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Background: Low birth weight (LBW) is a risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD) in later life and is becoming increasingly common in developed countries, including Japan. Furthermore, a serial decrease in birth weight has been associated with an increasing prevalence of CKD stage 2 in male Japanese adolescents. Sex-specific differences affect CKD susceptibility, and the association between birth weight and CKD in women, has not been elucidated. In this study, we investigated the sex-specific effect of LBW on renal function. Methods: Annual cross-sectional data of 2417 Japanese adolescents (males 1736; females 681), aged 15–16 years, were evaluated over 8 years (2007–2014). Results: Over the study period, mean birth weights decreased significantly in males (p < 0.01) and females (p < 0.05). Furthermore, both sexes showed significant decrease in estimated glomerular filtration rates corresponding to the birth weight reduction. The prevalence of CKD stage 2 also increased in males (from 26.0 to 32.4%, p < 0.01) and females (from 6.3 to 18.5%, p < 0.05). The incidence of CKD stage 2 was significantly related to history of LBW (males: odds ratio 1.73; 95% confidence interval 1.06–2.80; p < 0.05; females: odds ratio 3.29; 95% confidence interval 1.25–8.02; p < 0.05). Conclusions: Our data revealed that renal function and birth weight have decreased over time, in healthy Japanese adolescents. In view of the recent declining trend demonstrated by birth weight in Japan, we speculate that the prevalence of CKD might increase in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To evaluate the association of rs7578597 in THADA, rs10886471 in GRK5, rs7403531 in RASGRP1, and rs6723108 in TMEM163 with type 2 diabetes among the Japanese we performed a replication study of the association of these single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci. Methods: We genotyped these 4 SNPs for 10,287 Japanese participants (7,478 type 2 diabetes, 2,809 controls) and used logistic regression analysis to examine the association of these SNPs with type 2 diabetes. Results: Rs6723108 was not polymorphic in our control group, and was excluded from the analysis. Rs7578597 was nominally associated with type 2 diabetes ( p = 0.0186, odds ratio = 0.55, 95 % confidence interval = 0.33-0.90 adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index); however this association was not significant after Bonferroni correction ( p ≥ 0.0125) and the effect direction was not consistent with that in the original report. There was significant heterogeneity in the allele frequency of rs7578597 among our control groups, and the nominal association was no longer observed ( p = 0.58) after excluding a control collection in which the risk allele frequency was significantly higher than those in the other control collections. The remaining 2 SNP loci were not associated with type 2 diabetes in this Japanese population ( p ≥ 0.05). We did not observe a significant association between the 3 SNPs and glycemic traits. Conclusions: The 4 loci have no significant effect on susceptibility to type 2 diabetes among the Japanese, although further evaluation with larger cohorts is necessary, especially for rs7578597 in THADA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By an association mapping for the candidate locus in chromosome 21q, rs3746876 within KCNJ15 was shown to be associated with type 2 diabetes in Japanese populations. However, the association of rs3746876 with type 2 diabetes has not been validated in an independent cohort. The aim of the present study was to ascertain the association of rs3746876 with type 2 diabetes in an independent larger Japanese sample. We genotyped 7885 Japanese participants (4967 individuals with type 2 diabetes and 2918 control individuals) for rs3746876 with polymerase-chain reaction-invader assay. The association of rs3746876 with type 2 diabetes was examined by using logistic regression analysis. Quantitative traits analyses for homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) of β-cell function, HOMA of insulin resistance, fasting plasma glucose, fasting immunoreactive insulin and body mass index (BMI) were performed in control individuals by using multiple-linear regression analysis. We observed a significant association of rs3746876-T with type 2 diabetes (P=0.0281, odds ratio (OR)=0.82, 95% confidence interval (CI, 0.68-0.98)), but the direction of effect was opposite to that in the original report. The association of rs3746876 with type 2 diabetes was more significant in obese