No abstract

Many risk factors have been proposed for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, there is little information about the relationship between lifestyles and SLE in Japan. Two case control studies were conducted in Kyushu, southern Japan, and in Hokkaido, northern Japan, to examine the relationship between lifestyles and development of SLE in females. The participants were 78 patients and 329 controls in Kyushu and 35 patients and 188 controls in Hokkaido. Smoking was associated with an increased risk of SLE after adjusting for age in both regions. However, in Hokkaido, this association between smoking and SLE did not reach statistical significance after adjusting for alcohol drinking. The present study suggests that smoking may increase the risk of SLE among Japanese females.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is an important risk factor of coronary heart disease. A new guidelines for hypertension prevention and management in The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure in the United States recommended lifestyle modification or medical treatment for subjects with prehypertension. However, whether prehypertension increases the risk of coronary atherosclerosis in the Japanese population is still unknown. METHODS: A cross-sectional study in a clinical setting was conducted. The subjects were 705 patients (417 males and 288 females) aged 30 years and older who underwent a first-time coronary angiography for suspected or known coronary heart disease at 5 major cardiology departments in the Fukuoka metropolitan area between September 1996 and August 1997. RESULTS: Compared to subjects with normal blood pressure, those with prehypertension had an increased risk of coronary atherosclerosis even after adjusting for other factors. CONCLUSION: Prehypertension may be an important clinical entity which requires treatment in the Japanese population.

Adult T-cell leukaemia (ATL) is caused by human T-cell leukaemia virus type I (HTLV-I) infection and is resistant to conventional chemotherapy. We evaluated the inhibitory effects of agricultural plants on the proliferation of seven ATL-related human leukaemia cells, using three ATL cell lines (ED, Su9T01 and S1T), two human T-cell lines transformed by HTLV-I infection (HUT-102 and MT-2) and two HTLV-I-negative human T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cell lines (Jurkat and MOLT-4). A total of 52 samples of 80% ethanol extracts obtained from 30 types of agricultural plants were examined. On the basis of IC(50) values, we selected samples with greater activity than genistein, which was used as a positive control. The highest inhibitory effect was observed with extracts from leaves of Vaccinium virgatum Aiton (blueberry) on four cell lines (ED, Su9T01, HUT-102 and Jurkat); seeds of Momordica charantia L. (bitter gourd) exhibited the second highest activity. The bitter gourd seeds suppressed the proliferation of three cell lines (Su9T01, HUT-102 and Jurkat). The extracts from edible parts of Ipomea batatas LAM. (sweet potato), edible parts of Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott (taro), skin of taro and seeds of Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc. (mume) showed markedly greater inhibitory effects on Su9T01 than genistein. These findings suggest that ATL-preventative bioactive compounds may exist in these agricultural plants, which are considered to be functional foods.

Objective: Factors influencing life satisfaction were studied in a cohort study.Methods: Life satisfaction was measured using the Philadelphia Geriatric Center (PGC) morale scale. Two thousand one hundred and fifty-one older people, approximately 99% of all older people (2165 subjects) in a rural town, Tashiro, Akita prefecture responded to the questionnaire and, after eliminating 455 for incomplete answers, 1710 subjects (79% of all older people) were entered into the present study. Approximately 10% were self-care dependent older people.Results: Female self-care independent older people showed lower morale scores than men. Morale scores in self-care independent older people decreased with age in both women and men. Morale scores of self-care independent men were higher when they were healthy, had an occupation and took part in social activities in the community; morale scores of self-care independent women were higher when they were healthy and had hobbies. Family composition, self-care dependency, income and habits for health promotion were also factors of morale scores, while education was not.Conclusions: Healthy older persons with some gender specific lifestyles had the higher morale scores. With advanced age, lifestyles do not determine the morale scores.