Department of Preventive Medicine

Even in today's world where medical technology has advanced, once a disease has developed, it can be difficult to return to a healthy state. Even if a disease does develop, finding the disease early and treating it immediately is important to protect the patient's quality of life (QOL). For this reason, we believe that preventive medicine is an essential academic field for maintaining our healthy lives. Since various social environments are involved in the causes of disease, our department lectures on environmental factors related to disease from the perspective of social medicine, and we are researching the prevention of arteriosclerotic diseases in particular.

Today, heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death in developed countries and affect the quality of life of patients. Atherosclerosis is important as the underlying lesion of these diseases. Atherosclerosis progresses with age, and its pathology is deeply related to smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells as vascular factors and platelets as blood factors. In our laboratory, we conduct experimental research on how and where various environmental factors such as alcohol and antioxidants that we come into contact with in our daily lives act on the activation pathways of these cells. In addition, lifestyle habits such as diet, nutrition, smoking, drinking, and exercise act as a kind of environmental factor surrounding a person. It is known that these unfavorable lifestyle habits induce high blood pressure, blood lipid abnormalities, diabetes, etc. and promote arteriosclerosis, so we are also researching the relationship between these diseases and lifestyle habits. A useful research method for this is epidemiological research, and we have been conducting epidemiological research aimed at preventing arteriosclerotic diseases in Tanba Sasayama City, Hyogo Prefecture since 2012. Through research using these various methods, we have published several new findings on the relationship between the risk of arteriosclerosis such as thrombosis and environmental factors.

In addition, we are developing molecular markers in blood and urine for the early detection of arteriosclerosis and its risks. We are currently conducting further research toward practical application of these.