Inverse association between obesity and aortic pressure augmentation is attenuated in women: the Wakuya study.

Objective: Pressure wave reflection predicts cardiovascular events in the general population. Obesity is negatively associated with pressure wave reflection. Muscular arterial diameter (responsible for pressure wave reflection) increases with obesity, and obesity-dependent dilation of muscular arteries is attenuated in women compared with men.

Embolization using both n-butyl cyanoacrylate and gelatin sponges in a patient with a posterior superior pancreaticoduodenal artery pseudoaneurysm that ruptured and bled into the drain tube.

Transcatheter arterial embolization is a useful treatment for postpancreatectomy hemorrhage, a severe complication of pancreatic surgery. N-butyl cyanoacrylate is a liquid and permanent embolic material that is widely used in transcatheter arterial embolization. However, its use can lead to the adherence of the catheter to the vessel wall and occlusion of the catheter lumen.

Reducing the use of psychotropics in a convalescent rehabilitation ward.

Aims: Many patients who are transferred to the convalescent rehabilitation ward of Kawasaki Kokoro Hospital (hereinafter, our hospital) are on psychotropics prescribed for delirium by their physicians at acute care hospitals. In this study, psychiatrists and pharmacists collaborated with rehabilitation physicians to reduce the use of psychotropics.

Methods: The basic information and psychotropics prescription statuses of 88 patients discharged from the convalescent rehabilitation ward of our hospital between April 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022 were derived from their medical records.

Being overweight worsens the relationship between urinary sodium excretion and albuminuria: the Wakuya study.

Background/objectives: (Micro)albuminuria (a manifestation of renal microvascular damage) is an independent predictor of mortality risk, even when the urinary albumin/creatinine ratio is ≥ 10 mg/g in the general population. Excessive sodium intake and obesity are strong predictors of cardiovascular disease. However, the effect of obesity on the relationship between sodium intake and albuminuria is not fully understood.

Classification tree analysis to evaluate the most useful magnetic resonance image type in the differentiation between early and progressed hepatocellular carcinoma.

Aim: Using classification tree analysis, we evaluated the most useful magnetic resonance (MR) image type in the differentiation between early and progressed hepatocellular carcinoma (eHCC and pHCC).

Methods: We included pathologically proven 214 HCCs (28 eHCCs and 186 pHCCs) in 144 patients. The signal intensity of HCCs was assessed on in-phase (T1in) and opposed-phase T1-weighted images (T1op), ultrafast T2-weighted images (ufT2WI), fat-saturated T2-weighted images (fsT2WI), diffusion-weighted images (DWI), contrast enhanced T1-weighted images in the arterial phase (AP), portal venous phase (PVP), and the hepatobiliary phase.

Aortic diastolic pressure decay explains sex-related differences in the subendocardial viability ratio: the Wakuya study.

Objective: Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of mortality in women. Despite a higher risk of heart failure after the first myocardial infarction in women compared with men, the sex-specific mechanisms are unknown. We hypothesized that myocardial ischemia is attributable to sex-related diastolic alterations in the central hemodynamics.

Albuminuria Intensifies the Link Between Urinary Sodium Excretion and Central Pulse Pressure in the General Population: The Wakuya Study.

Background: Central pulse pressure (cPP) is responsible for the hemodynamics of vital organs, and monitoring this parameter is important for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention. Excess sodium intake and (micro)albuminuria (a manifestation of renal microvascular damage) are known to be strong predictors of CVD. We sought to investigate the cross-sectional relationships among dietary sodium intake, albuminuria, and cPP in a general population cohort.

High-resolution three-dimensional T1-weighted hepatobiliary MR cholangiography using Gd-EOB-DTPA for assessment of biliary tree anatomy: Parallel imaging versus compressed sensing.

Purpose: To compare the quality of images obtained by T1-weighted hepatobiliary MR cholangiography using Gd-EOB-DTPA with 1-mm isovoxel acquisition and compressed sensing (T1-MRC) or parallel imaging (T1-MRC) for assessment of biliary tree anatomy.

Method: We prospectively reviewed T1-MRC, T1-MRC, and respiratory-triggered 3D T2-weighted MR cholangiography (T2-MRC) images in 58 patients. Two radiologists independently assessed the three sets of images and scored the biliary tree visualization and overall image quality in all cases using a 5-point Likert scale.

Improvement in radiological reading efficiency and residents' education and clinical contribution using the modified reading system "Triage Reader".

Purpose: To assess whether the modified reading system "Triage Reader" (TR) can improve the radiological reading work environment.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective, single-center study analyzed two reading systems for 26,786 computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging examinations. In the conventional system (January 1-May 31, 2016), all reading work was mostly completed within the day.

Traditional Japanese medicine daikenchuto improves functional constipation in poststroke patients.

Poststroke patients with functional constipation, assessed by the Rome III criteria, from 6 hospitals were recruited in a study on the effects of the traditional Japanese medicine Daikenchuto (DKT) on constipation. Thirty-four patients (17 men and 17 women; mean age: 78.1 ± 11.