Infants need sufficient nutrients even during disasters. Only qualitative descriptive analysis has been reported regarding nutritional problems of mothers and children after the Kumamoto earthquake, and non-subjective analysis is required. This study examined issues concerning maternal and child health, food and nutrition after the Kumamoto earthquake using automatic computer quantitative analysis from focus group interviews (FGIs). Study participants (n = 13) consisted of dietitians in charge of nutrition assistance of infants in affected areas. The content of the interviews was converted into text, nouns were extracted, and co-occurrence network diagram analysis was performed. In the severely damaged area, there were hygienic problems not only in the acute phase but also in the mid-to-long-term phase. “Allergy” was extracted in the surrounding area in the acute and the mid-to-long-term phase, but not in the severely damaged area as the acute phase issue. In the surrounding area, problems have shifted to health and the quality of diet in the mid-to-long-term phase. This objective analysis suggested that dietary problems for mothers and children after disaster occurred also in the mid-to-long-term phase. It will be necessary to combine the overall trends obtained in this study with the results of qualitative descriptive analysis.
BackgroundAngioedema with eosinophilia (AE) is mostly reported in Japanese patients, and only as case reports. In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence, clinical and laboratory characteristics, and courses of AE; the therapies for AE and the outcomes; and to evaluate whether steroid therapy for AE is necessary or not.MethodsThe patients whose blood samples showed an eosinophil count of ≥2000/μL, among the samples tested for blood cell counts and differential counts between Jan. 2006 and Oct. 2010, in Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, were first included. Among these patients with AE were extracted. The AE diagnosis was based on angioedema developing concurrently with eosinophilia and improving with the recovery from eosinophilia.ResultsAll of the 11 patients were Japanese young females. One patient with clear arthralgia showed radioisotope accumulation in the joints by bone scintigraphy, and was diagnosed as having arthritis. The peak peripheral blood eosinophil count was 7,839 ± 6,008 (2,130–23,170)/μL after visiting our hospital. An increase in white blood cell count was only due to an increase in eosinophil count. Serum C-reactive protein and Immunoglobulin E levels remained almost normal. Peripheral blood eosinophil count decreased steadily for 8 weeks after the first visit, regardless of steroid use. Edema in all of the patients and arthralgia in 6 patients improved within 12 weeks. None of the patients had a recurrence of AE.ConclusionsAE developed in Japanese young females and likely showed a single course. In AE, the count of eosinophil of 104/μL was observed. Only eosinophil count increased without changes in changes in the counts of other leukocyte series. Serum C-reactive protein and Immunoglobulin E levels remained almost normal. The eosinophil count in AE patients will return to the normal level within 8 weeks even without steroid therapy.
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