Societal implications of great Hanshin-awaji earthquake disaster of January 17, 1995

A brief overview of what happened during the first month after the Hyogoken-nambu earthquake of January 17, 1995 is given in terms both of the emergency responses initiated and the societal impact. For emergency responses, formal organization responses are discussed in reference to "Saigai taisaku kihon-ho (the Fundamental Disaster Management Law)" and "Saigai kyujyo-ho (the Disaster Relief Law)". Using the Kobe Fire Department as an example, search and rescue efforts as well as fire suppression activities are reviewed. The post-quake emergence of a voluntary building damage assessment program is discussed. In terms of the societal impact, the deaths and injuries caused by this earthquake, provision of shelters and related housing measures are discussed. The early restoration planning initiated by Kobe City also is briefly introduced

Interdependence in the parent and adolescent child relationship

On the basis of Thibaut and Kelley's interdependence theory, this study attempted to clarify the structure of parent-child relationship, one of the most vital personal relationships. We created three hypothetical decision-making situations (vignettes) that would occur for the majority of relationships between parents and their adolescent children. Each situation can be conceptually described in terms of 2×2 matrix format, in which both a parent and a child have two behavioral alternatives to choose from. The subjects were first graders at junior- and senior-high school and their parents. Both the parent and the child expressed their own preferences for each of the possible four combinations of the behavioral alternatives as to the three vignettes. Control scores were calculated for reflexive control (RC), fate control (FC), and behavior control (BC). Results indicated that; (1) Interdependence patterns were quite stable across the three situations, suggesting that parent and child are interdependent more at the dispositional than the given matrix level; (2) The parents showed consistent interdependence patterns with almost no RC, but a high degree of BC. High school children, however, indicated much higher degrees of RC and FC compared with Junior High school children. These results suggest that children become more self-interested and try to exert their control as they get older, while the parents will basically be happy as long as it corresponds with what the children want to do

Solitary Fibrous Tumor Arising from the Sphenoid Sinus

Solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) is an uncommon neoplasm that usually arises from the pleura. To our knowledge, only 30 cases of SFTs in the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses have been reported in the literature. We describe an SFT that arose from the right sphenoid sinus and extended to the nasal cavity and epipharynx. The tumor was completely removed by endoscopic sinus surgery without complication. The patient is taking an uneventful course without any evidence of recurrence of the disease 8 months after surgery now

Extensive genomic diversity and selective conservation of virulence determinants in enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli strains of O157 and non O157 serotypes

Background: Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157 causes severe food-borne illness in humans. The chromosome of O157 consists of 4.1 Mb backbone sequences shared by benign E. coli K-12, and 1.4 Mb O157-specific sequences encoding many virulence determinants, such as Shiga toxin genes (stx genes) and the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE). Non-O157 EHECs belonging to distinct clonal lineages from O157 also cause similar illness in humans. According to the "parallel" evolution model, they have independently acquired the major virulence determinants, the stx genes and LEE. However, the genomic differences between O157 and non-O157 EHECs have not yet been systematically analyzed. Results: Using microarray and whole genome PCR scanning analyses, we performed a whole genome comparison of 20 EHEC strains of O26, O111, and O103 serotypes with O157. In non-O157 EHEC strains, although genome sizes were similar with or rather larger than O157 and the backbone regions were well conserved, O157-specific regions were very poorly conserved. Around only 20% of the O157- specific genes were fully conserved in each non-O157 serotype. However, the non-O157 EHECs contained a significant number of virulence genes that are found on prophages and plasmids in O157, and also multiple prophages similar to, but significantly divergent from, those in O157. Conclusion: Although O157 and non-O157 EHECs have independently acquired a huge amount of serotype- or strain-specific genes by lateral gene transfer, they share an unexpectedly large number of virulence genes. Independent infections of similar but distinct bacteriophages carrying these virulence determinants are deeply involved in the evolution of O157 and non-O157 EHECs

Behavioral factors to include in guidelines for lifelong oral healthiness: an observational study in Japanese adults

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to determine which behavioral factors to include in guidelines for the Japanese public to achieve an acceptable level of oral healthiness. The objective was to determine the relationship between oral health related behaviors and symptoms related to oral disease and tooth loss in a Japanese adult community. METHODS: Oral health status and lifestyle were investigated in 777 people aged 20 years and older (390 men and 387 women). Subjects were asked to complete a postal questionnaire concerning past diet and lifestyle. The completed questionnaires were collected when they had health examinations. The 15 questions included their preference for sweets, how many between-meal snacks they usually had per day, smoking and drinking habits, presence of oral symptoms, and attitudes towards dental visits. Participants were asked about their behaviors at different stages of their life. The oral health examinations included examination of the oral cavity and teeth performed by dentists using WHO criteria. Odds ratios were calculated for all subjects, all 10 year age groups, and for subjects 30 years or older, 40 years or older, 50 years or older, and 60 years or older. RESULTS: Frequency of tooth brushing (OR = 3.98), having your own toothbrush (OR = 2.11), smoking (OR = 2.71) and bleeding gums (OR = 2.03) were significantly associated with number of retained teeth in males. Frequency of between-meal snacks was strongly associated with number of retained teeth in females (OR = 4.67). Having some hobbies (OR = 2.97), having a family dentist (OR = 2.34) and consulting a dentist as soon as symptoms occurred (OR = 1.74) were significantly associated with number of retained teeth in females. Factors that were significantly associated with tooth loss in both males and females included alcohol consumption (OR = 11.96, males, OR = 3.83, females), swollen gums (OR = 1.93, males, OR = 3.04, females) and toothache (OR = 3.39, males, OR = 3.52, females). CONCLUSION: Behavioral factors that were associated with tooth retention were frequency of eating snacks between meals, tooth brushing frequency, having one's own toothbrush, smoking and drinking habits, having hobbies, having a family dentist and when they had dental treatment. Clinical factors included bleeding gums, swollen gums, and toothache

What would be the economic impact of Tokyo inland earthquake? Prompt report of the questionnaire survey on economic forecasters.

Tokyo inland earthquake that is anticipated to occur in near future will have a huge impact on Japanese and world economy. This reports show the result of a questionnaire survey that asking 41 leading economic forecasters the plausibility of the suggested scenarios

Posttraumatic Cranial Cystic Fibrous Dysplasia

A 14-year-old was girl admitted to our hospital with a subcutaneous mass of the occipital head. The mass had grown for 6 years, after she had sustained a head injury at the age of 6, and was located directly under a previous wound. Skull X-ray Photograph (xp), computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a bony defect and cystic changes in the skull corresponding to a subcutaneous mass. Bone scintigraphy revealed partial accumulation. The patient underwent total removal of the skull mass, and the diagnosis from the pathological findings of the cyst wall was fibrous dysplasia (FD). The radiographic findings for cystic cranial FD can be various. Progressive skull disease has been reported to be associated with head trauma, but the relationship between cranial FD and head trauma has not been previously reported. Previous studies have suggested that c-fos gene expression is a key mechanism in injury-induced FD