著者

Daisuke Yoneoka Takayuki Kawashima Yuta Tanoue Shuhei Nomura Keisuke Ejima Shoi Shi Akifumi Eguchi Toshibumi Taniguchi Haruka Sakamoto Hiroyuki Kunishima Stuart Gilmour Hiroshi Nishiura Hiroaki Miyata

出版者

Japan Epidemiological Association

雑誌

Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.JE20200150, (Released:2020-05-30)

参考文献数

23

被引用文献数

34

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BackgroundThe World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) to be a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Large-scale monitoring for capturing the current epidemiological situation of COVID-19 in Japan would improve preparation for and prevention of a massive outbreak.MethodsA chatbot-based healthcare system named COOPERA (COvid-19: Operation for Personalized Empowerment to Render smart prevention And care seeking) was developed using the LINE app to evaluate the current Japanese epidemiological situation. LINE users could participate in the system either though a QR code page in the prefecture’s website, or a banner at the top of the LINE app screen. COOPERA asked participants questions regarding personal information, preventive actions, and non-specific symptoms related to COVID-19 and their duration. We calculated daily cross correlation functions between the reported number of infected cases confirmed by PCR and the symptom-positive group captured by COOPERA.ResultsWe analyzed 206,218 participants from three prefectures reported between March 5 and 30, 2020. The mean (standard deviation) age of participants was 44.2 (13.2). No symptoms were reported by 96.93% of participants, but there was a significantly positive correlation between the reported number of COVID-19 cases and self-reported fevers, suggesting that massive monitoring of fever might help to estimate the scale of the COVID-19 epidemic in real time.ConclusionsCOOPERA is the first real-time system being used to monitor trends in COVID-19 in Japan, and provides useful insights to assist political decisions to tackle the epidemic.

著者

Akifumi Eguchi Hidenobu Miyaso Chisato Mori

出版者

日本毒性学会

雑誌

The Journal of Toxicological Sciences (ISSN:03881350)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.41, no.5, pp.667-675, 2016-10-01 (Released:2016-09-24)

参考文献数

52

被引用文献数

9

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The toxicity of decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) has been reported in several studies. However, there is not much known about the toxicological biomarkers that characterize BDE-209 exposure. In this study, we subcutaneously exposed mice to 0.025 mg/kg/day BDE-209 on postnatal days 1‑5 and sacrificed the animals at 12 weeks of age (day 84). Flow injection analysis and hydrophilic interaction chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry were used to determine the serum metabolomes of these mice in order to characterize the effects of BDE-209 exposure. Data analysis showed a good separation between control and exposed mice (R2 = 0.953, Q2 = 0.728, and ANOVA of the cross‑validated residuals (CV‑ANOVA): P‑value = 0.0317) and 54 metabolites were identified as altered in the exposed animals. These were selected using variable importance (VIP) and loadings scaled by a correlation coefficient criteria and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS‑DA). BDE‑209‑exposed mice showed lower levels of long-chain acylcarnitines and citrate cycle-related metabolites, and higher levels of some amino acids, long-chain phospholipids, and short-chain acylcarnitines. The disruption of fatty acid, carbohydrate, and amino acid metabolism observed in the serum metabolome might be related to the previously observed impaired spermatogenesis in mice with early postnatal exposure to a low dose of BDE-209.

著者

Shuhei Nomura Marisa Nishio Sarah Krull Abe Akifumi Eguchi Manami Inoue Motoi Suzuki Masahiro Hashizume

出版者

Japan Epidemiological Association

雑誌

Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.JE20230235, (Released:2023-10-21)

参考文献数

23

被引用文献数

1

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IntroductionThe Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted end-of-life decisions for cancer patients in Japan, with disparities existing between preferred and actual care settings. Our study investigates the potential shifts in cancer death locations during the pandemic and if there were excess cancer deaths.MethodsUtilizing national mortality data from the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare from January 2012 to February 2023, we identified cancer deaths using ICD-10 codes. We assessed death locations, including medical institutions, nursing facilities, and homes. The Farrington algorithm was employed to estimate expected death counts, and the differences between observed and expected counts were denoted as excess deaths.ResultsFrom January 2018 to February 2023, there was consistently increase in the weekly observed cancer deaths. The presence of a definitive excess during the pandemic period remains uncertain. The percentage of deaths in medical institutions declined from 83.3% to 70.1% , while home deaths increased from 12.1% to 22.9%. Between April 2020 and February 2023, deaths in medical institutions frequently fell below the 95% prediction lower limit. Home deaths consistently exceeded the 95% prediction upper limit, with significant excess deaths reported annually.ConclusionOur study found a shift in cancer death locations from medical institutions to homes in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study did not confirm an overall increase in cancer deaths during this period. As with global trends, the profound shift from hospitals to homes in Japan calls for a comprehensive exploration to grasp the pandemic's multifaceted impact on end-of-life cancer care decisions.

