In order to clarify the relationship between essential hypertension and glucose metabolism, and to approach the pathophysiology or the etiology of essential hypertension, we examined glucose tolerance test (GTT) using spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) as models. SHR, namely stroke-prone SHR (SHRSP) and stroke-resistant SHR (SHRSR) always had higher serum glucose levels at each GTT phase than normotensive control Wistar-Kyoto rats. They also tended to show higher levels in the young even at 5 weeks of age rather than in the adult. These results indicate that hyperglycemic tendency or lower glucose tolerance may be a characteristic of spontaneous hypertension and may be related to the mechanism of hypertension.

View full abstract

Uremic patients on prolonged maintenance hemodialysis (hemodialysis patients) are at high risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular complications. To investigate the serum lipoprotein (Lp) abnormalities in hemodialysis patients, high density Lp (HDL) concentration was determined using ultracentrifugal analysis and quantitative immunoelectrophoresis in 23 hemodialysis patients, 8 non-uremic hyperlipidemic subjects, and 12 normal subjects. Immunoreactive HDL as well as HDL-cholesterol (HDL-Ch) in hemodialysis patients was lower significantly than the level in patients with non-uremic hyperlipidemia or normolipidemic healthy persons. Taking the results of previous reports into counts, decrease in HDL and HDL-Ch seems to contribute to the development of dyslipoproteinemia (broad-midband lipoproteinemia; an accumulation of the intermediate Lp or the remnant Lps) in hemodialysis patients. The results of the present study suggest that protective function proposed by the previous workers of HDL against atherosclerosis may be operated by facilitating the elimination of the accumulated midband Lps.

View full abstract

The effect of beta adrenergic blockade on the increase in plasma renin activity produced by acute respiratory acidosis was studied in chloralose anesthetized dogs. Sixteen mongrel dogs were given 4%, 8% and 12% CO₂ in room air, successively. Propranolol (2 mg/Kg) was given to 8 dogs prior to CO₂ inhalation. The other 8 dogs served as the control group. The response of elevated plasma renin activity during 4% and 8% CO₂ inhalation was not different between the control and propranolol groups. However, the increase of plasma renin activity in the control group was greater than that of the propranolol treated group during 12% CO₂ inhalation. It is suggested that activation of beta adrenergic receptors is not the sole factor in renin control during acute respiratory acidosis, although these receptors do mediate a significant fraction of the renin response to CO₂ inhalation.

View full abstract

We investigated the prognosis of 153 hypertensive patients, whose initial concentration of serum uric acid had been evaluated. One hundred and seventeen subjects could be followed up after 4 years and 16 of them died during the follow-up period. Cerebrovascular disease was seen in 6 subjects, 4 of whom died from the disease. Myocardial infarction and heart failure occurred in 9 and 7 of them died as a result. The frequency of these diseases was greater among the hyperuricemic group and 8 of the 11 who died belonged to this group. Four men were struck by gouty attacks. They were all hyperuricemic and had been proven to have at least one family member with asymptomatic hyperuricemia and/or gout. It is reasonable to regard the presence of hyperuricemia as one of the poor risk factors for vascular diseases. In addition, we must investigate more closely personal and family histories of gout when we see hyperuricemic subjects, regardless of absence of gouty symptoms.

View full abstract

(1) ECG surveys were performed on 12, 523 middle school students. The incidence of A-V block was 0.40% (0.37% in males and 0.43% in females). The incidence of A-V dissociation was 0.11% (0.09% in males and 0.13% in females). (2) There was no case of Mobitz type II or complete A-V block in this survey. (3) Sixty-four school students were picked at random from the students with A-V block who had been diagnosed by ECG surveys during the last three years and were given the Master's two-step test. The following four types of response were recognized; Type 1, Type 2, Type 3A, B, C, and Type 4. (4) Elevation of ASLO and antistreptkinase (ASK) were found in 6.4% and 13.5%, respectively. The serum cold agglutinin titer was elevated in four of the 12 students tested. (5) Most students with A-V block or A-V dissociation had no past history of severe disease or no major complaints.

View full abstract

Non-specific cytotoxicity of peripheral lymphocytes from healthy subjects was observed by stimulation of PHA and PWM. Peripheral lymphocytes from patients with rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease was cytotoxic against ⁵¹Cr labelled cultured heart cells in vitro.

View full abstract

Digitoxin, 1 mg, was orally administered to 12 cirrhotic patients (the 6 in a clinically compensated and the 6 in a decompensated state) and their serum concentrations were measured at 6 hours and everyday through 7 days by radioimmunoassay. The serum half-life of digitoxin in these groups and normal subjects, determined from the serum concentrations, was as follows: 4.7 ± 0.55 days for controls, 4.9 ± 0.45 days for the compensated group and 5.3 ± 0.35 days for the decompensated group. No statistically significant difference could be found in half-life among these groups. (P>0.2). The same dose of digitoxin was orally administered to 6 cirrhotic patients and 6 control subjects and their left ventricular systolic time intervals, LVET and QS₂, were determined at 6 hours and every morning for 7 days. Cardiac responses, exhibited by decrease in the systolic time intervals, in both control subjects and cirrhotic patients dissipated in fair parallel during the ensuing 4 days and returned to base line level by 5 days. From these both biological half-life and physiological effect, it may e concluded that overall metabolism of digitoxin in cirrhotic patients is not disturbed.

View full abstract

A three-year-old girl with mitral regurgitation due to mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome (MCLS) but with normal coronary arteries was treated surgically. Although no definite pathologic lesions causing severe mitral regurgitation except for dilatation of the mitral annulus were found at operation, some minor changes implied focal ischemia of the posterior papillary muscle. A postero-medial annuloplasty was performed without significant residual regurgitation. This is the first patient successfully treated by surgery for mitral valve incompetence due to MCLS. However, additional clinical experiences will be needed to evaluate surgical treatment for this group patients.

View full abstract

[in Japanese]

View full abstract

Hemodynamic characteristics were examined in elderly patients with heart failure. The results obtained are as follows: 1. Most of the underlying causes of heart failure in elderly patients were heart diseases which were commonly found in middle or od age. The onset of clinical manifestations of heart failure were in old age in most cases. 2. It was supposed that main factors which cause clinical manifestations were low cardiac output and low arterial oxygen tension rather than congestion in mild heart failure in old age. 3. In moderate or severe heart failure, cardiac output and arterial oxygen tension were markedly reduced, while venous pressure and total circulating blood volume were moderately increased. 4. Blood pressure was maintained due to elevation in total peripheral resistance in all stages of heart failure. 5. Aging changes contributed markedly to the hemodynamic changes in elderly patients with heart failure.

View full abstract