BioMed Central Ltd.Acta Medica Okayama1472-6831142014Cross-cultural validity of a dietary questionnaire for studies of dental caries risk in JapaneseENChikakoShinga-IshiharaYukieNakaiPeterMilgromKaoriMurakamiMichiyoMatsumoto-NakanoBackground: Diet is a major modifiable contributing factor in the etiology of dental caries. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reliability and cross-cultural validity of the Japanese version of the Food Frequency Questionnaire to assess dietary intake in relation to dental caries risk in Japanese.
Methods: The 38-item Food Frequency Questionnaire, in which Japanese food items were added to increase content validity, was translated into Japanese, and administered to two samples. The first sample comprised 355 pregnant women with mean age of 29.2 +/- 4.2 years for the internal consistency and criterion validity analyses. Factor analysis (principal components with Varimax rotation) was used to determine dimensionality. The dietary cariogenicity score was calculated from the Food Frequency Questionnaire and used for the analyses. Salivary mutans streptococci level was used as a semi-quantitative assessment of dental caries risk and measured by Dentocult SM. Dentocult SM scores were compared with the dietary cariogenicity score computed from the Food Frequency Questionnaire to examine criterion validity, and assessed by Spearman's correlation coefficient (r(s)) and Kruskal-Wallis test. Test-retest reliability of the Food Frequency Questionnaire was assessed with a second sample of 25 adults with mean age of 34.0 +/- 3.0 years by using the intraclass correlation coefficient analysis.
Results: The Japanese language version of the Food Frequency Questionnaire showed high test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.70) and good criterion validity assessed by relationship with salivary mutans streptococci levels (r(s) = 0.22; p < 0.001). Factor analysis revealed four subscales that construct the questionnaire (solid sugars, solid and starchy sugars, liquid and semisolid sugars, sticky and slowly dissolving sugars). Internal consistency were low to acceptable (Cronbach's alpha = 0.67 for the total scale, 0.46-0.61 for each subscale). Mean dietary cariogenicity scores were 50.8 +/- 19.5 in the first sample, 47.4 +/- 14.1, and 40.6 +/- 11.3 for the first and second administrations in the second sample. The distribution of Dentocult SM score was 6.8% (score = 0), 34.4% (score = 1), 39.4% (score = 2), and 19.4% (score = 3). Participants with higher scores were more likely to have higher dietary cariogenicity scores (p < 0.001; Kruskal-Wallis test).
Conclusions: These results provide the preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the Japanese language Food Frequency Questionnaire.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.BioMed Central Ltd.Acta Medica Okayama1471-2407132013Effects of lifestyle and single nucleotide polymorphisms on breast cancer risk: a case-control study in Japanese womenENTaekoMizooNarutoTairaKeikoNishiyamaTomohiroNogamiTakayukiIwamotoTakayukiMotokiTadahikoShienJunjiMatsuokaHiroyoshiDoiharaSetsukoIshiharaHiroshiKawaiKensukeKawasakiYouichiIshibeYutakaOgasawaraYoshifumiKomoikeShinichiroMiyoshiBackground: Lifestyle factors, including food and nutrition, physical activity, body composition and reproductive factors, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are associated with breast cancer risk, but few studies of these factors have been performed in the Japanese population. Thus, the goals of this study were to validate the association between reported SNPs and breast cancer risk in the Japanese population and to evaluate the effects of SNP genotypes and lifestyle factors on breast cancer risk.
Methods: A case-control study in 472 patients and 464 controls was conducted from December 2010 to November 2011. Lifestyle was examined using a self-administered questionnaire. We analyzed 16 breast cancer-associated SNPs based on previous GWAS or candidate-gene association studies. Age or multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated from logistic regression analyses.
Results: High BMI and current or former smoking were significantly associated with an increased breast cancer risk, while intake of meat, mushrooms, yellow and green vegetables, coffee, and green tea, current leisure-time exercise, and education were significantly associated with a decreased risk. Three SNPs were significantly associated with a breast cancer risk in multivariate analysis: rs2046210 (per allele OR = 1.37 [95% CI: 1.11-1.70]), rs3757318 (OR = 1.33[1.05-1.69]), and rs3803662 (OR = 1.28 [1.07-1.55]). In 2046210 risk allele carriers, leisure-time exercise was associated with a significantly decreased risk for breast cancer, whereas current smoking and high BMI were associated with a significantly decreased risk in non-risk allele carriers.
