Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol/apolipoprotein B ratio may be a useful index that differs in statin-treated patients with and without coronary artery disease: a case control study.

Low density lipoproteins (LDLs) are heterogeneous aggregations of molecules of different particle sizes, and small-size LDLs are more potent risk factors for atherosclerosis. We examined the qualitative characteristics of LDLs in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) receiving statin therapy. LDL-particle size was estimated based on the LDL-cholesterol/apolipoprotein B ratio (LDL-C/apoB) in 214 age-adjusted men receiving statin therapy.

HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor (Statin) therapy and coronary atherosclerosis in Japanese subjects: role of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

Background: The level of serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) achieved and change in serum LDL-C level in response to HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor (statin) therapy may not be reflected in coronary plaque regression in Japanese subjects, and plaque regression has occurred in many cases in the absence of any marked decrease in serum LDL-C level. We hypothesized that the indicators of coronary plaque regression in response to statin therapy in a Japanese population are different from the indicators in Western populations.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictors of coronary plaque regression in Japanese patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) using a receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC) analysis.

Relationship between plasma homocysteine levels and congestive heart failure in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Homocysteine and congestive heart failure.

Heart failure after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is an important factor in determining clinical outcome. We examined whether the plasma homocysteine level was a predictor of heart failure in patients with AMI. A series of 96 patients without renal failure who were admitted to our hospital because of AMI between January 2003 and December 2005 were assigned to two groups; a group with a high homocysteine level (group H: n = 48) and a group with a low homocysteine level (group L: n = 48) based on a median homocysteine level.

Development of a model for prediction of coronary atherosclerotic regression: evaluation of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level and peripheral blood monocyte count.

Monocytes and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) play important roles in the process of coronary atherosclerosis. We hypothesized that a reasonable predictive model of coronary plaque regression might be constructed using the change in the peripheral monocyte count and the serum HDL-C level. The plaque volume, as assessed by volumetric intravascular ultrasound, was measured at the baseline and after 6 months of pravastatin therapy in 114 patients with coronary artery disease.

Association of the serum apolipoprotein levels with the occurrence of coronary vasospasm.

Background: The relationship between the serum levels of atherosclerosis-related apolipoprotein (apo) and the risk of coronary spastic angina remains unknown.

Methods And Results: This study consists of 111 patients who were admitted to our facility with the chief complaint of chest pain, in whom coronary angiography showed no significant organic stenosis. The patients were divided into two groups according to the result of the acetylcholine test: the spasm group with a positive test result (n=71) and the nonspasm group with a negative test result (n=40).

Gold activates mast cells via calcium influx through multiple H2O2-sensitive pathways including L-type calcium channels.

Heavy metals, including gold, induce severe contact hypersensitivity and autoimmune disorders, which develop through an initial Th2-independent process followed by a Th2-dependent process. It has been shown that mast cell activation plays a role in the Th2-independent process and that gold stimulates histamine release in vitro. However, the mechanisms of the gold-induced mast cell activation remain largely unclear.

Three-year follow-up results of photodynamic therapy for polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy.

Purpose: To evaluate the visual outcomes and changes in abnormal vascular networks and polypoidal lesions of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) 3 years after photodynamic therapy (PDT).

Methods: We studied 43 eyes of 43 patients with PCV for 3 years. Fundus appearance, fluorescein angiography (FA) and indocyanine green angiography (IA) findings, and visual acuity (VA) before the initial PDT were compared with those 3 months, 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years after treatment.

Amlodipine suppressed cardiac gene expression of brain natriuretic peptide, transforming growth factor-β₁ and fibronectin mediated by aldosterone in male stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Objectives: Amlodipine, a calcium channel blocker (CCB), is one of the most common antihypertensive medicines in Japan. We evaluated whether the calcium channel blocker confers cardiac protection through the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in male stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR-SP).

Methods: Fifteen week-old rats were divided into 2 groups: amlodipine group (3 mg/kg/day, n = 5) and control group (n = 5).

Coronary plaque regression and lifestyle modification in patients treated with pravastatin. - Assessment mainly by daily aerobic exercise and an increase in the serum level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol -.

Background: The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of lifestyle modification, mainly daily aerobic exercise, on coronary atherosclerosis in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

Methods And Results: A 6-month prospective observational study was conducted with 84 CAD patients receiving pravastatin treatment in order to evaluate the relationship between lifestyle modification, in particular aerobic exercise, and plaque volume as assessed by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). Lifestyle during the study period was assessed by the-lifestyle modification score.

Association of body mass index with coronary plaque regression: 6-month prospective study.

Aim: Obesity is a well known strong risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD). We prospectively investigated the influence of body mass index (BMI) on the inhibitory effects of pravastatin against the development of coronary atherosclerosis.

Methods: In 56 patients with stable CAD, 3-dimensional intravascular ultrasound was performed in matched coronary segments at the baseline and after 6-month treatment with pravastatin.

Effects of enalapril and losartan in left ventricular remodeling after acute myocardial infarction: a possible mechanism of prevention of cardiac events by angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers in high-risk myocardial infarction.

Background: Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-I) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB) have been shown to have a significant cardioprotective effect in high-risk patients after myocardial infarction (MI). However, there are few data on the effects of these drugs on left-ventricular (LV) remodeling after MI in Japanese patients.

