Search

This study investigated anxiety symptoms of Japanese adolescents in community high schools. Japanese high school students (N = 1500) from diverse types of schools including general, vocational, and part-time schools completed the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS). First, confirmatory factor analysis supported the 6-factor structure with strong goodness-of-fit indices comparable with the original studies as well as those with Japanese elementary and junior high school students. Girls showed more anxiety symptoms, and items related to worry, insects/spiders phobia, checking, and fear of negative evaluations were the most common symptoms, similar to younger youth. Finally, students who attended part-time high school reported higher anxiety symptoms than those in full-time schools. The utility of the SCAS for assessment of anxiety symptoms in high school students and the need for preventive interventions for students at risk for developing anxiety were discussed.

Background: Long-term cancer prognosis after initial surgical procedures is an unlikely endpoint for clinical trials. Medical claim databases may aid in addressing this issue regardless of limited information on disease and patient background. However, the long-term prognosis (especially regarding long-term care needs) following surgical procedures remains unclear. This study aimed to assess whether long-term outcomes, such as the exacerbation of long-term care needs and mortality, differ with surgical methods. Methods: Using a longitudinal study with linkage between medical claim and long-term care database, patients with primary colorectal cancer who underwent initial colonoscopies were identified through anonymized data in Japan (Shizuoka Kokuho Database, 2012–2018). Odds ratios (ORs) for long-term outcomes (long-term care needs and all-cause mortality during a 6.5-year follow-up period) were analyzed using logistic regression to compare laparoscopy and endoscopic surgery to laparotomy. Results: Overall, 3,744 primary colorectal cancer cases (822 laparotomies, 705 laparoscopies, and 2,217 endoscopic surgeries) were included. Compared to the laparotomy group, the crude OR for exacerbation of long-term care needs in the laparoscopic surgery group was 0.376 (95% confidence interval, 0.227, 0.624), while the OR for all-cause mortality was 0.22 (0.329, 0.532). Conclusion: This is the first study to analyze long-term prognosis after surgery for patients with colorectal cancer to combine medical and long-term needs data. As the national health insurance claim database rarely includes information on cancer stage and comorbidities, better prognosis on endoscopic surgery may need careful interpretation. Therefore, laparoscopy has superior outcomes in terms of long-term care needs and mortality compared to those of laparotomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To identify the effectiveness of interventions for improving immigrant women's mental health and explore the role of these interventions in nursing practice. Background: Immigrant women rearing children and living in a foreign country experience many mental health problems during pregnancy, child‐rearing, and acculturation. Mental health problems can be controlled or modified through effective practices. Few studies have examined the role of different types of interventions in alleviating these mental health issues in immigrant women in the perinatal period, and it is unclear whether such interventions are effective. Methods: This systematic review used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analysis checklist. Studies form December 1948–August 2021 were retrieved from four databases: MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library. This systematic review's protocol was registered at PROSPERO (CRD42020210845). The data were summarised using narrative analysis. Results: Eight studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final analyses. There were few mental health improvement interventions for immigrant women. The interventions included home visit programmes, asset‐building mental health interventions, cognitive‐behavioural interventions, nursing interventions, perinatal education interventions, and mindfulness interventions. Home visit programmes and asset‐building mental health interventions have reported positive outcomes in improving depressive symptoms and mental health. Conclusions: There are few interventions for improving immigrant women's mental health. Most existing interventions are conducted through group education, but there are no explicit significant effects. Home visits may be an effective approach for conducting interventions to improve immigrant women's mental health. An effective nursing intervention should be developed, and more research is needed in improving immigrant women's mental health. Relevance to clinical practice: This review provides evidence for nurses and midwives to practice appropriate and effective approaches and strategies for improving immigrant women's mental health. We suggest possible future interventions for this cohort of immigrant women in the perinatal period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The rate of low birth weight or preterm birth is known to vary according to the birth place of mothers. However, in Japan, studies that investigated the association between maternal nationalities and adverse birth outcomes are few. In this study, we investigated the association between maternal nationalities and adverse birth outcomes. Methods: We obtained live birth data from the Vital Statistics 2016–2020 of the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare. We used data on maternal age, sex, parity, gestational age, birth weight, number of fetuses, household occupation, paternal nationality, and maternal nationality for each infant. We compared the rates of preterm birth and low birth weight at term among mothers whose nationalities were Japan, Korea, China, Philippines, Brazil, and other countries. Log binomial regression model was used to investigate the association between maternal nationality and the two birth outcomes using the other infants' characteristics as covariates. Results: In the analysis, data on 4,290,917 singleton births were used. Mothers from Japan, Korea, China, the Philippines, Brazil, and other nations had preterm birth rates of 4.61%, 4.16%, 3.97%, 7.43%, 7.69%, and 5.61%, respectively. The low birth weight rate among Japanese mothers was 5.36% and was the highest among the maternal nationalities. Regression analysis showed that the relative risk for preterm birth among Filipino, Brazilian, and mothers from other countries (1.520, 1.329, and 1.222, respectively) was statistically significantly higher compared with Japanese mothers. In contrast, the relative risk for Korean and Chinese mothers (0.870 and 0.899, respectively) was statistically significantly lower compared with Japanese mothers. Mothers from Korea, China, the Philippines, Brazil, and other nations had a relative risk for low birth weight that was statistically significantly lower than that of Japanese mothers (0.664, 0.447, 0.867, 0.692, and 0.887, respectively). Conclusions: Support for mothers from the Philippines, Brazil, and other countries are necessary to prevent preterm birth. A future study is necessary to investigate the differences in characteristics among mothers of different nationalities in order to uncover the reason for the high risk for low birth weight among Japanese mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Salivary duct carcinoma (SDC) is a high‐grade salivary malignancy that frequently occurs as the carcinomatous component of carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma. We herein examined the clinical factors affecting outcomes in a large cohort of SDC. Methods: We selected 304 SDC cases and investigated clinical characteristics and the factors affecting outcomes. Results: The median age of the cases examined was 68 years, the most common primary site was the parotid gland (238 cases), and there was a male predominance (M/F = 5:1). Outcomes were significantly worse when the primary tumor site was the minor salivary glands (SG) than when it was the major SG. Outcomes were also significantly worse in pN(+) cases (161 cases) than in pN0 cases, particularly those with a metastatic lymph node number ≥11. The cumulative incidence of relapse and distant metastases was significantly higher in stage IV cases than in stage 0–III cases. Conclusions: The absolute number of lymph node metastases, higher stages, and the minor SG as the primary tumor site were identified as factors affecting the outcome of SDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) is globally rampant, and to curb the growing burden of this disease, in‐depth knowledge about its pathophysiology is needed. This was an observational study conducted at a single center to investigate serum cytokine and chemokine levels of COVID‐19 patients, based on disease severity. We included 72 consecutive COVID‐19 patients admitted to our hospital from March 21 to August 31, 2020. Patients were divided into Mild‐Moderate I (mild) and Moderate II‐Severe (severe) groups based on the COVID‐19 severity classification developed by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) of Japan. We compared the patient characteristics as well as the serum cytokine and chemokine levels on the day of admission between the two groups. Our findings indicated that the severe group had significantly higher levels of serum fibrinogen, d‐dimer, lactate dehydrogenase, C‐reactive protein, ferritin, Krebs von den Lungen‐6, surfactant protein (SP)‐D, and SP‐A than the mild group. Strikingly, the levels of interleukin (IL)‐28A/interferon (IFN)‐λ2 were significantly lower in the severe group than in the mild group. We believe that reduced levels of type III interferons (IFN‐λs) and alterations in the levels of other cytokines and chemokines may impact the severity of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Aim: A good fit between an individual's personality traits and job characteristics motivates employees, and thus enhances their work behavior. However, how nurses’ personality traits and their environmental characteristics relate to nurses’ engagement in workplace learning, which improves their competence, has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate how nurses’ personality traits, environmental characteristics, and workplace learning were related to nursing competence. Methods: A cross‐sectional survey design was used. Questionnaires were distributed to 1167 Japanese registered nurses. