Publications by authors named "Yukiko Nakano"
Excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA) in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is safe and effective. However, thrombotic complications after ELCA occasionally occur. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of lipid-rich plaque in both in-stent restenosis (ISR) and de novo lesions on thrombus formation and transient no-reflow after ELCA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Sustainability of the 24/7 acute coronary syndrome response system is at risk due to the Work Style Reform for physicians.
Methods And Results: A survey of 93 facilities in Chugoku-Shikoku region found that 30% of facilities expected acute coronary syndrome services to be restricted due to the Work Style Reform. Approximately 35% had implemented task shifting, which reduced physicians' workload by 30% and improved team care.
Article Synopsis
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- The article is published in the journal PLOS ONE.
- The DOI suggests that this correction addresses specific issues or inaccuracies within the original article.
Experimental and clinical studies have suggested atherosclerotic effects of uric acid (UA) on vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Nitroglycerine-induced vasodilation (NID), a control test for flow-mediated vasodilation, can be used as a possible marker of VSMC dysfunction. However, there is little information on the association between UA and NID.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Autonomic impairment is a hallmark of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). While there have been studies on general values for each index of heart rate variability (HRV) analysis in HFrEF, a systematic review comprehensively examining representative values in HFrEF is lacking.
Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases to extract studies reporting representative values of HRV metrics in HFrEF.
Article Synopsis
- * A study involving 237 patients showed that 30% developed prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM), with higher MPV levels in those with PPM and less reduction in MPV post-surgery compared to those without PPM.
- * MPV at the six-month follow-up can help predict PPM in AS patients after TAVR, indicating it may be useful for monitoring during recovery.
Aims: Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) have been widely demonstrated to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death and heart failure (HF) hospitalization, regardless of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). However, data on the extent to which rehospitalization is suppressed following HF hospitalization are limited. This study investigated the effects of SGLT2i on rehospitalization and cardiovascular death.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To determine cell-free mitochondrial DNA (mt-cfDNA) levels in tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy (TIC) and non-TIC among atrial fibrillation (AF) cases.
Backgrounds: TIC is a reversible cardiomyopathy resulting from tachyarrhythmias, such as AF. The exact cause of TIC is not fully understood, but mitochondrial dysfunction has been reported in a variety of cardiomyopathies and may be involved in TIC as well.
Background: TactiFlex is a next-generation catheter that is being used increasingly in ablation-treatment strategies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in ablation lesions when the ablation power, time, and perfusion flow are varied with TactiFlex and TactiCath catheters.
Methods: The TactiFlex and TactiCath catheters were contacted perpendicularly/obliquely/parallel to the swine myocardium at varying powers (30, 40, and 50 W), time points (10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 40 s), and forces (5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 g); the depth, width, and area of each lesion were measured, and the number of steam pops that occurred was counted.
Background: Although left bundle branch area pacing (LBBAP) reportedly results in fewer adverse outcomes after implantation than conventional stylet-guided right ventricular septal pacing (RVSP), previous studies have not compared LBBAP with accurate RVSP using a delivery catheter. The aim of this study was to compare clinical outcomes between LBBAP and accurate RVSP among patients with atrioventricular block (AVB).
Methods: This single-center observational study enrolled 160 patients requiring RV pacing due to symptomatic AVB between September 2018 and December 2021.
Measurement of flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) in the brachial artery by using ultrasound is a well-established technique for evaluating endothelial function. To make the measurement quicker and simpler than the measurements of conventional ultrasound FMD (uFMD), we have developed a new noninvasive method, plethysmographic FMD (pFMD), to assess vascular response to reactive hyperemia in the brachial artery. The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy of measurement of pFMD in comparison to that of measurement of conventional uFMD.
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- - The study investigates sex differences in cardiovascular disease (CVD) among Japanese patients, focusing on conditions like acute coronary syndrome (ACS), acute heart failure (AHF), and acute aortic disease, amid a growing prevalence due to an aging population.
- - Analyzing data from over 1.3 million patients, findings revealed that ACS patients were generally younger and had the lowest female representation, while AHF patients were older and had a higher proportion of females; acute aortic disease showed the highest in-hospital mortality.
- - The results emphasize the need for sex-specific approaches in understanding and managing CVD in Japan, as significant disparities in hospitalization and mortality rates were observed based on sex.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigated the link between epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) characteristics and aortic valve calcification (AVC) using CT scans in 43 patients before heart surgery.
- Results showed that EAT density was positively correlated with the quantity of inflammatory macrophages and osteocalcin-positive cells, indicating a relationship between inflammation in EAT and AVC severity.
