Publications by authors named "Akiko Harada"

Aim: We examined the association between dairy intake and all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular disease mortality in a cohort of the general population followed up for 12 years across Japan.

Methods: We conducted a longitudinal cohort study of 79,715 participants from the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort study (57.2% women, mean age 54.

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  • Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) remains a serious and common infection in hospitals, particularly in older patient populations in Japan, with a 22% mortality rate upon discharge.
  • A retrospective study analyzed 2968 patients with HAP, using data from April 1, 2015, to May 31, 2018, revealing that most affected individuals were male and over 65 years old.
  • The study identified prevalent antibiotics prescribed, with sulbactam-ampicillin, tazobactam-piperacillin, and ceftriaxone being the most common, highlighting treatment patterns and the importance of antibiotic management in HAP cases.
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The prospective cohort study in a large Japanese population suggested that metabolic phenotypes are important risk factors for total and some site-specific cancers in Japanese adults. Moreover, the risk of each site-specific cancer may differ according to metabolic phenotypes.

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Background: Prevention of heart failure (HF) is a public health issue. Using the National Vital Statistics, we explored risk factors for HF and coronary artery disease (CAD) mortality.

Methods And Results: Altogether, 7,556 Japanese individuals aged ≥30 years in 1990 were followed over 25 years; of these, 139 and 154 died from HF and CAD, respectively.

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Background: Little is known regarding whether ultra-rapid patterns of heart rate variability (eg, heart rate fragmentation [HRF]) are associated with coronary artery calcification (CAC) in a general population.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the association between HRF and CAC, and whether these associations are independent of systolic blood pressure (SBP) levels.

Methods: From SESSA (the Shiga Epidemiological Study of Subclinical Atherosclerosis), we used data from 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to identify awake and asleep SBP levels, and data from concurrent 24-hour Holter monitoring to quantify HRF using the awake and asleep percentage of inflection points (PIP).

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Background: Deviations of hemoglobin from normal levels may be a factor in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk; however, conclusive evidence is lacking. In addition, preclinical conditions may influence hemoglobin concentrations, but studies focusing on reverse causation are limited. Thus, we examined the relationship between hemoglobin concentrations and CVD mortality risk, considering reverse causation.

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  • A study investigated the relationship between high blood pressure (BP) and the risk of mortality from various cancers, excluding initial deaths to avoid reverse causality.
  • The analysis included 8,088 participants from the general Japanese population over a 29-year period, focusing on confounding factors like smoking and obesity.
  • Findings revealed a significant association between high BP and an increased risk of colorectal cancer mortality in younger adults, specifically those aged 30-49, while no such link was found for other types of cancer.
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Aim: A pro-inflammatory diet may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality. However, this remains inconclusive as there is yet no study using a dietary record method that has been conducted in a large general population. Furthermore, an underestimation of the pro-inflammatory diet may exist due to the unmeasured effect of salt intake.

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  • Acute aortic dissection (AAD) is a serious cardiovascular condition with incidence rates between 2.5 to 7.2 per 100,000 person-years in Western countries, but similar data is missing for Japan.
  • A study conducted in Shiga Prefecture over two years enrolled 402 AAD cases, identifying higher age-adjusted incidence rates of 15.8 and 12.2 per 100,000 person-years when compared to Japanese and European populations, respectively.
  • The findings revealed that patients with type A-AAD tend to be older and more likely to be female compared to those with type B-AAD.
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Aim: To investigate the incidence and in-hospital mortality of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) by conforming to the Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction (UDMI) in a population-based registry.

Methods: The Shiga Stroke and Heart Attack Registry is a multicenter, population-based registry in the Shiga Prefecture, designed to evaluate the incidence and prognosis of acute cerebro-cardiovascular diseases. We registered patients with AMI as defined by the UDMI, who developed AMI from January 2014 to December 2015 in the Shiga Prefecture.

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We report a case of non-fluent/agrammatic variant of primary progressive aphasia in a 79-year-old right-handed man who was admitted with a 5-year history of non-fluent speech and apraxia of speech. He also presented with agrammatism and logoclonia (the meaningless repetition of the middle or final syllable of a word). Furthermore, brain MRI revealed atrophy of the bilateral frontal and temporal lobes, while N-isopropyl-p-I-iodoamphetamine single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) revealed relative hypoperfusion in the right basal ganglia.

