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Research on mental health in working populations has predominantly focussed on negative outcomes, while studies on the positive aspects of life remain very limited, especially in Japan. Although morningness has recently been considered a factor for being happy, the role of sleep characteristics as it relates to the association between morningness and happiness has not been substantiated. The aim of this study is to investigate the associations between diurnal preference and level of subjective happiness in healthy, full-time, daytime workers in Japan. We also tested the moderation effect of sleep parameters on the relationship between diurnal preference and subjective happiness. This is an exploratory analysis from the cross-sectional data of the SLeep Epidemiology Project at the University of Tsukuba (SLEPT Study). Subjective happiness was evaluated using a single-item question. Diurnal preference was assessed using the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), in which higher scores indicate greater tendency to have morning preference. The participants underwent assessment of sleep parameters for 7 consecutive days using a waist-worn actigraphy device and kept a sleep diary. Sleep parameters investigated were subjective sleep quality, sleep disturbance, daytime sleepiness, weekend oversleep, total sleep time, sleep onset time, wake time, and sleep efficiency. A total of 205 males (average 42.6 ± 10.4 years) and 272 females (41.1 ± 9.8 years) were eligible for analysis. Hierarchical liner regression analysis was used to show the relationships of subjective happiness with MEQ score, and the sleep parameters. Further, moderation analysis was conducted by adding the interaction between MEQ score and the sleep parameters. After adjusting for age, psychological distress, self-rated health, and occupational stress, we found that subjective happiness was significantly associated with higher MEQ score and sleep efficiency but only in female. The moderating role of sleep parameters was not found. We discussed the implications of the obtained results and a possible strategy to maintain and improve subjective happiness of female workers who have evening preference.

Developmental studies on Japanese children's use of ga report that they start using ga from an early age, but that their usage rate is quantitatively less than that of adults, thus concluding that children's knowledge about ga is limited and takes time before it reaches to the adult level. This study takes an interactional linguistic approach to the phenomenon instead, and observes how children as young as 2 years old deploy ga in order to accomplish particular social actions in their everyday talk-in-interaction. It studies ga's oft-noted “highlighting function” not cognitively, but situated within the field of ongoing participant interaction. The study finds that children mark NPs with ga when certain elements in the environment need to be recognized anew or picked out among other things, in order to shape the joint perceptual field for the purposes of interaction. Conversely, they choose not to mark NPs with ga when such recognition work is not necessary, or when the entity has already become relevant in the current discourse. Thus, children seem to understand the most basic action opportunities that ga affords quite early, and that “seeing” is a both a social practice and an interactional achievement.

Okay is used in different sequential environments for a variety of interactional functions across languages, but the range of context-specific uses of the particle is not yet fully explored. This conversation analytic study focuses on turn-initial okay in English, specifically in responses to questions where okay does not itself constitute the answer. We argue that okay in responsive position combines the semantics of acceptance and transition for a sequentially particularized use: Okay looks backward to accept the question and mark the speaker's readiness to respond while also looking forward to project talk that is not the conditionally relevant answer. This talk temporarily postpones, but does not move away from, the conditionally relevant answer, and the resulting multi-unit turn architecture that we observe is: Question – Okay + UNIT 1 (not the answer) + UNIT 2 (the answer). Okay projects a ‘detour’ from the asked-for answer in favor of managing aspects of the question or addressing the need for additional work in answering. Data are in English and include varieties spoken in Canada, Singapore, and the United States.

This study investigates the Japanese interjections anoo and sonoo, both of which are pragmaticized from adnominal forms of distal demonstratives, and have been often associated with speaker's internal difficulties in searching for appropriate words or expressions. Observing these two tokens in natural conversation, we find that the differentiated interactional work that each interjection performs go far beyond marking a momentary problem with one's own speech production. We demonstrate, instead, that by deploying anoo, speakers foreshadow an emerging shift in the interactional trajectory, i.e., what will follow is not a continuation of the immediately preceding context; while by deploying sonoo, speakers explicitly project that the following talk is in-line with what has been already established in the interaction, and should thus be construed as a non-deviation with reference to the existing or ongoing activity or project. Thus, while each of these two interjections work in halting the progressivity of the turn-at-talk, they are differentially used as resources to help participants orient to the emerging talk in its relation to the present context, and are thus useful linguistic resources that Japanese speakers employ to delicately navigate intersubjective orientation and understanding between participants.

