Evaluation of the Occupational Life Events/Job Event Stressors and Their Application of Clinical Psychology

In this paper we explained the origin and present situation of research on occupational life events/job event stressors which have scarcely been focused on in the occupational stress research or occupational mental health activity. First, Meyer and Holmes's studies were reviewed and their scales called SRE and SRRS were introduced. Second, the difference between life event and event stressor was argued referring to Dohrenwend and Lazarus's view. Third, many scales which measured occupational life events or job event stressors from many investigations were introduced. Finally, we discussed the application of job event stressor scale to counseling of clinical psychology. The use of it at the clinical psychology counseling seems useful especially for the purpose of a change of coping strategies

Onset Temperatures for Superconducting Fluctuations in Te-annealed FeTe1−x_{1-x}Sex_x Single Crystals: Evidence for the BCS-BEC Crossover

Recently, the superconductors' community has witnessed an unsettled debate regarding whether iron-based superconductors, in particular FeSe and FeSe$_{1-x}$S$_x$, are in the Bardeen-Cooper-Shrieffer (BCS) - Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover regime. Nonetheless, one particular system, FeTe$_{1-x}$Se$_x$, has been less investigated in this regard owing to the screening of its intrinsic superconducting properties by the inevitable iron excess. Herein, the onset temperatures for superconducting fluctuations ($T_{scf}$) are investigated by measuring the magnetoresistance (MR) of Te-annealed, high-quality FeTe$_{1-x}$Se$_x$ ($x$ = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4) single crystals. The results reveal very high $T_{scf}$ values for these crystals. Particularly for $x$ = 0.4, $T_{scf}$ reaches approximately 40 K, which is 2.7 times larger than $T_c$. This indicates that the superconductivity of the FeTe$_{1-x}$Se$_x$ system is well within the BCS-BEC crossover regime.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, and 1 table. to be published in JPS Conference Proceeding

MIBG Predicts Falls in PD

Background: Falls are associated with poor prognosis in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Although several factors related to falls were reported in patients with PD, objective predictors of falls are not identified. We aimed to determine whether 123I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) cardiac scintigraphy could be a useful biomarker to predict falls. Methods: Forty-five patients with PD were enrolled in this study. These subjects were followed up more than 5 years after MIBG scintigraphy and were divided into two groups: one with decreased uptake of MIBG and the other without decreased uptake of MIBG. The cut-off value for the delayed heart-to-mediastinum ratio was 1.8. Kaplan-Meier analysis and a log-rank test were performed to test the predictive power of MIBG cardiac scintigraphy for falls. Univariate analysis was selected because we did not have appropriate data for adjustment, such as motor and cognitive assessment. Results: The group with decreased uptake of MIBG had a significantly higher incidence of falls than that without decreased uptake of MIBG (P = 0.022, log-rank test). Conclusions: Although the limitations of this study were lack of several key factors including motor and cognitive assessment, MIBG cardiac scintigraphy may be used to predict falls in patients with PD

A quantitative map of nuclear pore assembly reveals two distinct mechanisms

Understanding how the nuclear pore complex (NPC) assembles is of fundamental importance to grasp the mechanisms behind its essential function and understand its role during evolution of eukaryotes1–4. While we know that at least two NPC assembly pathways exist, one during exit from mitosis and one during nuclear growth in interphase, we currently lack a quantitative map of their molecular events. Here, we use fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) calibrated live imaging of endogenously fluorescently-tagged nucleoporins to map the changes in composition and stoichiometry of seven major modules of the human NPC during its assembly in single dividing cells. This systematic quantitative map reveals that the two assembly pathways employ strikingly different molecular mechanisms, inverting the order of addition of two large structural components, the central ring complex and nuclear filaments. Our dynamic stoichiometry data allows us to perform the first computational simulation that predicts the structure of postmitotic NPC assembly intermediates

Relationship between physical activity and cerebral white matter hyperintensity volumes in older adults with depressive symptoms and mild memory impairment: a cross-sectional study

