RESUMEN
The number of dengue cases has increased dramatically in recent years. In Latin America, the number of cases and deaths in 2023 was the highest ever recorded. We report on a patient who had been infected with dengue virus during his stay in Costa Rica in September 2023, and developed the disease after returning to Japan. Plasma obtained from the patient was used for diagnosis and dengue virus serotyping by real-time PCR. The nucleotide sequence of the envelope region of dengue virus was then determined by the direct sequencing method, and this sequence was used for phylogenetic analyses. The patient was found to be infected with dengue virus type 3 genotype III. The sequence from the present case was more homologous with sequences registered in Florida, USA, associated with travel to Cuba in 2022 than with sequences registered in Costa Rica 10 years ago. The Pan American Health Organization reported that only dengue virus type 1 and 2 cases were reported in Costa Rica in 2019-2021, whereas dengue virus type 3 and 4 cases started being reported in 2022. In 2023, the reported numbers of cases with dengue virus types 3 and 4 exceeded those of dengue virus types 1 and 2. In addition, regional differences in endemic strains have been observed in Costa Rica. Our findings suggest that the dengue virus type 3 that infected the patient was more likely an influx of a strain that had been circulating in Caribbean countries such as Cuba in recent years, rather than a re-emergence of an indigenous virus in Costa Rica. The serotypes of dengue virus prevalent in Costa Rica have been changing since 2022. All four serotypes were prevalent in 2023, with a particularly sharp increase in the number of cases of dengue virus types 3 and 4. Future monitoring and surveillance are essential because changes in endemic serotypes can cause antibody-dependent enhancement, which can lead to severe dengue disease presentations.
RESUMEN
This study investigated the role of medium (face-to-face, cyber) and publicity (public, private) in adolescents' perceptions of severity and coping strategies (i.e., avoidant, ignoring, helplessness, social support seeking, retaliation) for victimization, while accounting for gender and cultural values. There were 3432 adolescents (ages 11-15, 49% girls) in this study; they were from China, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, India, Japan, and the United States. Adolescents completed questionnaires on individualism and collectivism, and ratings of coping strategies and severity for public face-to-face victimization, private face-to-face victimization, public cyber victimization, and private cyber victimization. Findings revealed similarities in adolescents' coping strategies based on perceptions of severity, publicity, and medium for some coping strategies (i.e., social support seeking, retaliation) but differential associations for other coping strategies (i.e., avoidance, helplessness, ignoring). The results of this study are important for prevention and intervention efforts because they underscore the importance of teaching effective coping strategies to adolescents, and to consider how perceptions of severity, publicity, and medium might influence the implementation of these coping strategies.
Asunto(s)
Conducta del Adolescente , Acoso Escolar , Víctimas de Crimen , Ciberacoso , Femenino , Adolescente , Humanos , Niño , Masculino , Adaptación PsicológicaRESUMEN
Japan is one of the countries conducting longitudinal serosurveillance of vaccine-preventable diseases. We conducted surveillance of the local measles-specific antibody titer, calculated the effective reproduction number (Re), and compared data of four terms: term 1, 2003-2006 (before the introduction of the second shot of measles-containing vaccine); term 2, 2007-2010 (early term toward measles elimination); term 3, 2011-2014 (later term toward measles elimination); and term 4, 2015-2020 (after elimination of measles in Japan). Approximately 250 sera from volunteers aged 0 to ≥ 40 years were collected and examined for measles-specific IgG using the gelatin particle agglutination (PA) method annually from 2003 to 2020. Seroprevalence and the geometric mean of the PA antibody titer were examined by term. Re was calculated using the age-dependent proportion immune and contact matrix for each term. Of the 4,716 sera, 886 in term 1, 1,217 in term 2, 1,069 in term 3, and 1,544 in term 4 were collected. The seroprevalence gradually increased from term 1 (88.3% CI 86.0-90.3) to term 4 (95.7% CI 94.6-96.7), and the seroprevalence of term 1 was significantly lower than those of other terms (Fisher's exact test, p < 0.001), with PA titer ≥ 16 as positive. By contrast, PA antibody titers significantly decreased from term 1 (median 1,024) to term 4 (median 256) (Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.001). With the protection level (PA titer ≥ 128 and ≥ 256) as positive, Re gradually increased from term 1 (1.8 and 2.3) to term 4 (2.5 and 4.8, respectively). Waning levels of measles antibodies potentially increase the measles susceptibility in Osaka, Japan. This trend might imply a limitation of vaccine-induced immunity in the absence of a natural booster for wild strains after measles elimination. This study provides a cue for maintaining continuous measles elimination status in the future.
