Publications by authors named "Akito Shimouchi"

This study aimed to assess fatigue using a noninvasive, quantitative, and simple method using salivary chromogranin A (CgA). In total, 171 adults participated in this study. We used the Cornell Medical Index (CMI) as a questionnaire that included a fatigability section.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) impacts cardiovascular and dental health, and its diagnosis often involves measuring blood oxygen saturation (SpO) through pulse oximetry, assessed using the oxygen desaturation index (ODI) to indicate severity.
  • - A study with 63 young adults (ages 20-32) found that lower SpO levels during sleep corresponded to decreased parasympathetic nervous system activity (PSNA), suggesting a connection between oxygen levels and nervous system regulation during rest.
  • - Participants with an ODI greater than 5 events/h experienced notably lower PSNA during normal oxygen levels, indicating that high ODI could signify reduced PSNA during sleep, which might further impact overall sleep quality; addressing high ODI could
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Background And Aims: It is well known that depression is closely associated with the autonomic nervous system and physical acceleration (PA), which may cause functional time-deviance between these two parameters. Exploring this relationship is important in sustaining the mental and physical health of older adults in daily life. However, few studies have assessed the relationship between depression and the coordination of parasympathetic nervous activity (PSNA) and PA.

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Fructooligosaccharide (FOS) is fermented by intestinal microbes to generate intestinal microbe-derived hydrogen gas (IMDH). Oxidative stress increases during gestation, whereas hydrogen gas has antioxidant effects with therapeutic benefits. We have previously reported that the offspring from a pregnant, excessive folic acid mouse model (PEFAM) had abnormal glucose metabolism after growth.

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Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between the nonperfusion area (NPA) from widefield optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and macular vascular parameters in diabetic retinopathy (DR).

Methods: In total, 51 eyes from 51 patients with proliferative DR (PDR) or moderate/severe non-PDR were included. Widefield OCTA using the Zeiss Plex Elite 9000 was performed.

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Fatigability is related to several diseases as well as the autonomic nervous system. We investigated whether fatigability is associated with coordination between physical acceleration (PA) and parasympathetic nervous activity (PSNA) in women. Overall, 95 women were divided into non-old (n = 50; age: 22-59 years) and old (n = 45; age: ≥60 years) groups.

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Sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) often accompanies alterations in heart rate variability (HRV). The severity of SAS is sometimes evaluated using the oxygen desaturation index (ODI). We hypothesized that effects of the autonomic nervous system could be involved in the coordination between HRV and physical acceleration during free movement in patients with SAS.

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Airborne transmission is one of the routes for the spread of COVID-19 which is caused by inhalation of smaller droplets containing SARS-CoV-2 (i.e., either virus-laden particulate matter: PM and/or droplet nuclei) in an indoor environment.

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Sleep disturbances and cognitive decline are common in older adults. We aimed to investigate the effects of the total sleep time (TST) and sleep-wake rhythm on executive function and working memory in older adults. In 63 older participants, we measured the TST, wake after sleep onset (WASO), and sleep timing (midpoint between bedtime and wake-up time) using actigraphy.

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between the choriocapillaris microcirculation and the visual function and cone photoreceptor structure in patients with diabetes.

Methods: Thirteen control subjects and 26 patients with type 2 diabetes were recruited. The patients with diabetes were divided into three groups based on the grade of diabetic retinopathy (DR).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to examine the characteristics of intraretinal microvascular abnormalities (IRMAs) in diabetic retinopathy patients before and after treatment with panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).
  • A total of 46 eyes from 29 patients were analyzed, with findings indicating that tufts, which are indicative of neovascularization, were more prevalent in eyes with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) compared to severe nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (SNPDR).
  • The research concluded that OCTA provided detailed classifications of IRMA types, suggesting remodeling in some cases, while also highlighting the presence of tufts as a significant concern
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Objective: Hydrogen excretion is thought to be related to systemic antioxidation activity. H selectively reduces the hydroxyl radical of free hydrogen (·OH), a highly cytotoxic form of reactive oxygen species, in cultured cells.

