Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine

https://environhealthprevmed.biomedcentral.com/

List of Papers (Total 1,282)

Development of a program to prevent sexual violence among teens in Japan: education using DVD video teaching materials and web-based learning

This study aimed to develop an education system using DVD video-based teaching materials or web-based learning to reduce sexual violence among teens in Japan. During the first stage, June 2018 to March 2019, an education program using DVD video teaching materials was carried out at three high schools and four universities with research consent from the director of the facility...

Maternal metal concentration during gestation and pediatric morbidity in children: an exploratory analysis

The majority of studies linking exposure to metals with certain health outcomes focus on known toxic metals. Alternatively, this study assesses the extent to which exposure to a wider range of metals during gestation is associated with childhood morbidity. We analyzed the concentrations of 25 metals found in urine samples of 111 pregnant women of Arab-Bedouin origin collected...

Establishment and associated factors of health records among young Chinese migrants

Most Chinese migrants have been faced with obstacles to getting access to local public health services. Young migrants among internal migrants make a major contribution to the economy. However, the establishment of their health records has been ignored. This research was aimed at exploring the status and associated factors of the establishment of health records among young...

Changes in health status, workload, and lifestyle after starting the COVID-19 pandemic: a web-based survey of Japanese men and women

This study aimed to examine the change in health status of the general public after starting the COVID-19 pandemic and its association with changes in workload and lifestyle. A web-based survey was conducted in November 2020, about 9 months after starting the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, among 8000 Japanese men and women aged 25–64 years. Participants asked for the changes after...

Associations between trunk-to-peripheral fat ratio and cardiometabolic risk factors in elderly Japanese men: baseline data from the Fujiwara-kyo Osteoporosis Risk in Men (FORMEN) study

Body mass-independent parameters might be more appropriate for assessing cardiometabolic abnormalities than weight-dependent indices in Asians who have relatively high visceral adiposity but low body fat. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)-measured trunk-to-peripheral fat ratio is one such body mass-independent index. However, there are no reports on relationships between DXA...

Effects of maternal exposure to arsenic on social behavior and related gene expression in F2 male mice

Arsenic is a developmental neurotoxicant. It means that its neurotoxic effect could occur in offspring by maternal arsenic exposure. Our previous study showed that developmental arsenic exposure impaired social behavior and serotonergic system in C3H adult male mice. These effects might affect the next generation with no direct exposure to arsenic. This study aimed to detect the...

Students’ attitude and sleep pattern during school closure following COVID-19 pandemic quarantine: a web-based survey in south of Iran

School closure is one of the main policies of global health care strategies performed worldwide. Despite all benefits, there might be some threats for younger groups spending their time in quarantine. This study aims to determine the impacts of lockdown and school closure on children’s major lifestyle aspects, especially their leisure and sleep pattern during the COVID-19...

Chronic exposure of bisphenol S (BPS) affect hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular activities in adult male rats: possible in estrogenic mode of action

The industrial revolution has resulted in increased synthesis and the introduction of a variety of compounds into the environment and their potentially hazardous effects have been observed in the biota. The present study was aimed to evaluate the potential endocrine-disrupting effects of chronic exposure to the low concentrations of bisphenol S (BPS) in male rats. Weaning male...

COVID-19 pandemic-induced physical inactivity: the necessity of updating the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018-2030

To prevent and reduce inactivity, the World Health Organization (WHO) designed a global plan called Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018–2030 (GAPPA) in 2017. In this plan and according to the state of physical activity in 2016, actions and goals were set. However, the world is facing a COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected various aspects of lifestyle, including physical...

Cross-sectional survey of depressive symptoms and suicide-related ideation at a Japanese national university during the COVID-19 stay-home order

We aimed to estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms as well as suicide-related ideation among Japanese university students during the stay-home order necessitated by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in Japan, and offer evidence in support of future intervention to depression and suicide prevention strategies among college and university students. The data for this...

Public perceptions, individual characteristics, and preventive behaviors for COVID-19 in six countries: a cross-sectional study

Public perceptions and personal characteristics are heterogeneous between countries and subgroups, which may have different impacts on health-protective behaviors during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To assess whether self-reported perceptions of COVID-19 and personal characteristics are associated with protective behaviors among general adults and to compare...

