Search

Aim: The cardio‐ankle vascular index (CAVI) reflects functional arterial stiffness, which is related to endothelial dysfunction. CD34‐positive cells carry out an important function in endothelial repair. However, there have been no reports assessing the association between CAVI and the number of circulating CD34‐positive cells. Methods: We carried out a cross‐sectional study of 249 Japanese men, aged 60–69 years, who underwent annual health checkups between 2013 and 2015. As individuals with high levels of circulating CD34‐positive cells might indicate the influence of consumptive reduction of circulating CD34‐positive cells as a result of aggressive endothelial repair, participants were stratified by circulating CD34‐positive cell levels, using the median value in this population (0.95 cells/μL) as the cut‐off. Results: For participants with low circulating CD34‐positive cell levels, logarithmic values of circulating CD34‐positive cells were inversely associated with CAVI (multivariable standardized parameter estimate [β] = −0.22, P = 0.014), but not for participants with high levels (β = −0.04, P = 0.638). In addition, even when no significant associations between CAVI and carotid intima‐media thickness were detected for participants with low circulating CD34‐positive cell levels (β = −0.02, P = 0.865), significant positive associations were identified for participants with high levels (β = 0.22, P = 0.028). Conclusions: As circulating CD34‐positive cell count might indicate endothelial repair activity, the present results show that CAVI is affected by insufficient endothelial repair in individuals with low circulating CD34‐positive cell counts. Our results also show that a positive association between CAVI and carotid intima‐media thickness exists only in individuals with aggressive endothelial repair, which indicates the presence of organic arterial disease, such as atherosclerosis. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2019; 19: 557–562. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To study whether there is an association between serum immunoglobulin G4 ( IgG4) concentration and cardiac function among cardiology inpatients. Methods This retrospective study included 91 patients who had sinus rhythm. Of 91 patients, 70 patients (77%) were aged ≥60 years (elderly group) and the remaining 21 patients (23%) were aged <60 years (younger group). Results Serum IgG4 concentrations were found to be negatively correlated with brain natriuretic peptide ( BNP) and with E/e′, an indicator for cardiac diastolic function in the elderly group, but not in the younger group. In contrast, IgG4 was significantly correlated with neither left ventricular mass nor ejection fraction in either group. Multivariate regression analysis showed that, in the elderly group, the association between IgG4 and E/e′, and that between IgG4 and BNP, were independent of age, sex, systolic blood pressure and renal function; log-transformed IgG4 showed a negative association with log-transformed E/e′ and log-transformed BNP, with a standardized correlation coefficient of −0.26 (95% confidence interval −0.49 to −0.03, P = 0.030 and −0.22 (95% confidence interval −0.44 to −0.11, P = 0.043), respectively. Conclusion Serum IgG4 concentration might be associated with cardiac diastolic function among elderly cardiology inpatients. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2014; 14: 582-588. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]