Trajectories of distress following the great East Japan earthquake : a multi-wave prospective study

The March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear leak were complex traumas. We examined psychological distress in the years following the earthquake using growth mixture modeling to classify responses from 2,599 linked respondents (2012–2016). We identified four classes of trajectories following the disaster: resilient (76% of respondents), delayed distress (8%), recovery (8%), and chronic distress (7%). Compared with the resilient class, other class members were less likely to be female and had less social support. Survivors in the recovery group were more likely to live in prefabricated housing. Although distress has decreased over time, specific populations continue to require targeted intervention

Two-loop Renormalization in Quantum Gravity near Two Dimensions

We study two--loop renormalization in $(2+\epsilon)$--dimensional quantum gravity. As a first step towards the full calculation, we concentrate on the divergences which are proportional to the number of matter fields. We calculate the $\beta$ functions and show how the nonlocal divergences as well as the infrared divergences cancel among the diagrams. Although the formalism includes a subtlety concerning the general covariance due to the dynamics of the conformal mode, we find that the renormalization group allows the existence of a fixed point which possesses the general covariance. Our results strongly suggest that we can construct a consistent theory of quantum gravity by the $\epsilon$ expansion around two dimensions.Comment: 31 pages including 14 figures in uufile forma

Early life-course socioeconomic position, adult work-related factors and oral health disparities: cross-sectional analysis of the J-SHINE study

Objectives: We examined the association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and oral health, and the associations of economic difficulties in childhood and workplace-related factors on these parameters. Design: Cross-sectional study. Participants: A total of 3201 workers aged 25–50 years, living in and around Tokyo, Japan, from the J-SHINE (Japanese study of Stratification, Health, Income, and Neighborhood) study. The response rate was 31.6%. Outcome measures Self-rated oral health (SROH)—A logistic regression model was used to estimate ORs for the association between poor SROH and each indicator of SEP (annual household income, wealth, educational attainment, occupation and economic situation in childhood). Multiple imputation was used to address missing values. Results: Each indicator of SEP, including childhood SEP, was significantly inversely associated with SROH, and all of the workplace-related factors (social support in the workplace, job stress, working hours and type of employment) were also significantly associated with SROH. Compared with professionals, blue-collar workers had a significantly higher OR of poor SROH and the association was substantially explained by the workplace-related factors; ORs ranged from 1.44 in the age-adjusted and sex-adjusted model to 1.18 in the multivariate model. Poverty during childhood at age 5 and at age 15 was associated with poorer SROH, and these two factors seemed to be independently associated with SROH. Conclusions: We found oral health disparity across SEP among workers in Japan. Approximately 60% of the association between occupation and SROH was explained by job-related factors. Economic difficulties during childhood appear to affect SROH in adulthood separately from sex, age and the current workplace-related factors

Psychological distress after the Great East Japan Earthquake : two multilevel 6-year prospective analyses

Background The Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011 led to the relocation of 300 000 survivors. Studies following disasters focus primarily on data collected in the immediate aftermath and neglect the influence of wider community factors. Aims A three-level prospective study examining associations between survivors' psychological distress and individual- and social-level factors in the 6 years following a complex disaster. Method We drew on two multi-wave data collections in the 6 years after the earthquake, using residents from different forms of housing. Sample 1 included six waves of private-housing residents from 2011 to 2016 (n = 1084 per wave), sample 2 five waves of residents living in prefabricated housing from 2012 to 2016 (n = 1515 per wave). We analysed prospective associations between distress and time (level 1), pre-existing disorders and disaster experiences and behaviours (level 2) and city-wide measures of support and physical activity (level 3). Results Multilevel models with random coefficients demonstrated greater distress in earlier waves (samples 1 and 2 respectively, adjusted β = −15 and β = −0.16, P < 0.001), among female respondents (β = 0.58, P = 0.01 and β = 1.74, P = 0.001), in those with a previous psychiatric history (β = 2.76, β = 2.06, P < 0.001) with diminished levels of activity post-earthquake (β = 1.40, β = 1.51, P < 0.001) and those lacking in social support (β = 1.95, β = 1.51, P < 0.001). Support from spouses and friends was most protective of psychological health. City-level support was negatively associated with distress, but only among those in prefabricated housing. Conclusions Psychological distress diminished with time, but varied across gender, psychiatric history, housing, levels of activity and availability of social support. Practitioners should consider individual- and city-level factors when devising effective interventions

Multicanonical simulation of 3D dynamical triangulation model and a new phase structure

We apply the multicanonical technique to the three dimensional dynamical triangulation model, which is known to exhibit a first order phase transition with the Einstein-Hilbert action. We first clarify the first order nature of the phase transition with the Einstein-Hilbert action in several ways including a high precision finite size scaling analysis. We then add a new local term to the action and confirm the conjecture made through the MCRG technique that the line of the first order phase transition extends to the expanded phase diagram, ending at a point. Fractal dimension at the end point is measured to be around three up to the present size.Comment: 20 pages, latex2e(graphic package), 9 figure

