ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the correlates of psychological responses in dentists who conducted disaster victim identification (DVI) in Fukushima following the 2011 earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster. METHOD: Self-report questionnaires were administered to 49 male dentists six to nine months after the disaster. Psychological distress and posttraumatic stress were measured using the General Health Questionnaire-30 (GHQ-30) and Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), respectively. Independent variables included sociodemographic characteristics, participant disaster exposures, DVI-related exposures, and fear of radiation exposure during DVI. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to examine independent-dependent variable relations. RESULTS: Thirty-eight participants (77.6%) had examined ≥ 40 corpses, 20 (40.8%) reported ≥ 4 corpse-related exposures, and six (12.2%) reported ≥ 5 gruesome corpse exposures. Mean (SD) GHQ-30 and IES-R scores were 5.08 (5.31) and 9.90 (10.1), respectively. Higher levels of psychological distress were associated with younger age (adjusted ß = -0.29), extensive property loss (ß = 0.34), and anxiety for the future (ß = 0.33). Higher levels of posttraumatic stress were associated with extensive property loss (adjusted R2 = 17.7%, ß = 0.30). Neither outcome was associated with DVI-related exposures or fear of radiation exposure during DVI (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Dentists' psychological burden was associated with disaster, but not DVI, exposures.
Subject(s)
Dentists/psychology , Disaster Victims/classification , Fukushima Nuclear Accident , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/epidemiology , Stress, Psychological/epidemiology , Adult , Age Factors , Humans , Japan/epidemiology , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
Stable isotope analysis has undergone rapid development in recent years and yielded significant results in the field of forensic sciences. In particular, carbon and oxygen isotopic ratios in tooth enamel obtained from human remains can provide useful information for the crosschecking of morphological and DNA analyses and facilitate rapid on-site prescreening for the identification of remains. This study analyzes carbon and oxygen isotopic ratios in the tooth enamel of Japanese people born between 1878 and 1930, in order to obtain data for methodological differentiation of Japanese and American remains from the Second World War. The carbon and oxygen isotopic ratios in the tooth enamel of the examined Japanese individuals are compared to previously reported data for American individuals (born post WWII), and statistical analysis is conducted using a discrimination method based on a logistic regression analysis. The discrimination between the Japanese and US populations, including Alaska and Hawaii, is found to be highly accurate. Thus, the present method has potential as a discrimination technique for both populations for use in the examination of mixed remains comprising Japanese and American fallen soldiers.
Subject(s)
Carbon Isotopes/analysis , Dental Enamel/chemistry , Forensic Dentistry/methods , Military Personnel , Oxygen Isotopes/analysis , Asian People , Female , Humans , Japan , Logistic Models , Male , Molar/chemistry , United States , World War IIABSTRACT
We investigated three-dimensional decrease in the volume of the pulp chamber caused by age-related secondary dentin formation using micro-CT and evaluated the applicability of the results to evaluation of age taking into account sex, age and tooth type. Decrease was slightly higher in females than in males, and a higher correlation between decrease and aging was observed in females. A comparison between age-groups revealed that decrease progressed between the fifties and sixties in males, and the forties and fifties in females. A stronger correlation between aging and decrease was observed in the mandibular central incisors than in the mandibular second premolars. This correlation was higher than other correlations between sexes and age-groups.
