AIDS Vaccine for Asia Network (AVAN): Expanding the Regional Role in Developing HIV Vaccines

Yiming Shao and colleagues describe the work of AVAN, the AIDS Vaccine for Asia Network, which aims to strengthen its regional efforts in finding an AIDS vaccine

Road Traffic Crashes and Fatalities in Japan 2000-2010 With Special Reference to the Elderly Road User

Objective: To investigate comparative road user crash and fatality rates in Japan between 2000 and 2010 in the elderly and young. Methods: Data from the Japan Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Vital Statistics Database and the Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis were used to calculate crash rates by age group, vehicle, and license category. Results: Fatal crash rates per 100,000 licensed drivers for 4-wheeled motor vehicle drivers decreased by 53, 56, and 42 percent among the 65-69, 70-74, and >= 75 age groups between 2000 and 2010, respectively, compared to 66 and 60 percent among the 16-19 and 20-24 age groups, respectively. Fatal crash rates per 100,000 licensed riders for 2-wheeled motor vehicles decreased by 64, 23, and 33 percent in the 65-69, 70-74, and >= 75 age groups, respectively. Similarly, fatal crash rates per million population among bicyclists and pedestrians decreased in all age groups but were highest in the elderly age group in all years; the annual fatal crash rate for elderly pedestrians was 3 to 10 times higher than that for younger pedestrians. Conclusions: Despite the overall decrease in the elderly crash and fatal crash rates in all road use categories, elderly pedestrians are more susceptible to road traffic crashes and are more likely to be killed than younger persons. Further research may reduce this risk

The First Group Meeting with ‘Fellows’ at Hokkaido University in 2013 : Results of a Survey on the Nitobe College Students

With the goal of educating a new generation of global leaders, Hokkaido University established a new program called “the Nitobe College,” which recruited the first batch of 129 students in May 2013. The College is being operated in cooperation with the Hokkaido University Alumni Association, which also nominated a number of alumni called ‘fellows,’ who are in charge of interacting with groups of students, and some of whom will become mentors helping students pursue their career goals. The first meeting of the fellows and the Nitobe College students on Hokkaido University campus in May 2013. To evaluate the effectiveness of this meeting, a web-based crosssectional survey was conducted among the student participants. This report summarized the results of the survey. The findings suggested that the meeting was successful for helping the students build mutual understanding among themselves and with the fellows; however, further periodical meetings are necessary to maintain what they have already built and subsequently develop more interactions and communications among them so that mentoring by the fellows will be effectively established. The use of communication technology can facilitate this process because it will help overcome the difficulties in setting up regular meetings that all of the students as well as the fellows can attend