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Aims Coping strategies may be significantly associated with health outcomes. This is the first study to investigate the association between baseline coping strategies and cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence and mortality in a general population cohort. Methods and results The Japan Public Health Center-based prospective Study asked questions on coping in its third follow-up survey (2000–04). Analyses on CVD incidence and mortality included 57 017 subjects aged 50–79 without a history of CVD and who provided complete answers on approach- and avoidance-oriented coping behaviours and strategies. Cox regression models, adjusted for confounders, were used to determine hazard ratios (HRs) according to coping style. Mean follow-up time was 7.9 years for incidence and 8.0 years for mortality. The premorbid use of an approach-oriented coping strategy was inversely associated with incidence of stroke (HR = 0.85; 95% CI, 0.73–1.00) and CVD mortality (HR = 0.74; 95% CI, 0.55–0.99). Stroke subtype analyses revealed an inverse association between the approach-oriented coping strategy and incidence of ischaemic stroke (HR = 0.79; 95% CI, 0.64–0.98) and a positive association between the combined coping strategy and incidence of intra-parenchymal haemorrhage (HR = 2.03; 95% CI, 1.01–4.10). Utilizing an avoidance coping strategy was associated with increased mortality from ischaemic heart disease (IHD) only in hypertensive individuals (HR = 3.46; 95% CI, 1.07–11.18). The coping behaviours fantasizing and positive reappraisal were associated with increased risk of CVD incidence (HR = 1.24; 95% CI, 1.03–1.50) and reduced risk of IHD mortality (HR = 0.63; 95% CI, 0.40–0.99), respectively. Conclusion An approach-oriented coping strategy, i.e. proactively dealing with sources of stress, may be associated with significantly reduced stroke incidence and CVD mortality in a Japanese population-based cohort.

Seafood/fish intake has been regarded as a protective factor for coronary heart disease (CHD), while smoking is a strong risk factor. To examine whether associations between smoking and risk of CHD are modified by seafood/fish intake, we studied 72,012 Japanese men and women aged 45-74 years who completed 2 food frequency questionnaires, 5 years apart, during the period 1995-2009. After 878,163 person-years of follow-up, 584 incident cases of CHD (101 fatal and 483 nonfatal), including 516 myocardial infarctions, were documented. There was a clear dose-response association between smoking and CHD risk among subjects with a low seafood/fish intake (

The relationship and influence of varying 60Co γ-ray irradiation doses, in the range 0.77–5.2 MGy, on the morphology of polyethylene have been investigated using high-resolution solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance analyses through variation of different phase components, T1c, T2c relaxation parameters, and line width. The cross-linking in the irradiated polyethylene takes place mainly in the non-crystalline regions. However, distortion and damage to the folded chain of the crystal lattice are observed in the crystalline regions. For the interfacial phase, both cross-linking and distortion could occur. As a result, part of the crystalline component transformed into a non-crystalline one. It was also found that the orthorhombic crystalline lattice transformed into a monoclinic one within the crystalline phase in polyethylene under higher doses of irradiation.

The cyanogen bromide (CNBr) activation method was adopted to link collagen molecules onto the surface of cellulose and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) films via covalent bonding. The amount of bound protein was determined by the ninhydrin method and found to be 1.0 microgram/cm2 for the native collagen and 0.6 microgram/cm2 for the denatured collagen. The amount of bound protein was larger for cellulose than PVA. When p-toluene-sulphonyl chloride was used to activate the cellulose film, this activation method was found to be effective in grafting the collagen as well. The cellulose film was found to become brittle and weak after activation with CNBr, but the PVA films was not. This might be due to the difference in the extent of crosslinking between cellulose and PVA films, as demonstrated by the change in degree of swelling and solubility of both the activated films.