Association Between Serum Uric Acid Levels and Neoatherosclerosis.

Neoatherosclerosis is a major cause of stent failure after percutaneous coronary intervention. Metabolism such as hyperuricemia is associated with in-stent restenosis (ISR). However, the association between serum uric acid (sUA) levels and in-stent neoatherosclerosis (ISNA) has never been validated.A total of 216 patients with 220 ISR lesions who had undergone optical coherence tomography (OCT) of culprit stents were included in this study. According to their sUA levels, eligible patients were divided into two groups [normal-sUA group: sUA < 7 mg/dL, n = 126, and high-sUA group: sUA ≥ 7 mg/dL, n = 90]. OCT findings were analyzed and compared between the normal- and high-sUA groups.The incidence of ISNA (63.0% versus 43.0%, P = 0.004) was significantly higher in the high-sUA group than in the normal-sUA group. Lipid plaques (66.3% versus 43.0%, P < 0.001) and thin-cap fibroatheroma (38.0% versus 18.0%, P = 0.001) were observed more frequently in the restenotic tissue structure in patients in the high-sUA group than in those in the normal-sUA group. Meanwhile, univariate (OR: 1.208, 95% CI: 1.037-1.407; P = 0.015) and multivariate (OR: 1.254, 95% CI: 1.048-1.501; P = 0.013) logistic regression analyses indicated that sUA levels were an independent risk factor for ISNA after adjusting for relevant risk factors.The high-sUA levels were an independent risk factor for the occurrence of neoatherosclerosis in patients with ISR via OCT.

Association of the monocytes to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio with in-stent neoatherosclerosis and plaque vulnerability: An optical coherence tomography study.

BACKGROUND: Monocyte-to-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (MHR) is an independent predictor of atherosclerosis and in-stent restenosis (ISR). However, the association between MHR and the incidence of in-stent neoatherosclerosis (ISNA) remains to be validated. METHODS: This study included 216 patients with acute coronary syndrome who had 220 ISR lesions and had undergone optical coherence tomography (OCT). All eligible patients were divided into three groups according to their MHR tertile level. OCT characteristics were comparatively analyzed between groups of different MHR levels, and univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were constructed to assess correlations between MHR level and ISNA as well as in-stent thin-cap fibroatheroma (TCFA). A receiver operating characteristic curve was used to determine the optimal MHR thresholds for predicting ISNA and in-stent TCFA. RESULTS: The incidence of ISNA (70.3% vs. 61.1% vs. 20.3%, P < 0.001) and in-stent TCFA (40.5% vs. 31.9% vs. 6.8%, P < 0.001) was the highest in the third tertile, followed by the second and first tertiles, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that MHR was independently associated with ISNA (odds ratio [OR], 7.212; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.287-40.416; P = 0.025) and in-stent TCFA (OR, 5.610; 95% CI, 1.743-18.051; P = 0.004) after adjusting for other clinical factors. The area under the curve was 0.745 (95% CI, 0.678-0.811; P < 0.001) for the prediction of ISNA and 0.718 (95% CI, 0.637-0.778; P < 0.001) for the prediction of in-stent TCFA. CONCLUSION: MHR levels are an independent risk factor for ISNA.

First report of Root rot in Cerasus subhirtella Caused by Fusarium solani and Fusarium oxysporum in China.

Cerasus subhirtella (Miq.) Sok. is a widely used ornamental tree in urban areas around China and has a high ornamental value. From 2018 to 2020, a root rot disease was observed in C. subhirtella in Meitan County, Weng'an County, and Guiyang city of Guizhou, China (106.71 E, 26.57 N). Diseased C. subhirtella trees exhibited wilting with leaf chlorosis accompanied by brown to black root discoloration. In an area of 100 ha in total, with disease incidence ranging from 60 to 80%. Six symptomatic plants with root rot were randomly collected from three locations where disease symptoms were observed for pathogen isolation. Fifty fragments of diseased roots (5×5mm) were disinfected in 3% sodium hypochlorite for 30 s and 75% alcohol for 60 s, rinsed three times in sterile distilled water, plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA; BoWei, Shanghai), and incubated at 28 °C in the dark for 7 days. Eighteen isolates were purified by single spore culturing. Typical Fusarium spp. colonies were obtained from all root samples. On PDA, the colonies showed white and the hyphae were dense, while the colony of isolate YH15 showed pale yellow on the back, radial growth and produced chlamydospores. The macrospores (YH15) were straight to subarcuate, measured 15.3 to 25.1 × 2.5 to 6.2 µm (n=50). The microconidia (YH26) were ellipsoid to ovoid, measured 8.6 to 12.7 × 1.6 to 5.1 µm (n=50). These morphological characteristics were consistent with Fusarium spp., as described recently in Vitullo et al. (2014). To confirm the morphological diagnosis, genomic DNA from the isolates was extracted. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) (White et al, 1990) region of rDNA and a ß-tubulin (Varga et al, 2011) gene fragment were amplified with the primers ITS1/ITS4 and Bt2a/Bt2b, respectively, and were subsequently sequenced. Maximum likelihood analysis was carried out using MEGA 11.0. BLAST analysis revealed that the ITS and ß-tubulin sequences of isolate YH15 were 100% homologous with F. oxysporum, and the isolate YH26 had a 99.69~100% homology with F. solani. Sequences of isolate YH15 and YH26 were deposited in GenBank (ITS: OQ363005 and OQ363049; ß-tubulin: OQ398187 and OQ398180). The isolate YH15 was thus identified as F. oxysporum by the morphological characteristics and sequences analysis, and the isolate YH26 was identified as F. solani. A reconstructed phylogenetic tree also confirmed their phylogenetic position. The healthy 2-year-old C. subhirtella plants grown in autoclaved acid yellow soil were used for the pathogenicity tests. Then, 50 mL of conidial suspension (2.0×105 conidia/mL, in medium) of 7-day-old isolates YH15 and YH26 were gently applied to the soil in each of the 10 pots as the treatment. A sterilized fungal culture matrix (PDB; BoWei, Shanghai) was applied to each of 10 pots as a control. All pots (30 cm high, 25 cm upper diameter, 15 cm base diameter) were placed in a greenhouse (25 °C, 12 h photoperiod). After 30 days of inoculation, all plants inoculated with the isolates showed wilting symptoms, and the roots showed light-brown to dark-brown lesions. No symptoms were observed in the controls. The pathogen was reisolated from all symptomatic roots and identified as F. oxysporum and F. solani as described above. The pathogenicity test was repeated twice with similar results. Although this fungus was previously reported to cause root disease in many hosts (Li et al., 2020; Gibert et al., 2022), this is the first report of F. oxysporum and F. solani causing root rot in C. subhirtella in China.