Nomogram-based risk assessment model for left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with essential hypertension: Incorporating clinical characteristics and biomarkers.

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is a hypertensive heart disease that significantly escalates the risk of clinical cardiovascular events. Its etiology potentially incorporates various clinical attributes such as gender, age, and renal function. From mechanistic perspective, the remodeling process of LVH can trigger increment in certain biomarkers, notably sST2 and NT-proBNP. This multicenter, retrospective study aimed to construct an LVH risk assessment model and identify the risk factors. A total of 417 patients with essential hypertension (EH), including 214 males and 203 females aged 31-80 years, were enrolled in this study; of these, 161 (38.6%) were diagnosed with LVH. Based on variables demonstrating significant disparities between the LVH and Non-LVH groups, three multivariate stepwise logistic regression models were constructed for risk assessment: the "Clinical characteristics" model, the "Biomarkers" model (each based on their respective variables), and the "Clinical characteristics + Biomarkers" model, which amalgamated both sets of variables. The results revealed that the "Clinical characteristics + Biomarkers" model surpassed the baseline models in performance (AUC values of the "Clinical characteristics + Biomarkers" model, the "Biomarkers" model, and the "Clinical characteristics" model were .83, .75, and .74, respectively; P < .0001 for both comparisons). The optimized model suggested that being female (OR: 4.26, P <.001), being overweight (OR: 1.88, p = .02) or obese (OR: 2.36, p = .02), duration of hypertension (OR: 1.04, P = .04), grade III hypertension (OR: 2.12, P < .001), and sST2 (log-transformed, OR: 1.14, P < .001) were risk factors, while eGFR acted as a protective factor (OR: .98, P = .01). These findings suggest that the integration of clinical characteristics and biomarkers can enhance the performance of LVH risk assessment.

Assessment of the Learning Curve of Supercapsular Percutaneously Assisted Total Hip Arthroplasty in an Asian Population.

The supercapsular percutaneously assisted total hip (SuperPATH) approach is a microinvasive approach that was developed to minimize surgical disruption of soft tissue during routine total hip arthroplasty (THA). This study was aimed at assessing early outcomes and learning curves of the SuperPATH approach in one Chinese hospital's experience. Early outcomes of the first consecutive 78 SuperPATH cases (80 hips) performed by the same surgeon were evaluated. The patients were divided into 4 groups according to the surgical order. The incision, intraoperative blood loss, hospital stay, Harris hip score, and complication occurrence in each group were evaluated. Learning curves were assessed using operative time and intraoperative blood loss as surrogates. The operation time and intraoperative blood loss of groups A and B were more than those of groups C and D, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05); however, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (group A vs. group B, P = 0.426; group A vs. group B, P = 0.426). There was no statistically significant difference in terms of incision length and hospital stay, and Harris hip score at the last follow-up was increased with statistically significant difference when compared with that preoperatively among the 4 groups. One case of periprosthetic fracture occurred in group A. No other complication, such as joint dislocation, sciatic nerve injury, prosthesis loosening, periprosthetic infection, and deep vein thromboembolism, occurred in the 4 groups. In summary, for surgeons who are familiar with the standard posterolateral approach, they could achieve more familiarity with SuperPATH after 40 cases of surgery.

[Effects of different tillage methods on photosynthetic characteristics, dry matter production and economic benefit of double cropping soybean].

In order to explore suitable mode of high yield cultivation of double cropping soybean after wheat under drip irrigation in northern Xinjiang, field trials were set in 2013-2014 to investigate physiological indices and agronomic traits of double cropping soybean under different tillage methods under drip irrigation. The results showed that leaf area index (LAI), chlorophyll content (SPAD), leaf net photosynthetic rate (Pn), transpiration rate (Tr) and stomatal conductance (g(s)) during the determination period under different tillage methods were in the order of tillage plus film covering (TP)> tillage (T)> rotary tillage (RT) > no-tillage (NT) , and the concentration of intercellular CO2(Ci) was the opposite. LAI, SPAD, Pn, Tr, and g(s) of TP were higher than that with NT by 55.0%, 9.1%, 41.8%, 37.5% and 56.4%, respectively, and Ci was decreased by 22.1%. TP enhanced the photosynthetic efficiency of soybean and improved the ability of CO2assimilation, consequently leading to the increase of soybean yield under TP compared to NT. The plant dry matter accumulation of TP treatment was improved greatly, with the pod number and seeds number per plant, 100-seed mass and yield of quadric sowing soybean being increased by 50.3%, 48.1%, 11.8% and 20.8% compared with that under NT, and the differences were significant. Therefore, the plastic film mulching combined with tillage under drip irrigation technology was suitable for double cropping soybean after wheat in northern Xinjiang under this experimental condition.