this study correlated well with those of human studies, suggesting that this method can be used for in vivo evaluation of endothelial function in small animals.

Anticoagulants for cancer-associated ischemic stroke.

Patients with cancer-associated ischemic stroke pose similar clinical manifestations and image characteristics, mainly embolic infarction, as patients with atrial fibrillation do. D-dimer, a degraded product of fibrin polymer, is a useful indicator of hypercoagulability, which frequently increases in cancer-associated stroke, but not in stroke resulted from atrial fibrillation. The level of serum D-dimer is associated with mortality, prognosis, and recurrence of systemic thromboembolism in these patients. Theoretically, drugs block coagulation cascade, such as heparin and low-molecular-weight-heparin (LMWH), oral direct anticoagulants, could attenuate the status of hypercoagulation and decrease the amount of D-dimer. These drugs may be helpful to prevent thromboembolic events in patients with cancer-associated hypercoagulability. Vitamin K antagonist, warfarin, decreases the production of coagulation factors, but not interrupts coagulation cascade may not be helpful to decrease hypercoagulability, but increase the risk of bleeding. However, the treatment of cancer-associated embolic stroke is still controversial. This article reviews relevant clinical studies and proposes the applicability of direct oral anticoagulants from the pathophysiological mechanism.

Difference in bilateral digital volume pulse as a novel non-invasive approach to assessing arteriosclerosis in aged and diabetic subjects: A preliminary study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at validating photoplethysmography for assessing bilateral blood pressure differences through investigating the correlations of digital volume pulse with arteriosclerosis risk. METHODS: Totally, 111 subjects (70 healthy and 41 diabetic) were recruited. Demographic, blood pressure and anthropometric data were recorded. Blood was collected for determining serum cholesterol, total triglyceride, total cholesterol, high-/low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, fasting blood sugar and glycated haemoglobin concentrations. Arterial stiffness was assessed with electrocardiogram-based pulse wave velocity, crest time and inter-digital volume pulse differences. RESULTS: Receiver operating characteristic curve demonstrated high inter-digital volume pulse difference sensitivity to glycated haemoglobin level over 6.5%. Linear regression analysis demonstrated significant correlation between inter-digital volume pulse difference and electrocardiogram-based pulse wave velocity ( r = 0.692, p < 0.001). Compared with electrocardiogram-based pulse wave velocity, inter-digital volume pulse difference exhibited highly significant correlations with age, glycated haemoglobin level, pulse pressure, total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein ratio, crest time, high-density lipoprotein and systolic blood pressure (all ps < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the results not only demonstrated successful application of a novel non-invasive waveform contour index, inter-digital volume pulse difference, in differentiating young from aged subjects and patients with good diabetic control from those with poor diabetic control but also validated its use in identifying arteriosclerosis risks. The results, therefore, endorse its domestic application as non-invasive tool for arteriosclerosis risk screening.

HSPB7 interacts with dimerized FLNC and its absence results in progressive myopathy in skeletal muscles.

HSPB7 belongs to the small heat-shock protein (sHSP) family, and its expression is restricted to cardiac and skeletal muscles from embryonic stages to adulthood. Here, we found that skeletal-muscle-specific ablation of the HspB7 does not affect myogenesis during embryonic stages to postnatal day 1 (P1), but causes subsequent postnatal death owing to a respiration defect, with progressive myopathy phenotypes in the diaphragm. Deficiency of HSPB7 in the diaphragm muscle resulted in muscle fibrosis, sarcomere disarray and sarcolemma integrity loss. We identified dimerized filamin C (FLNC) as an interacting partner of HSPB7. Immunofluorescence studies demonstrated that the aggregation and mislocalization of FLNC occurred in the muscle of HspB7 mutant adult mice. Furthermore, the components of dystrophin glycoprotein complex, γ- and δ-sarcoglycan, but not dystrophin, were abnormally upregulated and mislocalized in HSPB7 mutant muscle. Collectively, our findings suggest that HSPB7 is essential for maintaining muscle integrity, which is achieved through its interaction with FLNC, in order to prevent the occurrence and progression of myopathy.

Vibration signals of snoring as a simple severity predictor for obstructive sleep apnea.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Polysomnography (PSG), which involves simultaneous monitoring of various physiological monitors, is the current comprehensive tool for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We aimed at validating vibrating signals of snoring as a single physiological parameter for screening and evaluating severity of OSA. METHODS: Totally, 111 subjects from the sleep center of a tertiary referral center were categorized into four groups according to the apnea hypopnea index (AHI) obtained from PSG: simple snoring group (5 > AHI, healthy subjects, n = 11), mild OSA group (5 ≤ AHI < 15, n = 11), moderate OSA group (15 ≤ AHI < 30, n = 30) and severe OSA group (AHI ≥ 30, n = 59). Anthropometric parameters and sleep efficiency of all subjects were compared. Frequencies of amplitude changes of vibrating signals on anterior neck during sleep were analyzed to acquire a snoring burst index (SBI) using a novel algorithm. Data were compared with AHI and index of arterial oxygen saturation (Δ Index). RESULTS: There were no significant differences in age and sleep efficiency among all groups. Bland-Altman analysis showed better agreement between SBI and AHI (r = 0.906, P < 0.001) than Δ Index and AHI (r = 0.859, P < 0.001). Additionally, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) showed substantially stronger sensitivity and specificity of SBI in distinguishing between patients with moderate and severe OSA compared with Δ Index (sensitivity: 81.4% vs 66.4%; specificity: 96.7% vs 86.7%, for SBI and Δ Index, respectively). CONCLUSION: SBI may serve as a portable tool for screening patients and assessing OSA severity in a non-hospital setting.

