Journal of thoracic disease
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Due to its effects, like an exaggerated negative intrathoracic pressure, sympathetic activation, systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, and endothelial dysfunction, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has been involved as a cause in multiple cardiovascular diseases. These diseases include coronary artery disease, hypertension, heart failure, and pulmonary hypertension (PH). Furthermore, OSA often coexists with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) in clinical practice. However, few studies focus on OSA and its relationship with CTEPH. This study aims to determine whether OSA has an influence on the clinic status of patients with CTEPH, and to identify what possible factors are associated with OSA in CTEPH. ⋯ OSA may aggravate the clinical status of CTEPH patients to some degree. In turn, a worse hemodynamics, oxygenation state and cardiac function are associated with OSA in CTEPH after being adjusted for age, sex and BMI. Among them, CI is the most important parameter in indicating the coexistence of OSA and CTEPH.
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The purpose of our study was to investigate the correlation between tumor volume (TV) and each subtype of thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) based on the World Health Organization (WHO) classification and Masaoka staging. ⋯ TV of invasive TETs may be larger at the time of initial presentation. TV >54.3 cm3 indicates invasive TETs.
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Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is driven by a severe pro-inflammatory response resulting in lung damage, impaired gas exchange and severe respiratory failure. There is no specific treatment that effectively improves outcome in ARDS. However, in recent years, cell therapy has shown great promise in preclinical ARDS studies. ⋯ Different approaches have also been studied to enhance the therapeutic effect of these cells, such as the over-expression of anti-inflammatory or pro-reparative molecules. Several clinical trials (phase I and II) have already shown safety of MSCs in ARDS and other diseases. However, several translational issues still need to be addressed, such as the large-scale production of cells, and their potentiality and variability, before the therapeutic potential of stem cells therapies can be realized.
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Although acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) has been recognized for more than 50 years, limited information exists about the incidence and management of ARDS in mainland China. To evaluate the potential for improvement in management of patients with ARDS, this study was designed to describe the incidence and management of ARDS in mainland China. ⋯ Despite general acceptance of low Vt and limited Pplat, high driving pressure, low PEEP and low use of adjunctive measures may still be a concern in mainland China, especially in patients with severe ARDS.
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Mutation of the ACTA2 (α-2 smooth muscle actin) gene accounts for ~15% of all cases of familial thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections. Surprisingly, no severe vascular phenotypes were observed at baseline in mice carrying this gene mutation. Our aim was to explore whether mutation of ACTA2 promotes the development of aneurysms or dissections in the presence of angiotensin II (AngII) and to determine whether this mutation has an impact on the phenotypic modulation and apoptosis mediated by AngII in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). ⋯ Knockout of ACTA2 promoted AngII induced progressive lumen dilation of the aortas, apoptosis, and the phenotypic modulation in VSMCs in mice.