The Effects of Natural Variability and Climate Change on the Record Low Sunshine over Japan during August 2017

EXPLAINING EXTREME EVENTS OF 2017 FROM A CLIMATE PERSPECTIVE (Supecial Supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol.100, No.1, January 2019

Attributing Historical Changes in Probabilities of Record-Breaking Daily Temperature and Precipitation Extreme Events

© 2016, the Meteorological Society of Japan. We describe two unprecedented large (100-member), longterm (61-year) ensembles based on MRI-AGCM3.2, which were driven by historical and non-warming climate forcing. These ensembles comprise the "Database for Policy Decision making for Future climate change (d4PDF)". We compare these ensembles to large ensembles based on another climate model, as well as to observed data, to investigate the influence of anthropogenic activities on historical changes in the numbers of record-breaking events, including: the annual coldest daily minimum temperature (TNn), the annual warmest daily maximum temperature (TXx) and the annual most intense daily precipitation event (Rx1day). These two climate model ensembles indicate that human activity has already had statistically significant impacts on the number of record-breaking extreme events worldwide mainly in the Northern Hemisphere land. Specifically, human activities have altered the likelihood that a wider area globally would suffer record-breaking TNn, TXx and Rx1day events than that observed over the 2001- 2010 period by a factor of at least 0.6, 5.4 and 1.3, respectively. However, we also find that the estimated spatial patterns and amplitudes of anthropogenic impacts on the probabilities of record-breaking events are sensitive to the climate model and/or natural-world boundary conditions used in the attribution studies

Alexithymia Is Associated with Greater Risk of Chronic Pain and Negative Affect and with Lower Life Satisfaction in a General Population: The Hisayama Study

<div><p>Introduction</p><p>Chronic pain is a significant health problem worldwide, with a prevalence in the general population of approximately 40%. Alexithymia — the personality trait of having difficulties with emotional awareness and self-regulation — has been reported to contribute to an increased risk of several chronic diseases and health conditions, and limited research indicates a potential role for alexithymia in the development and maintenance of chronic pain. However, no study has yet examined the associations between alexithymia and chronic pain in the general population.</p><p>Methods</p><p>We administered measures assessing alexithymia, pain, disability, anxiety, depression, and life satisfaction to 927 adults in Hisayama, Japan. We classified the participants into four groups (low-normal alexithymia, middle-normal alexithymia, high-normal alexithymia, and alexithymic) based on their responses to the alexithymia measure. We calculated the risk estimates for the criterion measures by a logistic regression analysis.</p><p>Results</p><p>Controlling for demographic variables, the odds ratio (OR) for having chronic pain was significantly higher in the high-normal (OR: 1.49, 95% CI: 1.07–2.09) and alexithymic groups (OR: 2.56, 95% CI: 1.47–4.45) compared to the low-normal group. Approximately 40% of the participants belonged to these two high-risk groups. In the subanalyses of the 439 participants with chronic pain, the levels of pain intensity, disability, depression, and anxiety were significantly increased and the degree of life satisfaction was decreased with elevating alexithymia categories.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>The findings demonstrate that, in the general population, higher levels of alexithymia are associated with a higher risk of having chronic pain. The early identification and treatment of alexithymia and negative affect may be beneficial in preventing chronic pain and reducing the clinical and economic burdens of chronic pain. Further research is needed to determine if this association is due to a causal effect of alexithymia on the prevalence and severity of chronic pain.</p></div

Odds ratios for chronic pain according to the TAS-20 subscales, adjusted for demographic factors in the general population.

<p>Odds ratios for chronic pain according to the TAS-20 subscales, adjusted for demographic factors in the general population.</p

Characteristics of the study population according to the TAS-20 score level.

<p>Values are means ± std. dev. or frequencies or median (interquartile range).</p><p>The TAS-20: the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale.</p

The relationship between the TAS-20 score levels and the pain-related outcomes of the 439 participants with chronic pain.

<p>Values are medians (interquartile range).</p><p>Pain intensity, disability and life satisfaction were evaluated by Visual Analogue Scale.</p><p>Depression and anxiety scores were evaluated by Symptom Check List-90-R.</p

A Four Year Clinical Survey of Bronchial Asthma in Freshmen of Kyushu University

This study was carried out in order to clarify the factors influencing the \u22outgrowing\u22 of childhood asthma and the development of asthmatic attack. Two hundred and seventysix (3.4%) of the 8055 freshmen students of Kyushu University from 1972 to 1975, answered that they had suffered from bronchial asthma or had an asthmatic history in childhood. One hundred and eight students received our medical examination. Of these students, 102 were divided into 2 groups: Group I included 57 subjects who had asthma in childhood and then became asymptomatic for 3 years or more, Group II, 45 asthmatic patients. Six students were omitted because of no physical symptoms or history of asthma. The results are summarized as follows. 1. The number of subjects who had suffered from asthma or had asthmatic history, had been increasing every year, from 2.6.% in 1972 to 4.2% in 1975. Most patients developed bronchial asthma in the period from 2 to 7 years old and the age of cessation was found in the period of adolescence from 11 to 16 years old. 2. Group I and GroupII were similar as to the onset of asthmatic attacks, incidence of other allergic diseases in their past history, present illness and the incidence of asthmatic patients in their family history. 3. Group I and Group II showed similar results in the incidence of positive response to skin tests using house dust, ragweed pollen, candida albicans and polyvalent bacterial vaccine. 4. Serum lgE levels measured by the Radioimmunosorbent test which was performed in 1974 and 1975 were remarkably elevated in Group I and Group II compared to the control group (p＜0.05). The mean levels (upper and lower limit of S.D.) were 481 (1360-170) U/ml in Group I, 931 (3200-264) U/ml in Group II and 220 (386 114) U/ml in the control group, There was no significant statistical difference between Group I and Group II. 6. The mean % FEV1.0 (I.S.D.) was 86.6 (±8.6) % in Group II and 82.5 (±10.4) % in Group II. Each group was within the normal range. But it is suspected that a small and subclinical bronchial obstruction might contineued or induced at the examination in Group II. The threshold amount of acetycholine which was needed to decrease FEV1.0 by more than 15 % was significantly different (p＜0.05) in the 3 groups. The mean (and range of S.D.) of threshold amount was 10300 (25600-3920) μg in Group I, 2560(9640-683)μg in Group II and more than 25000μg in the control group. There was no direct correlation between threshold amounts of acetylcholine and serum lgE levels or anti-house dust reaginic antibody levels in each group. 7. In the Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Study, the asthmatics showed impunitive, ego involved (M) reactions and did not show extrapunitive, ego involved (E) reactions compared to the normal groups. The personality in Group I and Group II was generally similar but that of Group I was closer in personality to the same aged students of the control group. These findings suggest that the \u22outgrowing\u22 of asthma in childhood may occur without the recovery of atopic constitution and may be related to bronchial sensitivity