Local delivery of synthetic prostacycline agonist augments collateral growth and improves cardiac function in a swine chronic cardiac ischemia model.

Aims: It was reported that administration of angiogenic growth factors can augment collateral growth in ischemic tissues. It is assumed that angiogenic effects of cell transplantation may be mainly mediated by secretion of angiogenic cytokines. We tested feasibility of clinical use of ONO-1301, a synthetic small molecule that stimulates secretion of growth factors from various cell types, to treat patients with chronic myocardial ischemia.

Infective endocarditis caused by lactobacillus.

Lactobacillus (LB) is a gram-positive rod-shaped bacterium that inhabits the oral cavity, gastrointestinal tract, vagina and nasal cavity. Although LB plays a role in the prevention of infections caused by pathogenic bacteria, it causes some critical infectious diseases such as infective endocarditis (IE). IE due to LB is rare; however, early diagnosis and early treatment are important because of its high mortality rate.