- 著者
- Tatsuhiko Anzai Keisuke Fukui Tsubasa Ito Yuri Ito Kunihiko Takahashi
- 出版者
- Japan Epidemiological Association
- 雑誌
- Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- pp.JE20200443, (Released:2020-12-12)
- 参考文献数
- 34
- 被引用文献数
- 2 26
Background: Suicide amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is an important issue. In Japan, the number of suicides in April 2020 decreased by nearly 20% from that in 2019. To assess the impact of an infectious disease pandemic, excess mortality is often discussed. Our main purpose was evaluating excess mortality from suicide in Japan during the early pandemic period.Methods: We used data on suicides collected by the National Police Agency of Japan until June 2020. We estimated excess mortality during the early pandemic period (March–June 2020) using a time-series model of the number of suicides before the pandemic. A quasi-Poisson model was employed for the estimation. We evaluated excess mortalities by the categories of age and sex, and prefectures.Results: No significant excess mortality was observed throughout the early pandemic; instead, a downward trend in the number of suicides for both sexes was noted. For males, negative values of excess mortalities below the lower bound of the 95% prediction interval were observed in April and May. All numbers of females during the period were included in the interval, and the excess mortalities in June were positive and higher than those in April and May. In Tokyo, the number of suicides was below the lower bound throughout the period.Conclusion: Our results suggest that various changes such as communication, and social conditions amid the early COVID-19 pandemic induced a decrease in suicides in Japan. However, continuous monitoring is needed to evaluate the long-term effects of the pandemic on suicides.
- 著者
- Kohtaro Kikuchi Tatsuhiko Anzai Kunihiko Takahashi
- 出版者
- Japan Epidemiological Association
- 雑誌
- Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- pp.JE20220186, (Released:2022-10-15)
- 参考文献数
- 27
- 被引用文献数
- 5
Background: Japan has witnessed an unusual increase in the number of suicides among women during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. An analysis is required to identify the influencing factors during the pandemic and develop new measures for preventing suicides.Methods: Data on the number of monthly suicides were collected from the National Police Agency of Japan. The expected number of suicides among women during the pandemic was estimated using a time-series model based on pre-pandemic data, considering year-to-year trends. The observation-to-expectation (O/E) ratio of suicides was estimated from March 2020 to October 2021 using job status, suicide motive, and age.Results: The number of suicides among women in Japan increased beyond the expected number until October 2021. The O/E ratio based on job status, suicide motive, and age (except self-employed, unknown job status, and women ≥80 years) was significantly above 1.0 from March–December 2020, and the increase in suicides continued in almost all categories in 2021.Conclusion: Although several reasons were reported for increased suicides among women in Japan during the pandemic (e.g., economic downturn, financial instability, and loneliness), suicides increased irrespective of job status, suicide motive, or age. The preventive measures for suicide without omission might have been important during the pandemic, as opposed to limiting interventions to the reported specific aspects.
- 著者
- Kunihiko Takahashi Hideto Takahashi Tomoki Nakaya Seiji Yasumura Tetsuya Ohira Hitoshi Ohto Akira Ohtsuru Sanae Midorikawa Shinichi Suzuki Hiroki Shimura Shunichi Yamashita Koichi Tanigawa Kenji Kamiya
- 出版者
- Japan Epidemiological Association
- 雑誌
- Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- pp.JE20180247, (Released:2019-06-15)
- 参考文献数
- 20
- 被引用文献数
- 3
Background: After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, a preliminary ultrasound-based screening for thyroid cancer was conducted to establish a baseline for subsequent evaluations. In this survey, we assessed the relationship between the proportion of non-examinees and characteristics of the target populations.Methods: After summarizing a regional difference of non-examinees among the population of 359,200 (primary evaluation) and 2,246 (confirmatory testing) individuals who were living in the Fukushima prefecture on 11 March 2011, we estimated odds ratios (ORs) for each characteristic including age, sex, area of residence, and moving after the accident, based on the proportion of non-examinees for the primary examination and the confirmatory testing, using a multivariate logistic regression model.Results: The dataset included 64,117 non-examinees (primary evaluation) and 194 (confirmatory testing). The logistic regression result indicated that girls were not likely to be non-examinees compared to boys with adjusted OR of 0.80 (95% confidence interval[CI]:0.78-0.81) for the primary evaluation. OR was the lowest for children 6-10 years old (y/o) (OR=0.26, CI:0.25-0.27), and higher for those 11-15 y/o (OR=1.28, CI:1.25-1.32) and over 16 y/o (OR=5.30, CI:5.16-5.43) when compared to children 0-5 y/o. Individuals residing in the western part of the prefecture showed higher ORs. There was a higher proportion of non-examinees among those who moved after the accident compared to those who did not in the primary evaluation (OR=1.72, CI:1.64-1.79).Conclusions: In addition to the demographic characteristics, a change of residence could be a potential factor that influenced the proportion of non-examinees. Our results will help proper interpretation of reports and prospective management of the survey.
