Shelter crowding and increased incidence of acute respiratory infection in evacuees following the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

Although outbreaks of acute respiratory infection (ARI) at shelters are hypothesized to be associated with shelter crowding, no studies have examined this relationship. We conducted a retrospective study by reviewing medical records of evacuees presenting to one of the 37 clinics at the shelters in Ishinomaki city, Japan, during the 3-week period after the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami in 2011. On the basis of a locally weighted scatter-plot smoothing technique, we categorized 37 shelters into crowded (mean space <5·5 m2/per person) and non-crowded (⩾5·5 m2) shelters. Outcomes of interest were the cumulative and daily incidence rate of ARI/10 000 evacuees at each shelter. We found that the crowded shelters had a higher median cumulative incidence rate of ARI [5·4/10 000 person-days, interquartile range (IQR) 0-24·6, P = 0·04] compared to the non-crowded shelters (3·5/10 000 person-days, IQR 0-8·7) using Mann-Whitney U test. Similarly, the crowded shelters had an increased daily incidence rate of ARI of 19·1/10 000 person-days (95% confidence interval 5·9-32·4, P < 0·01) compared to the non-crowded shelters using quasi-least squares method. In sum, shelter crowding was associated with an increased incidence rate of ARI after the natural disaster.

Winter lipid depletion of juvenile walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma in the Doto area, northern Japan.

Seasonal variation in body size and nutritional condition of juvenile walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma was examined to elucidate the mechanism underlying their first-winter survival on the continental shelf of the Doto area, northern Japan, based on monthly samples collected over 2 years. Stored lipid mass was highest during autumn, but 93% (2004) and 80% (2005) of lipids were exhausted by the onset of winter. Lipid levels in the winter of 2004 remained low (7-14% of the autumnal maximum), and there was reduced growth rate until the spring, whereas in 2005 lipid levels were higher and more variable (10-46% of the maximum) and some growth occurred. An analysis of the allometric relationships between body size and stored energy showed that larger individuals accumulated disproportionately more energy in the autumn, but the advantage disappeared prior to the winter. In January 2004, stored lipid energy was low throughout the Doto continental shelf relative to the continental slope area. These results suggest that winter feeding opportunities on the shelf are severely limited but not completely absent. Previous studies have shown that winter temperatures on the shelf are lower than those in the slope area. It is possible that juvenile T. chalcogramma survive winter on the shelf without a high level of pre-winter lipid storage because the occasional feeding in the cold shelf water benefits energy conservation.

Autoantibodies against the amino terminal of alpha-enolase are a useful diagnostic marker of Hashimoto's encephalopathy.

We investigated autoantibodies and their epitope(s) in Hashimoto's encephalopathy associated with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. In a proteomic analysis, they proved to recognize alpha-enolase. We further searched the epitope region in alpha-enolase using different regions of recombinant proteins expressed in cultured human cells. The amino terminal region was recognized by autobodies from a much higher proportion of patients with Hashimoto's encephalopathy (83.3%; 5/6) than from patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (11.8%; 2/17), and not at all by sera from controls (25 healthy individuals and 25 controls with other neurological disorders) (0%; 0/50). Neither the carboxyl terminal nor the mid-region of alpha-enolase showed specificity for Hashimoto's encephalopathy. Autoantibodies against the amino terminal of alpha-enolase are a useful diagnostic marker for Hashimoto's encephalopathy.

Spontaneous echo contrast in descending aorta correlates with low blood-flow velocity in carotid arteries and hemostatic abnormalities.

Spontaneous echo contrast in the descending aorta (DA-SEC) was examined as a possible risk factor for cerebral thromboembolism. In 19 patients (10 males, 9 females) in the chronic stage of cerebral infarction, abnormal findings by transesophageal echocardiography, flow dynamics of the common carotid artery (CCA), and hemostatic factors including blood coagulation and fibrinolysis were investigated. In nine patients, DA-SEC was detected, and SEC in left atrium (LA-SEC) was detected in nine patients. The DA-SEC positive group showed decreased blood-flow velocity (BFV) in bilateral CCA, high levels of thrombin-antithrombin III complex (TAT) and prothrombin fragment 1.2 (F1+2), a decrease in platelet count and a slight increase in D-dimer, which means an activated state of thrombin generation and resulting fibrinolysis, compared to the DA-SEC negative group. On the other hand, the LA-SEC positive group showed normal BFV in CCA and only a slight increase in D-dimer. We conclude that the condition producing DA-SEC is a stronger risk factor for cerebral infarction than that producing LA-SEC.

An acoustically investigated case of phonetic change in higher vertical dimension.

This report presents the phonetic changes of a patient whose occlusal vertical dimension is extended. His chief complaint is esthetic restoration of his anterior teeth, but his occlusal vertical dimension is abnormally shortened by long-time attrition. Therefore we extended his occlusal vertical dimension, and reconstructed his occlusion, and carried out acoustic observations.

[Acousticodynamic investigation of palatal rugae given by the pressure impression method].

This time, we used palatal plates with the individual palatal rugae using the plastic plate for copying the individual palatal rugae easily, and studied the influence of the pronunciation concerning the changes of the Formant frequencies with Sound Spectrograph.

[Acoustic investigation of various palatal rugae].

We use some palatal plates with some Kinds of palatal rugae; ready made, patterned, individually copied and omitted, and studied the influence of the pronunciation acoustically concerning the Formant Frequency.

Improvement of speech sound disorder with figure deformation case to a bone-defected patient.

This report describes improvement of pronuciation in a bone-defected patient with a partial denture. The patient's chief complaints were difficulty of fricative and africative consonant utterance. Insertion of partial denture improved the pronunciation to some degree. Furthermore, the patient's figure deformation was corrected.

An acoustic investigation caused by pontic formation.

Prosthetics for cases with large defects of alveolar bone often tend to be difficult. We researched the acoustic effects of various pontic forms to satisfy a patient's expectations for both phonetics and aesthetics.