No abstract

ObjectiveWe aimed to evaluate a foot-care awareness program designed to improve foot morphology, physical functioning, and fall prevention among the community-dwelling elderly. Eleven independent community-dwelling elderly women (aged 61–83 years) were provided with foot-care advice and shown effective foot-care techniques to perform regularly for 6 months, and compared with a control group of 10 elderly women who did not receive any intervention. Measurements of foot form, functional capacity, subjective foot movement, and physical function were taken at baseline and 6-month follow-up.ResultsAt follow-up, improvements were seen in the intervention group in foot morphology, subjective foot movement, foot pressure, and balance. In the intervention group, 90% of women had maintained or improved foot form and none of them had fallen during the post-intervention period, compared to the control group where 30% improved foot form (p = 0.0075) and four (40%) of them had fallen. Therefore, a foot-care program may have the potential to prevent falls and improve mobility among the elderly. Trial Registration UMIN-CTR No. UMIN000029632. Date of Registration: October 19, 2017Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-017-2898-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundWe aimed to investigate the mortality and causes of deaths of inhabitants with renal dysfunction induced by cadmium (Cd) exposure caused by heavy environmental contamination.MethodsWe conducted a 26-year follow-up survey targeting 7529 inhabitants of the Cd-polluted Jinzu River basin and 2149 controls from non-polluted areas who participated in urinary examinations for proteinuria and glucosuria conducted in 1979 to 1984. When the residents were divided into 4 groups, no finding group, glucosuria group, proteinuria group, glucoproteinuria group, mortality risk ratios for all and specific causes of these groups in the polluted area were compared with that of controls without glucosuria and/or proteinuria after adjustments for age at baseline, smoking status, and history of hypertension using Cox’s proportional hazard model.ResultsThe mortality risk ratios for all causes of proteinuria and glucoproteinuria in men and glucosuria, proteinuria, and glucoproteinuria in women of the polluted areas significantly increased compared with those of the controls with no urinary findings. Respiratory, renal, and cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in men, and all diseases except cerebrovascular diseases in women contributed toward an increased mortality of exposed glucoproteinuria groups, which involved chronic Cd toxicosis with renal tubular dysfunction. In women, the mortality risks for cancer of the colon and rectum, uterus and kidney and urinary tract were significantly higher in the exposed proteinuria and glucoproteinuria groups, suggesting associations between renal damage and cancer risk. In exposed women, the no finding group and glucoproteinuria group also showed increased mortality from ischemic heart diseases, indicating that all exposed women may be at risk for ischemic heart diseases. Although the control glucosuria and/or proteinuria group also showed high mortality for diabetes and renal diseases, the increased risk ratio for renal disease mortality was much higher in exposed subjects with urinary findings, particularly in women.ConclusionsThese findings indicate that inhabitants with renal effects caused by Cd exposure had a poor life prognosis over long-term observation in both genders. Particularly in women, renal tubular dysfunction indicated by glucoproteinuria may increase mortality from cancer, ischemic heart diseases, and renal diseases.

Understanding the typical clinical and endoscopic findings and careful endoscopic examination are important for the accurate diagnosis of AHRU, and endoscopic haemostatic therapy may be effective for bleeding patients.

Recent studies have found elevated dioxin levels inside some U.S. military former air bases in Vietnam, known as hotspots. Many studies of Agent Orange have been done in U.S. veterans; however, there is little known about Vietnamese men. In 2010, we collected blood samples from 97 men in a hotspot and 85 men in an unsprayed area in Northern Vietnam. Serum concentrations of not only TCDD but also other dioxins (PCDDs), furans (PCDFs), and nonortho polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were significantly higher in the hotspot than in the unsprayed area. In the hotspot, three subareas were demarcated, based on their proximity to the air base. The total toxic equivalents (TEQ) of PCDDs/PCDFs+PCBs was 41.7 pg/g lipid in the area closest to the air base, while it was around 29 pg/g lipid in the other two subareas. In the unsprayed area, the dioxin levels were no different between men who went to the South during the Vietnam War and those who remained in the North, with TEQs PCDDs/PCDFs+PCBs of around 13.6 pg/g lipid. Our findings suggested that people living close to the former U.S. air bases might have been exposed to both Agent Orange and other sources of dioxin-like compounds.