Masaaki Ito

..The critical role of RhoA/Rho-kinase signaling in various systems is discussed, in particular those vascular smooth muscle disorders involving hypercontractility...

..Thus, ANP infusion may improve LV diastolic function even in patients with moderate heart failure and high plasma BNP levels...

..Changing the loading condition by nitroglycerin improved LV systolic and diastolic function in hypertensive DHF patients...

..In patients with DHF, systolic blood pressure markedly increased during exercise, and this was accompanied by impaired exercise tolerance and a decreased QOL, both of which were partly suppressed by blocking angiotensin II...

..The aim of this study was to noninvasively quantify global left ventricular (LV) contraction and relaxation, and to investigate their relationship in normal, hypertrophic, and failing myocardium...

..We hypothesized that an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor would prevent LV dyssynchrony during the progression of pacing-induced HF through its beneficial effects on hemodynamic change and myocardial fibrosis...

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..These results suggest that the impaired relaxation-frequency relation and exacerbated LV-arterial coupling during tachycardia may be an important therapeutic target in patients with DHF...

..007, β=-0.248) and hematocrit (P=ns) after adjusting age and gender. Hypertension is the most important effector of MPR in subjects without myocardial ischemia...

..Similarity of the two MYPT isoforms suggests common enzymatic mechanisms and regulation. Cardiac myosin is a substrate for the MYPT2 holoenzyme, but the Z-line location raises the possibility of other substrates...

..Thus, the left ventricular filling pattern with preload reduction can be used to estimate left ventricular relaxation in patients with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction...

..0+/-1.9 cm/s, respectively, p<0.05). In conclusion, irrespective of the presence of resting hypertension, patients with hypertensive response to exercise had impaired LV longitudinal diastolic function and exercise intolerance...

..These results suggest that the possible mechanisms underlying RhoA activation in VSMC from SHRSP are autocrine/paracrine regulation by Ang II and/or cGKIalpha downregulation...

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..The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the extent of myocardial fibrosis demonstrated by late gadolinium-enhanced MRI and diastolic dysfunction...

..14 × MBF + 0.56)/MBF). The current results indicate that MBF can be accurately quantified by Patlak plot method of first-pass myocardial perfusion MRI by performing a correction of extraction fraction...

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..Thus, nitroglycerin improved LV relaxation in patients with excessive arterial load partly by changing the systolic loading sequence...

..The aims of this study were to characterize and quantify LV function and mechanical dyssynchrony in patients with ESRD, and to elucidate the impact of haemodialytic (HD) therapy on these parameters by speckle-tracking strain imaging...

..These observations provide evidence for the possible involvement of Rho/Rho-kinase signaling in CRP-induced atherothrombogenesis...

..Inhibition of Rho/Rho-kinase signaling might be a novel target for diabetes and metabolic syndrome...

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..Elevated levels of factor VIII (FVIII) have been suggested as important for the pathogenesis of venous thromboembolism (VTE). The objective of this study was to explore the association between elevated FVIII level and VTE in Japan...

..This study analyzed the clinical features of patients with LA thrombi who received anticoagulant therapy and whether the D-dimer test is useful to exclude LA thrombus...

..However, it is not clear whether aortic AI and PWV reflect aortic stiffness in similar ways. We investigated the relationship between aortic AI and PWV by measuring them directly using a catheter technique...

..2 microg/ml, FDP was less than 1.3 microg/ml, and D-dimer was less than 0.5 microg/ml. Our findings suggest that the SF assay is useful for the diagnosis and exclusion of VTE...

..The purpose of this study was to compare regional MPR determined by myocardial perfusion MRI with coronary flow reserve (CFR) by intracoronary Doppler flow wire...

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..The purpose of this study was to determine whether the presence of fatty liver is associated with an alteration in myocardial perfusion reserve (MPR)...

