Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Heart sound classification plays a key role in the early detection of CVD. The difference between normal and abnormal heart sounds is not obvious. In this paper, in order to improve the accuracy of the heart sound classification model, we propose a heart sound feature extraction method based on bispectral analysis and combine it with convolutional neural network (CNN) to classify heart sounds. The model can effectively suppress Gaussian noise by using bispectral analysis and can effectively extract the features of heart sound signals without relying on the accurate segmentation of heart sound signals. At the same time, the model combines with the strong classification performance of convolutional neural network and finally achieves the accurate classification of heart sound. According to the experimental results, the proposed algorithm achieves 0.910, 0.884 and 0.940 in terms of accuracy, sensitivity and specificity under the same data and experimental conditions, respectively. Compared with other heart sound classification algorithms, the proposed algorithm shows a significant improvement and strong robustness and generalization ability, so it is expected to be applied to the auxiliary detection of congenital heart disease.
ObjectivesTo systematically review the efficacy of Nordic walking on prognosis of cardiovascular diseases. MethodsPubMed, Web of Science, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CBM, CNKI and VIP databases were electronically searched to collect intervention studies on the efficacy of Nordic walking on prognosis of cardiovascular diseases from inception to June, 2018. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies, then, meta-analysis was performed by RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 9 studies involving 328 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that: compared with control group, there were an obvious decrease in the values of LDL (MD=–11.38, 95%CI –17.51 to –5.25, P=0.000 3), TG (MD=–21.14, 95%CI –32.33 to–9.96, P=0.000 2), SBP (MD=–7.96, 95%CI −11.45 to –4.46, P<0.000 01) and TC, DBP, BMI (P<0.05). However, there were no obvious differences between two groups in HDL. ConclusionsNordic walking can improve the prognosis of patients with cardiovascular diseases, yet the long-term effect is unclear. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more higher quality studies are required to verify above conclusions.
Objective To evaluate the efficacy of n-3 PUFAs (fish oil) for prevention of cardiovascular events. Methods Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were searched from the following electronic databases: PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library (Issue 1, 2009), CBM, and CNKI. Quality assessment and data extraction were conducted by two reviewers independently. Disagreement was resolved through discussion. All data were analyzed by using Review Manager 4.2 software. Results Five studies involving 37 689 participants met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis results showed that: 1) Compared with placebo, the incidence rates of the cardiovascular death (RR=0.91, 95% CI 0.84 to 0.98), cardiovascular events (RR=0.95, 95%CI 0.91 to 0.98), angina (RR=0.79, 95%CI 0.64 to 0.96), and myocardial infarction (RR=0.79, 95%CI 0.65 to 0.96) could be reduced by n-3 PUFAs (fish oil). 2) There were no significant differences in death from any cause, the hospitalization rates of cardiovascular disease, sudden death, and heart failure (RR=0.95, 95%CI 0.90 to 1.00; RR=0.97, 95%CI 0.93 to 1.02; RR=0.90, 95%CI 0.79 to 1.01; RR=0.98, 95%CI 0.91 to 1.06). 3) Compared with placebo, the incidence rates of the arrhythmia and stroke could be increased, but there were no significant differences (RR=1.14, 95%CI: 0.80 to 1.62; RR=1.12, 95%CI 0.97 to 1.30). Conclusion Compared with placebo, n-3 PUFAs (fish oil) has good effects on reducing the incidence rates of total cardiovascular events, cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, and angina pectoris, and it has the same efficacy in death from all cause, sudden death, heart failure, and the hospitalization rates of cardiovascular disease. There are no significant differences in the increased rates of arrhythmia and stroke.
Objectives To analyze the risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) of different severities. Methods The study included 50 patients with mild-to-moderate COPD and 50 with severe-to-very severe COPD admitted between January 2014 and January 2016. Comorbidities were recorded on the basis of data obtained from medical charts and clinical evaluations. The Charlson comorbidity index was calculated, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) score was determined in each subject. Results There were more prevalences of smoking, depression and dyslipidemia in the patients with mild-to-moderate COPD than those with severe-to-very severe COPD (all P<0.001). The prevalences of high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, alcoholism, and chronic heart failure were not different significantly between the two groups. The Charlson comorbidity index and HADS scores were not different between the two groups. Conclusions Comorbidities are fairly common in COPD regardless of its severity. Certain risk factors for CVD, as smoking, dyslipidemia, and depression, appear to be more prevalent in patients with mild-to-moderate COPD.
With the development of science and technology, artificial intelligence is gradually integrated into every aspect of daily life and the medical field is no exception. Cardiovascular diseases, as the first killer to global health, is the focus of new technologies and methods. In this study, the application of computer vision, natural language processing, robotics and machine learning in cardiovascular disease studies were reviewed and prospected, in order to promote the development for new technologies and applications in the future.
