Effect of the angiotensin II receptor blocker valsartan on cardiac hypertrophy and myocardial histone deacetylase expression in rats with aortic constriction.

The aim of the present study was to observe the myocardial expression of members of the histone deacetylase (HDAC) family (HDAC2, HDAC5 and HDAC9) in rats with or without myocardial hypertrophy (MH) in the presence and absence of the angiotensin II receptor blocker valsartan. Adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups (n=6/group): Sham-operated control rats, treated with distilled water (1 ml/day) through gavage; rats with MH (established through aortic constriction), treated with distilled water (1 ml/day) through gavage; and MH + valsartan rats, treated with 20 mg/kg/day valsartan through gavage. Treatments commenced one day after surgery and continued for eight weeks. Body weight (BW), heart weight (HW) and plasma atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels were determined, and the myocardial expression of HDAC2, HDAC5 and HDAC9 was analyzed through a reverse transcription semi-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The BWs of the rats in the three groups were similar at baseline; however, after eight weeks the BW of the rats in the MH + valsartan group was significantly reduced compared with that of the MH rats. Furthermore, the HW/BW ratio and plasma ANP and BNP levels were increased, the myocardial HDAC2 expression was significantly upregulated and the HDAC5 and HDAC9 expression was significantly downregulated in the MH rats compared with those in the control rats; however, these changes were significantly attenuated by valsartan. Modulation of myocardial HDAC5, HDAC9 and HDAC2 expression may therefore be one of the anti-hypertrophic mechanisms of valsartan in this rat MH model.

Elevated levels of oxidized low-density lipoprotein correlate positively with C-reactive protein in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

The relationship between oxidized low-density lipoprotein (Ox-LDL) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is unknown. We, therefore, measured serum levels of Ox-LDL and high-sensitivity (hs)-CRP in 90 ACS patients, 45 stable angina pectoris (SAP) patients, and 66 healthy controls using sandwich ELISA. ACS patients were subdivided into: (1) acute myocardial infarction (AMI; n = 45); (2) unstable angina pectoris (UAP; n = 45) groups. In AMI patients, Ox-LDL (177.5 mmol/l) and hs-CRP (25.40 mg/l) levels were significantly higher (P < 0.01) than in UAP (Ox-LDL:107.5 mmol/l, hs-CRP:10.7 mg/l) and SAP (Ox-LDL:82.3 mmol/l, hs-CRP:2.10 mg/l) patients as well as controls (Ox-LDL:41.4 mmol/l, hs-CRP:1.76 mg/l). Ox-LDL/hs-CRP levels in UAP patients were significantly higher (P < 0.01) than in SAP patients and controls. Importantly, a positive correlation was found between Ox-LDL and CRP (r = 0.622; P < 0.01) levels. Serum levels of total, HDL, and LDL cholesterol did not differ among these patient groups. In conclusion, our data show that Ox-LDL and hs-CRP levels correlate positively in ACS patients, supporting the hypothesis that Ox-LDL and CRP may play a direct role in promoting the inflammatory component of atherosclerosis in these individuals. We suggest that Ox-LDL/CRP elevated levels may serve as markers of the severity of the disease in evaluation and management of ACS patients.

[Hyperspectral feature band selection based on mean confidence interval and tree species discrimination].

In the present study, based on the leaf-level hyperspectral data of BaiMu, LeiZhu and WuHuanZi, the authors come up with two solutions through the theory of statistics; the first one is that optimal discriminating band between tree species is extracted by mean interval confidence, the other one is that tree species is discriminated by the Manhattan distance and the Min Max interval similarity. The research results showed that (1) the optimal discriminating bands between BaiMu and LeiZhu are around 350-446, 497-527, 553-1 330, 1 355-2 400 and 2 436-2 500 nm; the optimal discriminating bands between BaiMu and WuHuanZi are around 434-555, 580-1 903, 1 914-2 089, 2 172-2 457 and 2 475-2 500 nm; the optimal discriminating bands between LeiZhu and WuHuanZi are around 434-555, 580-1 903, 1 914-2 089, 2 172-2 457 and 2 475-2 500 nm; and this result is helpful for us to find maximum difference to identifying tree species respectively. (2) In these optimal discriminating bands, we find that the Manhattan distance between the same species is far less than the different species; but the Min-Max interval similarity between the same species is far more than the different species, so this result could help us to discriminate and identify different types of tree species effectively.

[Hyperspectral Bambusoideae discrimination based on Mann-Whitney non-parametric test and SVM].

In the present study, based on the leaf-level hyperspectral data of MaoZhu, LeiZhu and XiaoShunZhu, We come up with two solutions to discrimination through the theory of non-parametric test and pattern recognition; the first one is that optimal discriminating band between bambusoideae species is extracted by Mann-Whitney non-parametric test, the other is that bambusoideae species is discriminated by the support vector machine. The research results showed that (1) the optimal discriminating band between MaoZhu and LeiZhu is around 503-655, 689-732, 757-1 000, 1 038-1 084, 1 238-1 311, 1 404-1 591, 1682-1 800, 1 856-1 904, and 1 923-2 500 nm; the optimal discriminating band between MaoZhu and XiaoShunZhu is around 350-386, 731-1 430, 1 584-1 687, and 1 796-1 873 nm; the optimal discriminating band between LeiZhu and XiaoShunZhu is around 355-356, 498-662, 689-745, and 1 344-2 500 nm; and it can eliminate 30.0%, 57.7%, and 35.8% of the invalid distinction between bands by Mann-Whitney non-parametric test method. (2) In these optimal discriminating bands, we found that the accuracy of bambusoideae discrimination is 98.4%, 93.5%, and 95.1%, the generalization accuracy is 93.3%, 90.0%, and 86.7% by sequential minimal optimization algorithm. It indicates that this method is valid for selecting feature band and discriminating bambusoideae species.