Asunto(s)
Inmunidad Colectiva , Sarampión , Humanos , Estudios Seroepidemiológicos , Japón/epidemiología , Gelatina , Sarampión/epidemiología , Sarampión/prevención & control , Vacuna Antisarampión , Anticuerpos Antivirales , Inmunoglobulina G , VacunaciónRESUMEN
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, higher educational institutions worldwide switched to emergency distance learning in early 2020. The less structured environment of distance learning forced students to regulate their learning and motivation more independently. According to self-determination theory (SDT), satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and social relatedness affects intrinsic motivation, which in turn relates to more active or passive learning behavior. As the social context plays a major role for basic need satisfaction, distance learning may impair basic need satisfaction and thus intrinsic motivation and learning behavior. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between basic need satisfaction and procrastination and persistence in the context of emergency distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in a cross-sectional study. We also investigated the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in this relationship. Furthermore, to test the universal importance of SDT for intrinsic motivation and learning behavior under these circumstances in different countries, we collected data in Europe, Asia and North America. A total of N = 15,462 participants from Albania, Austria, China, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Kosovo, Lithuania, Poland, Malta, North Macedonia, Romania, Sweden, and the US answered questions regarding perceived competence, autonomy, social relatedness, intrinsic motivation, procrastination, persistence, and sociodemographic background. Our results support SDT's claim of universality regarding the relation between basic psychological need fulfilment, intrinsic motivation, procrastination, and persistence. However, whereas perceived competence had the highest direct effect on procrastination and persistence, social relatedness was mainly influential via intrinsic motivation.
Asunto(s)
COVID-19/epidemiología , Educación a Distancia/estadística & datos numéricos , Motivación , Procrastinación , Universidades/estadística & datos numéricos , Adulto , Estudios Transversales , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Pandemias , Autonomía Personal , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a novel tick-borne infectious disease, therefore, the information on the whole genome of the SFTS virus (SFTSV) is still limited. This study demonstrates a nearly whole genome of the SFTSV identified in Osaka in 2017 and 2018 by next-generation sequencing (NGS). The evolutionary lineage of two genotypes, C5 and J1, was identified in Osaka. The first case in Osaka belongs to suspect reassortment (L:C5, M:C5, S:C4), the other is genotype J1 (L: J1, M: J1, S: J1) according to the classification by a Japanese group. C5 was identified in China, indicating that C5 identified in this study may be transmitted by birds between China and Japan. This study revealed that different SFTSV genotypes were distributed in two local areas, suggesting the separate or focal transmission patterns in Osaka.
Asunto(s)
Phlebovirus/clasificación , Phlebovirus/genética , Filogenia , Síndrome de Trombocitopenia Febril Grave/virología , Evolución Molecular , Genoma Viral/genética , Genotipo , Humanos , Japón , Phlebovirus/aislamiento & purificación , ARN Viral/genéticaRESUMEN
West Nile virus (WNV) is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA flavivirus belonging to the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) serocomplex of the Flaviviridae family and causes mosquito-borne infections. Although most human infection cases are asymptomatic, approximately one in 150 infected individuals develops meningoencephalitis, with a mortality rate of 4-14%. While the development of human neutralizing antibody therapeutics against WNV is strongly anticipated, WNV is difficult to study in conventional laboratories due to its high safety level requirement. In this study, we established fully human WNV-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of inactivated-JEV-vaccinated individuals, and these antibodies exhibited WNV neutralization both in vitro and in vivo. Our results demonstrate a new antibody cross-reactivity strategy to develop immunological therapeutic reagents for WNV and other JEV serotype viruses.
