Effectiveness and safety of lubiprostone after switching from stimulant laxatives in elderly patients with chronic constipation.

Background And Aim: Stimulant laxatives may cause electrolyte abnormalities, dehydration, and abdominal pain; their long-term use can lead to tolerance and subsequent refractory constipation. We investigated the effectiveness, safety, and quality of life after switching from stimulant laxatives to lubiprostone in elderly patients with chronic constipation (CC).

Methods: This multicenter, interventional, open-label, single-arm, before-and-after comparison study enrolled 99 Japanese patients aged 65-90 years with CC who took stimulant laxatives for ≥2 weeks prior to switching to lubiprostone monotherapy.

Home blood pressure measurement consistency and cognitive impairment.

Cognitive function tends to decline with age, and individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) often have difficulty completing established self-management tasks. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the number of days within a 5-and-a-half-day period that patients took their home blood pressure (BP) as instructed and MCI assessed by the Japanese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-J) in an elderly clinical population. We analyzed 303 ambulatory patients (mean age 77.

Different Home Blood Pressure Thresholds to Predict Perfect 24-Hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Control in Treated Hypertension Based on an "All-in-One" Device.

Background: Home blood pressure (BP) is an important component of digital strategies for hypertension management. However, no studies have used the same device to investigate 24-hour BP control status in relation to different home BP control thresholds.

Methods: Participants in the general practitioner-based, multicenter HI-JAMP study (Home-Activity Information and Communication Technology-Based Japan Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Prospective) underwent office BP measurement, then 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring, then home BP monitoring for 5 days.

Evacuation at Home Delayed the First Medical Intervention in Minamisanriku Town after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Introduction: In Japan, evacuation at home is expected to increase in the future as a post-disaster evacuation type due to the pandemic, aging, and diverse disabilities of the population. However, more disaster-related indirect deaths occurred in homes than in evacuation centers after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE). The health risks faced by evacuees at home have not been adequately discussed.

Nighttime home blood pressure lowering effect of esaxerenone in patients with uncontrolled nocturnal hypertension: the EARLY-NH study.

There is limited evidence on the blood pressure (BP)-lowering effect of esaxerenone on home BP, including nighttime BP. Using two newly developed nocturnal home BP monitoring devices (brachial and wrist), this multicenter, open-label, prospective study investigated the nighttime home BP-lowering effect of esaxerenone in patients with uncontrolled nocturnal hypertension being treated with an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) or calcium-channel blocker (CCB). In total, 101 patients were enrolled.

Concept, study design, and baseline blood pressure control status of the nationwide prospective HI-JAMP study using multisensor ABPM.

The Home-Activity Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based Japan Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Prospective (HI-JAMP) study is a nationwide general practitioner-based cohort of medicated hypertensive patients that began in 2017. The primary objective of this study is to clarify which blood pressure (BP) measure is the best predictor of cardiovascular disease: office, home, or ambulatory BP. To this end, we used a newly developed ICT-based multisensor ambulatory BP monitoring (IMS-ABPM) device (TM-2441; A&D Company), which can also be used for home BP monitoring and is equipped with a high-sensitivity actigraph, a thermometer, and a barometer.

Inconsistent Control Status of Office, Home, and Ambulatory Blood Pressure All Taken Using the Same Device: The HI-JAMP Study Baseline Data.

Background: Inconsistencies between the office and out-of-office blood pressure (BP) values (described as white-coat hypertension or masked hypertension) may be attributable in part to differences in the BP monitoring devices used.

Methods: We studied consistency in the classification of BP control (well-controlled BP vs. uncontrolled BP) among office, home, and ambulatory BPs by using a validated "all-in-one" BP monitoring device.

Nighttime hemodynamic phenotype. A novel risk factor for cardiovascular disease, especially heart failure: the practitioner-based nationwide JAMP study.

Background: Non-dipper and riser patterns of nocturnal blood pressure (BP) are risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), including heart failure (HF). However, the risk associated with a disrupted nocturnal pattern of heart rate is not well known.