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationships between nurses’ personality traits, the environmental characteristics, the nurses’ engagement in workplace learning, and their competence. Results: A total of 315 nurses returned questionnaires (i.e., a return rate of 27.0%). The results showed that both the personality traits (extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience) and environmental characteristics (autonomy at work and feedback given) were related to workplace learning and self‐rated nursing competence. The results also showed that the relationship between extraversion (active, adventurous and ambitious dispositions of an individual) and self‐rated nursing competence was moderated by environmental characteristics, and partially mediated by workplace learning. Conclusion: Positive personality traits, such as extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness to experience could enhance workplace learning and nursing competence. Moreover, environmental characteristics that allow nurses to express their personality traits have the potential to improve their learning and competence further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing focus on continuous professional development, demands placed on nurses to uphold nursing competence have been increasing. This study examined how nurses with different lengths of clinical experience perceived the relationship between their actual competence and the competence they felt was demanded of them, and how this relationship was related to their turnover intentions. Survey questionnaires were distributed to 1,377 nurses, of whom 765 returned usable completed forms. The results showed that across all the groups of clinical experience, nurses perceived the demanded competence levels to be higher than their actual competence levels. However, turnover intentions were not related to nurses’ perceptions of demanded competence and were negatively related to perceptions of actual competence. The levels of competence demanded should not be considered as threats for nurses. Improving nurses’ competence may reduce their turnover intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prevalence of dietary supplements has increased in Japan, and, as a consequence, the adverse events associated with dietary supplement use have become more prominent. Severe adverse events must be reported to the Japanese government via public health centers. However, the number of cases reported to the Japanese government is limited. To clarify this discrepancy, we conducted an internet questionnaire, and surveyed how consumers, physicians and pharmacists acted when they or their patients developed adverse events due to dietary supplement use.Methods: This study was completed by 2732 consumers, 515 physicians, and 515 pharmacist via internet surveillance on November 2015.Results: Although 8.8% of consumers developed adverse events including diarrhea, constipation, stomachache, headache, and nausea and vomiting, most of them did not report their adverse events to public health centers. However, some consumers went to hospitals because of adverse events. We also surveyed how physicians and pharmacists acted when their patients developed adverse events due to dietary supplement use. Most physicians and pharmacists did not report these cases to public health centers because they were unable to definitively prove the cause-and-effect relationship of these adverse events. Furthermore, some physicians and pharmacists did not know how or where to report these adverse events.Conclusions: We clarified the reasons for the limited number of reports of adverse events to the Japanese government in this survey. It is important to encourage not only consumers, but also physicians and pharmacists to report adverse events to public health centers. In addition, an analyzing tool of cause-and-effect relationships might be helpful for physicians and pharmacists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The present study evaluates the long-term effects of a universal prevention approach for depression in children. It looks into the 2- and 3-year follow-ups of previously reported postintervention and 1-year outcomes. Method One hundred and eighty-nine 3rd grade (8-9 years old) children participated in a five-session, school-based, universal prevention program designed to encourage social skills and peer support. The study was conducted from 2006 to 2009 in two public schools in Miyazaki, the south main island of Japan. Results Depressive symptoms decreased significantly from the pre to the postintervention periods, and this effect was maintained. Furthermore, children in the prevention group showed significantly lower depression than the normative sample. Conclusions This study reveals the beneficial long-term effects of a universal approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Thirty-three Japanese children and adolescents diagnosed with an anxiety disorder participated in individual or group Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) that was modelled after evidence-based intervention programs developed in Western countries. Method: The treatment consisted of: (a) building rapport and education; (b) identifying emotions and recognizing cognitive self-talk; (c) challenging anxious self-talk; (d) developing an anxiety hierarchy and in vivo exposures; and (e) planning for future challenges. Results: Three months following treatment, 20 of the 33 children and adolescents (60.91%) no longer met criteria for their principal anxiety disorders and 16 (48.48%) were free from all anxiety disorders. Self-reported anxiety, depression, and cognitive errors also decreased significantly from pre- to post-treatment and these gains were maintained at 3-month follow-up. For the most part, similar outcomes were found in both the group and individual formats of CBT. Conclusions: This study provides preliminary support for the transportability of CBT in both an individual and group format to Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Terrestrial palynomorph assemblages were found from the Lower Cretaceous Miyako Group in the Tanohata area, northeast Japan, and the Tetori Group in the Kuzuryu area, central Japan. There is no obvious difference between the assemblages from these two localities, although these localities have been regarded as belonging to different paleophytogeographic provinces in East Asia on the basis of the plant megafossils. This result is consistent with the suggestion by the recent reconsideration on the megafossil flora from the Tetori Group that the paleophytogeographic provincialism might have weakened during middle to late Early Cretaceous time. The terrestrial palynomorph assemblage from the Miyako Group has characters of both of Cerebropollenites and Schizaeoisporites palynofloras, which were proposed by previous studies, in the Northern Hemisphere during the Early Cretaceous time. This suggests an overlooked transitional palynofloral province between the Cerebropollenites and Schizaeoisporites palynofloral provinces in continental margin of Eurasia during that time. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper reports the development and evaluation of a dysphagia management course taught to the third year dental hygiene students during 2004–2005 as one framework of the new curriculum. The course consisted of lectures by specialists in each field, basic practice and clinical practice at a facility for the elderly. Evaluation of the course showed that improvements were found in students’ understanding in certain subjects when compared with that during 2003–2004. Scores on the post-test were statistically significantly higher than those on the pre-test, showing that basic knowledge of the students had been improved. Introductory and follow-up lectures by dental hygiene instructors and appropriate basic practice enhanced the learning process of the students. In the clinical practice, the concept of ‘dental hygiene process of care’ was incorporated. The dental hygiene process facilitated the students in planning and implementing dental hygiene care that meets the needs of the individual clients. This active learning experience enhanced the students’ understanding of dysphagia management. Although further improvements are necessary, this dysphagia management course should help dental hygienists in playing a greater role in the field of oral care and dysphagia rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social support could help immigrant Chinese women in Japan to improve health. However, these women suffer from numerous stresses associated with acculturation and child-rearing, which could impact the effect of social support on mental and physical health. This study aims to identify the relationships among social support, acculturative stress, parenting stress, mental health, and physical health to propose a structural path model of these relationships and to evaluate the mediating role of stress between social support and health. A questionnaire was used to collect data for the main variables and demographic factors. A total of 109 women participated (mean age 33.9 ± 5.6 years). The results show that immigrant Chinese women in Japan experienced a low level of mental health (44.7 ± 9.8). Additionally, social support directly influenced parenting stress (β = −0.21, p < 0.05), acculturative stress (β = −0.19, p < 0.05), and mental health (β = 0.31, p < 0.001) and indirectly influenced physical health (β = 0.09, p < 0.05). Parenting stress partially mediated the association between social support and mental health (β = 0.09, p < 0.05). To protect the effectiveness of social support on mental health, it is essential to reduce the parenting stress of immigrant Chinese women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background While assessment made by nurses of themselves (self-assessment) and assessment made of them by others (other-assessment) provide unique and valuable information as to individual nurses’ competence, the subjective nature of both assessments often causes a disagreement between them. This is problematic when educational interventions to foster nurses’ competence are designed. However, the question of what factors contribute to the self-other disagreement in competence assessment has rarely been investigated in nursing. Objectives The aims of this study were to compare competence assessments