Hot spots and trends in PCI prognostic research: A bibliometric analysis with CiteSpace.

BACKGROUND: The number of patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures is increasing along with the number of studies involving guidelines, prognostic assessments, and cardiac rehabilitation related to PCI strategies. However, fewer studies have reported the mapping of knowledge structure and hotspot analysis in this field. Our goal was to discuss and analyze the current status, hot spots and developmental trends associated with research into the prognosis of patients undergoing PCI, and to provide reference for PCI-related research. METHODS: The Web of Science Core Collection and China Knowledge Network were searched for relevant literature from January 2003 to October 2022, and CiteSpace 6.1. R3 software was used to analyze the co-occurrence, clustering, and emerging authors, institutions, and keywords. RESULTS: A total of 2666 English and 2010 Chinese publications were included. The number of publications showed a growing trend. The author with the maximum number of articles was Xu Bo. The institutions with high productivity were Peking Union Medical College and Capital Medical University. Although the number of Chinese articles was high, the cooperation between institutions was low and the impact was small. The results of the analysis suggest a shift in the focus of keywords from coronary artery disease and PCI to studies involving the assessment and intervention of risk factors associated with poor prognosis of PCI. Traditional Chinese Medicine and anxiety represent the emerging direction of PCI prognosis. The assessment of major adverse cardiovascular events and cardiac rehabilitation require careful analysis in post-PCI research. CONCLUSION: The findings of this bibliometric study present a comprehensive and systematic overview of the PCI prognosis, based on the analysis of the current status and trends in research, which may facilitate the identification of hot topics and new directions for future research.

Coronary artery calcium and cystatin C for risk stratification of MACCEs and all-cause death in symptomatic patients.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine the independent and joint associations of baseline coronary artery calcium score (CACS) and cystatin C (Cys-C) with the risk of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs) and all-cause death in symptomatic populations. METHODS: The study included 7140 patients with symptom of chest pain who underwent cardiac computerized tomography examinations to measure CACS. All of them had serum Cys-C results. Endpoints were set for MACCEs and all-cause death events. RESULTS: A total of 7140 participants were followed for a median of 1106 days. A total of 305 patients had experienced MACCEs and 191 patients had experienced all-cause death. CACS ≥ 100 and Cys-C ≥ 0.995 mg/L were independently associated with an increased risk of MACCEs (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 1.46; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.15-1.85; p = .002 and adjusted HR: 1.57; 95% CI: 1.24-2.00; p < .001, respectively). Compared with CACS < 100 and Cys-C < 0.995 mg/L patients, CACS ≥ 100 and Cys-C ≥ 0.995 mg/L patients had the highest risk of MACCEs and all-cause death (adjusted HR: 2.33; 95% CI: 1.64-3.29; p < .001 and adjusted HR: 2.85; 95% CI: 1.79-4.55; p < .001, respectively). Even in patients with CACS < 100, Cys-C ≥ 0.995 mg/L was also associated with a higher risk of MACCEs and all-cause death than Cys-C < 0.995 mg/L (adjusted HR: 1.76; p = .003 and adjusted HR: 2.02; p = .007, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The combined stratification of CACS and Cys-C showed an incremental risk of MACCEs and all-cause death, reflecting complementary prognostic value. Our results support the combination of the two indicators for risk stratification and event prediction.

Ellagic acid promotes browning of white adipose tissues in high-fat diet-induced obesity in rats through suppressing white adipocyte maintaining genes.

Promoting brown adipose tissue (BAT) formation and function reduces obesity. Ellagic Acid (EA), located abundantly in plant extracts and fruits, has been shown to modulate formation and differentiation of adipocytes, although its role in the process of browning of white adipose tissue (WAT) has not been elucidated. In this study, fifty-six five-week old SD rats were randomly assigned to receive normal diet (ND, 10% lipids) or high-fat diet (HFD, 60% lipid) with or without various dosages of EA for 24 weeks. Our results showed that high fat diet intake triggered overweight, glucose intolerance and white adipocyte hypertrophy, the effects of which were mitigated by EA treatment. Meanwhile, EA supplementation reduced serum resistin levels, improved hepatic steatosis and serum lipid profile in DIO (high fat diet induced obesity) rats. Moreover, EA supplementation significantly decreased mRNA expression of Zfp423 and Aldh1a1, the key determinants of WAT plasticity. EA also increased mRNA expression of brown adipocyte markers including UCP1, PRDM16, Cidea, PGC1α, Ppar-α; beige markers including CD137and TMEM26; mitochondrial biogenesis markers including TFAM in inguinal WAT (iWAT) when compared to their counterparts. EA treatment significantly improved mitochondrial function, as measured by citrate synthase activity. More importantly, EA markedly elevated the expression of UCP1 in iWAT, which is a specific protein of brown adipocyte. In conclusion, our results provided evidence that EA improved obesity-induced dyslipidemia and hepatic steatosis in DIO rats via browning of iWAT through suppressing white adipocyte maintaining genes and promoting expression of key thermogenic genes. These findings suggest that EA could be a promising therapeutic avenue to treat metabolic diseases.

