Diagnostic value of multimodal cardiovascular imaging technology coupled with biomarker detection in elderly patients with coronary heart disease.

Aims/Background Coronary heart disease is a common disease in the elderly and has a complex pathogenesis, which complicates the clinical diagnostic process. Thus, enhancing the diagnostic efficiency for coronary heart disease is imperative to improve the life expectancy of the elderly. This study aimed to explore the diagnostic value of multimodal cardiovascular imaging technology coupled with biomarker detection in elderly patients with coronary heart disease. Methods The medical records of 421 patients with suspected coronary heart disease obtained from the geriatric department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Hebei North University from February 2020 to February 2023 were retrospectively analysed. After excluding 10 patients who did not meet the inclusion criteria, the remaining 411 patients were included in this study. The included subjects had undergone coronary computed tomography angiography and were divided into coronary heart disease group (n=208) and non-coronary heart disease group (n=203) according to the diagnostic results. Multimodal cardiovascular imaging (coronary computed tomography angiography and echocardiography) and detection of serum biomarkers such as small dense low-density lipoprotein, lipoprotein a, and gamma-glutamyl transferase were performed in both groups. The clinical indicators of the two groups were compared, and the combined diagnostic efficacy of multimodal cardiovascular imaging and biomarker detection was evaluated. Results Compared to the non-coronary heart disease group, the coronary heart disease group had significantly higher levels of maximum area stenosis, total plaque volume, total plaque burden and fibrotic plaque volume (p < ..001), and lower left ventricular ejection fraction level (p < ..001). Additionally, the coronary heart disease group exhibited higher levels of left ventricular end-diastolic volume, left ventricular end-systolic volume and stroke volume than the non-coronary heart disease group (p < ..001), and had higher levels of small dense low-density lipoprotein, lipoprotein a and gamma-glutamyl transferase (p < ..001). Our results demonstrated that combined diagnosis had better diagnostic efficacy than individual approaches, marked by higher area under the curve and sensitivity of the former (p < ..001). Conclusion Multimodal cardiovascular imaging technology combined with biomarker detection can distinctly improve the accuracy of coronary heart disease diagnosis in elderly patients.

Elucidating the Reactivity of Oxygenates on Single-Atom Alloy Catalysts.

Doping isolated transition metal atoms into the surface of coinage-metal hosts to form single-atom alloys (SAAs) can significantly improve the catalytic activity and selectivity of their monometallic counterparts. These atomically dispersed dopant metals on the SAA surface act as highly active sites for various bond coupling and activation reactions. In this study, we investigate the catalytic properties of SAAs with different bimetallic combinations [Ni-, Pd-, Pt-, and Rh-doped Cu(111), Ag(111), and Au(111)] for chemistries involving oxygenates relevant to biomass reforming. Density functional theory is employed to calculate and compare the formation energies of species such as methoxy (CH3O), methanol (CH3OH), and hydroxymethyl (CH2OH), thereby understanding the stability of these adsorbates on SAAs. Activation energies and reaction energies of C-O coupling, C-H activation, and O-H activation on these oxygenates are then computed. Analysis of the data in terms of thermochemical linear scaling and BroÌ·nsted-Evans-Polanyi relationship shows that some SAAs have the potential to combine weak binding with low activation energies, thereby exhibiting enhanced catalytic behavior over their monometallic counterparts for key elementary steps of oxygenate conversion. This work contributes to the discovery and development of SAA catalysts toward greener technologies, having potential applications in the transition from fossil to renewable fuels and chemicals.