著者

Cyrus Ghaznavi Daisuke Yoneoka Yuta Tanoue Stuart Gilmour Takayuki Kawashima Akifumi Eguchi Yumi Kawamura Hiroaki Miyata Shuhei Nomura

出版者

Japan Epidemiological Association

雑誌

Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.JE20220064, (Released:2022-07-02)

参考文献数

32

被引用文献数

10

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BackgroundIncreases in human mobility have been linked to rises in COVID-19 transmission. The pandemic era in Japan has been characterized by changes in inter-prefectural mobility across state of emergency declarations (SOE) and travel campaigns, but they have yet to be characterized.MethodsUsing Yahoo Japan mobility data extracted from the smartphones of more than 10 million Japanese residents, we calculated the monthly number of inter-prefectural travel instances, stratified by residential prefecture and destination prefecture. We then used this adjacency matrix to calculate two network connectedness metrics, closeness centrality and effective distance, that reliably predict disease transmission.ResultsInter-prefectural mobility and network connectedness decreased most considerably during the first SOE, but this decrease dampened with each successive SOE. Mobility and network connectedness increased during the Go To Travel campaign. Travel volume between distant prefectures decreased more than travel between prefectures with geographic proximity. Closeness centrality was found to be negatively correlated with the rate of COVID-19 infection across prefectures, with the strength of this association increasing in tandem with the infection rate. Changes in effective distance were more visible among geographically isolated prefectures (Hokkaido and Okinawa) than among metropolitan, central prefectures (Tokyo, Aichi, Osaka, and Fukuoka).ConclusionsThe magnitude of reductions in human mobility decreased with each subsequent state of emergency, consistent with pandemic fatigue. The association between network connectedness and rates of COVID-19 infection remained visible throughout the entirety of the pandemic period, suggesting that inter-prefectural mobility may have contributed to disease spread.

著者

Daisuke Yoneoka Takayuki Kawashima Yuta Tanoue Shuhei Nomura Keisuke Ejima Shoi Shi Akifumi Eguchi Toshibumi Taniguchi Haruka Sakamoto Hiroyuki Kunishima Stuart Gilmour Hiroshi Nishiura Hiroaki Miyata

出版者

Japan Epidemiological Association

雑誌

Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.30, no.8, pp.362-370, 2020-08-05 (Released:2020-08-05)

参考文献数

23

被引用文献数

34

---

Background: The World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) to be a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Large-scale monitoring for capturing the current epidemiological situation of COVID-19 in Japan would improve preparation for and prevention of a massive outbreak.Methods: A chatbot-based healthcare system named COOPERA (COvid-19: Operation for Personalized Empowerment to Render smart prevention And care seeking) was developed using the LINE app to evaluate the current Japanese epidemiological situation. LINE users could participate in the system either though a QR code page in the prefectures’ websites or a banner at the top of the LINE app screen. COOPERA asked participants questions regarding personal information, preventive actions, and non-specific symptoms related to COVID-19 and their duration. We calculated daily cross correlation functions between the reported number of infected cases confirmed using polymerase chain reaction and the symptom-positive group captured by COOPERA.Results: We analyzed 206,218 participants from three prefectures reported between March 5 and 30, 2020. The mean age of participants was 44.2 (standard deviation, 13.2) years. No symptoms were reported by 96.93% of participants, but there was a significantly positive correlation between the reported number of COVID-19 cases and self-reported fevers, suggesting that massive monitoring of fever might help to estimate the scale of the COVID-19 epidemic in real time.Conclusions: COOPERA is the first real-time system being used to monitor trends in COVID-19 in Japan and provides useful insights to assist political decisions to tackle the epidemic.

著者

Kodai MOTOHIRA Yared Beyene YOHANNES Yoshinori IKENAKA Akifumi EGUCHI Shouta MM NAKAYAMA Victor WEPENER Nico J SMIT Johan HJ VAN VUREN Mayumi ISHIZUKA

出版者

JAPANESE SOCIETY OF VETERINARY SCIENCE

雑誌

Journal of Veterinary Medical Science (ISSN:09167250)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.85, no.2, pp.236-243, 2023 (Released:2023-02-21)

参考文献数

52

被引用文献数

2

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Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is an organochlorine insecticide used worldwide. Several studies have reported the toxic effects of DDT and its metabolites on steroid hormone biosynthesis; however, its environmental effects are not well understood. This study examined wild rats collected in DDT-sprayed areas of South Africa and quantified plasma metabolites using liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-Q-TOF-MS). Fold change analysis of the metabolome revealed the effect of DDT on bile acid biosynthesis. Gene expression of the related enzyme in rat liver samples was also quantified. Significant association was found between DDT and gene expression levels related to constitutive androstane receptor mediated enzymes, such as Cyp2b1 in rat livers. However, our results could not fully demonstrate that enzymes related to bile acid biosynthesis were strongly affected by DDT. The correlation between DDT concentration and gene expression involved in steroid hormone synthesis in testis was also evaluated; however, no significant correlation was found. The disturbance of metabolic enzymes occurred in rat liver in the target area. Our results suggest that DDT exposure affects gene expression in wild rats living in DDT-sprayed areas. Therefore, there is a need for DDT toxicity evaluation in mammals living in DDT-sprayed areas. We could not find an effective biomarker that could reflect the mechanism of DDT exposure; however, this approach can provide new insights for future research to evaluate DDT effects in sprayed areas.

