Atrial fibrillation in patients with severe aortic stenosis.

Background: There has been no previous report evaluating the long impact of atrial fibrillation (AF) on the clinical outcomes stratified by the initial management [conservative or aortic valve replacement (AVR)] strategies of severe aortic stenosis (AS).

Methods: We analyzed 3815 patients with severe AS enrolled in the CURRENT AS registry. Patients with AF were defined as those having a history of AF when severe AS was found on the index echocardiography.

Effect of Ghrelin on the Cardiovascular System.

Ghrelin, an n-octanoyl-modified 28-amino-acid-peptide, was first discovered in the human and rat stomach as an endogenous ligand for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R). Ghrelin-GHS-R1a signaling regulates feeding behavior and energy balance, promotes vascular activity and angiogenesis, improves arrhythmia and heart failure, and also protects against cardiovascular disease by suppressing cardiac remodeling after myocardial infarction. Ghrelin's cardiovascular protective effects are mediated by the suppression of sympathetic activity; activation of parasympathetic activity; alleviation of vascular endothelial dysfunction; and regulation of inflammation, apoptosis, and autophagy.

Associations Between Adherence to Evidence-Based, Stroke Quality Indicators and Outcomes of Acute Reperfusion Therapy.

Background: Quality indicators (QIs) are an accepted tool for measuring a hospital's performance in routine care. We examined national trends in adherence to the QIs developed by the Close The Gap-Stroke program by combining data from the health insurance claims database and electronic medical records, and the association between adherence to these QIs and early outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke in Japan.

Methods: In the present study, patients with acute ischemic stroke who received acute reperfusion therapy in 351 Close The Gap-Stroke-participating hospitals were analyzed retrospectively.

Assessment of the upper limb muscles in patients with Fukuyama muscular dystrophy: Noninvasive assessment using visual ultrasound muscle analysis and shear wave elastography.

Fukuyama-type congenital muscular dystrophy (FCMD) is severe, childhood-onset muscular dystrophy. Recently, our group has discovered a potential treatment using antisense oligonucleotides. Therefore, an effective, reliable, and objective method of assessing muscle is needed.

Association of Aggression and Antiepileptic Drugs: Analysis Using the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report (JADER) Database.

Aggression is the most common adverse effect of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). This study aimed to investigate the association of aggression with AED use. The reporting odds ratio (ROR) from adverse event reports, submitted to the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database between 2004 and 2020, was used to calculate and investigate the association between AEDs and aggression.

Joint effect of cognitive decline and walking ability on incidence of wandering behavior in older adults with dementia: A cohort study.

Objectives: Wandering behavior is one of the most troublesome behavioral disturbances in dementia. Inconsistent associations between physical function and wandering behavior were reported, and the effect of cognitive decline may be different according to walking ability. The purposes of this study are to investigate whether high walking ability is a risk factor for wandering behavior and to investigate the interaction of walking ability and cognitive function with wandering behavior in older adults with dementia.

Association between Achilles Tendon Softness and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease in Patients with Familial Hypercholesterolemia.

Aims: Achilles tendon (AT) xanthomas are a specific physical finding of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and AT thickness has been used for its diagnosis and evaluation of its severity. Recently, we reported that the AT of FH patients was softer than that of non-FH patients and the combined use of a cut-off value for AT softness with that for AT thickness improved diagnostic accuracy. However, an association between AT softness and severity of atherosclerosis has not been reported.

Genome-Wide Association Study of Clinical Outcome After Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Haemorrhage: Protocol.

Aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (aSAH) results in persistent clinical deficits which prevent survivors from returning to normal daily functioning. Only a small fraction of the variation in clinical outcome following aSAH is explained by known clinical, demographic and imaging variables; meaning additional unknown factors must play a key role in clinical outcome. There is a growing body of evidence that genetic variation is important in determining outcome following aSAH.

Assisted Living and Medication Adherence in Super-aged Patients With Heart Failure in the Japanese Population.

Poor adherence to medication in patients with heart failure (HF) is associated with poor clinical outcomes. Although social support has been reported to improve medication adherence in patients with HF, the detailed underlying mechanism of this association is unclear. This study investigated appropriate social support types to ensure medication adherence, as well as patient characteristics that benefit from such social support in patients with HF.

Association of 5-aminolevulinic acid with intraoperative hypotension in malignant glioma surgery.

Background: Use of 5-aminolevulinic acid for photodynamic malignant tumor diagnosis reportedly causes intraoperative hypotension (systolic blood pressure < 70 mmHg) during urologic surgery. However, its association with intraoperative hypotension in malignant glioma surgery and underlying mechanisms has not yet been elucidated..

Efficacy of combined use of a stent retriever and aspiration catheter in mechanical thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke.

Background: The efficacy of combined stent retriever (SR) and aspiration catheter (AC; combined technique: CBT) use for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is unclear. We investigated the safety and efficacy of single-unit CBT (SCBT)-retrieving the thrombus as a single unit with SR and AC into the guide catheter-compared with single use of either SR or contact aspiration (CA).