Acupuncture for essential hypertension: a meta-analysis of randomized sham-controlled clinical trials.

Background. Acupuncture is frequently advocated as an adjunct treatment for essential hypertension. The aim of this review was to assess its adjunct effectiveness in treating hypertension. Methods. We searched PubMed, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and the Chinese databases Sino-Med, CNKI, WanFang, and VIP through November, 2012, for eligible randomized controlled trials that compared acupuncture with sham acupuncture. Outcome measures were changes in diastolic (DBP) and systolic blood pressure (SBP). Results. A total of 4 randomized controlled trials were included. We found no evidence of an improvement with the fact that acupuncture relative to sham acupuncture in SBP change (n = 386; mean difference = -3.80 mmHg, 95% CI = -10.03-2.44 mmHg; I (2) = 99%), and an insignificant improvement in DBP change (n = 386; mean difference = -2.82 mmHg, 95% CI = -5.22-(-0.43) mmHg; I (2) = 97%). In subgroup analyses, acupuncture significantly improved both SBP and DBP in patients taking antihypertensive medications. Only minor acupuncture-related adverse events were reported. Conclusions. Our results are consistent with acupuncture significantly lowers blood pressure in patients taking antihypertensive medications. We did not find that acupuncture without antihypertensive medications significantly improves blood pressure in those hypertensive patients.

[Viable myocardium detecting by CARTO voltage mapping in swine model of acute myocardial infarction].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the accuracy and practicability of detecting viable myocardium by CARTO voltage mapping in swine model of acute myocardial infarction (MI). METHODS: MI was induced in 13 anesthetized swines via occluding the distal of left anterior descending coronary arteries by angioplasty balloon for 60-90 minutes. The viable myocardium detection by CARTO voltage mapping was made after reconstruction of the left ventricle using CARTO and the results were compared with TTC staining. The standard of CARTO voltage to detect viable myocardium was 0.5 - 1.5 mV while viable myocardium showed pink color by TTC staining. RESULTS: Eleven out of 13 swines survived the operation and 2 swines died of ventricular fibrillation at 45 and 65 minutes post ischemia. Left ventricle was divided into 16 segments and 176 segments from 11 swines were analyzed. Viable myocardium detected by CARTO voltage mapping was identical as identified by TTC staining (Kappa = 0.816, P < 0.001). Taken the TTC result as standard, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy rate of CARTO voltage mapping are 71.8%, 96.5% and 90.9% respectively. CONCLUSION: CARTO voltage mapping could be used as a reliable tool to detect viable myocardium in this model.

Slow rise of intracellular Ca(2+) concentration in rat primary sensory neurons triggered by loureirin B.

In the present study, the intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca(2+)](i)) in acutely isolated rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons modulated by loureirin B, an active component of "dragon's blood" which is a kind of Chinese herbal medicine, was determined by the means of Fura-2 based microfluorimetry. It was found that loureirin B could evoke the elevation of [Ca(2+)](i) in a dose-dependent manner. However, the elevation of [Ca(2+)](i) evoked in the calcium free solution was much smaller than that in the standard external cell solution, suggesting that most change of [Ca(2+)](i) was generated by the influx of extracellular Ca(2+), not by the activities of intracellular organelles like Ca(2+) stores and mitochondria. In addition, the mixture of loureirin B and caffeine also induced [Ca(2+)](i) rise, but the peak of [Ca(2+)](i) rise induced by the mixture was significantly lower than that by caffeine alone, which means the triggering pathway and the targets of caffeine are probably involved in loureirin B-induced [Ca(2+)](i) rise. Moreover, compared to the transients induced by caffeine, KCl and capsaicin, the loureirin B-induced [Ca(2+)](i) rise is much slower and more stable. These results indicate that the capability of loureirin B of inducing the [Ca(2+)](i) rise is solid and unique.