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Although glomerular hyperfiltration (GHF) is a major risk of diabetic nephropathy and it is important to prevent GHF in subjects with prediabetes, it is not known which factors are associated with the risk of GHF. We prospectively examined the relationship of alcohol consumption and smoking habits to the risk of GHF in subjects with impaired fasting glucose (IFG). Study population was 2811 middle-aged Japanese men who had IFG, no proteinuria, no GHF, and no low estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at baseline, and who did not have low eGFR before the onset of GHF during the follow-up period. GHF was defined as eGFR ≥117 mL/min/1.73 m2, which was the upper 2.5th percentile value of eGFR in the all study population of our cohort. Low eGFR was defined as eGFR In conclusion, high daily alcohol consumption and current smoking increased the risk of GHF in subjects with IFG. Disclosure M. Shibata: None. T. Hayashi: None. K. K. Sato: None. S. Uehara: None. N. Nishida: None. K. Okamura: None. I. Shibata: None. H. Koh: None. K. Oue: None. M. Morimoto: None.

Leptin and adiponectin are two major adipocytokines reported to be associated with type 2 diabetes. However, it is unknown whether their associations with the risk of incident type 2 diabetes are independent of visceral adiposity and liver fat in a prospective cohort study. We included 787 Japanese men aged 28 to 77 years without type 2 diabetes at baseline. The subjects were classified into four groups based on leptin-adiponectin profile at baseline, with the median concentration value as the cut-off point (median levels of leptin and adiponectin were 4.8 ng/dL and 5.7 µg/mL, respectively): low-high, low-low, high-high, and high-low group. Visceral fat was measured by computed tomography (CT) as intra-abdominal fat area at the umbilicus level. Liver fat was assessed by liver-to-spleen attenuation ratio measured by CT. Type 2 diabetes was diagnosed as fasting plasma glucose level ≥126 mg/dL, HbA1c ≥6.5%, or taking oral hypoglycemic medications or insulin. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) for developing type 2 diabetes. During 5215 person-years of follow-up, 72 subjects developed type 2 diabetes. Incidence rates of type 2 diabetes per 1000 person-years were 3.2, 9.2, 18.6, and 26.1 for the low-high, low-low, high-high, and high-low group, respectively. After adjustment for age, smoking status, alcohol consumption, regular physical activity, family history of diabetes, visceral fat, and liver fat, multiple-adjusted HRs (95% CI) of incident type 2 diabetes were 1.87 (0.63-5.50), 2.90 (1.02-8.21), and 3.41 (1.23-9.47) for the low-low, high-high, and high-low group compared with the low-high group. In conclusion, leptin and adiponectin were associated with incident type 2 diabetes independent of both visceral fat and liver fat. Disclosure I. Shibata: None. W. Y. Fujimoto: None. E. J. Boyko: None. T. Hayashi: None. M. Shibata: None. K. K. Sato: None. S. Uehara: None. N. Nishida: None. K. Okamura: None. Y. Yuyama: None. H. Koh: None. Y. Hikita: None.

Objectives: This study aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to improve subjective well-being (SWB), including evaluative, hedonic, and eudemonic well-being, and the mental component of quality of life (QOL) of working population. Methods: A literature search was conducted, using PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, and PsycARTICLES. Eligible studies included those that were RCTs of any intervention, conducted among healthy workers, measured SWB as a primary outcome, and original articles in English. Study characteristics, intervention, outcomes, and results on SWB outcomes were extracted by the investigators independently. After a brief narrative summarizing and classifying the contents of the interventions, the included outcomes were categorized into each aspect of SWB (evaluative, hedonic, and eudemonic well-being, and the mental component of QOL). Finally, the characteristics of the effective interventions for increasing each aspect were summarized, and the pooled effect of interventions on SWB was investigated by a meta-analysis. Publication bias was investigated by drawing a funnel plot and conducting Egger's test. Results: From the 5,450 articles found, 39 met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review. The interventions included in this review were classified into six categories (physical activity, ergonomics, psychological, environmental, multicomponent intervention, and others). The meta-analysis from 31 studies showed that the pooled effect of included interventions on SWB was significantly positive (standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.51; standard error (SE) = 0.10). A funnel plot showed there were extremely large or small SMDs, and Egger's test was significant. Thus, we conducted sensitivity analysis, excluding these extreme SMDs, and confirmed that the estimated pooled effect was also significantly positive. Subgroup analyses for separate types of interventions showed the effects of psychological interventions (e.g., mindfulness, cognitive behavioral based approach, and other psychological interventions) were also significantly positive. Conclusion: The current study revealed the effectiveness of interventions for increasing SWB. Specifically, psychological interventions (e.g., mindfulness, cognitive behavioral based approach, and other psychological interventions) may be useful for improving SWB.

[Purpose] This study examined whether workplace support of an exercise program would increase the workers' engagement. [Participants and Methods] Employees at two facilities of the Kyoto Industrial Health Association (the Uji branch and the headquarters) were recruited. A survey of 238 employees was conducted. A seminar was held, at the facilities, about the "Bipoji" exercise program and afterward the participants underwent different procedures. The Uji branch (the support group) supported the continuation of the program for two months. At the headquarters (the control group), the individual decided whether to continue the program. Data were collected at the time of the seminar (the baseline) and two months later. A questionnaire measured work engagement using the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. [Results] At the follow-up, data were collected from 65 people (60.2%) from the support group and 97 people (74.6%) from the control group. The average change in the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale scores was 1.7 and -1.2, for the support group and the control group, respectively. When adjusted for background factors, the change was 1.6 and -1.2, for the support group and the control group, respectively. This indicates a significant increase in work engagement for the support group. [Conclusion] These results suggest that a workplace exercise program can improve work engagement.