made by nurses with that by others, and to investigate what types of demographic variables of nurses and others, and which personality traits of nurses were associated with the self-other agreement/disagreement in the competence assessment. Design A cross-sectional survey design. Settings Three hospitals in Japan. Participants A total of 1167 registered nurses, who were practising in these three hospitals, were invited to participate in the study. The inclusion criteria of the participants were as follows: 1) currently working in an inpatient department, and 2) directly involved in patient care. Methods The survey package included two sets of questionnaires: one for self-assessment and the other for other-assessment, each of which was accompanied by an ID number for matching. Collected data were analysed using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test to compare the scores on competence assessed by nurses and others, and using multiple regression to examine the relationships between the demographics, personality traits, and the degree of self-other disagreement. Results A total of 207 matched questionnaires were obtained. The results showed that the scores on the assessment made by others were statistically significantly higher than those made by nurses of themselves. Moreover, regression analysis suggested that the age of nurses (i.e., younger nurses) and that of others (i.e., older evaluators), and nurses’ personality traits of conscientiousness and extraversion were statistically significantly related to the agreement in self-other competence assessment. Conclusions Nurse managers need to understand which factors contribute to self-other disagreement in competence assessment, and to identify a way to precipitate mutual agreement between them. By doing so, both nurses and managers can comprehend nurses’ own strengths and weaknesses, and can determine educational needs and goals regarding nurses’ competence development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Nurses have to maintain and improve their nursing competence in order to provide the best patient care possible. Workplace learning has the potential to improve nursing competence. Previous studies have examined the effect of training on competence development. However, the effects of other aspects of learning, such as learning from practice, feedback, reflection, and from others have not been investigated previously. Furthermore, it is uncertain what methods of learning nurses with different clinical experience adopt and how these learning methods relate to their self-reported competence. Objectives The objectives of this study were to identify the methods of learning used by less and more experienced nurses, and to explore what methods of workplace learning would be associated with the self-reported competence of both groups of nurses. Design A cross-sectional survey design was utilised. Settings The study was conducted at two university-affiliated hospitals in Japan. Participants A convenience sample of 954 nurses/midwives (hereafter referred to as nurses), who were involved in direct patient care, were recruited and 494 nurses returned usable questionnaires. Methods A survey method was used to collect data. The Holistic Nursing Competence Scale, the Learning Experience Scale and the Japanese version of Rosenberg's Self-esteem Scale, along with demographic questions, were included in the questionnaire. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between learning and nurses’ self-evaluation of competence. This analysis was carried out for less experienced nurses (≤5 years of clinical experience) and experienced nurses (>5 years of experience). Results The results showed that learning was correlated with the levels of competence that nurses considered they had. When the specific types of learning were examined in relation to self-reported competence, there were a similarity and differences between less and more experienced nurses. For both groups of nurses, learning through reflection was found to relate to their self-reported competence. In addition, learning through practice and learning from others were positively correlated with the self-reported competence of less experienced nurses, while learning from feedback and training were positively associated with the self-reported competence of experienced nurses. Conclusion Learning from reflection may be useful for both less and more experienced nurses by allowing them to embrace a positive view of their competence. Moreover, creating opportunities to experiment and observe others’ practice can be profitable for less experienced nurses, while offering training opportunities and feedback can be beneficial for experienced nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nurses are pivotal in averting patient falls through their assessment of cues presented by patients and their environments, rendering clinical judgments regarding the risk of falling, and implementing tailored interventions. Despite the intricate cognitive processes entailed in nurses' judgment, no prior studies have explored their approach to assessing the risk of falling. This study aimed to examine how nurses judge the risk of falling among patients with different conditions, whether there are differences in the importance of risk factors as judged by nurses, how they justify their judgments, and what attributes of the nurses influence their judgments. A mixed method approach using the Q Methodology was employed. Three public and private hospitals in Japan. Eighteen nurses participated in the study. Participants were tasked with ranking 36 patient scenarios, each featuring a distinct set of fall risk factors. Subsequently, post-sorting interviews were conducted to gather insights into their typical approach to assessing fall risk and the rationale behind their ranking decisions. A by-person principal component factor extraction was employed to examine differences in the rankings of the scenarios. The interview data were analyzed descriptively to elucidate the reasons behind these discrepancies. Nurses engage in complex cognitive manipulations when evaluating the risk of patient falls, drawing extensively from their wealth of experience while utilizing assessment tools to support their judgments. In essence, nurses identify patients' tendency to act alone without calling a nurse, impaired gait and cognition, sedative use, drains, and limited information sharing among healthcare professionals as key fall risks. In addition, nurses vary in the importance they attribute to certain risk factors, leading to the discrimination of three distinct judgment profiles. One group of nurses judges patients with cognitive impairment and acting alone as high risk. Another group of nurses considers patients with unstable gait and acting alone as high risk. The last group of nurses sees patients wearing slippers as high risk. The post-sorting interviews revealed that their judgments are closely related to the healthcare context and patient population. Nurses operate within diverse contexts, wherein they interact with patients of varying characteristics, collaborate with professionals from diverse disciplines, and have access to varying levels of human and physical resources. This nuanced understanding empowers the formulation of judgments that are finely attuned to the specific context at hand. Not registered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: A daily mineral supplement is useful for those who are at risk of a deficiency. Some Western reports suggest that mineral supplement users have healthy behaviors and are not mineral-deficient. It is unknown whether the same phenomenon is observed in Japan where there is a different dietary culture. The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics of personal behaviors including food consumption nationwide among mineral supplement users from the National Health and Nutrition Survey in Japan 2003-2010.Methods and Study Design: Data were obtained from 16,275 adults aged 20-59 years who completed sociodemographic, health status, and 1-day household dietary assessments. Supplement users were compared with non-users. Logistic regression models were utilized to identify the characteristics of food consumption and calcium and iron supplement use, using the medium intake group as a reference.Results: Overall, 2.1% and 1.4% of adults reported using calcium supplements and iron supplements, respectively. Calcium supplement users were more likely to be physically active, non-smokers, and eat less fat compared with non-users. Furthermore, they were more likely than non-users to consume a higher intake of calcium from foods such as tea, vegetables, seaweeds, and fruits. Iron supplement users were more likely than non-users to be non-smokers. These individuals tended to have a high intake of seaweeds and fruits.Conclusions: Japanese adults who had healthier behaviors were more likely to use mineral supplements, especially calcium. Mineral supplement users tended to choose healthy foods such as seaweeds and fruits, without considering their overall mineral consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salt intake reduction is a global concern. In particular, Japanese consume higher amounts of salt than those of other ethnicities. The sodium content is mentioned on the label of industrially prepared dishes with an intention of reducing salt intake. This study aimed to evaluate the difference between the actual sodium content and labeled salt value of industrially prepared Japanese single dishes. Samples labeled "estimated" were collected and classified as Japanese, Western, and Chinese cuisines. The sodium content ranged from 180 to 1011 mg/100 g. The sodium content was higher than their reported values in other countries. Specifically, Chinese dishes contained high amounts of sodium, although the chloride content was similar across cuisine styles. Further, the molar ratio (i.e., sodium/chloride) had no significant effect on the difference between the actual content and labeled value. The measured salt contents were 20% higher than the labeled values. The results of decision tree analysis indicated that if the labeled salt value of stir-fried foods is determined by calculation, the actual sodium content is much higher than the labeled salt value. These findings are crucial for customers, dietitian, and researchers as they refer to the labeled salt value to determine the sodium content of industrially prepared foods., (© 2024 Institute of Food Technologists.)