Objectives: To investigate whether the nighttime heart rate is a risk factor for HF, alongside nighttime BP phenotype.

Novel breeding method, matα2-PBT, to construct isogenic series of polyploid strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

How ploidy is determined in organisms is an important issue in bioscience. Polyploidy is believed to be relevant to useful traits of domesticated plants and microorganisms. As such, polyploidy is central to many applications in biotechnology.

Comparative effects of topiroxostat and febuxostat on arterial properties in hypertensive patients with hyperuricemia.

Elevated serum uric acid is a cardiovascular risk factor in patients with hypertension, even when blood pressure (BP) is well controlled. Xanthine oxidoreductase inhibitors (XORi) reduce serum uric acid levels and have several other potential effects. This multicenter, randomized, open-label study compared the effects of two XORi, topiroxostat and febuxostat, on arterial stiffness, uric acid levels, and BP in hypertensive patients with hyperuricemia.

Nighttime Blood Pressure Phenotype and Cardiovascular Prognosis: Practitioner-Based Nationwide JAMP Study.

Background: Ambulatory and home blood pressure (BP) monitoring parameters are better predictors of cardiovascular events than are office BP monitoring parameters, but there is a lack of robust data and little information on heart failure (HF) risk. The JAMP study (Japan Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Prospective) used the same ambulatory BP monitoring device, measurement schedule, and diary-based approach to data processing across all study centers and determined the association between both nocturnal hypertension and nighttime BP dipping patterns and the occurrence of cardiovascular events, including HF, in patients with hypertension.

Methods: This practitioner-based, nationwide, multicenter, prospective, observational study included patients with at least 1 cardiovascular risk factor, mostly hypertension, and free of symptomatic cardiovascular disease at baseline.

Sleep Disturbance of Evacuees in Minamisanriku Town after Great East Japan Earthquake: Risk Factors and Treatment.

In 2011, Minamisanriku Town lost all of its medical facilities during the Great East Japan Earthquake. Using 10,459 anonymized disaster medical records of affected people in Minamisanriku Town, we assessed the prevalence and risk factors of sleep disturbance, which is known to exacerbate non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and anxiety disorder. Because sleep disturbance is a part of mental health issues, we divided the patients into two groups: patients (n = 492) with mental health issues other than sleep disturbance and the remaining (n = 9,967) with other comorbidities.

Age-related difference of the association of cardiovascular risk factors with the cardio-ankle vascular index in the Cardiovascular Prognostic Coupling Study in Japan (the Coupling Registry).

The value of the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) increases with age. All large-scale studies of the CAVI have investigated patients <80 years old. Thus, the clinical characteristics of high CAVI in patients aged 80 or more remain unclear.

Rationale, design, and baseline characteristics of the Cardiovascular Prognostic COUPLING Study in Japan (the COUPLING Registry).

Vascular biomarkers, including the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), are increasingly being recognized as important indicators of cardiovascular risk. CAVI has been shown to have good discriminative ability for detecting new-onset hypertension, but results of studies investigating cardiovascular risk prediction are inconsistent. Furthermore, there is a lack of data on the prognostic value of changes in CAVI over time.

Salt Intake and Risk of Disaster Hypertension Among Evacuees in a Shelter After the Great East Japan Earthquake.

This study investigated the association between salt intake and risk of disaster hypertension. We analyzed the data of surveys evaluating the health condition of evacuees in shelters after the Great East Japan Earthquake on April 30 and May 5, 2011. Among 272 subjects who completed the basic health condition questionnaire and underwent a medical examination, 158 (58%) had disaster hypertension (systolic blood pressure ≥140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mm Hg).

Medical Needs in Minamisanriku Town after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

The medical records of service in disaster provided at a place other than a medical facility are defined as disaster medical records (DMRs). In this epidemiological study, to clarify medical need characteristics and trends after disaster, we analyzed the all anonymized DMRs of Minamisanriku Town that lost medical facilities in 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and its consequent tsunami. After screening of duplicated or irrelevant documents, there were 10,464 DMRs with 18,532 diagnoses from March 11 through May 13.

