High catalytic performance of Al-Pd-(Ru, Fe) icosahedral approximants for acetylene semi-hydrogenation.

Three cubic crystalline icosahedral approximants (C phase: AlPdFe, P phase: AlPdRu, P phase: AlPdRu) exhibit high ethylene selectivity of over 90% for hydrogenating acetylene at 150 °C. Moreover, the powdered P also demonstrates a high catalytic performance under an industry-like ethylene feed containing 0.5% acetylene as an impurity.

Mapping stakeholders and policies in response to deliberate biological events.

Background: Recent infectious disease outbreaks have brought increased attention to the need to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to natural biological threats. However, deliberate biological events also represent a significant global threat, but have received relatively little attention. While the Biological Weapons Convention provides a foundation for the response to deliberate biological events, the political mechanisms to respond to and recover from such an event are poorly defined.

The G7 presidency and universal health coverage, Japan's contribution.

Problem: If universal health coverage (UHC) is to be achieved globally, it needs sustained promotion and political awareness and support.

Approach: During its presidency of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations in 2016, Japan aimed to raise the issue of UHC to the top of the global health agenda.

Local Setting: Japan has promoted a health agenda at all of the G7 summits since 2000 that it has hosted.

[Response to Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan in 2014-2015].

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is categorized in the Category 1 Infectious Disease under the Act on Infectious Disease Control. Since the Act came into effect in 1999, no confirmed case of viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHF) has been reported, though some clinical samples have been tested for VHF in the National Institute of Infectious Diseases of Japan. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has monitored the situation of the EVD outbreak in West Africa since the first report from Guinea in March 2014 and reinforced quarantine and public health preparedness in August.

Prevention of cardiovascular events with calcium channel blocker-based combination therapies in patients with hypertension: a randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: Current guidelines recommend the use of multiple medications for hypertension. The present study was aimed at determining which combination was optimal to prevent cardiovascular events.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, randomized, open-label, blinded-endpoint trial.

A case of primary aldosteronism associated with renal artery stenosis and preclinical Cushing's syndrome.

We identified a left adrenal tumor, left renal atrophy, and left renal artery stenosis (RAS) in a 52-year-old man by MRI/magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) during evaluation of hypertension. Laboratory tests revealed hypokalemia, a high plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC), low plasma renin activity (PRA), and normal plasma cortisol. An excessive response of aldosterone and cortisol to adorenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) was found upon selective sampling of the left adrenal vein.

[Measurement and evaluation of home blood pressure monitoring with particular emphasis on evaluating anti-hypertensive effects using a home blood pressure distribution diagram].

Tight blood pressure control over a long period is important to prevent end-organ damage to the brain, heart, and kidneys, and to avoid the complications of hypertension. Control requires an accurate evaluation of treatment through an appropriate monitoring of home blood pressure. In this study, we evaluated a method of home blood pressure monitoring, in which we propose a home blood pressure distribution diagram to evaluate the effectiveness of anti-hypertensive therapy.

The combination therapy of hypertension to prevent cardiovascular events (COPE) trial: rationale and design.

A number of major clinical trials have demonstrated the clinical benefits of lowering blood pressure and have indicated that a majority of patients with hypertension will require more than one drug to achieve optimal blood pressure control. However, there is little data showing which antihypertensive combination best protects patients from cardiovascular events and which best achieves the target blood pressure with the fewest adverse events. The Combination Therapy of Hypertension to Prevent Cardiovascular Events (COPE) trial is the first large-scale investigator-initiated multicenter study with a prospective, randomized, open, blinded endpoint evaluation (PROBE) design to directly compare cardiovascular mortality and morbidity, incidence of adverse drug reaction, and degree of blood pressure reduction in Japanese hypertensive patients for a combination of angiotensin receptor blockers, beta-blockers or thiazide diuretics in addition to a calcium antagonist, benidipine hydrochloride, with a response-dependent dose titration scheme.

Renoprotective effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor combined with alpha1-adrenergic antagonist in spontaneously hypertensive rats with renal ablation.

To assess the renal benefits of combined angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition and alpha(1)-adrenergic antagonism, we studied the antihypertensive and renoprotective effects of temocapril (TMP) alone and in combination with doxazosin (DOX) in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR)/Izumo rats with renal ablation. Five-Sixths-nephrectomized rats were assigned to receive TMP (10 mg/kg/day) (TMP group), TMP plus DOX (2 mg/kg/day) (TMP+DOX group), or vehicle (control group) orally for 12 weeks. Both systolic blood pressure (SBP) and urinary excretion of albumin (UalbV) in the control group progressively increased during the experimental period and were significantly higher than in sham-operated rats.

Antiproteinuric effect of candesartan cilexetil in patients with chronic glomerulonephritis.

A prospective, randomised, double-blind, parallel-group, dose-response trial was conducted to investigate the antiproteinuric effect of candesartan cilexetil, the angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker, in patients with chronic glomerulonephritis. Patients (n=280) were treated for 12 weeks with candesartan cilexetil 2, 4, or 8 mg given orally once-daily (o.d.

Combination therapy with an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor and a calcium antagonist: beyond the renoprotective effects of ACE inhibitor monotherapy in a spontaneous hypertensive rat with renal ablation.

To assess the renal benefits of combined angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition and calcium antagonism, we studied the antihypertensive and renoprotective effects of temocapril (TMP) alone or in combination with azelnidipine (AZN) in a spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) remnant kidney model of chronic renal failure. Male 5/6-nephrectomized SHR/Izumo rats were randomly assigned to receive vehicle (control group), TMP (TMP group; 10 mg x kg(-1) x day(-1)), AZN (AZN group; 3 mg x kg(-1) x day(-1)), or both (TMP+AZN group) orally for 12 weeks. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and urinary excretion of albumin (UalbV) were measured every 2 weeks.

Increase in pulse pressure relates to diabetes mellitus and low HDL cholesterol, but not to hyperlipidemia in hypertensive patients aged 50 years or older.

Higher pulse pressure is associated with higher cardiovascular risk. We investigated the relationship between pulse pressure and known metabolic risk factors in hypertensive patients who had not experienced stroke or myocardial infarction. In a multicenter cross-sectional survey made in 1995, we registered 939 hypertensive patients aged > or = 50 years.

Effects of the long-acting calcium channel blocker barnidipine hydrochloride on 24-h ambulatory blood pressure.

The effect of the long acting calcium channel blocker, barnidipine hydrochloride (barnidipine) on 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) was evaluated in J-MUBA (Japanese Multicentre Study on Barnidipine with Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring). Following an observation period of two weeks, antihypertensive treatment with barnidipine was continued for at least six months. At the end of each period, ABP were measured.