This study examines siblings’ interactions revolving around toys during free play. Observing the naturally occurring interaction between siblings, this study explores the ways in which older siblings attempt to establish differentiated status with younger siblings by assigning and displaying unequal valuations to contested objects in ways that highlight the different affordances of the object available for interaction between them. Often characterized by caretakers as instances ‘being mean’, for the child, what may be at issue in such interactions is that there is a local, endogenous ‘order’ that needs to be achieved and maintained by both by oneself and by other participants regarding one’s status as a sanctioned participant in play. Investigating such particular interactions between elder siblings and younger siblings at the pre-verbal or very early stages of language use, this study uses multimodal analysis reveals how such children organize the emerging interaction sequence to construct their social order, utilizing both the sequential organization of talk as well as the public manipulation of material resources.

The present study observes the very early stages of children’s storytelling activities in order to investigate how children younger than 3 years old participate in this socially complex activity at a time when both their linguistic and their interactional repertoires are still less than fully developed. Child language acquisition research has reported that children become skilful with narratives around 4 or 5 years of age, and suggests that younger children’s ability to talk about past experience is relatively underdeveloped before that time, when they are still generally poor at providing orientating information about who, when and where. Drawing upon a corpus of naturally occurring interactions in Japanese, my analysis of children’s spontaneous storytelling reveals that despite their limited linguistic resources, 2-year-old children’s participation in storytelling activities are skilfully organized into particular participation frameworks by using the various resources that are presently available to them. This paper thus argues that children’s competence in supplying specific information in their storytelling is not just a function of their developmental trajectory, but is also heavily influenced by the interactional environment that they find themselves in and motivated by the knowledge statuses of themselves and others. It shows conclusively, too, that some 2-year-old children are already quite capable in initiating or in participating in storytelling activity without the adult provision of a scaffolding for content.

Objectively measured sleep efficiency has recently been shown to be associated with health problems. Although several factors have previously been reported to be associated with sleep efficiency, most of these studies were conducted on older or younger adults, and the factors associated with sleep efficiency in healthy workers remain unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between sleep efficiency and lifestyle factors using sleep measurement data recorded by an activity meter worn by workers. In total, 693 workers (male, 43.6%; mean age, 42.7 ± 11.3 years) were recruited from five offices in 2017. Sleep was measured over the period of 1 week by actigraphy. Workers' attributes, lifestyle habits, and occupational stress were identified using a questionnaire, and the association of sleep efficiency with lifestyle, occupational stress, and attributes was explored by logistic regression analysis. A logistic regression analysis using attributes and occupational stress as adjustment variables revealed that "longer sleeping hours on weekends than on weekdays" [odds ratios (OR), 0.66; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.47-0.94], "water ingestion at bedtime" [OR, 2.09; 95% CI, 1.28-3.41], and "smartphone use at bedtime" [OR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.28-2.83] were associated with decreased sleep efficiency. This study found that lifestyle habits were associated with sleep efficiency among workers. It is necessary to verify whether intervention in these lifestyle habits would contribute to the improvement of sleep efficiency in future studies.

Objectives Recently, “sense of coherence” (SOC) as a concept of stress-coping, has been gaining considerable attention. Although many studies have investigated the factors related to strong SOC, we found little evidence about the associations between SOC and habits that are easy to perform in everyday life. The aim our study was to examine the prevalence of workers who engage in forest walking and greenspace walking and examine their association with SOC score. Study design A cross-sectional study. Methods An anonymous, self-report web questionnaire was conducted in November 2017. The study population included 19481 workers belonging to the Tsukuba Science City Network and data of 6466 participants (3965 men and 2501 women) were analyzed. Results The percentage of participants who engage in forest and greenspace walking at least once a year were 55.9% and 75.9%, respectively. Associations between forest/greenspace walking and SOC score were calculated using Chi-squared tests. Multinomial logistic regression analyses with SOC score group (strong/middle/weak) as a dependent variable and forest/greenspace walking as explanatory variables were performed. Statistically significant positive associations were observed between strong SOC and those who engaged in forest/greenspace walking after adjusting for socioeconomic factors. The odds ratios for strong SOC were 3.65 (95% CI ​= ​1.70–7.85) for forest walking at least once a week and 2.12 for greenspace walking (95% CI ​= ​1.54–2.92) at least once a week. Conclusions Our findings suggested that forest/greenspace walking may enhance workers’ stress-coping skills.

Eeto is one of the most frequently occurring Japanese vocal markers. Often characterized as a mere time-buyer, or “filler”, this token has been frequently said to reflect ongoing internal cognitive processing or reflection. Examining naturally occurring instances of eeto by focusing on its occurrences at the beginning of responses to information–seeking questions, however, we found that eeto-prefaced responses all provide a carefully constructed answer in contexts where the responses might otherwise be heard as not aligning in the most straightforward way. We argue that eeto affords Japanese conversationalists a way through which they can project the maximally prosocial stance of interactional commitment to undertaking the task at hand. Rather than a marker of an internal processing state, eeto, we argue, is instead a useful linguistic resource to publically display a respectful stance toward the questioner while the respondent is carefully building an appropriately contextualized response.

