Publications by authors named "Maeda Masaharu"

Aim: After the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, several municipal offices were forced to evacuate, and municipal public employees (MPEs) had to perform many administrative tasks related to the disaster. Typhoons and the COVID-19 pandemic also affected the area afterwards. We conducted a survey for MPEs to investigate the mental health impacts and related factors.

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  • The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident led to negative lifestyle changes and psychological stress among nearby residents, prompting a study on how these factors influenced metabolic syndrome (METs) onset.
  • The study involved over 10,000 residents and analyzed health data through surveys from 2013 to 2017, using logistic regression to evaluate lifestyle changes and METs incidence.
  • Findings revealed that 14% of participants developed METs, with unhealthy habits like fast eating, smoking, and excessive alcohol consumption linked to higher METs risk, while increased physical activity had a protective effect.
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We aimed to examine the support needs of women who migrated to Fukushima Prefecture after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. In recent years, the presence of migrants has become an important part of the government's reconstruction policy for affected areas. However, there is insufficient research on the status of migrants in these areas, and it is unclear what kind of support the migrants, especially females, require to encourage further migration to the area.

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Studies of recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) revealed the mixture of full particles with different densities in rAAV. There are no conclusive results because of the lack of quantitative stoichiometric viral proteins, encapsidated DNA, and particle level analyses. We report the first comprehensive characterization of low- and high-density rAAV serotype 2 particles.

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  • The Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, led to a nuclear accident at Fukushima and forced many people to evacuate, impacting their lifestyles and health.
  • A 7-year study examined the link between evacuation and new-onset hyperuricemia in 18,140 residents, finding significant associations in women but not in men.
  • The research concluded that evacuation is a risk factor for hyperuricemia in women, highlighting the health effects of natural disasters beyond immediate physical harm.
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Objective: Residents who lived near the Fukushima Power Plant accident were forced to change their lifestyle after the 2011 accident. This study aimed to elucidate the association of resident lifestyle and psychological factors with onset of hepatobiliary enzyme abnormalities (HEA) after the accident.

Methods: This longitudinal study included 15705 residents who underwent a comprehensive health check, as well as a mental health and lifestyle survey between June 2011 and March 2012.

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  • - The study investigates the mental health impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers (HCWs) in Fukushima, Japan, revealing that 29.4% exhibited moderate or higher depressive symptoms and 10.2% had suicidal thoughts.
  • - It highlights that nurses are significantly more likely to experience these depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation compared to other HCWs, especially in the context of COVID-19-related symptoms.
  • - The findings underscore the critical need for psychosocial support for HCWs dealing with major COVID-19 outbreaks, emphasizing the importance of addressing their mental health in healthcare settings.
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The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on 11 March 2011, forcing Fukushima Prefecture residents to change their living environment. Such sudden changes possibly have long-term effects on cardiovascular-related diseases. We therefore sought to identify temporal relationships between living environment changes and blood pressure levels over three years following the earthquake.

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Evacuees of the Great East Japan Earthquake have experienced adverse, long-term physical and psychological effects, including problem drinking. This study examined the risk and recovery factors for problem drinking among evacuees between fiscal years (FY) 2012 and 2017 using data on residents in the evacuation area from the Mental Health and Lifestyle Survey. With the FY 2012 survey as a baseline, a survey comprising 15,976 men and women was conducted in the evacuation area from FY 2013 to FY 2017, examining the risk and protective factors for problem drinking.

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  • Psychological distress and PTSD may increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, particularly in men, as suggested by a study following evacuees of the Great East Japan Earthquake over seven years.
  • The study utilized specific scales to measure probable depression and PTSD, revealing significant correlations with new-onset diabetes in men but not in women.
  • Findings indicate that post-disaster mental health issues have different impacts on diabetes risk based on sex, suggesting the need for tailored prevention strategies.
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The risk for people evacuated from Fukushima following the Great East Japan Earthquake of developing cancer from radiation exposure may be lower than that associated with smoking and alcohol drinking. However, the perception of those risks may change risk-related behavior. Therefore, we investigated whether the perceived risk of radiation exposure was associated with the initiation and/or cessation of smoking and of drinking alcohol following the disaster.

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  • - The study aimed to assess how various factors like sleep disturbances, parent-child relationships, media use, and parental social status influence children's emotions and behavior.
  • - Researchers conducted a questionnaire survey among parents at a public elementary school, examining family dynamics, children's sleep habits, and parent sleep quality, using tools like the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).
  • - Findings revealed that children's sleep habits, particularly influenced by factors such as family structure and media exposure, had the strongest effect on their emotional and behavioral issues, highlighting the potential for improving these problems through better sleep practices.
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Background: The relationship between radiation levels and mental health status after a nuclear disaster is unknown. We examined the association between individual external radiation doses and psychological distress or post-traumatic stress after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in March 2011 in Japan.

