Associations between Workers' Health and Working Conditions: Would the Physical and Mental Health of Nonregular Employees Improve If Their Income Was Adjusted?

Precarious employment can negatively affect health, but workers may be healthy if they earn enough income. This study uses equivalent disposable income and examines the interaction between income classes and employment types to clarify whether workers' health improves as the income classes rise. In Japan, nonstandard workers, called nonregular employees, have remained high since 2013.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working students: Results from the Labour Force Survey and the student lifestyle survey.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused devastating damage to employment globally, particularly among the non-standard workforce. The objective of this study was to identify the effects of the pandemic on the employment status and lives of working students in Japan.

Methods: The Labour Force Survey (January 2019 to May 2020) was used to examine changes in students' work situations.

[The process of community building by Community Social Coordinators: The possibility of enhancing social capital in a disaster-affected city].

Objectives　To build a healthy and safe community, it is important to provide direct services, such as health, medical, and social welfare services. However, it is also crucial to enhance the community's social capital by promoting self-help and mutual aid within the community. The development and utilization of resources/networks as well as community empowerment are possible methods to enhance social capital, but there is no conclusive method to facilitate effective coordination within the community.

Associations Between Social Support and Subjective Symptoms in Disaster-Stricken Ishinomaki, Japan.

Objectives: Natural disasters affect long-term health by directly disrupting or destroying health-care systems and social support. We examined the associations between social support and subjective symptoms (SS) among disaster victims living in their homes approximately 1-2 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, which devastated the northeastern Japan seaboard and far inland, focusing on Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture.

Methods: The Health and Life Revival Council of Ishinomaki District conducted door-to-door household surveys between April 2012 and January 2013.

Adverse health effects of asbestos: solving mysteries regarding asbestos carcinogenicity based on follow-up survey of a Chinese factory.

The present review summarizes the results of several follow-up studies assessing an asbestos product manufacturing plant in Chongqing, China, and discusses three controversial issues related to the carcinogenicity of asbestos. The first issue is the amphibole hypothesis, which asserts that the carcinogenicity of asbestos is limited to amphiboles, such as crocidolite, but not serpentines, such as chrysotile. However, considering the possible multiple component of asbestos carcinogenicity in the presence of tobacco smoke or other carcinogens, chrysotile cannot be regarded as non-carcinogenic.

Relationship between menstruation status and work conditions in Japan.

Background: Menstrual problems can significantly impact daily and work life. In reaction to a shrinking population, the Japanese government is encouraging more women to participate in the labor force. Actual success in achieving this aim, however, is limited.

[Need to reform education in graduate schools of public health in Japan: Toward outcome-based education to cultivate competencies].

Japan, known for its good healthcare access via universal health insurance, leads the world in terms of life expectancy, and possesses a public health system that has improved health standards markedly in the 20th century. However, we currently face major challenges to maintain and promote people's health. Although these complicated problems pose numerous threats to public welfare, education of public health for health professionals still retains 20th-century standards.

Exposure-response estimate for lung cancer and asbestosis in a predominantly chrysotile-exposed Chinese factory cohort.

Background: Cumulative fiber exposures, predominantly chrysotile, were estimated in a Chinese asbestos worker cohort and exposure-response relationships with lung cancer mortality and cumulative incidence of asbestosis were determined.

Methods: Individual time-dependent cumulative exposures were estimated for 577 asbestos workers, followed prospectively for 37 years. Occupational history and smoking data were obtained from company records and personal interviews; vital status and causes of death were ascertained from death registries and hospital records.

Size- and type-specific exposure assessment of an asbestos products factory in China.

This study describes fibre size and type-specific airborne asbestos exposures in an asbestos product factory. Forty-four membrane filter samples were analysed by scanning electron microscopy to determine the size distribution of asbestos fibres, by workshop. Fibre frequencies of bivariate (length by width) categories were calculated and differences between workshops were tested by analysis of variance.

Identification of disaster-vulnerable communities by use of census data prior to the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Objectives: The role of the community is becoming increasingly recognized as a crucial determinant of human health, particularly during a disaster and during disaster recovery. To identify disaster-vulnerable communities, we sought factors related to communities in need of support by using census information from before the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Methods: We identified vulnerable communities by using a needs-assessment survey conducted 6 to 12 months after the Great East Japan Earthquake in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, as indicated by higher proportions of households with at least 1 of 3 major support needs (medical, elderly, psychological, and dwelling environment).

