Circulation Journal

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Displaying 61-64 of 64 articles

Volume 80 (2016) Issue 8 Pages 1773-1780
Hippocampal Blood Flow Abnormality Associated With Depressive Symptoms and Cognitive Impairment in Patients With Chronic Heart Failure
Hideaki Suzuki, Yasuharu Matsumoto, Hideki Ota, Koichiro Sugimura, Jun Takahashi, Kenta Ito, Satoshi Miyata, Katsutoshi Furukawa, Hiroyuki Arai, Yoshihiro Fukumoto, Yasuyuki Taki, Hiroaki Shimokawa

Background:Depressive symptoms and memory impairment are prevalent in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Although the mechanisms remain to be elucidated, the hippocampus (an important brain area for emotion and memory) may be a possible neural substrate for these symptoms.
Methods and Results:We prospectively enrolled 40 Stage C patients, who had past or current CHF symptoms, and as controls 40 Stage B patients, who had structural heart disease but had never had CHF symptoms, in Brain Assessment and Investigation in Heart Failure Trial (B-HeFT) (UMIN000008584). As the primary index, we measured cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the 4 anterior-posterior segments of the hippocampus, using brain MRI analysis. Depressive symptoms, immediate memory (IM) and delayed memory (DM) were assessed using Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and Wechsler Memory Scale-revised (WMS-R), respectively. Hippocampus CBF in the most posterior segment was significantly lower in Stage C than in Stage B group (P=0.029 adjusted for Holm’s method). Multiple regression analysis identified significant association between hippocampus CBF and GDS or DM score in Stage C group (all P<0.05). GDS score was significantly higher, and IM and DM scores were lower in Stage C patients with hippocampus CBF below the median than those with hippocampus CBF above the median (all P<0.05).
Conclusions:Hippocampus abnormalities are associated with depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment in CHF patients. (Circ J 2016; 80: 1773–1780)

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Editor's pick
Circulation Journal Awards for the Year 2016
Second Place in the Clinical Investigation Section
Volume 80 (2016) Issue 4 Pages 938-949
Next Generation Sequencing and Linkage Analysis for the Molecular Diagnosis of a Novel Overlapping Syndrome Characterized by Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and Typical Electrical Instability of Brugada Syndrome
Ruggiero Mango, Andrea Luchetti, Raffaele Sangiuolo, Valentina Ferradini, Nicola Briglia, Emiliano Giardina, Fabrizio Ferrè, Manuela Helmer Citterich, Francesco Romeo, Giuseppe Novelli, Federica Sangiuolo

Background:Familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is an autosomal dominant inherited disorder; mutations in at least 20 genes have been associated. Brugada syndrome (BrS) is an autosomal dominant inherited disorder caused by mutations mainly in theSCN5Agene. A new clinical entity that consists of HCM, typical electrical instability of BrS and sudden death (SD), is described.Methods and Results:The family was constituted by 7 members, 4 of who presented clinical features of HCM and electrical instability of BrS. The clinical presentation of proband was ventricular fibrillation. All members were clinically evaluated by physical examination, 12-lead electrocardiography, 2-dimensional echocardiography, stress test, electrocardiogram Holter, flecainide test, and electrophysiological study. An integrated linkage analysis and next generation sequencing (NGS) approach was used to identify the causative mutation. Linkage with the α-tropomyosin (TPM1) gene on chromosome 15q22 was identified. The NGS study identified a missense mutation within theTPM1gene (c.574G>A; p.E192K), exactly located in a binding domain with polycystin-2 protein. No other pathogenic mutations were identified.Conclusions:This is the first report of an association between HCM and BrS, and the first to use a combined approach of linkage and NGS to identify a causative mutation in SD. The present study expands the clinical spectrum of disorders associated with theTPM1gene and may be useful to report novel mechanisms of electrical instability in HCM and BrS. (Circ J 2016; 80: 938–949)
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Editor's pick
Circulation Journal Awards for the Year 2016
First Place in the Experimental Investigation Section
Volume 80 (2016) Issue 1 Pages 186-195
Glucose Fluctuations Aggravate Cardiac Susceptibility to Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury by Modulating MicroRNAs Expression
Shotaro Saito, Luong Cong Thuc, Yasushi Teshima, Chisato Nakada, Satoru Nishio, Hidekazu Kondo, Akira Fukui, Ichitaro Abe, Yuki Ebata, Tetsunori Saikawa, Masatsugu Moriyama, Naohiko Takahashi

