Social Determinants of Active Aging: Differences in Mortality and the Loss of Healthy Life between Different Income Levels among Older Japanese in the AGES Cohort Study

We examined the relationship between income, mortality, and loss of years of healthy life in a sample of older persons in Japan. We analyzed 22,829 persons aged 65 or older who were functionally independent at baseline as a part of the Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study (AGES). Two outcome measures were adopted, mortality and loss of healthy life. Independent variables were income level and age. The occurrence of mortality and need for care during these 1,461 days were tracked. Cox regressions were used to calculate the hazard ratio for mortality and loss of healthy life by income level. We found that people with lower incomes were more likely than those with higher incomes to report worse health. For the overall sample, using the governmental administrative data, the hazard ratios of mortality and loss of healthy life-years comparing the lowest to the highest income level were 3.50 for men and 2.48 for women for mortality and 3.71 for men and 2.27 for women for loss of healthy life. When only those who responded to questions about income on the mail survey were included in the analysis, the relationships became weaker and lost statistical significance

Cohort Profile: The AGES 2003 Cohort Study in Aichi, Japan

Background: The longevity of Japanese is thought to be associated with psychosocial factors such as sense of coherence, social support, and social capital. However, the actual factors responsible and the extent of their contribution to individual health status are not known. Methods: The Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study (AGES) 2003 Cohort Study is a prospective cohort study of community-dwelling, activities of daily living-independent people aged 65 or older living in 6 municipalities in Chita peninsula, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Information on psychosocial factors and other individual- and community-level factors was collected in the second half of 2003 using a baseline questionnaire. Vital status and physical and cognitive decline have been followed using data derived from long-term care insurance certification. Geographical information on the study participants was also obtained. Results: A total of 13 310 (6508 men; 6802 women) study participants were registered in the study. For an interim report, we followed the cohort for 48 months, yielding 24 753 person-years of observation among men and 26 456 person-years among women. Conclusions: The AGES 2003 Cohort Study provides useful evidence for research in social epidemiology, gerontology, and health services

A Semantic Similarity Measurement Method Based on Information Quality in the Structure of the Gene Ontology

Gene ontology (GO) which described a biological concept of gene has attracted attention as an index for measuring semantic similarity of gene. This paper considers a new method for measuring the semantic similarity of GO through an extension and combination of two existing methods by Resnik and Wang et al. in order to improve their drawbacks of effects of shallow annotation. It is shown that the proposed method is superior to existing methods through experiments with pathway data

Bonding Wire Current Measurementwith Tiny Film Current Sensors

Bonding wire current measurement technique has been highly desired to analyze failure phenomena, such as short circuit and avalanche destruction of IGBT and power diode. This paper challenged to measure bonding wire current distribution in an IGBT module with the multiple tiny film current sensors and the digital calculation technique. The authors successfully measured bonding wire current under a single shot measurement.2012 24th International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices and ICs (ISPSD 2012), June 3-7, 2012, Bruges, Belgiu

Tiny-scale “stealth” current sensor to probe power semiconductor device failure

“Stealthy” electric current probing technique for power electronics circuits, power device modules and chips makes it possible to measure electric current without any change or disassembling the circuit and the chip connection for the measurement. The technique consists of a tiny-scale magnetic-field coil, a high speed analog amplifier and a digitizer with numerical data processing. This technique can be applied to a single bonding wire current measurement inside IGBT modules, chip scale current redistribution measurement and current measurement for surface mount devices. The “stealth” current measurement can be utilized in the failure mechanism understanding of power devices including IGBT short circuit destruction.2011 22nd European Symposium on Reliability of Electron Devices, Failure Physics and Analysis, ESREF 2011, Oct 3-7, 2011, Universit Bordeaux 1, Domaine Haut Carr, Agora Talence, Franc

Anomalous inverse proximity effect in unconventional-superconductor junctions

We investigate the effects of Andreev bound states due to the unconventional pairing on the inverse proximity effect of ferromagnet/superconductor junctions. Utilizing quasiclassical Eilenberger theory, we obtain the magnetization penetrating into the superconductor. We show that in a wide parameter range the direction of the induced magnetization is determined by two factors: whether Andreev bound states are present at the junction interface and the sign of the spin-mixing angle. In particular, when Andreev bound states appear at the interface, the direction of the induced magnetization is opposite to that without Andreev bound states. We also clarify the conditions under which the inverted induced magnetization appears. Applying this novel effect helps distinguishing the pairing symmetry of a superconductor.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure

