Hyogo Prefecture Health Foundation

【目的】胃がんX線検診における圧迫法の有用性を明らかにする。

Recently, in addition to cohesive soils, geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) are used for repair of small earth dams as a water barrier. In previous research, full-scale shaking table tests were carried out for four types of embankments under different installation conditions of GCLs in order to estimate their earthquake resistance. This paper firstly reviewed the previous studies and also have examined the deformation characteristics of embankments with GCLs based on 3D laser scanning. As a result, the deformation of the upstream side of embankments was greater than that of the downstream side in all cases. As for the post-earthquake performances, it is essential to avoid overflow after earthquake, and it has been suggested that GCLs should be set within width of crests as possible to retain the crest height at the downstream side.

Estrogen is considered to be cardioprotective, but estrogen replacement therapy for postmenopausal women has not shown results for either primary or secondary cardiovascular event prevention. During normal pregnancy, women have significantly higher levels of estrogen and it may be endogenous estrogen that helps prevent atherosclerosis. The present cross-sectional study examined the association between pregnancy followed by delivery and clinical atherosclerosis using the brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (PWV). A total of 2,560 women undergoing annual health screening at the Institute of Hyogo Prefecture Health Promotion Association in Japan were recruited. Pregnancy history (the age of menarche/menopause and the number of gravida/para), conventional coronary risk factors, and brachial-ankle PWV were recorded. Multivariate linear regression by stepwise selection analysis demonstrated that women who had 1 or more deliveries had a significantly lower PWV, independent of age and other conventional coronary risk factors. Pregnancy followed by delivery may decrease arterial stiffness and prevent the progress of atherosclerosis in women. The contribution of such a pregnancy followed by delivery-related decrease in arterial stiffness to the reduction of cardiovascular disease in women should be further evaluated.

Species composition of phytoplankton was studied in two groups of irrigation ponds close to Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture. Sixty-three genera and 112 species were recorded from 12 ponds. The number of species was greatest in August with the highest water temperature and the smallest in cold January in both groups of ponds. A good correlation was found between the occurrence of rooted aquatic plants and the number of phytoplankton species. Ponds with a luxuriant growth of macrophytes generally had the large number of phytoplankton species. In Sara-ike, 43 species of Desmids were recorded.