Characteristics and health-status outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation detected via health screening.

Background: Early detection of atrial fibrillation (AF) is important. Japan has a universal screening system, and regular health screening (HS) is available to support AF detection without a hospital visit. However, health-related outcomes and other characteristics of HS-detected and conventionally diagnosed AF remain unknown.

Implications of QRS Prolongation in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation (from a Multicenter Outpatient Registry).

Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) at the highest risk of progression to heart failure (HF) need to be identified. We investigated whether QRS duration can stratify patients with AF at risk for poor clinical outcomes, including health-related quality of life (HR-QoL). We analyzed data from a multicenter registry-based cohort study of patients with AF.

Efficacy of Wearable Device Gait Training on Parkinson's Disease: A Randomized Controlled Open-label Pilot Study.

Objective To investigate the efficacy of home-based gait training using the wearable Stride Management Assist (SMA) exoskeleton in people with moderately advanced Parkinson's disease. Methods This was a single-center, open-label, parallel, randomized controlled trial. We included outpatients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease who were capable of walking independently with or without walk aids and had Hoehn and Yahr stage 2-4 in the ON state.

Symptom burden and treatment perception in patients with atrial fibrillation, with and without a family history of atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is known to aggregate within family and might be associated with a lower quality-of-life (QoL). We evaluated the association between a family history (FHx) of AF and patient-reported symptom burden and perception towards treatment. We performed a retrospective analysis in a cohort of 1285 newly diagnosed patients with AF.

Ante-mortem diagnosis of pulmonary tumour thrombotic microangiopathy in a patient with unrecognised extramammary Paget's disease.

Pulmonary tumour thrombotic microangiopathy (PTTM) resulting in fatal pulmonary hypertension is a rare complication of malignancy. Patients with PTTM generally suffer rapid deterioration of hypoxaemia, and a diagnosis is often only made at autopsy. We report a case of extramammary Paget's disease associated with PTTM.

Suppression of phase transitions at low temperature by chromium substitution in vanadium spinel Fe(V1-x Cr x )2O4.

Synchrotron powder diffraction, magnetization, and specific heat measurements have been used to investigate the structural and magnetic phase transitions in the spinel-type vanadate Fe(V1-x Cr x )2O4 (0.0  ⩽  x  ⩽  1.0).

Palmitoleic acid induces the cardiac mitochondrial membrane permeability transition despite the presence of L-carnitine.

Although palmitoleic acid (C16:1) is associated with arrhythmias, and increases in an age-dependent matter, the effects of L-carnitine, which is essential for the transport of long-chain fatty acids into the mitochondria, are unclear. It has been postulated that L-carnitine may attenuate palmitate (C16:0)-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and the apoptosis of cardiomyocytes. The aim of this study was to elucidate the activity of L-carnitine in the prevention of the palmitoleic acid-induced mitochondrial membrane permeability transition and cytochrome c release using isolated cardiac mitochondria from rats.

Structural alteration of cell surface heparan sulfate through the stimulation of the signaling pathway for heparan sulfate 6-O-sulfotransferase-1 in mouse fibroblast cells.

Heparan sulfate (HS) is a randomly sulfated polysaccharide that is present on the cell surface and in the extracellular matrix. The sulfated structures of HS were synthesized by multiple HS sulfotransferases, thereby regulating various activities such as growth factor signaling, cell differentiation, and tumor metastasis. Therefore, if the sulfated structures of HS could be artificially controlled, those manipulations would help to understand the various functions depending on HS.

Enrichment of vanillin in barley malt by hydrolysis in high temperature and high pressure steam.

Malted barley was treated with saturated steam at temperatures ranging from 180 to 220 °C, that is, high temperature and high pressure steam (HHS), and a control sample exposed to saturated liquid water in the same temperature range. The malt treated in steam was extracted with water (70 °C) for 15 min after drying. Vanillin which gave beer preferable flavor was detected in all malt extracts, both after treatment with steam and in effluent from malt exposed to liquid water.

Satellite communications for supporting medical care in the aftermath of disasters.

At present, mobile phones are not a useful tool for medical control during a disaster. We have estimated the number of satellite channels that would be needed for telemedicine in a major disaster using the Erlang B equation. This indicated that 29 satellite channels would be sufficient for the operation of a telemedicine system for hospital-to-hospital communications during a major disaster in Japan.

In vitro cytotoxicity assay to screen compounds for apoptosis-inducing potential on lymphocytes and neutrophils.

In vitro cytotoxicity assay to screen compounds for apoptosis-inducing potential on lymphocytes and neutrophils was investigated. Mouse, rat, dog, and human whole blood were incubated for 4 and 6 hr with actinomycin D, camptothecin, cortisone acetate, cycloheximide, doxorubicin, etoposide, 5-FU, mitomycin C and puromycin. Apoptotic lymphocytes and neutrophils were counted.

Beta-blockade prevents ventricular failure following aortic regurgitation in rabbits.

This study investigated the effects of chronic beta-blockade on the pathophysiology of heart failure following induction of aortic regurgitation (AR). Nine rabbits with AR were administered propranolol continuously for 7 days (AR+P), 8 rabbits with AR received vehicle for the same period (AR+C), and 7 rabbits underwent sham operation. Cardiac output was lower and the left-ventricular end-diastolic pressure was higher in AR+C than in sham-operated rabbits, but there was no difference in the right-ventricular end-diastolic pressure between the two groups.

[Acute retrograde dissection of the aorta is a formidable complication in retrograde perfusion through the femoral artery].

