Increased salt intake is associated with diabetes and characteristic dietary habits: a community-based cross-sectional study in Japan.

We investigated the association of salt intake with lifestyle-related diseases and also the association of habitually consumed foods with salt intake. A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from a baseline survey of 2,129 residents of Yonezawa city (980 males and 1,149 females), Yamagata prefecture. The residents were divided into three groups based on their estimated daily salt intake: low, medium, and high. In both genders, the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes increased in the order of high > medium > low salt intake (trend p<0.001). Similar trends were observed in the prevalence of hyperlipidemia in females and metabolic syndrome in males. The prevalence of diabetes in the high salt intake group was significantly higher than that in the control group (matched from the low and medium salt intake groups), even when confounding factors were excluded by propensity score matching (p<0.01). Network analysis showed that the low salt intake group had a greater tendency to habitually consume various vegetables than the high salt intake group. Our findings reveal that the prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases increased with higher salt intake. We speculate that a dietary shift to multiple vegetable consumption could have salt-lowering effects.

Risk factors for tooth loss in community-dwelling Japanese aged 40 years and older: the Yamagata (Takahata) study.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to investigate comprehensively the risk factors, including some lifestyle-associated factors, oral health habits, and socioeconomic status, for having less than 20 teeth in cross-sectional study in the general population of Japan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The survey population was the general population of individuals aged greater than or equal to 40 years in Takahata town, Japan in 2005. A postal survey with a self-administered questionnaire was distributed, and 7542 participants were entered into the final statistical analysis. The self-administered questionnaire contained items regarding some lifestyle-associated factors, oral health, and dietary intake, including alcohol and sucrose consumption. To confirm the independent association between the number of teeth and several parameters, a multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). RESULTS: A low educational status, no dental check-ups, low frequency of brushing, older age, and smoking habit were independent risk factors for less than 20 teeth. A low educational status was a particularly significant risk factor for less than 20 teeth (OR = 1.352, 95% CI = 1.125-1.624). CONCLUSION: These results emphasize the importance of good oral health habits, such as frequent tooth brushing, routine dental check-ups, and no smoking, and indicate that more appropriate and compulsory education regarding oral health is needed to lessen the education level-derived differences in oral health. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Poor oral health habits and low educational status are the independent risk factors for having less than 20 teeth.

Scientific Misconduct and Social Media: Role of Twitter in the Stimulus Triggered Acquisition of Pluripotency Cells Scandal.

BACKGROUND: The academic scandal on a study on stimulus­triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP) cells in Japan in 2014 involved suspicions of scientific misconduct by the lead author of the study after the paper had been reviewed on a peer­review website. This study investigated the discussions on STAP cells on Twitter and content of newspaper articles in an attempt to assess the role of social compared with traditional media in scientific peer review. OBJECTIVE: This study examined Twitter utilization in scientific peer review on STAP cells misconduct. METHODS: Searches for tweets and newspaper articles containing the term "STAP cells" were carried out through Twitter's search engine and Nikkei Telecom database, respectively. The search period was from January 1 to July 1, 2014. The nouns appearing in the "top tweets" and newspaper articles were extracted through a morphological analysis, and their frequency of appearance and changes over time were investigated. RESULTS: The total numbers of top tweets and newspaper articles containing the term were 134,958 and 1646, respectively. Negative words concerning STAP cells began to appear on Twitter by February 9-15, 2014, or 3 weeks after Obokata presented a paper on STAP cells. The number of negative words in newspaper articles gradually increased beginning in the week of March 12-18, 2014. A total of 1000 tweets were randomly selected, and they were found to contain STAP-related opinions (43.3%, 433/1000), links to news sites and other sources (41.4%, 414/1000), false scientific or medical claims (8.9%, 89/1000), and topics unrelated to STAP (6.4%, 64/1000). CONCLUSIONS: The discussion on scientific misconduct during the STAP cells scandal took place at an earlier stage on Twitter than in newspapers, a traditional medium.