Methods: The Mental Health and Lifestyle Survey was conducted from January 2012.

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  • The Mental Health and Lifestyle Survey (MHLS) has been conducted annually since 2012 to monitor health issues related to the long-term evacuation of people affected by the 2011 Fukushima disaster, involving nearly 210,000 participants.
  • The survey results lead to telephone-based interventions for over 3,000 respondents each year, focusing on non-radiological health effects, particularly mental health outcomes like depressive symptoms and posttraumatic responses.
  • Although there have been improvements in mental health outcomes, many respondents still show high risks for psychiatric problems, especially among those living outside Fukushima Prefecture, indicating the need for ongoing adjustments to the MHLS for better support.
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  • The Fukushima Health Management Survey (FHMS) was created after the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 to track long-term health and study the effects of low-dose radiation on residents.
  • The FHMS includes multiple components like health examinations and surveys but faced challenges such as a low response rate, though follow-up surveys confirmed the validity of radiation exposure data.
  • Findings show no clear link between radiation and thyroid cancer risk, but there is evidence of declining physical and mental health, leading to the decision to end the Pregnancy and Birth Survey in March 2021.
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  • The study explored how different dietary patterns relate to the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among evacuees from the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
  • It analyzed data from 22,740 non-diabetic participants, focusing on their eating habits and tracking T2DM incidence until 2018.
  • The findings suggest that adhering to a typical Japanese dietary pattern may lower the risk of developing T2DM, particularly in women.
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A novel healthy diet index for dietary quality can be used to assess food intake. After the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, the Fukushima Health Management Survey collected dietary data using a short-form food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The current study included eligible participants ( = 64,909) aged 16-84 years who answered the FFQ in 2011.

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  • The study investigated how lifestyle and psychological factors relate to cholesterol and triglyceride levels in Fukushima residents following the 2011 earthquake.
  • Key findings revealed that evacuation experience raised the risk of unhealthy lipid levels, while good dietary diversity and drinking habits were linked to better outcomes.
  • Additionally, low sleep satisfaction and lack of exercise correlated with higher risks of low HDL and high TG levels, highlighting the need for lifestyle improvements among disaster evacuees.
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The present study aimed to clarify the characteristics of young evacuees who had missed the Comprehensive Health Check of the Fukushima Health Management Survey (FHMS) after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. The FHMS has been conducted as a prospective cohort study to evaluate the health status of evacuees annually after the great earthquake in 2011. This study focused on the annual participation rate in the Comprehensive Health Check of evacuees aged between 20 and 37 years in 2011 who evacuated due to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident.

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During the Great East Japan Earthquake, many people experienced the loss of family and friends, among other traumatic events. This study sought to clarify the impact of the loss of significant close others on posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), as well as the factors associated with PTSS, among individuals who experienced the loss of significant close others (i.e.

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This study examined whether disaster resilience affects the recovery of mental health states and mitigates psychosocial anxiety 10 years later the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. The survey was conducted in Fukushima's evacuation-directed and non-evacuation-directed areas in January 2020. The 695 participants responded to a questionnaire including items on radiation-related anxiety regarding the Fukushima Daiichi accident, an action-oriented approach as a resilience factor, psychological distress, and demographic information.

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Natural disasters force many evacuees to change several aspects of their lifestyles. This longitudinal study aimed to investigate whether factors such as living environment and lifestyle factors were related to new-onset hypertension in survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake over a long-term follow-up of up to 7 years after the earthquake. The present study examined data collected from 29,025 Japanese participants aged 39-89 years, sourced from general health checkups and the Fukushima Mental Health and Lifestyle Survey, which was conducted in 13 communities between 2011 and 2018.

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This study aimed to evaluate the sequential changes in the proportion of anemia among young women over eight years after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 using a prospective study of the Fukushima Health Management Survey. This study focused on the women aged between 20 and 44 who lived in the evacuation area of the nuclear power plant accident. The yearly age-adjusted proportion of anemia was accessed with data between July 2011 and March 2019.

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Post-disaster mental health and psychosocial support have drawn attention in Japan after the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, with mental health care centers for the affected communities being organized. After the catastrophe, a reconstruction budget was allocated to organize mental health care centers to provide psychosocial support for communities affected by the 2007 Chūetsu offshore earthquake, the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, and the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake. There were several major improvements in post-disaster mental health measures after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

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