The mediating effects of adulthood socioeconomic status and social support on adulthood impacts of childhood poverty in Japan

Previous studies have provided evidence of the lasting impact of low socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood on adulthood health. However, the mediating pathway that links them is still under debate. In this study, we examine how educational attainment, household income, and social support mediate the impact of low SES in childhood on self-rated health and health-risk behaviors in adulthood on the basis of micro data collected from a survey in municipalities in and around the Tokyo metropolitan area in Japan (N = 3,265). As a comprehensive measure for childhood SES, we utilized a binary variable of childhood poverty constructed from the retrospective assessment of the living standard at the age of 15. We estimated recursive bivariate probit models that consisted of (1) the main equation to predict adulthood health outcome by childhood poverty and other variables and (2) the auxiliary equation to predict childhood poverty by parental SES. This method allowed us both to capture a wide dimension of childhood SES and to mitigate the potential recall bias to the retrospective assessment of the past living standard. We observed that educational attainment, household income, and social support, when combined, mediated 35-55 percent of the impact of childhood poverty on adulthood SRH and health-risk behaviors, confirming the substantial magnitude of mediation. However, a large proportion of the impact was unexplained by these mediating effects, underscoring the importance of social policies aimed at reducing risks of childhood poverty.Childhood poverty, Self-rated health, health-risk behaviors, bivariate probit models, mediating effects

Effect of chemical admixture on property of fresh mortar using sludge water

Addition of sludge water as a part of mixing water had little influence on strength and durability of hardened concrete, but caused a slump decrease of fresh concrete. The decrease of slump was improved by addition of a certain set retarder such as gluconate into sludge water due to control of cement hydration. Some of polymers were also effective in improvement of slump. However hydration of cement was observed in those cases of polymers. Therefore it is presumed such the polymers improve slump not by hydration control effect but by another one

Non-linear Evolution of Matter Power Spectrum in Modified Theory of Gravity

We present a formalism to calculate the non-linear matter power spectrum in modified gravity models that explain the late-time acceleration of the Universe without dark energy. Any successful modified gravity models should contain a mechanism to recover General Relativity (GR) on small scales in order to avoid the stringent constrains on deviations from GR at solar system scales. Based on our formalism, the quasi non-linear power spectrum in the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porratti (DGP) braneworld models and $f(R)$ gravity models are derived by taking into account the mechanism to recover GR properly. We also extrapolate our predictions to fully non-linear scales using the Parametrized Post Friedmann (PPF) framework. In $f(R)$ gravity models, the predicted non-linear power spectrum is shown to reproduce N-body results. We find that the mechanism to recover GR suppresses the difference between the modified gravity models and dark energy models with the same expansion history, but the difference remains large at weakly non-linear regime in these models. Our formalism is applicable to a wide variety of modified gravity models and it is ready to use once consistent models for modified gravity are developed.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures, comparison to N-body simulations in DGP added, published in PR

Adaptive radiotherapy in locally advanced esophageal cancer with atelectasis: a case report

BACKGROUND: To the best of our knowledge, no study has reported mediastinal shift accompanied with obstructive atelectasis due to bulky primary esophageal tumor components treated with adaptive radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy. CASE PRESENTATION: Here we report the case of a 65-year-old male patient diagnosed with locally advanced thoracic esophageal squamous cell cancer, clinical T4bN1M0, stage IVA. Bronchoscopy and computed tomography (CT) revealed an almost complete obstruction of the lumen of the left bronchus due to compression by bulky primary esophageal tumor components. On admission, the patient presented with dyspnea and decreased arterial oxygen saturation. Chest radiography and CT on admission revealed mediastinal shift with left atelectasis, as opposed to findings from the chest radiography performed 26 days before admission. Because of the patient's overall good condition, we recommended definitive chemoradiotherapy instead of palliative bronchial stent placement. After obtaining the patient's consent, chemoradiotherapy was initiated on the following day and it comprised three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy with 60 Gy in 30 fractions with concurrent administration of cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil. During chemoradiotherapy, tumor location was monitored with cone-beam CT and chest radiography. Chemoradiotherapy on day 8 revealed no evidence of the mediastinal shift. CT simulation was reperformed to adjust the radiotherapy fields to account for geometrical changes induced by the absence of the mediastinal shift. Subsequently, the mediastinal shift and bronchial obstruction did not recur during the course of chemoradiotherapy. The patient completed the planned radiotherapy with concurrent and adjuvant chemotherapy, and no non-hematological grade ≥ 3 adverse events were observed. Complete response was confirmed 7 months after initiating chemoradiotherapy. Currently, no disease recurrence, dysphagia, or respiratory symptoms have been reported at 13 months after initiating chemoradiotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, a bulky primary esophageal tumor caused mediastinal shift due to ipsilateral bronchial obstruction. The close follow-up for monitoring resolution of the mediastinal shift during the course of chemoradiotherapy enabled adequate dose delivery to targets, thus reflecting the geometrical changes induced by the absence of the mediastinal shift. Adaptive radiotherapy technique was crucial for favorable patient outcomes in this challenging clinical situation