Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a leading cause of death worldwide. There is great interest in defining the risk factors and underlying mechanisms of ACS among young people. The microbiota and its metabolites have recently become a popular research topic, yet there is still no study that investigated microbiota-generated metabolites as a possible risk factor in young patients with ACS. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between microbiota-generated metabolites and ACS in young people.
 
  This study included 44 young patients with ACS (<50 years of age), 39 elderly patients with ACS, and 44 patients with normal coronary arteries. Inflammatory parameters and serum trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and choline levels were measured in all patients.
 
  Young patients with ACS had significantly higher levels of TMAO and choline compared to the control and elderly ACS groups. Also, elderly patients with ACS had a significantly higher level of TMAO than the control group. Linear regression analysis was performed to determine the independent predictors of TMAO.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/lenalidomide-s1029.html  Two regression models were involved. The first model included young ACS and control groups, while the second model included young and elderly ACS groups. In the first model, we found that young ACS (ß=0.399, p=0.004) and smoking ACS (ß=0.211, p=0.046) were significantly associated with TMAO level. In the second model, young ACS was significantly associated with TMAO level (ß=0.230, p=0.035).
 
  In this study, we have shown that young ACS was significantly associated with increased TMAO level.
 In this study, we have shown that young ACS was significantly associated with increased TMAO level.
  Many countries are facing a shortage of cardiac surgeons, who are crucial in meeting the demands of growing number of patients in need of coronary artery bypass grafting. This situation poses a serious challenge, especially in China. The purpose of this study is to determine whether cardiac surgeons are suitable for training in coronary artery anastomosis at an earlier stage in their career.
 
  We divided 12 cardiac surgeons with no prior experience in coronary artery anastomosis into senior and junior groups for training and assessment. All trainees received training in coronary artery anastomosis for a defined period. We performed in vivo and in vitro examinations before and after training, respectively. Additionally, we assessed individual surgical performance of surgeons by using performance rating scores, including different aspects of surgical skills rated on a five-point scale.
 
  The post-training scores (overall, junior, senior) were significantly higher than the pre-training scores (overall, junior, and senior). We observed no differences in pre-training and post-training scores between the junior and senior groups.
 
  Senior surgeons did not had any significant advantages over junior surgeons with respect to coronary artery anastomosis in the absence of training. Junior surgeons achieved the same results as the senior surgeons after training.
 Senior surgeons did not had any significant advantages over junior surgeons with respect to coronary artery anastomosis in the absence of training. Junior surgeons achieved the same results as the senior surgeons after training.
  Metabolic syndrome (MetS) includes several cardiovascular (CV) risk factors. This study aimed to assess CV risk of MetS, contribution of its components to the risk, and whether MetS provides additional risk beyond its components.
 
  The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) Turkey cohort included 3933 individuals aged between 35 and 70 years, with a median follow-up of 8.9 years. MetS was diagnosed as the presence of any of the following criteria high blood pressure, high fasting plasma glucose, abdominal obesity, low HDL-cholesterol, or high triglycerides. The primary outcome was the composite of fatal CV events, non-fatal myocardial infarction, stroke or heart failure, adjusted for age, sex, smoking, family history of CV diseases, and LDL-cholesterol.
 
  The primary outcome was more common in the MetS group [178 (9.2%) vs. 70 (3.5%); corresponding incidence rate of 11.3 vs. 4.2 per 1000 person-years; log-rank p<0.001]. Each component was significantly associated with the primary outcome; however, when the components were sequentially included in the model, abdominal obesity and high triglycerides did not provide additional risk on top of the other three components. The hazard ratio for MetS for the primary outcome was 2.12 (95% confidence interval 1.59-2.81, p<0.001), and the discriminative ability (c-statistics) of the models with MetS and the components was similar.
 
  MetS increases the risk of CV events more than two-fold. High blood pressure, high fasting plasma glucose, and low HDL-cholesterol are the top three components of MetS for CV risk. MetS and its components have a similar discriminative ability for CV events.
 MetS increases the risk of CV events more than two-fold. High blood pressure, high fasting plasma glucose, and low HDL-cholesterol are the top three components of MetS for CV risk. MetS and its components have a similar discriminative ability for CV events.
  Down Your Drink (DYD) is a widely used unguided web-based alcohol moderation program for the general public based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and motivational interviewing (MI); it provides users with many opportunities to enter free-text responses.
 
  The aim of this study was to assess participants' use of key CBT and MI components, the presence of change talk and sustain talk within their responses, and whether these data are associated with drinking outcomes after 3 months.
 
  An exploratory secondary data analysis was conducted on data collected in 2008 from the definitive randomized trial of DYD (N=503). Past week alcohol use at baseline and 3-month follow-up were measured with the TOT-AL. Covariates included baseline alcohol use, age, gender, education level, and word count of the responses. Use of MI and CBT components and presence of change talk and sustain talk were coded by two independent coders (Cohen κ range 0.91-1). Linear model regressions on the subsample of active users (n=410) are presented along with a negative binomial regression.