Do cancer patients tweet? Examining the twitter use of cancer patients in Japan.

BACKGROUND: Twitter is an interactive, real-time media that could prove useful in health care. Tweets from cancer patients could offer insight into the needs of cancer patients. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to understand cancer patients' social media usage and gain insight into patient needs. METHODS: A search was conducted of every publicly available user profile on Twitter in Japan for references to the following: breast cancer, leukemia, colon cancer, rectal cancer, colorectal cancer, uterine cancer, cervical cancer, stomach cancer, lung cancer, and ovarian cancer. We then used an application programming interface and a data mining method to conduct a detailed analysis of the tweets from cancer patients. RESULTS: Twitter user profiles included references to breast cancer (n=313), leukemia (n=158), uterine or cervical cancer (n=134), lung cancer (n=87), colon cancer (n=64), and stomach cancer (n=44). A co-occurrence network is seen for all of these cancers, and each cancer has a unique network conformation. Keywords included words about diagnosis, symptoms, and treatments for almost all cancers. Words related to social activities were extracted for breast cancer. Words related to vaccination and support from public insurance were extracted for uterine or cervical cancer. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that cancer patients share information about their underlying disease, including diagnosis, symptoms, and treatments, via Twitter. This information could prove useful to health care providers.

A Cross-Sectional Survey on the Association between Dental Health Conditions and University Personality Inventory Scores among University Students: A Single-Center Study in Japan.

This study examined the association between dental health conditions and scores on the University Personality Inventory (UPI) among university students in Japan. Participants were freshmen at Yamagata University between 2010 and 2019. Dental check-ups, including dental caries, periodontal disease, malocclusion, and temporomandibular disorders (TMD), and mental health screening using the UPI were performed; 12,433 students were included in the final analysis. A logistic regression analysis was performed to confirm the association between dental health conditions and >30 UPI scores, which indicate the need to consult mental health professionals. Overall, students who required treatment for TMD had a 3.165-fold higher risk of >30 UPI scores (OR = 3.165, 95% CI = 1.710−5.857). Periodontal disease and TMD in male participants (periodontal disease: OR = 1.329, 95% CI = 1.108−1.595; TMD: OR = 3.014, 95% CI = 1.107−8.204) and TMD in female participants (OR = 2.938, 95% CI = 1.340−6.445) were significant risk factors for >30 UPI scores. Students requiring treatment for TMD were at risk of obtaining >30 UPI scores. Although our study has several limitations, students with subjective symptoms (e.g., disturbance in opening the mouth) should take the UPI test or in some cases consult mental health professionals.

Medical Institutions and Twitter: A Novel Tool for Public Communication in Japan.

BACKGROUND: Twitter is a free social networking and microblogging service on the Internet. Medical professionals and patients have started to use Twitter in medicine. Twitter use by medical institutions can interactively and efficiently provide public health information and education for laypeople. OBJECTIVE: This study examined Twitter usage by medical institutions. METHODS: We reviewed all Japanese user accounts in which the names of medical institutions were described in the user's Twitter profile. We then classified medical institutions' tweets by content. RESULTS: We extracted 168 accounts for medical institutions with ≥500 followers. The medical specialties of those accounts were dentistry and oral surgery (n=73), dermatology (n=12), cosmetic surgery (n=10), internal medicine (n=10), ophthalmology (n=6), obstetrics and gynecology (n=5), plastic surgery (n=2), and others (n=50). Of these, 21 accounts tweeted medical knowledge and 45 accounts tweeted guidance about medical practice and consultation hours, including advertisements. In the dentistry and oral surgery accounts, individual behavior or thinking was the most frequent (22/71, 31%) content. On the other hand, consultation including advertisements was the most frequent (14/23, 61%) in cosmetic surgery, plastic surgery, and dermatology. CONCLUSIONS: Some medical specialties used Twitter for disseminating medical knowledge or guidance including advertisements. This indicates that Twitter potentially can be used for various purposes by different medical specialties.