Association between social mutual aid andpsychological stress (K6) of residents in rural district / Journal of Rural Medicine

Objective: This study aimed to clarify the association between social mutual aid and psychological stress among residents in a rural district.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study based on Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Health Care Utilization was conducted on 2,500 residents of City A in Akita Prefecture who were aged 65 years or older. The study was conducted from April 8 to May 15, 2017. Participants were administered a questionnaire containing items on individual characteristics (predisposing, enabling, and need) and contextual characteristics (physical factors).Results: Responses were obtained from 1,236 participants, and data from 974 valid questionnaires were analyzed. Factors related to the high level of psychological stress were “maintenance of confidential relationships that could only be formed in the rural district (low)” and “social support (low)”, which are forms of social mutual aid. Use of health services had no association with psychological stress, whereas when psychological stress was high (5 points or higher), the rate of “not participating in community groups (no)” was also high.Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate the need for the objective evaluation of the roles of self-help and mutual help among elderly adults living in a rural district and the mutual help and public help functions represented by health services. It is also important to develop districts that promote the enhancement of social mutual aid so that such help can be fully utilized.

Association between high psychological distress and poor oral health-related quality of life (OHQoL) in Japanese community-dwelling people: the Nagasaki Islands Study

BACKGROUND@#We investigated the association between psychological distress and oral health status/oral health-related quality of life (OHQoL) in Japanese community-dwelling people.@*METHODS@#We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the Nagasaki Islands Study. A total of 1183 (455 men and 728 women) has been analyzed in this study. Psychological distress was measured using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6). Oral health status was measured by dental examination. The OHQoL was measured using the General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI). We defined the total score of ≥5 points on the K6 as high psychological distress (high-K6 group).@*RESULTS@#The multiple linear regression analysis to identify the GOHAI showed that gender, K6, the total number of teeth, the number of dental caries, and visiting a dental clinic within the past 6 months significantly associated with the GOHAI. Among all of these variables, high-K6 (≥ 5) was a substantial contributing factor of the GOHAI (β = - 0.23, 95% Cl - 2.31 to -1.41, p < 0.0001).@*CONCLUSIONS@#It is likely that the individual with high psychological distress was strongly related to poor OHQoL even in the general population.

Psychological Distress and Occupational Injury: Findings from the National Health Interview Survey 2000-2003 / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study examined whether serious psychological distress (SPD) is associated with occupational injury among US employees. METHODS: The employed population aged 18-64 years was examined (n=101,855) using data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 2000-2003. SPD was measured using the Kessler 6-item Psychological Distress Scale (K-6), a screening scale designed to identify persons with serious mental illness. The predicted marginal prevalence of psychological distress and occupational injury with the adjusted odds ratio were estimated using multiple logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: The age-adjusted 3-month prevalence of occupational injury was 0.80+/-0.12% in workers with SPD, which was 37% greater than in workers without SPD (0.58+/-0.03%). The odds of occupational injury in workers with SPD were higher compared to workers without SPD (OR=1.34, 95% CI=0.93-1.92), after controlling for sex, age, race, education, occupation, and activity limitation by at least one medical condition. Male, service and blue collar occupation, and activity limiation by co-morbidity showed significantly higher odds of occupational injury for workers with SPD. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that SPD accounts for an increased likelihood of occupational injury among US employees. A further longitudinal study is needed to differentiate the mechanism or causal pathways linking individual injury risk at the workplace, SPD, and socioeconomic factors.

Recent Epidemic Emergence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus O3:K6 in Korea / 대한임상병리학회지

BACKGROUND: V. parahaemolyticus O3:K6 strains responsible for the increase in the number of cases of diarrhea in Southeast Asia since 1995. We performed serotyping of V. parahaemolyticus isolated from different geographic areas in Korea since 1998. METHODS: A total of 45 V. parahaemolyticus strains were isolated from clinical specimens of pa-tients with diarrhea in different geographic areas of Seoul (Hanyang University Hospital, 16 cases), Incheon (Gachon Medical Center, 27 cases) and Gwangju (Chonnam University Hospital, 2 cases) from 1998 to 2000 in Korea. Serovar O3:K6 of V. parahaemolyticus was determined by slide and tube agglutination tests with specific antisera (Seiken, Japan). RESULTS: The twenty-eight (62%) of 45 samples were positive to specific antisera of V. parahae-molyticus O3:K6. The O3:K6 strains were detected 11/16 (69%) in Seoul, 15/27 (56%) in Incheon, and 2/2 (100%) in Gwangju. V. parahaemolyticus O3:K6 was detected 11/16 (69%) in 1998, 12/18 (67%) in 1999, and 5/11 (45%) in 2000, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We report the epidemic emergence of V. parahaemolyticus O3:K6 in Korea, since 1998.

Inhibitory Effect of K_6[P_2W_(18)O_(62)]?14H_2O on Human Breast Tumor Cell MCF-7 Growth in Vitro / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE: To study the in vitro anti-tumor activity of tungstophosphate compound(K6[P2W18O62]?14H2O) with Dawson structure.METHODS: MCF-7 cells were treated with different concentration of K6[P2W18O62]?14H2O,then its IC50 was measured by MTT assay;flow cytometry was applied to analyze cell cycle and apoptosis by computing the ratio of MCF-7 cells in different phase and its apoptotic ratio.Cell growth and viability were measured by trypan blue staining and cell counting by computing the ratio of living cells.The synergetic anti-tumor activity of tungstophosphate compound(K6[P2W18O62]?14H2O) and pharmorubicin was studied.RESULTS: K6[P2W18O62]?14H2O inhibited MCF-7 cell proliferation with IC50 of(33.7?3.2) ?mol?L-1,it reduced the proportions of MCF-7 cells at S phase and G1 phase,with the apoptotic rate at 3.7%～29.2% within 48 h.The percentage of living cells was 95.37%～76.78% at 48 h.As compared with pharmorubicin alone,the addition of K6[P2W18O62]?14H2O to pharmorubicin showed a significantly higher inhibitory action on proliferation of MCF-7 cells(P