Hearing loss is a common sensory deficit in humans. The hearing loss may be conductive, sensorineural, or mixed, syndromic or nonsyndromic, prelingual or postlingual. Due to the complexity of the hearing mechanism, it is not surprising that several hundred genes might be involved in causing hereditary hearing loss. There are at least 82 chromosomal loci that have been identified so far which are associated with the most common type of deafness--non-syndromic deafness. However, there are still many more which remained to be discovered. Here, we report the mapping of a locus for autosomal recessive, non-syndromic deafness in a family in Malaysia. The investigated family (AC) consists of three generations--parents who are deceased, nine affected and seven unaffected children and grandchildren. The deafness was deduced to be inherited in an autosomal recessive manner with 70% penetrance. Recombination frequencies were assumed to be equal for both males and females. Using two-point lod score analysis (MLINK), a maximum lod score of 2.48 at 0% recombinant (Z = 2.48, theta = 0%) was obtained for the interval D14S63-D14S74. The haplotype analysis defined a 14.38 centiMorgan critical region around marker D14S258 on chromosome 14q23.2-q24.3. There are 16 candidate genes identified with positive expression in human cochlear and each has great potential of being the deaf gene responsible in causing non-syndromic hereditary hearing loss in this particular family. Hopefully, by understanding the role of genetics in deafness, early interventional strategies can be undertaken to improve the life of the deaf community.
Deafness ; Family ; Relationship by association ; MALAYSIAN ; Linkage (Genetics)

Relationship by association ; Strongyloides ; Papua New Guinea

OBJECTIVES: With the spread of new cultivation methods of strawberries, working conditions have been changed in recent years. Strawberry growers have also been advanced in age. And now, the need to take new measures against physiological fatigue in strawberry growers has become pressing. We investigated the relationship between physiological fatigue and risk factors among middle-aged strawberry growers due to a paucity of such epidemiological studies. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. Questionnaires were mailed to strawberry growers. SETTING: A rural district in southern part of Japan. SUBJECTS: A total of 1,113 healthy strawberry growers (681 men and 432 women) who were 40—69 years of age. RESULTS: Prevalence of low back pain was the highest (74.0% of males and 73.8% of females), followed by shoulder stiffness and/or pain (49.6% of males and 60.4% of females), and eyestrain (45.2% of males and 50.9% of females). After adjustment of age, working hours, and sleeping hours using a logistic regression analysis, low back pain had the strongest association with agricultural-chemicals spraying among males (odds ratio 2.0; 95% confidence interval 1.4 to 2.8), but there was no significantly association among females. Shoulder stiffness and/or pain had the strongest association with removing old leaves among males (odds ratio 1.5; 95% confidence interval 1.1 to 2.2), and with agricultural-chemicals spraying among females (odds ratio 1.6; 95% confidence interval 1.1 to 2.4). Eyestrain had the strongest association with strawberry sorting among males (odds ratio 2.7; 95% confidence interval 1.9 to 3.8) and with strawberry harvesting among females (odds ratio 3.2; 95% confidence interval 2.0 to 5.1). CONCLUSON: Although the main physiological fatigue among males and females were similar in prevalence, related risk factors differed, and thus the results suggest that it is necessary to take measures against physiological fatigue in consideration of sex difference in the case of middled-aged strawberry growers.
Fatigue <1> ; Relationship by association ; Risk Factors ; Strawberry ; Statistical Prevalence

Several factors have been reported as risk factors for the development of osteoporosis. In this study, we aimed to examine the relationship among lifestyle factors, biologic factors, and bone mineral density (BMD) using structural equation modeling (SEM). The subjects in the present study consisted of 866 postmenopausal Japanese women aged between 40 and 80 years old. In the analysis by the SEM, we employed a multiple basic model. As the structural variables, lifestyle factors and biologic factors were selected. The goodness of fit index (GFI) of the final model was 0.991 and the Akaike’s information criteria (AIC) showed the lowest value in the peripheral models. The degree of association between biologic factors and BMD was −0.576 (direct association), 0.012 (indirect association), and −0.564 (total association). With regard to the correlation between lifestyle factors and BMD, the degrees of association were 0.085, −0.084, and 0.001, respectively. This study defined a pilot model for factors influencing BMD. Although is remains necessary to conduct further analyses with more valid measurements and constructs, this model indicated that the correlation between BMD and lifestyle factors was lower than that between BMD and biologic factors.
Relationship by association ; Models ; Life Style ; structural equation model ; Japanese language

Objective: Due to the spread of new cultivation methods for strawberries, working conditions have changed in recent years. In addition, the average age of strawberry growers has been increasing. As a result, the need to take new measures to prevent physical fatigue in middle-aged strawberry growers has been increasing. Due to a general paucity of epidemiological studies, we investigated the relationship between physical fatigue and farmwork among middle-aged strawberry growers during the harvest season.Materials and Methods: A mail survey was carried out among 621 healthy Japanese strawberry growers (368 men and 253 women) in January 2003.Results: Lower back pain was the most frequent complaint (71% of males and 67% of females), followed by shoulder pain (45% of males and 59% of females), and eye pain (46% of males and 57% of females). After adjusting for such factors as age, working hours, and sleeping hours using a multiple logistic regression analysis, lower back pain demonstrated the strongest association with the application of gibberellins at bloom among males (odds ratio 2.0) and with the harvesting of strawberries among females (odds ratio 1.8). Shoulder pain had the strongest association with the removal of older leaves among males (odds ratio 1.9) and with the harvesting of strawberries among females (odds ratio 2.2). Eye pain had the strongest association with the clipping of needless runners among males (odds ratio 1.6) and with the application of gibberellins at bloom among females (odds ratio 2.4).Conclusion: Although the three main types of physical fatigue -- lower back pain, shoulder pain, and eye pain -- tended to have a similar prevalence, the related farmwork differed between males and females. Our results therefore suggest that it is necessary to take appropriate measures based on gender differences in order to prevent physical fatigue in middle-aged strawberry growers. Consequently, there is now an urgent need to evaluate ergonomic intervention in a controlled trial.
Fatigue <1> ; Relationship by association ; Shoulder Pain ; Seasons ; Pain

Sociodemographic factors have received considerable attention in the literature with regards its relationship with caries. However, the related information among children ages 12-17 is fairly limited. Birth order has been consistently found to be associated with diseases hypothesized to have an infectious aetiology but only few studies have examined its relationship with dental caries. The aims of this study were to determine the association of birth order and the sociodemographic background of subjects with caries and high caries experience among 16-year-old schoolchildren in Tumpat district, Kelantan. This was a case-control study. A total of 1087 16-year-old schoolchildren were examined intraorally for their caries status. They were categorized into three groups namely caries free (DMFS=0) mild caries (DMFS= 1-7) and high caries (DMFS ≥8) group based on DMFS score. Cases were the caries group and the controls were the caries free group. In each group, 163 subjects were selected by using simple random sampling. A questionnaire was used to obtain personal information of the subjects, birthweight and sociodemographic background. Analysis involved was ordinal logistic regression. The factor that was found to have association with caries and high caries experience determined using multiple ordinal logistic regression analysis was educational level of parents (OR=1.55, 95% CI: 1.06; 2.28). This study showed that birth order was not a significant factor associated with caries experience. Among the sociodemographic factors, only parent’s educational level was found to be associated with caries and high caries experience.
Caries, NOS ; experience ; Birth Order ; Relationship by association ; Educational Status