Methods: We analysed 763 consecutive patients who underwent mechanical thrombectomy for AIS between January 2013 and January 2020, at six comprehensive stroke centers.

Impact of beta-blocker use on the long-term outcomes of heart failure patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Aims: The number of patients with both chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure (HF) is increasing in Asia, and these conditions often coexist. We previously revealed a tendency of beta-blocker underuse among patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and COPD in Asian countries other than Japan. Here, we evaluated the impact of cardio-selective beta-blocker use on the long-term outcomes of patients with HF and COPD.

[Accuracy of Non-invasive Arterial Input Functions and Error in Quantitative Images in the Cerebellar Reference Method].

Purpose: We developed and validated the accuracy of a method to calculate the arterial input function (AIF) from PET images only, without the need for the arterial blood sampling, in the absolute quantitation of functional parametric values in O- gas PET examinations.

Methods: We extended the method reported by Iguchi et al. (2013) to derive the arterial input function, thus absolute quantitative functional parametric images of cerebral perfusion and oxygen metabolism by a reference tissue approach.

Added value of anxiolytic benzodiazepines in predictive models on severe delirium in patients with acute decompensated heart failure: A retrospective analysis.

Background: Delirium in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) is associated with poor clinical outcomes. Although some medications have been reported as risk factors for delirium, their impact on patients with ADHF is still unclear. This study aimed to determine the association of specific medication use with delirium and their additive predictive value in models based on conventional risk factors.

Final 5-Year Results in Randomized Japanese Patients Implanted With a Thin-Strut, Bioabsorbable, Polymer-Coated, Everolimus-Eluting SYNERGY Stent (From the EVOLVE II Study).

SYNERGY is a thin-strut, platinum-chromium metal alloy stent with an ultrathin abluminal everolimus-eluting bioabsorbable polymer. EVOLVE II was a global randomized controlled trial that enrolled 1,684 patients treated with either a SYNERGY or durable polymer PROMUS Element Plus (PE+) everolimus-eluting stent, including 155 patients from Japanese sites. This substudy analyzed 5-year clinical outcomes in the Japanese and non-Japanese cohorts.

Measuring Quality of Care for Ischemic Stroke Treated With Acute Reperfusion Therapy in Japan - The Close The Gap-Stroke.

Background: In Japan there is no consensus on how to efficiently measure quality indicators (QIs), defined as a standard of care, for acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Using information from a health insurance claims database and electronic medical records, we evaluated the feasibility and validity of measuring QIs for AIS patients who received intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (IV rt-PA) or endovascular therapy (EVT).

Methods and results: AIS patients receiving rt-PA or EVT between 2013 and 2015 were identified.

Relationship between expressing Cnm in the oral cavity and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis: a pilot study.

Background: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a severe state of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is pathologically characterised by steatosis, hepatocyte ballooning, and lobular inflammation. Host-microbial interaction has gained attention as one of the risk factors for NASH. Recently, -gene positive expressing cell surface collagen-binding protein, Cnm (-positive ), was shown to aggravate NASH in model mice.

IgG4-related small-sized occlusive vasculitis in Mikulicz's disease.

Mikulicz's disease is one of the IgG4-related diseases (IgG4-RDs) that involves the cardiovascular system; however, small-sized vasculitis is rare in IgG4-related diseases. A 64-year-old man presented with distal occlusive disease and developed left cerebrovascular infarction with occlusion of the middle cerebral artery and diseased temporal artery branches. He underwent superficial temporal artery-middle cerebral artery anastomosis surgery.

Confirmed cardiac output on emergency medical services arrival as confounding by indication: an observational study of prehospital airway management in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Objectives: Many registry studies on patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) have reported that conventional bag-valve-mask (BVM) ventilation is independently associated with favourable outcomes. This study aimed to compare the data of patients with OCHA with confirmed cardiac output on emergency medical services (EMS) arrival and consider the confounding factors in prehospital airway management studies.

Methods: This was a cohort study using the registry data for survivors after out-of hospital cardiac arrest in the Kanto region at 2012 in Japan (SOS-KANTO 2012).

Baseline Demographics and Clinical Characteristics in the All Nippon AF in the Elderly (ANAFIE) Registry.

Background: Despite the well-established benefits in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF), anticoagulants have been underused in elderly patients. The All Nippon AF In the Elderly (ANAFIE) Registry is a multicenter, prospective, observational study with 2-year follow-up of Japanese patients aged ≥75 years with a definitive diagnosis of NVAF, aiming to collect detailed information on clinical status and therapeutic challenges in this patient population.

Methods and results: Patients were enrolled from October 2016 to January 2018.

Safety and Feasibility of Dual-task Rehabilitation Program for Body Trunk Balance Using Virtual Reality and Three-dimensional Tracking Technologies.

Objective: The ability to walk is one of the most important basic functional activities of daily living, and the number of patients with walking disability who need rehabilitation is increasing worldwide. The purpose of this first-in-man study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of an off-label, tailor-made, dual-task rehabilitation program for body trunk balance using the mediVR01 system (mediVR, Inc. Osaka, Japan), which incorporates virtual reality (VR) and three-dimensional tracking technologies.