Participation in Sports Organizations and the Prevention of Functional Disability in Older Japanese: The AGES Cohort Study

Background: We sought to examine prospectively the difference in the association between incident functional disability and exercise with or without sports organization participation. Methods: The study was based on the Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study (AGES) Cohort Study data. In October 2003, self-reported questionnaires were mailed to 29,374 non-disabled Japanese individuals aged 65 years or older. Of these, 13,310 individuals were introduced to the Study, and they were followed for 4 years. Analysis was carried out on 11,581 subjects who provided all necessary information for the analysis. Results: Analysis was carried out on incident functional disability by 4 groups of different combinations of performance of exercise and participation in a sports organization Active Participant (AP), Exercise Alone (EA), Passive Participant (PP) and Sedentary (S). Compared to the AP group, the EA group had a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.29 (1.02–1.64) for incident functional disability. No significant difference was seen with the PP group, with an HR of 1.16 (0.76–1.77). When a measure of social networks was added to the covariates, the HR of the EA group dropped to 1.27 (1.00–1.61), and significant differences disappeared. In contrast, it showed hardly any change when social support was added. Conclusion: The results suggested that, even with a regular exercise habit, incident functional disability may be better prevented when a person participates in a sports organization than when he/she does not. In addition, participation in a sports organization correlates positively with social networks, which may lead to a small decrease in incident functional disability

Neighborhood food environment and body mass index among Japanese older adults: results from the Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study (AGES)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The majority of studies of the local food environment in relation to obesity risk have been conducted in the US, UK, and Australia. The evidence remains limited to western societies. The aim of this paper is to examine the association of local food environment to body mass index (BMI) in a study of older Japanese individuals.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The analysis was based on 12,595 respondents from cross-sectional data of the Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study (AGES), conducted in 2006 and 2007. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), we mapped respondents' access to supermarkets, convenience stores, and fast food outlets, based on a street network (both the distance to the nearest stores and the number of stores within 500 m of the respondents' home). Multiple linear regression and logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the association between food environment and BMI.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In contrast to previous reports, we found that better access to supermarkets was related to higher BMI. Better access to fast food outlets or convenience stores was also associated with higher BMI, but only among those living alone. The logistic regression analysis, using categorized BMI, showed that the access to supermarkets was only related to being overweight or obese, but not related to being underweight.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings provide mixed support for the types of food environment measures previously used in western settings. Importantly, our results suggest the need to develop culture-specific approaches to characterizing neighborhood contexts when hypotheses are extrapolated across national borders.</p

タンノウ テキシュツジュツ デ チュウイ スベキ タンカン ソウコウ イジョウ Cystohepatic duct ノ 1レイ

　A 74-year-old man presented with epigastralgia and was diagnosed as having cholelithiasis. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) initially visualized the cystic duct with the Heister valve from the common bile duct, and then two intra-hepatic biliary ducts of segment 5 (B5) were visualized from the neck of the gallbladder. There was a contrast medium filling defect in B5, which was considered to be due to an incarcerated stone. Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) and three-dimensional computed tomography (CT) cholangiography showed similar findings, suggesting that the patient had a biliary anomaly of the cystohepatic duct in which two intrahepatic bile ducts (B5) flowed into the neck of the gallbladder and a stone incarcerated in the neck of the gallbladder.　At surgery, during mobilization of the gallbladder, there was a thick string between the liver and the gallbladder, and this was considered to be the junction of B5 with the gallbladder. Therefore, the neck of the gallbladder was cut, and an incarcerated stone 10 mm in diameter was removed. Intraoperative cholangiography revealed that the cystohepatic ducts were preserved. The postoperative course was uneventful and there was no bile leakage or liver dysfunction.　Although cystohepatic duct is a rare biliary anomaly, the surgeon should be alert for its possible presence during cholecystectomy. When cholecystectomy is scheduled, more than one preoperative examination by three-dimensional CT cholangiography, MRCP or ERCP should be performed, and the surgeon should be careful not to overlook any biliary anomaly.　Keywords: cystohepatic duct, biliary duct anomaly, cholecystectomy, three-dimensional computed tomography, gallston