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Biomedical subjects

T Tango

Publications and source records attributed to T Tango.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

An ecological study on the association of public dental health activities and sociodemographic characteristics with caries prevalence in Japanese 3-year-old children.

The aim of this ecological study was to determine the association of the frequency of dental health activities conducted as public health service and sociodemographic characteristics with caries prevalence in Japanese 3-year-old children using data for each municipality as one unit. Data on caries prevalence in 3-year-old children in 2000 were obtained from 3,251 municipalities (almost all municipalities in Japan). Caries prevalence for each municipality was recalculated using the empirical Bayes estimation model to make adjustments for variations in municipalities with small numbers of children. Explanatory factors included annual frequency of dental health activities such as dental health education and topical fluoride application programs and various sociodemographic characteristics. Multiple linear regression analysis was applied to examine the associations between caries prevalence and annual frequency of dental health activities with adjustment of other sociodemographic variables. Variations in caries prevalence in municipalities with small populations became smaller after being adjusted by the empirical Bayes estimation model. Multiple linear regression analysis showed significant associations of caries prevalence with sociodemographic characteristics such as the proportion of residents with university degrees, total fertility rate, and the proportion of workers in the manufacturing industry (p < 0.001). Annual frequency of topical fluoride application showed a significant but relatively weak association with caries prevalence (p < 0.001), explaining only 0.8% of the total variation in caries prevalence, whereas no correlation was found between caries prevalence and annual frequency of dental health education. It was concluded that the effect of the fluoride application service on caries prevalence in 3-year-old children, although statistically significant, was of far lower clinical significance than sociodemographic characteristics.

Cariostatic Agents↗
PubMed2003

Addition of fexofenadine to a topical corticosteroid reduces the pruritus associated with atopic dermatitis in a 1-week randomized, multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study.

BACKGROUND: Fexofenadine, a nonsedating, H1-receptor selective antihistamine, exhibits consistent efficacy and safety in the treatment of allergic rhinitis and urticaria. The pruritus associated with atopic dermatitis is considered to be induced, in part, by histamine. Therefore, we thought that fexofenadine may be useful in the relief of pruritus associated with atopic dermatitis. OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of twice-daily fexofenadine hydrochloride (HCl) 60 mg vs. placebo in reducing the pruritus associated with atopic dermatitis. METHODS: In this randomized, multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, patients (aged >or= 16 years) with atopic dermatitis underwent a 1-week placebo lead-in period, followed by randomization to fexofenadine HCl 60 mg twice daily or placebo for 1 week. All patients also received topical treatment with 0.1% hydrocortisone butyrate twice daily throughout the study. The primary efficacy endpoint was mean change in pruritus score from baseline. Patients reflectively recorded pruritus scores twice daily (day and night) using a five-point scale (0 = none; 4 = very severe). RESULTS: Fexofenadine (n = 201) significantly decreased the severity of pruritus compared with placebo (n = 199) (mean change in score -0.75 (unadjusted 95% confidence interval [-0.88, -0.62]) vs. -0.5 [-0.62, -0.38], respectively; P = 0.0005). This improvement was seen after just 1 day of treatment (P = 0.039) and was maintained throughout the treatment period (P = 0.019). Compared with placebo, fexofenadine significantly improved both diurnal (P = 0.0001) and nocturnal pruritus (P = 0.013). In addition, significantly more patients in the fexofenadine group experienced a reduction in the ratio of pruritus area to body surface area compared with those in the placebo group (P = 0.007). The incidence of adverse events was low and similar across all treatment groups. CONCLUSIONS: Fexofenadine HCl 60 mg twice daily demonstrated a rapid, significant improvement in the pruritus associated with atopic dermatitis, with a safety profile equivalent to that of placebo.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Therapeutic effects of stronger neo-minophagen C at different doses on chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis.

