[Safety and efficacy of transcatheter closure of ruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysm].

Objective: To investigate the safety and efficacy of transcatheter closure of ruptured sinus of Valsava aneurysm(RSVA). Methods: A total of 33 RSVA patients underwent transcatheter closure from January 2006 to March 2017 in our hospital were included in this retrospective study. The RSVA was diagnosed by echocardiography.Different type of occluders were applied for transcatheter closure based on the aortography results. All the patients were followed up after the procedure. Results: The patients were (37.6±12.1) years old,and the male patients accounted for 78.8%(26 cases).RSVA from right coronary sinus was found in 25 patients,and draining chamber was right atrium in 13 cases, right ventricle in 12 cases. RSVA from noncoronary sinus was diagnosed in 8 patients,and the draining chamber was right atrium. Aortography defined the narrowest diameter at the rupture site was (6.4±1.7)mm. The ratio of Qp/Qs was 2.2±0.5,and the mean pressure of pulmonary artery was 24.0(21.2,33.7)mmHg(1 mmHg=0.133 kPa). One patient developed serious occluder related aortic regurgitation and underwent surgery, transcatheter closure was successfully performed in 32 patients. The success rate of transcatheter closure was 97.0%. Two types of device were used in the study including small-waist double-disk ventricular septal defect(VSD) occluders in 20 cases and patent ductus arteriosus(PDA) occluders in 12 cases. During a median follow-up of 73.5(28.3,89.5) months, there were no infective endocarditis, residual shunt, thrombosis, device displacement,serious aortic regurgitation, serious arrhythmia or death.At the last follow-up, the left atrial diameter((37.4±6.5) mm vs. (41.5±5.3)mm,P<0.01),right atrial diameter((42.4±3.0) mm vs. (48.5±6.0)mm,P<0.01), right ventricular diameter((22.2±3.8) mm vs. (27.7±7.2)mm,P<0.01) and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter((51.3±4.9) mm vs.(55.0±4.3)mm,P<0.01)measured by echocardiography were all smaller than pre-procedural level. Conclusion: Transcatheter closure of RVSA is a safe and effective strategy and associated with a good long-term outcome.

[Therapeutic effect of severe thrombocytopenia in patients underwent transcatheter patent ductus arteriosus occlusion].

Objective: To investigate the therapeutic effect of severe thrombocytopenia in patients underwent transcatheter patent ductus arteriosus occlusion. Methods: Clinical data of 80 pure patent ductus arteriosus patients who underwent interventional occlusion between February 2011 and November 2014 in General Hospital of Shenyang Military Region were retrospective analyzed.A bolus of heparin calcium (80 U/kg) was administered by intravenous injection during the procedure.Blood test was conducted in all patients before and after the procedure.The patients with both platelet reduction rate ≥ 5% and platelet count <100×109/L(severe thrombocytopenia) were treated by following strategies: bed rest, avoidance of activities, intensive control of blood pressure through sodium nitroprusside administration, and inhibition of presumed immunological reaction by glucocorticoids and human immunoglobulin administration.Follow-up ended in May 2015. Results: (1) A total of 54 cases (67.5%) were diagnosed as thrombocytopenia in second days after the procedure.The reduction rate of platelet in 41 out of 54 patients was equal or more than 5% on the second day, and the diameter of occludes were equal or more than 14 mm in 35 out of these 54 patients.Severe thrombocytopenia occurred in 14 patients and the occluder diameter was ≥ 14 mm in these 14 patients.Severe thrombocytopenia did not occur in patients with occlude diameter <14 mm or with reduction rate of platelet <5%.(2) A total of 14 severe thrombocytopenia patients were treated.No bleeding events occurred in hospital and during the whole follow-up period.The the lowest value of platelet count of patients was seen on the 4.5 (3.8, 6.0) days post the procedure.The lowest numbers were 16.5 (7.5, 37.3)×109/L.The platelet count of patients restored to more than 30×109/L on the 8.0 (4.8, 9.5) days and restore to more than 100×109/L on the 12.0 (9.8, 39.3) days post procedure.The average hospitalization day of the patients were 15.5 (11.8, 21.5) days.The platelet counts of severe thrombocytopenia patients were normal during the end of follow up (median 3.8 (1.0, 4.9) years). Conclusion: The patients with very severe thrombocytopenia after transcatheter occlusion of patent ductus arteriosus are associated with a benign outcome in case of timely and proper treatment.

Short Communication: Genetic linkage map of Cucurbita maxima with molecular and morphological markers.

Cucurbita maxima is one of the most widely cultivated vegetables in China and exhibits distinct morphological characteristics. In this study, genetic linkage analysis with 57 simple-sequence repeats, 21 amplified fragment length polymorphisms, 3 random-amplified polymorphic DNA, and one morphological marker revealed 20 genetic linkage groups of C. maxima covering a genetic distance of 991.5 cM with an average of 12.1 cM between adjacent markers. Genetic linkage analysis identified the simple-sequence repeat marker 'PU078072' 5.9 cM away from the locus 'Rc', which controls rind color. The genetic map in the present study will be useful for better mapping, tagging, and cloning of quantitative trait loci/gene(s) affecting economically important traits and for breeding new varieties of C. maxima through marker-assisted selection.

The proliferative and migratory effects of physical injury and stromal cell-derived factor-1α on rat cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the effects of physical injury and stromal cell-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) on the proliferation of cardiomyocytes and chemotactic effects of cardiomyocytes on the migration of cardiac fibroblasts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Isolation and primary culture of rat cardiomyocytes and cardiac fibroblasts were performed; scratching was employed to induce physical injury on cells which were cultured with SDF-1α at different concentrations; proliferation ability of cardiomyocytes was checked with CCK-8 assay and migratory ability of cardiac fibroblasts under the chemotaxis of cardiomyocytes was detected with Transwell assay. RESULTS: SDF-1α enhanced the proliferation ability of cardiomyocytes with physical injury, especially at the concentration of 80 µg/L when the proliferation rate of cardiomyocytes increased most markedly. Moreover, physically injured cardiomyocyte that was cultured with SDF-1α significantly elevated migratory ability of cardiac fibroblasts, which tended to be more obvious along with the chemotactic culture time. CONCLUSIONS: SDF-1α enhanced the proliferation ability of cardiomyocytes with physical injury, and physically injured cardiomyocyte that was cultured with SDF-1α promoted the migration of cardiac fibroblasts.

Sequence variations in the FAD2 gene in seeded pumpkins.

Seeded pumpkins are important economic crops; the seeds contain various unsaturated fatty acids, such as oleic acid and linoleic acid, which are crucial for human and animal nutrition. The fatty acid desaturase-2 (FAD2) gene encodes delta-12 desaturase, which converts oleic acid to linoleic acid. However, little is known about sequence variations in FAD2 in seeded pumpkins. Twenty-seven FAD2 clones from 27 accessions of Cucurbita moschata, Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita pepo, and Cucurbita ficifolia were obtained (totally 1152 bp; a single gene without introns). More than 90% nucleotide identities were detected among the 27 FAD2 clones. Nucleotide substitution, rather than nucleotide insertion and deletion, led to sequence polymorphism in the 27 FAD2 clones. Furthermore, the 27 FAD2 selected clones all encoded the FAD2 enzyme (delta-12 desaturase) with amino acid sequence identities from 91.7 to 100% for 384 amino acids. The same main-function domain between 47 and 329 amino acids was identified. The four species clustered separately based on differences in the sequences that were identified using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean. Geographic origin and species were found to be closely related to sequence variation in FAD2.