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..The present case demonstrates the efficacy of adding cardiac resynchronization to Dor ventriculoplasty and mitral annuloplasty in a patient with severely impaired left ventricular function and an intraventricular conduction delay...

..No consensus exists on the amount of bed rest required after renal biopsy. Moreover, forced prolonged bed rest can be uncomfortable in patients undergoing renal biopsy...

..99). In conclusion, regional myocardial strain at RR1/RR2 = 1 on the linear regression represents the average value of all recorded cardiac cycles in patients with AF...

..A ROC analysis indicated that VWFpp and TM were useful markers for the prediction of a poor outcome. These findings suggest that VWFpp is an useful marker for the diagnosis of TMA and for the prediction of poor outcome...

..This study sought to determine whether whole-heart coronary magnetic resonance angiography (CMRA) can predict cardiac events in patients with suspected coronary artery disease...

..Hyperchloremia is known to be able to reveal existing bromism, but the fact that bromine (Br(-)) influences chloride (Cl(-)) in assays that use ion electrode machines is not widely known...

..3 mg/dl, and hemosiderinuria was evident. We diagnosed intravascular hemolysis related to aortic stenosis. After we performed an aortic valve replacement, fragmentation on the peripheral blood smear dramatically disappeared...

..The utility of rheolytic thrombectomy as a treatment for proximal deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is not well understood...

..There were no significant differences of CYP2C9, VKORC1 or GGCX between the patients with and without DVT. Therefore, PS Tokushima (K196E) is an important genetic risk factor for DVT in the Japanese population...

..We evaluated the short-term effects of low-dose tolvaptan treatment on hemodynamic parameters in patients with chronic heart failure (HF)...

..Preprocedural A1c (≥7.0%) was found to be an independent predictor of restenosis in the SES group, but not in the PES group...

..The aim of this study was to clarify the incidence and clinical predictors of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) in Japan...

..This study investigates the predictive value of serum tenascin-C (TN-C), which is observed at the active sites of ongoing tissue remodeling, for cardiac events of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM)...

..These results suggest that independent of the cause of hypertension, a common point in downstream signaling and a critical component of hypertension is activation of RhoA and subsequent activation of Rho-kinase...

..Systemic chemotherapy with CHOP (cyclophosphamide, farmorubicin, oncovin, and prednisolone) resulted in a complete resolution of the pericardial effusion. She has been in remission 48 months after discontinuation of the chemotherapy...

..The purpose of this study was to assess the use of the Günther Tulip Filter (GTF) for the management of venous thromboembolism (VTE)...

..These Emax alternans decays resemble those reported in canine LVs. This finding suggests for the first time the applicability of the same organ-level RF assessment method developed for canine hearts to human hearts...

..We hypothesized that left ventricular (LV) systolic or diastolic dysfunction would be provocated by pacing tachycardia in patients with HCM...

..The point of embryonic lethality is before 7.5 dpc. These findings indicate that MYPT1 is essential for mouse embryogenesis...

..J Nephrol 49:61-67, 2007), could not be excluded...

..This case report is potentially useful for the future diagnosis of intravascular infection...

..6 microg/ml of SF at day 1 after surgery, or less than 7.0 microg/ml of D-dimer at day 4 excluded DVT. These findings suggest that the D-dimer and SF are useful for the diagnosis and exclusion of DVT after orthopaedic surgery...

..Thus, endogenous bradykinin partially contributes to the synergistic improvement of cardiovascular function in CHF with additional treatment with ATRA to ACEI...

..To investigate the expression and significance of glypican-3 (GPC3) in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)...

..Inherited thrombophilia was found in 14 patients with PE (14%). Risk factors for PE in Japan are comparable in magnitude to those in Western countries; only one third of PE cases had received VTE prophylaxis...

..The purpose of this study was to determine whether detection of myocardial edema with T2-weighted MRI is influenced by the presence of microvascular obstruction...

