Overexpression of a cell adhesion molecule, TSLC1, as a possible molecular marker for acute-type adult T-cell leukemia.

Adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) caused by human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection, occurs in 2% to 4% of the HTLV-1 carriers with a long latent period, suggesting that additional alterations participate in the development of ATL. To characterize and identify novel markers of ATL, we examined the expression profiles of more than 12 000 genes in 8 cases of acute-type ATL using microarray. One hundred ninety-two genes containing interleukin 2 (IL-2) receptor alpha were up-regulated more than 2-fold compared with CD4(+) and CD4(+)CD45RO(+) T cells, and tumor suppressor in lung cancer 1 (TSLC1), caveolin 1, and prostaglandin D2 synthase showed increased expression of more than 30-fold.

Serologic assessment of type 1 and type 2 immunity in healthy Japanese adults.

We assessed the informativeness of several serologic biomarkers of immune function using serum specimens collected in the Miyazaki Cohort Study from subjects who were seronegative for anti-human T-cell lymphotrophic virus I and anti-hepatitis C virus. To broadly characterize type 1 immune status, we measured EBV antibody titers, because titer profiles associated with cellular immune suppression are well described. We also tested for three type 2 biomarkers: total serum IgE, soluble CD23, and soluble CD30.

Assessment of smoking status among workers using an improved colorimetric method.

To monitor smoking status among workers, we improved the colorimetric method to detect cotinine and other nicotine metabolites in urine. In adding ethanol in the reaction mixture, the quantitative measurable time defined as the duration with more than 95% of the peak absorbance, extended to 80 min in contrast to 16 min in the original method. As the analytical condition, a aliquot of urine sample (0.

Monitoring mitochondrial metabolisms in irradiated human cancer cells with (99m)Tc-MIBI.

Cationic hexakis(2-methoxyisobutylisonitrile)-technetium-99m ((99m)Tc-MIBI), an agent for scintigraphic detection and imaging of tumors, accumulates in mitochondria of various cells and tissues of high mitochondrial metabolic activity. To monitor the mitochondrial metabolisms of human cancer cells exposed to ionizing radiation, uptake of (99m)Tc-MIBI in an irradiated human lung cancer cell line (A549) was measured at 1-12 h following 0-9 Gy irradiation in vitro. Mitochondrial membrane potential, an index of mitochondrial activity, was also determined by flow cytometry with 3,3'-dihexyloxacarbocyanine (DiOC6(3)).

Non-pharmacological intervention study of hypercholesterolemia among middle-aged people.

Middle-aged people with a serum total cholesterol of more than 220 mg/dl at the latest health examination (n=197) at a chemical company were invited to join a health education program for 6 months. Participants meeting inclusion criteria were randomly assigned to an intervention (n=96) and a control group (n=92). Periodical interviews and blood tests were performed every 2 months for both groups.

Effectiveness of annual interventions for smoking cessation in an occupational setting in Japan.

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of a small-scale smoking cessation intervention program conducted annually for ten years in an occupational setting in Japan.

Methods: We conducted an annual intervention program promoting smoking cessation in male smokers from 1993 to 2002 in an occupational setting in Hyogo, Japan. Trends in smoking prevalence in this worksite were compared with a control group from two similar worksites of the same company.

Effects of stage-matched repeated individual counseling on smoking cessation: A randomized controlled trial for the high-risk strategy by lifestyle modification (HISLIM) study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of stage-matched repeated individual behavioral counseling as an intervention for the cessation of smoking.

Methods: We conducted a multisite randomized controlled trial that enrolled smokers unselected for their readiness to quit. There were 979 smokers with hypertension or hypercholesterolemia recruited from 72 study sites and randomly allocated to the intervention or control group.

Methodological issues for a large-scale intervention trial of lifestyle modification: Interim assessment of the high-risk and population strategy for occupational health promotion (HIPOP-OHP) study.

Objective: To clarify the methodological issues for the High-risk and population Strategy for Occupational Health Promotion Study (HIPOP-OHP study), which is a 4-year non-randomized control trial, an interim assessment of male participants was performed 3 years after the baseline survey.

Methods: We had approximately 2,500 and 4,000 participants in the intervention and control groups, respectively. The population measures and prevalence of risk factors at each year, and between the baseline and 4th examinations were compared between the two groups.

Egg consumption, serum cholesterol, and cause-specific and all-cause mortality: the National Integrated Project for Prospective Observation of Non-communicable Disease and Its Trends in the Aged, 1980 (NIPPON DATA80).

Background: Because egg yolk has a high cholesterol concentration, limited egg consumption is often suggested to help prevent ischemic heart disease (IHD).

Objective: We epidemiologically examined the validity of this recommendation.

Design: We analyzed the relations of egg consumption to serum cholesterol and cause-specific and all-cause mortality by using the NIPPON DATA80 (National Integrated Project for Prospective Observation of Non-communicable Disease And its Trends in the Aged, 1980) database.

Resting heart rate and cause-specific death in a 16.5-year cohort study of the Japanese general population.

Background: Several prospective studies have reported resting heart rate (HR) to be a risk factor for certain cause-specific death, together with sex- or age-specific differences in the effects of HR on death. However, there have been few prospective data from non-Western populations.

Methods: Cohort study, over 16.

Cigarette smoking as a risk factor for stroke death in Japan: NIPPON DATA80.

Background And Purpose: Some previous Japanese cohort studies failed to show an association between smoking and stroke risk. Because such an association has been noted in other populations, this issue should be re-examined in a recent representative Japanese cohort with a higher total cholesterol level.

Methods: A total of 9638 men and women aged 30 years and older without a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) at baseline in 1980 were followed-up for 14 years.

Multigenerational family structure in Japanese society: impacts on stress and health behaviors among women and men.