- 著者
- Tomoki Nakaya Kunihiko Takahashi Hideto Takahashi Seiji Yasumura Tetsuya Ohira Hiroki Shimura Satoru Suzuki Satoshi Suzuki Manabu Iwadate Susumu Yokoya Hitoshi Ohto Kenji Kamiya
- 出版者
- Japan Epidemiological Association
- 雑誌
- Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.32, no.Supplement_XII, pp.S76-S83, 2022-12-05 (Released:2022-12-05)
- 参考文献数
- 31
- 被引用文献数
- 2 4
Background: After the first-round (Preliminary Baseline Survey) ultrasound-based examination for thyroid cancer in response to the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011, two rounds of surveys (Full-scale Survey) have been carried out in Fukushima Prefecture. Using the data from these surveys, the geographical distribution of thyroid cancer incidence over 6 or 7 years after the disaster was examined.Methods: Children and adolescents who underwent the ultrasound-based examinations in the second- and/or third-round (Full-scale) survey in addition to the first-round survey were included. With a discrete survival model, we computed age, sex, and body mass index standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) for municipalities. Then, we employed spatial statistics to assess geographic clustering tendency in SIRs and Poisson regression to assess the association of SIRs with the municipal average absorbed dose to the thyroid gland at the 59-municipality level.Results: Throughout the second- and third-round surveys, 99 thyroid cancer cases were diagnosed in the study population of 252,502 individuals. Both flexibly shaped spatial scan statistics and maximized excess events test did not detect statistically significant spatial clustering (P = 0.17 and 0.54, respectively). Poisson regression showed no significant dose-response relationship: the estimated relative risks of lowest, middle-low, middle-high, and highest areas were 1.16 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52–2.59), 0.55 (95% CI, 0.31–0.97), 1.05 (95% CI, 0.79–1.40), and 1.24 (95% CI, 0.89–1.74).Conclusion: There was no statistical support for geographic clustering or regional association with radiation dose measures of the thyroid cancer incidence in the cohort followed up to the third-round survey (fiscal years 2016–2017) in Fukushima Prefecture.
- 著者
- Shrabanti Dev Hiroyuki Mizuguchi Asish K. Das Chiyo Matsushita Kazutaka Maeyama Hayato Umehara Takayuki Ohtoshi Jun Kojima Kiyotaka Nishida Kunihiko Takahashi Hiroyuki Fukui
- 出版者
- The Japanese Pharmacological Society
- 雑誌
- Journal of Pharmacological Sciences (ISSN:13478613)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.107, no.2, pp.159-166, 2008 (Released:2008-06-20)
- 参考文献数
- 35
- 被引用文献数
- 26 29
It has been shown that probiotic bacteria are effective for the treatment of allergic diseases. As histamine plays a central role in allergic diseases, it is possible that probiotic bacteria affect the allergy-related histamine signaling. Here, we investigated the effect of Lac-B, a mixture of freeze-dried Bifidobacterium infantis and Bifidobacterium longum, on the allergy-related histamine signaling. In the nasal allergy model rats made by sensitization and provocation with toluene 2,4-diisocyanate (TDI) for 3 weeks, TDI provocation caused acute allergy–like behaviors along with significant up-regulation of histamine H1 receptor (H1R) and histidine decarboxylase (HDC) mRNA expression, increased HDC activity, histamine content, and [3H]mepyramine binding activity in nasal mucosa. Prolonged treatment with Lac-B (40 mg/rat, p.o.) significantly suppressed both the allergy-like behaviors and all of the above mentioned factors involved in histamine signaling. Our findings indicate that oral administration of Lac-B showed significant anti-allergic effect through suppression of both H1R and HDC gene expression followed by decrease in H1R, HDC protein level, and histamine content. Suppression of histamine signaling may be a novel target of probiotics in preventing allergic diseases.
