BACKGROUND:Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of human mortality and has become the leading cause of death worldwide. Existing studies indicate that structural and functional damage to the main arteries represents a significant risk factor for early vascular lesions and many CVDs. AIMS:This study aimed to explore characteristics of carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) and its correlation with cardiovascular disease risk factors in healthy individuals. METHODS:Convenience sampling was used to collect demographics, risk factors, and laboratory examinations from 501 healthy individuals who underwent health checkups at our healthcare center from August 2020 to January 2021. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to examine the correlations between cfPWV and various parameters in both sexes. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to investigate the factors potentially influencing cfPWV. RESULTS:A statistically significant difference in cfPWV between sexes was observed only in the age group of subjects 38-47 years old. The results of the univariate analysis showed that in males, cfPWV was positively correlated with age, blood pressure, heart rate, and alcohol consumption and was negatively correlated with tehe resistive index. In females, cfPWV was positively correlated with age, blood pressure, heart rate, alanine aminotransferase, urea, creatine, uric acid, fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, and heart rate. The results of multivariable analysis indicated that age, systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and alcohol consumption were influencing factors for cfPWV in males, while age, systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and creatinine were influencing factors for cfPWV in females (P <0.05 for all). CONCLUSIONS:In healthy individuals, the distribution patterns of cfPWV values vary by sex and age. In the elderly population, especially elderly women, enhanced monitoring and regular follow-ups are recommended to prevent the development and progression of CVDs in high-risk individuals at an early stage.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an exceptionally aggressive breast cancer subtype associated with neuropathic pain. This study explores the effects of 5 '-nucleotidase domain-containing protein 2 (NT5DC2) on the progression of TNBC and neuropathic pain. Microarray analysis was conducted to identify differentially expressed genes in TNBC and the pathways involved. Gain- and loss-of-function assays of NT5DC2 were performed in TNBC cells, followed by detection of the extracellular acidification rate, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels, lactic acid production, glucose uptake, proliferation, migration, and invasion in TNBC cells. Macrophages were co-cultured with TNBC cells to examine the release of polarization-related factors and cytokines. A xenograft tumor model was established for in vivo validation. In addition, a mouse model of neuropathic pain was established through subepineural injection of TNBC cells, followed by measurement of the sciatic functional index and behavioral analysis to assess neuropathic pain. NT5DC2 was upregulated in TNBC and was positively correlated with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). NT5DC2 interacted with EGFR to promote downstream signal transduction in TNBC cells. NT5DC2 knockdown diminished proliferation, migration, invasion, the extracellular acidification rate, ATP levels, lactic acid production, and glucose uptake in TNBC cells. Co-culture with NT5DC2-knockdown TNBC cells alleviated the M2 polarization of macrophages. Furthermore, NT5DC2 knockdown reduced tumor growth and neuropathic pain in mice. Importantly, activation of the EGFR pathway counteracted the effects of NT5DC2 knockdown. NT5DC2 knockdown protected against TNBC progression and neuropathic pain by inactivating the EGFR pathway.

Abstract Background: To date, no correlation between fatty pancreas and carotid plaque has been reported. Therefore, this study used a large medical examination cohort from Yangzhou to investigate the association between fatty pancreas and subclinical atherosclerosis. Methods: Clinical data were collected between January 2018 and December 2021 from a population undergoing health check-ups at the Health Management Centre of the Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University. Carotid vascular ultrasound findings were used to divide the participants into carotid plaque and non-carotid plaque groups on the basis of independent risk factors for carotid plaque. Results: A total of 6976 cases in the carotid plaque group and 17 069 cases in the non-carotid plaque group were included in this study. Logistic regression model analysis of carotid plaque showed that men (odds ratio [OR] = 1.479, P < 0.001), age (OR = 1.110, P < 0.001), body mass index (OR = 1.005, P < 0.001), history of smoking (OR = 1.446, P < 0.001), history of alcohol consumption (OR = 1.160, P < 0.001), hypertension (OR = 3.296, P < 0.001), diabetes mellitus (OR = 4.077, P < 0.001), fatty pancreas (OR = 1.490, P < 0.001), hypercholesterolaemia (OR = 1.175, P < 0.001), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol atheroma (OR = 1.174, P < 0.001) were independent risk factors for carotid plaque. Subgroup analysis indicated that fatty pancreas was an independent risk factor for carotid plaque in participants without these complications compared with participants with a history of hypertension or diabetes. Conclusion: Fatty pancreas is an independent risk factor for carotid plaque and has a greater impact in individuals without a history of hypertension or diabetes than in those with.