Telehealth systems in underserved countries leverage various low-cost portable medical sensors to transmit patients' vital information to remote doctors, facilitating timely diagnoses and interventions. However, the potential risks associated with inaccurate data pose considerable threats to the health of individuals. This study focuses on identifying high-quality portable hemoglobin sensors, employing the Japanese clinical pathology laboratory as a gold standard. Out of the eight sensors evaluated in this study, four were found to be highly erroneous.

Short stature was suggested to be a risk factor for cardiovascular events. Because short stature increases central blood pressure, this study aimed to investigate a longitudinal association between short stature, blood pressure, and incidence of cardiovascular disease by the analysis of insurance-based real-world dataset. We analyzed data from 463,844 adults aged 40 or older with a mean age of 66.7 enrolled in National Health Insurance, excluding individuals who experienced a stroke or myocardial infarction, or required long-term care. Data from annual health checkups were used to obtain baseline clinical information. Comorbidities and incidences of stroke and myocardial infarction were obtained from the insurance data. During a 5.5-year follow-up period, we observed 11,027 cases of stroke. Adults of a short stature exhibited a higher incidence rate in both men (≤155 cm: 99.7, >175 cm: 24.4) and women (≤140 cm: 85.9, >160 cm: 13.7). Although those in the short stature group had higher blood pressure, and often took antihypertensive drugs, the inverse association between height and stroke incidence was independent of these factors (hazard ratio for 5 cm shorter in height; men: 1.06 [1.03-1.09], women: 1.11 [1.06-1.13]). Short stature and blood pressure showed additive association with stoke incidence (log-rank p < 0.001). No significant association was observed with myocardial infarction (men: 1.01 [0.95-1.06], women: 1.06 [0.98-1.14]). In a longitudinal analysis of a large general Japanese population, short stature was linked to an increased risk of stroke in both genders in any blood pressure range., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Japanese Society of Hypertension.)

Background: Metabolically healthy obesity is not always a benign condition. It is associated with an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. We investigated the prognostic significance of metabolically healthy obesity by comparing clinical profile-matched metabolically healthy obesity and non-obesity groups., Methods: We analyzed a health insurance dataset with annual health checkup data from Japan. The analyzed data included 168,699 individuals aged <65 years. Obesity was defined as ≥25 kg/m 2 body mass index. Metabolically healthy was defined as ≤1 metabolic risk factor (high blood pressure, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or high hemoglobin A1c). Incidence rates of stroke, myocardial infarction, and all-cause mortality identified from the insurance data were compared between metabolically healthy obesity and non-obesity groups (n = 8644 each) using a log-rank test., Results: The stroke (obesity: 9.2 per 10,000 person-years; non-obesity: 10.5; log-rank test p = 0.595), myocardial infarction (obesity: 3.7; non-obesity: 3.1; p = 0.613), and all-cause mortality (obesity: 26.6; non-obesity: 23.2; p = 0.304) incidence rates did not differ significantly between the metabolically healthy obesity and non-obesity groups, even when the abdominal obesity was considered in the analysis. The lack of association was also observed in the comparison between the metabolically unhealthy obesity and non-obesity groups (n = 10,965 each). The population with metabolically healthy obesity reported negligibly worse metabolic profiles than the population with non-obesity at the 5.6-year follow-up., Conclusion: Obesity, when accompanied by a healthy metabolic profile, did not increase the risk of cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

This study investigated which conditions could be used to identify patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) from a National Health Insurance claims dataset. During April 2012 and September 2018, 1,789,462 employees were enrolled in the dataset for Shizuoka Prefecture residents. The number of patients with the ICD-10 code for CML was 761. Among them, 246 who had been prescribed a tyrosine kinase inhibitor were considered as having true CML. The positive predictive value was calculated as 32.3% when CML was identified by ICD-10 code alone. Combination of ICD-10 code with prescribed drugs was required to accurately identify patients with CML from the insurance database.

This study examined the association of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) intake during the second trimester with low birth weight (LBW) in pregnant Japanese women and was conducted in conjunction with the Japan Pregnancy Eating and Activity Cohort (J-PEACH) study. The study included 504 pregnant women from four Japanese sites. During the second trimester (14-27 weeks), the participants filled out a self-administered questionnaire assessing the frequency of DHA and EPA supplement intake in the past month, as well as a brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire (BDHQ). The analysis involved data from two time points: responses to the BDHQ and infant data at birth. In total, 471 and 33 participants were classified into the normal birth weight and LBW groups, respectively. The participants were divided into high-, medium-, and low-intake groups based on their total dietary and EPA and DHA supplementary intakes. The Cochran-Armitage trend test was used to analyze the data; the prevalence of LBW was higher in the low-intake group ( p = 0.04). There was no significant sex-based trend ( p = 0.27 and p = 0.35). In Japanese women, low dietary and supplementary EPA and DHA intake until the second trimester were risk factors for LBW.

Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP) is a common symptom. Although the influence of NVP during the first trimester on dietary intake and birth outcomes has been revealed, no study has focused on NVP during the second trimester. This study aimed to reveal whether NVP severity during the second trimester is associated with dietary intake, gestational weight gain (GWG), birth weight, and delivery week. Participants completed a questionnaire at 18-27 gestational weeks. NVP severity was assessed using the modified Pregnancy-Unique Quantification of Emesis and Nausea scale in the questionnaire. Dietary habits were assessed using a brief-type diet history questionnaire. In total, 825 responses were analyzed: 202 (24.5%), 135 (16.4%), and 8 (1.0%) women reported mild, moderate, and severe NVP, respectively; 480 (58.2%) women did not have NVP during the second trimester. No significant association was observed between energy and nutrient intake and no/mild and moderate/severe NVP. Women with moderate/severe NVP had lower total GWG than those with no/mild NVP ( p = 0.007). There was no significant difference in low birth weight and preterm birth rates ( p = 0.246 and p = 0.604). This is the first study to investigate whether NVP severity during the second trimester is associated with dietary intake and birth outcomes.

Chinese women raising children in Japan tend to experience high parenting stress and poor mental well-being. However, their specific parenting and mental health promotion needs remain unknown. This study aimed to explore the parenting and mental health promotion needs of Chinese women living in Japan and provide recommendations to guide interventions. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted. Participants included 15 women aged 28-39 years who were pregnant or rearing a child younger than six years old. Thematic analysis was performed for data analysis. More than half of the participants experienced mental health problems, such as depressive symptoms and child-rearing stress. Four themes relating to their needs were identified: concrete support, information provision, caring and understanding, and social network building. Information provision and social network building should be emphasized as practical social support mechanisms to improve these women's mental health. Furthermore, a mental health promotion intervention should be developed to address this vulnerable population's needs. Healthcare providers and public health workers should help improve the social support systems of Chinese women in Japan to prevent mental health problems. Potential transcultural education can, arguably, help healthcare providers better understand transcultural care.

Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge 1-5 . Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2,393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3,289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Analyzing real-world data, including health insurance claims, may help provide insights into preventing and treating various diseases. We developed a database covering Shizuoka Prefecture (Shizuoka Kokuho Database [SKDB]) in Japan, which included individual-level linked data on health- and care-insurance claims and health checkup results., Methods: Anonymized claims data on health insurance (National Health Insurance [age <75 years] and Latter-Stage Elderly Medical Care System [age ≥75 years]), care insurance, subscriber lists, annual health checkups, and all dates of death were collected from 35 municipalities in Shizuoka Prefecture. To efficiently link claims and health checkups, unique individual IDs were assigned using a novel procedure., Results: From April 2012 to September 2018, the SKDB included 2,230,848 individuals (men, 1,019,687; 45.7%). The median age (min-max) of men and women was 60 (0-106) and 62 (0-111) years, respectively. During the study period, the median subscription time was 4.4 years; 40.8% of individuals continuously subscribed for the 6.5 years; 213,566 individuals died. Health checkup data were available for 654,035 individuals, amounting to 2,469,648 records. Care-service recipient data were available for 283,537 individuals; they used care insurance to pay for care costs., Conclusion: SKDB, a population-based longitudinal cohort, provides a comprehensive dataset covering health checkups, disorders, medication, and care service. This database may provide a robust platform to identify epidemiological problems and generate hypotheses for preventing and treating disorders in the elderly.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 8 or 9 is predicted to occur near the Ryukyu Islands in Japan, for which the Okinawa Prefecture is preparing countermeasures. Evacuating people to a safe shelter within the tsunami arrival time is a crucial countermeasure. This study aims to understand the vulnerabilities of patients with chronic respiratory diseases in southern parts of Okinawa during a tsunami evacuation, thereby calculating evacuation distance of vulnerable patients and creating individual evacuation plans. Data for chronic respiratory patients obtained in July 2021 from the hospitals in Okinawa Prefecture include age, gender, diagnosis, residence, nearest tsunami shelter, oxygen flow at rest and walking, and maximum walking distance for 6 min based on a 6-min walk test. A quantum geographic information system was used for mapping the data. The survival potential of patients with chronic respiratory disease was evaluated by using a tsunami inundation depth of one meter and the distance within which an evacuation can be performed until the first tsunami wave reaches the nearest evacuation shelter. Results revealed a low survival potential for respiratory disease patients under the current tsunami evacuation plan. The study suggests creating an individual evacuation plan for vulnerable patients involving families and medical staff and then conducting a drill for improving the plan.

