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Background: We hypothesized that children from lower income households and in households experiencing a negative income change in connection to the global economic crisis in 2008 would be at increased risk of adverse weight status during the subsequent years of economic downturn. Methods: Data were obtained from a nationwide longitudinal survey comprising all children born during 2 weeks of 2001. For 16,403 boys and 15,206 girls, information about anthropometric measurements and household characteristics was collected from 2001 to 2011 on multiple occasions. Interactions between the crisis onset (September 2008) and household income group, as well as the crisis onset and a >30% negative income change in connection to the crisis, were assessed with respect to risk of childhood over- and underweight. Results: Adjusted for household and parental characteristics, boys and girls in the lower household income quartiles had a larger increase in risk of overweight after the crisis onset relative to their peers in the highest income group. (Odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for interaction term in boys=1.23 (1.02–1.24); girls=1.35 (1.23–1.49) comparing the lowest with the highest income group.) Among girls, an interaction between the crisis onset and a >30% negative change in household income with respect to risk of overweight was observed (odds ratio for interaction term=1.23 (1.09–1.38)). Girls from the highest income group had an increased risk of underweight after the crisis onset compared with girls from the lowest income group. Conclusions: Boys and girls from lower household income groups and girls from households experiencing a negative income change in connection to the global economic crisis in 2008, may be at increased risk of overweight. Vulnerability to economic uncertainty could increase risk of overweight in preadolescence.

We examined correlating clinical biomarkers for the physical aspect of frailty among community-dwelling older adults in Japan, using Japanese Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES). We used information from the JAGES participants (N = 3,128) who also participated in the community health screening in 2010. We grouped participants’ response to the Study of Osteoporotic Fracture (SOF) Frailty Index into robust (=0), intermediate frail (=1), and frail (=2+) ones to indicate physical aspect of frailty. Independent of sex and age, results from multinomial logistic regression showed above normal albumin and below normal HDL and haemoglobin levels were positively associated with intermediate frail (RRR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.22–3.23; RRR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.33–1.39; RRR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.23–1.51, resp.) and frail cases (RRR = 2.27, 95% CI = 1.91–2.70; RRR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.51–1.68; RRR = 1.40, 95% CI = 1.28–1.52, resp.). Limited to women, above normal Hb1Ac level was similarly associated with intermediate frail and frail cases (RRR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.02, 1.38; RRR = 2.56, 95% CI = 2.23–2.95, resp.). Use of relevant clinical biomarkers can help in assessment of older adults’ physical aspect of frailty.

New automated observation systems for use in passenger aircraft to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and other trace species have been developed and are described in this paper. The Continuous CO2 Measuring Equipment (CME) is composed mainly of a nondispersive infrared analyzer, a datalogger, and two calibration cylinders for in situ CO2 measurements. The Automatic Air Sampling Equipment (ASE), on the other hand, is designed for flask sampling; the instrument, connected to a metal bellows pump, is made up of a specially designed control board and can accommodate 12 flasks. The CME platform can be used to conduct high-frequency measurements of CO2 for obtaining a detailed spatial observation over a wide area, while ASE, despite the limited flight frequency, can provide useful distributions not only of CO2 but also various trace gas species, as well as their isotopic ratios. ASE and CME are installed on the racks in the forward cargo compartment of the aircraft and the air bypass intake is mounted on the air-conditioning duct upstream of the recirculation fan. Both sets of sampling equipment are automatically controlled through input of relevant flight parameters from the aircraft data system. Their deployment in a Boeing 747-400 aircraft was approved by the aviation regulatory agencies in the United States and Japan through issuance of the supplemental type certificate (STC), while the approval for installation of CME in a Boeing 777-200ER was also obtained via STC. First measurement results of CO2 variations obtained by CME and ASE deployed on Japan Airlines (JAL) aircraft are reported herein.

The production of diesel from vegetable oil calls for an efficient solid catalyst to make the process fully ecologically friendly. Here we describe the preparation of such a catalyst from common, inexpensive sugars. This high-performance catalyst, which consists of stable sulphonated amorphous carbon, is recyclable and its activity markedly exceeds that of other solid acid catalysts tested for 'biodiesel' production.

Background:A prospective observational study was conducted to test the hypothesis that relative deprivation was associated with incident physical or cognitive disability, independent of absolute income.Methods:Study subjects consist of 9463 non-disabled people aged 65+ years in the Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study (AGES), Aichi prefecture, Japan. Baseline mail-in survey in 2003 gathered information on income, educational attainment, lifestyle factors (smoking, alcohol consumption and health check-up) and healthcare utilisation. Three-year incidence of disability was assessed through public long-term care insurance databases and resident registry.Results:A total of 7673 subjects (81%) with complete information were analysed. Our measure of relative deprivation was the Yitzhaki index across eight reference groups, which calculates the deprivation suffered by each individual as a function of the aggregate income shortfall for each person relative to everyone else with higher incomes in that person’s reference group. Cox regression demonstrated that, after controlling for sociodemographic factors (including absolute income), the hazard ratio (and 95% confidence intervals) of incident physical/cognitive disability per one standard deviation increase in relative deprivation ranged from 1.13 (0.99 to 1.29) to 1.15 (1.01 to 1.31) in men and from 1.11 (0.94 to 1.31) to 1.18 (1.00 to 1.39) in women, depending on the definition of the reference group. Additional adjustment for lifestyle factors attenuated the hazard ratios to statistical non-significance.Conclusion:Relative deprivation may be a mechanism underlying the link between income inequality and disability in older age, at least among men. Lifestyle factors in part explain the association between relative deprivation and incident disability.