Abstract OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlation between fatty liver index (FLI) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). METHODS: We analyzed the correlation between fatty liver index (FLI) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in a cohort of elderly people who underwent physical examination at the Medical Examination Center of the Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University from 01/01/2020 to 12/31/2020, collected relevant data, and calculated the fatty liver index and estimated glomerular filtration rate. RESULTS: A total of 7879 individuals were included in the analysis, and the results suggested that the probability of abnormal estimated glomerular filtration rate increased in the FLI≥30 group compared to the FLI<30 group, with abnormal estimated glomerular filtration rate of 66.37% and 62.19% in the two groups, respectively (P<0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that the probability of abnormal estimated glomerular filtration rate increased by 0.7% for every 1 increase in FLI (OR=1.007, 95% CI 1.005-1.010, P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Elevated FLI is associated with an increased risk of abnormalities in their estimated glomerular filtration rate in an elderly population in Yangzhou.

Background Twenty-three percent of patients are diagnosed with diabetes mellitus after the first episode of acute pancreatitis. The incidence of post-acute pancreatitis diabetes mellitus is significantly higher than that of type 1 diabetes mellitus. Some studies have concluded that the all-cause mortality and worse prognosis of diabetes after pancreatitis are higher. We predicted that number of recurrences of pancreatitis would be significantly associated with the incidences of metabolic syndrome, abdominal obesity, and post-acute pancreatitis diabetes mellitus. Methods Patients admitted to our hospital for hypertriglyceridemic acute pancreatitis from 2013–2021 were selected for a cross-sectional study. Statistical analysis methods were used to analyze the effect of recurrences on the long-term prognosis of patients with hypertriglyceridemic acute pancreatitis. Results In this study, 101 patients with hypertriglyceridemic acute pancreatitis were included: 60 (59.41%) in the recurrent acute pancreatitis group and 41 (40.59%) in the only one episode of acute pancreatitis group. Among all hypertriglyceridemic acute pancreatitis patients, approximately 61.4% were diagnosed with abdominal obesity, 33.7% of patients are diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, 34.7% of patients are diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, and 21.8% of patients are diagnosed with post-acute pancreatitis diabetes mellitus. Recurrent acute pancreatitis were independent risk factors for post-acute pancreatitis diabetes mellitus in patients with hypertriglyceridemic acute pancreatitis (odds ratio [OR] = 3.964, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.230–12.774) and the risk of post-acute pancreatitis diabetes mellitus in patients with three or more recurrent episodes was 6.607 times higher than that in patients without recurrent episodes (OR = 6.607, 95% CI = 1.412–30.916). Conclusions Recurrence is an independent risk factor for the development of post-acute pancreatitis diabetes mellitus and is significantly associated with the number of recurrences.

Introduction The aim of our study is to explore the value of serum glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) in disease severity and clinical outcomes of acute pancreatitis (AP).Research design and Methods Patients with AP were included from January 2013 to December 2020, retrospectively, dividing into normal serum HbA1c level (N-HbA1c) group and high serum HbA1c level (H-HbA1c) group according to the criteria HbA1c <6.5%. We compared patient characteristics, biochemical parameters, disease severity, and clinical outcomes of patients with AP in two groups. Besides, we evaluated the efficacy of serum HbA1c to predict organ failure (OF) in AP patients by receiver operating curve (ROC).Results We included 441 patients with AP, including 247 patients in N-HbA1c group and 194 patients in H-HbA1c group. Serum HbA1c level was positively correlated with Atlanta classification, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, local complication, and OF (all p<0.05). Ranson, BISAP (bedside index of severity in acute pancreatitis), and CT severity index scores in patients with H-HbA1c were markedly higher than those in patients with N-HbA1c (all p<0.01). ROC showed that the best critical point for predicting the development of OF in AP with serum HbA1c is 7.05% (area under the ROC curve=0.79). Logistic regression analysis showed H-HbA1c was the independent risk factor for the development of OF in AP. Interestingly, in patients with presence history of diabetes and HbA1c <6.5%, the severity of AP was significantly lower than that in H-HbA1c group. Besides, there was no significant difference between with and without history of diabetes in N-HbA1c group.Conclusions Generally known, diabetes is closely related to the development of AP, and strict control of blood glucose can improve the related complications. Thus, the level of glycemic control before the onset of AP (HbA1c as an indicator) is the key to poor prognosis of AP, rather than basic history of diabetes. Elevated serum HbA1c level can become the potential indicator for predicting the disease severity of AP.