Background: Approximately 7-20% of patients with herpes zoster (HZ) develop zoster-associated pain (ZAP). ZAP not only impairs quality of life and psychological well-being, but also can reduce work effectiveness, which has negative economic effects. Reports of ZAP risk factors are inconsistent., Objective: To confirm risk factors for the development of severe ZAP in HZ patients in Japan using a large-scale database, the Shizuoka Kokuho Database., Methods: A population-based cohort study using the Shizuoka Kokuho Database was conducted. Of 792,647 patients, 7491 (0.95%) experienced "severe ZAP" (as defined in this study). We developed a ZAP risk prediction scoring system by identifying risk factors using logistic regression analysis of several candidate risk factors for severe ZAP: age, sex, seasonality, and presence of comorbidities (using the Charlson comorbidity index), excluding HIV/AIDS., Results: We identified peripheral vascular disease and the onset from October to December as novel risk factors for severe ZAP, in addition to the previously reported risk factors of age and comorbidities (cerebral vascular disease, chronic pulmonary disease, rheumatic disease, peptic ulcer, liver disease, diabetes, and malignant neoplasms with/without metastasis). In contrast, dementia was found to reduce ZAP risk. We developed a susceptibility index to predict the risk of ZAP., Conclusion: We newly demonstrated that peripheral vascular disease and the onset from October to December are ZAP risk factors. Our comorbidity findings support previous observations. The susceptibility index proposed here provides a new approach to the prevention of ZAP using early intervention for high-risk patients., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest No conflict of interest was declared., (Copyright © 2022 Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Some hemodialysis patients are not suitable for creation of an arteriovenous fistula (AVF) or arteriovenous graft (AVG). However, they can receive a tunneled cuffed central venous catheter (tcCVC), but this carries risks of infection and mortality. We aimed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of brachial artery transposition (BAT) versus those of tcCVC. This retrospective study evaluated hemodialysis patients who underwent BAT or tcCVC placement because of severe heart failure, hand ischemia, central venous stenosis or occlusion, inadequate vessels for creating standard arteriovenous access, or limited life expectancy. The primary outcome was whole access circuit patency. Thirty-eight patients who underwent BAT and 25 who underwent tcCVC placement were included. One-year patency rates for the whole access circuit were 84.6% and 44.9% in the BAT and tcCVC groups, respectively. The BAT group was more likely to maintain patency (unadjusted hazard ratio: 0.17, 95% confidence interval: 0.05-0.60, p = 0.006). The two groups did not have significantly different overall survival (log-rank p = 0.146), although severe complications were less common in the BAT group (3% vs. 28%, p = 0.005). Relative to tcCVC placement, BAT is safe and effective with acceptable patency in hemodialysis patients not suitable for AVF or AVG creation., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Preclinical studies suggest that statins contribute to the prevention of pancreatic cancer; however, the results of epidemiologic studies are inconsistent. Furthermore, sufficient data are unavailable for the general population of Asia. Here, we conducted an observational study using a comprehensive patient-linked, longitudinal health insurance database comprising the records of 2,230,848 individuals residing in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, from April 2012 to September 2018. We included individuals older than 40 years with data for medical examinations and statin exposure (≥365 statin prescription days). To balance baseline characteristics between the statin exposure and statin nonexposure groups, we used inverse probability of treatment propensity score weighting method. We estimated hazard ratios for associations with pancreatic cancer using the Cox proportional hazards regression model. Among 2,230,848 individuals, we included 100,537 in the statin exposure group (24%) and 326,033 in the statin nonexposure group (76%). Among the statin exposure group (352,485 person-years) and the statin nonexposure group (1,098,463 person-years), 394 (1.12 per 1,000 person-years) and 1176 (1.07 per 1,000 person-years) developed pancreatic cancer, respectively ( P = 0.464). After adjustments using inverse probability of treatment weighting, the statin exposure group was associated with a decreased incidence of pancreatic cancer (hazard ratio, 0.84; 95% confidence intervals, 0.72-0.99; P = 0.036). In conclusion, the current Japanese regional population-based cohort study shows that statin exposure was associated with a lower incidence of pancreatic cancer. PREVENTION RELEVANCE: This study may support the possible role of statins in preventing pancreatic cancer in the general population in Japan., (©2021 American Association for Cancer Research.)

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected individuals' physical and mental health, including that of immigrant women. This study aimed to evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL), identify the demographic factors and awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic contributing to physical and mental health, and examine the risk factors associated with poor physical and mental health of Chinese women in Japan following the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Using an electronic questionnaire survey, we collected data including items on HRQoL, awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic, and demographic factors. One hundred and ninety-three participants were analyzed. Approximately 98.9% of them thought that COVID-19 affected their daily lives, and 97.4% had COVID-19 concerns. Married status (OR = 2.88, 95%CI [1.07, 7.72], p = 0.036), high concerns (OR = 3.99, 95%CI [1.46, 10.94], p = 0.007), and no concerns (OR = 8.75, 95%CI [1.17, 65.52], p = 0.035) about the COVID-19 pandemic were significantly associated with poor physical health. Unmarried status (OR = 2.83, 95%CI [1.20, 6.70], p = 0.018) and high COVID-19 concerns (OR = 2.17, 95%CI [1.04, 4.56], p = 0.040) were significantly associated with poor mental health. It is necessary to provide effective social support for Chinese women in Japan to improve their well-being, especially in terms of mental health.

Objectives: Dry socket and post-extraction pain are typical discomforts experienced by patients after tooth extraction. In this study, we inserted gauze coated with oxytetracycline-hydrocortisone ointment into the extraction socket immediately after lower third molar extraction and then evaluated the occurrence of dry socket and post-extraction pain compared with gauze non-insertion., Methods: This retrospective study was carried out on patients undergoing lower third molar extraction in the Department of Oral Surgery at Shizuoka Prefectural General Hospital in Shizuoka, Japan from November 2018 to October 2019. A comparison was carried out between a gauze-insertion group and a non-insertion group. The occurrence versus non-occurrence of dry socket was determined, and degree of pain was assessed based on a visual analogue scale (VAS) and on patients reporting the number of loxoprofen sodium oral analgesic tablets (60mg/tablet) that they had taken. Dry socket was defined as patient-reported spontaneous pain that did not subside 1 to 3 days postoperatively. Spontaneous post-extraction pain was recorded four times: on the operative day, on the first postoperative day (POD1), on POD3, and during suture removal (POD7)., Results: The occurrence of dry socket was lower in the gauze-insertion group than in the non-insertion group (0.9%, 2/215 vs. 19.6%, 9/46, p<0.001). The results also showed that both VAS-defined pain level and the number of analgesic tablets taken were lower in the gauze-insertion group than in the non-insertion group on POD3 and POD7., Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: Inserting gauze coated with oxytetracycline-hydrocortisone ointment into the extraction socket immediately after third molar extraction reduces the occurrence of both dry socket and post-extraction pain., Competing Interests: NO authors have competing interests

Obesity is one of the main causes of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is associated with impaired liver functions including drug metabolism. Coleus forskohlii extract (CFE) is a popular ingredient of weight loss dietary supplements in Japan. In this study, we examined the effect of CFE on the treatment of NASH. C57BL/6 mice (male, 10-wk-old) were fed a NASH diet (high-fat, low-methionine, and choline-deficient diet) for 12 wk to establish NASH. Then, we examined the effect of 0.5% (w/w) CFE in diet during diet-treatment (change to control diet) and/or treadmill-exercise (45 min at 20 m/min, 5 d/wk) to improve NASH for 3 wk. After experimental period, lipids profiles and liver functional markers in the blood, and hepatic lipid content and major CYP subtype mRNA expression and activity in liver were measured. Diet-treatment, but not exercise decreased liver weight and hepatic lipid contents in NASH induced mice. CFE attenuated the effects of diet-treatment which reduced liver weight, even though body weight and adipose tissue weight were reduced. Further, CFE significantly increased liver microsomal CYP1A1, CYP1A2, CYP2C, and CYP3A activities in each condition, and CYP inductions were greater in diet-treatment group compared to those in exercise group. These results suggest that taking CFE should be avoided during diet-treatment of NASH, especially in patients under medication.

The widespread use of health foods, including supplements, is now common among patients. This is because many health foods are being claimed to be beneficial. If patients use medicines and health foods concurrently, the interaction between the two might lead to adverse events. Additionally, it is reported that pharmacists do not generally care about health food use in their patients, because they also lack sufficient knowledge about health foods. On the contrary, there are some licenses to be a health food advisor in Japan, and the generic name of these licenses is "advisory staff". Pharmacists who have this license are specialists in both medicines and health foods, and thus, they might pay more attention to the concurrent use of medicines and health foods compared to those who do not have the advisory staff license. To address this issue, we conducted a study with an online questionnaire about health food consultation, and 87 pharmacists with advisory staff license participated. Only 36.8% of participants were found to always ask their patients about health food use. However, 92.0% of them had experience of consultation about the simultaneous use of medicines and health foods, and 17.2% of them recognized adverse events by knowing about the concurrent use. Patients who experienced adverse events have used either eicosapentaenoic acid/docosahexaenoic acid supplement with epadel or Ginkgo biloba extract with warfarin. Therefore, an active interview with pharmacists is important to avoid such adverse events in patients.

