[Factors related to life expectancy in prefectures: An ecological study using the National Database].

Objective　In recent years, studies have reported a prefectural-level disparity in life expectancy. Therefore, we analyzed the related factors using the National Database (NDB), which includes data pertaining to the specific health checkup conducted for 20 million individuals. By doing so, we aimed to obtain basic data for developing future health promotion measures.Methods　We used specific health checkup items from NDB Open Data for 2014, and life expectancy data from Prefecture Life Table for 2015. The specific health checkup items were adjusted by age using Japanese population data for 2015. A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted using specific health checkup items that were significantly related to average life expectancy as explanatory variables.Results　In men, excessive drinking, smoking, antihypertensive drug use, systolic blood pressure, and hyperglycemia were independently and inversely related to life expectancy. In women, smoking and antihypertensive drug use emerged as significant factors.Conclusions　Analysis using NDB Open Data showed that lifestyle factors such as smoking and drinking, and cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure and hyperglycemia, were strongly related to life expectancy. These result suggest that it is necessary to focus on the above factors when prefectural authorities implement health promotion measures.

Negative Association in Reported Dietary Energy Intake and Physique in Japanese Schoolchildren.

Appropriate dietary assessment and health education are necessary for children to achieve a healthy physique. To explore the relationship between habitual reported dietary energy intake (EI) and physique in elementary schoolchildren by sex and age, we conducted a longitudinal study, in the fiscal year 2011, that included all elementary schools in Omihachiman City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. The study lasted for four consecutive years, ending in fiscal year 2014, and included 545 7-y-old schoolchildren in the target city. The subjects completed a brief self-administered diet history questionnaire with their guardians. The results of the study demonstrated a negative relationship between energy intake and the estimated energy requirement ratio and body mass index percentile values for both 7-, 9-, and 10-y-old boys and 7- to 10-y-old girls. These results suggest that there is a need to keep in consideration the under-reporting of obese children and over-reporting of lean children for dietary energy evaluation.

Evaluation of estrogenic activities of pesticides using an in vitro reporter gene assay.

The estrogenic activities of 32 pesticides in agricultural products were evaluated using the E-CALUX assay system developed by Xenobiotic Detection Systems Inc (North Carolina, USA). This system utilizes human ovarian carcinoma cells (BG1) stably transfected with an estrogen-responsive luciferase reporter gene plasmid. It was found that tolclofos-methyl, prothiofos, diazinon, Thiabenclazole (TBZ) and pyriproxyfen had estrogenic activity. Several pesticides are often present in agricultural products. Therefore the estrogenicity of the mixtures of two kinds of pesticides was evaluated. The activity of diazinon/tolclofos-methyl, pyriproxyfen/prothiofos and TBZ/o-phenylphenol (OPP) was increased up to 1.2-5.3 fold. On the other hand, chlorfluazuron, imazalil and chlorfenapyr had anti-estrogenic activity. Further, to evaluate the change in the estrogenic activity of pesticide metabolites, an experimental system was established using a rat S9 mixture. Metabolites of permethrin and OPP had no estrogenic activity, but they had weak activity after the metabolism. On the other hand, the metabolites of TBZ exhibited less estrogenic activity than the original compounds.