Rapid population aging in Japan has led to rising demands for informal care giving. Traditionally, care giving for aging parents has fallen disproportionately on the shoulders of women living in multigenerational households. However, rising labor force participation by Japanese women, declining marriage and fertility rates, and women's changing expectations have combined to produce unprecedented strains on traditional multigenerational households where care giving to elders traditionally takes place.

The high-risk and population strategy for occupational health promotion (HIPOP-OHP) study: study design and cardiovascular risk factors at the baseline survey.

In order to establish the methodology of a population strategy for improving cardiovascular risk factors, we have planned the High-risk and Population Strategy for Occupational Health Promotion Study (HIPOP-OHP study). This study is a nonrandomized control trial in approximately 6500 participants in six intervention and six control companies. Our population strategy is based on three factors, nutrition, physical activity, and smoking.

Impact of elevated blood pressure on mortality from all causes, cardiovascular diseases, heart disease and stroke among Japanese: 14 year follow-up of randomly selected population from Japanese -- Nippon data 80.

The objectives of the study were to clarify the relationship between blood pressure and mortality from stroke, heart disease, cardiovascular diseases and all causes of death among representative population of Japanese and to estimate category-specific excess mortality from stroke due to blood pressure (BP) level. The study design comprised a retrospective cohort study using the 1980 National Survey on Cardiovascular Diseases and identification of underlying causes of death using national vital statistics data. In 1994, a 14-year follow-up cohort study was conducted among participants of the National Survey on Cardiovascular Diseases in 1980, randomly selected from the Japanese population.

Specific alcoholic beverage and blood pressure in a middle-aged Japanese population: the High-risk and Population Strategy for Occupational Health Promotion (HIPOP-OHP) Study.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the effects of popular Japanese alcoholic beverages on blood pressure. We performed a cross-sectional study on 4335 Japanese male workers using baseline data from an intervention study. We defined six groups according to the type of alcoholic beverage that provided two-thirds of the subject's total alcohol consumption: beer, sake (rice wine), shochu (traditional Japanese spirits), whiskey, wine and others.

Higher blood pressure in middle-aged American adults with less education-role of multiple dietary factors: the INTERMAP study.

Extensive evidence exists that an inverse relation between education and blood pressure prevails in many adult populations, but little research has been carried out on reasons for this finding. A prior goal of the INTERMAP Study was to investigate this phenomenon further, and to assess the role of dietary factors in accounting for it. Of the 4680 men and women aged 40-59 years, from 17 diverse population samples in Japan, People's Republic of China, UK, and USA, a strong significant inverse education-BP relation was manifest particularly for the 2195 USA participants, independent of ethnicity.

Differences in cardiovascular disease risk factors between Japanese in Japan and Japanese-Americans in Hawaii: the INTERLIPID study.

Despite increase in serum total cholesterol, high smoking rate, and frequency of adverse blood pressure levels in Japan, coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence and mortality apparently remain substantially lower at all ages in Japan than in the US and other Western societies. To better understand these differences, we compared CHD biomedical risk factors and dietary variables in Japanese living in Japan and 3rd and 4th generation Japanese emigrants living a primarily Western lifestyle in Hawaii, in an ancillary study of the INTERMAP. Men and women aged 40-59 years were examined by common standardized methods-four samples in Japan (574 men, 571 women) and a Japanese-American sample in Hawaii (136 men, 131 women).

INTERMAP: the dietary data--process and quality control.

The aim of this report is to describe INTERMAP standardized procedures for assessing dietary intake of 4680 individuals from 17 population samples in China, Japan, UK and USA: Based on a common Protocol and Manuals of Operations, standardized collection by centrally trained certified staff of four 24 h dietary recalls, two timed 24-h urines, two 7-day histories of daily alcohol intake per participant; tape recording of all dietary interviews, and use of multiple methods for ongoing quality control of dietary data collection and processing (local, national, and international); one central laboratory for urine analyses; review, update, expansion of available databases for four countries to produce comparable data on 76 nutrients for all reported foods; use of these databases at international coordinating centres to compute nutrient composition. Chinese participants reported 2257 foods; Japanese, 2931; and UK, 3963. In US, use was made of 17,000 food items in the online automated Nutrition Data System.

Respiratory symptoms correlating to smoking prevalence: the National Nutrition Survey and the National Life-style Survey in Japan.

Background: Although the fact that smoking habits have adverse effects on health, whether the high proportion of smokers elevates the prevalence of symptoms relating to the smoking in a community is still unknown.

Methods: An ecologic study about whole Japan was conducted. Age-adjusted smoking prevalence was calculated using the National Nutrition Survey data from 1986 through 1995 by prefecture and sex.

Enhancing data on nutrient composition of foods eaten by participants in the INTERMAP study in China, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The International Study of Macronutrients and Blood Pressure (INTERMAP) is a four-country study investigating relationships between individual dietary intakes and blood pressure. Dietary intake patterns of individuals were estimated for macronutrients (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, alcohol) and their components (amino acids, fatty acids, starch), as well as minerals, vitamins, caffeine, and dietary fiber. The dietary assessment phase of the study involved collection of four 24-h recalls and two 24-h urine specimens from each of 4680 adults, ages 40-59, at 16 centers located in the People's Republic of China, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

99mTc-MIBI scintigraphy for early detection of locally recurrent non-small cell lung cancer treated with definitive radiation therapy.

After radiation therapy of lung cancer, a dense fibrotic shadow develops in the irradiated lung. Owing to this fibrosis, early detection of local recurrence after treatment is sometimes difficult even when using computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging. We investigated the diagnostic accuracy of technetium-99m hexakis 2-methoxyisobutylisonitrile ((99m)Tc-MIBI) scintigraphy for the detection of recurrent lung cancer following definitive radiation therapy.