Application of multiscale entropy in arterial waveform contour analysis in healthy and diabetic subjects.

We applied multiscale entropy (MSE) to assess variation in crest time (CT), a parameter in arterial waveform analysis, in diagnosing patients with diabetes. Data on digital volume pulse were obtained from 93 individuals in three groups [Healthy young (Group 1, 20 < age ≤ 40, n = 30), healthy upper-middle-aged (Group 2, age > 40, n = 30), and diabetic (Group 3, n = 33) subjects]. Crest time, normalized crest time, crest time ratio (CTR), small- and large-scale MSE on CT [MSESS(CT) and MSELS(CT), respectively] were computed and correlated with anthropometric (i.e., body weight/height, waist circumference), hemodynamic (i.e., blood pressure), and biochemical parameters (i.e., serum triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein, fasting blood sugar, and glycosylated hemoglobin). The results demonstrated higher variability in CT in healthy subjects (Groups 1 and 2) compared with that in diabetic patients (Group 3) as reflected in significantly elevated MSESS(CT) and MSELS(CT) in the former (p < 0.003 and p < 0.001, respectively). MSELS(CT) also showed significant association with waist circumference and fasting blood sugar (i.e., two diagnostic criteria of metabolic syndrome) as well as glycosylated hemoglobin concentration. In conclusion, using MSE analysis for assessing CT variation successfully distinguished diabetic patients from healthy subjects. MSESS(CT) and MSELS(CT) therefore may serve as noninvasive tools for identifying subjects with diabetes and those at risk.

Multiscale cross-approximate entropy analysis as a measurement of complexity between ECG R-R interval and PPG pulse amplitude series among the normal and diabetic subjects.

Physiological signals often show complex fluctuation (CF) under the dual influence of temporal and spatial scales, and CF can be used to assess the health of physiologic systems in the human body. This study applied multiscale cross-approximate entropy (MC-ApEn) to quantify the complex fluctuation between R-R intervals series and photoplethysmography amplitude series. All subjects were then divided into the following two groups: healthy upper middle-aged subjects (Group 1, age range: 41-80 years, n = 27) and upper middle-aged subjects with type 2 diabetes (Group 2, age range: 41-80 years, n = 24). There are significant differences of heart rate variability, LHR, between Groups 1 and 2 (1.94 ± 1.21 versus 1.32 ± 1.00, P = 0.031). Results demonstrated differences in sum of large scale MC-ApEn (MC-ApEn(LS)) (5.32 ± 0.50 versus 4.74 ± 0.78, P = 0.003). This parameter has a good agreement with pulse-pulse interval and pulse amplitude ratio (PAR), a simplified assessment for baroreflex activity. In conclusion, this study employed the MC-ApEn method, integrating multiple temporal and spatial scales, to quantify the complex interaction between the two physical signals. The MC-ApEn(LS) parameter could accurately reflect disease process in diabetics and might be another way for assessing the autonomic nerve function.

The factors influence compatibility of pulse-pulse intervals with R-R intervals.

Cardiac autonomic dysfunction assessed by power spectral analysis of electrocardigographic (ECG) R-R intervals (RRI) is a useful method in clinical research. The compatibility of pulse-pulse intervals (PPI) acquired by photoplethysmography (PPG) with RRI is equivocal. In this study, we would like to investigate factors influence the compatibility. We recruited 25 young and health subjects divided into two groups: normal subjects (Group1, BMI < 24, n=15) and overweight subjects (Group2, BMI >/= 24, n=10). ECG and PPG were measured for 5 minutes. Used cross-approximate entropy (CAE) and Fast Fourier transform (FFT) to obtained compatibility between RRI and PPI. The CAE value in Group1 were significantly lower than in Group2 (1.71 ± 0.12 vs. 1.83 ± 0.11, P = 0.011). A positive linear relationship between CAE value and risk factors of metabolic syndrome. No significantly difference between LFP/HFP ratio of RRI (LHRRRI) and LFP/HFP ratio of PPI (LHRPPI) in Group1 (1.42 ± 0.19 vs. 1.38 ± 0.17, P = 0.064), LHRRRI significantly higher than LHRPPI in Group2 (2.18 ± 0.37 vs. 1.93 ± 0.30, P = 0.005). It should be careful that using PPI to assess autonomic function in the obese subjects or the patients with metabolic syndrome.