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"Tanaka, Hirokazu"
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Twelve-year-old Akira must take care of his younger siblings after they are abandoned by their mother and left to fend for themselves in a Tokyo apartment.
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Group task-related component analysis (gTRCA): a multivariate method for inter-trial reproducibility and inter-subject similarity maximization for EEG data analysis
EEG is known to contain considerable inter-trial and inter-subject variability, which poses a challenge in any group-level EEG analyses. A true experimental effect must be reproducible even with variabilities in trials, sessions, and subjects. Extracting components that are reproducible across trials and subjects benefits both understanding common mechanisms in neural processing of cognitive functions and building robust brain-computer interfaces. This study extends our previous method (task-related component analysis, TRCA) by maximizing not only trial-by-trial reproducibility within single subjects but also similarity across a group of subjects, hence referred to as group TRCA (gTRCA). The problem of maximizing reproducibility of time series across trials and subjects is formulated as a generalized eigenvalue problem. We applied gTRCA to EEG data recorded from 35 subjects during a steady-state visual-evoked potential (SSVEP) experiment. The results revealed: (1) The group-representative data computed by gTRCA showed higher and consistent spectral peaks than other conventional methods; (2) Scalp maps obtained by gTRCA showed estimated source locations consistently within the occipital lobe; And (3) the high-dimensional features extracted by gTRCA are consistently mapped to a low-dimensional space. We conclude that gTRCA offers a framework for group-level EEG data analysis and brain-computer interfaces alternative in complement to grand averaging.
Journal Article
Widening Socioeconomic Inequalities in Smoking in Japan, 2001–2016
Background: Japan is one of the world’s largest tobacco epidemic countries but few studies have focused on socioeconomic inequalities. We aimed to examine whether socioeconomic inequalities in smoking have reduced in Japan in recent times. Methods: We analyzed data from the Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions, a large nationally representative survey conducted every 3 years (n ≈ 700,000 per year) in Japan, during 2001–2016. Age-standardized smoking prevalence was computed based on occupational class and educational level. We calculated smoking prevalence difference (PD) and ratio (PR) of (a) manual workers versus upper non-manual workers and (b) low versus high educational level. The slope index of inequality (SII) and relative index inequality (RII) by educational level were used as inequality measures. Results: Overall smoking prevalence (25–64 years) decreased from 56.0% to 38.4% among men and from 17.0% to 13.0% among women during 2001–2016. The PD between manual and upper non-manual workers (25–64 years) increased from 11.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 11.0–12.9%) to 14.6% (95% CI, 13.5–15.6%) during 2001–2016. In 2016, smoking prevalence (25–64 years) for low, middle, and highly educated individuals were 57.8%, 43.9%, and 27.8% for men, and 34.7%, 15.9%, and 5.6% for women, respectively. SII and RII by educational level increased among both sexes. Larger socioeconomic differences in smoking prevalence were observed in younger generations, which suggests that socioeconomic inequalities in smoking evolve in a cohort pattern. Conclusions: Socioeconomic inequalities in smoking widened between 2001 and 2016 in Japan, which indicates that health inequalities will continue to exist in near future.
Journal Article
Cross-correlation task-related component analysis (xTRCA) for enhancing evoked and induced responses of event-related potentials
We propose an analysis method that extracts trial-reproducible (i.e., recurring) event-related spatiotemporal EEG patterns by optimizing a spatial filter as well as trial timings of task-related components in the time domain simultaneously in a unified manner. Event-related responses are broadly categorized into evoked and induced responses, but those are analyzed commonly in the time and the time-frequency domain, respectively. To facilitate a comparison of evoked and induced responses, a unified method for analyzing both evoked and induced responses is desired. Here we propose a method of cross-correlation task-related component analysis (xTRCA) as an extension of our previous method. xTRCA constructs a linear spatial filter and then optimizes trial timings of single trials based on trial reproducibility as an objective function. The spatial filter enhances event-related responses, and the temporal optimization compensates trial-by-trial latencies that are inherent to ERPs. We first applied xTRCA to synthetic data of induced responses whose phases varied from trial to trial, and found that xTRCA could realign the induced responses by compensating the phase differences. We then demonstrated with mismatch negativity data that xTRCA enhanced the event-related-potential waveform observed at a single channel. Finally, a classification accuracy was improved when trial timings were optimized by xTRCA, suggesting a practical application of the method for a brain computer interface. We conclude that xTRCA provides a unified framework to analyze and enhance event-related evoked and induced responses in the time domain by objectively maximizing trial reproducibility.