Psychotropic drug-associated electrocardiographic presentation of diffuse J-waves in hypothermia: case report and literature review.

The use of psychotropic drugs is often associated with electrocardiographic (ECG) QT-interval prolongation, but there are few reports of J-waves. This report describes the case of a schizophrenic patient under treatment with several psychotropic drugs (olanzapine, valproate, and flunitrazepam), in whom ECG J-waves diffusely appeared during a hypothermic episode. We further performed a literature review of psychotropic drug-related J-waves in hypothermia.

Spinal cerebrospinal fluid leaks detected by radionuclide cisternography and magnetic resonance imaging in patients suspected of intracranial hypotension.

Purpose: Although many studies have described various features of neuroimaging tests associated with intracranial hypotension, few have examined their validity and reliability. We evaluated the association between CSF leaks detected by radionuclide cisternography and abnormal MRI findings in the accurate diagnosis of intracranial hypotension.

Patients/methods: We retrospectively assessed 250 patients who were suspected of intracranial hypotension and underwent subsequent radionuclide cisternography.

Difference in concentration trends of airborne particulate matter during rush hour on weekdays and Sundays in Tokyo, Japan.

Suspended particulate matter (SPM) and fine particulate matter (less than or equal to 2.5 microm: PM2.5) have generally been decreasing for the last decade in Tokyo, Japan.

Differences in self-rated health by employment contract and household structure among Japanese employees: a nationwide cross-sectional study.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine whether the association between employment contract and self-rated health differs by household structure in a representative sample of employees in Japan.

Methods: The participants were 81,441 male and 64,471 female employees aged 18-59 years who had participated in the 2010 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions. We assessed the interactive effect of employment contract (permanent or precarious) and household structure (couple only, couple with children, single parent, single person, or other multi-person) on fair/poor health, adjusting for covariates by using logistic regression.

Exposure-specific lung cancer risks in Chinese chrysotile textile workers and mining workers.

Objective: Whether there is a difference in the exposure-response slope for lung cancer between mining workers and textile workers exposed to chrysotile has not been well documented. This study was carried out to evaluate exposure-specific lung cancer risks in Chinese chrysotile textile workers and mining workers.

Subjects And Methods: A chrysotile mining worker cohort and a chrysotile textile worker cohort were observed concurrently for 26 years.

Body mass index, blood pressure, and glucose and lipid metabolism among permanent and fixed-term workers in the manufacturing industry: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Temporary employment, a precarious form of employment, is recognized as social determinant of poor health. However, evidence supporting precarious employment as a risk factor for health is mainly obtained from subjective data. Studies using objective clinical measurement data in the assessment of health status are limited.

Exposure to chrysotile mining dust and digestive cancer mortality in a Chinese miner/miller cohort.

Objectives: To examine mortality from digestive cancers in a Chinese miner cohort and to explore the exposure-response relationship between chrysotile mining dust and site-specific digestive cancers.

Methods: A cohort of 1539 asbestos miners was followed for 26 years. Information on vital status and death causes was collected from personnel records and hospitals.

Association of metabolic syndrome with atypical features of depression in Japanese people.

Aim: It has been controversial whether metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with depression. We aimed to clarify the correlation between MetS and depression, considering atypical features of depression.

Methods: Participants were 1011 Japanese men aged 20-59 years.

Cancer mortality in Chinese chrysotile asbestos miners: exposure-response relationships.

Objective: This study was conducted to assess the relationship of mortality from lung cancer and other selected causes to asbestos exposure levels.

Methods: A cohort of 1539 male workers from a chrysotile mine in China was followed for 26 years. Data on vital status, occupation and smoking were collected from the mine records and individual contacts.

Decreasing trends of suspended particulate matter and PM2.5 concentrations in Tokyo, 1990-2010.

In Tokyo, the annual average suspended particulate matter (SPM) and PM2.5 concentrations have decreased in the past two decades. The present study quantitatively evaluated these decreasing trends using data from air-pollution monitoring stations.

Trends in smoking and lung cancer mortality in Japan, by birth cohort, 1949-2010.

Objective: To determine smoking trends in Japan in comparison with lung cancer mortality.

Methods: Age-specific smoking prevalence among cohorts born between 1897 and 1985 were determined for the period 1949-2010. The percentages of the cohorts born between 1893 and 1979 who initiated smoking early (e.