Ibaraki Prefectural Police

This study investigated execution of scripts by children with intellectual disability (ID), with and without turning back in the script. Seventeen children with ID and 17 typically developing (TD) children matched on vocabulary skills completed a doll-dressing task designed to assess script execution under standard and turning-back conditions. The task consisted of two tests: a script checking test (SCT), which measured execution without turning back, and a turning-back test (TBT), which required flexible execution with turning back. No significant difference was found between the ID and TD groups on the SCT. However, children with ID outperformed TD children on the TBT. These findings indicate that children with ID executed the scripts primarily on the basis of knowledge acquired through daily life experience.

We assessed case fatality rates (CFRs) in adults aged ≥70 years in 10 prefectures in Japan (14.8 million residents) diagnosed between January 2022 and March 2023, when the Omicron variant was dominant in Japan. We selected incident reports on 283,052 cases from participating public health centers reported according to the Infectious Diseases Control Law. Patients were passively followed up until the end of their isolation, date of death, or 28 days after COVID-19 diagnosis, whichever occurred first. We calculated age-standardized CFRs with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using the Japanese population aged 70-79, 80-89 and ≥90 years in 2022, divided into 16 subgroups according to the period of COVID-19 diagnosis. The overall CFR was 1.59% (95% CI: 1.55-1.64%); ranging between 0.67% (95% CI: 0.38-0.96%, from May 23 to June 19, 2022) and 2.58% (95% CI: 2.36-2.80%, from January 31 to February 27, 2022). The age-standardized CFRs had three peaks, (2.2% from January 31 to February 27, 2022; 1.0% from July 18 to August 14, 2022; and 1.6% from December 26, 2022 to January 22, 2023) coinciding with the 6th, 7th, and 8th COVID-19 waves in Japan caused by the Omicron variant. Population-based CFRs for Omicron variant COVID-19 in adults aged ≥70 years remained <3% throughout the period January 2022 to March 2023, including during three large waves in Japan.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is spreading globally. Generally, the viral genome becomes undetectable within a couple of weeks after infection. Herein, we report a case of long-term detection of the SARS-CoV-2 genome in the same individual for 106 days. Whole genome sequencing was performed on specimens taken at the onset of the disease and 2 months after onset, and the B.1.1.7 lineage was detected in both samples. A comparison of the full-length sequences revealed a single-base difference and no amino acid mutations. This is the first case in Japan where the virus was detected over a long period, and the full-length sequences were compared.

In the case of a fire incident such as arson, the combustion experiment that reconstructed the fire scene will be conducted to clarify the facts. However, various problems such as construction costs and securing an experimental environment must be dealt with. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to utilize fire simulation for the investigation of fire incidents. In this study, combustion experiments and FDS (Fire Dynamics Simulator) simulations assuming gasoline arson in the kitchen, which have not been reported so far, were conducted and compared. Next, the observation of fire damage using the accumulated heat-flux was evaluated by a newly developed analysis tool for visual evaluation. The simulation results such as burning behavior, temperature changes, and the burned away phenomenon of the door showed good agreement with those experimental results. Burning behavior in the kitchen, that couldn't be observed in the combustion experiment were grasped in detail in the simulation. Furthermore, the relationship between the fire source and the fire damage on the floor, which couldn't be explained only by the observation results after extinguishing the fire, could be reasonably explained by the visual evaluation of burning behavior and the accumulated heat-flux in the kitchen by using the simulation. Therefore, the fire simulation was shown to be an effective tool for analyzing fire phenomena.

Aim: Diabetes mellitus and hypertriglyceridemia may adversely interact with the development of ischemic cardiovascular disease, but epidemiological evidence on this issue is scarce. We hypothesized that the impact of hypertriglyceridemia on ischemic cardiovascular disease (ischemic heart disease and ischemic stroke) would differ according to the presence or absence of diabetes mellitus and tested oura priori hypothesis under a large population-based prospective study.Methods: A total of 90,468 men and women aged 40–79 years in 1993 were enrolled in the Ibaraki Prefectural Health Study (IPHS), a community-based cohort study of Japanese. The participants’ serum triglyceride levels (mostly nonfasting) were measured every 5 years, and the participants were followed up for mortality from ischemic cardiovascular disease through 2016. Hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) were calculated according to 5-year updated triglyceride levels (＜100, 100–149, 150–199, 200–299, and ≥ 300 mg/dl).Results: During 1,795,877 person-years, there were 3,323 deaths from ischemic cardiovascular diseases (1,968 ischemic heart diseases and 1,355 ischemic strokes). We found no association between triglyceride levels and the risk of mortality from ischemic cardiovascular disease after adjustment for known cardiovascular risk factors. However, when stratified by the presence or absence of diabetes mellitus, excess mortality from ischemic cardiovascular disease appeared among participants with diabetes mellitus with triglyceride levels of ≥ 300 mg/dl. Further adjustment for high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol attenuated the association toward being statistically nonsignificant.Conclusion: The impact of high serum triglyceride levels on the risk of ischemic cardiovascular disease mortality was confined to participants with diabetes mellitus.

