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BackgroundDuring the second wave of COVID-19 in August 2020, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government implemented public health and social measures to reduce on-site dining. Assessing the associations between human behavior, infection, and social measures is essential to understand achievable reductions in cases and identify the factors driving changes in social dynamics. ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the association between nighttime population volumes, the COVID-19 epidemic, and the implementation of public health and social measures in Tokyo. MethodsWe used mobile phone location data to estimate populations between 10 PM and midnight in seven Tokyo metropolitan areas. Mobile phone trajectories were used to distinguish and extract on-site dining from stay-at-work and stay-at-home behaviors. Numbers of new cases and symptom onsets were obtained. Weekly mobility and infection data from March 1 to November 14, 2020, were analyzed using a vector autoregression model. ResultsAn increase in the number of symptom onsets was observed 1 week after the nighttime population volume increased (coefficient=0.60, 95% CI 0.28 to 0.92). The effective reproduction number significantly increased 3 weeks after the nighttime population volume increased (coefficient=1.30, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.89). The nighttime population volume increased significantly following reports of decreasing numbers of confirmed cases (coefficient=–0.44, 95% CI –0.73 to –0.15). Implementation of social measures to restaurants and bars was not significantly associated with nighttime population volume (coefficient=0.004, 95% CI –0.07 to 0.08). ConclusionsThe nighttime population started to increase after decreasing incidence of COVID-19 was announced. Considering time lags between infection and behavior changes, social measures should be planned in advance of the surge of an epidemic, sufficiently informed by mobility data.

Aim: To elucidate the effects of ultra‐processed foods (UPFs) on body weight and ad libitum energy intake compared with non‐UPFs. Materials and Methods: In this randomized, open‐label crossover study conducted at the University of Tokyo Hospital, overweight/obese Japanese male participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to start the study with consumption of either UPFs or non‐UPFs for 1 week, followed by a 2‐week washout period, before crossing over to the alternate food diet for 1 week. Individuals with diabetes, hypertension or any other medical conditions who visited a hospital regularly were excluded. The meals were designed to be matched for the total energy and macronutrient levels. The primary outcome was the difference in the body weight change between the UPF and non‐UPF periods. The differences in the average daily energy intake and chewing frequency were assessed as one of the prespecified secondary outcomes. Results: Nine eligible participants were randomly assigned to start the study with either UPFs or non‐UPFs. All participants completed the study. During the UPF period, participants gained 1.1 kg more weight (95% confidence interval 0.2 to 2.0; P =.021) and consumed 813.5 kcal more per day (342.4 to 1284.7; P =.0041) compared with during the non‐UPF period. Regarding the chewing frequency, the number of chews per calorie was significantly lower during the UPF period (P =.016). Conclusions: Consumption of UPFs causes significant weight gain. Medical nutritional therapy focused on reducing the consumption of UPFs could be an effective strategy for preventing obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, quantitative researchers have shown increased interest in two-step factor score regression (FSR) approaches to structural model estimation. A particularly promising approach proposed by Croon involves first extracting factor scores for each latent factor in a larger model, then correcting the variance-covariance matrix of the factor scores for bias before using this matrix as input data in a subsequent regression analysis or path model. Although not immediately obvious, Croon's bias correction formulas are predicated upon the standard assumption of conditionally independent uniquenesses (measurement residuals). To our knowledge, the method's performance has never been evaluated under conditions in which this assumption is violated. In the present research, we rederive Croon's formulas for the case of correlated uniqueness and present the results of two Monte Carlo simulations comparing the method's performance with standard methods when the unique factors were correlated in the population model. In our simulations, our proposed Croon FSR approaches outperformed methods that blindly assumed conditionally independent uniquenesses (e.g., uncorrected FSR, traditional Croon FSR, structural equation modeling [SEM] using standard specification), performed comparably to a correctly specified SEM, and outperformed SEMs that correctly specified the unique factor covariances but misspecified the structural model. We discuss the implications of our results for substantive researchers.