Background:The influence of glucose fluctuations (GF) on cardiovascular complications of diabetes mellitus (DM) has been attracting much attention. In the present study, whether GF increase susceptibility to ischemia/reperfusion in the heart was investigated.Methods and Results:Male rats were randomly assigned to either a control, DM, and DM with GF group. DM was induced by an injection of streptozotocin, and glucose fluctuation was induced by starvation and insulin injection. One sequential program comprised 2 hypoglycemic episodes during 4 days. The isolated hearts were subjected to 20-min ischemia/30-min reperfusion. The infarct size was larger in hearts with GF than those with sustained hyperglycemia. Activities of catalase and superoxide dismutase were decreased, and expressions of NADPH oxidase and thioredoxin-interacting protein were upregulated by GF accompanied by an increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Swollen mitochondria with destroyed cristae were observed in diabetic hearts; they were further devastated by GF. Microarray analysis revealed that the expressions of microRNA (miRNA)-200c and miRNA-141 were abundant in those hearts with GF. Overexpression of miRNA-200c and miRNA-141 decreased mitochondrial superoxide dismutase and catalase activities, and increased ROS levels. Meanwhile, knockdown of miRNA-200c and miRNA-141 significantly decreased ROS levels in cardiomyocytes exposed to GF.Conclusions:GF increased ROS generation and enhanced ischemia/reperfusion injury in the diabetic heart. Upregulated miRNA-200c and miRNA-141 may account for the increased ROS. (Circ J 2016; 80: 186–195)
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Editor's pick
Circulation Journal Awards for the Year 2016
Second Place in the Experimental Investigation Section
Volume 80 (2016) Issue 11 Pages 2336-2342
Calcium-Channel Blockers and Dementia Risk in Older Adults　– National Health Insurance Service – Senior Cohort (2002–2013) –
Deri Hwang, Sunyoung Kim, Hangseok Choi, In-Hwan Oh, Byung Sung Kim, Hyun Rim Choi, So Yeon Kim, Chang Won Won

Background:Some disagreements surround the effects of calcium-channel blockers (CCBs) on the risk of dementia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the protective effects of CCBs on dementia among elderly hypertensive Koreans.
Methods and Results:We conducted a large population-based cohort study using the senior cohort database of the Korean National Health Insurance Service (2002–2013). Subjects were elderly hypertensive Koreans older than 60 years of age. A total of 18,423 patients (CCB user group: 13,692 patients; non-CCB antihypertensive user group: 4,731 patients) were statistically analyzed using the Cox proportional hazard regression model to estimate the adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) and confidence intervals (CIs) of dementia associated with CCB use. There were 2,881 cases (21.0%) of dementia in the CCB user group and 1,124 cases (23.8%) in the non-user group. CCB use significantly reduced the risk of total dementia (aHR 0.81, 95% CI 0.75–0.87, P<0.0001), Alzheimer’s dementia (aHR 0.80, 95% CI 0.72–0.88, P<0.0001), and vascular dementia (aHR 0.81, 95% CI 0.70–0.94, P=0.0067).
Conclusions:CCB use had a protective effect on the risk of dementia among elderly hypertensive Koreans. (Circ J 2016; 80: 2336–2342)

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Editor's pick
Circulation Journal Awards for the Year 2016
Circulation Journal Asian Award

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