The effect of the raw materials including parent zeolite as aluminosilicate sources and organic structure-directing agents (OSDAs) on the crystallization mechanism, and physicochemical and catalytic properties of the CHA-type aluminosilicate zeolite was investigated. For this purpose, the FAU-type and the LTL-type zeolites were used as raw material, and trymethyladamantyl ammonium hydroxide and tetraethyl ammonium hydroxide were used as OSDAs. We firstly found that the CHA-type aluminosilicate zeolite was crystallized from the combination of the LTL-type zeolite and tetraethyl ammonium hydroxide as raw materials. The crystallization behaviors were also monitored in detail. The crystallization was delayed by using the LTL-type zeolite as the starting material regardless of the type of OSDA because of the low solubility of the LTL-type zeolite compared to the FAU-type zeolite. We have found that the Al distribution in the CHA framework was dependent on the raw materials. Thus, the prepared CHA-type aluminosilicate zeolite from the LTL-type zeolite exhibited a high thermal stability and catalytic performance in the methanol to olefins reaction.

Objective To assess the temporal trends in occupation specific all causes and cause specific mortality in Japan between 1980 and 2005.Design Longitudinal analysis of individual death certificates by last occupation before death. Data on population by age and occupation were derived from the population census.Setting Government records, Japan.Participants Men aged 30-59.Main outcome measures Age standardised mortality rate for all causes, all cancers, cerebrovascular disease, ischaemic heart disease, unintentional injuries, and suicide.Results Age standardised mortality rates for all causes and for the four leading causes of death (cancers, ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and unintentional injuries) steadily decreased from 1980 to 2005 among all occupations except for management and professional workers, for whom rates began to rise in the late 1990s (P<0.001). During the study period, the mortality rate was lowest in other occupations such as production/labour, clerical, and sales workers, although overall variability of the age standardised mortality rate across occupations widened. The rate for suicide rapidly increased since the late 1990s, with the greatest increase being among management and professional workers.Conclusions Occupational patterns in cause specific mortality changed dramatically in Japan during the period of its economic stagnation and resulted in the reversal of occupational patterns in mortality that have been well established in western countries. A significant negative effect on the health of management and professional workers rather than clerks and blue collar workers could be because of increased job demands and more stressful work environments and could have eliminated or even reversed the health inequality across occupations that had existed previously.

Probiotics and prebiotics are viable bacteria with beneficial effects on the host and components that selectively act on the beneficial commensal bacteria, respectively. The combined use of probiotics and prebiotics is termed synbiotics. Probiotic intake improves dysbiosis in the intestinal microbiota and can positively affect canine atopic dermatitis (CAD). However, clinical studies on improvements in CAD using synbiotics remain limited. In this study, 15 dogs with CAD who received prednisolone, a synthetic glucocorticoid (GC) used in the treatment of CAD, for more than 90 days were continuously treated with Lactobacillus paracasei M-1 from fermented food as a probiotic, and trisaccharide kestose as a prebiotic, for 90 days to determine their synbiotic effects on CAD. The CAD symptoms were evaluated using the canine atopic dermatitis lesion index (CADLI) and pruritus visual analog scores (PVAS) at 30, 60 and 90 days after synbiotic administration. The total prednisolone use for 90 days pre- and post-administration was also evaluated. Synbiotic administration significantly reduced the CADLI (pre: median, 28.0 [22.0-32.0]; 30 days: median, 20.0 [20.0-28.0]; 60 days: median, 20.0 [10.0-21.0]; 90 days: median, 12.0 [10.0-19.0]) and PVAS (pre: median, 6.0 [5.0-7.0]; 30 days: median, 3.0 [3.0-3.5]; 60 days: median, 3.0 [3.0-3.5]; 90 days: median, 2.0 [2.0-3.5]) scores, and reduced the total prednisone use over 90 days (pre: 112.0 [25-450] mg; post: 80.0 [18.-300.0] mg; p<0.001) in the 15 dogs. Thus, the synbiotic activity of L. paracasei M-1 and trisaccharide kestose can improve CAD.

Opioids, such as morphine and fentanyl, are widely used as effective analgesics for the treatment of acute and chronic pain. In addition, the opioid system has a key role in the rewarding effects of morphine, ethanol, cocaine and various other drugs. Although opioid sensitivity is well known to vary widely among individual subjects, several candidate genetic polymorphisms reported so far are not sufficient for fully understanding the wide range of interindividual differences in human opioid sensitivity. By conducting a multistage genome-wide association study (GWAS) in healthy subjects, we found that genetic polymorphisms within a linkage disequilibrium block that spans 2q33.3–2q34 were strongly associated with the requirements for postoperative opioid analgesics after painful cosmetic surgery. The C allele of the best candidate single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs2952768, was associated with more analgesic requirements, and consistent results were obtained in patients who underwent abdominal surgery. In addition, carriers of the C allele in this SNP exhibited less vulnerability to severe drug dependence in patients with methamphetamine dependence, alcohol dependence, and eating disorders and a lower ‘Reward Dependence’ score on a personality questionnaire in healthy subjects. Furthermore, the C/C genotype of this SNP was significantly associated with the elevated expression of a neighboring gene, CREB1 . These results show that SNPs in this locus are the most potent genetic factors associated with human opioid sensitivity known to date, affecting both the efficacy of opioid analgesics and liability to severe substance dependence. Our findings provide valuable information for the personalized treatment of pain and drug dependence.