Traditionally, people have always been focusing on vascular injuries by angiography. Recent years, the investigators have further known that the pathological foundation of various cardiovascular complications not only lies in the vascular lumen, but also vessel wall. Therefore, now it is possible to detect and prevent vascular disease early. There are many influencing factors on functional and structural damages of vessels, including genetic and environmental factors. The investigators have done many researches on populations of the Han nationality, which has the largest population in China. Thus, the investigators further wonder whether the function and structure of vessel differ in the She Minority of a remote southern region in China. The investigators will enroll 150 subjects of two ethnic groups respectively in the local population， namely She Minority and Han nationality. All subjects enrolled into the study will complete a questionnaire survey of the general situation and conduct vascular related examinations, including evaluation of arterial stiffness, arterial elasticity indexes, subclinical carotid atherosclerosis and biomarkers. The investigators will analysis vascular differences between the two populations and provide a theoretical basis for the specific strategies of prevention and treatment.

Background and aims: Cirrhosis is associated with the development of cardiac dysfunction and increased risk of sudden death which might be due to cardiac disease. However, the pathophysiological mechanism leading to cardiac dysfunction in cirrhosis is still not fully elucidated. Coronary artery calcium (CAC) score is a robust marker of the coronary atherosclerotic burden and also predict risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) related events. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of CAC in relation to cardiac dysfunction in patients with various stages of cirrhosis. Methods: Fifty-five patients with cirrhosis and without CVD were prospectively enrolled and underwent coronary CT angiography, echocardiography with tissue Doppler imaging, ECG, measurement of the hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) and registration of clinical and biochemical characteristics. 59.6% of the patients were smoking. 12.7% had Child Pugh (CP) A, 74.5% with B and 12.7% with CP grade C. Results: The overall cohort had a very high CAC score compared to age and race adjusted reference value with a median CAC score of 332 (reference: 9) for men and of 90 (reference: 0) for women, respectively. Furthermore, CAC score was associated with a change in diastolic function (E-lateral reduced by: 13.4%, p = 0.048), which might further progress to affect left atrial (LA) diameter (LA diameter increased by: 8.4%, p = 0.087). However, we did not find any significant correlation between CAC score and CP score, MELD score or HVPG. Furthermore, we did not find any significant association to the well-known risk factors such as age, diabetes, hypertension, smoking and hypercholesterolemia. Conclusion: Patients with cirrhosis have more severe coronary arteriosclerosis compared to the general population, which might contribute to the development of changes in diastolic function and atrial enlargement. Coronary arteriosclerosis was not related to severity of cirrhosis or known risk factors. Future studies should reveal the pathophysiologic mechanism for CVD in patients with cirrhosis.

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate the effect of sarpogrelate for patients with atherosclerotic obliterans (ASO).

PATIENTS AND METHODS:

Patients with ASO were randomly divided into sarpogrelate group (n = 92) and control group (n = 84). The patients in sarpogrelate group received sarpogrelate (100 mg, tid), whereas in control group aspirin (100 mg, qd) was administered orally. The patients were followed up monthly to observe any side effect of medication. Clinical manifestation, painless walking distance, Rutherford type and ankle brachial Index (ABI) were studied.

RESULTS:

In comparison with control group, the severity of pain, Rutherford type 0 and 1 were improved with statistic significance. Incidence of patients with intermittent claudication decreased from 56.6% before treatment to 28.3% after treatment; the painless walking distance was prolonged (116.3 ± 72.3m vs. 243.5 ± 175.3m, P <0.001); ABI values were increased (0.74 ± 0.17 vs. 0.86 ± 0.18; p <0.001). No side effect of medication was observed.

CONCLUSION:

Sarpogrelate has a therapeutic effect on patients with atherosclerotic obliterans.

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This is a randomized, positive-control, multicenter, multiple-dose, dose-escalation phase II trial

INTERVENTION:

20‐minute massage with 10 ml of macadamia nut oil

CONDITION:

metabolic syndrome

PRIMARY OUTCOME:

Safety

SECONDARY OUTCOME:

Changes in blood fatty acid content; Flow Mediated Dilation(FMD); Serum adiponectin concentration

INCLUSION CRITERIA:

1) Patient who have metabolic syndrome or BMI 25<, obesity 2) Patients who are obtained with the prior written consent.