Social Participation and the Prevention of Functional Disability in Older Japanese: The JAGES Cohort Study

Background: We examined the relationship between incident functional disability and social participation from the perspective of number of types of organizations participated in and type of social participation in a prospective cohort study. Method The study was based on the Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study (AGES) Cohort Study data. We followed 13,310 individuals aged 65 years or older for 4 years. Analysis was carried out on 12,951 subjects, excluding 359 people whose information on age or sex was missing. Social participation was categorized into 8 types. Results: Compared to those that did not participate in any organizations, the hazard ratio (HR) was 0.83 (95% CI: 0.73–0.95) for participation in one, 0.72 (0.61–0.85) for participation in two, and 0.57 (0.46–0.70) for participation in three or more different types of organizations. In multivariable adjusted models, participation in the following types of organization was protective for incident disability: local community organizations (HR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.76–0.96), hobby organizations (HR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.64–0.87), and sports organizations (HR = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.54–0.81). Conclusion: Social participation may decrease the risk of incident functional disability in older people in Japan. This effect may be strengthened by participation in a variety of different types of organizations. Participating in a local community, hobby, or sports group or organization may be especially effective for decreasing the risk of disability

Importance of socioeconomic factors in predicting tooth loss among older adults in Japan: Evidence from a machine learning analysis

Prevalence of tooth loss has increased due to population aging. Tooth loss negatively affects the overall physical and social well-being of older adults. Understanding the role of socio-demographic and other predictors associated with tooth loss that are measured in non-clinical settings can be useful in community-level prevention. We used high-dimensional epidemiological data to investigate important factors in predicting tooth loss among older adults over a 6-year period of follow-up. Data was from participants of 2010 and 2016 waves of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES). A total of 19,407 community-dwelling functionally independent older adults aged 65 and older were included in the analysis. Tooth loss was measured as moving from a higher number of teeth category at the baseline to a lower number of teeth category at the follow-up. Out of 119 potential predictors, age, sex, number of teeth, denture use, chewing difficulty, household income, employment, education, smoking, fruit and vegetable consumption, community participation, time since last health check-up, having a hobby, and feeling worthless were selected using Boruta algorithm. Within the 6-year follow-up, 3013 individuals (15.5%) reported incidence of tooth loss. People who experienced tooth loss were older (72.9 ± 5.2 vs 71.8 ± 4.7), and predominantly men (18.3% vs 13.1%). Extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) machine learning prediction model had a mean accuracy of 90.5% (±0.9%). A visual analysis of machine learning predictions revealed that the prediction of tooth loss was mainly driven by demographic (older age), baseline oral health (having 10–19 teeth, wearing dentures), and socioeconomic (lower household income, manual occupations) variables. Predictors related to wide a range of determinants contribute towards tooth loss among older adults. In addition to oral health related and demographic factors, socioeconomic factors were important in predicting future tooth loss. Understanding the behaviour of these predictors can thus be useful in developing prevention strategies for tooth loss among older adults

Thioredoxin 1 modulates apoptosis induced by bioactive compounds in prostate cancer cells

Accumulating evidence suggests that natural bioactive compounds, alone or in combination with traditional chemotherapeutic agents, could be used as potential therapies to fight cancer. In this study, we employed four natural bioactive compounds (curcumin, resveratrol, melatonin, and silibinin) and studied their role in redox control and ability to promote apoptosis in androgen sensitive and insensitive prostate cancer cells. Here is shown that curcumin and resveratrol promote ROS production and induce apoptosis in LNCaP and PC-3. An increase in reactive species is a trigger event in curcumin-induced apoptosis and a consequence of resveratrol effects on other pathways within these cells. Moreover, here we demonstrated that these four compounds affect differently one of the main intracellular redox regulator, the thioredoxin system. Exposure to curcumin and resveratrol promoted TRX1 oxidation and altered its subcellular location. Furthermore, resveratrol diminished TRX1 levels in PC-3 cells and increased the expression of its inhibitor TXNIP. Conversly, melatonin and silibinin only worked as cytostatic agents, reducing ROS levels and showing preventive effects against TRX oxidation. All together, this work explores the effect of compounds currently tested as chemo-preventive agents in prostate cancer therapy, on the TRX1 redox state and function. Our work shows the importance that the TRX system might have within the differences found in their mechanisms of action. These bioactive compounds trigger different responses and affect ROS production and redox systems in prostate cancer cells, suggesting the key role that redox-related pathways might play in processes like differentiation or survival in prostate cancer. Keywords: Thioredoxin, Thioredoxin reductase, TXNIP, Prostate cancer, Redox signaling, Apoptosi