Radiation dose rates were evaluated in three areas neighboring a restricted area within a 20-to 50-km radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in August-September 2012 and projected to 2022 and 2062. Study participants wore personal dosimeters measuring external dose equivalents, almost entirely from deposited radionuclides (groundshine). External dose rate equivalents owing to the accident averaged 1.03, 2.75, and 1.66 mSv/y in the village of Kawauchi, the Tamano area of Soma, and the Haramachi area of Minamisoma, respectively. Internal dose rates estimated from dietary intake of radiocesium averaged 0.0058, 0.019, and 0.0088 mSv/y in Kawauchi, Tamano, and Haramachi, respectively. Dose rates from inhalation of resuspended radiocesium were lower than 0.001 mSv/y. In 2012, the average annual doses from radiocesium were close to the average background radiation exposure (2 mSv/y) in Japan. Accounting only for the physical decay of radiocesium, mean annual dose rates in 2022 were estimated as 0.31, 0.87, and 0.53 mSv/y in Kawauchi, Tamano, and Haramachi, respectively. The simple and conservative estimates are comparable with variations in the background dose, and unlikely to exceed the ordinary permissible dose rate (1 mSv/y) for the majority of the Fukushima population. Health risk assessment indicates that post-2012 doses will increase lifetime solid cancer, leukemia, and breast cancer incidences by 1.06%, 0.03% and 0.28% respectively, in Tamano. This assessment was derived from short-term observation with uncertainties and did not evaluate the firstyear dose and radioiodine exposure. Nevertheless, this estimate provides perspective on the long-term radiation exposure levels in the three regions.Fukushima nuclear disaster | exposure assessment | Strontium-90 | forest contamination | food duplicate

Adjustable sit-stand workstations, which are designed to allow workers to sit and stand autonomously while working, were examined to identify the effects on workers' musculoskeletal discomfort, alertness and performance. Twenty-four healthy subjects participated in the study. The subjects were required to do an English transcription task for 150 min under the following conditions: 1) sitting at standard workstations (Standard), 2) sitting on a chair with the work surface elevated to standing position (High-chair) and 3) a combination of 10-min sitting and 5-min standing with the same setting as that in the high-chair condition (Sit-stand). The subjective musculoskeletal discomfort scores indicated that High-chair and Sit-stand resulted in relatively higher discomfort levels than the Standard condition. Although the ratio between low-frequency (0.04-0.15 Hz) and high-frequency (0.15-0.4 Hz) components of heart rate variability (LF/HF ratio) in Sit-stand was higher than that in other conditions, there were no significant differences in subjective sleepiness among the three conditions. As for work performance, there was a tendency to be steadily high under the Sit-stand condition compared with other conditions, but not a significant difference. This study revealed that although the use of sit-stand workstations can contribute to keeping workers' arousal level steady, it has an adverse effect in light of musculoskeletal discomfort.

To examine the effects of shift schedules on fatigue and physiological functions among firefighters a 17-day field study at a fire station was carried out. Eleven firefighters, who were engaged in firefighting emergency services, participated in this study. At the fire station, night duty (22:00-07:00) was divided into 5 periods (P1: 22:00-00:00; P2: 23:45-01:45; P3: 01:30-03:30; P4: 03:15-05:15; P5: 05:00-07:00). The participants were assigned to one of these 5 periods and awakened to answer calls from the city's central information centre. They took naps in individual rooms during night duty, except when on night shift or when called out on an emergency. Subjective complaints of fatigue, critical flicker fusion frequencies, 3-choice reaction times, and oral temperature were measured before and after work and following breaks during their 24 working hours. Heart rate variability was also recorded to evaluate autonomic nerve activity. The results show that during P3 and P4, participants who had to wake up at midnight took shorter naps. The rates of subjective complaints regarding P3 and P4 tended to be higher than those for P1, P2, and P5. The ratios of the low frequency component of heart rate variability to the high frequency component during P4 were significantly lower than those during P5. It is assumed that such an irregular sleeping pattern causes many complaints of subjective fatigue, and adversely affects physiological functions. A night-duty shift schedule ensuring undisturbed naps should be considered.

We previously suggested that using a combined conditioning regimen including rhG-CSF with allogeneic BMT in refractory AML and CML in blast crisis might reduce the rate of relapse and improve disease-free survival, without any major side effects. In this study, we used the same protocol for 10 AML patients in complete remission (CR) and 6 CML patients in the chronic phase (CP). We compared disease-free survival as well as toxic side effects of the regimen with 6 AML patients in CR and 6 CML patients in CP treated with chemoradiotherapy without G-CSF. The conditioning regimen consisted of TBI and high-dose AraC. RhG-CSF was infused continuously at a dose of 5 µg/kg/day, starting 24 hr before the initial dose of total body irradiation (TBI) until the end of AraC therapy. In all 28 cases, there were no early stage deaths due to regimen-related toxicity (RRT). None of the 10 AML cases treated with the G-CSF combined regime relapsed. In 6 AML cases treated conventionally without G-CSF, one patient died of infection and another relapsed. There were no relapses in either CML group. In the combined G-CSF group, one patient died of interstitial pneumonitis 48 days after BMT, while the rest of the CML cases are still alive. There were no relapses with rhG-CSF and no serious adverse effects in terms of RRT, acute graft vs. host disease (GVHD), or leukocyte recovery. Am.