BACKGROUND AND AIM:

It has been reported that the prevalence of hiatal hernia (HH) and reflux esophagitis (RE) increases with age, as does the degree of arteriosclerosis. However, it has not been investigated whether or not arteriosclerosis is correlated with the presence of HH and RE. Therefore, we prospectively investigated the degree of arteriosclerosis in patients with HH and RE compared with subjects without HH and RE.

METHODS:

We prospectively enrolled 1683 people who visited Shimane Environment and Health Public Corporation for annual medical check-ups. All subjects were investigated by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy for the possible presence of HH and RE. Factors used for assessing cardiovascular risk were sex, age, body mass index (BMI), smoking and drinking habits, serum total cholesterol, triglyceride (TG), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC). Arteriosclerosis was investigated by measuring systolic blood pressure, heart-carotid pulse wave velocity (HCPWV), bilateral ankle brachial index (ABI) and heart-ankle PWV (HAPWV).

RESULTS:

The number of patients with HH and RE was 624 (37.1%) and 143 (8.5%), respectively. The HDLC level of the patients with HH was significantly lower, and the levels of BMI, TG and arteriosclerotic parameters were higher than those of the subjects without HH after adjusting for confounding factors (sex, age and smoking and drinking habits). Cardiovascular and arteriosclerosis parameters except for TG did not differ between the subjects with and without RE.

CONCLUSION:

Levels of arteriosclerosis parameters in patients with HH were higher than in those without HH. However, the association between arteriosclerosis and presence of RE was not clarified.

BACKGROUND:

It is unclear whether infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) affects arteriosclerosis. We performed a cross-sectional study to clarify the effect of HBV and HCV infection on arteriosclerosis.

METHODS:

The study subjects were 1806 healthy individuals who visited Shimane Environment and Health Public Corporation for routine medical check-ups. Serum levels of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood glucose were investigated in all subjects. The degree of arteriosclerosis was assessed using systolic blood pressure, the bilateral ankle brachial index (ABI), the heart-carotid pulse wave velocity (HCPWV), and the heart-ankle PWV (HAPWV). These cardiovascular parameters were compared between control subjects and subjects with HBV and HCV infection, using analysis of covariance to adjust for confounding factors (sex, age, body mass index, and smoking and drinking).

RESULTS:

Of the 1806 subjects, 39 and 31 were diagnosed as positive for HBV and HCV infection, respectively. The remaining 1736 were considered to be the controls. Adjusted serum lipid levels in the subjects with HBV and those with HCV infection tended to be lower than those in the control subjects. Adjusted arteriosclerotic parameters in the subjects with HBV and HCV infection were similar to those in the control subjects, even after adjusting for serum lipid levels.

CONCLUSIONS:

Infection with HBV or HCV does not influence the severity of arteriosclerosis in healthy subjects.

It remains unclear whether white-coat hypertension is associated with vascular organ damage (e.g., carotid arteriosclerosis) in the same way sustained hypertension is. We therefore compared the progression of carotid arteriosclerosis among Japanese individuals showing normal blood pressures, sustained hypertension or white-coat hypertension. A total of 30 subjects (mean age, 58 years) with white-coat hypertension, 30 (mean age, 54 years) with untreated sustained hypertension who had no plaque formation in the carotid arteries, and 30 normotensive subjects (mean age, 58 years) were enrolled in this study. The white-coat and sustained hypertensive subjects were matched with respect to their clinical blood pressures, but their ambulatory blood pressures differed. Conversely, white-coat hypertensive and normotensive subjects were matched with respect to ambulatory blood pressures, but their clinical blood pressures differed. Carotid intimal-medial thickness was measured by B-mode ultrasonography, and the cross-sectional area of the common carotid artery was calculated. The three groups were similar with respect to age, sex ratio, height, laboratory data and the incidence of smoking. Body weights and body mass indexes were significantly higher among patients with sustained hypertension than among either normotensive or white-coat hypertensive patients. Intimal-medial thicknesses and carotid cross-sectional areas were similar in patients with white-coat and sustained hypertension and significantly higher than in normotensive subjects. Collectively, these findings suggest that white-coat hypertension contributed to the presence of carotid arteriosclerosis in our subjects in a manner similar to sustained hypertension. Thus, clinical evaluation of white-coat hypertension should be conducted with the potential for target organ damage in mind.

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