Effects of strict blood pressure control by a long-acting calcium channel blocker on brain natriuretic peptide and urinary albumin excretion rate in Japanese hypertensive patients.

Strong adherence to antihypertensive therapy has been shown to reduce the frequency of cardiovascular events by strictly controlling blood pressure. Although calcium channel blockers (CCBs) are among the most popular antihypertensive drugs in Japan, few trials have been conducted using high CCB doses in Japanese patients. In this study, we administered amlodipine 5 mg or 10 mg to patients with hypertension in order to compare the efficacy and tolerability of low and high doses, and measured two surrogate markers of hypertensive target organ damage, i.

Sleep-predominant lowering of ambulatory blood pressure by bedtime inhalation of a novel muscarinic M3 receptor antagonist: a new "bronchoantihypertensive" strategy targeting the lung in hypertension with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Bedtime inhalation of a novel muscarinic M3 receptor antagonist markedly lowered ambulatory blood pressure (ABP), predominantly during sleep, in a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patient with masked nocturnal hypertension. This is the first case demonstrating that a bronchodilator significantly lowered ABP in a COPD patient with hypertension. This case suggests that bronchodilator therapy may have potential as a new antihypertensive strategy targeting the lung in hypertensive patients with impaired lung function.

Dioxin concentration in human milk in Hebei province in China and Tokyo, Japan: potential dietary risk factors and determination of possible sources.

Very limited information is available on body burdens and environmental levels of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs (dl-PCBs) in mainland China. In the current studies, human milk samples were collected from 30 breastfeeding mothers in Shijiazhuang city (industrialized) and 11 in the Tanshan countryside (agricultural) of Hebei Province in northern China. An additional 20 samples were obtained from mothers in Tokyo, Japan.

[Effects of volcanic sulfur dioxide on reconstruction workers and residents returning to Miyake Island].

Four and half years have passed since Mt. Oyama in Miyake Island erupted. Ambient sulfur dioxide (SO2) is still above the environmental air standard in parts of the island, even though emission of the volcanic gas has diminished.