A Pilot Study of Barriers to Psychiatric Treatment among Japanese Healthcare Workers

Background: The medical service industry has the highest number of industry-classified workers’ compensation claims related to mental disorders. They are a group of people who particularly need mental health care.Aims: To investigate the barriers to seeking psychiatric treatment among healthcare workers. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted for healthcare workers. We assessed the relationship between barriers to psychiatric treatment, stress perception, coping methods, and demographic variables.Results: There were 91 respondents in the final analysis (participants’ mean age was 34.73±11.41). Factor analysis identified three factors that affect resistance to seeking treatment (?=0.83): 1) anxiety toward psychiatric medicine, 2) resistance to psychiatric visits, and 3) lack of belief in the effectiveness of psychiatric treatment. Correlation analysis indicated that resistance to psychiatric treatment increased with age (r=0.21, p<0.05). In addition, women scored significantly higher than men concerning resistance toward psychiatric visits, and doctors scored lower than those in other occupations on this measure. Conclusion: These results indicated that a main component of resistance was related to resistance toward the word “psychiatric”. It may be useful to avoid using the word “psychiatric” with individuals belonging to groups with high resistance to psychiatric treatment when suggesting that they consult a psychiatrist

One-loop renormalization factors and mixing coeffecients of bilinear quark operators for improved gluon and quark actions

We calculate one-loop renormalization factors and mixing coefficients of bilinear quark operators for a class of gluon actions with six-link loops and O(a)-improved quark action. The calculation is carried out by evaluating on-shell Green's functions of quarks and gluons in the standard perturbation theory. We find a general trend that finite parts of one-loop coefficients are reduced approximately by a factor two for the renormalization-group improved gluon actions compared with the case of the standard plaquette gluon action.Comment: LATTICE98(improvement), 3 page

Lupus-like oral mucosal lesions in mercury-induced autoimmune response in Brown Norway rats.

BACKGROUND:Administration of mercury at nontoxic doses induces systemic autoimmune disease in Brown Norway (BN) rats. The pathogenesis of lupus-like oral mucosal lesion by mercury-induced autoimmunity is still unclear, even though the oral mucosa is observed to be commonly affected in mercury-treated BN rats. In this study, we investigated the immunopathology of lupus-like oral mucosal lesions in a model of mercury-induced systemic autoimmunity.METHODS:Brown Norway male rats were injected subcutaneously with either phosphate-buffered saline (control) or mercury at a dose of 1.0 mg per kilogram of body weight on days 0, 3, 5, and 7. Blood, kidney, and tongue samples were taken at various timepoints for evaluation by immunohistochemistry, RT-PCR, and lupus band test (LBT).RESULTS:Oral mucosal lesions were classified according to three consecutive temporal phases on the basis of infiltration of immunocompetent cells as follows: (phase I) infiltration of MHC class II+ dendritic cells (DC) and macrophages; (phase II) addition of ED1+ macrophage infiltrates; and (phase III) focal infiltration of pan T cells following increased infiltration of DC and macrophages. Dense infiltration of DC and macrophages was observed in the basement membrane (BM) zone of the oral epithelium. Tissue expression of IL-4 mRNA was detected in early lesions (phase I), suggesting that locally produced IL-4 may be responsible for Th2-mediated immune response. A linear and continuous smooth pattern of fluorescence was observed in the oral epithelial BM in addition to renal glomeruli, indicating immune complex deposits.CONCLUSIONS:Local autoimmune responses are involved in the pathogenesis of mercury-induced lupus-like lesions of the oral mucosa.福岡歯科大学2015年

Flavobacterium okayamense sp. nov. isolated from surface seawater

Strain KK2020170T, a Gram-stain negative, yellow colony-forming bacterium, was isolated from surface seawater sampled in Kojima Bay, Okayama, Japan. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene revealed that strain KK2020170T belongs to the genus Flavobacterium, with Flavobacterium haoranii LQY-7T (98.1% similarity) being its closest relative, followed by Flavobacterium sediminis MEBiC07310T (96.9%) and Flavobacterium urocaniciphilum YIT 12746T (96.0%). Whole-genome shotgun sequencing showed that strain KK2020170T, when paralleled with F. haoranii LQY-7 T, had 81.3% average nucleotide identity, and 24.6% in silico DNA–DNA hybridization values, respectively. The DNA G + C content of strain KK2020170T was 31.1 mol%. The most abundant fatty acids (> 10%) of strain KK2020170T were iso-C15: 0, iso-C17: 0 3-OH and iso-C15: 1 G. The dominant respiratory quinone of the strain was menaquinone MK-6. Based on the phylogenetic and phenotypic analysis results, we propose that strain KK2020170T represents a novel species, for which the name Flavobacterium okayamense sp. nov. has been proposed. The type strain is KK2020170T (= ATCC TSD-280 T = NBRC 115344 T)

A Computer-Based Glucose Management System Reduces the Incidence of Forgotten Glucose Measurements: A Retrospective Observational Study

Introduction: Frequent glucose measurements are needed for good blood glucose control in hospitals; however, this requirement means that measurements can be forgotten. We developed a novel glucose management system using an iPod and electronic health records. Methods: A time schedule system for glucose measurement was developed using point-ofcare testing, an iPod, and electronic health records. The system contains the glucose measurement schedule and an alarm sounds if a measurement is forgotten. The number of times measurements were forgotten was analyzed. Results: Approximately 7000 glucose measurements were recorded per month. Before implementation of the system, the average number of times measurements were forgotten was 4.8 times per month. This significantly decreased to 2.6 times per month after the system started. We also analyzed the incidence of forgotten glucose measurements as a proportion of the total number of measurements for each period and found a significant difference between the two 9-month periods (43/64,049–24/65,870, P = 0.014, chi-squared test). Conclusions: This computer-based blood glucose monitoring system is useful for the management of glucose monitoring in hospitals