Validity and reliability of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale-Japanese version.

AIM: This study assessed the validity and reliability of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale-Japanese Version. METHODS: The original Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale was translated into Japanese, and Japanese items were back-translated to English to confirm the accuracy of the translation. A total of 870 public health nurses from the Tohoku region in Japan completed the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale-Japanese Version. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to identify the number of components. Moreover, 351 public health nurses from the Saitama prefecture in Japan also completed the scale. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed with the factor structure identified in the exploratory factor analysis. RESULTS: The exploratory factor analysis identified two components: one associated with client-related distress and the other with trauma-related distress. The confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the two-factor structure. The two-factor structure model was better than the three-factor model presented in the original validation study for the English version of the scale. The two-factor model had good internal consistency for the overall product and the subscales. Pearson correlations showed that this model had good convergent validity against the Maslach Burnout Inventory, a psychological measure similar to the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale. Finally, the two-factor model had good discriminant validity against the Maslach Burnout Inventory. CONCLUSION: This study identified two components of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale-Japanese Version that differ from the three components found in the original English version. The differences in the factor structure might indicate that the factor structure was culturally influenced.

Assessment of Factors Associated With Long-term Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Among 56 388 First Responders After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Importance: First responders are at risk for developing symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Little is known about the risk factors for developing PTSD during a years-long period after complex mass disasters. Objective: To explore the long-term course of PTSD symptoms and to identify risk factors and their relative association with PTSD among first responders dispatched to the 2011 Japanese earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. Design, Setting, and Participants: This 6-year, large, prospective cohort study was part of a continuous longitudinal study of Japan Ground Self-Defense Force first responders. The data were collected at 1, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, and 72 months after mission completion from 2011 to 2017. Of approximately 70 000 eligible participants, 56 388 were enrolled in this study. Data were analyzed from 2017 to 2020. Exposures: Stress exposures owing to personal or professional disaster experience (eg, duties with body recovery or radiation exposure risk) and working conditions (eg, deployment length, postdeployment overtime work). Main Outcomes and Measures: The Impact of Event Scale-Revised score assessed PTSD symptoms; scores of at least 25 were defined as probable PTSD. Cox proportional hazards regression models assessed the risk factors for incidence of probable PTSD. Results: Among the 56 388 participants, 97.1% were men, and the median age at enrollment was 34 (range, 18-63) years. A probable PTSD rate was 2.7% at 1 month and showed a downward trend in the first year and a subsequent plateau. The cumulative incidence of probable PTSD was 6.75%. The severity of PTSD symptoms demonstrated a high degree of rank-order stability over time. Rather than professional disaster experience, sociodemographic factors and working conditions were independently associated with the incidence of probable PTSD: personal experience of the disaster (hazard ratio [HR], 1.96; 95% CI, 1.72-2.24), deployment length of at least 3 months (HR vs <1 month, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.52-2.02), increased age (HR for ≥46 vs ≤25 years, 2.28; 95% CI, 1.79-2.92), and postdeployment overtime work of at least 3 months (HR vs little to none, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.39-1.87). Conclusions and Relevance: Given these findings, in the future, first responders' PTSD symptoms might be mitigated by shortening deployment length, avoiding postdeployment overtime work, and paying special attention to the needs of personnel with personal experience of the disaster or older age. Efforts to alleviate responders' initial symptoms will be required.

Investigation of the impact of preconditioning with lipopolysaccharide on inflammation-induced gene expression in the brain and depression-like behavior in male mice.

Although several recent studies have suggested that neuroinflammation plays a role in depression, both medication and neuroinflammatory preventive strategies have been poorly investigated. Recent studies have indicated that preconditioning with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) reduces the damage that occurs following ischemic stroke and brain trauma. However, to date, the effects of LPS preconditioning on psychiatric symptoms have not been reported. Thus, we assessed gene expression and behavioral changes affected by preconditioning with low-dose (LD) LPS in male mice with systemic inflammation induced by administration of high-dose (HD) LPS. mRNA expression analyses of cytokine-, glial-, and oxidative stress-associated genes revealed that majority of these genes responded to HD LPS. Differential gene expression in the presence and absence of LD LPS preconditioning, identified a subset of genes that may contribute to the mechanism of LPS preconditioning in the brain. Notably, LPS preconditioning attenuated an increase in expression of the astrocyte marker Gfap caused by systemic inflammation, suggesting that astrocytes have a key role in endotoxin tolerance in the brain induced by LPS preconditioning. As increased astrocyte in the brain of patients with depression is suggested to contribute to the pathophysiology of major depression, LPS preconditioning might be applicable to the prevention and treatment of depression. Unfortunately, in this study, LPS preconditioning did not show a reversal effect on behavior decline due to high-dose LPS-induced systemic inflammation. Alternative aspects of behavioral changes should be assessed to identify behavioral components that are affected by LPS preconditioning. Nonetheless, the findings in the present study indicate the possibility of the mechanism of endotoxin tolerance induction in the brain via astrocyte regulation by LPS preconditioning. Since there has been reported pharmacological significance of astrocytes in psychiatric disorders, regulation of endotoxin tolerance might be a key method to control psychiatric symptoms.

Pregnancy parturition scars in the preauricular area and the association with the total number of pregnancies and parturitions.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to clarify the association between the degree of development of pregnancy parturition scars (PPSs) and the total number of pregnancies and parturitions (TNPPs) on the basis of new identification standards for PPS in the preauricular area. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Preauricular grooves were macroscopically observed on the pelves of 103 early modern males and 295 females (62 early modern females; 233 present-day females). Three categories of PPS in the preauricular area were defined. The association between the degree of development of PPS in the preauricular area and the TNPP was analyzed in 90 present-day females with detailed lifetime data. RESULTS: PPS could not estimate the exact TNPP. However, it was shown that no PPS indicated no TNPP, weak PPS indicated a lower TNPP, and developed PPS indicated a higher TNPP. DISCUSSION: Even though the possibility remains that some PPS indicate no TNPP, the results showed that the percentage of each PPS category indicated fertility in the population, suggesting that the strength of the association between the degree of development of PPS and the TNPP was affected by the classification system, the reliability of lifetime data, and the statistical methods used for analysis.

The effects of eicosapentaenoic acid dietary supplementation on behavioral parameters and expression of hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor in an animal model of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a trauma- and stressor-related disorder, characterized by bi-directional symptomatic manifestations of increase in both hyperarousal/hypervigilance and numbing/avoidance. In our previous reports, we have proposed an animal model of PTSD using avoidance/escape task sessions in the shuttle box after delivering an inescapable foot-shock traumatization in the same box (Wakizono et al., 2007), and demonstrated the efficacy of 2-week administration of antidepressant on the hyperarousal/hypervigilant behavioral parameters (Sawamura et al., 2004) in the model. In this study, we observed a partial but significant efficacy of oral supplementation of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) for five weeks on the numbing/avoidance behavior in the experimental model. Additionally, western blot analyses using brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) monoclonal antibody revealed a decreased expression of BDNF protein, in the hippocampal region of the rats, due to foot-shock traumatization and a significantly increased expression of BDNF protein after oral EPA supplementation. The results indicate a possibility that alteration of the numbing/avoidance behavior parallels the expression of hippocampal BDNF in the rat brain. The present study suggests a possibility that EPA supplementation in the treatment of PTSD ameliorates persistent numbing/avoidance symptoms. (185 words).

Relationship between the subtypes of child abuse and affective temperaments: Comparison of depression and bipolar disorder patients and healthy controls using the reclassified Child Abuse and Trauma Scale.

BACKGROUND: We previously reported that child abuse indirectly predicts the diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar disorder (BP) based on higher scores of affective temperaments; however, the subtypes of child abuse have not been examined sufficiently. Therefore, in the present study, we used the reclassified version of the Child Abuse and Trauma Scale (CATS) to determine how the subtypes of child abuse affect affective temperaments. METHODS: A total of 502 participants (212 healthy controls, 163 patients with MDD and 127 patients with BP) were administered the Japanese version of the CATS; the Japanese version of the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego Autoquestionnaire; and the Japanese version of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Data were analyzed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, as well as by univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: A five-factor structure was appropriate for the CATS. The MDD group scored significantly higher on all subtypes of the reclassified CATS than did the control group. Among the subscales of the reclassified CATS, physical abuse and loneliness/psychological stress were significant predictors of affective temperaments, although all subscales were significantly associated with affective temperaments compared to the original CATS. LIMITATIONS: Since child abuse was assessed retrospectively, there might be recall bias. Furthermore, as the study was limited to Japanese individuals, particularly those with mood disorders, the findings might not be generalizable. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that the subtypes of child abuse (especially physical abuse and loneliness/psychological stress) might be associated with MDD and BP.

Depression Promotes the Onset of Irritable Bowel Syndrome through Unique Dysbiosis in Rats.

Background/Aims: Although studies using conventional animal models have shown that specific stressors cause irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), it is unclear whether depression itself causes IBS. Our aim was to establish a rat model to determine if depression itself promotes the onset of IBS and to elucidate the role of gut microbiota in brain-gut axis pathogenesis during coincident depression and IBS. Methods: Rat models of depression were induced using our shuttle box method of learned helplessness. Visceral hypersensitivity was evaluated by colorectal distension (CRD) to diagnose IBS. Gut microbiota compositions were analyzed using high-throughput sequencing. In the subanalysis of rats without depression-like symptoms, rats with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were also examined. Results: The threshold value of CRD in depressed rats was significantly lower than that in control rats. Microbial community analysis of cecal microbiota showed that the relative abundance of Clostridiales incertae sedis, the most prevalent microbe, was significantly lower in depressed rats than in control rats. The distribution pattern of the microbiota clearly differed between depressed rats and control rats. Neither visceral hypersensitivity nor the composition of gut microbiota was altered in rats with PTSD-like phenotypes. Conclusions: Our rat model of depression is useful for clarifying the effect of depression on IBS and suggests that depression itself, rather than specific stressors, promotes the onset of IBS. Further, we provided evidence that various psychiatric diseases, viz., depression and PTSD, are associated with unique gut microbiota profiles, which could differentially affect the onset and progression of coincident IBS.

Longitudinal Factors Associated With Increased Alcohol and Tobacco Use in Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Workers 32 Months After the Nuclear Disaster: The Fukushima News Project Study.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to predict increased alcohol and tobacco use in Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) workers 3 years after a nuclear disaster. METHODS: Surveys were conducted in two postdisaster waves (Wave 1: 2 to 3 months; Wave 2: 32 months). Adjusted risk ratio (aRR) was computed to assess the covariates of increased alcohol and tobacco use in Wave 2. RESULTS: Increased alcohol use was associated with age of 29 years or less [aRR (95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.26 (1.01 to 1.57)], major property loss [1.25 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.55)], and high posttraumatic stress responses (PTSRs) [1.34 (95% CI 1.08 to 1.67)] in Wave 1. Increased tobacco use was associated with age of 29 years or less [1.46 (95% CI 1.12 to 1.90)] and high PTSR [1.62 (95% CI 1.25 to 2.10)] in Wave 1 (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The workers' increased alcohol and tobacco use were predicted by major property loss (alcohol), age of 29 years or less, and high PTSR (alcohol/tobacco) in Wave 1.

General psychological distress among Japan Self-Defense Forces personnel dispatched on United Nations peacekeeping operations and their spouses.

AIM: The importance of family care during international deployment is emphasized within military organizations, but mental health interactions between deployed personnel and their spouses have not yet been assessed. This study addressed this gap by examining couples' mental health throughout a deployment period. METHODS: The mental health of 324 spousal dyads of Japan Self-Defense Forces personnel dispatched for a half-year United Nations Disengagement Observer Force mission was examined, using longitudinal data derived from a survey at four time points: one-month pre-deployment, initial deployment, middle deployment, and immediately after homecoming. The 30-item General Health Questionnaire was used to evaluate general psychological distress, with high scores (≥7) indicating adverse mental health. RESULTS: The spouses' general psychological distress was significantly higher compared with the deployed personnel (P < 0.001). The high general psychological distress of personnel was significantly related to that of their spouses (odds ratio = 2.24; 95% confidence interval, 1.32-3.80), and vice versa (odds ratio = 2.38; 95% confidence interval 1.39-4.08). CONCLUSION: Mental health care will be beneficial for not only deployed personnel but also their spouses.

Construct validity and reliability of the Tachikawa Resilience Scale in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force personnel.

PURPOSE: The importance of resilience as a mental health outcome has been reported in recent occupational health studies, although resilience is yet to be assessed in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) population. Our objective was to test whether the Tachikawa Resilience Scale (TRS), developed to measure the resilience of Japanese individuals, is useful for evaluating the resilience of the JGSDF. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study of 353 JGSDF peacekeeping personnel engaged in the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan from November 2015 to May 2016. We evaluated resilience using two psychological measures: the TRS and the Resilience Competence Scale - Japanese Short Version (RCS-JS). To verify the construct validity of the TRS, we performed exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. We subsequently conducted hierarchical multivariate regression analysis to evaluate the relationship of the TRS and the RCS-JS with psychological distress measured by the Japanese version of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. RESULTS: Of those recruited, 281 (79.6%) agreed to participate. The exploratory factor analysis revealed a one-factor model of the TRS. The confirmatory factor analysis model showed good fit (ratio of χ 2 to the degrees of freedom =1.409, P=0.105, comparative fit index =0.994, root mean square error of approximation =0.038). Both the TRS and the RCS-JS showed a significant inverse correlation with the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, and the regression coefficient of the TRS was equivalent to that of the RCS-JS. CONCLUSION: We confirmed the construct validity and reliability of the TRS when applied to the JGSDF, and demonstrated the usefulness of the TRS in this population.

The relationship between dispositional empathy, psychological distress, and posttraumatic stress responses among Japanese uniformed disaster workers: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Disaster workers suffer from psychological distress not only through the direct experience of traumatic situations but also through the indirect process of aiding disaster victims. This distress, called secondary traumatic stress, is linked to dispositional empathy, which is the tendency for individuals to imagine and experience the feelings and experiences of others. However, the association between secondary traumatic stress and dispositional empathy remains understudied. METHODS: To examine the relationship between dispositional empathy and mental health among disaster workers, we collected data from 227 Japan Ground Self-Defense Force personnel who engaged in international disaster relief activities in the Philippines following Typhoon Yolanda in 2013. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale were used to evaluate posttraumatic stress responses (PTSR) and general psychological distress (GPD), respectively. Dispositional empathy was evaluated through the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, which consists of four subscales: Perspective Taking, Fantasy, Empathic Concern, and Personal Distress. Hierarchial linear regression analyses were performed to identify the variables related to PTSR and GPD. RESULTS: High PTSR was significantly associated with high Fantasy (identification tendency, ß = 0.21, p < .01), high Personal Distress (the self-oriented emotional disposition of empathy, ß = 0.18, p < .05), and no experience of disaster relief activities (ß = 0.15, p < .05). High GPD was associated with high Personal Distress (ß = 0.28, p < .001), marital status (married, ß = 0.22, p < .01), being female (ß = 0.18, p < .01), medical unit (ß = 0.18, p < .05), and no experience of disaster relief activities (ß = 0.13, p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Among Japanese uniformed disaster workers, high PTSR was associated with two subtypes of dispositional empathy: the self-oriented emotional disposition of empathy and high identification tendency, whereas high GPD was associated with high identification tendency. Educational interventions that aim to mitigate these tendencies might be able to relieve the psychological distress of disaster workers.

Differential effects of voluntary wheel running and toy rotation on the mRNA expression of neurotrophic factors and FKBP5 in a post-traumatic stress disorder rat model with the shuttle-box task.

Life-threatening experiences can result in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder. We have developed an animal model for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) using a shuttle box in rats. In this paradigm, the rats were exposed to inescapable foot-shock stress (IS) in a shuttle box, and then an avoidance/escape task was performed in the same box 2 weeks after IS. A previous study using this paradigm revealed that environmental enrichment (EE) ameliorated avoidance/numbing-like behaviors, but not hyperarousal-like behaviors, and EE also elevated hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression. However, the differential effects of EE components, i.e., running wheel (RW) or toy rotation, on PTSD-like behaviors has remained unclear. In this experiment, we demonstrated that RW, toy rotation, and EE (containing RW and toy rotation) ameliorated avoidance/numbing-like behaviors, induced learning of avoidance responses, and improved depressive-like behaviors in traumatized rats. The RW increased the hippocampal mRNA expression of neurotrophic factors, especially BDNF and glial-cell derived neurotrophic factor. Toy rotation influenced FK506 binding protein 5 mRNA expression, which is believed to be a regulator of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis system, in the hippocampus and amygdala. This is the first report to elucidate the differential mechanistic effects of RW and toy rotation. The former appears to exert its effects via neurotrophic factors, while the latter exerts its effects via the HPA axis. Further studies will lead to a better understanding of the influence of environmental factors on PTSD.

The Psychological Impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake on Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Personnel: A Three-Wave, One-Year Longitudinal Study.

OBJECTIVE: Approximately 70,000 Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) personnel were dispatched in the wake of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the tsunami and nuclear disaster that followed. This study was conducted to evaluate the mental health of the JGSDF personnel and the correlates. METHODS: Data collected from 56,753 participants at three time points (one, six, and 12 months after mission completion) were analyzed. Those who scored 25 or more points on the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) were allocated into the high posttraumatic stress response (high-PTSR) group, and the high general psychological distress (high-GPD) group, respectively. RESULTS: The multiple logistic regression analysis identified the following factors as the significant risk factor related to high-PTSR or high-GPD status, with odds ratios of 2.0 or higher: deployment length of three or more months, being personally affected by the disaster, and being overworked continuously for three or more months after mission completion. No significant association was observed for duties with radiation exposure risk. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that disaster workers may be able to conduct disaster relief activities more safely with mission-related considerations of shorter deployment length and recognizing the effects on personnel personally affected by the disaster, in addition to avoiding overworking personnel after mission completion.

Activated brain-derived neurotrophic factor/TrkB signaling in rat dorsal and ventral hippocampi following 10-day electroconvulsive seizure treatment.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is still the most effective strategy to treat severe and drug-resistant depressive disorders. Electroconvulsive seizure (ECS), which induces neuroplastic structural alterations and resilient behavioral changes in experimental animals, is the model of the ECT for human depression. ECT is typically administered three times per week for up to 4 weeks, while ECS treatments are administered daily for 10days. The increased expression of hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) induced by antidepressive ECS treatment in experimental animals has been well documented. BDNF executes various neuroplastic functions by phosphorylating its high-affinity receptor, full-length TrkB, which has an intrinsic tyrosine kinase domain. However, the exact activation of BDNF/TrkB signaling following multiple ECS treatments has not been well elucidated. In epileptogenesis, conflicting effects of BDNF have been reported; while acute BDNF administration enhanced neuronal hyperexcitability and induced epileptiform activities, continuous BDNF infusion inhibited epileptogenesis. These conflicting results have been attributed to agonist-induced adaptive response of expressional down-regulation of the BDNF receptor. In the present study, using western blotting, we demonstrated increased phosphorylation as well as decreased expression of the full-length TrkB receptor (145kD) in both dorsal and ventral hippocampal regions of rats after a 10-day ECS treatment. The expression of mature BDNF (14kD) was up-regulated while that of proBDNF (32kD) remained unaltered in both hippocampal regions after the ECS treatment. Our results indicate that the hippocampal BDNF/TrkB signaling pathway is activated by multiple ECS treatments despite the ligand-induced down-regulation of the full-length TrkB receptor.

Peacekeepers deserve more mental health research and care.

SUMMARY: United Nations peacekeeping personnel face numerous stressors due to their challenging deployments. Past studies have had inconsistent results regarding whether or not their deployment experience affects their mental health outcomes. Further studies are required to ascertain the associations between their outcomes and factors before, during and after their peacekeeping missions. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: None. COPYRIGHT AND USAGE: © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2016. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.

The effects of living environment on disaster workers: a one-year longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Defense Force workers engaged in disaster relief activities might suffer from strong psychological stress due to the tasks that they had been involved. We evaluated how living environments, work environments, and individual factors psychologically affect those who engaged in disaster relief activities. METHOD: Data generated with 1506 personnel engaged in the Great East Japan Earthquake relief activity were analyzed. Those who scored ≥25 points on the Impact of Events Scale-Revised and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) were allocated into the high post-traumatic stress response (high-PTSR) group, and the high general psychological distress (high-GPD) group, respectively. RESULTS: The multiple logistic regression analysis extracted living environment (camping within the shelter sites) as the significant risk factor for both high-PTSR (OR = 3.39, 95 % CI 2.04-5.64, p < 0.001) and high-GPD (OR = 3.35, 95 % CI 1.77-6.34, p < 0.001) groups. CONCLUSION: It is desirable for disaster workers to have a living environment in which they can keep an appropriate distance from the victims.

Increased expression of endocytosis-Related proteins in rat hippocampus following 10-day electroconvulsive seizure treatment.

Although electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is clinically used for severe depression and drug-resistant Parkinson's disease, its exact biological background and mechanism have not yet been fully elucidated. Two potential explanations have been presented so far to explain the increased neuroplastic and resilient profiles of multiple ECT administrations. One is the alteration of central neurotransmitter receptor densities and the other is the expressional upregulation of brain derived neurotrophic factor in various brain regions with enhanced hippocampal neurogenesis and mossy fiber sprouting. In the present report, western blot analyses revealed significantly upregulated expression of various endocytosis-related proteins following 10-day electroconvulsive seizure (ECS) treatment in rat hippocampal homogenates and hippocampal lipid raft fractions extracted using an ultracentrifugation procedure. Upregulated proteins included endocytosis-related scaffolding proteins (caveolin-1, flotillin-1, and heavy and light chains of clathrin) and small GTPases (Rab5, Rab7, Rab11, and Rab4) specifically expressed on various types of endosomes. Two scaffolding proteins, caveolin-1 and flotillin-1, were also increased in the lipid raft fraction. Together with our previous finding of increased autophagy-related proteins in the hippocampal region, the present results suggest membrane trafficking machinery is enhanced following 10-day ECS treatment. We consider that the membrane trafficking machinery that transports functional proteins in the neuronal cells and from or into the synaptic membranes is one of the new candidates supporting the cellular and behavioral neuroplastic profiles of ECS treatments in animal experiments and ECT administrations in clinical settings.

Rumor-Related and Exclusive Behavior Coverage in Internet News Reports Following the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Outbreak in Japan.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to elucidate news article reporting of adverse public psychosocial behaviors, in particular, rumor-related coverage (eg, panic, demagoguery) and exclusive behavior coverage (negative behaviors, eg, discrimination, bullying) during the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) influenza pandemic in Japan. METHODS: We examined 154 Internet news-site articles reporting adverse public psychosocial responses in the first 60 days of the outbreak. Rumor-related coverage and exclusive behavior coverage were dichotomously coded as included or not. Moreover, we assessed whether or not health information (eg, coping methods, virus toxicity information) or emphasis on information quality (eg, importance of information, cautions about overreactions) were simultaneously reported. RESULTS: Rumor-related coverage (n=120, 77.9%) was less likely to simultaneously report public health information (eg, toxicity information, health support information, and cautions about overreactions; P<.05). Conversely, exclusive behavior coverage (n=41, 26.6%) was more likely to report public health information (P<.05). CONCLUSIONS: Rumor-related coverage was less likely to have accompanying public health information, whereas exclusive behavior coverage was more likely to include it. During public health crises, it is essential to understand that rumors and exclusive behaviors have adverse effects on the public and that accompanying public health information may help people take proactive coping actions.

Environmental enrichment enhances autophagy signaling in the rat hippocampus.

The findings that antidepressive treatments increase hippocampal neurotrophins have led researchers to emphasize the importance of neurogenesis, formation of new dendrites, and survival of neurons in the brain. However, it is difficult to maintain neural plasticity just by enriching the environment to facilitate formation of new networks. Neural plasticity also requires a degradation process that clears off unnecessary and undesirable components. We have recently reported an increase in autophagy signaling (wherein the cell digests components of itself) that has the potential of enhancing neuronal and synaptic plasticity after multiple sessions of electroconvulsive seizure treatment. The present study revealed an increase in autophagy signaling in the rat hippocampus following 2 weeks of environmental enrichment (EE), a procedure known to elicit antidepressive and anxiolytic behavioral changes in various animal paradigms. Western blot analysis showed an increase in hippocampal expression of microtubule-associated protein light chain 3-II (LC3-II), which is lipidated from LC3-I, in rats in the EE group. The effectiveness of the 2-week EE housing condition was validated by anxiolytic effects observed in the elevated plus maze test, enhanced habituation in the open field test, and elevation of hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression. In addition, we showed that the EE housing condition ameliorated numbing/avoidance behaviors, but not hypervigilant behaviors, in an animal model of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is the first report to show that EE can increase autophagy signaling and improve numbing/avoidance behaviors in an animal model of PTSD.

Psychological effects of disaster relief activities on Japan ground self-defense force personnel following the 2011 great east Japan earthquake.

OBJECTIVE: Disaster relief workers are potentially exposed to severe stressors on the job, resulting in a variety of psychological responses. This study aims to clarify the psychological effects of disaster relief activities on Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) personnel following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. METHOD: A self-report questionnaire was administered to 606 JGSDF personnel one month after completing the disaster relief mission. Posttraumatic stress responses and general psychological distress were assessed using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and the K10 scales. Associations between outcome variables and independent variables (age, gender, military rank, length of deployment, and exposure to dead bodies) were measured with univariate analyses and subsequent multiple logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: The mean (± SD) IES-R score was 6.2 (± 8.1), and the mean K10 score was 12.8 (± 4.4). In the univariate analyses, exposure to dead bodies and age were identified as significant factors for IES-R and K10 scores, (p < 0.01). However, the multiple logistic regression analyses did not reveal any significant factors although body handlers' exposure approached significance for IES-R. CONCLUSIONS: The subjects reported very low psychological responses despite the severe nature of their disaster relief activities. Several factors may account for the low levels of psychological distress and posttraumatic symptoms observed in this study.