..0024). The results of the present study indicate that aortic pulse pressure is significantly and independently correlated with angiographically determined coronary artery stenosis...

..This study examined the efficacy of additional linear ablation at the left atrial (LA) roof in combination with EEPVI to prevent arrhythmia recurrences...

..Renal biopsy is essential for the diagnosis of kidney diseases, but complications, particularly bleeding incidents, remain problematic...

..Treatment with melphalan (6 mg) and prednisolone (35 mg) for 4 days every 6 weeks decreased the fever and alleviated his symptoms...

..This rare combination of a ruptured aneurysm of the sinus of Valsalva coexisting with a ventricular septal defect and a single coronary artery has not been reported previously...

..0001). In conclusion, the improved survival observed in Alport mice that received a transplant of wild-type bone marrow might be primarily attributed to as-yet-unidentified effects of irradiation...

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..We hypothesized that mechanical dyssynchrony may be augmented at increased heart rates in patients with HF and normal QRS duration...

..Thus ARB + ACEI prevents myocardial fibrosis and decreases LV stiffness during the progression of CHF compared with ARB or ACEI alone...

..The above results raise the potential for regulation of MP activity in platelet cytoskeleton by ILK and suggest an alternative to the Rho-linked pathway...

..The phosphorylation and membrane translocation of the targeting subunit are inhibited by a ROK inhibitor. This dissociation of subunits may provide a mechanism for the decreased phosphatase activity of phosphorylated myosin phosphatase...

..Translocation and activation of SrcPTKs, including Fyn, play an important role in Ca(2+) sensitization of VSM contractions mediated by a SPC-Rho-kinase pathway...

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..005, p=0.09, respectively), but the decrease in SAP was small (-6.4+/-9.1 mmHg). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that Rho-kinase is involved in the pathogenesis of human PAH and that fasudil is a novel therapeutic agent...

..Our findings indicate that both alleles of EDAR are non-functional in our patient, resulting in the HED phenotype...

..In conclusion, the widespread cellular and subcellular localization of MYPT1 implies that PP1M may play an important role in the dephosphorylation of key regulatory proteins in neuronal cells...

..These results indicate that Rho-kinase is localized at stress fibres through binding of the pleckstrin homology domain to myosin II...

..To evaluate the prognostic value of CCND1 polymorphism in superficial and invasive transitional cell cancer of the bladder...

..Cilostazol and intravenous heparin improved the symptoms and decreased the creatinine level. We retrospectively studied the clinical features of 36 cases registered with a diagnosis of CCE in the Japanese literature...

..Thus, it is likely that the Rho-kinase/MBS pathway regulates not only the actin-myosin system but also microtubule dynamics...

..The findings described in this report indicate that limb girdle muscular dystrophy may be yet another cause of DCM...

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..Improvement in the diagnostic accuracy of lymph node (LN) metastases of colorectal cancer by optimizing the reconstruction parameters was studied, including a phantom study and clinical studies...

..We suggest that the cell-free translation system is a valid system with which to study the mechanisms underlying laminin chain assembly...

..Taken together, our results identify a previously unrecognized role for MYPT1 in regulating mitosis by antagonizing PLK1...

..The purpose of this study was to identify proteins that are potentially involved in the tumor invasion of bladder cancer...

..The purpose of this study was to assess the diagnostic value of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) for lymph node (LN) metastasis of colorectal cancer...

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..6. The results of the present study suggest that Rho-kinases are unlikely to be involved in heat shock-induced augmentation of vascular contractility...

..These findings demonstrate that DETCs constitutively express NKG2D that acts as a primary activating receptor, and indicate its important role in cutaneous immune surveillance...

..Phosphorylation of each site on MYPT1 was detected in A7r5 cells, but Thr850 was preferred by Rho-kinase and Thr695 was phosphorylated by an unidentified kinase(s)...

..The different inhibitory effects on distinct purinoceptor functions may be related to the anti-inflammatory property of PGE2...