Reproducibility and validity of food group intake in a short food frequency questionnaire for the middle-aged Japanese population

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reproducibility and validity of a short food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for food group intake in Japan, the reproducibility and partial validity of which were previously confirmed for nutrients. A total of 288 middle-aged healthy volunteers from 11 different areas of Japan provided nonconsecutive 3-day weighed dietary records (DRs...

The prevalence of psychological distress during pregnancy in Miyagi Prefecture for 3 years after the Great Eas t Japan Earthquake

To examine changes in psychological distress prevalence among pregnant women in Miyagi Prefecture, which was directly affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, and compare it with the other, less damaged areas of Japan. This study was conducted in conjunction with the Japan Environment and Children`s Study. We examined 76,152 pregnant women including 8270 in Miyagi...

Effectiveness of community and school-based sanitation interventions in improving latrine coverage: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled interventions

Approximately 1000 children die each year due to preventable water and sanitation-related diarrheal diseases. Six in 10 people lacked access to safely managed sanitation facilities in 2015. Numerous community- and school-based approaches have been implemented to eradicate open defecation practices, promote latrine ownership, improve situation sanitation, and reduce waterborne...

Lower albumin levels are associated with frailty measures, trace elements, and an inflammation marker in a cross-sectional study in Tanushimaru

There is little data on the association between the lower nutrition represented by serum albumin levels and related factors in a general population. The present study aimed to determine whether the albumin level positioned as some kind of biomarker with frailty measures, trace elements, and an inflammation marker. In 2018, we performed an epidemiological survey in 1368 subjects...

Time trends of socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent smoking in Okinawa, Japan, 2008–2016: a repeated cross-sectional study

Smoking among Japanese adolescents has decreased noticeably. However, little is known whether the decreasing trend in adolescent smoking can be seen across all socioeconomic status (SES) groups. This study aimed to examine trends in socioeconomic inequalities in smoking among Japanese adolescents between 2008 and 2016. We conducted a repeated cross-sectional study using data from...

Dental caries and associated factors in Ethiopia: systematic review and meta-analysis

Globally, dental caries may be a major public health issue which may be preventable. Many studies have been conducted on dental caries in Ethiopia which present inconsistent results. This meta-analysis was expected to consolidate the findings conducted in various regions of the country and generate country representative information on the burden and its associated factors of...

Outdoor air pollution and diminished ovarian reserve among infertile Korean women

Mounting evidence implicates an association between ambient air pollution and impaired reproductive potential of human. Our study aimed to assess the association between air pollution and ovarian reserve in young, infertile women. Our study included 2276 Korean women who attended a single fertility center in 2016–2018. Women’s exposure to air pollution was assessed using...

Influence of height on endothelial maintenance activity: a narrative review

Recent studies have revealed an inverse association between height and cardiovascular disease. However, the background mechanism of this association has not yet been clarified. Height has also been reported to be positively associated with cancer. Therefore, well-known cardiovascular risk factors, such as increased oxidative stress and chronic inflammation, are not the best...

Increasing hepatitis virus screening uptake at worksites in Japan using nudge theory and full subsidies

Despite the importance of hepatitis screening for decreasing liver cancer mortality, screening rates remain low in Japan. Previous studies show that full subsidies increase screening uptake, but full subsidies are costly and difficult to implement in low-resource settings. Alternatively, applying nudge theory to the message design could increase screening at lower costs. This...

Possible mechanisms underlying the association between human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) and hypertension in elderly Japanese population

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) activates inflammatory cascades by activating the NF-κB pathway. The minor allele of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in breast cancer suppressor BRCA1-associated protein (BRAP), which has a common etiology with HTLV-1 infection, has been reported to be positively associated with carotid atherosclerosis, but inversely associated...

Replacing school and out-of-school sedentary behaviors with physical activity and its associations with adiposity in children and adolescents: a compositional isotemporal substitution analysis

Little is known on how context-specific sedentary behaviors (SB) affect adiposity. This study aimed to investigate compositional associations between context-specific SB and adiposity and estimate the differences in adiposity associated with replacing school and out-of-school SB with physical activity (PA). This study included 336 children and adolescents. Time spent in SB and PA...

Association between exposure to ambient air pollution and hospital admission, incidence, and mortality of stroke: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of more than 23 million participants

Previous studies have suggested that exposure to air pollution may increase stroke risk, but the results remain inconsistent. Evidence of more recent studies is highly warranted, especially gas air pollutants. We searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science to identify studies till February 2020 and conducted a meta-analysis on the association between air pollution (PM2.5...