Health status and lifestyle factors as predictors of depression in middle-aged and elderly Japanese adults: a seven-year follow-up of the Komo-Ise cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Depression is a common mental disorder. Several studies suggest that lifestyle and health status are associated with depression. However, only a few large-scale longitudinal studies have been conducted on this topic.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The subjects were middle-aged and elderly Japanese adults between the ages of 40 and 69 years. A total of 9,650 respondents completed questionnaires for the baseline survey and participated in the second wave of the survey, which was conducted 7 years later. We excluded those who complained of depressive symptoms in the baseline survey and analyzed data for the remaining 9,201 individuals. In the second-wave survey, the DSM-12D was used to determine depression. We examined the risks associated with health status and lifestyle factors in the baseline survey using a logistic regression model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>An age-adjusted analysis showed an increased risk of depression in those who had poor perceived health and chronic diseases in both sexes. In men, those who were physically inactive also had an increased risk of depression. In women, the analysis also showed an increased risk of depression those with a BMI of 25 or more, in those sleeping 9 hours a day or more and who were current smokers. A multivariate analysis showed that increased risks of depression still existed in men who had chronic diseases and who were physically inactive, and in women who had poor perceived health and who had a BMI of 25 or more.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results suggest that lifestyle and health status are risk factors for depression. Having a chronic disease and physical inactivity were distinctive risk factors for depression in men. On the other hand, poor perceived health and a BMI of 25 or more were distinctive risk factors for depression in women. Preventive measures for depression must therefore take gender into account.</p

Community resilience of women in rural areas of Lempira in the Republic of Honduras

Introduction: Building community resilience is an important part of disaster preparedness. This study aims to determine the factors that influence the status of community resilience and their relationship with social capital. Methods: Data were collected between August and November 2021 by surveying a group of over 18-year-old females in the Republic of Honduras where hit by two hurricanes and a pandemic in 2020. Cluster sampling was used in this study, and face-to-face interviews were done while visiting their houses. The Conjoint Community Resiliency Assessment Measure (CCRAM) was used to examine community resilience score, while the association between social capital, basic attributes, disaster preparedness, and whether the damages by the two hurricanes in 2020, etc. For statistical analysis, we applied multiple regression analysis. Results: Bonding social capital was a factor that lowered community resilience, and bridging social capital was a factor that raised community resilience. The community resilience for those with an elementary school education was higher than those without education but not different from those with more than an elementary school education. Conclusions: Bridging social capital and completing primary education increased community resilience

Analysis of completed parity using microsimulation modeling

Inter-individual relationship is essential for population reproduction in small-scale populations so that the microsimulation model was constructed using the processes of death, marriage, and birth. For examination of sensitivity of the model, 6 parameter sets, based on 3 fertility/mortality levels and 2 marriage systems, were applied to the completed parity data of the Gidra, one such a population.Completed parity, Microsimulation analysis, Papua New Guinea,

Cardiovascular modeling of congenital heart disease based on neonatal echocardiographic images.

This paper proposes a 3-D cardiovascular modeling system based on neonatal echocardiographic images. With the system, medical doctors can interactively construct patient-specific cardiovascular models, and share the complex topology and the shape information. For the construction of cardiovascular models with a variety of congenital heart diseases, we propose a set of algorithms and interface that enable editing of the topology and shape of the 3-D models. In order to facilitate interactivity, the centerline and radius of the vessels are used to edit the surface of the heart vessels. This forms a skeleton where the centerlines of blood vessel serve as the nodes and edges, while the radius of the blood vessel is given as an attribute value to each node. Moreover, parent-child relationships are given to each skeleton. They are expressed as the directed acyclic graph, where the skeletons are viewed as graph nodes and the connecting points are graph edges. The cardiovascular models generated from some patient data confirmed that the developed technique is capable of constructing cardiovascular disease models in a tolerable timeframe. It is successful in representing the important structures of the patient-specific heart vessels for better understanding in preoperative planning and electric medical recording of the congenital heart disease

The Pacific lineage (2E) of JC polyomavirus is prevalent in Sumba Island, Eastern Indonesia

Recent studies have identified a Pacific lineage (2E) of JC polyomavirus (also designated as JC virus or JCV) that occurs in both Island Southeast Asia and Oceania, but not in mainland Asia. It has been postulated that this lineage traveled with Austronesian-speaking people who are now spread throughout Island Southeast Asia and Oceania (excluding Australia and inland and southern New Guinea). However, to date, the 2E lineage has been identified in Southeast Asia only in populations of the Philippine islands. Here we report that a high incidence of the 2E lineage was detected in the people of Sumba Island, eastern Indonesia