Twenty-Four-Hour Blood Pressure-Lowering Effect of a Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter 2 Inhibitor in Patients With Diabetes and Uncontrolled Nocturnal Hypertension: Results From the Randomized, Placebo-Controlled SACRA Study.

Background: The risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality in salt-sensitive patients with diabetes mellitus and uncontrolled nocturnal hypertension is high. The SACRA (Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter 2 [SGLT2] Inhibitor and Angiotensin Receptor Blocker [ARB] Combination Therapy in Patients With Diabetes and Uncontrolled Nocturnal Hypertension) study investigated changes in blood pressure (BP) with empagliflozin plus existing antihypertensive therapy.

Methods: This multicenter, double-blind, parallel study was conducted in Japan.

Winter morning surge in blood pressure after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

This study investigated the association between winter morning surge in systolic blood pressure (SBP) as measured by ambulatory BP monitoring and the housing conditions of subjects in an area damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake. In 2013, 2 years after disaster, hypertensives who lived in homes that they had purchased before the disaster (n = 299, 74.6 ± 8.

Comparison of different schedules of nocturnal home blood pressure measurement using an information/communication technology-based device in hypertensive patients.

The objective of this study was to test our hypothesis that nocturnal home blood pressure (BP) measurement adapted to the chosen bedtime of participants (measurement at 2, 3, and 4 hour after the chosen bedtime) would be more reliable than measurement at fixed time points (2:00, 3:00, and 4:00 am). Forty-eight hypertensives were randomized to two groups undergoing two seven-night measurement phases in a crossover manner and were asked to measure nocturnal home BP for 14 consecutive nights using a validated automatic information/communication technology-based device. The intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) of systolic BP (SBP) obtained by a single measurement per night over two nights showed lower agreement than those of systolic BP obtained by multiple measurements based on a participant-specified bedtime (0.

Reliability of morning, before-dinner, and at-bedtime home blood pressure measurements in patients with hypertension.

The authors evaluated differences in the reliability of home blood pressure measurements taken in the morning, before dinner, and at bedtime. Forty-eight patients with hypertension (age range, 50-89 years; mean age, 76.4 years) measured their home blood pressure using a validated automatic information/communication technology-based device for 14 consecutive days.

Development of a New ICT-Based Multisensor Blood Pressure Monitoring System for Use in Hemodynamic Biomarker-Initiated Anticipation Medicine for Cardiovascular Disease: The National IMPACT Program Project.

We have developed a multisensor home and ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring system for monitoring 24-h central and brachial BP variability concurrent with physical activity (PA), temperature, and atmospheric pressure. The new BP monitoring system utilizes our recently developed biological and environmental signal monitoring Information Communication Technology/Internet of Things system, which can simultaneously monitor the environment (temperature, illumination, etc.) of different rooms in a house (entryway, bedroom, living room, bathing room, and toilet), and a wrist-type high-sensitivity actigraph for identifying the location of patients.

Relationship Between Blood Pressure Variability and Cognitive Function in Elderly Patients With Good Blood Pressure Control.

Background: Although higher blood pressure (BP) levels and BP variability have been associated with cognitive impairment, data are sparse regarding the relationship between BP variability and cognitive function in elderly patients with well BP control.

Methods: We analyzed 232 ambulatory patients with one or more cardiovascular risk factors. All patients underwent ambulatory BP monitoring and the Japanese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-J).

Difference in evening home blood pressure between before dinner and at bedtime in Japanese elderly hypertensive patients.

The authors evaluated the differences between evening home blood pressure (HBP) readings taken before dinner and those taken at bedtime, which were documented in a European and a Japanese guideline, respectively. Forty-eight patients (mean age, 76.4 years) measured their evening HBP twice each day (two measurements both before dinner and at bedtime) for 14 days.