The Japanese interactional particles (IPs) ne and yo are often described as discrete attitudinal, affective, and/or epistemic stance markers that directly index particular ‘interior cognitive states’ or ‘psychological domains’. Conversely, this paper argues that such particles are instead irreducibly public resources that conversationalists employ to negotiate their respective positioning within the ever-shifting participation frameworks structuring real-time face to face interaction. It demonstrates, in particular, how various stance ‘meanings’ emerge by virtue of the placement of the IPs in a particular sequential position within an on-going activity first and foremost. I also demonstrate how different levels of ‘stance’ (i.e., reading of one's interlocutor's self-positioning) can manifest as they are linked together by local interactional agendas, interpersonal concerns, sociocultural preferences, and linguistic ideology. Such publically displayed ‘stances’ range from speakers’ concerns regarding micro-level contingency issues to higher-level accomplishments that are built upon such micro-level negotiation, such as the formation of membership categories, the forging the affiliative alliances, and the socially sanctioned displays of ‘politeness’ and ‘respect’.

This study investigates a particular behavior in talk-in-interaction that appears to be, at least in its most explicit form, relatively unique to children, that is, the behavior whereby one participant explicitly instructs another participant to say a specific phrase, after which the first participant then supplies a prefashioned response. Rather than simply dismissing such conduct as the product of an immature psychology, close examination of the sequential organization of such talk reveals that even children at a very early age comprehend the execution of any given speech action demands a particular sequential context for that talk to be both sense-making and effective. The data discussed herein reveal an understanding of preference organization and sequential trajectory displayed by children as young as 2 and 3 years old and that this three-part “say [x]” format has versatile application in children's talk-in-interaction.

ObjectiveGout, caused by hyperuricaemia, is a multifactorial disease. Although genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of gout have been reported, they included self-reported gout cases in which clinical information was insufficient. Therefore, the relationship between genetic variation and clinical subtypes of gout remains unclear. Here, we first performed a GWAS of clinically defined gout cases only.MethodsA GWAS was conducted with 945 patients with clinically defined gout and 1213 controls in a Japanese male population, followed by replication study of 1048 clinically defined cases and 1334 controls.ResultsFive gout susceptibility loci were identified at the genome-wide significance level (p−8), which contained well-known urate transporter genes (ABCG2 and SLC2A9) and additional genes: rs1260326 (p=1.9×10−12; OR=1.36) of GCKR (a gene for glucose and lipid metabolism), rs2188380 (p=1.6×10−23; OR=1.75) of MYL2-CUX2 (genes associated with cholesterol and diabetes mellitus) and rs4073582 (p=6.4×10−9; OR=1.66) of CNIH-2 (a gene for regulation of glutamate signalling). The latter two are identified as novel gout loci. Furthermore, among the identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), we demonstrated that the SNPs of ABCG2 and SLC2A9 were differentially associated with types of gout and clinical parameters underlying specific subtypes (renal underexcretion type and renal overload type). The effect of the risk allele of each SNP on clinical parameters showed significant linear relationships with the ratio of the case–control ORs for two distinct types of gout (r=0.96 [p=4.8×10−4] for urate clearance and r=0.96 [p=5.0×10−4] for urinary urate excretion).ConclusionsOur findings provide clues to better understand the pathogenesis of gout and will be useful for development of companion diagnostics.

Among polymorphisms in ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) gene, the available evidence demonstrates that the ABCA1 R219K polymorphism (G1051A, rs2230806) K allele is associated with a higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL- C) level and may play a protective role against coronary artery disease (CAD) risk in Asians and Caucasians. The findings from many underpowered studies from Asian countries (n=71-597), however, still remain inconsistent. The objective of this study was to overcome the limitations of previous studies in Asia and provide solid epidemiologic evidence. Subjects were participants of a cohort study, who visited the Daiko Medical Center in Nagoya, Japan. The cohort study belongs to the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort Study (J-MICC Study). In the Daiko Study, 5,133 participants (1,458 men and 3,675 women) aged 35-69 years enrolled from 2008 through 2010 were eligible for the analyses. The ABCA1 polymorphism was genotyped by the polymerase chain reaction with confronting two-pair primers (PCR-CTPP) method. Among all the subjects, the genotype frequencies were 23.9% (n=1,225) for RR, 49.3% (n=2,532) for RK, and 26.8% (n=1,376) for KK, which was in Hardy-Weinberg's equilibrium (P =0.36). Background characteristics did not significantly differ among the genotypes including alcohol and tobacco use. The mean ± SD of HDL-C concentration was higher in men and women with RK or KK genotype than those with RR, although the difference between these genotypes was not statistically significant in both sexes (P =0.31 in men and 0.26 in women by ANOVA). In the multiple linear regression analysis to estimate the independent effects of the R219K polymorphism on HDL-C level, however, the number of K allele was significantly correlated with an increased level of HDL-C (trend P=0.033). Those with the KK genotype showed a significantly higher HDL-C concentration compared with those with the RR genotype by a mean of 1.18 mg/dL. The R219K polymorphism of ABCA1 independently associated with serum level of HDL-C in a large Japanese population.