Abstract: The amniotic fluidderived stem cells (AFSC) possess considerable advantageous characteristics including high proliferation potential, easy availability, low immunogenicity and oncogenicity，and accordance with medical ethnics. Moreover, they do not require the sacrifice of human embryos for their isolation and the cells can differentiate into all three kinds of germs. Accordingly，they initiate a new and very promising field in stem cell research and they will be a potential source of stem cells for therapies related to regeneration medicine of cardiovascular diseases. The research about the AFSC utilization in cardiovascular diseases is just started. Though there were some exciting breakthroughs, there still remain many challenges. In the article，we will discuss AFSC characteristics, influence of amniotic fluid harvesting time on stem cells, isolation and purification, emphasizing mainly on the potential of AFSC differentiation into cardiovascular cells, current situation and problems in this field.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 48.0% of all deaths in Europe and 34.3% in the United States. Studies have shown that arterial stiffness takes precedence over vascular structural changes and is therefore considered to be an independent predictor of many cardiovascular diseases. At the same time, the characteristics of Korotkoff signal is related to vascular compliance. The purpose of this study is to explore the feasibility of detecting vascular stiffness based on the characteristics of Korotkoff signal. First, the Korotkoff signals of normal and stiff vessels were collected and preprocessed. Then the scattering features of Korotkoff signal were extracted by wavelet scattering network. Next, the long short-term memory (LSTM) network was established as a classification model to classify the normal and stiff vessels according to the scattering features. Finally, the performance of the classification model was evaluated by some parameters, such as accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. In this study, 97 cases of Korotkoff signal were collected, including 47 cases from normal vessels and 50 cases from stiff vessels, which were divided into training set and test set according to the ratio of 8 : 2. The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the final classification model was 86.4%, 92.3% and 77.8%, respectively. At present, non-invasive screening method for vascular stiffness is very limited. The results of this study show that the characteristics of Korotkoff signal are affected by vascular compliance, and it is feasible to use the characteristics of Korotkoff signal to detect vascular stiffness. This study might be providing a new idea for non-invasive detection of vascular stiffness.
Objectives To evaluate the relationships between the Scavenger Receptor Class B1 (SCARB1) polymorphisms and susceptibility of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Methods Databases including PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP were searched from inception to December 31st 2017 to collect case-control studies on relationships between Scavenger Receptor Class B1 (SCARB1) polymorphisms and susceptibility of CVDs. Paper screening, data extraction and assessment of risk of bias were carried out. Meta-analysis was then conducted by Stata 12.0 software. Results In total, 12 studies relevant to SCARB1 rs5888C/T, rs4238001 G/A and rs10846744 G/C polymorphisms were included. Meta-analysis showed that there was no significant association between the rs5888 C/T polymorphism and susceptibility of CVDs (C vs. T: OR=0.97, 95%CI 0.86 to 1.09, P=0.627), neither for the rs4238001 G/A (G vs. A: OR=0.87, 95%CI 0.64 to 1.17, P=0.344). However, the rs10846744 G/C polymorphism was significantly associated with CVDs risk (G vs. C: OR=1.30, 95%CI 1.11 to 1.52, P=0.001). Subgroup analysis showed that, for non-Asian subjects, there was a significant association between the rs5888 C/T polymorphism and susceptibility of CVDs (C vs. T: OR=0.82, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.99, P=0.040). Conclusions SCARB1 rs10864744 G/C polymorphism could be associated with risk of CVDs. Considering the quantity and quality limitation of the included studies, the conclusion has to be verified by more large-scale high quality studies.
ObjectiveTo investigate the community residents' awareness of knowledge on cardiovascular disease prevention and control and their access methods to relevant information. MethodsBetween June and August, 2013, the residents aged above 45 who came to community health center for diagnosis or treatment were investigated by questionnaires including the acknowledge of prevention for cardiovascular diseases and the access methods to relevant information. ResultsA total of 1 000 residents were involved in this study, including 394 (39.40%) males and 606 (60.60%) females aged from 45 to 98 with an average of 68.3±10.4. The highest rate of awareness of cardiovascular prevention knowledge was regular physical exercise (89.20%), followed by low salt diet (67.20%) and fried food (6.30%). The highest rate of access to the information was information provided verbally by doctors or nurses (77.50%), followed by television and radio (56.00%). ConclusionCommunity center should strengthen the health education of cardiovascular disease prevention and control. Health education should be practiced in an easy way for the residents.
With the development of molecular and cellar cardiology, gene therapy to cardiovascular disease has become the hot spot and the direction of study. Now, preclinical studies on ultrasound-mediated gene delivery (UMGD) in cardiovascular disease have achieved some success, but it is still hindered by a series of practical challenges for clinical translation. Even so, UMGD still holds the promise to cardiovascular disease in gene therapy for its non-invasiveness, accuracy, safety and ability to deliver multiple genes with repeated deliveries. In this review, we will focus on the basic principle, the current development, the future prospect and drawbacks of UMGD in the therapeutic applications of cardiovascular disease.