No abstract

Speech-induced atrial tachycardia (AT) is extremely rare. We presented a case of focal AT that could be triggered by speech and terminated with the cessation of conversation. An electrophysiological study showed that the outbreak was associated with left atrial pressure rose. Radiofrequency ablation at the left atrial posterior-superior wall (earliest activation site) resulted in the immediate termination of AT. These electrophysiological characteristics indicated that the cardiac autonomic nervous system and/or left atrial pressure might play essential roles in the occurrences of speech-induced AT.

Objectives The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of Ba Duan Jin, a kind of traditional Chinese heath-care Qigong, for reducing blood pressure in hypertensive type II diabetic patients. Methods One hundred eighteen hypertensive type II diabetic outpatients were screened, and 78 eligible participants voluntarily enrolled in the study. Age- and sex- matched participants (aged 45-64 years) were randomly assigned to four groups. Group 1 (n = 20)received Ba Duan Jin intervention, Group 2 (n = 20), Group 3 (n = 19)received conventional walking or resistance training as the active comparators, and Group 4 (n = 19)served as control group. All participants were taking oral diabetes medication, and were asked to maintain their conventional diabetes care, including medication, diet, and exercise, during the study. Under the direction of certified instructor, participants of Group1 and Group2 performed Ba Duan Jin or resistance training for 30 minutes (30 minutes after lunch), 3 times a week for12 weeks. Meanwhile, participants of Group3 and Group4 walked or rested for 30min with the same music rhythm. Physical and hematologic measures were assessed before and after 12-week intervention. Results There were significant improvements in Group1 and Group2 of metabolic syndrome, including weight, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, Apolipoprotein A1 and total cholesterol, as well as blood pressures. The improvements of Group1 were significantly higher than Group2, systolic pressure (-14.4 + /-2.3 mm Hg, -10.4 + /-2.5 mm Hg, respectively, P < 0.0001) and diastolic pressure (-10.6 + /-1.9 mm Hg, -7.4 + /-1.6 mm Hg, respectively, P < 0.01). While there were not significant improvements in Group3 (P > 0.05) and Group4 (P > 0.05). Conclusions 12-week intervention of Ba Duan Jin resulted in significant improvement in blood lipids and bloodpressure. These results suggest that BaDuan Jin may be an effective complementary therapy for hypertensive adults with type II diabetes.

Background: Calcium homeostasis imbalance is one of the important pathological mechanisms in heart failure. Sarco /endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA2a), a calcium ATPase on the sarcoplasmic reticulum in cardiac myocytes, is a myocardial systolic-diastolic Ca2+ homeostasis regulating enzyme that is not only involved in cardiac diastole but also indirectly affects cardiac myocyte contraction. SERCA2a expression was found to be decreased in myocardial tissue in heart failure, and SERCA2a gene therapy may be a potential target for patients with heart failure; however, there are few reports on serum SERCA2a expression in patients with heart failure, and this study was designed to investigate whether serum SERCA2a levels are associated with the occurrence of adverse events after discharge in patients hospitalized with heart failure.Methods: Patients with heart failure hospitalized in the cardiovascular department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, China, from July 2018 to July 2019 were included in this study, and serum SERCA2a concentrations were measured; each enrolled patient was followed up by telephone after 6 months (6 ± 1 months) for general post-discharge patient status. The correlation between serum SERCA2a levels and the occurrence of adverse events (death or readmission due to heart failure) after hospital discharge was assessed using univariate analysis and trend analysis.Results: Seventy-one patients with heart failure were finally included in this study, of whom 38 (53.5%) were men and 33 (46.5%) were women. Univariate analysis revealed no correlation between serum SERCA2a levels and the occurrence of adverse events in the total study population and in male patients, but serum SERCA2a levels were associated with the occurrence of adverse outcome events after hospital discharge in female patients (OR=1.02, P=0.047). Further analysis using a trend analysis yielded a 4.0% increase in the risk of adverse outcomes after hospital discharge for each unit increase in SERCA2a in female patients (OR=1.04; P=0.02), while no significant difference was seen in men.Conclusions: This study suggests that serum SERCA2a levels at admission are associated with the occurrence of post-discharge adverse events in female patients hospitalized with heart failure and that serum SERCA2a may be a potential serologic predictor of post-discharge adverse events in patients with heart failure.