Relation Between Mental Health Status and Psychosocial Stressors Among Pregnant and Puerperium Women in Japan - From the Perspective of Working Status-

Background Mental health problems during pregnancy and postpartum periods are one of the alarming health issues among women in Japan. Many studies have reported that psychosocial risk factors could be correlated with maternal mental health status. Although increased numbers of women who are employed during the pregnancy and postpartum periods have been observed, it is unclear about the link between mental health and psychosocial stressors in terms of working status during pregnancy and postpartum periods. Therefore, this study examined difference in mental health status and the association between mental health and psychosocial stressors by working status amongpregnant and puerperium women, using nationally representative data in Japan. Methods This study analyzed data on the Japanese version of the Kessler 6 (K6), specific psychosocial stressors, and working status of pregnant and puerperium women (n=1126) from respondents in the Comprehensive Survey of Peoples Living Conditions (CSPLC) conducted in 2007 by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan.. The univariate logistic regression analysis and a forward multiple regression analysis were used to examine K6 and related factors including specific psychosocial stressors for working status (employedand unemployed).Results Those who scored five or higher in K6 accounted for 33.2% of 1126 respondents, and mental health had no significant association with working status among pregnant and puerperium women. Multiple logistic analyses showed the significant associations between mental health and psychosocial stressors: family relationship, pregnancy and birth, andincomes/ family budgets/ debts,regardless of employed or unemployed. After stratified by working status, whereas ones job stressor had an association with mental health only for employed females, stressors forones disease/long -term care and housework had associations only for unemployed ones. For employed women, the primary factor for mental health wasfamily relationship stressor. Conclusion Although mental health status measured by K6 was not different between employed or unemployed female population, primary stressors related mental health was revealed to differ with working status. Especially, family relationship stressor was the highest risk factor of mental health in employed women. More importantly, the results provided evidence on the differences in associations between mental health and specific psychosocial stressors by working status. Psychosocial risk assessments and interventions on working status among pregnant and puerperium women should be imperative to pay attention for social politics

Te covered Si(001): a variable surface reconstruction

At a given temperature, clean and adatom covered silicon surfaces usually exhibit well-defined reconstruction patterns. Our finite temperature ab-initio molecular dynamics calculations show that the tellurium covered Si(001) surface is an exception. Soft longitudinal modes of surface phonons due to the strongly anharmonic potential of the bridged tellurium atoms prevent the reconstruction structure from attaining any permanent, two dimensional periodic geometry. This explains why experiments attempting to find a definite model for the reconstruction have reached conflicting conclusions.Comment: 4 pages, 3 gif figure

Xanthogranuloma of the intrasellar region presenting in pituitary dysfunction: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Differentiation of cystic mass lesions of the sellar and parasellar regions may pose a diagnostic dilemma for physicians, neurosurgeons, radiologists and pathologists involved in treating patients with these entities. A considerable number of tumors previously identified as craniopharyngiomas may, in fact, have been xanthogranulomas. We report a case of pituitary dysfunction caused by xanthogranuloma of the intrasellar region.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 47-year-old man of Japanese descent presented to our institution with a tumor located exclusively in the intrasellar region which manifested as severe hypopituitarism. MRI revealed a clearly defined intrasellar mass that was heterogeneously hyperintense on T1-weighted images and markedly hypointense on T2-weighted images. We preoperatively diagnosed the patient with Rathke's cleft cyst or non-functioning pituitary adenoma. Although the tumor was completely removed using a transsphenoidal approach, the improvement of the patient's endocrine function was marginal, and continued endocrine replacement therapy was needed. Postoperatively, a histological examination revealed the tumor to be a xanthogranuloma of the intrasellar region. His visual field defects and headache improved.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Because diagnosis depends on surgical intervention and xanthogranulomas of the intrasellar region are very rare, the natural history of xanthogranuloma is still unknown. Therefore, this entity is difficult to diagnose preoperatively. We suggest that xanthogranuloma should be included in the differential diagnosis, even in the case of sellar lesions, to formulate appropriate postoperative management and improve endocrine outcomes.</p

Relationship between home care service use and changes in the care needs level of Japanese elderly

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>With the introduction of long-term care insurance (LTCI) in Japan, more home care services are available for the community-dwelling elderly. To deliver effective home care services, it is important to know the effects of service use. In this study, as the first step to determine this, we sought to describe different home service use in the sustained/improved group and deteriorated group in their care needs levels, and to report the relationship between the use of home care services and changes in care needs levels.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The participants included 624 of a total of 1,474 users of LTCI services in one city in Japan. Home care service users were stratified into a 'lower care needs level subgroup' and a 'higher care needs level subgroup' based on the baseline care needs level. Simple statistical comparison and multiple logistic regression analyses in which the change in care needs level was set as a dependent variable were performed. Gender, age, and baseline care needs level were designated as control variables. Home based services were treated as independent variables. In this study, home care services consisted of home help, home bathing services, a visiting nurse, home rehabilitation, nursing home daycare, health daycare, loan of medical devices, respite stay in a nursing home, respite stay in a health care facility, respite stay in a sanatorium-type medical care facility, and medical management by a physician.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the lower care needs level subgroup, age (OR = 1.04, CI, 1.01-1.08), use of respite stay in a nursing home (OR = 2.55; CI, 1.43-4.56), and the number of types of long-term care services (OR = 1.33; CI, 1.02-1.74) used during an 11 month period were significantly related to a deterioration of the user's care needs level. In the higher care needs level subgroup, use of medical management by a physician (OR = 6.99; CI, 1.42-41.25) was significantly related to a deterioration of the user's care needs level. There were no home based services significantly related to sustaining or improving the user's care needs level.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There were different home service use in two groups (the sustained/improved group and the deteriorated group). Respite stay in a nursing home service use and more types of service use were related to experiencing a deterioration of care needs level in lower care needs level community-dwelling elderly persons in Japan. Further, medical management by a physician service was related to experiencing a deterioration of care needs level in higher care needs level community-dwelling elderly persons.</p

