An expert review of the inverse problem in electrocardiographic imaging for the non-invasive identification of atrial fibrillation drivers.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Electrocardiographic imaging (ECGI) has emerged as a non-invasive approach to identify atrial fibrillation (AF) driver sources. This paper aims to collect and review the current research literature on the ECGI inverse problem, summarize the research progress, and propose potential research directions for the future. METHODS AND RESULTS: The effectiveness and feasibility of using ECGI to map AF driver sources may be influenced by several factors, such as inaccuracies in the atrial model due to heart movement or deformation, noise interference in high-density body surface potential (BSP), inconvenient and time-consuming BSP acquisition, errors in solving the inverse problem, and incomplete interpretation of the AF driving source information derived from the reconstructed epicardial potential. We review the current research progress on these factors and discuss possible improvement directions. Additionally, we highlight the limitations of ECGI itself, including the lack of a gold standard to validate the accuracy of ECGI technology in locating AF drivers and the challenges associated with guiding AF ablation based on post-processed epicardial potentials due to the intrinsic difference between epicardial and endocardial potentials. CONCLUSIONS: Before performing ablation, ECGI can provide operators with predictive information about the underlying locations of AF driver by non-invasively and globally mapping the biatrial electrical activity. In the future, endocardial catheter mapping technology may benefit from the use of ECGI to enhance the diagnosis and ablation of AF.

Evaluation of a modified Chinese version of the National Institutes of Health-Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index / 中华泌尿外科杂志

Objective To revise the Chinese version of the National Institutes of Health-Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (CHN-NIH-CPSD), and evaluate its feasibility, reliability, validity and responsiveness. Methods The NIH-CPSI was translated into Chinese according to a standard methodology including forward-backward-forward technique. The CHN-NIH-CPSI was pre-tested in consecutive samples of 162 native-speaking Chinese chronic prostatitis(CP)patients. Ninety-five of 162 filled the index again on the same day and after 4-week therapy. Ninety-seven healthy men were included as evaluated. Results The recovery of the questionnaires was 100% and all the patients filled the index completely. The mean time to complete the questionnaire for the patient group was 5.2±2.4 (range 2 - 12) min. The split-half reliability was 0.82. For the overall index and each subscale, the test-retest reliability was 0.98, 0. 98, 0. 98, 0. 97, respectively(P＜0.01);and the Cronbach's α coefficient was 0. 61,0. 71, 0. 59, 0. 75, respectively. The confirmatory factor analysis showed good construct validity with a goodness of fit index of 0. 85 and a x2 of 124.67(P＜0. 01). Of all 162 patients, the scores of the overall index and each subscale were 23. 33±5.91. 8. 80±4.26, 5.30±2.82, 9. 23±1.90, respectively;and those of healthy controls were 1. 95±1.97, 0. 37±1.03, 0. 15±0.58, 1.42± 1.20,respectively. Of the 95 patients, the original scores were 23. 53±5.60, 9.21 ±4.04, 5.10±2.75,9.21 ±2.05, comparing with 19.47±6.36, 7.79±3.95, 3. 58±1.88, 8.11±2.50, the 4 weeks later scores. The group t-test and paired t-test showed good responsiveness. Conclusions The CHN-NIH-CPSI has high feasibility, reliability, validity and responsiveness for testing the patients with CP. It is suitable for Chinese-speaking patients and helpful for cross-cultural comparisons of men with CP in clinical and research settings.

Astragalus for Heart Failure and Its Influence on TNF / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE：To explore the possible mechanism of astragalus in improving cardiac function.METHODS：To observe the effects of astragalus,added to basic anti-heart-failure therapy,on cardiac function and TNF in 45 cases of thronic heart failure.RESULTS：In comparison with basic therapy group,the improvement of cardiac function was more obvious and the level of serum TNF-α was lower in astragalus group.CONCLUSION：Astragalus probably has the action of decreasing TNF resulting in improvement of cardiac function.