No abstract

Having been in the vicinity of the atomic bomb explosion without radiological exposure continued to be associated with poorer mental health more than half a century after the event. Fear on learning about the potential radiological hazard and lack of knowledge about radiological risk are responsible for this association.

No abstract

Although a previous meta analysis showed some substantial relationships between social support and immune function, there is still no knowledge about the effects of social support on natural killer (NK) cell number. In this study we examined the direct relationships between peripheral lymphocyte subpopulations and several aspects of social support. We administered the Japanese version of the Stress and Coping Inventory (SCI) by Rahe (1994) to 98 male workers with a written informed consent. Blood samples were collected at 10.00 hours. Lymphocytes subsets were measured by flowcytometry using CD3, CD16, and CD56 antibodies. Partial correlation coefficient controlled by age and smoking between social support and immune cells revealed that there were weak but significant correlations between perceived social support and the numbers of CD3-/CD16+and 0.26). There was no correlation between social support and percentage of NK cells. Positive correlation of perceived social support with NK cell numbers suggested that perceived social support has a direct effect on NK cells and that increased social support might be accompanied by high natural immunity. Further investigation should be undertaken to elucidate why only perceived social support was correlated to NK cells.