Background The study aimed to detect the serum levels of fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF-21) in fatty pancreas (FP) patients and to investigate their potential clinical value. Methods We screened patients with FP using transabdominal ultrasound. The anthropometric, biochemical and serum levels of FGF-21 were compared between the FP group and the normal control (NC) group. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the predictive value of serum FGF-21 for FP patients. Results Compared with the NC group, body mass index, fasting blood glucose levels, uric acid levels and cholesterol levels of the FP group were significantly higher, while the high-density lipoprotein level was lower. In addition, levels of serum FGF-21, resistin, leptin and tumor necrosis factor-α were significantly higher than those in the NC group, while the serum adiponectin level was lower. Pearson analysis showed serum FGF-21 levels in FP patients were negatively correlated with leptin. The ROC curve showed the best critical value of the serum FGF-21 level in FP patients was 171 pg/mL (AUC 0.744, P = 0.002, 95% confidence intervals 0.636–0.852). Conclusion Serum FGF-21 was closely related to fatty pancreas. Detecting serum FGF-21 levels may help identify the population susceptible to FP.

目的 探讨新型评分系统用于临床诊断脂肪胰(FP)的可行性.方法 选取2021年4月—2022年6月扬州大学附属医院消化内科消化内镜中心行超声内镜(EUS)诊断者55例为研究对象,经超声内镜分为FP组与非FP组.比较2组一般资料和生化指标.以脂肪肝、高甘油三酯血症、腹型肥胖共3个指标改良评分系统,采用受试者工作特征(ROC)曲线评估改良后新评分系统预测FP的可行性.结果 共纳入55例研究对象,其中FP组20例,非FP组35例.FP组腹围、体质量指数(BMI)、高脂血症占比和脂肪肝患病率大于或高于非FP组,差异有统计学意义(P＜0.05).FP组甘油三酯、谷丙转氨酶、谷草转氨酶高于非FP组,高密度脂蛋白低于非FP组,差异有统计学意义(P＜0.05).FP组合并代谢综合征参数平均数量、合并代谢综合征参数数量≥3个者占比多于或高于非FP组,差异有统计学意义(P＜0.05).改良后新型评分系统预测FP的效能显著改善[曲线下面积(AUC)由0.651上升至0.731].结论 改良后的新型评分系统可作为临床工作中预测FP的简易工具.

Hypertriglyceridemic waist phenotype (HTWP) and its quantitative indicator, waist circumference-triglyceride index (WTI), are common quantitative indices of visceral obesity and are closely related to metabolic diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between fatty pancreas (FP) and HTWP in China. FP was diagnosed using trans-abdominal ultrasonography in all participants. According to the waist circumference and serum triglyceride levels, the participants were divided into four phenotype groups: normal waist circumference-normal triglyceride, normal waist circumference-elevated triglyceride, elevated waist circumference-normal triglyceride, and elevated waist circumference-elevated triglyceride (indicating HTWP). Clinical characteristics and biochemical indices were compared among the groups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the utility of WTI as a reference factor for FP screening. The HTWP group had a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome (84.2%), FP (10.4%), fatty liver (64.5%), and hypertension (15.8%) than the other three phenotype groups. The occurrence rate of HTWP and the median WTI were significantly higher in participants with FP than in those without FP (54.7% vs 21.0%, 222 ± 135 vs 142 ± 141, p < 0.001). In the ROC curve analysis, when the maximum area under the curve was 0.746, the WTI was 107.09 and the corresponding sensitivity and specificity were 90.6% and 51.9%, respectively. HTWP is closely associated with FP and can be used as a reference factor for FP screening.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of fatty pancreas in Yangzhou, China. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Initially, 2093 subjects were included in the study. After the exclusion of 865 subjects based on incomplete information, a total of 1228 subjects were selected for further analysis. The subjects were stratified into two groups (the fatty pancreas group and the non-fatty pancreas group) based on the results. Anthropometric and biochemical findings were compared between the groups. Results: Among the 2093 study subjects, 56 (2.7%) had fatty pancreas. Overall, 53 out of 1228 subjects were diagnosed with fatty pancreas and included into the fatty pancreas group. Univariate analysis showed significant differences in age and the prevalence of general obesity, central obesity, alcohol consumption, metabolic syndrome and fatty liver between the two groups (all p < 0.01). The fatty pancreas group had higher levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, serum uric acid, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein, and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein than did the non-fatty pancreas group (all p < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age (p = 0.007), central obesity (p = 0.002) and fatty liver (p = 0.006) were independent risk factors for fatty pancreas, with odds ratios (ORs) of 1.034 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.009-1.059), 5.364 (95% CI: 1.890-15.227), and 2.666 (95% CI: 1.332-5.338), respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of fatty pancreas in the examined population is approximately 2.7%. Increased age, central obesity and fatty liver disease are independent risk factors for fatty pancreas. (C) 2018 IAP and EPC. Published by Elsevier B.V.