To avoid this complication, we applied a Nelaton catheter (Imamura, Tokyo, Japan: standard type) as a guide to insert an arterial perfusion cannula (Bardic) into the femoral artery. Initially, the Nelaton catheter is accurately placed into the femoral artery through a purse string suture without applying vascular clamps on the artery or its branches. Then the perfusion cannula is advanced using the Nelaton catheter as a guide.

Effect of chronic digoxin on beta-adrenergic receptors in rabbits with heart failure.

This study investigated the effect of chronic digitalis glycoside use on beta-adrenergic sympathetic activities in heart failure. Twenty-two Japanese white rabbits were anesthetized by intravenous injection of chloral hydrate. Aortic regurgitation (AR) was produced by perforating aortic valves in 14 rabbits.

Abnormal beta-adrenergic transmembrane signaling in rabbits with adriamycin-induced cardiomyopathy.

We investigated alterations in the beta-adrenergic receptor-adenylate cyclase system in rabbits with congestive heart failure induced by adriamycin cardiotoxicity. A dose of 24 mg/kg adriamycin was administered over 16 weeks in 16 rabbits. Five of them died and 4 of them could not tolerate the full dose of adriamycin.

Effects of methylprednisolone on hemodynamics and beta-adrenergic receptor signaling in rabbits with acute left ventricular failure.

Studies suggest that corticosteroids may restore the responsiveness to catecholamines in hypotensive patients. Since the significance of this promising intervention in congestive heart failure remains to be explored, we determined the effects of methylprednisolone, a potent activator of beta-adrenergic receptor signaling, on hemodynamics and beta-adrenergic receptor regulation in an animal model of heart failure. Acute left ventricular overloading was produced by aortic regurgitation (AR) in 22 Japanese white rabbits.

Myocardial sympathetic denervation prevents chamber-specific alteration of beta-adrenergic transmembrane signaling in rabbits with heart failure.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of myocardial sympathetic denervation on the chamber-specific alteration of beta-adrenergic signaling in left ventricular failure in rabbits.

Background: Local abnormalities in sympathetic nerve terminals, including the neuronal reuptake of norepinephrine, are thought to be responsible for the chamber-specific regulation of beta-adrenergic signaling in heart failure.

Methods: Sixteen rabbits were given 6-hydroxydopamine, 25 mg/kg body weight intravenously on days 1 and 2 and 50 mg/kg intravenously on days 7 and 8.

[Changes in nurses' knowledge and attitudes regarding AIDS in Mie Prefecture, Japan].

In 1990, we conducted a questionnaire survey showing that many nurses had incorrect knowledge of AIDS resulting in inappropriate attitudes toward AIDS patients. Following the first survey conducted in 1990, nurses were given various forms of AIDS education. The effectiveness of the AIDS education requires assessment.

Experimental methods for immunization and challenge in antigenicity studies in guinea pigs.

Optimal experimental methods for antigenicity studies in guinea pigs were investigated on: (1) the effects of different immunizing methods using complete or incomplete Freund's adjuvants (CFA or IFA), and various injection sites, the number of immunizations, the immunizing doses, and the immunizing periods, (2) the relationship between the severity of active systemic anaphylaxis (ASA) reactions and passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) titers, (3) positive control for oral administration, and (4) the effects of incubation mixture of drug and serum protein as the challenge for the ASA assay. The following results provided useful information for designing more appropriate methods for antigenicity studies: (1) The optimal immunization method for benzylpenicillin (PcG), cephaloridine, 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid and adriamycin, which were selected as positive controls for low molecular medicines in this experiment, involved subcutaneous administration of 1 ml of a test substance in CFA (1st immunization) or IFA (2nd and 3rd immunizations) at two doses, 1 and 10 mg/animal, 3 times at 2-week intervals on the back of a guinea pig. Blood collection for PCA assay was needed 2 weeks after the last immunization, and ASA assay, 1 or 2 days after the blood collection.

Effect of the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor alacepril on ventricular function and beta-adrenoceptor number in rabbits with aortic regurgitation.

This study was performed to determine the effects of the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor alacepril on hemodynamic variables and beta-adrenoceptor number in rabbits with heart failure induced by aortic regurgitation. Aortic regurgitation was induced by perforation of the aortic valve in 12 rabbits. Sixty mg/kg of alacepril was administered by gastric tube for 7 days after manifestation of aortic regurgitation to 6 rabbits (group AR + A).

Abnormalities in sympathoneuronal regulation are localized to failing myocardium in rabbit heart.

Objectives: This study investigated the differences in sympathoneuronal regulation between acute left ventricular failure and chronic biventricular failure to determine whether an increase in plasma norepinephrine concentration plays a primary role in the genesis of the desensitization phenomenon in heart failure.

Background: It remains to be determined whether plasma norepinephrine plays a primary role in the pathogenesis of sympathetic desensitization in heart failure in vivo.

Methods: Acute left ventricular failure was induced by aortic regurgitation in seven rabbits.

Sequential changes in sympatho-neuronal regulation and contractile function following aortic regurgitation in rabbit heart.

This study was designed to determine the sequential changes in sympatho-neuronal regulation and contractile function of hearts exposed to volume overloading. Aortic regurgitation was produced by perforation of the aortic valve in 20 rabbits. Another 20 rabbits underwent sham operation.

In vitro cytotoxicity test for estimating non-ocular irritation dose of ophthalmic solutions.

The in vitro cytotoxicity test for estimating the non-ocular irritation dose of ophthalmic solutions was investigated. In the in vitro test, normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEK) in a confluent monolayer were incubated for 48 hr in a medium with test compounds. The concentration of a test compound which causes a 50% reduction in NHEK viability was determined as IC50 by MTT colorimetric assay.