Stronger neo-minophagen C (SNMC), a glycyrrhizin (GL) preparation, has been extensively used with considerable success in Japan for the treatment of chronic hepatitis. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the efficacy of administering massive doses of 100 ml/day to patients in whom standard administration (40 ml/day) for 2 weeks did not show sufficient improvement. A comparative study was conducted by dividing at random 100 cases (56.2%), out of a total of 178 enrolled, into two groups, one for the administration of 100 ml/day for 3 weeks (group A) and the other for administration of 40 ml/day for 3 weeks (group B). Cases were rated 'markedly improved'or 'improved' according to their ALT levels (defined respectively as <1.2 times and 1.2-1.5 times the normal upper level 3 weeks after treatment). Except those who dropped out or were otherwise not eligible for analysis, 44 and 46 cases were analyzed. In group A, 23 of 44 cases (52.3%) were rated 'improved' or better whereas only 12 of 46 (26.1%) in group B were 'improved' or better. Group A showed significant improvement compared to group B (P=0.017), thus documenting the greater efficacy of administering SNMC at 100 ml/day compared to only 40 ml/day.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Analysis of c-myc DNA amplification in non-small cell lung carcinoma in comparison with small cell lung carcinoma using polymerase chain reaction.

Previous studies of c-mvc DNA amplification in lung cancer have focused primarily on analysis of small cell carcinoma or its tumor cell lines. There are few data about c-myc DNA amplification in histological types of lung cancer other than small cell carcinoma. Therefore the present study was conducted to investigate c-myc oncogene amplification in non-small cell lung carcinoma. We studied 46 lung tumor specimens for c-myc DNA amplification (15 adenocarcinomas, 15 squamous cell carcinomas, 6 large cell carcinomas, and 10 small cell carcinomas). Polymerase chain reaction, digoxigenin DNA labeling, and electrophoresis were utilized to investigate the c-myc copy number in the lung tumor specimens. The c-myc copy number of non-small cell carcinoma ranged from 1.5 to more than 20.0 in adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, and from 6.0 to 12.0 in large cell carcinoma. That of small cell carcinoma ranged from 1.8 to 12.0. The c-myc copy number of non-small cell carcinoma was significantly higher than that of small cell carcinoma (Wilcoxon rank sum test, Z=2.06 P=0.040). However, the differences in c-myc copy number among these four histological types were not statistically significant. Amplification of c-myc (more than 4 copies) was observed not only in small cell carcinoma but also in nonsmall cell carcinoma at similarly high frequency (12/15 in adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, 6/6 in large cell carcinoma, and 9/10 in small cell carcinoma).

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed2001

[A proposal for a new definition of excess mortality associated with influenza-epidemics and its estimation].

PURPOSE: As methods for estimating excess mortality associated with influenza-epidemic, the Serfling's cyclical regression model and the Kawai and Fukutomi model with seasonal indices have been proposed. Excess mortality under the old definition (i.e., the number of deaths actually recorded in excess of the number expected on the basis of past seasonal experience) covers the random error for that portion of variation regarded as due to chance. In addition, it disregards the range of random variation of mortality with the season. In this paper, we propose a new definition of excess mortality associated with influenza-epidemics and a new estimation method, considering these questions with the Kawai and Fukutomi method. RESULTS: The new definition of excess mortality and a novel method for its estimation were generated as follows. Factors bringing about variation in mortality in months with influenza-epidemics may be divided into two groups: 1. Influenza itself, 2. others (practically random variation). The range of variation of mortality due to the latter (normal range) can be estimated from the range for months in the absence of influenza-epidemics. Excess mortality is defined as death over the normal range. CONCLUSION: A new definition of excess mortality associated with influenza-epidemics and an estimation method are proposed. The new method considers variation in mortality in months in the absence of influenza-epidemics. Consequently, it provides reasonable estimates of excess mortality by separating the portion of random variation. Further, it is a characteristic that the proposed estimate can be used as a criterion of statistical significance test.

Epidemiologic Methods↗
PubMed2001

[Comparative study of new method and the Kawai and Fukutomi methods for estimating excess mortality associated with influenza-epidemics, based upon national vital statistics from 1975 to 1997].