- The findings suggest that higher EAT density, along with certain immune cell counts, may indicate more severe aortic valve degeneration, highlighting the importance of EAT in cardiovascular health.
Upstroke time (UT) and percentage of mean arterial pressure (%MAP) at the ankle have been shown to serve as atherosclerotic markers. The purpose of this study was to directly compare the diagnostic accuracy of UT with that of %MAP for clinical coronary artery disease (CAD) in subjects with a normal ankle-brachial index (ABI) in both legs. We measured UT and %MAP in 1953 subjects with a normal ABI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: Brugada syndrome (BrS) is an inherited arrhythmia with a higher disease prevalence and more lethal arrhythmic events in Asians than in Europeans. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed its polygenic architecture mainly in European populations. The aim of this study was to identify novel BrS-associated loci and to compare allelic effects across ancestries.
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- The study examined the link between insulin resistance in adipose tissue and various parameters of the common carotid artery (CCA), such as diameter, plaque score, and resistance index (RI), in 1089 participants over several decades.
- Researchers found a strong association between adipose insulin resistance (Adipo-IR) and high RI, indicating that increased insulin resistance may predict higher vascular resistance.
- However, Adipo-IR was not linked to CCA diameter or plaque score, suggesting that while insulin resistance affects vascular resistance, it may not directly impact the structural aspects of carotid arteries.
Article Synopsis
- - The study assessed the BNT162b2 vaccine's impact on vascular function in 23 medical staff at Hiroshima University Hospital, focusing on endothelial function (measured by flow-mediated vasodilation, FMD) and vascular smooth muscle function (measured by nitroglycerine-induced vasodilation, NID).
- - Results showed that FMD declined significantly two weeks after the second vaccine dose, but improved at six months, returning to baseline levels; there was no significant change in NID across the study periods.
- - Overall, the findings suggest that while the BNT162b2 vaccine temporarily affected endothelial function, it did not influence vascular smooth muscle function and the endothelial function normalized within six months.
Context: A Body Shape Index (ABSI) has been reported to have associations with cardiovascular risk factors. However, there is no information on the association between ABSI and incidence of cardiovascular events.
Methods: We investigated the associations between ABSI and first major cardiovascular events (death from cardiovascular disease, nonfatal acute coronary syndrome, and nonfatal stroke) in 1857 subjects from the database of Flow-Mediated Dilation Japan registry and from Hiroshima University Vascular Function registry.
Background: Clear cell sarcoma (CCS) is a very rare disease and one with a very poor prognosis. Furthermore, its occurrence in the heart is very rare and past reports are scarce.
Case Summary: A 33-year-old man who had undergone left arm amputation due to CCS came to the hospital because a positron emission tomography computed tomography (PET-CT) four years post-amputation showed an accumulation in the heart.
Background: Periodontitis has not been recognized as a modifiable risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF). This prospective nonrandomized study investigated whether periodontal treatment improves the AF ablation outcome.
Methods And Results: We prospectively enrolled 288 AF patients scheduled to undergo initial radiofrequency catheter ablation.
Article Synopsis
- Blood types are categorized based on antigens, and while there’s some connection between these antigens and inflammation, their effect on atrial fibrillation (AF) wasn't well-studied until now.
- The OSHOH-rhythm study, which included 601 patients undergoing catheter ablation for AF, explored how blood type related to both the onset and recurring episodes of AF.
- Results indicated that individuals with blood types lacking the B antigen had a higher rate of AF recurrence, particularly when considering other factors like hypertension and the nature of AF, highlighting the need for further research to fully understand this relationship.*
Introduction: Although frailty is a geriatric syndrome that is associated with disability, hospitalization, and mortality, it can be reversible and preventable with the appropriate interventions. Additionally, as the current diagnostic criteria for frailty include only physical, psychological, cognitive, and social measurements, there is a need for promising blood-based molecular biomarkers to aid in the diagnosis of frailty.
Methods: To identify candidate blood-based biomarkers that can enhance current diagnosis of frailty, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of clinical data, messenger RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq), and aging-related factors using a total of 104 older adults aged 65-90 years (61 frail subjects and 43 robust subjects) in a cross-sectional case-control study.
Objective: We investigated the interrelationship between hyperglycemia and hypertension on cardiovascular mortality in the middle-aged and elderly people.
Methods: In this retrospective cohort study that used data from the Hiroshima Study on Glucose Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, we included 16,564 participants without cardiovascular disease (mean age: 65.8 years; 6179 normoglycemic people, 3017 people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, and 7368 people with prediabetes per the 75-g oral glucose tolerance test).