Conclusion: In Japanese women, rs2046210 and 3757318 located near the ESR1 gene are associated with a risk of breast cancer, as in other Asian women. However, our findings suggest that exercise can decrease this risk in allele carriers.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.BioMed Central Ltd.Acta Medica Okayama1757-474942012Distinct repeat motifs at the C-terminal region of CagA of Helicobacter pylori strains isolated from diseased patients and asymptomatic individuals in West Bengal, IndiaENSantanuChattopadhyayRajashreePatraRaghunathChatterjeeRonitaDeJawedAlamT.RamamurthyAbhijitChowdhuryG. BalakrishNairDouglas E.BergAsish K.MukhopadhyayBackground: Infection with Helicobacter pylori strains that express CagA is associated with gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, and gastric adenocarcinoma. The biological function of CagA depends on tyrosine phosphorylation by a cellular kinase. The phosphate acceptor tyrosine moiety is present within the EPIYA motif at the C-terminal region of the protein. This region is highly polymorphic due to variations in the number of EPIYA motifs and the polymorphism found in spacer regions among EPIYA motifs. The aim of this study was to analyze the polymorphism at the C-terminal end of CagA and to evaluate its association with the clinical status of the host in West Bengal, India.
Results: Seventy-seven H. pylori strains isolated from patients with various clinical statuses were used to characterize the C-ternimal polymorphic region of CagA. Our analysis showed that there is no correlation between the previously described CagA types and various disease outcomes in Indian context. Further analyses of different CagA structures revealed that the repeat units in the spacer sequences within the EPIYA motifs are actually more discrete than the previously proposed models of CagA variants.
Conclusion: Our analyses suggest that EPIYA motifs as well as the spacer sequence units are present as distinct insertions and deletions, which possibly have arisen from extensive recombination events. Moreover, we have identified several new CagA types, which could not be typed by the existing systems and therefore, we have proposed a new typing system. We hypothesize that a cagA gene encoding higher number EPIYA motifs may perhaps have arisen from cagA genes that encode lesser EPIYA motifs by acquisition of DNA segments through recombination events.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.BioMed Central Ltd.Acta Medica Okayama1757-474922010Emerging trends in the etiology of enteric pathogens as evidenced from an active surveillance of hospitalized diarrhoeal patients in Kolkata, IndiaENGopinath BalakrishNairThandavarayanRamamurthyMihir KumarBhattacharyaTriveniKrishnanSandipanGangulyDhira RaniSahaKrishnanRajendranByomkeshMannaMrinmoyGhoshKeinosukeOkamotoYoshifumiTakedaBackground: This study was conducted to determine the etiology of diarrhoea in a hospital setting in Kolkata. Active
surveillance was conducted for 2 years on two random days per week by enrolling every fifth diarrhoeal patient
admitted to the Infectious Diseases and Beliaghata General Hospital in Kolkata.
Results: Most of the patients (76.1%) had acute watery diarrhoea in association with vomiting (77.7%) and some
dehydration (92%). Vibrio cholerae O1, Rotavirus and Giardia lamblia were the important causes of diarrhoea. Among
Shigella spp, S. flexneri 2a and 3a serotypes were most predominantly isolated. Enteric viruses, EPEC and EAEC were
common in children <5 year age group. Atypical EPEC was comparatively higher than the typical EPEC. Multidrug
resistance was common among V. cholerae O1 and Shigella spp including tetracycline and ciprofloxacin. Polymicrobial
infections were common in all age groups and 27.9% of the diarrhoea patients had no potential pathogen.
Conclusions: Increase in V. cholerae O1 infection among <2 years age group, resistance of V. cholerae O1 to tetracycline,
rise of untypable S. flexnerii, higher proportion of atypical EPEC and G. lamblia and polymicrobial etiology are some of
the emerging trends observed in this diarrhoeal disease surveillance.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.BioMed Central Ltd.Acta Medica Okayama1757-474922010Trend of Entamoeba histolytica infestation in KolkataENAvik KMukherjeeKaushikDasMihir KBhattacharyaTomoyoshiNozakiSandipanGangulyBackground:
Entamoeba histolytica infection is found almost all over the world and is highly endemic and a major cause of parasitic diarrhoea particularly in the developing countries.
Methods:
A systemic surveillance was set up at the Infectious Disease hospital, Kolkata, India between November 2007 and October 2009 for understanding the trend of E. histolytica infection in Kolkata. Fecal samples were collected from diarrhoeal patients attending the hospital, under the surveillance system and processed for detection of E. histolytica.
Results:
During the last two years about 2500 diarrhoeal samples were collected and screened for E. histolytica. About 3.6% were positive for E. histolytica. As compared to the earlier years, E. histolytica infection was observed to be less amongst patients screened during the last two years. No seasonality was observed in Kolkata although in the neighboring tropical country Bangladesh, a typical seasonality of E. histolytica infection was noticed.
Conclusion:
The study indicates that the detection rate of E. histolytica infection amongst diarrhoeal patients in Kolkata is decreasing during the last two years than that of Bangladesh.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.