PURPOSE: In our previous paper, we proposed a new definition and method for estimating excess mortality associated with influenza epidemics. In this paper, we applied this new method to the national vital statistics for 1975-1997 in Japan and compared the estimates obtained with those generated with the Kawai and Fukutomi method. METHODS: The monthly rates of death from all causes other than accidents (all-causes) and deaths attributed to pneumonia between 1975-1997 in Japan were analyzed using our new method. Epidemic periods were identified by examining the monthly rates for deaths attributable to influenza and associated excess mortality was then estimated for the 23-year period using defined criteria. Finally, the estimates obtained using the new method were compared with those obtained using the Kawai and Fukutomi method. RESULTS: 1) An increase in observed over expected mortality (i.e. excess mortality under the old definition) was detected even for months when influenza epidemics did not occur. 2) Estimates made using the Kawai and Fukutomi method were between 2,000-14,000 higher for deaths from all-causes and about 500-3,000 higher for those from pneumonia for each of the epidemic periods, compared to the relevant figures obtained using the new method. This finding provided a good indication of the methodological difference with the new method, which considers the range of random variation in seasonal mortality. Overall, the two methods differed in their estimates of which month had the highest excess monthly mortality rate for the year and which year had the highest excess annual mortality rate. CONCLUSIONS: By comparing estimates obtained using the new method and the Kawai and Fukutomi method, we demonstrated that the former provides a more reasonable estimate of excess mortality rates, regardless of whether or not the period in question occurred during an influenza epidemic.

Disease Outbreaks↗
PubMed2000

A test for spatial disease clustering adjusted for multiple testing.

Tango (1995) proposed a test statistic C for detecting spatial disease clusters. However, like most other methods, it requires a value of the scale parameter which adjusts for the size of cluster to be detected in advance of its use. When an appropriate size of cluster cannot be predicted and many clustered areas are expected, we usually repeat the procedure by changing the size parameter, but this practice clearly faces a multiple testing problem. In this paper, to ameliorate this problem, we propose an extended test statistic which searches the minimum of the profile P-value of C for the parameter on cluster size which varies continuously from a small value near zero upwards until it reaches to about half the size of the whole study area. Monte Carlo simulation study shows that the power of the proposed method is shown to be reasonably high compared with the best power attained by C unadjusted for multiple testing in all the cluster models considered. The proposed procedure is illustrated with some disease maps simulated in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.

Humans↗
PubMed2000

Physical and personality traits of preschool children in Fuzhou, China: only child vs sibling.

Concern about the healthy growth and development of an only child has been voiced since the 1970s, when the Chinese government launched the only child policy. In this study, the physical and personality traits of rural Chinese preschool only-children (onlies) whose age ranged from 3 to 6 years old were evaluated. The sample included 197 onlies and 367 children with siblings who came from seven kindergartens in rural areas in Fuzhou, Fujian province. The results showed no statistically significant differences in height, mass or BMI between the onlies and siblings. Regarding the personality traits, the significant difference was that the onlies exhibited more somatic complaints, however, the data didn't indicate any other undesirable personality traits for the onlies. These results suggest that Chinese preschool children grow normally with or without siblings.

Body Height↗
PubMed2000

[Validity and reproducibility of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire for nutritional education of patients of diabetes mellitus (FFQW65)].

BACKGROUND: A self-administered semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire with 65 food lists (FFQW65) was developed for the nutritional education of patients of diabetes mellitus. METHODS: Relative validity and reproducibility of nutrient intakes as assessed by FFQW65 were investigated in volunteers of 71 males. To assess the relative validity, a one-week diet record was used as a reference. The FFQW65 was administered twice at an interval of 10 month in order to assess the reproducibility. Log transformed data was used to obtain Pearson correlation coefficients. RESULTS: As for the validity, Pearson correlation coefficient of total energy intake of breakfast was 0.74 and the relative difference between predicted value and diet record was relatively small (the difference was -5 kcal and relative difference rate was 1.1%). Compared with breakfast, those for lunch, supper and one-day total energy intakes were relatively lower (0.52, 0.66 and 0.64, respectively) and the relative differences were around 10%, respectively. The one-day intakes of sixteen nutrients (except for potassium and niacin) ranged from 0.28 to 0.64. Energy adjusted correlation coefficients for protein, iron and cholesterol were low (0.16, 0.14 and 0.19, respectively). Those for the other thirteen nutrients ranged from 0.26 to 0.65. As for the reproducibility, the second survey using FFQW65 was administered to 64 males. Pearson correlation coefficient of one-day total energy intake was 0.76 and those for the other nutrients ranged from 0.54 (vitamin D) to 0.81 (calcium). CONCLUSION: The results suggest that FFQW65 can be used for the evaluation of energy intake by usual meals for nutrition education of patients of diabetes mellitus.

Diabetes Mellitus↗
PubMed1999

Rates of endometriosis recurrence and pregnancy 1 year after treatment with intranasal buserelin acetate (Suprecur) (a prospective study).