Human norovirus (HuNoV) GII.P17-GII.17 (Kawasaki2014 variant) reportedly emerged in 2014 and caused gastroenteritis outbreaks worldwide. To clarify the evolution of both VP1 and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) regions of GII.P17-GII.17, we analyzed both global and novel Japanese strains detected during 2013–2017. Time-scaled phylogenetic trees revealed that the ancestral GII.17 VP1 region diverged around 1949, while the ancestral GII.P17 RdRp region diverged around 2010. The evolutionary rates of the VP1 and RdRp regions were estimated at ~2.7 × 10−3 and ~2.3 × 10−3 substitutions/site/year, respectively. The phylogenetic distances of the VP1 region exhibited no overlaps between intra-cluster and inter-cluster peaks in the GII.17 strains, whereas those of the RdRp region exhibited a unimodal distribution in the GII.P17 strains. Conformational epitope positions in the VP1 protein of the GII.P17-GII.17 strains were similar, although some substitutions, insertions and deletions had occurred. Strains belonging to the same cluster also harbored substitutions around the binding sites for the histo-blood group antigens of the VP1 protein. Moreover, some amino acid substitutions were estimated to be near the interface between monomers and the active site of the RdRp protein. These results suggest that the GII.P17-GII.17 virus has produced variants with the potential to alter viral antigenicity, host-binding capability, and replication property over the past 10 years.

BackgroundHepatitis E virus (HEV) is prevalent in pigs and may serve as a reservoir for human infection. However, data on HEV infections in pigs in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, are limited. Here, we clarified the process and course of HEV in naturally infected pigs. Serum (n = 160) and liver (n = 110) samples were collected from pigs at the slaughterhouse. Furthermore, serum samples were collected from 45 breeding sows and serum and feces samples were collected from 7 piglets once a week (raised until 166 days of age). HEV antigen and antibodies were evaluated, and the genotype was identified based on molecular phylogenetic tree analysis.ResultsThe samples collected from the slaughterhouse revealed that few pigs were HEV carriers but most possessed anti-HEV antibodies. Most breeding sows possessed antibodies, and the piglets excreted HEV on the farm at approximately 10 weeks of age. One pig was initially infected, and in a few weeks, the other pigs living in the same sty became infected.ConclusionsMost pigs in Ibaraki Prefecture were with HEV. On the farm, most piglets were infected with HEV by the time they reached slaughter age. We confirmed that HEV infection is successively transmitted among piglets living in the same sty.

Habitual speed eating is a risk factor of obesity but evidence of this in children is limited. We examined the association between speed-eating habit and subsequent body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure (BP) among Japanese children. The community-based study comprised 1,490 Japanese boys and girls who were born in 1989, involved in the Ibaraki Children's Cohort Study at age 3 years, and had returned questionnaires at both ages 6 and 12 years. In a subsample, we measured BP (n=263). Speed-eating habit was categorized into 4 groups: Never, Quit, Newly, and Continuous. Sex-specific mean values of questionnaire-based BMI and measured BPs at age 12 were examined according to speed-eating habit. Children with continuous speed eating had a higher BMI at age 12 than those who had never had a speed-eating habit (20.0 vs. 17.9 kg/m2for boys (P<0.001); 20.0 vs. 18.4 kg/m2(P<0.001) for girls). Systolic BP at age 12 was higher in boys with continuous speed eating than in those without (117 vs. 110 mmHg, P=0.01), but such a difference was not observed in girls (112 vs. 111 mmHg, P=0.95). Habitualspeed eating was positively associated with subsequent BMI among boys and girls as well as with systolic BP among boys.

A nationwide rubella epidemic occurred from 2012 to 2013 in Japan, resulting in around 17,000 rubella cases and the birth of 45 infants with congenital rubella syndrome. The aim of this study was to genetically characterize the rubella viruses (RVs) circulating around the time of the epidemic in Japan. In total, 221 RV strains detected from 14 prefectures in Japan between 2010 and 2014 were sequenced in the 739 nucleotide-window region within the E1 gene. The virus strains were chronologically and geographically characterized into groups based on phylogenetic analysis. Among the 221 strains analyzed, 192 (87%), 26 (12%), and 3 (1%) strains were classified into genotypes 2B, 1E, and 1J, respectively. The majority (n = 184) of the genotype 2B strains belonged to lineage 2B-L1 and shared nucleotide homology with the strains detected in Southeast and East Asian countries. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that at least six distinct clusters of RV strains (clusters 1–6) induced outbreaks in Japan between 2010 and 2014. Among them, strains from clusters 3, 4, and 6 circulated almost simultaneously during 2012–2013. The cluster 3 strains circulated locally, whereas strains from cluster 4 spread nationwide. The findings suggest that RVs were introduced into Japan many times from neighboring countries. The 2012–2013 epidemic was a complex of outbreaks induced by at least three clusters of RV strains.