Methods And Results: We randomly assigned 100 patients with anterior-wall MI who had received reperfusion therapy to treatment with either enalapril (n=50) or losartan (n=50), and calculated the LV ejection fraction (LVEF) and LV end-diastolic volume index (LVEDVI) in these patients at baseline and after 6 months of treatment.

Association of plasma level of malondialdehyde-modified low-density lipoprotein with coronary plaque morphology in patients with coronary spastic angina: implication of acute coronary events.

Background: Focal vasospasm is reportedly involved in a high incidence of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) as compared with diffuse vasospasm. No adequate studies have been conducted on the mechanism underlying the higher incidence of ACS involving focal vasospasm than of those involving diffuse vasospasm in patients with coronary spastic angina.

Methods And Results: Blood samples were collected from the aortic root (Ao) and the coronary sinus (CS) before provoking left coronary vasospasm using intracoronary administration of acetylcholine.

Treatment of coronary spastic angina with a statin in addition to a calcium channel blocker: a pilot study.

Combined therapy with a statin and a calcium channel blocker, which can improve lipid metabolism and reduce oxidative stress, may attenuate coronary vasoconstriction in patients with coronary spastic angina (CSA). After 6 months of therapy with benidipine and pravastatin, an acetylcholine provocation test was performed a second time in 25 patients with CSA. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to whether the result of this second test was positive (n = 13) or negative (n = 12).

Association of circulating leukocyte count with coronary atherosclerosis regression after pravastatin treatment.

Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that the peripheral blood leukocyte count could be used as a marker of the progression of atherosclerosis. Few data exist regarding the relationship between inhibition of the progression of coronary atherosclerosis and the anti-inflammatory effects of statins, especially the drugs' effects on the leukocyte count in patients with coronary artery disease. A 6-month prospective study was, therefore, conducted in 50 patients treated with pravastatin.

Phonatory function of the elderly determined by intensity-loading test: a comparison with the young.

Objective: The goal was to test the hypothesis that the elderly have diminished laryngeal regulation capability, so we investigated phonatory function in the elderly and young using a sound pressure-loading test.

Study Design And Setting: In 36 healthy men (17 in their 20s, 19 in their 70s) and 45 healthy women (22 in their 20s, 23 in their 70s), fundamental frequency, sound pressure level, mean flow rate (MFR), and expiratory lung pressure (EP) were determined from phonatory function testing. Subjects phonated at a comfortable level and at high intensity, without changing vocal pitch.

Clinical efficacy of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in the diagnosis of ruptured hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Purpose: To evaluate the role of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in the diagnosis of ruptured hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: CEUS and angiography were performed in ten cases of ruptured HCC. We evaluated whether this technique allowed us to determine the bleeding point by observing an extravasation of contrast media into the ascites.

A case of eosinophilic cholangitis: imaging findings of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography, cholangioscopy, and intraductal ultrasonography.

A 38-year-old woman was referred to our institution due to epigastralgia. She presented with obstructive jaundice and eosinophilia. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography showed diffuse narrowing from the distal common bile duct to the bifurcation of the hepatic ducts.

Renoprotective effect and cost-effectiveness of using benidipine, a calcium channel blocker, to lower the dose of angiotensin receptor blocker in hypertensive patients with albuminuria.

In hypertensive patients with chronic renal disease, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) are among the first-line drugs, and calcium channel blockers (CCBs) are recommended as a second line. We examined the effects of two therapeutic strategies using ARBs and benidipine, a CCB, on blood pressure (BP), urinary albumin excretion (UAE), and cost-effectiveness in hypertensive patients with albuminuria. Patients whose BP was 140/90 mmHg or higher despite treatment with low- or medium-dose ARBs were assigned randomly to two groups.

Aliskiren, a novel oral renin inhibitor, provides dose-dependent efficacy and placebo-like tolerability in Japanese patients with hypertension.

Aliskiren is a novel orally active renin inhibitor for the treatment of hypertension. This study evaluated the antihypertensive efficacy, safety and tolerability of aliskiren in Japanese patients with hypertension. Forty hundred and fifty-five Japanese men and women with a mean sitting diastolic blood pressure of 95-110 mmHg were randomized to receive once-daily double-blind treatment for 8 weeks with aliskiren 75, 150 or 300 mg or placebo.

Molecular and clinical analyses of Japanese patients with carbamoylphosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) deficiency.

Carbamoylphosphate synthetase I deficiency (CPS1D) is a urea-cycle disorder characterized by episodes of life-threatening hyperammonemia. Correct diagnosis is crucial for patient management, but is difficult to make from clinical presentation and conventional laboratory tests alone. Enzymatic or genetic diagnoses have also been hampered by difficult access to the appropriate organ and the large size of the gene (38 exons).

[Superselective intra-arterial infusion therapy with docetaxel, cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil for head and neck cancer--for tongue cancer patients in comparison patients with other therapies].

In order to cure head and neck cancer without resection, chemotherapy (superselective intra-arterial infusion therapy with DCF) was conducted by anterograde, superselective intra-arterial infusion of 50-60 mg/m(2) of DOC and 50-60 mg/m(2) of CDDP via the femoral artery on day 1 followed by continuous intravenous instillation of 600-750 mg/m(2)/day of 5-FU for 5 days from day 2. A total of 70 patients with advanced and recurrent cancer of the head and neck have been treated since April 2000. With the median follow-up duration of 1,017 days, the survival rate was 92.