The result of this study indicates that NAC treatment decreases the incidence of postoperative AF.

No abstract

Increased platelet activation and aggregation which are closely related to cardiovascular complications have been reported in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The aim of this study was to assess the mean platelet volume (MPV), an indicator of platelet activation in patients with OSA. The 95 subjects referred for evaluation of OSA underwent overnight polysomnography. Blood samples were taken for MPV determination. According to the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), subjects were divided into three groups; group 1: control subjects without OSA (AHI < 5, n = 24), group 2: patients with mild to moderate OSA (AHI: 5-30, n = 42), and group 3: severe OSA (AHI > 30, n = 29). Body mass index (BMI) of patients with severe OSA was significantly higher than control subjects (31.5 ± 4.0 vs. 28.2 ± 5.0; p = 0.02). The MPV was significantly higher in patients with severe OSA than in the control group (8.9 ± 1.0 vs. 8.2 ± 0.7 fl; p = 0.01). Correlation analysis within 71 patients with OSA indicated that MPV was correlated with AHI (p < 0.001, r = 0.44) and DI (p = 0.001, r = 0.37). In multivariate regression analysis, when MPV was taken as independent with other study variables which are potential confounders such as age, gender and BMI, MPV was independently correlated with both AHI (β = 0.44, p < 0.001) and DI (β = 0.38, p < 0.001). We have shown that MPV was significantly higher in patients with severe OSA when compared with control subjects and MPV was correlated with AHI and DI.

Aims: Serum levels of some cytokines and tumour markers are elevated in patients with chronic heart failure (HF). We aimed to investigate the relationship between circulating levels of cytokines and tumour markers in patients with HF. Methods: We included 35 HF patients and 33 normal controls. HF patients were divided into two groups: mild HF (NYHA class I/II) (n = 10) and severe HF (NYHA class III/IV) (n = 25). Serum cytokine levels (TNF-a, IL-1 h, IL-6, and IL-10) were measured by ELISA and tumour markers (CA 125, CA 19-9, CA 15-3, CEA and AFP) by chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay. Results: Serum levels of TNF-a, IL-6, and IL-10 as cytokines, and CA 125 and CA 19-9 as tumour markers were significantly higher in HF patients than in normal controls ( p < 0.0001 for all). Serum levels of TNF-a, IL-6 and IL-10 and CA 125 in the severe HF patients were significantly higher than in the mild HF patients ( p < 0.001 for all). Correlation analysis showed that CA 125 was positively related to TNF-a (r = 0.624, p < 0.001), IL-6 (r = 0.671, p < 0.001), and IL-10 (r = 0.545, p < 0.001) in HF. Conclusion: These findings show that CA 125 is markedly elevated in patients with HF, and correlates with serum TNF-a, IL-6 and IL-10 levels. Therefore, we speculate that among the tumour markers studied, only CA 125 is closely related to the cytokine system.

Carvedilol plus NAC decreased POAF incidence and duration of hospitalization compared with metoprolol and decreased POAF incidence compared with carvedilol.