Several priority characteristics of wood that have beneficial effects on human beings have been reported. However, the advantages of wood use in bedroom interiors for sleep have not been fully evaluated. The aim of this cross-sectional epidemiological study was to evaluate the association of wood use in housing and bedrooms with comfort in the bedroom and sleep among workers in Japan. The study methods included sleep measurements using actigraphy and a self-administered questionnaire survey. In total, 671 workers (298 men and 373 women; mean age ± standard deviation: 43.3 ± 11.2 years) were included in the analysis. The amount of wood used in bedrooms was significantly associated with comfort in bedrooms, inversely associated with suspicion of insomnia, partly inversely associated with self-rated poor sleep quality, but not associated with low sleep efficiency. On logistic regression analysis, the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of the “large amount of wood” group relative to the “no wood” group was 3.25 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.63–6.47] for comfort. The aOR of the “no wood” group relative to the “large amount of wood” group was 2.15 (95% CI 1.11–4.16) for suspicion of insomnia. Wood structure of housing, as well as wood use on either the floor, wall, or ceiling, were not significantly associated with comfort and sleep conditions. Our study suggested that the use of a large amount of wood used in the bedroom interior could be beneficial for comfort, sleep, and therefore, health of workers. Further studies are required to obtain generalizable results.

The present study was undertaken to evaluate 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) level in peripheral lymphocytes during the transition period in dairy cows. Twenty cows that belong to the Iwate Livestock Breeding Center (Morioka city, Iwate prefecture, Japan) were subjected to study. Whole blood samples were collected from the same animals at two weeks perpartum and two weeks postpartum. Oxidative DNA damage marker (8-OHdG) was measured in peripheral lymphocytes using commercial ELISA kits. The results revealed that the 8-OHdG level was significantly higher (P < 0.01) during the prepartum period than its level during early lactation. It could be concluded that oxidative DNA damage in peripheral lymphocytes increased during the prepartum period in dairy cows.

A recent genome-wide association study revealed that there is an association between serum uric acid (SUA) levels and rs2544390, a common variant in low-density lipoprotein-related protein 2 (LRP2/Megalin) gene. Two other variants of LRP2, rs2229268 and rs3755166, are also found to have associations with dyslipidemia and Alzheimer’s disease, respectively, which also could have a relationship with SUA in human. Although no studies report that LRP2 transports urate, LRP2 is a multi-ligand receptor and expresses in many tissues including kidney, suggesting a direct and/or indirect relationship with gout. In the present study, we investigated the association between gout and these variants of LRP2 with 741 clinically diagnosed male gout patients and 1,302 controls. As a result, the three common LRP2 variants, rs2544390, rs2229268 and rs3755166, showed no association with gout (P = 0.76, 0.55, and 0.22, respectively). Our study is the first to reveal that an SUA-related gene LRP2 is not involved in gout susceptibility.

The frequency of forest walking among the general population is a major topic of study in forest science. The objectives of this study were threefold: to assess the frequency of forest walking among Japanese residents of Nagoya, a large city; to evaluate differences among frequency of forest walking by participants from a large city, an urban area (Shizuoka; 4,666 participants), and a rural area (Yakumo Town, Hokkaido; 397 participants) in previous studies; and to examine factors related to frequency of forest walking. The survey, by self-administered questionnaire, in the major city of Nagoya was conducted between June 2008 and May 2010. In all, 5,158 participants (M/F, 1,466/3,692; mean age ± SD [range], 52.5 ± 10.3 [35–69] years) were included in the analysis. The proportions of frequency of forest walking ≥ once/month and ≥ once/year were 10.9 % (M/F, 15.1/9.3 %) and 46.1 % (51.0/44.1 %), respectively. In multiple logistic regression analysis, significant differences were noted among study sit...

