Estimating dynamics of fern species richness and assemblages for 30 years in Japan capital and along planning belt of linear motor car from Tokyo to Nagoya

We surveyed species density of ferns in Musashi (Tokyo and Saitama Prefs.), around capital of Japan, and planning belt of Linea express of 250km from Tokyo to Nagoya during 1997-2017, considering with records 30 years (mainly 1960-1980). The species richness (species richness per 10km X 10km) and similarity of species assemblages represented by species overlap were recorded and calculated between them of the past and present. Recent species richness is about half or less and the similarity ranged 0-48% in Musashi and 20-50% in the similarity along the Linea express planning belt.ArticleForestry Research and Engineering: International Journal. 2(2):68-73 (2018)journal articl

Education level and incident functional disability in elderly Japanese: The Ohsaki Cohort 2006 study.

As the factors that link education level with incident functional disability in elderly Japanese have never been investigated, the present study investigated this issue in an elderly Japanese population. A 9-year prospective cohort study (2006-2015) was conducted among 8,680 Japanese individuals (≥65 years), Ohsaki city, Japan. In a baseline survey, we collected data on education level and potential mediators. Data on incident functional disability were retrieved from the Long-term Care Insurance database. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for incident functional disability by education level (below upper-secondary education (reference), and upper secondary education and above). Mediating effects were estimated using accelerated failure time model and a logistic regression model. During 9-year follow-up period, 2,742 cases (31.6%) of incident functional disability were observed, and education level showed an inverse association with functional disability (P for trend <0.01). Participation in community activities had the largest mediating effect (34.7%) on the relationship between education level and incident functional disability. This effect remained among those aged 65-74 years (19.9%) but became negligible among those aged ≥75 years. Other potential mediators (such as smoking and drinking status) were also tested, but these showed only small mediating effects. The inverse association between education level and the incident risk of functional disability appears to be largely mediated by participation in community activities among elderly Japanese, especially those aged 65-74 years

Age at first birth and long-term mortality for mothers: the Ohsaki cohort study

Abstract Background Although maternal age at first birth has been rising in many developed countries, its long-term effects on the health of the mothers themselves are unclear. In this study, we investigated the relationship between maternal age at first birth and long-term mortality. Methods We conducted a cohort study of 20,624 parous Japanese women aged between 40 and 79 years in 1994 and followed up their survival for 14 years. Based on maternal age at first birth, the women were divided into four groups: ≤19 years, 20–24 years, 25–29 years, and ≥30 years. Using the 20–24 years group as a reference, hazards ratios (HRs) for all-cause and cause-specific mortality were calculated. Results Multivariate HRs for all-cause mortality were 1.17 in the ≤19 years group, 1.09 in the 25–29 years group, and 1.33 in the ≥30 years group. A U-shaped relationship was apparent between maternal age at first birth and mortality. This relationship was also observed for mortality attributable to cancer, cardiovascular disease and other diseases. This U-shaped relationship was observed only for women born before 1935 and the birth year of the first child before 1960. Conclusion A U-shaped relationship was apparent between maternal age at first birth and mortality. As maternal age at first birth is rising worldwide, the risk it imposes appears to have significance in the context of public health

Dietary Inflammatory Index and Disability-Free Survival in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Background: Previous studies have reported that a higher dietary inflammatory index (DII®) score is related to a higher risk of mortality and conditions that result in functional disability, such as cardiovascular disease, dementia, and fractures. Although these findings suggest that higher DII scores would affect disability-free survival, this has never been investigated directly. The present study investigated the association between the DII score and disability-free survival. Methods: We analyzed follow-up data covering a 12-year period for 793 older adults (≥70 years) participating in a Japanese community-based cohort study. DII scores were computed on the basis of dietary intake and assessed using the Brief Self-Administered Diet History Questionnaire. Data on incident functional disability were retrieved from the public Long-Term Care Insurance database. We applied the Cox model for estimating the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of the composite outcome (incident functional disability or death) according to DII score tertiles (T1–T3). Results: The proportion of men was 47.3%; mean (SD) age was 75.2 (4.5) years. The 12-year incidence of the composite outcome was 65.5%. A higher DII score was related to a higher risk for the composite outcome: HRs (95% confidence interval) were 1.05 (0.84, 1.32) for T2 and 1.26 (1.01, 1.57) for T3 (p-trend = 0.040) compared to the most anti-inflammatory T1 reference (HR = 1.00). Conclusions: These results suggest that a pro-inflammatory diet might be a modifiable factor affecting disability-free survival in the older population. Additional prospective studies are needed to confirm this relationship

Effect of a financial incentive (shopping point) on increasing the number of daily walking steps among community-dwelling adults in Japan: a randomised controlled trial

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a financial incentive on the number of daily walking steps among community-dwelling adults in Japan.Study design Two-arm, parallel-group randomised controlled trial.Setting/participants We recruited physically inactive community-dwelling adults from Sendai city, Japan. Eligible participants were randomly allocated to an intervention or a wait list control group. Pedometers were used to assess the mean number of daily steps in three periods: baseline (weeks 1–3), intervention (weeks 4–6) and follow-up (weeks 7–9).Intervention The intervention group was offered a financial incentive (shopping points) to meet the target number of increased daily steps in the intervention period.Main outcome measures The primary outcome was an increase in the mean number of daily steps in the intervention and follow-up periods compared with baseline.Results Seventy-two participants (69.4% women; mean age, 61.2±16.2 years; mean number of daily steps at baseline, 6364±2804) were randomised to the intervention (n=36) and control groups (n=36). During the intervention period, the increase in mean daily steps was significantly higher in the intervention group (1650, 95% CI=1182 to 2119) than in the control group (514, 95% CI=136 to 891; p&lt;0.001). However, the difference between groups was not significant at follow-up after the incentives were removed (p=0.311). In addition, compared with controls, a significantly higher proportion of participants in the intervention group showed an increase in mean daily steps of ≥1000 (69.4% vs 30.6%, respectively; OR=5.17, 95% CI=1.89 to 14.08). There were no adverse effects from the intervention.Conclusions The present results suggest that financial incentives are effective in promoting short-term increases in physical activity.Trial registration number UMIN000033276

Establishment of Protocols for Global Metabolomics by LC-MS for Biomarker Discovery

<div><p>Metabolomics is a promising avenue for biomarker discovery. Although the quality of metabolomic analyses, especially global metabolomics (G-Met) using mass spectrometry (MS), largely depends on the instrumentation, potential bottlenecks still exist at several basic levels in the metabolomics workflow. Therefore, we established a precise protocol initially for the G-Met analyses of human blood plasma to overcome some these difficulties. In our protocol, samples are deproteinized in a 96-well plate using an automated liquid-handling system, and conducted either using a UHPLC-QTOF/MS system equipped with a reverse phase column or a LC-FTMS system equipped with a normal phase column. A normalization protocol of G-Met data was also developed to compensate for intra- and inter-batch differences, and the variations were significantly reduced along with our normalization, especially for the UHPLC-QTOF/MS data with a C18 reverse-phase column for positive ions. Secondly, we examined the changes in metabolomic profiles caused by the storage of EDTA-blood specimens to identify quality markers for the evaluation of the specimens’ pre-analytical conditions. Forty quality markers, including lysophospholipids, dipeptides, fatty acids, succinic acid, amino acids, glucose, and uric acid were identified by G-Met for the evaluation of plasma sample quality and established the equation of calculating the quality score. We applied our quality markers to a small-scale study to evaluate the quality of clinical samples. The G-Met protocols and quality markers established here should prove useful for the discovery and development of biomarkers for a wider range of diseases.</p></div