著者

Hisanori Fukunaga Hiromi Kumakawa

出版者

東北ジャーナル刊行会

雑誌

The Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine (ISSN:00408727)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.237, no.1, pp.41-43, 2015 (Released:2015-09-01)

参考文献数

6

被引用文献数

1 10

---

The great earthquake of 11 March 2011 and resulting tsunami caused serious damage to various areas of the Pacific coast in northeast Fukushima, and all the residents faced fears of meltdown of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. One of the most seriously affected areas was the district of Soso, located in the northeast part of Fukushima prefecture, with 12 municipalities (Soma City, Minamisoma City, Shinchi Town, Namie Town, Futaba Town, Ōkuma Town, Tomioka Town, Naraha Town, Hirono Town, Iitate Village, Katsurao Village and Kawauchi Village). The district of Soso is home to approximately 200,000 residents, many of whom were seriously affected by the threefold disaster. During the subsequent four years, the population of Soso decreased by nearly 10%. In March 2011 before the disaster, five hospitals and two clinics for psychiatric patients, along with 712 inpatients, were operating in the district of Soso. However, as of March 2015, there were only one hospital and three clinics, along with approximately 50 inpatients, although a new mental health clinic in Soma City was opened in 2012 for supporting victims suffering from the disaster. We hereby suggest that the patients and residents of northeast Fukushima may be undergoing mental health crisis. In fact, disaster-related psychological stress could have induced several physical and mental disorders. The mid- and long-term supports are urgently needed not only for psychiatric patients but also for all residents in the district of Soso.

著者

Hisanori Fukunaga Akinari Yokoya Yasuyuki Taki Kevin M. Prise

出版者

Tohoku University Medical Press

雑誌

The Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine (ISSN:00408727)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.242, no.1, pp.77-81, 2017 (Released:2017-05-27)

参考文献数

32

被引用文献数

6

---

On March 11, 2011, a devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami caused serious damage to areas of the Pacific coast in Fukushima prefecture and prompted fears among the residents about a possible meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant reactors. As of 2017, over six years have passed since the Fukushima nuclear crisis and yet the full ramifications of the biological exposures to this accidental release of radioactive substances remain unclear. Furthermore, although several genetic studies have determined that the variation in radiation sensitivity among different individuals is wider than expected, personalized medical approaches for Fukushima victims have seemed to be insufficient. In this commentary, we discuss radiobiological issues arising from low-dose radiation exposure, from the cell-based to the population level. We also introduce the scientific utility of the Integrative Japanese Genome Variation Database (iJGVD), an online database released by the Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University that covered the whole genome sequences of 2,049 healthy individuals in the northeastern part of Japan in 2016. Here we propose a personalized radiation risk assessment and medical approach, which considers the genetic variation of radiation sensitivity among individuals, for next-step developments in radiological protection.