During the last three decades, Japan has become one of the world's top countries for longevity, and the increase in average life expectancy is accompanied by a sharp rise in older population 65 years ...of age and above to ∼28%. This study aimed to examine the changes in major health-related measures, including a physical constitution, physical function, and functional capacity of community-dwelling Japanese older people in the last decade. From the data of 13 longitudinal cohort studies on aging conducted in Japan with a total of 13,441 older subjects, this study analyzed the changes in six indices that are related to health and functioning of the older people; height, weight, body mass index, walking speed, grip strength, and instrumental activity of daily living, between 2007 (±2 years) and 2017 (±2 years). Comparison of data for the two periods between subjects matched for age group and gender evidently showed better health status and a slower decline in most of the health-related measures in 2017 compared to a decade ago. The results of this study indicate that the phenomenon of “rejuvenation” is occurring among the new generation of Japanese older adults, and the importance of this older population as a social resource in the super-aged society should be reacknowledged.
Virtual coaching systems show great potential for meeting the challenges of demographic change. However, the proportion of older users in the field of digital technologies is far behind that of ...younger people. As part of the e-VITA project, semi-structured interviews were conducted in Japan, France, Italy and Germany with 58 people aged 65 and over, and the content was analyzed with the aim of obtaining information about how older adults organize their everyday lives, also with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, how they deal with their health, what role digital technologies play in the lives of the interviewees and why they oppose progressive digitization. Second, the survey asked why the older adults oppose a virtual coach, which is to be developed in the e-VITA project to support older adults in healthy and active aging, and what barriers they see in a possible implementation. It was found that older respondents lead active, varied lives and that the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the increased use of digital solutions. In addition, respondents were consciously addressing their own health. With regard to a virtual coach, barriers were seen primarily in the area of data security and sharing. It can be concluded from this that heterogeneity among older user groups should be taken into account when developing virtual coaches. In addition, aspects of data security and data protection should be presented in a clearly understandable and transparent manner.
Background
Prematurity and low birth weight are risk factors for the future development of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and hypertension caused by fewer nephrons with limited filtration surface area. ...Few reports to date have evaluated their clinical backgrounds and pathological findings, including glomerular hypertension and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.
Case-Diagnosis/Treatment
This report describes two patients, a 15-year-old girl (patient 1), with a birth weight of 618 g and a gestational age of 24 weeks, and a 14-year-old boy (patient 2), with a birth weight of 842 g and a gestational age at 25 weeks. Both had a birth weight appropriate for gestational age. Both were first diagnosed with proteinuria during adolescence, and patient 2 also had hypertension. Pathological findings included glomerulomegaly in both and hypertrophy of the juxtaglomerular apparatus and perihilar glomerulosclerosis in patient 1, suggesting glomerular hypertension. Treatment with lisinopril resulted in the immediate disappearance of proteinuria. Renal dysfunction was observed in both patients, but neither showed evidence of severe aggravation after a follow-up of 5 or 6 years.
Conclusions
Proteinuria in both patients was caused by glomerular hypertension with hyperfiltration. Extremely preterm birth itself may be a risk factor for future CKD. Long-term follow-up of patients born prematurely and at low birth weight, including urinalysis and blood pressure measurements, is necessary to diagnose and treat late renal complications.
In this study, we examined the occurrences of serious accidents that occurred from 2009 to 2018 at Silver Human Resources Centers nationwide. As a result, the incidence rate during work was high ...among males, aged 75 or older, long-term enrolled members and “skilled labor” workers. About 60％ of the accidents during work were caused by “defective protective equipment or clothing”. The accident incidence rate on the way to work was high among women, elderly groups, and long-term enrolled members. Most of these accidents were traffic accidents involving a third party and were caused by “environmental factors”. As the number of late elderly members is expected to increase further in the future at Silver Human Resources Centers, it is desirable to monitor their health and restrict commuting by vehicle including bicycle.
This study was conducted to identify regional characteristics of salubrious aspects of social capital in a rural community. For this purpose, group interviews took place with three groups, each ...consisting of six to nine people aged 65 and older in Village A and what those interviewees said with reference to social capital were analyzed qualitatively and descriptively. A total of 610 views were extracted and organized into 141 codes, from which 20 codes that seemed to characterize the rural community in general were sampled and were divided into four categories and eight subcategories. The four categories were made up of “communing with nature,” “maintaining a relationship of trust among community members,” “regarding social norms highly,” and “encouraging social intercourse among individuals and families, and networking.” The benefits of social capital in the village to the health showed characteristics of Japanese rural communities - close links among community members who have communed with nature. There were plenty of indications showing a solidarity type of social capital based on a shared territorial bond strengthened in the milieu of a rural community where people had kept cultivating lands from generation to generation. There were also indications that a growing number of people had become aware of the need to strengthen networking from the viewpoint of a bridge type of social capital. The present study has afford us useful hints for maintaining the health of the aged in rural areas as well as for building a community very pleasant to live in.
Aim: To investigate the manner in which community-dwelling older adults' foot problems affect their history of falls. Methods: This study included 112 community-dwelling older adults. Foot problems ...(e.g., inflammation, ingrown nails, and pain while walking), self-rated physical ability (e.g., gait, tripping over, and balance), history of falls within a year, and physical ability (e.g., walking speed, Timed Up & Go test, and one leg balance test) were measured during a routine health checkup. Of these, five subjects were excluded due to incomplete all the measurement. Thus, the subjects eligible for analysis were 107 older adults (mean age±standard deviation=73.0±5.5 years). Covariance structure analysis was used to identify the inter-relationships among all measurements. Results: The covariance structure analysis showed that foot problems negatively influenced participants' self-rated physical ability, and this relationship was also linked to history of falls. The overall fit of this model was judged to be statistically satisfactory (GFI=0.959, AGFI=0.912, CFI=0.981, RMSEA=0.043). Conclusions: Our model indicated that the association between foot problems and history of falls was affected by self-rated physical ability. Furthermore, in order to prevent falls, the current results suggest that foot care could be an important intervention in older adults to prevent decline in their overall physical ability.
We surveyed the prevalence of anti-Brucella canis antibodies in three groups of dogs: Group A consisted of 1,104 dogs which were outpatients brought in for a regular checkup, Group C consisted of 120 ...dogs being kept at two breeding kennels, and Group B consisted of 74 beagles, as controls. Each dog was tested for Brucella canis (B.canis) antibodies by heat extracted enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (HE-ELISA) and by a microplate agglutination (MA) test. In Group A, six dogs were positive for B.canis antibody (0.54%), and 1,073 dogs were negative (97.2%). In Group C, 26 dogs were positive (21.7%), and Group B dogs were all negative. There was a significant difference between the ratios of Groups A, B, and C. In Group A, four out of six positive dogs had originally been kept in breeding kennels, but these six dogs did not show any characteristic symptoms of the disease. In Group C, only three of 26 positive dogs showed symptoms such as miscarriage and orchitis. In other words, infected dogs did not always show any symptoms. It is not necessary to be too strict at ordinary animal clinics because B.canis is rarely found in these clinics. On the other hand, stricter regulations are needed to prevent the disease from spreading from breeding kennels.
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