Public health Epidemiology

Hiroshima University researchers use the previous 20 years of data to project what the currently implemented treatment and management strategy does for the HBV and HCV cases in 2050.

Real time data collected during the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake response show that unclear tasks and command structures, and lack of meal- and rest breaks increased self-reported fatigue among disaster responders.

Assessing the toll of elongated working hours in community-dwelling, middle-aged adults

The University of Osaka study shows that declining clinical tests lead to an underestimation of COVID-19 cases. By analyzing wastewater, researchers found viral loads remained high even as reported cases dropped. This highlights wastewater surveillance as a crucial, objective tool for accurately monitoring community-wide infection levels. The findings advocate for a multi-layered public health approach that is not solely reliant on testing data, ensuring a more realistic assessment of infection risks.

A study by The University of Osaka reveals that people who have had COVID-19 are more likely to wear masks. This is driven not by fear, but by an increased awareness of being a potential "silent carrier." The finding suggests that public health messages based on patients' real experiences, highlighting the risk of asymptomatic spread, could be more effective in encouraging preventive behaviors in the general population for future pandemics.

Findings based on efforts in Sera Town, Japan showed the pneumococcal vaccination support program reversed the previously increasing trend in pneumonia mortality rate in the community.

Colder temperatures are linked with increased risk of diarrhea among Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, emphasizing the need for climate-sensitive health strategies in refugee settings.

Widespread contamination by emerging foodborne pathogen detected in retail chicken meat

An Osaka Metropolitan University-led team report on the development of a highly selective isolation medium CT-PS-XR-MacConkey agar for efficient isolation of E. albertii.

Effective treatment of gastric cancer-bacterial infections begins with understanding differing clinical methods

Popular milk and dairy products in Egypt show over 25% prevalence of E. coli

Amylase and mucin decrease the effects of ozonated water

Development of a low-cost, easy-to-use tool for assessing the lack of essential nutrients

Pathogenic system found on plasmid can lead to severe food poisoning symptoms

By targeting multiprotein molecule, antibody inhibits bacteria’s growth, pathogenicity

Incidence, risk factors found for pulmonary aspergillosis, an invasive fungal infection of lungs, among COVID-19 patients

Novel real-time PCR method might become diagnostic tool targeting emerging bacterium responsible for food poisoning outbreaks

The researchers from Osaka University showed how two psychological factors, belief in just deserts (BJD) and human rights restrictions (HRR), differ across countries. BJD tended to be higher in Japan and lower in the UK, whereas HRR was higher in China and lower in Japan. Public health messages for high-HRR individuals could potentially be used effectively to reduce disease-related discrimination and prejudice.

In recent years, an emerging zoonotic pathogen called E. albertii, transmitted by wild animals such as raccoons, has garnered attention due to its remarkable similarities to several strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli), including O157, and its potential to cause severe illness, particularly in children. A research group at Osaka Metropolitan University has developed a novel culture medium that allows for the selective cultivation of E. albertii from raccoon fecal samples. This enabled the successful isolation of E. albertii even from samples with very low quantities of this bacterium. Their findings are expected to further elucidate the bacteriological characteristics of E. albertii and to contribute to the control of foodborne illnesses.

Researchers from Osaka University have found that repeated high-dose treatment, known as pulse therapy, with the steroid methylprednisolone reduces in-hospital deaths in COVID-19 patients who receive invasive mechanical ventilation, but not in patients who don’t receive invasive mechanical ventilation. These findings were only possible using appropriate statistical methods to remove bias from the data, which originally seemed to show that the opposite was true. These results can improve patient treatment and reduce COVID-19-related deaths worldwide.

An Osaka University study investigated how the COVID-19 onset and media coverage affected hand hygiene compliance. Voluntary use of hand sanitizer in a hospital rose from 5% in December 2019 to 70%+ by August 2020. In the same period, TV coverage reached 7.7 hours/day on a national broadcaster. The study’s simulations found a significant relation between TV coverage and hand hygiene compliance, though no correlation between compliance and newly confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Researchers from Osaka University have shown sex-specific differences in the immune response to COVID-19 infection. By identifying and analyzing the immune cell population in COVID-19 patients, they showed that infection results in a reduced ratio of circulating follicular T regulatory (cTfr) cells to a network of antibody-producing proteins, correlated with dysregulated antibody production. This cTfr cell reduction is more significant in males, providing cellular evidence for the observed association between increased risk and male sex.

Researchers from Osaka University compared the sensitivity of rapid antigen tests (RATs) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for the Omicron variant of COVID-19 using data produced by the Japan Professional Football League. They found the comparative sensitivity of RATs for Omicron was not affected by the duration from the onset of symptoms to testing.

Researchers led by Osaka University demonstrated the role of endothelial cell-specific protein Roundabout4 (Robo4) in the reduction of vascular permeability and mortality in mouse models of severe infection. The research team identified a drug inhibitor that increased Robo4 expression and reduced mortality in sepsis and SARS-CoV-2 mouse models of infection. These findings may aid in the development of drugs to reduce the mortality rate of severe infectious diseases.

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant escapes the immune response better than its coronavirus ancestors, but has also facilitated our transition to a society that can live with COVID-19.

A simple and economical method of detecting SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in wastewater with high sensitivity has been developed, expanding the use of wastewater-based epidemiology for tracking the virus in populations.

A study by Japanese researchers showed that getting a mild case of COVID-19 doesn’t translate to lower chances of becoming a long-hauler. And that sex and the presence of long-term symptoms are risk factors for post-COVID psychological distress.

In a retrospective study drawing data from 973 participants between 2018 and 2020, researchers find that cases of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) increased from 22 pre-pandemic to 44 mid. Additionally, univariate and multivariate analysis of lifestyle habits reveal late-night meals pre-pandemic and increased alcohol intake mid-pandemic as independent lifestyle predictors of developing the disease.

A research group has revealed that amyloid-β (Aβ) detected in blood is secreted from peripheral tissues (pancreas, adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, liver, etc.) that are sensitive to glucose and insulin. Also, that Aβ secreted from peripheral tissues acts as a regulator on pancreatic β-cells to suppress insulin secretion. The results of this study indicate that blood Aβ levels fluctuate significantly with diet, and special care should be taken when using blood samples as a diagnostic marker for Alzheimer's disease, such as taking blood samples during fasting.

Scientists are turning to genomics to better understand the epidemiology of malaria and to inform control and elimination interventions and strategies. In the Lake Victoria region of Kenya, malaria burden remains very high despite more than a decade of intense control activities. A team of researchers from Osaka City University, Nagasaki University, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Mount Kenya University generated whole Plasmodium falciparum genome sequences from the lake region. Their analyses revealed that malaria parasites from this region appear distinct from other parasites from East Africa, while frequencies of known drug resistance markers were similar to those in other East African parasite populations. Their findings will help to develop improved surveillance tools to determine parasite transmission routes and aid clinical disease management.