Asunto(s)
Anticuerpos Monoclonales/inmunología , Anticuerpos Neutralizantes/inmunología , Reacciones Cruzadas , Vacunas contra la Encefalitis Japonesa/administración & dosificación , Leucocitos Mononucleares/inmunología , Virus del Nilo Occidental/inmunología , Adulto , Animales , Virus de la Encefalitis Japonesa (Especie) , Encefalitis Japonesa/inmunología , Encefalitis Japonesa/terapia , Femenino , Humanos , Técnicas Inmunológicas , Vacunas contra la Encefalitis Japonesa/inmunología , Ratones Endogámicos C57BL , Pruebas de Neutralización , Fiebre del Nilo Occidental/inmunología , Fiebre del Nilo Occidental/terapiaRESUMEN
The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of publicity (private, public) and medium (face-to-face, cyber) on the associations between attributions (i.e., self-blame, aggressor-blame) and coping strategies (i.e., social support, retaliation, ignoring, helplessness) for hypothetical victimization scenarios among 3,442 adolescents (age range 11-15 years; 49% girls) from China, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, India, Japan, and the United States. When Indian and Czech adolescents made more of the aggressor-blame attribution, they used retaliation more for public face-to-face victimization when compared to private face-to-face victimization and public and private cyber victimization. In addition, helplessness was used more for public face-to-face victimization when Chinese adolescents utilized more of the aggressor-blame attribution and the self-blame attribution. Similar patterns were found for Cypriot adolescents, the self-blame attribution, and ignoring. The results have implications for the development of prevention and intervention programs that take into account the various contexts of peer victimization.
RESUMEN
INTRODUCTION: Estimating the national prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA) and its association with health and developmental outcomes is the first step in developing prevention strategies. While such data are available from many countries, less is known about the epidemiology of CSA in Japan. METHODS: For this systematic review, we searched English databases: Embase, Ovid MEDLINE(R) In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid MEDLINE(R) Daily and Ovid MEDLINE(R), Ovid OLDMEDLINE(R), PsycINFO, and Japanese databases: Cinii, J-Stage, Children's Rainbow Center Japan, Japan Child and Family Research Institute, Japanese Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect to identify articles published before July 2015 examining the lifetime prevalence of CSA in Japan using non-clinical samples. Data were extracted from published reports. RESULTS: We initially identified 606 citations and after abstract review, retrieved 120 publications. Six studies that met the selection criteria and additional two relevant studies were reviewed. The range of contact CSA for females was 10.4%-60.7%, and the prevalence of this type of CSA for males was 4.1%. The range of penetrative CSA for females was 1.3%-8.3% and that for males was 0.5%-1.3%. A number of methodological issues were identified, including a lack of validated measures of CSA, and low response rates. CONCLUSION: In contrast to a lower prevalence of penetrative CSA, the prevalence of contact CSA among Japanese females may be comparable or higher in relation to international estimates. Future research on children's perceptions of and exposure to sexual abuse, crime and exploitation in Japan is discussed.
Asunto(s)
Abuso Sexual Infantil/estadística & datos numéricos , Adolescente , Niño , Femenino , Humanos , Japón , Masculino , PrevalenciaRESUMEN
The authors' aim was to investigate gender and cultural differences in the attributions used to determine causality for hypothetical public and private face-to-face and cyber victimization scenarios among 3,432 adolescents (age range = 11-15 years; 49% girls) from China, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, India, Japan, and the United States, while accounting for their individualism and collectivism. Adolescents completed a questionnaire on cultural values and read four hypothetical victimization scenarios, including public face-to-face victimization, public cyber victimization, private face-to-face victimization, and private cyber victimization. After reading the scenarios, they rated different attributions (i.e., self-blame, aggressor-blame, joking, normative, conflict) according to how strongly they believed the attributions explained why victimization occurred. Overall, adolescents reported that they would utilize the attributions of self-blame, aggressor-blame, and normative more for public forms of victimization and face-to-face victimization than for private forms of victimization and cyber victimization. Differences were found according to gender and country of origin as well. Such findings underscore the importance of delineating between different forms of victimization when examining adolescents' attributions.
Asunto(s)
Conducta del Adolescente/psicología , Acoso Escolar , Víctimas de Crimen/psicología , Comparación Transcultural , Percepción Social , Adolescente , Niño , China , Chipre , República Checa , Femenino , Humanos , India , Internet , Japón , Masculino , Grupo Paritario , Factores Sexuales , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , Estados UnidosAsunto(s)
Infecciones por Caliciviridae/virología , Proteínas de la Cápside/metabolismo , Susceptibilidad a Enfermedades/inmunología , Gastroenteritis/virología , Norovirus/metabolismo , Secuencia de Aminoácidos , Sitios de Unión , Antígenos de Grupos Sanguíneos/inmunología , Antígenos de Grupos Sanguíneos/metabolismo , Infecciones por Caliciviridae/epidemiología , Infecciones por Caliciviridae/inmunología , Proteínas de la Cápside/química , Proteínas de la Cápside/genética , Niño , Gastroenteritis/epidemiología , Gastroenteritis/inmunología , Humanos , Japón/epidemiología , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Norovirus/genética , Unión ProteicaRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Since 2009, when the revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Act was enacted in Japan, self-medication practices have increased. Because the concept of self-medication was recently introduced in Japan, few studies exist on this topic. Therefore, it is necessary to explore how self-medication is practiced. This study examined Japanese consumers' self-medication practices and attitudes toward over-the-counter (OTC) medicines based on their sex, age, and socioeconomic status (SES). METHODS: The participants were 403 adults (Mage = 41.1 years, SD = 16.22). A quota sampling method was employed based on age group, and participants completed an online questionnaire. RESULTS: Participants in the 20-29 age group reported medical costs as an obstacle in seeing a doctor; in contrast, transportation was a mitigating factor for elderly people. Regarding SES, people at lower SES levels chose to rest instead of seeing a doctor or purchasing over-the-counter (OTC) medicines when sick. They also placed more value on national brand OTC medicines than private brands (likely due to advertisements). This finding suggests individuals with a low SES do not select OTC medicines based on their effects or ingredients. Regarding attitudes toward OTC medicines, Japanese participants seemed to be unaware of the potential for abuse and side effects associated with OTC medicines. Finally, in relation to caregivers' self-medication practices for their children, the majority of participants reported taking their children to the hospital since children tend to receive free medical care. Furthermore, caregivers with a high educational background are more confident in being able to help manage their children's health. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that health and medical discrepancies among Japanese consumers pose new social problems. In Japan, universal health care is available, but the cost of receiving medical care is not completely free of charge. Thus, we hope that the government will attempt to meet the various needs of patients and support their well-being. Consumers also have to be more independent and aware of their health management, as self-medication practices will continue to play a more significant role in healthcare. More research is needed to find ways to teach Japanese consumers/patients of both the benefits and risks of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines.
RESUMEN
Chikungunya fever is an arboviral disease caused by chikungunya virus. A 37-year-old Japanese male visited India and developed fever, myalgia, rash, and persisting systemic arthralgia, the latter of which persisted for more than 2 months. The patient was diagnosed with chikungunya fever by virological and serological examinations. In the present study, we followed specific antibody responses over a 6-month period after the onset of the disease. IgM antibody was detected on days 58 and 108, but not on day 137, by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Specific IgG and neutralizing antibodies were detected as late as day 192. The results indicate that specific IgM lasts for 3 to 4 months from the onset of the disease, and that IgG lasts more than 6 months.
Asunto(s)
Infecciones por Alphavirus/diagnóstico , Virus Chikungunya/aislamiento & purificación , Adulto , Infecciones por Alphavirus/patología , Infecciones por Alphavirus/virología , Anticuerpos Antivirales/sangre , Estudios de Seguimiento , Humanos , Inmunoglobulina G/sangre , Inmunoglobulina M/sangre , India , Japón , Masculino , ViajeRESUMEN
A one-step reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) assay for the detection of norovirus (NV) was developed. In order to design primer sets for the detection of a wide range of NVs, NVs were categorized into three groups, that is, genogroup I (GI), prevalent GII, and minor GII; three sets of primers were developed for each group. Clinical specimens of patients suffering from enteric RNA viruses, such as NV, group A and C rotavirus, and sapovirus were examined using these primer sets. Various genotypes of NVs were detected in clinical specimens from patients infected with NV where no false positive reaction was observed with other enteric RNA viruses. Additionally, 88 samples of acute gastroenteritis outbreaks were analyzed by an RT-LAMP assay and compared with the results of routine RT-PCR. The results of the RT-LAMP assay corresponded well to that of RT-PCR. These findings suggest the practical application of the RT-LAMP assay for the detection of NVs in clinical specimens. Consequently, the RT-LAMP system and conventional detection kits (NVGI and NVGII detection kits; Eiken Chemical Co., Ltd., Japan) were compared. The detection rate of the prevalent and minor GII primer sets was similar to that of the conventional NVGII kit, while the detection rate of the GI primer set is different because it can detect several genotypes better than the conventional NVGI kit. This is an initial report that the RT-LAMP system is able to detect NVs in clinical specimens within a wide range.