Interleukin-6 in cardiac surgery

Background and Purpose: Interleukin (IL)-6 is a multi-functional pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine, and it has been a reliable biomarker of cardiac function status and myocardial damage. However, the characteristics of IL-6 expressions in the cardiac surgical patients have not been comprehensively described. The purpose of this review is to present the current knowledge on the role of IL-6 in the field of cardiac surgery.Materials and Methods: Medical literature of IL-6 in cardiac surgical disorders of recent 3 decades were carefully collected as studying materials, and comprehensively reviewed and analyzed.Results: Plasma IL-6 was significantly elevated 1 hour and peaked 3-6 hours after the start of cardiopulmonary bypass with a gradual decrease constant maintenance thereafter. No significant differences were found between patients with biological and mechanical heart valve replacements between on-poump and off-pump coronary artery bypass, or between cyanotic and acyanotic congental heart patients. The elevation of IL-6 was higher in mitral valve replacement than in coronary artery bypass grafting patients and in non-heart transplantation than heart transplantation patients. Il-6 was involved in the pathogenesis of pulmonary artery hypertension and infective endocarditis, and predicted adverse cardiac events, such as coronary graft occlusion, aortic dissection progression, and cardiac myxoma recurrence.Conclusions: In cardiac surgical patients, the expression of IL-6 reflects the inflammatory situation of the patients and also predicts their prognosis. The higher elevation of IL-6 in mitral valve replacement and in non-heart transplantation might be attributed to cardiotomy suction, and to lack of sterioid use. Early administrations with steroid, α2-adrenergic agonists, incretin hormones, or ischemic conditioning could reduce the inflammatory response and prevent from pertinent postoperative complications. Anesthetic agents and technique of choices may also reduce immune reactions and lower circulating cytokines. Extracorporeal IL-6 removal facilities have been successfully applied in clinical practice. The potential alternative therapies with IL-6 antibodies might be further developed and used in such patients for preventing myocardial apoptotic processes.</p

Agent-based modeling to investigate the disposition effect in financial markets

One of the behavioral patterns that deviate from what is predicted by traditional financial theories is the disposition effect. Although most empirical studies have reported a significant disposition effect, researchers have yet to conduct a conclusive test of thiseffect because a competing hypothesis or confounding effects might explain the documented significance. Thus, we use the tools of computational intelligence, instead of empirical approaches, to explore market behavior. In particular, we allow agents with different investment strategies to interact and to compete with each other in an artificial futures market. We found that the S-shaped value curve proposed by prospect theory may be one of the causes of the observed behavior of the disposition effect. However, rational expectation such as short-term mean reversion can even be more decisive

Terahertz Atmospheric Windows for High Angular Resolution Terahertz Astronomy from Dome A

Atmospheric transmission from Dome A, Antarctica, presents new possibilities in the field of terahertz astronomy, where space telescopes have been the only observational tools until now. Using atmospheric transmission measurements from Dome A with a Fourier transform spectrometer, transmission spectra and long-term stabilities have been analyzed at 1.461 THz, 3.393 THz, 5.786 THz and 7.1 THz, which show that important atmospheric windows for terahertz astronomy open for a reasonable length of time in the winter season. With large aperture terahertz telescopes and interferometers at Dome A, high angular resolution terahertz observations are foreseen of atomic fine-structure lines from ionized gas and a water ice feature from protoplanetary disks.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Advances in Polar Scienc

Downregulated serum 14, 15-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid is associated with abdominal aortic calcification in patients with primary aldosteronism

Patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) have increased risk of target-organ damage, among which vascular calcification is an important indicator of cardiovascular mortality. 14, 15-Epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (14, 15-EET) has been shown to have beneficial effects in vascular remodeling. However, whether 14, 15-EET associates with vascular calcification in PA is unknown. Thus, we aimed to investigate the association between 14, 15-EET and abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) in patients with PA. Sixty-nine patients with PA and 69 controls with essential hypertension, matched for age, sex, and blood pressure, were studied. 14, 15-Dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acid (14, 15-DHET), the inactive metabolite from 14, 15-EET, was estimated to reflect serum 14, 15-EET levels. AAC was assessed by computed tomographic scanning. Compared with matched controls, the AAC prevalence was almost 1-fold higher in patients with PA (27 [39.1%] versus 14 [20.3%]; P=0.023), accompanied by significantly higher serum 14, 15-DHET levels (7.18±4.98 versus 3.50±2.07 ng/mL; P&lt;0.001). Plasma aldosterone concentration was positively associated with 14, 15-DHET (β=0.444; P&lt;0.001). Multivariable logistic analysis revealed that lower 14, 15-DHET was an independent risk factor for AAC in PA (odds ratio, 1.371; 95% confidence interval, 1.145–1.640; P&lt;0.001), especially in young patients with mild hypertension and normal body mass index. In conclusion, PA patients exibited more severe AAC, accompanied by higher serum 14, 15-DHET levels. On the contrary, decreased 14, 15-EET was significantly associated with AAC prevalence in PA patients, especially in those at low cardiovascular risk

A study of resiliency among Chinese health care workers: Capacity to cope with workplace stress

This paper reports a study of resiliency to cope with workplace stress among Chinese health care workers. We adopted a qualitative-quantitative-biomarker approach to conduct interviews, focus group discussions, and a two-wave longitudinal survey. Wave 1 survey was conducted among health care workers in Hong Kong and Mainland China (N = 773). Amongst them, 287 took part in Wave 2 survey. A confirmatory factor analysis consistently supported a 9-item scale. A sub-sample's (N = 33) resiliency was positively related to salivary IgA levels (an immune marker). Results from hierarchical regressions demonstrated that resiliency measured in Wave 1 was positively related to job satisfaction, work-life balance, and quality of life; and negatively related to physical/psychological symptoms and injuries at work in Wave 2. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.postprin