Potential Effects of Ischemic Postconditioning and Changes in Heat Shock Protein 72 in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction without Prodromal Angina.

The effectiveness of ischemic postconditioning (iPoC) in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) without ischemic preconditioning has not been determined. Therefore, we investigated the impact of iPoC and its potential mechanism related to heat shock protein 72 (HSP72) induction on myocardial salvage in patients with STEMI without prodromal angina (PA).We retrospectively analyzed data from 102 patients with STEMI with successful reperfusion among 323 consecutive patients with acute coronary syndrome.

Sustaining self-restraint until the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic in Tokyo.

We analyzed time-series changes in people's purpose-specific mobility characteristics owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Tokyo area of Japan, where only legally non-binding requests for self-restraint were enforced. A multiple regression analysis was conducted with the objective variable being the mobile population in the Tokyo area per 500 m square grid estimated from mobile spatial statistical data for 2 years from 10/01/2019 to 9/30/2021. This study period ranges from pre- to mid-pandemic.

Questionnaire in patients with aborted sudden cardiac death due to coronary spasm in Japan.

Objectives: We investigated the medical or mechanical therapy, and the present knowledge of Japanese cardiologists about aborted sudden cardiac death (ASCD) due to coronary spasm.

Methods: A questionnaire was developed regarding the number of cases of ASCD, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), and medical therapy in ASCD patients due to coronary spasm. The questionnaire was sent to the Japanese general institutions at random in 204 cardiology hospitals.

Initial reduction of oxidative stress by angiotensin receptor blocker contributes long term outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention.

Background: It remains unclear whether administration of ARB with reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging effects improves the prognosis of patients undergoing PCI.

Objectives: This study investigated whether the pre-intervention antioxidant effect of angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) affects long-term outcomes in patients after successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) without early adverse events.

Methods: Fifty-two patients who underwent elective PCI were randomly assigned for treatment with or without ARB, which was administered within 48 hours before PCI.

Ischemic preconditioning effect of prodromal angina is attenuated in acute myocardial infarction patients with hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy.

Background: Several animal experiments on acute myocardial infarction (AMI) have shown that the cardioprotective effects of ischemic preconditioning are more significant in hypertensive subjects. However, because there are no clinical data on the impact of hypertension on ischemic preconditioning in patients with AMI, whether clinical ischemic preconditioning of prodromal angina was beneficial in AMI patients with hypertension was investigated in the present study.

Methods And Results: 125 patients with a first anterior AMI who had undergone successful reperfusion therapy were divided into 2 groups, with or without hypertension, and into 2 further subgroups based on the presence or absence of prodromal angina.

Tachycardia-induced myocardial ischemia and diastolic dysfunction potentiate secretion of ANP, not BNP, in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

The aim of this study was to investigate what factor determines tachycardia-induced secretion of atrial and brain natriuretic peptides (ANP and BNP, respectively) in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). HCM patients with normal left ventricular (LV) systolic function and intact coronary artery (n = 22) underwent rapid atrial pacing test. The cardiac secretion of ANP and BNP and the lactate extraction ratio (LER) were evaluated by using blood samples from the coronary sinus and aorta.

Relationship between the parameters of retinal circulation measured by laser Doppler velocimetry and a marker of early systemic atherosclerosis.

Purpose: To examine the relation between intima-media thickness (IMT) in the common carotid artery, which is generally recognized as a marker of early atherosclerosis, and retinal circulatory parameters.

Methods: The vessel diameter and blood velocity of retinal arterioles were measured with laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) in 33 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), because they were thought to have general atherosclerosis. The retinal blood flow (RBF) and wall shear rate (WSR), an index of wall shear stress in retinal vessels, were calculated from the two parameters.

Recovery of BMIPP uptake and regional wall motion in insulin resistant patients following angioplasty for acute myocardial infarction.

The effect of insulin resistance (IR) on the fatty acid metabolism of myocardium, and therefore on the recovery of left ventricular (LV) wall motion, has not been established in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). A total of consecutive 58 non-diabetic AMI patients who had successfully undergone emergency coronary angioplasty were analyzed retrospectively. They were categorized into 2 groups, normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), based on a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).