Identification of common mechanisms and biomarkers of atrial fibrillation and heart failure based on machine learning.

AIMS: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia. Heart failure (HF) is a disease caused by heart dysfunction. The prevalence of AF and HF were progressively increasing over time. The co-existence of AF and HF presents a significant therapeutic challenge. In order to provide new ideas for the diagnosis of AF and HF, it is necessary to carry out biomarker related studies. METHODS AND RESULTS: The training set and validation set data of AF and HF patient samples were downloaded from the GEO database, 'limma' was used to compare the differences in gene expression levels between the disease group and the normal group to screen for differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) identified the modules with the highest positive correlation with AF and HF. Functional enrichment and PPI network construction of key genes were carried out. Biomarkers were screened by machine learning. The infiltration of immune cells in AF and HF groups was evaluated by R-packet 'CIBERSORT'. The miRNA network was constructed and potential therapeutic agents for biomarker genes were predicted through the drugbank database. Through WGCNA analysis, it was found that the modules most positively correlated with AF and HF were MEturquoise (r = 0.21, P value = 0.09) and MEbrown (r = 0.62, P value = 8e-12), respectively. We screened 25 genes that were highly correlated with both AF and HF. Lasso regression analysis results showed 7 and 20 core genes in AF and HF groups, respectively. The top 20 important genes in AF and HF groups were obtained as core genes by RF model analysis. Four biomarkers were obtained after the intersection of core genes in four groups, namely, GLUL, NCF2, S100A12, and SRGN. The diagnostic efficacy of four genes in AF validation sets was good (AUC: GLUL 0.76, NCF2 0.64, S100A12 0.68, and SRGN 0.76), as well as in the HF validation set (AUC: GLUL 0.76, NCF2 0.84, S100A12 0.92, and SRGN 0.68). The highest correlation with neutrophils was observed for GLUL, NCF2, and S100A12, while SRGN exhibited the strongest correlation with T cells CD4 memory resting in the AF group. GLUL, NCF2, S100A12, and SRGN were most associated with neutrophils in the HF group. A total of 101 miRNAs were predicted by four genes, and GLUL, NCF2, and S100A12 predicted a total of 10 potential therapeutic agents. CONCLUSIONS: We identified four biological markers that are highly correlated with AF and HF, namely, GLUL, NCF2, S100A12, and SRGN. Our findings provide theoretical basis for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of AF and HF.

Inhibition of water-diluted precipitate formation from egg whites by ultrasonic pretreatment: Insights from quantitative proteomics analysis.

The formation of the egg white precipitate (EWP) during dilution poses challenges in food processing. In this paper, the effects of 90 W and 360 W ultrasonic intensities on the inhibition of EWP formation were investigated. The findings revealed that 360 W sonication effectively disrupted protein aggregates, decreasing the dry matter of EWP by 5.24 %, particle size by 57.86 %, and viscosity by 82.28 %. Furthermore, the ultrasonic pretreatment unfolded protein structures and increased the content of ß-sheet structures. Combined with quantitative proteomics and intermolecular forces analysis, the mechanism by which ultrasonic pretreatment inhibited water-diluted EWP formation by altering protein interactions was proposed: ultrasonic pretreatment disrupted electrostatic interactions centered on lysozyme, as well as hydrogen-bonding interactions between ovomucin and water. In conclusion, our research provides valuable insights into the application of ultrasonic pretreatment as a means to control and improve the quality of egg white-based products.

Chicken egg white precipitates induced by water dilution.

Chicken egg whites (whole egg white, EW; thick egg white, TKEW; thin egg white, TNEW) become turbid and are accompanied by the formation of precipitates after being diluted with an equal mass of deionized water. The precipitates of TKEW induced by water dilution (Thick Egg White Precipitates, TKEWP) account for 14.47 % of TKEW total dry matter, much higher than that of thin egg white precipitates (TNEWP) (1.51 %) and whole egg white precipitates (EWP) (5.53 %). Quantitative proteomic analysis identified 27 differentially abundant proteins (p < 0.05) among EW, EWP, TNEWP, and TKEWP. Lysozyme was found to be a key protein in the formation of EW precipitates induced by water dilution, as its abundance was significantly higher in TNEWP and TKEWP. Mucin-5B (α-ovomucin) had the highest abundance in TKEWP, suggesting that its insolubility is one of the important factors contributing to the large formation of TKEWP. This paper systematically studies the formation, characteristics, and composition of egg white precipitation caused by water dilution, and puts forward a new understanding of the processing characteristics of egg white liquid, thus laying a theoretical foundation for further research methods to reduce egg white precipitation by water dilution.

Quantitative proteomic analysis of chicken egg white and its components.

The protein profiles and properties of chicken egg white and its three components (thick egg white, TKEW; thin egg white, TNEW; and chalaza, CLZ) were comprehensively compared. The proteomes of TNEW and TKEW are relatively similar, but the abundance of mucin-5B and mucin-6 (the two subunits of ovomucin) is significantly higher in TKEW than in TNEW (42.97% and 870.04%, respectively), while the lysozymes in TKEW are 32.57% higher (p < 0.05) than those in TNEW. Meanwhile, the properties (including the spectroscopy, viscosity, and turbidity) of TKEW and TNEW are significantly different. Comprehensively, it is speculated that the electrostatic interactions between lysozyme and ovomucin are the main reason for the high viscosity and turbidity of TKEW. Compared with egg white sample (EW), CLZ has a higher abundance of insoluble proteins (mucin-5B, 4.23-fold; mucin-6, 6.89-fold) and a lower abundance of soluble proteins (ovalbumin-related protein X, 89.35% lower than EW; ovalbumin-related protein Y, 78.51% lower; ovoinhibitor, 62.08% lower; riboflavin-binding protein, 93.67% lower). These compositional differences should explain the insolubility of CLZ. These findings are important references for deepening the research and development of egg white in the future, such as the thinning of egg white, the molecular basis of changes in egg white properties, and the differential application of TKEW and TNEW.

Successful ablation of a right epicardial accessory pathway via the right ventricular diverticulum in a patient with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

INTRODUCTION: We describe one rare case of successful ablation of a right epicardial accessory pathway (AP) via the right ventricular diverticulum in a patient with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. METHODS: A 42-year-old woman was referred to the hospital for a catheter ablation of Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome. The earliest activation was shown to be present in the region of the tricuspid annulus. However, ablation had no effect on the AP. RESULTS: We decided to do a selected angiography, in which a big diverticulum near the right tricuspid annulus was shown to be present. Ablation in this region successfully repressed the AP without any recurrences within a follow-up period of 12 months. CONCLUSION: The ventricular diverticulum-mediated AP is a novel variant of pre-excitation. It can serve as an anatomical substrate of supraventricular tachycardia, and can be ablated endocardially using an irrigation tip catheter within the diverticulum.