This cross-sectional study investigated the relationship between the number of remaining teeth to mild memory impairment (MMI), which is a preclinical stage of dementia, and to cognitive impairment.

Background Previous studies have proposed that higher blood pressure (BP) in winter is an important cause of increased mortality from cardiovascular disease during the winter. Some observational and physiological studies have shown that cold exposure increases BP, but evidence from a randomised controlled study assessing the effectiveness of intensive room heating for lowering BP was lacking. Objectives The present study aimed to determine whether intensive room heating in winter decreases ambulatory BP as compared with weak room heating resulting in a 10°C lower target room temperature when sufficient clothing and bedclothes are available. Methods We conducted a parallel group, assessor blinded, simple randomised controlled study with 1:1 allocation among 146 healthy participants in Japan from November 2009 to March 2010. Ambulatory BP was measured while the participants stayed in single experimental rooms from 21:00 to 8:00. During the session, participants could adjust the amount of clothing and bedclothes as required. Compared with the weak room heating group (mean temperature±SD: 13.9±3.3°C), systolic morning BP (mean BP 2 h after getting out of bed) of the intensive room heating group (24.2±1.7°C) was significantly lower by 5.8 mm Hg (95% CI 2.4 to 9.3). Sleep-trough morning BP surges (morning BP minus lowest night-time BP) in the intensive room heating group were significantly suppressed to about two thirds of the values in the weak room heating group (14.3 vs 21.9 mm Hg; p<0.01). Conclusions Intensive room heating decreased morning BP and the morning BP surge in winter.

Work‐related Aggression and Violence Committed by Patients and Its Psychological Influence on Doctors: Keigo Saeki, et al. Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Nara Medical University School of MedicineObjective: To determine the incidence rate of work‐related aggression and violence (WRAV) against doctors and investigate risk factors and psychological Influences of WRAV doctors.Methods: We sent a self‐administered questionnaire on WRAV committed by patients and their associates to 1,148 doctors in Nara Prefecture, Japan. We calculated the incidence rate of WRAV using the number of incidents encountered during the previous 12 mo and the doctor�s average weekly working hours. Risk factors for the incidence WRAV were analyzed by Poisson regression, and the Influence of WRAV on the symptoms of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was evaluated by multiple logistic regression analysis.Results: A total of 758 (66.0%) doctors returned the questionnaire. The incidence rate of WRAV was 0.20 [95% CI: 0.17‐0.24]�10‐3 per practice hour. Adjusted incidence rate ratios of WRAV were significantly increased among doctors 1) with a shorter career (11.0; 95% CI: 5.0‐24.2), 2) working in a region with the lowest average taxable income (1.6; 1.1‐2.4), and 3) whose specialties were dermatology (3.8; 2.3‐6.3), psychiatry (2.7; 1.3‐5.6) and ophthalmology (1.9; 1.2‐3.2). Of 289 subjects who had encountered WRAV at least once during their career, 26 doctors (8.2%) had symptoms suggestive of PTSD due to the most severe incident. Conclusions: Doctors encountered WRAV at an incidence rate of 0.20�10‐3 per practice hour, and some of them might develop PTSD. Countermeasures are required to maintain sound health and safe workplaces for doctors.

Background:Increased mortality from cardiovascular disease in winter is partly explained by increased blood pressure (BP) caused by cold exposure. For physicians, instruction in home heating is feasible option to reduce cold exposure, but the effectiveness remains unknown.Objectives:To determine whether instruction in home heating increases indoor temperatures and decreases ambulatory BP among elderly people, we conducted an open-label, simply randomized, controlled trial in the winters.Methods:As an intervention, the participants were asked to set the heating device in the living room to start 1h before estimated rising time with target temperature at 24 degrees C, and to stay in the living room until 2h after rising as long as possible. Repeatedly measured ambulatory BP, physical activity, and indoor temperatures until 4h after rising were assessed using multilevel linear regression model with random intercept among individual.Results:A total of 359 eligible participants (mean agestandard deviation: 71.66.6) were randomly allocated to the control group (n=173) and intervention group (n=186). Intervention significantly increased living room temperature by 2.09 degrees C (95% confidence interval 1.28-2.90), and significantly decreased SBP and DBP by 4.43/2.33mmHg (95% confidence interval 0.97-7.88/0.08-4.58mmHg) after adjusting for confounders including age, sex, antihypertensive medication, household income, and physical activity.Discussion:Short-term effect of instruction in home heating showed larger increase of indoor temperature than that of insulation intervention. Significant reduction of BPsuggests the effectiveness on preventing cardiovascular incidence in winter.Conclusion:To summarize, instruction in heating significantly decreased BP.

Breakfast skipping is reported to be associated with obesity in children and younger populations; however, few studies report the association among elderly. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between breakfast skipping and obesity prevalence among elderly.

Excess mortality from cardiovascular disease during cold seasons is a worldwide issue. Although some physiologic studies suggests that platelet activation via cold exposure may cause an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease in winter, the influence of indoor cold exposure in real-life situations on platelet (PLT) count remains unclear. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1095 elderly individuals. After obtaining a venous sample in the morning, indoor temperature of participants' home was measured every 10 min for 48 h. The mean indoor temperature while the participants stayed at home was calculated. All measurement was conducted during cold seasons (October to April) from 2010 to 2014. The mean age of the 1095 participants was 71.9 years. They spent 87.3% of the day at home (20 h 27 min). A 1 °C lower daytime indoor temperature was associated with a significant increase in PLT count of 1.47 × 109/L (95% confidence interval, 0.39-2.56 × 109/L). Compared with the warmest tertile group (20.1 [standard deviation {SD}, 0.09] °C), the coldest group (11.7 [SD, 0.12] °C) showed a 5.2% higher PLT count (238.84 [SD, 3.30] vs. 226.48 [SD, 3.32] × 109/L; P = 0.01), even after adjusting for basic characteristics (age, gender, body weight, and smoking), antihypertensive medication, comorbidities (diabetes, estimated glomerular filtration rate), socioeconomic status (household income and education), day length, and outdoor temperature. We found a significant and independent association between lower indoor temperature and higher PLT count among elderly in winter.