IntroductionCerebral white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are commonly found in the aging brain and have been implicated in the initiation and severity of many central nervous system diseases. Furthermore, an increased WMH volume indicates reduced brain health in older adults. This study investigated the association between WMH volume and physical activity in older adults with depressive symptoms (DS) and mild memory impairment (MMI). Factors associated with the WMH volume were also investigated.MethodsA total of 57 individuals aged over 65 years with DS and MMI were included in this study. The participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging to quantify WMH volumes. After WMH volume was accumulated, normalized to the total intracranial volume (TIV), the percentage of WMH volume was calculated. In addition, all participants wore a triaxial accelerometer for 2 weeks, and the average daily physical activity and number of steps were measured. The levels of blood biomarkers including cortisol, interleukin-6 (IL-6), brain-derived insulin-like growth factor-1, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor were measured. Motor and cognitive functions were also assessed.ResultsFaster maximum walking speed and longer time spent engaged in moderate physical activity were associated with a smaller percent of WMH volume, whereas higher serum IL-6 levels were associated with a larger percent of WMH volume. The number of steps per day, time spent engaged in low levels of physical activity, cognitive function, and all other measured biomarkers were not significantly associated with percent of WMH volume.DiscussionHigher blood inflammatory cytokine levels, shorter duration of moderate physical activity, and lower maximum walking speed were associated with a higher percent of WMH volume. Our results provide useful information for maintaining brain health in older adults at a high risk of developing dementia and may contribute to the development of preventive medicine for brain health

Discovery and Correspondence of Mental Health Insufficient Employees Lowering Productivity by the Job Stress Questionnaire

This paper demonstrated the advantages of administering a job stress questionnaire created from a psychological viewpoint in screening and caring for employees with a poor mental health state, and described the discovery and correspondence of such employees, using a Co-Labo developed by Kosugi as an example of a psychological job stress questionnaire. The advantages demonstrated were as follows: (1) since it could take an accurate measurement of psychological stress reactions from slight to strong, it was applicable in a broad range of employees perceiving many levels of negative emotions; and (2) factors like coping, social support, and social skills, that are easy to treat in stress counseling, could be measured. Next, the procedures of the discovery and correspondence of the employees by the Co-Labo were expounded by dividing them stages, from the prior explanation to the debriefing session

Roles of Occupational Psychologists and Requests of Occupational Physicians

In this paper, the roles of psychologists involved in occupational health activities are discussed mainly as they related to the Japanese Guideline for Worker Mental Health in the Workplace. In Japan, these roles focus mainly on promoting the work environment, education and training and counseling. However, in consideration of existing training programs on occupational health psychology in the United States and European Union countries which include research skills, knowledge of job stress theories, and abilities to evaluate and promote the work environment, additional training programs in Japan would appear to be necessary. As an example of such a program, we introduce a brief outline of our own training program. Finally, we examine the roles of occupational health activities as based on the Japanese Industrial Safety and Health Law and other relevant ordinance. Not only is personal health care (secondary and tertiary prevention) requested of occupational physicians, but also the creation of a healthy work environment (primary prevention)

The relationship between job event stressors and psychological stress reaction in different groups

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation of age groups and gender to job events and psychological stress reactions. The subjects were 3020 employees (2468 of an industrial research institute and 552 of a construction company). A checklist questionnaire consisting of 40 job events and the Job Stress Scale (JSS) were administered to measure job event stressors and total score of psychological stress reactions (such as anger, cardiovascular symptoms, social anxiety, fatigue, irritability, and mild depressive state), respectively. As a result, demographic differences in the relationship between job event stressors and psychological stress reactions were revealed. For example, only thirty employees had a high psychological stress reaction score when they experienced some trouble with their people, whereas all employees had a high psychological stress reaction score when they experienced an event such as "trouble with one's colleagues". These findings suggest that we should consider two types of job events, especially, interpersonal ones, when evaluating the degree of mental health of employees