Search

Oral and maxillofacial trauma is influenced by various factors, including regional characteristics and social background. Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a state of emergency was declared in Japan in March 2020. In this study, we aimed to examine the dynamics of patients with oral and maxillofacial trauma over a 12-years period using interrupted time-series (ITS) analysis. Patients were examined at the Shimane University Hospital, Maxillofacial Trauma Center from April 2012 to April 2023. In addition to general patient characteristics, data regarding the type of trauma and its treatment were obtained from 1203 patients (770 men and 433 women). Group comparisons showed significant differences in age, trauma status, method of treatment, referral source, route, and injury occasion. ITS analysis indicated significant changes in combined nasal fractures, non-invasive reduction, and sports injuries (P < 0.05), suggesting COVID-19 significantly impacted oral and maxillofacial trauma dynamics. A pandemic of an infectious disease may decrease the number of minor trauma cases but increase the number of injuries from outdoor activities, resulting in no overall change in the dynamics of the number of trauma patients. Medical systems for oral and maxillofacial trauma should be in place at all times, independent of infectious disease pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study discusses safety confirmation systems and how Social Capital (SC) affects the resilience of the safety confirmation network for natural disasters in the U.S. and Japanese society. When a large-scale disaster occurs, people desire to inform their loved ones of their safety status and search for their loved one's status in a chaotic environment. Safety confirmation is the action of confirming the current status of people in disaster areas by collecting safety, injury, missing, and death information and sending the contact request. First, this study summarized the safety confirmation resources. The U.S. approach focuses on the missing and dead, while the Japanese approach focuses on the survivors and tries to define the remaining people who are missing and dead. Second, the social background that formed the SC was compared. Third, how SC affects the safety confirmation network in and between communities was analyzed. The case areas were Honolulu County in the U.S. and Aichi prefecture in Japan, and 1,324 samples were analyzed by ordinal logistic regression. The safety confirmation network reflected the social and SC structure for each country. The ethnic diversity in the network provided high resilience. Honolulu's network was more open beyond the community and connected more with others. Residents' economic network was linked to the safety confirmation network. Aichi's network was more closed in the community and connected with kinship or neighbor ties. Trust and interaction with others shaped the foundation of the safety confirmation network. Finally, the integrated safety confirmation system was discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A biography of Yoshiki Hiki, professor of surgery at Kitasato University in Japan, is presented. He was born on July 28, 1933 in Tokyo, Japan and graduated from the School of Medicine in Keio University (KU) in 1958. He worked as an assistant in the Department of Surgery in KU from 1963 to 1967. He received many honorary degrees from various medical societies in the country and abroad. Moreover, he held key positions in many academic and professional institutions.