OBJECTIVES: This multicenter prospective study of buserelin acetate (Suprecur) therapy for endometriosis was performed in order to examine pregnancy rates and the recurrence of endometriosis 1 year after the end of intranasal administration. METHODS: This study was conducted at 349 institutions, including university hospitals and major hospitals in Japan, and 1,284 patients were recruited as participants. Recurrence of symptoms was followed for 1 year after the end of administration of buserelin acetate in patients whose condition as a whole was evaluated as "improved" or better at the end of administration. Furthermore, the pregnancy rate was similarly followed in patients who complained of sterility at the commencement of the administration. Recurrence was defined as either a case in which all of the main symptoms observed before administration returned to the pretreatment state, or a case in which at least one symptom deteriorated compared to the pretreatment state. Kaplan-Meier's method was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Among 459 patients who could be evaluated for recurrence of symptoms, the cumulative recurrence rate was 17.8% 1 year after the end of administration. Among 156 patients who could be evaluated for pregnancy, the pregnancy rate was 23.3% 1 year after the end of administration. CONCLUSION: Intranasal buserelin acetate therapy exhibited not only transient clinical effects during administration or immediately after the end of administration, but also exhibited specific continuing effects after the end of administration.

Administration, Intranasal↗
PubMed1999

[Phase II clinical study of SH L 573 (fludarabine phosphate) in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia].

We conducted a multicenter phase II clinical study of fludarabine phosphate, a new purine nucleotide analogue, in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Fludarabine phosphate was administered at a dose of 20 mg/m2/day intravenously for 5 days every 4 weeks as one course. Six courses as a maximum were repeated. The response rate was 38.5% (95% confidence intervals: 20.2% to 59.4%), with 1 complete remission and 9 partial remissions out of 26 treated patients. Major drug-related adverse reactions were fever, nausea, weakness, and paresthesia of the fingers; as a grade-3 reaction, varicella was also reported. Neutropenia and thrombocytopenia were observed as manifestations of hematologic toxicity. Clinical laboratory test results revealed abnormalities in hepatic function, including increased GPT, but none of these was rated grade 3 or 4.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Estimation of age-specific reference ranges via smoother AVAS.

This paper proposes a new non-parametric procedure to estimate age-dependent reference ranges based on Tibshirani's AVAS (additivity and variance stabilization) procedure for non-parametric estimation of transformations for regression. Several examples are given to illustrate the flexibility and applicability of the proposed method; these include alkaline phosphatase in girls, and foot length and head circumference during gestation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Equivalence test and confidence interval for the difference in proportions for the paired-sample design.

This paper considers a model for the difference of two proportions in a paired or matched design of clinical trials, case-control studies and also sensitivity comparison studies of two laboratory tests. This model includes a parameter indicating both interpatient variability of response probabilities and their correlation. Under the proposed model, we derive a one-sided test for equivalence based upon the efficient score. Equivalence is defined here as not more than 100 delta per cent inferior. McNemar's test for significance is shown to be a special case of the proposed test. Further, a score-based confidence interval for the difference of two proportions is derived. One of the features of these methods is applicability to the 2 x 2 table with off-diagonal zero cells; all the McNemar type tests and confidence intervals published so far cannot apply to such data. A Monte Carlo simulation study shows that the proposed test has empirical significance levels closer to the nominal alpha-level than the other tests recently proposed and further that the proposed confidence interval has better empirical coverage probability than those of the four published methods.

Cannabis↗
PubMed1998

[Maximum likelihood estimation of date of infection in an outbreak of diarrhea due to contaminated foods assuming lognormal distribution for the incubation period].

This paper proposes a new method for estimating the date of infection in an outbreak of diarrhea caused by eating foods contaminated by some sort of foodborne pathogens such as Escherichia coli O-157:H7. Simple methods for calculating maximum likelihood estimator and confidence interval are proposed assuming (1) a common date of infection and (2) the incubation period has a log-normal distribution. Further, this paper shows that all three methods proposed so far for estimating the date of infection under the same assumptions are theoretically inappropriate or computationally imprecise. The proposed methods are illustrated with data from three outbreaks of Escherichia coli O-157:H7 and outbreak due to Escherichia coli O-118:H2 in Japan.

Disease Outbreaks↗