•A unified analysis method both for evoked and induced EEG responses is proposed.•Both spatial filter and trial timings are optimized for maximal trial reproducibility.•Spatial filtering extracts a trial-reproducible component by weighted averaging.•Trial timings are optimized to increase temporal overlaps of event-related responses.•The proposed method sharpens and enhances event-related responses.
Journal Article
Occupational differences in SARS-CoV-2 infection: the Japan COVID-19 and Society Internet Survey (JACSIS) study in 2022
Background
During the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, essential workers (e.g. medical workers) may be at a high prevalence of contracting COVID-19; however, the trend remains unclear in Japan. This study aimed to investigate occupational differences in the prevalence of COVID-19.
Methods
Data were retrieved from the 2022 Japan COVID-19 and Society Internet Survey. We analyzed the self-reported SARS-CoV-2 infection as of October 2022. We included 21,875 participants aged 20–64 years. Participants were classified into five occupation groups (“medical workers,” “off-site medical workers,” “care workers,” “other essential workers”, and “non-essential workers”), as well as those unemployed. The prevalence ratio of COVID-19 was computed using Poisson regression. We included sex, age, SARS-CoV-2 vaccination history, number of households, education level, and residential area as covariates. Additionally, we performed similar analyses for three time periods: (1) August–September 2022, (2) October 2021 to July 2022, and (3) before September 2021.
Results
The overall cumulative prevalence of COVID-19, as of October 2022, was 16.5%. Regarding occupation, medical workers had a higher prevalence than non-essential workers (23.5% vs 16.2% (difference: 7.2% point [95% confidence interval (CI): 4.2–10.2])). Similar results were observed among care workers compared with non-essential workers (22.1% vs 16.2% (difference: 5.9% point [95% CI: 2.5%–9.3%])). Other essential workers had a similar prevalence to non-essential workers (17.6% vs 16.2% (difference: 1.4% point [95% CI: -0.1%–2.8%]). In relative terms, medical workers and care workers were associated with an increased prevalence of COVID-19 (prevalence ratio: 1.44 [95% CI: 1.20–1.73] and 1.36 [95% CI: 1.11–1.66], respectively). In addition, we found that younger age, living in endemic region (e.g., Tokyo and Osaka), and living with more than four people contributed to the higher prevalence. According to the time period, the prevalence was significantly higher in medical and care workers than in non-essential workers only during August–September 2022, which corresponded to the severest outbreak period in Japan.
Conclusions
In Japan, medical and care workers had a higher prevalence of contracting COVID-19 compared to non-essential workers. However, this trend emerged during the peak of the COVID-19 spreading in the summer of 2022.
Journal Article
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality trends in Japan: a reversal in 2021? A descriptive analysis of national mortality data, 1995–2021
ObjectiveThe COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in mortality in most countries in 2020, deviating from prior decreasing trends. In Japan, however, mortality was suggested to decrease in 2020. This study investigated long-term mortality trends and cause-specific contributions, focusing on the period of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.DesignWe analysed Japanese age-standardised mortality rates (ASMRs) from 1995 to 2021 using vital statistics.Main outcome measuresThe cause-specific annual ASMR changes were calculated in comparison with the previous year over the abovementioned period.ResultsThere was a general downward trend in overall ASMR for both sexes until 2020 followed by a small increase in 2021. In men, the all-cause ASMR (per 100 000 persons) decreased from 1352.3 to 1328.8 in 2020 (−1.74% from 2019), and increased to 1356.3 in 2021 in men (+2.07% from 2020). In women, the all-cause ASMR decreased from 746.0 to 722.1 in 2020 (−3.20% from 2019), and increased to 737.9 (+2.19% from 2020) in 2021. ASMRs from malignant neoplasms, pneumonia, accidents and suicide (men only) continued to decrease during the COVID-19 pandemic while the trend of cardiovascular mortality increased in 2021. Analysis of ASMR changes revealed that COVID-19, senility, cardiovascular disease and ‘other causes not classified as major causes’ contributed to the all-cause mortality increase in 2021.ConclusionsIn Japan, the decreasing trend in overall mortality continued in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic. However, approximately 2% mortality increase was observed in 2021, which was attributable to COVID-19, senility, cardiovascular disease and ‘other causes’. The year 2021 was a turning point of mortality trends in Japan, although continued monitoring is warranted.