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Objective: We aimed to investigate the effect of ambulatory blood pressure (BP) on aortic valve calcification (AVC) and coronary artery calcification (CAC), which are subclinical atherosclerotic diseases.

Methods: In this population-based, cross-sectional study, we assessed office BP, mean ambulatory BP (24-h, awake, and asleep), and variability of ambulatory BP, as determined by the coefficient of variation (awake and asleep). AVC and CAC were quantified using an Agatston score (>0) based on computed tomography scanning.

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Aims/introduction: To examine the association between diabetes and prediabetes at baseline, and disability, mortality over a 22-year period among middle-aged Japanese adults.

Materials And Methods: Participants consisted of 1,788 adults aged 45-64 years at baseline from the cohort study National Integrated Project for Prospective Observation of Non-communicable Disease and its Trends in the Aged 1990 (NIPPON DATA90). Disability, defined as having a decline in activities of daily living (ADL), was assessed by a modified Katz questionnaire at four time points.

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  • * Data was collected from the Kamogawa cohort study between 2003 and 2013, analyzing lifestyle differences related to death and care needs among 6,503 participants.
  • * Results indicated that higher functional capacity scores significantly correlated with lower mortality rates, especially for instrumental self-maintenance, with differing impacts observed between men and women for intellectual activity and social roles.
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Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of age, period, birth cohort, and regional differences in the detection of breast cancer using screening data.Method Data from the Japan Cancer Society's breast cancer screening program, collected from 21 prefectural branches between 2004 to 2015, were used to generate age-specific estimates of cancer detection for women aged between 40 to 79 years. We used Bayesian age-period-cohort (APC) analyses based on the cohort table to describe the simultaneous effects of age, period, and cohort on breast cancer detection rates to understand the population dynamics underlying the detection patterns.

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Introduction: Idarucizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody fragment that specifically binds to dabigatran with high affinity and reverses its anticoagulant effect. This study investigated the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of idarucizumab in healthy Chinese subjects at steady state of dabigatran and explored the effect of idarucizumab on PK and PD of dabigatran.

Methods: Twelve subjects received dabigatran etexilate treatment alone (220 mg twice daily, b.

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Background And Objective: Dabigatran etexilate is a non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC) that is used to prevent stroke and systemic embolism in adults with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) and one or more risk factors. Pharmacokinetic data on this anticoagulant in Chinese subjects are limited. This study aimed to provide further information on the pharmacokinetic profile of dabigatran in healthy Chinese subjects, together with its safety profile.

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In mesophyll cells of the aquatic monocot , red light induces rotational cytoplasmic streaming, which is regulated by the cytoplasmic concentration of Ca. Our previous investigations revealed that red light induces Ca efflux across the plasma membrane (PM), and that both the red light-induced cytoplasmic streaming and the Ca efflux are sensitive to vanadate, an inhibitor of P-type ATPases. In this study, pharmacological experiments suggested the involvement of PM H-ATPase, one of the P-type ATPases, in the photoinduction of cytoplasmic streaming.

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Background And Objective: Dabigatran etexilate (DE) is an anticoagulant with proven efficacy and tolerability for stroke prevention in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. For the commercial capsule, a complex formulation is used to maintain the acidic microenvironment required for maximal absorption. Consequently, its efficacy and safety are similar with or without concomitant intake of proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs).

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The tRNA modification at the wobble position of Lys, Glu and Gln (wobbleU* modification) is responsible for the fine-tuning of protein translation efficiency and translation rate. This modification influences organism function in accordance with growth and environmental changes. However, the effects of wobbleU* modification at the cellular, tissue, or individual level have not yet been elucidated.

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To develop a risk chart or score that is based on recent data and applicable to the Japanese people, we need a large cohort study representative of the Japanese people without a need for long-term follow-up. The purpose of the present study was to develop a risk scoring system to estimate the 5- and 10-year absolute and cumulative incidence risk of stroke and acute myocardial infarction (AMI), composite outcome of stroke and AMI, and death from all cardiovascular disease (CVD). The cumulative incidence risk ratios were calculated using a multiple Poisson regression model and data from the Japan Arteriosclerosis Longitudinal Study, which included 67,969 men and women aged 40-89 years.

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