Dietary supplement use is widespread amongst the general population including in children and adolescents. The ingredients in dietary supplements can interact with medicines when patients take them concomitantly. However, the prevalence of the concomitant use of dietary supplements and medicines in Japan among children remains unclear. To clarify this issue, a nationwide internet survey was administered to 55,038 mothers (25 to 60 years old) of preschool- or school-aged children in Japan. Among them, 7.6% currently provide dietary supplements and 3.2% concomitantly provide dietary supplements and prescription or over-the-counter medicines to their children. The prevalence of concomitant use increased with the children's grade. Among 1057 mothers with 1154 children who were concomitantly using dietary supplements and medicines, 69.1% provided dietary supplements without physician consultation because they considered dietary supplements as only foods and therefore safe. Although the purpose of the use and types of dietary supplement differed between boys and girls, the most popular product was probiotics in both boys and girls. Among concomitant users, 8.3% of mothers gave dietary supplements for treatment of diseases and 4.9% mothers recognized the adverse events of dietary supplements in their child. The findings of this study suggest that mothers' knowledge about the risk of using dietary supplement with medicines is insufficient. Parental education about the safety of dietary supplements and potential risk of drug-supplement interaction is needed., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Dozens of safety alerts for sexual enhancement and weight loss dietary supplements have been launched from the government not only in Japan but also overseas. However, adverse events have been reported only for the use of weight loss supplements, and the prevalence of use and adverse events in sexual enhancement supplements is not known in Japan. To address this issue, we assessed the situation of sexual enhancement supplement use through a nationwide online survey. The prevalence of sexual enhancement supplement use among males was 23.0%. Use of these supplements was higher among younger people than among older people ( p < 0.001). In total, 17.6% of users had experienced adverse events, but 58.3% of them did not consult about the events with anybody because of the temporality of their symptoms and their sense of shame. In addition, eight supplement products were found to be possible adulterated supplements in this survey. It is necessary to inform the public about the risk of sexual enhancement supplement use and also prepare a place for consultation on media channels that younger people are more familiar with, in order to monitor adverse events while also preserving their privacy.

Background: Depression has major negative consequences for individuals and society, and psychological assessment tools for early disease detection are needed. The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of an updated Japanese version of the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI-J) and set a cut-off score for the detection of depression., Methods: The participants consisted of 465 children and adolescents aged 7-17 years. The control (CON) groups consisted of students recruited from elementary and junior-high school (CONEJ) and children recruited from among hospital staff members (CONRE), while the outpatient clinical (OPC) groups consisted of pediatric psychosomatic outpatients (OPCPD) and adolescent psychiatric outpatients (OPCPS). The CON and OPC CDI-J scores underwent factor analysis using varimax rotation, followed by measurement invariance analysis. The Youth Self-Report (YSR) was administered to assess concurrent validity. The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview was administered to the OPC group to diagnose current depressive symptoms. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was conducted to evaluate case-finding performance and to set cut-off points for the detection of depression., Results: The CDI-J was reliable in terms of internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.86; mean inter-item correlation, 0.16). Re-test reliability was substantial (mean interval 18 days: γ = 0.59, P < 0.05). The four-factor solution exhibited adequate internal consistency (range, 0.52-0.73) and correspondence (Pearson correlation of 0.65 with the YSR) for both the CON and OPC groups. On ROC analysis the optimal cut-off score was 23/24., Conclusion: The CDI-J can be used as a reliable and well-validated instrument alongside standard diagnostic procedures., (© 2019 Japan Pediatric Society.)

Background and Purpose- A public registration system for intractable diseases was started in Japan in 1972 to investigate the etiology and pathogenesis of intractable diseases while reducing out-of-pocket medical expenses on patients. The goal of this study was to investigate the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of Moyamoya disease using data from applications submitted to this system between 2004 and 2008. Methods- In addition to demographic factors such as onset age and family history, we evaluated clinical presentation type, imaging findings, clinical symptoms, and functioning in activities of daily living (ADL). Results- Of 3859 cases for which applications were submitted, 2545 were confirmed to meet the diagnostic criteria after data cleansing. Onset age showed a bimodal distribution, and Moyamoya disease had a higher incidence in women than in men. The presence of occlusion and infarction in the proximal region of the anterior cerebral artery was more frequent in pediatric cases than adult cases. Our findings also indicated that 23% of patients required assistance with ADL. Cerebral infarction (odds ratio [OR], 12.5; 95% CI, 3.55-44.66), seizure (OR, 7.44; 95% CI, 1.29-42.96), and sensory disorders (OR, 5.23; 95% CI, 1.15-23.75) were identified as significant predictors of impaired ADL in pediatric cases 3 years after the initial application. Moderate ADL function (OR, 11.59; 95% CI, 5.29-25.39) and intellectual disabilities (OR, 4.38; 95% CI, 1.58-12.17) at the time of the application were identified as significant prognostic factors in adults. Conclusions- The results of this study indicated that characteristics of Moyamoya disease such as onset type, symptoms, and imaging abnormalities differ with onset age. Prognostic analyses suggested that pediatric cases with good ADL but with infarct type onset, seizure, or sensory disorders might have a subsequent decline in ADL.

We previously studied the prevalence of dietary supplement use in Japanese high-school students by conducting a study on mothers. However, there is often a discrepancy between mothers' understanding and children's attitudes. Thus, we conducted an internet survey of high-school students to clarify their attitudes toward the use of dietary supplements. An invitation to the internet survey was e-mailed to registrants of a research company aged 15 to 18 years. A total of 1031 students (276 male, 755 female) answered the questionnaire on a first come, first served basis. The participants were classified according to the purchasers of their supplements: students who purchased supplements themselves were defined as active users, and others were defined as passive users. The prevalence of dietary supplement use was 30.8% in males and 26.7% in females. Among the users, 42.4% of males and 43.8% of females were active users. Males used supplements for health regardless of active or passive use. However, in females, more active users (40.9%) used supplements for weight loss than passive users (20.4%); the corresponding prevalence was 2.3% in our previous report on mothers' understanding of their daughters. The most frequently used source of information for active users was the internet, whereas for passive users it was family. The frequency of adverse events was 9.4% in males and 14.4% in females, with gastrointestinal symptoms being the most commonly experienced events. Our results suggest that dietary education, including healthy eating and the appropriate use of dietary supplements, should be provided to high-school students.