The HBZ gene, a key player in HTLV-1 pathogenesis

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) causes adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) and is also associated with a variety of lymphocyte-mediated diseases. The HTLV-1 basic leucine zipper (HBZ) gene, found to be consistently expressed in ATL, has recently been the subject of intensive research efforts. In this review, we summarize recent findings about HBZ and discuss its roles and functions not only in the virus life cycle, but also in HTLV-1 disease pathogenesis

Genome-wide association analysis with selective genotyping identifies candidate loci for adult height at 8q21.13 and 15q22.33-q23 in Mongolians

We performed a genome-wide association study with 23,465 microsatellite markers to identify genes related to adult height. Selective genotyping was applied to extremely tall and extremely short individuals from the Khalkh-Mongolian population. Two loci, 8q21.13 and 15q22.33, which showed the strongest association with microsatellites were subjected to further analyses of SNPs in 782 tall and 773 short individuals. The most significant association was observed with SNP rs2220456 at 8q21.13 (P = 0.000016). In the LD block at 15q22.32, SNP rs8038652 located in intron 1 of IQCH was strongly associated (P = 0.0003), especially the AA genotype of the SNP under a recessive model was strongly associated with adult height (P = 0.000046)

Bicalutamide-induced hypoxia potentiates RUNX2-mediated Bcl-2 expression resulting in apoptosis resistance.

BACKGROUND: We have previously shown that hypoxia selects for more invasive, apoptosis-resistant LNCaP prostate cancer cells, with upregulation of the osteogenic transcription factor RUNX2 and the anti-apoptotic factor Bcl-2 detected in the hypoxia-selected cells. Following this observation, we questioned through what biological mechanism this occurs. METHODS: We examined the effect of hypoxia on RUNX2 expression and the role of RUNX2 in the regulation of Bcl-2 and apoptosis resistance in prostate cancer. RESULTS: Hypoxia increased RUNX2 expression in vitro, and bicalutamide-treated LNCaP tumours in mice (previously shown to have increased tumour hypoxia) exhibited increased RUNX2 expression. In addition, RUNX2-overexpressing LNCaP cells showed increased cell viability, following bicalutamide and docetaxel treatment, which was inhibited by RUNX2 siRNA; a range of assays demonstrated that this was due to resistance to apoptosis. RUNX2 expression was associated with increased Bcl-2 levels, and regulation of Bcl-2 by RUNX2 was confirmed through chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) binding and reporter assays. Moreover, a Q-PCR array identified other apoptosis-associated genes upregulated in the RUNX2-overexpressing LNCaP cells. CONCLUSION: This study establishes a contributing mechanism for progression of prostate cancer cells to a more apoptosis-resistant and thus malignant phenotype, whereby increased expression of RUNX2 modulates the expression of apoptosis-associated factors, specifically Bcl-2

Noninvasive estimation of tumour viability in a xenograft model of human neuroblastoma with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS)

The aim of the study was to evaluate proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) for noninvasive biological characterisation of neuroblastoma xenografts in vivo. For designing the experiments, human neuroblastoma xenografts growing subcutaneously in nude rats were analysed in vivo with 1H MRS and magnetic resonance imaging at 4.7 T. The effects of spontaneous tumour growth and antiangiogenesis treatment, respectively, on spectral characteristics were evaluated. The spectroscopic findings were compared to tumour morphology, proliferation and viable tumour tissue fraction. The results showed that signals from choline (Cho)-containing compounds and mobile lipids (MLs) dominated the spectra. The individual ML/Cho ratios for both treated and untreated tumours were positively correlated with tumour volume (P<0.05). There was an inverse correlation between the ML/Cho ratio and the viable tumour fraction (r=−0.86, P<0.001). Higher ML/Cho ratios concomitant with pronounced histological changes were seen in spectra from tumours treated with the antiangiogenic drug TNP-470, compared to untreated control tumours (P<0.05). In conclusion, the ML/Cho ratio obtained in vivo by 1H MRS enabled accurate assessment of the viable tumour fraction in a human neuroblastoma xenograft model. 1H MRS also revealed early metabolic effects of antiangiogenesis treatment. 1H MRS could prove useful as a tool to monitor experimental therapy in preclinical models of neuroblastoma, and possibly also in children

A structured review of long-term care demand modelling

Long-term care (LTC) represents a significant and substantial proportion of healthcare spends across the globe. Its main aim is to assist individuals suffering with more or more chronic illnesses, disabilities or cognitive impairments, to carry out activities associated with daily living. Shifts in several economic, demographic and social factors have raised concerns surrounding the sustainability of current systems of LTC. Substantial effort has been put into modelling the LTC demand process itself so as to increase understanding of the factors driving demand for LTC and its related services. Furthermore, such modeling efforts have also been used to plan the operation and future composition of the LTC system itself. The main aim of this paper is to provide a structured review of the literature surrounding LTC demand modeling and any such industrial application, whilst highlighting any potential direction for future researchers