- 著者
- Kohtaro Kikuchi Tatsuhiko Anzai Kunihiko Takahashi
- 出版者
- Japan Epidemiological Association
- 雑誌
- Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.33, no.1, pp.45-51, 2023-01-05 (Released:2023-01-05)
- 参考文献数
- 27
- 被引用文献数
- 5
Background: Japan has witnessed an unusual increase in the number of suicides among women during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. An analysis is required to identify the influencing factors during the pandemic and develop new measures for preventing suicides.Methods: Data on the number of monthly suicides were collected from the National Police Agency of Japan. The expected number of suicides among women during the pandemic was estimated using a time-series model based on pre-pandemic data, considering year-to-year trends. The observed-to-expected (O/E) ratio of suicides was estimated from March 2020 to October 2021 using job status, suicide motive, and age.Results: The number of suicides among women in Japan increased beyond the expected number until October 2021. The O/E ratio based on job status, suicide motive, and age (except self-employed, unknown job status, and women aged ≥80 years) was significantly above 1.0 from March–December 2020, and the increase in suicides continued in almost all categories in 2021.Conclusion: Although several reasons were reported for increased suicides among women in Japan during the pandemic (eg, economic downturn, financial instability, and loneliness), suicides increased irrespective of job status, suicide motive, or age. Comprehensive measures to prevent suicide might have been important during the pandemic, instead of limiting interventions to the reported specific population.
- 著者
- Tatsuhiko Anzai Keisuke Fukui Tsubasa Ito Yuri Ito Kunihiko Takahashi
- 出版者
- Japan Epidemiological Association
- 雑誌
- Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.31, no.2, pp.152-156, 2021-02-05 (Released:2021-02-05)
- 参考文献数
- 34
- 被引用文献数
- 26
Background: Suicide amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is an important issue. In Japan, the number of suicides in April 2020 decreased by nearly 20% from that in 2019. To assess the impact of an infectious disease pandemic, excess mortality is often discussed. Our main purpose was evaluating excess mortality from suicide in Japan during the early pandemic period.Methods: We used data on suicides collected by the National Police Agency of Japan until June 2020. We estimated excess mortality during the early pandemic period (March–June 2020) using a time-series model of the number of suicides before the pandemic. A quasi-Poisson model was employed for the estimation. We evaluated excess mortalities by the categories of age and sex, and by prefecture.Results: No significant excess mortality was observed throughout the early pandemic; instead, a downward trend in the number of suicides for both sexes was noted. For males, negative values of excess mortalities below the lower bound of the 95% prediction interval were observed in April and May. All numbers of females during the period were included in the interval, and the excess mortalities in June were positive and higher than those in April and May. In Tokyo, the number of suicides was below the lower bound throughout the period.Conclusion: Our results suggest that various changes, such as communication, and social conditions amid the early COVID-19 pandemic induced a decrease in suicides in Japan. However, continuous monitoring is needed to evaluate the long-term effects of the pandemic on suicides.
- 著者
- Hiroaki Ichimori Shigetoyo Kogaki Kunihiko Takahashi Hidekazu Ishida Jun Narita Nobutoshi Nawa Hiroki Baden Toshiki Uchikawa Yoko Okada Keiichi Ozono
- 出版者
- 日本循環器学会
- 雑誌
- Circulation Journal (ISSN:13469843)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- pp.CJ-12-0997, (Released:2013-05-18)
- 参考文献数
- 37
- 被引用文献数
- 5 8
Background: To investigate the possible role of sex hormones in the pathogenesis of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), the effect of β-estradiol (E2) on bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling, a key signaling pathway involved in PAH, was studied in human pulmonary arterial endothelial cells (HPAEC). Methods and Results: BMP signaling molecules, including BMP receptor, Smad1/5/8 and Id1, were studied in HPAEC under 1% O2 (hypoxia) and 21% O2 (normoxia) as well as the effect of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α expression in the presence of E2 on BMP signaling. The effects of an estrogen receptor (ER) antagonist (ICI 182,780) and cycloheximide, and the interaction of ER with Smad or HIF-1α were also studied. In the presence of E2, BMP signaling was augmented under normoxia but suppressed under hypoxia. HIF-1α accumulation suppressed BMP signaling, whereas HIF-1α inhibition augmented signaling. These effects were cancelled by ICI 182,780. Moreover, binding between ER, HIF-1α and phosphorylated (p)-Smad1/5/8 proteins occurred only under hypoxia. On inhibition of de novo synthesis with cycloheximide, however, p-Smad1/5/8 expression was suppressed only under normoxia. Conclusions: The effects of E2 on BMP signaling in HPAEC altered depending on O2 concentration and different mechanisms may be involved. BMP and sex hormones may play an important role in PAH development.