Atherosclerosis, a chronic inflammatory condition primarily affecting large and medium arteries, is the main cause of cardiovascular diseases. Macrophages are key mediators of inflammatory responses. They are involved in all stages of atherosclerosis development and progression, from plaque formation to transition into vulnerable plaques, and are considered important therapeutic targets. Increasing evidence suggests that the modulation of macrophage polarization can effectively control the progression of atherosclerosis. Herein, we explore the role of macrophage polarization in the progression of atherosclerosis and summarize emerging therapies for the regulation of macrophage polarization. Thus, the aim is to inspire new avenues of research in disease mechanisms and clinical prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis.

The concept of hybrid coronary revascularization (HCR) combines the left internal mammary artery (LIMA)–left anterior descending (LAD) graft and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to non-LAD vessels. Multiple comparative studies have evaluated the safety and feasibility of HCR and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) for multivessel coronary artery disease (MCAD). However, the sample size of each study was small, and evidences based on single-institutional experience. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to compare the short-term outcomes of HCR with those of CABG for MCAD. PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases, as well as conference proceedings, were searched for eligible studies published up to March 2014. We calculated summary odds ratios (OR) for primary endpoints (death, stroke; myocardial infarction (MI); target vessel revascularization (TVR); major adverse cardiac or cerebrovascular events (MACCEs)) and secondary endpoints (atrial fibrillation (AF); renal failure; length of stay in the intensive care unit (LoS in ICU); length of stay in hospital (LoS in hospital); red blood cell (RBC) transfusion). Data from 6176 participants were derived from ten cohort studies. HCR was non-inferior to CABG in terms of MACCEs during hospitalization (odds ratio (OR), 0.68, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.34–1.33)and at one-year follow-up(0.32, 0.05–1.89) , and no significant difference was found between HCR and CABG groups in in-hospital and one-year follow-up outcomes of death, MI, stroke, the prevalence of AF and renal failure, whereas HCR was associated with a lower requirement of RBC transfusion and shorter LoS in ICU and LoS in hospital than CABG (weighted mean difference (WMD) –1.25, 95% CI, –1.62 to –0.88; –17.47, –31.01 to –3.93; –1.77, –3.07 to –0.46; respectively). Our meta-analysis indicates that HCR is feasible, safe and effective for the treatment of MCAD, with similar in-hospital and one-year follow-up outcome, significantly lower requirement of RBC transfusion, and faster recovery compared with CABG.

Background: The early mortality after surgery for infective endocarditis is high. Although risk models help identify patients at high risk, most current scoring systems are inaccurate or inconvenient. The objective of this study was to construct an accurate and easy‐to‐use prediction model to identify patients at high risk of early mortality after surgery for infective endocarditis. Methods and Results: A total of 476 consecutive patients with infective endocarditis who underwent surgery at 2 centers were included. The development cohort consisted of 276 patients. Eight variables were selected from 89 potential predictors as input of the XGBoost model to train the prediction model, including platelet count, serum albumin, current heart failure, urine occult blood ≥(++), diastolic dysfunction, multiple valve involvement, tricuspid valve involvement, and vegetation >10 mm. The completed prediction model was tested in 2 separate cohorts for internal and external validation. The internal test cohort consisted of 125 patients independent of the development cohort, and the external test cohort consisted of 75 patients from another center. In the internal test cohort, the area under the curve was 0.813 (95% CI, 0.670–0.933) and in the external test cohort the area under the curve was 0.812 (95% CI, 0.606–0.956). The area under the curve was significantly higher than that of other ensemble learning models, logistic regression model, and European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation II (all, P <0.01). This model was used to develop an online, open‐access calculator ( http://42.240.140.58:1808/ ). Conclusions: We constructed and validated an accurate and robust machine learning–based risk model to predict early mortality after surgery for infective endocarditis, which may help clinical decision‐making and improve outcomes.

