Characteristics of self-reported daily life note (LN) users in return-to-work judgment for workers on sick leave due to mental health conditions, and usefulness of the tool.

A self-reported daily life note (LN) is an effective tool used by occupational physicians to assess the capacity of workers on sick leave due to mental illness to return to work (RTW). We aimed to clarify whether there were differences in the criteria used to define recovery for RTW between LN users and non-users, whether LN users were satisfied with LN, and whether non-users wanted to use LN. In total, 363 occupational physicians (238 LN users, 125 non-users) completed self-reported questionnaires covering demographic and occupational variables, and RTW assessment criteria.

Job crafting, work engagement, and psychological distress among Japanese employees: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Job crafting, an employee-initiated job design/redesign, has become important for employees' well-being. However, most studies on the relationship between job crafting and employees' well-being have been conducted in western countries; thus, it is unclear whether job crafting can be effectively applied to Asian cultures, such as Japan, which emphasizes group harmony. The aim of this study was to examine the cross-sectional associations of self-reported job crafting with work engagement and psychological distress among employees in Japan.

Effects of web-based stress and depression literacy intervention on improving work engagement among workers with low work engagement: An analysis of secondary outcome of a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: The purpose of this randomized, controlled trial was to examine the effects of a psychoeducational information website on improving work engagement among individual workers with low work engagement, where work engagement was measured as a secondary outcome.

Methods: Participants were recruited from registered members of a web survey site in Japan. Participants who fulfilled the eligibility criteria were randomly allocated to intervention or control groups.

Effects of a job crafting intervention program on work engagement among Japanese employees: a pretest-posttest study.

Background: Job crafting, an employee-initiated job design/redesign, has become important for employees' well-being such as work engagement. This study examined the effectiveness of a newly developed job crafting intervention program on work engagement (as primary outcome), as well as job crafting and psychological distress (as secondary outcomes), using a pretest-posttest study design among Japanese employees.

Methods: Participants were managers of a private company and a private psychiatric hospital in Japan.

Effects of web-based stress and depression literacy intervention on improving symptoms and knowledge of depression among workers: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: The present randomized controlled trial aimed to examine whether a newly developed psychoeducational information website on stress and depression was effective in improving depressive symptoms at one- and four-month follow-ups among workers in Japan.

Methods: Participants were recruited from registered members of a web survey site in Japan. Participants who fulfilled the eligibility criteria were randomly allocated to intervention or control groups.

Validation of the Japanese version of the job crafting scale.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to validate the Japanese version of the job crafting scale (JCS-J). JCS measures four independent job crafting dimensions, namely increasing structural job resources, decreasing hindering job demands, increasing social job resources, and increasing challenging job demands.

Methods: The translated and back-translated JCS-J questionnaires were administered online to 972 employees of a Japanese manufacturing company.

[Return-to-work program with a relapse-free job retention rate of 91.6% for workers with mental illness].

Objective: We evaluated the relapse-free job retention rate and cost-effectiveness of return-to-work (RTW) programs for workers with mental illness.

Method: We retrospectively evaluated a group of 196 employees of a pharmaceutical company in Japan who had taken sick leave because of mental illness. We found that the old RTW program led to 142 employees returning to work and the new RTW program resulted in 54 employees returning to work.

Genetic variation and dynamics of hepatitis C virus replicons in long-term cell culture.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genomic sequences are known to vary widely among HCV strains, but to date there have been few reports on the genetic variations and dynamics of HCV in an experimental system of HCV replication. In this study, a genetic analysis of HCV replicons obtained in long-term culture of two HCV replicon cells (50-1 and 1B-2R1), which were established from two HCV strains, 1B-1 and 1B-2, respectively, was performed. One person cultured 50-1 cells for 18 months, and two people independently cultured 50-1 cells for 12 months.

Establishment of hepatitis C virus replicon cell lines possessing interferon-resistant phenotype.

To clarify the mechanism underlying resistance to interferon (IFN) by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in patients with chronic hepatitis, we attempted to develop an IFN-resistant HCV replicon from the IFN-sensitive 50-1 replicon established previously. By treating 50-1 replicon cells with a prolonged low-dose treatment of IFN-alpha and then transfecting the total RNA derived from the IFN-alpha-treated replicon cells, we successfully obtained four clones (named 1, 3, 4, and 5) of HCV replicon cells that survived against IFN-alpha (200 IU/ml). These cloned cells were further treated with IFN-alpha or IFN-beta (increased gradually to 2000 or 1000 IU/ml, respectively).

Establishment of a hepatitis C virus subgenomic replicon derived from human hepatocytes infected in vitro.

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) replicon system is a potent tool for understanding the mechanisms of HCV replication and proliferation, and for the development of treatments for patients with HCV. Recently, we established an HCV subgenomic replicon (50-1) using HCV genome RNA obtained from the cultured human T cell line MT-2C infected with HCV (isolate 1B-1) in vitro. In order to further obtain other HCV replicons without difficulty, we generated a replicon RNA library derived from human non-neoplastic hepatocytes infected with HCV (isolate 1B-2) in vitro.