Methods: We investigated whether exhaled H decreased during night sleep, reflected ·OH production and was associated with heart failure severity.

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Exhaled acetone concentration is one of the expected compounds to be a breath biomarker in heart failure. However, it has not been clarified how exhaled acetone concentration changes in clinical course of heart failure.To investigate whether exhaled acetone concentration changes after treatment in acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF).

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Background: Breath acetone is a noninvasive biomarker of heart failure; however, its significance in heart failure patients with diabetes mellitus has yet to be clarified. The objective of this study is to investigate whether exhaled acetone concentration is a noninvasive biomarker in heart failure patients with diabetes mellitus.

Methods: This study prospectively included 35 diabetic patients with stage C heart failure and 20 diabetic patients with or at risk of heart failure (stage A or B).

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In heart failure patients, exhaled acetone concentration, a noninvasive biomarker, is increased according to heart failure severity. Moreover, exhaled acetone concentration is also known to be affected by diabetes mellitus. However, there have been no reports on exhaled acetone concentration in heart failure patients with diabetes mellitus.

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Background: We hypothesized that exhaled acetone concentration (EAC), reflecting altered blood ketone body metabolism and increased acetone exhaust because of pulmonary congestion in heart failure (HF), would correlate with hemodynamic parameters in patients with non-ischemic chronic HF.

Methods and results: We prospectively enrolled 102 non-ischemic HF patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class I-III. Exhaled breath was collected after an overnight fast.

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Purpose: To determine whether water-dispersible hesperetin (WD-Hpt) can prevent degeneration of ganglion cell neurons in the ischemic retina.

Methods: Ischemia reperfusion (I/R) injury was induced by increasing the intraocular pressure of mice to 110 mmHg for 40 min. Mice received daily intraperitoneal injections with either normal saline (NS, 0.

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Introduction: To determine if the serum prorenin level is useful for detecting ocular disease in a non-diabetic population.

Materials And Methods: We enrolled non-diabetic men (n = 402) and women (n = 349) in our study. We used the antibody-activating direct enzyme kinetic assay of human prorenin to determine serum prorenin levels.

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Inhaling or ingesting hydrogen (H2) gas improves oxidative stress-induced damage in animal models and humans. We previously reported that H2 was consumed throughout the human body after the ingestion of H2-rich water and that the H2 consumption rate ([Formula: see text]) was 1.0 μmol/min/m(2) body surface area.

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Familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR) is a rare hereditary vitreoretinal disease that occurs in young patients and results in an avascular peripheral retina, retinal neovascularization, and tractinal retinal detachment. Patients occasionally have concurrent macular diseases. However, the vitreomacular relationship in FEVR remains unclear.

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Systemic inflammatory responses in patients receiving cardiac surgery with the use of the cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) significantly contribute to CPB-associated morbidity and mortality. We hypothesized that insufflated hydrogen gas (H₂) would provide systemic anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects during CPB, therefore reducing proinflammatory cytokine levels. In this study, we examined the protective effect of H₂ on a rat CPB model.

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Purpose: Inhalation of hydrogen (H(2)) gas has been shown to limit infarct size following ischemia-reperfusion injury in rat hearts. However, H(2) gas-induced cardioprotection has not been tested in large animals and the precise cellular mechanism of protection has not been elucidated. We investigated whether opening of mitochondrial ATP-sensitive K+ channels (mK(ATP)) and subsequent inhibition of mitochondrial permeability transition pores (mPTP) mediates the infarct size-limiting effect of H(2) gas in canine hearts.

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Rho-kinase-mediated vasoconstriction and endothelial dysfunction are considered two primary instigators of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). However, their contribution to the adverse changes in pulmonary blood flow distribution associated with PAH has not been addressed. This study utilizes synchrotron radiation microangiography to assess the specific role, and contribution of, Rho-kinase-mediated vasoconstriction and endothelial dysfunction in PAH.

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