Background-Kidney disease is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD); however, there have been few well-designed prospective studies of this issue in Asian populations. Recent epidemiological studies have suggested that a lower blood pressure level may be associated with an increased risk of CVD in individuals with kidney dysfunction. Methods and Results-Using data from 10 community-based cohort studies in Japan, we conducted follow-up on a total of 30 657 individuals 40 to 89 years of age without preexisting CVD or kidney failure and examined the relationship between reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and the risk of CVD. During an average 7.4-year follow-up, 727 individuals experienced CVD. The age-and sex-adjusted incidence of CVD increased significantly in subjects with GFR of 60 to 89 mL · min Ϫ1 · 1.73 m Ϫ2 (4.3 per 1000 person-years, Pϭ0.002) and in those with a GFR Ͻ60 mL · min Ϫ1 · 1.73 m Ϫ2 (6.5, PϽ0.001) compared with those with a GFR Ն90 mL · min Ϫ1 · 1.73 m Ϫ2 (2.9). Even after adjustment for potential confounding factors, subjects with a GFR Ͻ60 mL · min Ϫ1 · 1.73 m Ϫ2 had a 57% (95% CI 14% to 115%) greater risk of CVD than those with a GFR Ն90 mL · min Ϫ1 · 1.73 m Ϫ2 . The multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios of CVD increased in a log-linear manner with elevations in blood pressure levels, regardless of GFR levels (all P for trend Ͻ0.01). Conclusions-Our findings suggest that a reduced GFR is a significant risk factor for CVD in the general Japanese population. Additionally, a log-linear association of blood pressure level with CVD risk was observed, without evidence of a J-curve association, regardless of GFR levels.

These results indicate that peak VO(2) is more potent than BNP for predicting the mortality in patients with mixed cardiac disease.

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A two-step thermal oxidation process was applied to TixNb binary alloys (x = 0, 1, 10, 15, and 30 at%) to prepare anatase-containing TiO 2 layers, and their photocatalytic activities were evaluated by measuring the water contact angle and decomposition of methylene blue (MB) under UV irradiation. The condition of the first-step treatment was fixed as heating in Ar1%CO atmosphere at 1073 K for 3.6 ks, and the subsequent second-step treatment was conducted in air at 6731073 K for 10.8 ks. The reaction layer formed after the two-step thermal oxidation consisted of TiO 2 . The anatase fraction of the TiO 2 layers increased with decreasing second-step temperature and increasing Nb content of the TiNb alloys. In addition, Nb and carbon were introduced into the TiO 2 layers. A water contact angle of around 5°was observed on the TiO 2 layers formed at the second-step temperatures of 673973 K. The rate constant of MB decomposition showed a maximum for an anatase fraction of 0.60.8 at which the recombination of exited electrons and holes are suppressed. The TiO 2 layer formed on the Ti10 at%Nb alloy exhibited a higher rate constant of MB decomposition compared with Ti30 at%Nb, in which the TiNb 2 O 7 phase formed. These results indicate that Nb is an effective alloying element for producing a photocatalytically active TiO 2 layer on Ti by the two-step thermal oxidation process. Nevertheless, the presence of an anatase-rich TiO 2 layer and an appropriate Nb content in TiO 2 are required for achieving high photocatalytic activities.