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is well known as a strong risk factor for both of end-stage renal disease and cardiovascular disease. To clarify the association of polymorphisms in the genes encoding antioxidant enzymes (SOD2, CAT, GPx, TXNRD, SEPP1, SEP15 and SELS) with the risk of CKD in Japanese, we examined this association using the cross-sectional data of Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort (J-MICC) Study. The subjects were 3,285 men and women, aged 35–69 years, selected from J-MICC Study participants for whom genotyping were conducted by multiplex polymerase chain reaction-based Invader assay. The prevalence of CKD was determined for CKD stages 3–5 (eGFR

Objective: The excessive consumption of confectionery might have adverse effects on human health. To screen genetic factors associated with confectionery-intake frequency, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in Japan was conducted. Design and Methods: For the discovery phase (stage 1), we conducted a GWAS of 939 noncancer patients in a cancer hospital. Additive models were used to test associations between genotypes of approximately 500,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and the confectionery-intake score (based on intake frequency). We followed-up association signals with P 0.01 in stage 1 by genotyping the SNPs of 4,491 participants in a cross-sectional study within a cohort (replication phase [stage 2]). Results: We identified 12 SNPs in stage 1 that were potentially related to confectionery intake. In stage 2, this association was replicated for one SNP (rs822396; P = 0.049 for stage 2 and 4.2 × 10−5 for stage 1+2) in intron 1 of the ADIPOQ gene, which encodes the adipokine adiponectin. Conclusions: Given the biological plausibility and previous relevant findings, the association of an SNP in the ADIPOQ gene with a preference for confectionery is worthy of follow-up and provides a good working hypothesis for experimental testing.

We examined the association of the RETN (resistin) -420 C>G polymorphism (rs1862513) with risk of diabetes mellitus (DM), considering lifestyle factors, in Japanese. Subjects were participants of J-MICC Study, where 2,651 participants aged 35-69 years provided their blood for genotyping and lifestyle data after informed consent. Odds ratio (OR) of DM for RETN-420 G/G genotype was estimated using unconditional logistic regression model. Statistically significant interaction on risk of DM was observed between RETN-420 G/G genotype and BMI 25 (n = 10 for DM and 111 for non-DM), RETN-420 C/C+C/G and BMI

Over the last few decades, researchers concerned with human interaction have viewed knowledge not as residing solely in the individual mind, but as shared and produced in situated interaction. In particular, knowledge of the social world, including shared conventions, communicative norms, and social values, is first acquired by children from caregivers and others in activities and sequences of action, and is crucial for participating as a member of a community or society. An important way that humans relate and share knowledge in interaction and, in the process, construct their views of the social world, is through evaluating, or by making assessments. In this sense, assessments are not merely descriptions of the social world, but social actions and stances that are often responded to, aligned with, or contested in meaningful ways. Although there has been an increasing amount of analytical attention paid to assessments in adult interaction, there is comparatively little research focusing on young children. An analysis of children’s assessments in everyday interaction can shed light on ways in which young children use their linguistic resources, together with embodied resources, to display evaluative and emotional stances, perform social actions, constitute relationships, and co-construct knowledge with adults and other children.

Sirtuin1 (SIRT1) is a Class 3 nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-dependent histone deacetylase (HDAC) that is thought to be implicated in the protection against autoimmune diseases. However, an association between SIRT1 and autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) has not been reported. In this study, we selected four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the SIRT1 gene, rs12049646 T/C (termed SNP1), rs12778366 T/C (termed SNP2), rs3758391 T/C (termed SNP3), and rs4746720 T/C (termed SNP4). We genotyped each of these polymorphic sites in 185 patients with Graves' disease (GD), including 76 patients with intractable GD and 57 patients with GD in remission; 151 patients with Hashimoto's disease (HD), including 68 patients with severe HD and 54 patients with mild HD; and 96 healthy volunteers. SNP1 and SNP3 were genotyped by the PCR-RFLP method; SNP2 and SNP4 were genotyped using TaqMan® SNP genotyping assays. We also measured the levels of SIRT1 mRNA in CD4(+) T cells from 18 control subjects, 16 patients with GD in remission and 14 patients with mild HD using a real-time PCR method. In patients with GD and HD, the C carriers (TC + CC genotypes) of SNP3 showed significantly higher titers of McAb than the TT genotype (p = 0.0261 and p = 0.0309, respectively). Additionally, the T carriers (TT + TC genotypes) of SNP4 showed significantly higher titers of McAb than the CC genotype in patients with GD (p = 0.0079). In conclusion, the polymorphisms in the SIRT1 gene were associated with a greater production of thyroid autoantibodies.