In the present study, we modified a night shift system for an ambulance service so that ambulance paramedics were assured of taking a nap, and examined the effects of this new system on the fatigue and physiological function of ambulance paramedics. Methods: Ten ambulance paramedics at a fire station in the center of a large city in Japan voluntarily enrolled as subjects in this field study. They worked a 24-h shift system. There were two teams of 5 ambulance paramedics in the fire station. Three ambulance paramedics per shift usually provided the emergency services. In the traditional system, the ambulance paramedics had to deal with all emergency calls throughout a 24-h shift (T-shift). In the modified system, 2 ambulance paramedics were allotted time for naps in the 21:00-3:00 (C-shift) or 3:00-8:30 (Bshift) shift by the addition of another a firefighter (Dshift). Results: There were fewer emergency dispatches and nap time was longer in the B-and Cshifts than in the T-shift. Parasympathetic nerve activities during naps in B-and C-shifts were higher than in the T-shift. The results of critical flicker fusion frequency and 3-choice reaction time in the B-shift at 7:30 tended to be higher and shorter than that in Tshift. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the modified night shift which ensured time for ambulance paramedics to take long, restful power naps alleviated subjective fatigue, and improved physiological function which are often adversely affected by night workload. (J Occup Health 2009; 51: 204-209)

An intervention based on the methodology developed by the International Labour Office, the Work Improvement in Small Enterprises (WISE) was carried out to improve work condition of small-scale enterprises and the informal sector in the Philippines, Thailand and Japan. Through the evaluation of the efficacy of the approaches based on participatory methodology, it is concluded that the method is an efficient measure to improve work condition in small workplaces. It is also pointed out that the activities of supporting experts such as introduction of the methodology and evaluation of the activity are necessary. The important roles of the experts are 1) to encourage managers and workers to sustain the activities for work improvement, 2) to analyse the effectiveness and problems of the implemented improvements, 3) to give appropriate suggestions for the further improvement, and 4) to get materials for demonstrating the effectiveness of WISE activities on improving work conditions and productivity to other managers and workers who have not participated in the activity.

We previously suggested that using a combined conditioning regimen including rhG-CSF with allogeneic BMT in refractory AML and CML in blast crisis might reduce the rate of relapse and improve disease-free survival, without any major side effects. In this study, we used the same protocol for 10 AML patients in complete remission (CR) and 6 CML patients in the chronic phase (CP). We compared disease-free survival as well as toxic side effects of the regimen with 6 AML patients in CR and 6 CML patients in CP treated with chemoradiotherapy without G-CSF. The conditioning regimen consisted of TBI and high-dose AraC. RhG-CSF was infused continuously at a dose of 5 microg/kg/day, starting 24 hr before the initial dose of total body irradiation (TBI) until the end of AraC therapy. In all 28 cases, there were no early stage deaths due to regimen-related toxicity (RRT). None of the 10 AML cases treated with the G-CSF combined regime relapsed. In 6 AML cases treated conventionally without G-CSF, one patient died of infection and another relapsed. There were no relapses in either CML group. In the combined G-CSF group, one patient died of interstitial pneumonitis 48 days after BMT, while the rest of the CML cases are still alive. There were no relapses with rhG-CSF and no serious adverse effects in terms of RRT, acute graft vs. host disease (GVHD), or leukocyte recovery.

Summary.A novel GM-CSF-dependent myeloid cell line, OHN-GM, was established from a patient who developed acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML) as a consequence of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). As the patient had previously received cytotoxic chemotherapy for Hodgkin's disease, the MDS and AML were probably related to such therapy. Sequential karyotypic analysis established a del(5q) as the initial cytogenetic abnormality. Additional alterations, including t(10;13)(q24;q14), had developed subsequently during disease progression. Southern blot analysis of OHN-GM cells suggested deletion of one allele of the IRF-1 gene, although no aberrant transcripts were detected. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis revealed the deletion of the Rb gene due to the t(10;13)(q24;q14) translocation, and Western blot analysis demonstrated the absence of Rb protein in OHN-GM cells. Finally, the OHN-GM cells exhibited two missense point mutations in highly conserved regions of the p53 gene. These observations suggest that a multistep process, involving alterations of Rb and p53 genes, may have contributed to the patient's disease development and progression. To our knowledge, OHN-GM is the first cell line derived from a therapy-related AML. These cells may aid the investigation of leukaemogenesis as well as the biology of secondary leukaemia.