著者

Cyrus Ghaznavi Daisuke Yoneoka Yuta Tanoue Stuart Gilmour Takayuki Kawashima Akifumi Eguchi Yumi Kawamura Hiroaki Miyata Shuhei Nomura

出版者

Japan Epidemiological Association

雑誌

Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.32, no.11, pp.510-518, 2022-11-05 (Released:2022-11-05)

参考文献数

32

被引用文献数

2 10

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Background: Increases in human mobility have been linked to rises in novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission. The pandemic era in Japan has been characterized by changes in inter-prefectural mobility across state of emergency (SOE) declarations and travel campaigns, but they have yet to be characterized.Methods: Using Yahoo Japan mobility data extracted from the smartphones of more than 10 million Japanese residents, we calculated the monthly number of inter-prefectural travel instances, stratified by residential prefecture and destination prefecture. We then used this adjacency matrix to calculate two network connectedness metrics, closeness centrality and effective distance, that reliably predict disease transmission.Results: Inter-prefectural mobility and network connectedness decreased most considerably during the first SOE, but this decrease dampened with each successive SOE. Mobility and network connectedness increased during the Go To Travel campaign. Travel volume between distant prefectures decreased more than travel between prefectures with geographic proximity. Closeness centrality was found to be negatively correlated with the rate of COVID-19 infection across prefectures, with the strength of this association increasing in tandem with the infection rate. Changes in effective distance were more visible among geographically isolated prefectures (Hokkaido and Okinawa) than among metropolitan, central prefectures (Tokyo, Aichi, Osaka, and Fukuoka).Conclusion: The magnitude of reductions in human mobility decreased with each subsequent state of emergency, consistent with pandemic fatigue. The association between network connectedness and rates of COVID-19 infection remained visible throughout the entirety of the pandemic period, suggesting that inter-prefectural mobility may have contributed to disease spread.

著者

Kiwao KADOKAMI Takashi MIYAWAKI Katsumi IWABUCHI Sokichi TAKAGI Fumie ADACHI Haruka IIDA Kimiyo WATANABE Yuki KOSUGI Toshinari SUZUKI Shinichiro NAGAHORA Ruriko TAHARA Tomoaki ORIHARA Akifumi EGUCHI

出版者

Japan Society for Environmental Chemistry

雑誌

Environmental Monitoring and Contaminants Research (ISSN:24357685)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.1, pp.1-16, 2021 (Released:2021-03-05)

参考文献数

58

被引用文献数

6

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With the increasing number and volume of chemicals used in modern life, their adverse effects on human health and aquatic organisms have increased concerns as well. To formulate appropriate management plans, the amounts/volumes used and emitted of these chemicals must be regulated. However, no data are available on the use of most chemicals, particularly daily-use chemicals such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). Herein, we tested eight activated sludge wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) across Japan, each servicing populations of over 200,000, to investigate the emissions of 484 chemicals including 162 PPCPs. Twenty-four-hour composite samples were collected before and after the activated sludge component of treatment in each season of 2017. Targeted substances were solid-phase extracted and subsequently measured by LC-QTOF-MS-Sequential Window Acquisition of All Theoretical Fragment-Ion Spectra Acquisition. The mean number of the detected substances and their mean total concentrations in inflows (n=32) and outflows (n=32) were 87 and 92 and 108,517 and 31,537 ng L−1, respectively. Pharmaceuticals comprised 50% of the screened chemicals in the inflow. The median removal efficiency was 31.3%: 29.2% for pharmaceuticals and 20.2% for pesticides, which were similar to those in the literature. Cluster analysis showed that spatial differences among the WWTPs are larger than seasonal differences in the same WWTP. Regardless, we detected seasonal differences in the amounts of substances in the inflows: the amounts of sucralose, UV-filters, and insecticides were larger in summer than in winter, whereas those of ibuprofen and chlorpheniramine were larger in winter than in summer. The total inflow and outflow population equivalent loads estimated using wastewater volume, detected concentrations, and populations were 44.7 and 13.0 g 1,000 capita−1 d−1, respectively. The extrapolated total annual Japan-wide inflow and outflow loads were 2,079 and 671 tons y−1, respectively. Using the data obtained in this study, we identified 13 candidates of marker substances for estimating real-time population in a sewage treatment area and 22 candidates of marker substances for sewage contamination.