Journal Article
If a fish can pass the mark test, what are the implications for consciousness and self-awareness testing in animals?
The ability to perceive and recognise a reflected mirror image as self (mirror self-recognition, MSR) is considered a hallmark of cognition across species. Although MSR has been reported in mammals and birds, it is not known to occur in any other major taxon. Potentially limiting our ability to test for MSR in other taxa is that the established assay, the mark test, requires that animals display contingency testing and self-directed behaviour. These behaviours may be difficult for humans to interpret in taxonomically divergent animals, especially those that lack the dexterity (or limbs) required to touch a mark. Here, we show that a fish, the cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus, shows behaviour that may reasonably be interpreted as passing through all phases of the mark test: (i) social reactions towards the reflection, (ii) repeated idiosyncratic behaviours towards the mirror, and (iii) frequent observation of their reflection. When subsequently provided with a coloured tag in a modified mark test, fish attempt to remove the mark by scraping their body in the presence of a mirror but show no response towards transparent marks or to coloured marks in the absence of a mirror. This remarkable finding presents a challenge to our interpretation of the mark test—do we accept that these behavioural responses, which are taken as evidence of self-recognition in other species during the mark test, lead to the conclusion that fish are self-aware? Or do we rather decide that these behavioural patterns have a basis in a cognitive process other than self-recognition and that fish do not pass the mark test? If the former, what does this mean for our understanding of animal intelligence? If the latter, what does this mean for our application and interpretation of the mark test as a metric for animal cognitive abilities?
This Short Report received both positive and negative reviews by experts. The Academic Editor has written an accompanying Primer that we are publishing alongside this article (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000112). The linked Primer presents a complementary expert perspective; it discusses how the current study should be interpreted in the context of evidence for and against self-awareness in a wide range of animals.
Journal Article
Estimation of Socioeconomic Inequalities in Mortality in Japan Using National Census-linked Longitudinal Mortality Data
Background: We aimed to develop census-linked longitudinal mortality data for Japan and assess their validity as a new resource for estimating socioeconomic inequalities in health.Methods: Using deterministic linkage, we identified, from national censuses for 2000 and 2010 and national death records, persons and deceased persons who had unique personal identifiers (generated using sex, birth year/month, address, and marital status). For the period 2010–2015, 1,537,337 Japanese men and women aged 30–79 years (1.9% in national census) were extracted to represent the sample population. This population was weighted to adjust for confounding factors. We estimated age-standardized mortality rates (ASMRs) by education level and occupational class. The slope index of inequality (SII) and relative index inequality (RII) by educational level were calculated as inequality measures.Results: The reweighted sample population’s mortality rates were somewhat higher than those of the complete registry, especially in younger age-groups and for external causes. All-cause ASMRs (per 100,000 person-years) for individuals aged 40–79 years with high, middle, and low education levels were 1,078 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1,051–1,105), 1,299 (95% CI, 1,279–1,320), and 1,670 (95% CI, 1,634–1,707) for men, and 561 (95% CI, 536–587), 601 (95% CI, 589–613), and 777 (95% CI, 745–808) for women, respectively, during 2010–2015. SII and RII by educational level increased among both sexes between 2000–2005 and 2010–2015, which indicates that mortality inequalities increased.Conclusion: The developed census-linked longitudinal mortality data provide new estimates of socioeconomic inequalities in Japan that can be triangulated with estimates obtained with other methods.
Journal Article
Variant Prolactin Receptor in Agalactia and Hyperprolactinemia
A loss-of-function variant in the gene encoding the prolactin receptor ( PRLR) was reported previously in a woman with persistent postpartum galactorrhea; however, this paradoxical phenotype is not completely understood. Here we describe a 35-year-old woman who presented with idiopathic hyperprolactinemia that was associated with a complete lack of lactation after each of her two deliveries. She is a compound heterozygote for loss-of-function variants of PRLR. Her unaffected parents are heterozygotes. These findings are consistent with previous work showing that mice deficient in functional Prlr do not lactate.
Journal Article