Fibromuscular dysplasia of the brachial artery in patients with spontaneous coronary artery dissection: a case series and literature review.

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is diagnosed in a very small percentage of patients with suspected acute coronary syndromes who undergo emergency coronary angiography. Although fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is known to coexist in patients with SCAD, the vascular sites of FMD and their frequency have not yet been clarified. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 16 patients who were diagnosed with and treated for SCAD at our hospital between 1 January 2011 and 31 January 2023.

Clinical Features of Patients With Heart Failure After the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes.

Objective: Acute and chronic stress after severe earthquakes can contribute to cardiovascular events, including heart failure (HF). On April 14, 2016, magnitude 7 earthquakes occurred in the Aso region in the western part of Japan. This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of HF in this area after these earthquakes.

Radiological Examination of Postoperative Cervical Alignment and Stability in Patients with Dialysis-Associated Spondylosis Excluding Destructive Spondyloarthropathy: Comparison with Patients with Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy.

Introduction: Several reports have demonstrated the surgical treatment strategy for patients with dialysis-associated spondylosis in the cervical spine (CDAS) with destructive spondyloarthropathy (DSA). However, studies focusing on the clinical outcome of patients with CDAS without DSA remain scarce. We aimed to review the treatment strategy of patients with CDAS but without DSA.

Influence of 50-nm polystyrene particles in inducing cytotoxicity in mice co-injected with carbon tetrachloride, cisplatin, or paraquat.

The toxicity of nanomaterials has yet to be fully investigated. In particular, the interactions between nanomaterials and therapeutic drugs require further study. We investigated whether nano-sized polystyrene particles affect drug-induced toxicity.

Successful percutaneous coronary intervention of an anomalous right coronary artery with high anterior takeoff using a DIO thrombus aspiration catheter.

Selecting an appropriate guiding catheter is the most important determinant of procedural percutaneous coronary intervention success, especially with an anomalous right coronary artery with high anterior takeoff, which is rather complicated. We present a case of successful stent implantation in an anomalous right coronary artery with high anterior takeoff using DIO thrombus aspiration catheter. This method is useful when selection of the guiding catheter is rather complicated such as in the case of congenital coronary anomalies.

A case of multiple focal nodular hyperplasia in the liver which developed after heart transplantation.

An 18-year-old woman, who had undergone cardiac allograft transplantation, developed continuous back pain two months after surgery. Abdominal computed tomography showed multiple enhanced lesions in her liver, which were not present before transplantation. One tumor bulged from the surface of the liver and compressed the stomach.

Changes in blood viscosity with the recombinant tissue plasminogen activator alteplase.

We measured whole blood viscosity to investigate the time course of the fibrinolytic activity of the recombinant tissue plasminogen activator alteplase. Changes in blood viscosity over time were determined using an oscillation-type viscometer at a shear rate of 400 to 500 per second. Blood viscosity initially increased with alteplase as in untreated blood, but then decreased, reflecting the fibrinolytic activity of generated plasmin.

An autopsy case of sudden death in a boy with primary pulmonary hypertension: a case report.

We report a rare autopsy case of sudden death due to primary pulmonary hypertension. A seven-year-old boy, who had been diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension at the age of four years, died suddenly. Forensic autopsy and histopathologic examination revealed extensive obstruction of small muscular pulmonary arteries by plexiform lesions and concentric intimal thickenings, compatible with primary pulmonary hypertension.

3. Sudden death due to pulmonary thromboembolism after car driving: a case report.

An autopsy case of sudden death due to pulmonary thromboembolism after a car trip is reported. A 56-year-old Japanese man with hypertension and atrial fibrillation suddenly died immediately after having driven for two and a half hours. At autopsy, the pulmonary arteries were found to be filled with dark-red, coiling thrombi consisting of fibrin and red blood cells.

Rac1 regulation of surface expression of protease-activated receptor-1 and responsiveness to thrombin in vascular smooth muscle cells.

Objective: Protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR1) mediates the thrombin-induced proliferation and hypertrophy of vascular smooth muscle cells. A role of Rac1 in the regulation of PAR1 expression was investigated.

Methods And Results: Treatment with simvastatin, a hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitor, for 24 hours attenuated the transient [Ca2+]i elevation induced by thrombin.

Physiology and pathophysiology of proteinase-activated receptors (PARs): regulation of the expression of PARs.

The level of receptors expressed on the cell surface determines the cellular responsiveness to agonists. Proteinase-activated receptors (PARs) have been reported to be either up-regulated or down-regulated in response to various types of stimulation and pathological situations. In addition, the transcriptional regulation plays a major role in the alteration of the expression of PARs under pathological conditions, while post-translational mechanisms such as phosphorylation, arresting-binding, internalization, and lysosomal degradation, which desensitize activated PARs and terminate intracellular signaling, also play an important role in regulating the expression of PARs and the cellular responsiveness to the agonists.

Changes in blood viscosity with heavy and light exercise.

To clarify the relationship of the intensity of acute exercise to sudden cardiac death, we examined the effects of short-term heavy and light exercise on whole blood viscosity. Nine healthy sedentary male volunteers performed ten minutes of heavy (more than 95% of maximum oxygen consumption) or light (60% to 65% of maximum oxygen consumption) exercise. Blood samples were obtained before, immediately after, and one hour after exercise.