Pericardiectomy is associated with a high prevalence of morbidity and mortality. We evaluated the predictors of in-hospital complications and outcome for pericardiectomy procedure for patients with constrictive pericarditis (CP) in a single-center in China. One-hundred sixty-five patients who underwent pericardiectomy for CP between January 1990 and December 2012 at our hospital were evaluated. The mean age of the study cohort was 36.79 ± 18.52 years. The approach was through a median sternotomy in 91.5% of patients. Cardiopulmonary bypass was used in 14.5% (24/165 patients). Unadjusted rates of mortality and complication were approximately 5.4% and 23%, respectively. The main cause of death was severe low cardiac output syndrome. Major complications were postoperative low cardiac output syndrome, reoperation for bleeding, pneumonia, mediastinitis, chylothorax and cerebral infarction. One-year survival was 92%. One-year follow-up revealed that New York Heart Association functional class III or IV, age, intraoperative use of cardiac pulmonary bypass and hemodialysis were associated with increased mortality and morbidity. Total pericardiectomy is associated with lower perioperative and late mortality, and the extent of pericardial resection should be decided according to individual conditions. Perioperative management and complete release of the thickened pericardium of the left ventricle should prevent postoperative complications.

Cardiovascular diseases, including cardiomyopathy, myocardial infarction, myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury, heart failure, vascular injury, stroke, and arrhythmia, are correlated with cardiac and vascular cell death. Ferroptosis is a novel form of non-apoptotic regulated cell death which is characterized by an iron-driven accumulation of lethal lipid hydroperoxides. The initiation and execution of ferroptosis are under the control of several mechanisms, including iron metabolism, glutamine metabolism, and lipid peroxidation. Recently, emerging evidence has demonstrated that ferroptosis can play an essential role in the development of various cardiovascular diseases. Recent researches have shown the ferroptosis inhibitors, iron chelators, genetic manipulations, and antioxidants can alleviate myocardial injury by blocking ferroptosis pathway. In this review, we systematically described the mechanisms of ferroptosis and discussed the role of ferroptosis as a novel therapeutic strategy in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Objective: The adoption of hearts from donation after circulatory death (DCD) is a promising approach for the shortage of suitable organs in heart transplantation. However, DCD hearts suffer from serious ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI). Recent studies demonstrate that nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome-mediated pyroptosis is a novel target to ameliorate myocardial IRI. Melatonin is shown to inhibit NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated pyroptosis. Therefore, this study is designed to verify the hypothesis that melatonin can protect the heart graft preserved with ex vivo heart perfusion (EVHP) against myocardial IRI via inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated pyroptosis in a rat model of DCD.Methods: Donor-heart rats were randomly divided into three groups: (1) Control group: non-DCD hearts were harvested from heart-beating rats and immediately preserved with allogenic blood-based perfusate at constant flow for 105 min in the normothermic EVHP system; (2) DCD-vehicle group; and (3) DCD-melatonin group: rats were subjected to the DCD procedure with 25 min of warm ischemia injury and preserved by the normothermic EVHP system for 105 min. Melatonin (200 μmol/L) or vehicle was perfused in the cardioplegia and throughout the whole EVHP period. Cardiac functional assessment was performed every 30 min during EVHP. The level of oxidative stress, inflammatory response, apoptosis, and NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated pyroptosis of heart grafts submitted to EVHP were evaluated.Results: Twenty five-minute warm ischemia injury resulted in a significant decrease in the developed pressure (DP), dP/dt_max, and dP/dt_min of left ventricular of the DCD hearts, while the treatment with melatonin significantly increased the DP, dP/dt_max of the left ventricular of DCD hearts compared with DCD-vehicle group. Furthermore, warm ischemia injury led to a significant increase in the level of oxidative stress, inflammatory response, apoptosis, and NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated pyroptosis in the hearts preserved with EVHP. However, melatonin added in the cardioplegia and throughout the EVHP period significantly attenuated the level of oxidative stress, inflammatory response, apoptosis, and NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated pyroptosis compared with DCD-vehicle group.Conclusion: EVHP combined with melatonin post-conditioning attenuates myocardial IRI in DCD hearts by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated pyroptosis, which might expand the donor pool by the adoption of transplantable DCD hearts.