The formulations of the functional ingredients of dietary supplements was studied with a small number of subjects, with a particular focus on their effectiveness, but not enough to evaluate their safety. In this regard, the reevaluation and estimation of the safe use of marketed products, with regards to their adverse event (AE) frequencies, are important. To address this issue, a post-marketing nationwide online survey was conducted for the herbal ingredient Coleus forskohlii extract (CFE), a popular weight-loss ingredient. The questionnaire included product names, adherence to the claimed amount, and AE experiences. The safe intake amount was estimated by the relationship between the claimed amount of CFE and the frequencies of AEs of each product. The number of users who experienced AEs was 75 (10.5% of all users). Gastrointestinal symptoms accounted for 92.0% ( n = 69) of all AEs, and diarrhea alone accounted for 81.3% ( n = 61). The amount of CFE was significantly associated with the occurrence of diarrhea ( p = 0.005). The fitted curve showed that the safe intake amount of CFE was less than 250 mg/day; however, considering its effectiveness, 500 mg/day of CFE might be acceptable. In conclusion, nationwide online surveys of users enable us to confirm and reevaluate the safety of herbal supplements.

Objectives: Considering that there is a lack of evidence regarding the contribution of library and information services to evidence-based medicine in actual clinical practice in Japan, the purpose of the study is to explore the current status of use and value of library and information services in clinical settings to examine the usefulness of information in implementing evidence-based medicine (EBM) into practice., Methods: A Web-based survey was conducted at seven sites (hospitals with 300-1,200 beds) and interviews conducted at five sites to investigate information behavior among health professionals (physicians, residents, and nurses) in 2016, replicating the Value Study carried out in the United States in 2010 and 2011. Using a critical incident technique, respondents answered questions about their information topics, information resources used, search location, access points, and evaluation of the information., Results: Analysis from 598 valid responses (275 physicians, 55 residents, and 268 nurses) revealed the characteristics of information use and recognition of the value of information. Physicians and residents showed their information needs regarding clinical care using PubMed (80.4%, 65.5%), Ichushi-Web (61.8%, 63.6%), and UpToDate (40.4%, 65.5%). While physicians rely more on electronic journals (37.8%), residents use more hybrid resources including Japanese print books (38.2%) and online books (30.9% for Japanese, 32.7% for English) to confirm their knowledge. Nurses need more information close to patients and explore a wider variety of information resources such as Japanese print books (60.4%), Ichushi -Web (40.3%), Japanese online books (20.5%), and websites of academic organizations (19.0%). Although the overall recognition of the value of information was relatively modest, concrete changes in clinical practice were found in some areas. Environments with insufficient information and availability of electronic resources should be improved to increase the use of library and information services for implementing EBM., Competing Interests: We have read the journal’s policies, and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: the authors received funding from the Japan Medical Abstract Society, a provider of Ichushi-Web (Japanese medical bibliographic database). This does not affect our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

The prevalence of dietary supplement use has increased in Japan, and consumers can purchase supplements from foreign countries through the internet. Therefore, it is important to consider both domestic and overseas safety alerts to prevent adverse events associated with dietary supplement use. We have been collecting global safety alerts associated with dietary supplements and providing this information to the public via the "Information system on safety and effectiveness for health foods (HFNet)" website. In this study, we analyzed the characteristics of safety alerts from 2010 to 2016 in HFNet (total: 2,124 alerts). The most common reason for alerts was illegal adulteration with pharmaceutical substances (85%), and sexual enhancement or weight loss products accounted for 68% of all alerts. Most alerts were based on market surveillance reports or recall information. However, 181 adverse event reports were identified, and most of them were related to weight loss or disease treatment in patients. In Japan, a majority of the adverse events was caused by products intended for weight loss or purchased online, and young female users were commonly involved. These findings should be helpful for prevention of adverse events associated with dietary supplement use.

Nitrate-nitrogen (NO 3 -N) and nitrite-nitrogen (NO 2 -N) are constituents of the nitrogen cycle. NO 3 -N is toxic to humans, primarily due to its reduction to NO 2 -N. In Japan, NO 3 -N and NO 2 -N levels in tap water must not exceed 10 mg/L and only NO 2 -N alone not 0.04 mg/L, respectively. In this study, we verified the effect of microorganisms and ultraviolet (UV) to increase of NO 2 -N in water. First, all tested drinking-waters including tap water and commercial mineral water in PET bottles had < 2 mg/L NO 3 -N and undetectable levels (< 0.01 mg/L) of NO 2 -N. However, we found that NO 2 -N was generated in tap water left to stand at room temperature for several days, leading to increases in CF and TC counts and reduction of NO 3 -N. We also demonstrated that direct UV and sunlight irradiation of NO 3 -N-containing drinking water generated NO 2 -N in 1-2 h, with NO 2 -N reaching > 0.04 mg/mL by 4-6 h. On the other hand, NO 3 -N and NO 2 -N were undetectable in commercially purified water.

Health foods are commonly consumed at their own discretion by patients with various diseases who are also being treated with conventional drugs. Both health foods and drugs are diverse, and enormous numbers of possible combinations exist, so that it is very difficult to identify adverse events that may occur due to their interactions. Here, we analyzed the characteristics of adverse events related to the concomitant use of health foods and drugs using data from the "Information system on safety and effectiveness for health foods (HFNet)" website (https://hfnet.nibiohn.go.jp/) compiled by the Food Function and Labeling Department of the National Institute of Health and Nutrition of Japan. We identified 64 reports and 71 patients, and characterized them according to symptom severity and drug classification. The analysis revealed that symptoms of liver dysfunction were mainly reported in patients receiving high-risk drugs, such as antiepileptic, antineoplastic, antiarrhythmic, and antithrombotic drugs, concomitantly with health foods or drugs. However, journal articles describing health food and drug interactions generally did not provide sufficient information about the ingredients of the health foods.

The current adverse event reporting system for dietary supplements lacks the ability to collect and analyze ongoing case reports in sufficient numbers to detect health issues. We conducted an online survey to collect data on skin manifestations due to supplement use in consumers and to identify the suspected products and ingredients. An online survey was conducted among 63,737 dietary supplement users in 2016. Those who self-reported experiences of skin anthema or itching caused by supplement use and recognized a causal relationship as almost certain (0.8%) were invited to provide further details of symptoms and products. Most of the users experienced mild symptoms with "itching and/or rash of body part." After the onset of skin manifestations, 69.3% ceased supplement use, while 26.6% continued supplement use, including those who reduced the amount or frequency of use. Respondents who visited the hospital in response to symptoms accounted for 26.0%, while 53.3% did not seek treatment. The products used were identified in 155 of 300 eligible respondents. Although those products were composed of multiple ingredients, the accumulated data suggested that cutaneous symptoms were related to the following constituents: "Peptides or animal by-products" (31.0%), "Herbal/Botanical" (23.2%) and "Fats and lipid" (13.5%). Conducting an online survey to elicit information directly from consumers identified components of supplements that are involved in skin manifestations that could lead to serious damage, and may fill a void in the current adverse event reporting system.