patients (BMI25 kg m−2, P=0.0025, OR=0.62, 95% CI, 0.45-0.84). We did not observe significant association of rs3746876 with any of the quantitative traits in the control individuals. We could not replicate the original finding for the association of rs3746876 with type 2 diabetes, although rs3746876 was significantly associated with obese type 2 diabetes in the present Japanese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a primary mediator of retinal angiogenesis, and higher levels of intraocular VEGF are observed in patients with active proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Meanwhile, whether serum VEGF level is associated with diabetic retinopathy (DR) or not is controversial. Methods: To investigate the significance of serum VEGF levels in diabetic patients with DR, we measured serum VEGF levels in 138 type 2 diabetic patients hospitalized for treatment of a hyperglycemic state, all of whom were not complicated by VEGF-related diseases, such as malignancy, cardiovascular disease or infectious disease. Results: Serum VEGF level was significantly increased in diabetic patients with DR as compared to those without DR. Moreover, multiple regression analysis and stepwise regression analysis revealed that body mass index and presence or absence of DR were associated with serum VEGF level; in particular, the presence of DR was strongly correlated with increased serum VEGF level. Conclusions: Increased serum VEGF level may be closely associated with the presence of DR in type 2 diabetic patients. Whether this conclusion is true for general type 2 diabetic patients is a subject for future investigation because of several limitations of this study, including sample selection bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: Renin-angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitors, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonists (angiotensin receptor blockers [ARBs]), are recommended by the American Diabetes Association for blood pressure control and prevention or management of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes mellitus. However, some investigators have suggested that ARBs may increase the risk of myocardial infarction in hypertensive patients. Activation of the RAS is associated with an increased risk of ischaemic events. Angiotensin II stimulates the production of plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1), a powerful predictor of cardiovascular disease. ACE inhibitors are reported to reduce PAI-1 levels and activity, while ARBs do not reduce or may even elevate levels of this atherogenic marker. The objective of this study was to determine whether the ACE inhibitor imidapril reduces PAI-1 levels in hypertensive patients already being treated with an ARB. Methods: This was a prospective cohort study carried out in primary care with a follow-up period of 6 months. Estimating the α error (p-value) at 0.05, the power of the test as 80%, and the difference in PAI-1 levels as 10 ± 15 ng/mL, the required sample size was calculated to be 40. Participants were hypertensive patients taking ARBs for more than 8 weeks, and having dyslipidaemia, obesity or abnormal glucose metabolism. Imidapril 5-10 mg/day was prescribed for 6 months to reduce blood pressure to <130/80 mmHg. The main outcome measure, PAI-1 level, was measured before and 6 months after the addition of imidapril to ARBs in 21 subjects (13 men, eight women), all with abnormal glucose metabolism, nine with dyslipidaemia, and six who were obese. Bodyweight, body mass index, blood pressure, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, glycosylated haemoglobin, creatinine, potassium, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and high molecular weight adiponectin levels were measured as secondary outcomes. Results: PAI-1 level was not significantly changed overall. Hs-CRP level was also not significantly changed; however, the high molecular weight adiponectin level was significantly increased (p = 0.044), especially in men (p = 0.026). There were no significant changes in the other outcomes measured. Conclusion: The current study showed that imidapril added to ARBs did not decrease PAI-1 levels in hypertensive patients with abnormal glucose metabolism; however, this combination therapy significantly increased high molecular weight adiponectin levels in men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a genome-wide association study using 207,097 SNP markers in Japanese individuals with type 2 diabetes and unrelated controls, and identified KCNQ1 (potassium voltage-gated channel, KQT-like subfamily, member 