IntroductionChronic inflammation may be a mediator for the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD), metabolic diseases and psychotic and neurodegenerative disorders. Meta-analytic associations between work-related psychosocial factors and inflammatory markers have shown that work-related psychosocial factors could affect the flexibility and balance of the immune system. However, few systematic reviews or meta-analyses have investigated the association between work-related psychosocial factors and inflammatory markers. Based on prospective studies, the present investigation will conduct a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between work-related psychosocial factors and inflammatory markers.Methods and analysisThe systematic review and meta-analysis will include published studies identified from electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Web of Science and Japan Medical Abstracts Society) according to recommendations of the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guideline. Inclusion criteria are studies that: examined associations between work-related psychosocial factors and increased inflammatory markers; used longitudinal or prospective cohort designs; were conducted among workers; provided sufficient data for calculating ORs or relative risk with 95% CIs; were published as original articles in English or Japanese; and were published up to the end of 2017. Study selection, data extraction, quality assessment and statistical syntheses will be conducted by 14 investigators. Any inconsistencies or disagreements will be resolved through discussion. The quality of studies will be evaluated using the Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for Non-randomized Studies.Ethics and disseminationThe investigation study will be based on published studies, so ethics approval is not required. The results of this study will be submitted for publication in a scientific peer-reviewed journal. The findings may be useful for assessing risk factors for increased inflammatory markers in the workplace and determining future approaches for preventing CVD, metabolic diseases and psychotic and neurodegenerative disorders.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42018081553.

The effect of crosslinked structure of silane condensates on the interfacial strength between silane-treated glass fibre and epoxy resin was examined using a dialkoxysilane, γ-aminopropyldimethoxymethylsilane (APDS), and a trialkoxysilane, γ-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTS). Glass fibres were treated with aqueous solutions of APDS, ATPS or mixtures of both to change the silane crosslink density, and then washed with methanol to leave only chemically bonded silane at the surface. As an index of interfacial strength, the interfacial stress transmissibility was determined using a modified single-filament test. The interfacial strength decreased in the order APDS, mixtures of APTS and APDS, and APTS, showing that siloxane crosslinking of the silane condensates reduces the interfacial strength. This result suggests that the crosslinked structure depresses the penetration of the resin into the interphase and hinders reaction between silane organofunctional groups and the resin. In addition, treatment of the glass fibre with the various APDS-APTS mixtures reduced the interfacial strength in all cases, compared with the strength after APDS treatment alone. This indicates that the silane interphases formed in the present system do not lead to the formation of interpenetrating networks with the resin molecules.

A new method was proposed to evaluate the mechanical properties at the interface between the fibres and the matrix in composites using an embedded single fibre coupon test. A mechanical parameter at the interface (called the interfacial transmissibility, κ) was derived from the fibre strength and the apparent stress of the fibre immediately before the first fracture of embedded fibre, σfa. This parameter indicated the degree of the mechanical transmission from the matrix to the fibre through the interface. This avoided some complicated problems such as the stress distribution along fibre fragments and the critical fragment state in a typical single-fibre test. This new method was tried to determine the κ-values for a fibre glass/epoxy resin with different amounts of a coupling agent at the interface. In order to measure the stress at the first fracture, the fracture process was monitored with a video camera during the single fibre test. The stress values at the first fracture for many coupons were analysed as a function of the three-parameter Weibull distribution. The resulting average stress and its coefficient of variation indicated that the reliability of the measurement for the stress at the first fracture was not less than that obtained by the usual single-fibre test. The change of interfacial transmissibility with amount of the coupling agent revealed the existence of an optimal interface.

The embedded-single-fibre tension test is a very useful technique for the evaluation of interfacial properties in composite materials. There are, however, some problems with this method. A comparison is made between the normal embedded-single-fibre method characterized by critical fibre length and the interfacial transmissibility method proposed by the authors. The effects of resin properties, in particular, are discussed. As the results show, there is some difficulty in evaluating the interfacial properties by the normal embedded-single-fibre method in the case of brittle-matrix systems, whereas interfacial transmissibility provides the possibility of evaluating interfacial properties over a wide range of resin properties.

The interfacial structure formed by silane coupling agents influences interfacial properties between the reinforcement and matrix in GFRP. However, the evaluation of interfacial structure at the molecule level has not obtained sufficient experimental results yet. Therefore, a numerical analysis method is expected to presume evaluation in molecule levels. In this study, we proposed forming a model of interfacial structure, and tried to evaluate the model with fractal dimensions that can classify complex figures. We proposed a model of interfacial structure for the finite-element method, and investigated the relationship between interfacial structure and the stress transmission mechanism. Moreover, we compared the results of numerical analysis with interfacial transmissibility in order to verify this analysis method. It was clear that the difference in interfacial structure influenced interfacial properties. The above result suggests that this analysis method is useful in investigation of the effects of interfacial structure on interfacial properties.