Background: Understanding the etiology of psychosis is essential to the development of preventive interventions. The COVID‐19 pandemic provides a rare natural experiment that can expand our understanding of the role of social factors in the trajectories and etiology of psychosis across adolescence, particularly in Tokyo where the prevalence of actual COVID‐19 infection remained low. We hypothesized that the likelihood of self‐reporting psychotic experiences (PEs) would increase following the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Methods: The Tokyo Teen Cohort (TTC) is a prospective cohort study of adolescents in the general population of the Tokyo metropolitan area, followed from age 10 to 16 years. We used multi‐level linear regression models to test the associations between the phase of the COVID‐19 pandemic and self‐reported PEs. Results: Among 1935 adolescents included in the analysis, a rapid increase in PEs occurred at the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic, following approximately 6 years of steady decline across prior waves. This association was more pronounced for boys compared to girls. This increase became more pronounced as the pandemic moved into later phases, defined based on contemporaneous sociopolitical changes in Tokyo (i.e. changes to school closure, social distancing guidelines, and the state of emergency status). Conclusions: The steady decline in PEs across adolescence was halted and reversed concurrent with the COVID‐19 pandemic onset, despite very low rates of COVID‐19 infection. This implicates COVID‐19 related socioenvironmental factors as contributory etiological factors in the development of PEs in this adolescent cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Cognitive impairment, pain and depressive symptoms are common and interrelated factors in older adults. However, the directionality and specificity of their association remains unclarified. This study explored whether these factors prospectively increase reciprocal risk and examined the longitudinal association between these factors and quality of life (QoL). Methods: This study used longitudinal data from The Older Persons and Informal Caregivers Survey Minimal Data Set (TOPICS‐MDS; the Netherlands). Older adults self‐reported cognitive impairment, pain, depressive symptoms and QoL at baseline and after 6 and 12 months of follow‐up. The Random Intercept Cross‐Lagged Panel Model was used to assess the prospective association between the three factors, while a multilevel linear regression analysis in a two‐level random intercept model was used to examine the longitudinal associations between the three factors and QoL at the within‐person level. Results: The data of 11,582 home‐dwelling older adults with or without subjective cognitive impairment were analysed. At the within‐person level, pain at 6 months was associated with subsequent depressive symptoms (β = 0.04, p = 0.024). The reverse association from depression to pain, and longitudinal associations between pain and subjective cognitive impairment and between depressive symptoms and subjective cognitive impairment were non‐significant. Pain, depressive symptoms and subjective cognitive impairment showed a significant association with poor QoL 6 months later. Conclusions: A directional relationship was observed from pain to depressive symptoms. Pain reduction holds a potential benefit in the prevention of depressive symptoms, ultimately optimising the QoL of older adults. Key points: Older adults have multiple chronic conditions, and subjective cognitive impairment, pain and depressive symptoms are common and interrelated factors which affect the quality of life.Home‐dwelling older adults experiencing pain were more likely to report later depressive symptoms.Pain, depressive symptoms and subjective cognitive impairment were associated with subsequent poor quality of life.Pain reduction may help prevent depressive symptoms and poor quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little information is available on the association between gender nonconformity during adolescence and subsequent mental health. While the distress related to gender nonconformity may be socially produced rather than attributed to individual-level factors, further research is needed to better understand the role of psychosocial factors in this context. Method: We analyzed data from the Tokyo Teen Cohort, obtained through random sampling of adolescents born between 2002 and 2004. We used inverse probability weighting to examine the association of gender nonconformity at ages 12 and 14 as a time-varying variable with subsequent mental health at age 16, while accounting for time-fixed and time-varying confounders. Furthermore, we used a weighting approach to investigate the mediating role of modifiable psychosocial factors in this association, addressing exposure-mediator and mediator–mediator interactions. Results: A total of 3171 participants were analyzed. Persistent gender nonconforming behavior at ages 12 and 14 was associated with subsequent depression (β = 2.02, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.85 to 3.19) and psychotic experiences (β = 0.33, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.52) at age 16. The results remained robust in sensitivity analyses. Approximately 30% of the association between gender nonconformity and depression was consistently mediated by a set of psychosocial factors, namely loneliness, bullying victimization, and relationships with mother, father, and friends. Conclusions: Persistent gender nonconformity during adolescence is associated with subsequent mental health. Psychosocial factors play a vital mediating role in this association, highlighting the essential need for social intervention and change to reduce stigmatization and ameliorate mental health challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Aneurysmal dermatofibroma (ADF) and hemosiderotic dermatofibroma (HDF) are rare variants of dermatofibroma (DF) characterized by distinct histologic features. While HDF is traditionally considered a precursor to ADF, supporting evidence is limited, and the etiology remains unclear. A retrospective analysis of 2128 DF cases (2016-2019) was conducted to investigate the clinicopathologic characteristics of ADF, HDF, and other DFs. Methods Histopathologically diagnosed DF cases were examined for ADF and HDF. Univariate analyses were performed to compare clinicopathologic features. Results Among the cases, 168 (7.9%) were ADF and 29 (1.4%) were HDF. Aneurysmal dermatofibroma and HDF shared several common characteristics, including lower occurrence in females, larger size, and increased cellularity (all P <.0001). Notably, 29% of ADFs lacked hemosiderin deposition. Aneurysmal dermatofibroma primarily manifested on exposed areas (face and forearm, both P <.001). In contrast, 41% of HDFs occurred on the lower leg (P =.018), and all lower leg HDFs exhibited signs of venous stasis, distinguishing them from other HDFs (P <.0001). Conclusions Our findings indicate a potential close relationship between ADF and HDF. Contrary to conventional beliefs, we also presented the possibility of ADF progressing into HDFs. Physical trauma may induce ADF, and HDFs may emerge from ADFs in conjunction with venous stasis in the lower extremities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]