1) to be a strong candidate for conferring susceptibility to type 2 diabetes. We detected consistent association of a SNP in KCNQ1 (rs2283228) with the disease in several independent case-control studies (additive model P = 3.1 × 10−12; OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.18–1.34). Several other SNPs in the same linkage disequilibrium (LD) block were strongly associated with type 2 diabetes (additive model: rs2237895, P = 7.3 × 10−9; OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.20–1.45, rs2237897, P = 6.8 × 10−13; OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.29–1.55). The association of these SNPs with type 2 diabetes was replicated in samples from Singaporean (additive model: rs2237895, P = 8.5 × 10−3; OR = 1.14, rs2237897, P = 2.4 × 10−4; OR = 1.22) and Danish populations (additive model: rs2237895, P = 3.7 × 10−11; OR = 1.24, rs2237897, P = 1.2 × 10−4; OR = 1.36). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastric cancer is classified into intestinal and diffuse types, the latter including a highly malignant form, linitis plastica. A two-stage genome-wide association study (stage 1: 85,576 SNPs on 188 cases and 752 references; stage 2: 2,753 SNPs on 749 cases and 750 controls) in Japan identified a significant association between an intronic SNP (rs2976392) in PSCA (prostate stem cell antigen) and diffuse-type gastric cancer (allele-specific odds ratio (OR) = 1.62, 95% CI = 1.38–1.89, P = 1.11 × 10−9). The association was far less significant in intestinal-type gastric cancer. We found that PSCA is expressed in differentiating gastric epithelial cells, has a cell-proliferation inhibition activity in vitro and is frequently silenced in gastric cancer. Substitution of the C allele with the risk allele T at a SNP in the first exon (rs2294008, which has r2 = 0.995, D′ = 0.999 with rs2976392) reduces transcriptional activity of an upstream fragment of the gene. The same risk allele was also significantly associated with diffuse-type gastric cancer in 457 cases and 390 controls in Korea (allele-specific OR = 1.90, 95% CI = 1.56–2.33, P = 8.01 × 10−11). The polymorphism of the PSCA gene, which is possibly involved in regulating gastric epithelial-cell proliferation, influences susceptibility to diffuse-type gastric cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To search a gene(s) conferring susceptibility to type 2 diabetes mellitus, we genotyped nearly 60,000 gene-based SNPs for Japanese patients and found evidence that the gene at chromosome 6p12 encoding transcription-factor-activating protein 2β ( TFAP2B) was a likely candidate in view of significant association of polymorphism in this gene with type 2 diabetes. Extensive analysis of this region identified that several variations within TFAP2B were significantly associated with type 2 diabetes [a variable number of tandem repeat locus: χ2=10.9, P=0.0009; odds ratio=1.57, 95% CI 1.20–2.06, intron 1+774 (G/T); χ2=11.6, P=0.0006; odds ratio=1.60, 95% CI 1.22–2.09, intron 1+2093 (A/C); χ2=12.2, P=0.0004; odds ratio=1.61, 95% CI 1.23–2.11]. The association of TFAP2B with type 2 diabetes was also observed in the UK population. These results suggest that TFAP2B might be a new candidate for conferring susceptibility to type 2 diabetes and contribute to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are cases when ocular pain persists long after ocular surgery and cannot be reduced by anti-inflammatory drugs. Our purpose was to evaluate the effect of stellate ganglion block (SGB) on such prolonged post-operative ocular pain. Method: The subjects were 35 patients divided into two groups. One we called the nociceptive pain group, containing 29 cases in which the trigeminal nerve in the orbit or passing through it was intact. The other we called the neuropathic pain group, containing 6 cases in which pain accompanied paralysis of the trigeminal nerve. SGB was performed two times per week. SGB was deemed effective when pain was reduced markedly and the administration of anti-inflammatory drugs became almost unnecessary. Results: SGB was 96.6% effective in the nociceptive pain cases with the SGB performed an average of 5.9 times. On the other hand, in the neuropathic pain group, even though SGB was performed an average of 52.6 times it was only 66.7% effective. Conclusions: SGB may be useful for the treatment of prolonged post-operative ocular pain, but the elimination of neuropathic pain is more difficult than the elimination of nociceptive pain. Nippon Ganka Gakkai Zasshi (J Jpn Ophthalmol Soc 107:607-612, 2003) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]