The Japanese interactional particle yo has been the subject of much uncertainty and controversy, as researchers have proposed various disparate functions and meanings of this small lexeme. Attending closely to the interactional environment where yo is used, I hereby propose a generic semiotic for this omnipresent particle and its role in highlighting the communal nature of meaning-making interaction. In particular, I show that yo is deployed by speakers and understood by recipients as an indication that a particular stretch of talk needs to be properly “registered” for both talk progressivity and the joint accomplishment of specific interactional concerns to be acknowledged and acted upon. I argue that this explicit indication of the usually taken-for-granted presupposition that any given effort at communicative action cannot be implemented in interaction until it is received somewhere foregrounds the semiotically interlocked contingency of the next turn at talk, engendering a variety of context-bound pragmatic effects.

In my previous work, I argued that the use of ne in conversation explicitly creates a sanctioned space in which participants can negotiate issues of interactive alignment in the moment ( Morita, 2005 ). Many sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, and cognitive linguistic studies of ne, however, offer a wide range of higher-level interpretations that they claim speakers and listeners attribute to this particle, such that speakers use ne to mark “sharedness of information”, “politeness”, “femininity”, or “over-friendliness” – none of which seem to be relevant to the basic organizational function performed by ne itself. The purpose of this paper is to show how my previous analysis of ne as a negotiation tool for resolving contingency problems can be understood with respect to the impressionistic interpretations provided by other theorists. I argue that impressions of differential stance taking are only possible when participants can rely on ne's fundamental function at the micro-level interaction as their base. Such thematization of interactive alignment may then lead to impressionistic hearings that invoke concepts of higher-order sociality, such as “politeness”, “neediness”, “coerciveness”, and (according to certain ideologies) “femininity”. I thus attempt to show here how these seemingly incongruous understandings of the Japanese interactional particle ne can be simultaneously correct.

Objectives: To clarify the association of kallikrein-related peptidase 3 (KLK3) rs2735839 G/A polymorphism with serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in Japanese men. Methods: Subjects were participants of the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort (J-MICC) Study who visited the Seirei Preventive Health Care Center in Shizuoka, Japan. Among the 5,040 individuals aged 35–69 years who were enrolled in 2006–2007, serum PSA data were available for 2,323 male subjects without a past history of prostate cancer. The diagnostic criteria for PSA positivity was PSA ≥4.0 ng/ml. Genotyping of the KLK3 polymorphism was conducted by the polymerase chain reaction with the confronting two-pair primers (PCR-CTPP) method. Results: The mean ± SD of PSA levels (mg/dl) were 1.54 ± 1.73 for those with KLK3 rs2735839 G/G genotype, 1.34 ± 1.33 for G/A, and 1.20 ± 1.23 for A/A, which was significantly different (p < 0.0001). The age-adjusted odds ratios of PSA test positivity were 0.62 (95% confidence interval 0.41–0.94) for those with G/A + A/A relative to those with G/G. Conclusions: The present study revealed that the KLK3 rs2735839 G allele was significantly associated with higher serum PSA levels also in Japanese.

This study examined the associations of the APOA5 T-1131C (rs662799), G553T (Cys185Gly, rs2075291), GCK G-30A (rs1799884), GCKR A/G at intron 16 (rs780094) and T1403C (Leu446Pro, rs1260326) polymorphisms with serum lipid and glucose levels in Japanese, considering lifestyle factors. Study subjects were 2,191 participants (aged 35-69 years, 1,159 males) enrolled in the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort (J-MICC) Study. Dyslipidemia was defined as fasting serum triglycerides (FTG) ≥ 150 mg/dL and/or HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) < 40 mg/dL, while dysglycemia was as fasting blood sugar (FBS) ≥ 110 mg/dL. When those with APOA5 -1131 T/T or 553 G/G were defined as references, those with APOA5 -1131 T/C, C/C or 553 G/T, T/T demonstrated significantly elevated risk of dyslipidemia (age- and sex-adjusted odds ratio: 1.77 [95% confidence interval:1.39-2.27], 3.35 [2.41-4.65], 2.23 [1.64-3.02] and 13.78 [3.44-55.18], respectively). Evaluation of FTG, HDL-C or FBS levels according to the genotype revealed that FTG and HDL-C levels were significantly associated with the APOA5 T-1131C and G553T polymorphisms, FTG with the GCKR rs780094 and rs1260326 polymorphisms, and FBS with the GCKR rs780094 and rs1260326 polymorphisms. Moreover, a significant positive interaction between APOA5 553 G/T+T/T genotypes and fat intake ≥ 25% of total energy for the risk of dyslipidemia was observed. Our cross-sectional study confirmed the essential roles of the polymorphisms of the APOA5, GCK and GCKR in the lipid or glucose metabolism disorders, and suggested the importance of fat intake control in the individualized prevention of dyslipidemia.

