Effects of valsartan on progression of kidney disease in Japanese hypertensive patients with advanced, predialysis, chronic kidney disease: Kanagawa Valsartan Trial (KVT).

Suppression of the renin-angiotensin system is known to slow progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, few trials have been performed with Japanese patients. This study investigated whether the angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) valsartan would delay the progression of kidney disease more effectively than conventional treatment in Japanese hypertensive patients with advanced, predialysis CKD.

Comparative study of nifekalant versus amiodarone for shock-resistant ventricular fibrillation in out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest patients.

Background: In Japan, intravenous nifekalant (NIF) was often used for direct current cardioversion-resistant ventricular fibrillation (VF), until the use of intravenous amiodarone (AMD) was approved in 2007. The defibrillatory efficacy of NIF and AMD has thus far not been compared for resuscitation.

Methods And Results: Between August 2007 and April 2009, 403 consecutive out-of-hospital patients with cardiopulmonary arrest were transferred to the Emergency Medical Service of Tokai University.

Successful treatment of a case with acute hepatic failure following hot bath immersion.

Heat stroke is often complicated by hepatic dysfunction as a manifestation of multiple organ dysfunctions, but acute hepatic failure rarely progresses to become the major morbid condition of heat stroke. We encountered a case who survived life-threatening classic heat stroke; the patient developed this condition, subsequently associated with acute hepatic failure, while bathing at home. A 73-year-old man was found in the bath in his home with unconsciousness, and was transferred to a nearby hospital.

Continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration for life-threatening mitochondrial myopathy with lactic acidosis and rhabdomyolysis.

We report here the clinical course of a 31-year-old male who recovered from a fulminant form of mitochondrial myopathy with lactic acidosis. The patient was transferred to our hospital with acute dyspnea and a convulsive seizure. On admission, he was in a state of shock, and presented with severe high-output heart failure, acute renal failure, and rhabdomyolysis.

Screening procedure for the analysis of distigmine bromide in serum by high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.

A screening procedure was developed for the identification and quantification of distigmine bromide in serum samples by using liquid chromatography (LC)-electrospray ionization (ESI)-mass spectrometry (MS). In this method, distigmine bromide was analyzed in 0.5 mL serum by using pancuronium bromide as the internal standard, and gradient elution was performed using a reversed-phase column and a mixture of 10 mM-ammonium formate and methanol as the mobile phase.