Comparison of Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index (CAVI) and CAVI in Large Healthy and Hypertensive Populations.

Aim: The cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) represents the blood pressure-independent arterial stiffness from the origin of the aorta to the ankle. CAVI has been proposed as a variant index. We aimed to clarify the difference between CAVI and CAVI among large populations, and to explore reasons of the difference.

Coefficients in the CAVI Equation and the Comparison Between CAVI With and Without the Coefficients Using Clinical Data.

Aim: The Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index (CAVI) is a stiffness index of the arterial tree from the origin of the aorta to the ankle, independent of blood pressure at the time of measurement. The CAVI equation includes the coefficients "a" and "b" to adjust it to the value of Hasegawa's pulse wave velocity, which is compensated for at 80 mmHg of diastolic pressure. To verify this adjustment with the coefficients, the clinical significance of CAVI and CAVI without the coefficients (haβ) were compared in both an epidemiological study and an acute clinical study.

Awareness of the Japanese Society of Hypertension Guidelines for the Management of Hypertension and their use in clinical practices: 2009 survey results.

The objective of this study was to investigate physicians' awareness and use of the Japanese Society of Hypertension (JSH) Guidelines for the Management of Hypertension (JSH2004 and JSH2009), and determine what changes need to be implemented in the future. A questionnaire was used to survey physicians' awareness and their use of JSH2004 and JSH2009. Physicians attending educational seminars on hypertension that were held during the months after the publication of JSH2009 (January-April 2009) were asked to participate in the survey.

[Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) and cardiovascular disease].

Increased arterial stiffness is closely associated with the progression of cardiovascular disease. A novel blood-pressure independent arterial stiffness parameter, the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), has been developed and is used worldwide. Arterial stiffness derived using CAVI in healthy subjects increases linearly with aging, and is higher in men than in women.

Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) as a novel indicator of arterial stiffness: theory, evidence and perspectives.

The cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) is a new index of the overall stiffness of the artery from the origin of the aorta to the ankle. The most conspicuous feature of CAVI is its independence of blood pressure at the time of measurement.CAVI increases with age and in many arteriosclerotic diseases, such as coronary artery disease, carotid arteriosclerosis, chronic kidney disease and cerebrovascular disease, and is related to many coronary risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia and smoking.

Fasudil attenuates myocardial fibrosis in association with inhibition of monocyte/macrophage infiltration in the heart of DOCA/salt hypertensive rats.

Objective: To determine the effects of fasudil, a Rho-kinase inhibitor, on mineralocorticoid-induced myocardial remodeling, we investigated whether fasudil would suppress myocardial fibrosis and inflammation in deoxycorticosterone-acetate (DOCA)/salt hypertensive rats.

Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats treated with DOCA combined with 1% NaCl and 0.2% KCl in the drinking water after receiving left nephrectomy were given fasudil (10 mg/kg/day; n = 20) or vehicle (n = 20).

A novel blood pressure-independent arterial wall stiffness parameter; cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI).

To measure the stiffness of the aorta, femoral artery and tibial artery noninvasively, cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) which is independent of blood pressure was developed. The formula for measuring this index is; CAVI=a{(2rho/DeltaP) x ln(Ps/Pd)PWV(2)} + b where, Ps and Pd are systolic and diastolic blood pressures respectively, PWV is pulse wave velocity between the heart and ankle, DeltaP is Ps - Pd, rho is blood density, and a and b are constants. This equation was derived from Bramwell-Hill's equation(1)), and stiffness parameter(2)).

Effects of uninephrectomy on renal structural properties in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

1. To investigate effects of a reduction in nephron numbers on renal structural properties in hypertension, either unilateral nephrectomy (UNX) or sham operation (SO) was performed at 5 weeks of age in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats (n = 9 for each operation for each strain). 2.

Tranilast attenuates myocardial fibrosis in association with suppression of monocyte/macrophage infiltration in DOCA/salt hypertensive rats.

Objective: In order to study the association between myocardial fibrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration in the hypertensive heart, we investigated whether N(3,4-dimethoxycinnamoyl) anthranilic acid (tranilast), an anti-inflammatory drug, would suppress myocardial fibrosis via inhibition of inflammatory cell infiltration in deoxycorticosterone-acetate (DOCA) hypertensive rats.

Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats treated with DOCA combined with the addition of 1% NaCl and 0.2% KCl in the drinking water after left nephrectomy were given tranilast (100 mg/kg per day, n = 15) or vehicle (n = 15) for up to 4 weeks.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme-gene polymorphism is associated with collagen I synthesis and QT dispersion in essential hypertension.

Aim: This study tested the hypothesis that abnormal QT dispersion, an indicator of arrhythmogenic risk, is associated with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene polymorphism and abnormalities of collagen metabolism.

Methods: A total of 132 patients with untreated essential hypertension (EHT) were recruited. QT dispersion corrected by heart rate (QTc) on a 12-lead electrocardiogram, ACE genotype, left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and E/A ratio using echocardiogram, plasma ACE activity and serum propeptide type I C-terminal procollagen (PICP) concentration, a marker of myocardial fibrosis, were determined.

Effects of leukocytosis and macrophage activation on anti-Thy 1.1 glomerulonephritis in the rat.

Objective: In anti-Thy 1.1 proliferative glomerulonephritis (GN), glomerular infiltration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) reaches a peak level after 1 h and that of macrophages does so 24 h after induction. However, the roles of PMNs and macrophages in the pathogenesis of anti-Thy 1.

Relation of circulating blood volume to left ventricular geometry in essential hypertension.

To investigate whether circulating blood volume contributes to left ventricular (LV) geometry, 60 outpatients with untreated, mild to moderate essential hypertension and 45 normotensives were studied. Based on echocardiographic LV mass index and relative wall thickness, four patterns of LV geometry, i.e.