Genome-wide association studies identified that SLC2A9 ( GLUT 9) gene polymorphisms were associated with serum uric acid (SUA) levels. Among the Japanese, a C/T polymorphism in intron 8 (rs11722228) was reported to be highly significant, though the function and strength of association were unknown. This study aimed to confirm the association, estimating the means of SUA according to the genotype, as well as OR of the genotype. Subjects were 5024 health checkup examinees (3413 males and 1611 females) aged 35 to 69 years with creatinine SLC22A12 258X allele and ABCG2 126X allele are known to influence SUA levels strongly, the subjects with SLC22A12 258WW and ABCG2 126QQ (3082 males and 1453 females, in total 4535 subjects) were selected. The genotype frequency of SLC2A9 rs11722228 was 2184 for CC , 1947 for CT , and 404 for TT , being in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (p = 0.312). Mean SUA was 6.10 mg/dL for CC , 6.25 mg/dL for CT , and 6.45 mg/dL for TT among males (p = 1.5E-6), and 4.34 mg/dL, 4.59 mg/dL, and 4.87 mg/dL among females (p = 4.6E-11), respectively. Males with SUA less than 5.0 mg/dL were 14.7% for CC , 10.6% for CT , and 7.8% for TT (p = 2.3E-4), and females with SUA less than 4.0 mg/dL were 34.1%, 25.5%, and 15.4% (p = 3.7E-6), respectively. This study was the first report to estimate the impact of SLC2A9 rs11722228 on SUA levels. Since the allele frequency of rs11722228 is similar among different ethnic groups, the impact remains to be examined in other ethnic groups.

To study the non-temporary effects of successive walks in forested areas (shinrin-yoku) on hypertension prevalence and blood pressure levels.Data for the analysis were derived from the baseline survey of the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort (J-MICC) study in the Shizuoka area. Eligible participants were individuals aged 35-69 years who attended a health check-up center during 2006 and 2007. Of the 5,040 individuals who participated in the J-MICC study, Shizuoka, 4,666 were included in this analysis [3,174 men and 1,492 women; age (mean ± standard deviation) 52.1 ± 8.7 years]. The frequency of forest walking was estimated by a self-administrated questionnaire. Hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg, a diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg or, based on information provided in the questionnaire, the use of medication for hypertension.After adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, alcohol consumption, and habitual exercise, the odds ratios of hypertension associated with forest walking once a week or more frequently, relative to less than once a month were 0.98 in men [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.68-1.42] and 1.48 (95% CI 0.80-2.71) in women. There was no significant trend between adjusted blood pressure levels and the frequency of forest walking.The results of our cross-sectional study in a Japanese population show no association between either blood pressure levels or the prevalence of hypertension and the frequency of forest walking.

We studied using an ammonium peroxodisulfate as the oxidizing reagent instead of potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) on the 4-aminoantipyrine spectrometry for the determination of phenol. Suitable color development was obtained by the addition of 1 - 5 mL of ammonium peroxodisulfate solution (pH 10, 220 mmol/L) and 2 mL of 4-aminoantipyrine solution (98 mmol/L) to a 100 mL sample solution at pH 10 buffered with an ammonium chloride - ammonia solution (9.8 mol/L). The proposed procedure was applied to methyl benzoate extraction for determining small amounts of phenol in water. Results obtained by the proposed method were in agreement with that by the JIS method.

Individuals infected with Helicobacter pylori do not necessarily develop gastric atrophy (GA) and gastric cancer (GC). Several factors, including genetic polymorphism, can regulate the development of GA and GC. A G/A single nucleotide polymorphism (rs3783799) of the PRKCH gene, which encodes the eta isozyme of protein kinase C (PKCeta), has been reported to be a tag single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the PRKCH gene linked to a functional 1425G/A SNP in exon 9 (rs2230500). To elucidate its applicability in the development of GA and GC, this study aimed to investigate the associations of the PRKCH polymorphism with the risks of GA and GC.The subjects consisted of 583 patients (cases) from first-visit outpatients at Aichi Cancer Center Hospital, aged 27 to 80 years, who were diagnosed as having GC from 2001 to 2005, and 1742 controls, frequency-matched for age and sex. Anti-H. pylori IgG antibodies and pepsinogens (PGs) in serum were measured for 1638 controls.Of the 1638 controls, 57.3% were seropositive and 33.0% had GA (PG1or = 70 ng/dl and PG1/PG2or = 3). When compared to the seronegative controls without GA, the AA genotype was significantly associated with severe GA (PG1or = 30 ng/dl and PG1/PG2or = 2); odds ratio (OR), 2.37 (95% confidence interval, 1.11-5.05) relative to the GG genotype. The genotype was not associated with the risk of GC.This was the first study to examine the associations of the PRKCH polymorphism with GA and GC, and suggested that the AA genotype, relative to the G/G genotype, may be a higher risk genotype for severe GA.

