BACKGROUND: The mortality and morbidity rates of various cardiovascular diseases differ
between Western countries and Japan. The age- and gender-specific prevalence rate of …

Background— Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are members of the interleukin-1 receptor family
and transduce similar signals as interleukin-1 receptor in response to exogenous pathogens. …

BACKGROUND: Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is a novel inflammatory marker produced by endothelial
cells, smooth muscle cells, and macrophages. The purpose of the present study was to …

Background Although malnutrition indicates an unfavorable prognosis in some clinical settings,
the association between nutritional indexes and outcomes for patients with chronic heart …

Background— Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are members of the interleukin-1 receptor family
and are involved in the responsiveness to pathogen-associated molecular patterns. Recent …

Background There is a residual risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) despite intensive statin
therapy for secondary prevention. The aim of this study was to investigate whether coronary …

It has been poorly understood whether inflammation may contribute to atrial structural
remodeling and increase the propensity for atrial fibrillation (AF) to persist. We investigated the …

Aims High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a nuclear DNA-binding protein and is released
from necrotic cells, inducing inflammatory responses and promoting tissue repair and …

BACKGROUND: Pentosidine, one of the advanced glycation end products (AGE), is generated
by nonenzymatic glycation and oxidation of proteins. The receptor of AGE (RAGE) is …

Objective: Fas ligand (FasL) is a key cytokine which initiates apoptosis when FasL binds to its
receptor, Fas. Cardiac myocytes are generally resistant to Fas-induced apoptosis. However…