Publications by authors named "Kenichiro Shimoji"

The complexity of chronic total occlusion percutaneous coronary intervention (CTO PCI) involving calcification is high, and completing the procedure with an antegrade approach is often challenging. However, calcification is also a significant obstacle in the retrograde approach, where it has been reported as a predictor of CTO PCI failure even after successful channel crossing. Overcoming calcification in the retrograde approach is, therefore, crucial.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the long-term effectiveness of a treatment method (directional coronary atherectomy followed by drug-coated balloon angioplasty) for large bifurcation lesions, especially those affecting the left main trunk.
  • It analyzed 129 cases, primarily involving left main trunk lesions, and measured outcomes like target lesion revascularization and adverse events over a follow-up period averaging 53.4 months.
  • Results showed low rates of target lesion revascularization and other adverse events at 24 and 36 months, suggesting that this treatment is a viable option for managing complex coronary conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • A study evaluated the safety and effectiveness of antithrombotic regimens in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) while on oral anticoagulant (OAC) therapy, analyzing data from nearly 27,000 patients in Japan from 2016 to 2017.
  • The research compared in-hospital bleeding, mortality, and stent thrombosis rates between two groups: those receiving double therapy (OAC + single antiplatelet) and those on triple therapy (OAC + dual antiplatelet).
  • Results showed no significant difference in bleeding or mortality rates between the two groups, but stent thrombosis was notably higher in the triple therapy group, indicating a need for further investigation on the safety
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Recently, antegrade dissection re-entry (ADR) with re-entry device for chronic total occlusion (CTO) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has evolved to become one of the pillar techniques of the hybrid algorithm. Although the success rate of the device is high, it could be improved. We sought to evaluate the current trends and issues associated with ADR in Japan and evaluate the potential of cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA) for ADR procedure.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of additional drug-coated balloon (DCB) angioplasty after directional coronary atherectomy (DCA) for coronary bifurcation lesions.

Background: The optimal therapy for bifurcation lesions has not been established, even in the drug-eluting stent era. DCA possibly prevents plaque and carina shift in bifurcation lesions by plaque debulking; however, the efficacy of combined DCA and DCB (DCA/DCB) for bifurcation lesions remains unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Multiple randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that transradial intervention (TRI) improves clinical outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) compared with transfemoral intervention (TFI). However, chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients have more procedure-related complications; TRI is frequently avoided for future creation of arteriovenous fistulas essential for hemodialysis. Therefore, limited information on TRI among CKD patients exists.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Patient-specific induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be generated by introducing transcription factors that are highly expressed in embryonic stem (ES) cells into somatic cells. This opens up new possibilities for cell transplantation-based regenerative medicine by overcoming the ethical issues and immunological problems associated with ES cells. Despite the development of various methods for the generation of iPS cells that have resulted in increased efficiency, safety, and general versatility, it remains unknown which types of iPS cells are suitable for clinical use.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The efficient induction of cardiomyocyte differentiation from embryonic stem (ES) cells is crucial for cardiac regenerative medicine. Although Wnts play important roles in cardiac development, complex questions remain as to when, how and what types of Wnts are involved in cardiogenesis. We found that Wnt2 was strongly up-regulated during cardiomyocyte differentiation from ES cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

After skeletal muscle injury, neutrophils, monocytes, and macrophages infiltrate the damaged area; this is followed by rapid proliferation of myoblasts derived from muscle stem cells (also called satellite cells). Although it is known that inflammation triggers skeletal muscle regeneration, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain incompletely understood. In this study, we show that granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) receptor (G-CSFR) is expressed in developing somites.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

During a screen for humoral factors that promote cardiomyocyte differentiation from embryonic stem cells (ESCs), we found marked elevation of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor receptor (G-CSFR) mRNA in developing cardiomyocytes. We confirmed that both G-CSFR and G-CSF were specifically expressed in embryonic mouse heart at the midgestational stage, and expression levels were maintained throughout embryogenesis. Intrauterine G-CSF administration induced embryonic cardiomyocyte proliferation and caused hyperplasia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Rationale: The transcriptional networks guiding heart development remain poorly understood, despite the identification of several essential cardiac transcription factors.

Objective: To isolate novel cardiac transcription factors, we performed gene chip analysis and found that Zac1, a zinc finger-type transcription factor, was strongly expressed in the developing heart. This study was designed to investigate the molecular and functional role of Zac1 as a cardiac transcription factor.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Several applications of pluripotent stem cell (PSC)-derived cardiomyocytes require elimination of undifferentiated cells. A major limitation for cardiomyocyte purification is the lack of easy and specific cell marking techniques. We found that a fluorescent dye that labels mitochondria, tetramethylrhodamine methyl ester perchlorate, could be used to selectively mark embryonic and neonatal rat cardiomyocytes, as well as mouse, marmoset and human PSC-derived cardiomyocytes, and that the cells could subsequently be enriched (>99% purity) by fluorescence-activated cell sorting.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Common marmoset monkeys have recently attracted much attention as a primate research model, and are preferred to rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys due to their small bodies, easy handling and efficient breeding. We recently reported the establishment of common marmoset embryonic stem cell (CMESC) lines that could differentiate into three germ layers. Here, we report that our CMESC can also differentiate into cardiomyocytes and investigated their characteristics.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A 40-year-old man, who had suffered from general malaise and brown urine during his stay in China, was admitted with remarkable jaundice and hepatocellular disorders soon after he returned to Japan. Because his coagulation test results worsened, he was transferred to our hospital. No evidence of hepatitis A-D virus infection, autoimmune hepatitis, or metabolic disorders was noticed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Molecular mechanisms regulating the cardiac sensory nervous system remain poorly understood. Cardiac sensory nerve impairment causes silent myocardial ischemia, a main cause of sudden death in diabetes mellitus (DM). The present study focused on the roles of nerve growth factor (NGF) in the regulation of the cardiac sensory nervous system and analyzed the mechanism of silent myocardial ischemia in DM.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Notice

Message: fwrite(): Write of 34 bytes failed with errno=28 No space left on device

Filename: drivers/Session_files_driver.php

Line Number: 272

Backtrace:

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: session_write_close(): Failed to write session data using user defined save handler. (session.save_path: /var/lib/php/sessions)

Filename: Unknown

Line Number: 0

Backtrace: