Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine
Online ISSN : 1347-4715
Print ISSN : 1342-078X
ISSN-L : 1342-078X
Volume 10, Issue 5
Displaying 1-12 of 12 articles from this issue
Originals
  • Takashi SHIMIZU, Shoji NAGATA
    2005 Volume 10 Issue 5 Pages 227-232
    Published: 2005
    Released on J-STAGE: October 04, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Objectives: We investigated relationships between job stress and self-rated health among Japanese full-time occupational physicians (OPs).
    Methods: In 2000, we mailed self-administrated questionnaires to 716 OPs. Of these OPs, 349 (49%) returned sufficiently completed questionnaires for analyses. Oblique-rotated principal factor analysis of the job stress questionnaire extracted three components; low understanding of occupational health services in companies (low understanding), conflicts between occupational physicians and their coworkers (conflicts), and discrepancies between occupational physicians’ routine work and occupational health services (discrepancies).
    Results: The model, in which low understanding contributed to self-rated health through job satisfaction and self-rated health was influenced by job satisfaction and discrepancies, provided a good fit to the data.
    Conclusions: We found that a potential relationship between job stress and self-rated health among Japanese full-time OPs. The present results implied that among full-time OPs, low understanding contributed negatively to self-rated health through job satisfaction, and that self-rated health was influenced positively by job satisfaction and negatively by discrepancies.
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  • Yasuo TSUCHIYA, Michihiro TERAO, Takanori FUJIMOTO, Kazutoshi NAKAMURA ...
    2005 Volume 10 Issue 5 Pages 233-238
    Published: 2005
    Released on J-STAGE: October 04, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Objective: To assess whether Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 and serogroup 6, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus can survive in Japan Sea Proper Water (JSPW).
    Methods: The inhibitory effects of JSPW, surface seawater (SSW), phosphate buffer solution with 3.5% NaCl of pH 7.0 (3.5%NaClPBS), and the 102- and 104-fold dilute solutions with purified water or phosphate buffer solution of pH 7.0, and purified water were investigated. Survival cells were counted immediately after the water and the bacteria were mixed, and at 1, 3, 5, and 7 days after incubation at 37°C. If the number of surviving cells was decreased more than 2 log units compared with the starting value, we judged the medium to have had an inhibitory effect on the growth of the bacteria.
    Results: The survival cells of the bacteria in JSPW had decreased more than 2 log units compared with the starting value at 1 day after incubation. After 1 day of incubation, the cells of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 6 and Staphylococcus aureus were found to have decreased more than 2 log units in purified water (PW) used as a control. Furthermore, Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 in the 102-fold dilute solution of JSPW was only 1.04 log units lower than the starting value at 7 days after incubation. In the 102- and 104-fold dilute solutions of JSPW, Escherichia coli survived for 7 days after incubation. These results were almost similar to the results in SSW and 3.5%NaClPBS.
    Conclusions: The present findings demonstrate that Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 and Escherichia coli cannot survive in undiluted JSPW for over a day at 37°C, suggesting the inhibitory effects may be due to the sodium chloride contained in JSPW.
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  • Yuichiro KUDO, Kaori SHIBATA, Takeo MIKI, Mio ISHIBASHI, Kaori HOSOI, ...
    2005 Volume 10 Issue 5 Pages 239-248
    Published: 2005
    Released on J-STAGE: October 04, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Objectives: Previous types of rock wool has been recently replaced with high-temperature wool (HT wool). HT wool is characterized by a chemical composition with a higher concentration of Al2O3 and a lower concentration of SiO2, lower biopersistence, and a higher melting point than previous types of rock wool. To evaluate the safety of HT wool, an asbestos substitute, we examined the biopersistence of HT wool in the lungs, based on changes in fiber count according to the length and fiber size (length and width), by performing a nose-only inhalation exposure study in rats.
    Methods: Male Fischer 344 rats were exposed to fibers at the target exposure concentration of 30 mg/m3 continuously for 3 hours daily for 5 consecutive days. Rats were sacrificed shortly after exposure, and 1, 2, and 4 weeks after exposure, and their lung tissues were incinerated at a low temperature. Then, fiber counts and sizes in the lungs were analyzed using a phase contrast microscope.
    Results: The fiber count in the lungs 4 weeks after exposure significantly decreased from the baseline value (shortly after exposure). The half-life of fibers calculated from the approximation curve was 34 days for all fibers and 11 days for fibers longer than 20 μm.
    Conclusions: Both the length and width significantly decreased 4 weeks after exposure, probably because fibers were ingested by alveolar macrophages, discharged to outside of the body by mucociliary movement, or lysed by body fluid. In future studies, it is necessary to examine the long-term persistence of fibers in the lungs.
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Special Issue
  • Hitoshi OSHITANI
    2005 Volume 10 Issue 5 Pages 251-254
    Published: 2005
    Released on J-STAGE: October 04, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    In early February 2003, a previously unknown disease causing severe pneumonia was recognised. This disease which is now known as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is believed to have had its origins in the Guangdong Province of China, and was the cause of a multi-country epidemic resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been coordinating the international response to provide the epidemiological, laboratory, clinical and logistic requirements needed to contain this disease.
    A rapid spread of SARS around the world occurred at its onset, facilitated greatly by air travel. Between November 2002 and July 2003, a total of 8,094 cases and 774 cases were reported from 26 countries worldwide.
    WHO responded quickly to this multi-country outbreak and on 12 March released a “global alert” about SARS. This was followed by the first WHO travel advisory on 15 March. The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network was activated, and international experts were brought together to implement enhanced global surveillance systems for SARS.
    The international community has learned a lot of lessons from the SARS outbreak. Particularly, rapid and transparent information sharing between countries is critical to prevent international spread of the disease. However, information exchange was less than optimal in the early phase of the outbreak.
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  • Kwai Peng CHAN
    2005 Volume 10 Issue 5 Pages 255-259
    Published: 2005
    Released on J-STAGE: October 04, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    A Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak occurred in Singapore from February to May 2003. A high vigilance for the disease, frequent and regular temperature monitoring, early case identification and isolation of patients, as well as tracing and home quarantine of contacts, played major roles in controlling the outbreak. Hospitals were dedicated to the screening and treatment of SARS patients. Within and between hospitals, movement by healthcare workers, patients and visitors were restricted, as was the number of hospital visitors. Staff education and audits of infection control practices also featured prominently.
    To prevent cross-border transmission, incoming travellers from SARS affected areas had to complete health declaration cards. They, as well as all outgoing travellers from Singapore, were monitored for fever. In the meantime, the public was urged to refrain from travelling to SARS affected regions.
    Containment elements targeting the community included school closure, public education on good hygiene and readily accessible public information.
    In response to a laboratory acquired SARS infection, laboratories were audited, and directives issued on the mandatory use of biosafety level 3 laboratories for SARS virus culture, and compliance of laboratory workers to biosafety guidelines.
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  • John R. HERBOLD
    2005 Volume 10 Issue 5 Pages 260-262
    Published: 2005
    Released on J-STAGE: October 04, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The use of animals as sentinels of human disease revolves around the concept of nidality. That is, an agent of disease occupies a particular ecologic niche and alterations in that niche will change the function of that agent relative to traditional host-agent-environment relationships. Nidality is a derivation of the root word nidus. Nidus is defined as a nest or breeding place, particularly a place where microbes such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, as well as other organisms and larger parasites, are located and multiply. Application of the concept of nidality and development of prevention strategies has most frequently been associated with military campaigns and interruption of tick-borne infections.
    Modern usage of the phrase “one-medicine” was popularized in the United States and Europe by Calvin Schwabe and the concept is attributed to Rudolph Virchow. It is applied today to the study of zoonotic disease and interventions in rural agricultural communities that share close living arrangements between people and their families, their pastoral work environment, and the animals for which they care.
    Integration of the two concepts of one-medicine and nidality provides an opportunity to apply a systems approach (i.e. general systems theory) to dealing with emerging zoonotic diseases in today’s global agricultural and industrial settings.
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  • Bruce A. WILCOX, Duane J. GUBLER
    2005 Volume 10 Issue 5 Pages 263-272
    Published: 2005
    Released on J-STAGE: October 04, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The incidence and frequency of epidemic transmission of zoonotic diseases, both known and newly recognized, has increased dramatically in the past 30 years. It is thought that this dramatic disease emergence is primarily the result of the social, demographic, and environmental transformation that has occurred globally since World War II. However, the causal linkages have not been elucidated. Investigating emerging zoonotic pathogens as an ecological phenomenon can provide significant insights as to why some of these pathogens have jumped species and caused major epidemics in humans. A review of concepts and theory from biological ecology and of causal factors in disease emergence previously described suggests a general model of global zoonotic disease emergence. The model links demographic and societal factors to land use and land cover change whose associated ecological factors help explain disease emergence. The scale and magnitude of these changes are more significant than those associated with climate change, the effects of which are largely not yet understood. Unfortunately, the complex character and non-linear behavior of the human-natural systems in which host-pathogen systems are embedded makes specific incidences of disease emergence or epidemics inherently difficult to predict. Employing a complex systems analytical approach, however, may show how a few key ecological variables and system properties, including the adaptive capacity of institutions, explains the emergence of infectious diseases and how an integrated, multi-level approach to zoonotic disease control can reduce risk.
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  • Gino C. MATIBAG, Manabu IGARASHI, Ron E. LA PORTE, Hiko TAMASHIRO
    2005 Volume 10 Issue 5 Pages 273-281
    Published: 2005
    Released on J-STAGE: October 04, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This paper discusses the history of emerging infectious diseases, risk communication and perception, and the Supercourse lectures as means to strengthen the concepts and definition of risk management and global governance of zoonosis. The paper begins by outlining some of the key themes and issues in infectious diseases, highlighting the way which historical analysis challenges ideas of the ‘newness’ of some of these developments. It then discusses the role of risk communication to public accountability. The bulk of the paper presents an overview of developments of the Internet-based learning system through the Supercourse lectures that may prove to be a strong arm for the promotion of the latest medical information particularly to developing countries.
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  • Shunichi AKAZAWA, Manabu IGARASHI, Hirofumi SAWA, Hiko TAMASHIRO
    2005 Volume 10 Issue 5 Pages 282-285
    Published: 2005
    Released on J-STAGE: October 04, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Information security and assurance are an increasingly critical issue in health research. Whether health research be in genetics, new drugs, disease outbreaks, biochemistry, or effects of radiation, it deals with information that is highly sensitive and which could be targeted by rogue individuals or groups, corporations, national intelligence agencies, or terrorists, looking for financial, social, or political gains. The advents of the Internet and advances in recent information technologies have also dramatically increased opportunities for attackers to exploit sensitive and valuable information.
    Government agencies have deployed legislative measures to protect the privacy of health information and developed information security guidelines for epidemiological studies. However, risks are grossly underestimated and little effort has been made to strategically and comprehensively protect health research information by institutions, governments and international communities.
    There is a need to enforce a set of proactive measures to protect health research information locally and globally. Such measures should be deployed at all levels but will be successful only if research communities collaborate actively, governments enforce appropriate legislative measures at national level, and the international community develops quality standards, concluding treaties if necessary, at the global level.
    Proactive measures for the best information security and assurance would be achieved through rigorous management process with a cycle of “plan, do, check, and act”. Each health research entity, such as hospitals, universities, institutions, or laboratories, should implement this cycle and establish an authoritative security and assurance organization, program and plan coordinated by a designated Chief Security Officer who will ensure implementation of the above process, putting appropriate security controls in place, with key focus areas such as policies and best practices, enforcement and certification, risk assessment and audit, monitoring and incident response, awareness and training, and modern protection method and architecture. Governments should enforce a comprehensive scheme, and international health research communities should adopt standardized innovative methods and approaches.
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  • Deane Edward NEUBAUER
    2005 Volume 10 Issue 5 Pages 286-294
    Published: 2005
    Released on J-STAGE: October 04, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This paper explores the possibilities for global governance effectively dealing with the international transmission of disease. First, zoonotic regulation and control pose a special case for public health agencies, and this paper proposes a propositional model for an effective public health stance. Second, globalization dynamics are briefly reviewed in terms of an emerging consensus on the need for global governance in public health. Third, a brief examination of global governance modalities suggests that a strong global governance case has distinct limitations (despite its possible justification); an exploration of contemporary directions in global governance follows. Finally, the paper examines the phenomenon of contemporary zoonotic control within the conditions of an effective regulatory regime.
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  • Tatsuhiro KAMISATO
    2005 Volume 10 Issue 5 Pages 295-302
    Published: 2005
    Released on J-STAGE: October 04, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    In recent years, food-related issues have become increasingly more publicised in developed countries. This holds true for Japan where food-related issues have been drawing attention as a socially significant topic, particularly since the appearance of BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy). In 2003 a new governmental office, the Food Safety Commission was established in the Cabinet Office of the Japanese Government based on a new law, “the Food Safety Basic Law”. This change of administration was raised by the outbreak of BSE, which is considered to be a drastic reformation of food safety policy in Japan.
    In addition, BSE impact was significant not only on administration but also on the agriculture and food industries. It revealed to the public lots of holes in the food related system which have been concealed for years.
    In this paper, I would like to show the inadequacy of management before the outbreak of BSE and the subsequent governmental actions and reactions for food safety. Furthermore, problems that still remain after the reformation, such as ban on US beef and policy of blanket testing, will be discussed.
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  • Gino C. MATIBAG, Manabu IGARASHI, Hiko TAMASHIRO
    2005 Volume 10 Issue 5 Pages 303-314
    Published: 2005
    Released on J-STAGE: October 04, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Since the advent of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United Kingdom in 1986, new BSE cases have recently become rare. However, in Japan and the United States, positive cases have started to be seen recently. The rise in BSE cases paved the way for the human form of this disease, the variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). The observed trends in the UK may be attributed to effective implementation of public health policies coupled with increased vigilance through advancement in science and technology, or they may well be a reflection of the natural disease progression. We aim to discuss the BSE chronology of events, and compare examination methods, costs and cost-efficiency, management, and public policies of Japan, Europe, and the USA.
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