静岡県中西部地区において, 35∼69歳の人間ドック受診者を対象にして, 森林散策の頻度に関して自記式質問紙による大規模な実態調査を行った。解析対象者は4,666人 (男性3,174人, 女性1,492人: 平均年齢 (標準偏差) 52.1 (8.7) 歳) で, 森林散策をする頻度が月1回以上の人は, 男性では644人 (20.3%), 女性では259人 (17.4%), 年1回以上の人は男性では1,818人 (57.3%), 女性では798人 (53.5%) であった。性別では男性の方が, 年齢別では高年齢の人の方が, 有意に森林に高い頻度で行っていた。また, 森林散策が好きな人ほど有意に高い頻度で森林に行っていた。今後は, 都市公園の利用頻度も含め, 他地域での森林散策頻度も検討する必要があると考えられる。

This paper describes the possibility of a new heating method with a needle applicator made of a shape memory alloy (SMA) to expand the heating area for interstitial brain tumor hyperthermia treatments. The purpose of the study described here is to show the capability of the method to expand a defined heating region with the developed three-dimensional (3-D) anatomical human head model using the finite element method (FEM). One major disadvantage of RF interstitial hyperthermia treatment is that this heating method has a small heating area. To overcome this problem, a new type of needle made of a SMA was developed. The specific absorption rate (SAR) distributions of this proposed method, when applied to the 3-D anatomical human head model reconstructed from two-dimensional (2-D) MRI and X-ray CT images, were calculated with computer simulations. The calculated SAR distributions showed no unexpected hot spots within the model. The heated area was localized around the tumor. These results suggest that the proposed heating method using the SMA needle applicator and the developed method for reconstructing a 3-D anatomical human head model are capable of being used for invasive brain tumor hyperthermia treatments.

Japanese conversational data reveal that Japanese speakers produce, and recipients orient to, smaller units of talk than what the conventional notion of a `turn constructional unit' (TCU) represents. Unlike TCUs, such units may be grammatically, prosodically and pragmatically incomplete and may happen on the sub-phrasal level of discourse, as Japanese conversationalists prosodically break up even a single semantic constituent with the insertion of an interactional particle. In this article, I give numerous examples of how such practices of separating a segment of talk are not random but are precisely embedded in the sequential organization of talk that participants co-create. I argue that such segmentation contributes to the interactional co-construction of a turn so as to highlight specifically a `move' Within the larger action that is implemented by the TCU. Doing so thereby provides opportunities for the participants to deal with local contingency problems without changing the global level of the pragmatic work of the turn.

亜鉛粉末を担持したフィルターディスクで試料をろ過することにより，硝酸イオンを亜硝酸イオンに還元する簡便な方法を開発し，海水の硝酸イオン及び全窒素の定量に適用した．検討の結果，次のような定量操作を定めた．試料20 mLに硫酸アンモニウム0.1 g，1 g/Lエチレンジアミン四酢酸（EDTA）溶液0.2 mLを加えた後，プラスチック製シリンジに採取する．シリンジの先端を亜鉛粉末担持フィルターに差込み，流量およそ15 mL/minで注入，ろ過する．ろ液中の亜硝酸イオンをナフチルエチレンジアミン吸光光度法で測定する．この方法を海水に標準液を添加し，回収率を求めたところ，回収率について良好な結果が得られた．

Impaired methylation due to accumulation of S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) may contribute to the pathophysiology of cobalamin-deficient anemia. We assayed serum S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), SAH, total homocysteine (tHcy), and methylmalonic acid (MMA) in 15 subjects with cobalamin-deficient megaloblastic anemia and compared results with those of 19 subjects with anemia/pancytopenia due to other causes. Cobalamin-deficient subjects had a median hematocrit level of 20% and mean cell volume of 111.7 fL. The median serum cobalamin level was 37 pg/mL, MMA 3030 nmol/L, and tHcy 62.0 micromol/L. SAH was elevated in 13 of 15 subjects (median, 42 nmol/L) and the median SAM value was normal (103 nmol/L), but SAM/SAH ratio was low (2.5). The SAH was higher and SAM/SAH ratio was lower in cobalamin-deficient subjects compared with those with other anemias after excluding 4 patients with renal insufficiency. SAM concentrations were not low in cobalamin deficiency. Cobalamin injections corrected anemia, MMA, tHcy, SAM/SAH ratio, and SAH. Some hematologic variables were inversely correlated with SAH and cobalamin but not tHcy or MMA. In conclusion, serum SAH is elevated in cobalamin-deficient subjects with megaloblastic anemia and corrects with parenteral cobalamin therapy.