Tag - health

 
 

HEALTH

Health ministry officials enter Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's Osaka plant on Saturday for inspection.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 4, 2024
Cause of Kobayashi Pharma health scare still unclear as probe continues
A natural compound derived from blue mold has been detected in the firm's beni kо̄ji supplements, but the substance's health impacts are still unclear.
An official of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical speaks to reporters on Saturday in Osaka following the health ministry's inspections of the firm's plant.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 3, 2024
166 hospitalized over health issues linked to beni kōji
Taiwan's health ministry said the number of people experiencing ill health after taking Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's beni koji had risen to 11 as of Monday.
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's Tokyo office. The company reported more cases of hospitalization linked to its dietary supplements.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 2, 2024
Kobayashi Pharma's health supplements tied to 157 hospitalizations
The figure reflects an increase from the 114 hospitalization cases that the company said were linked to its products containing red yeast rice.
Beni kо̄ji has been widely used in Japan and elsewhere as a food additive, and features prominently in Okinawan cuisine, particularly in a dish called tо̄fuyо̄.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2024
Beni kōji purveyors fear growing aversion following supplement scandal
The ingredient has long been used in Japan and elsewhere as a food additive, and features prominently in Okinawan cuisine.
Sogo Fitness believes there's no point in working out if you're not having a good time and making new friends while you're doing it.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Apr 1, 2024
Blurring the lines between fitness and social club
Sogo Fitness started with a simple goal — create a community through social events based around keeping fit and healthy.
Officials from the health ministry arrive at Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's plant in Kinokawa, Wakayama Prefecture, on Sunday for inspection.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 31, 2024
Kobayashi Pharma plants inspected over health problems
The company said five people have died after taking the supplement so far, with the total number of hospitalized users reaching 114.
Instead of suffering in sneezes when seasonal allergies have you feeling low, these medicines may be able to help.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 30, 2024
Take your pick of allergy season's many remedies
A key fact about most allergy medicines is that it's better to start taking them before you actually need the relief they provide.
According to Yano Research Institute, Japan's supplements market grew about 30% in the span of three years.
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2024
Supplements market in Japan showing steady growth
Improved health awareness sparked by COVID-19 is a major factor fueling the growth, market research firms say.
Preliminary results from new research offer hope in the fight against glioblastoma, the terrible form of cancer that took the lives of Arizona Sen. John McCain and U.S. President Joe Biden’s son, Beau.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2024
This brain cancer breakthrough should excite you
Recent research shows progress in using the immune system to combat glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer.
The mortality rate of junior high school graduates is around 1.4 times higher than that of those who graduated from universities, according to a survey by the National Cancer Center Japan, indicating that risk factors differ depending on education level.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 28, 2024
Estimated mortality rates by education level released in Japan
A gap between junior high school graduates and those who went through higher education has been found.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 27, 2024
Concerns mount after two deaths linked to Kobayashi Pharma supplement
A government probe is being conducted to establish whether the supplement, which contains beni kо̄ji red fermented rice, led to the deaths.
The combined number of new AIDS patients and other HIV carriers came to 960, according to preliminary data released by the health ministry on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 27, 2024
New HIV carriers in Japan up for the first time in seven years
The health ministry attributed the rise to a recovery in the number of HIV test takers after a drop due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
An analysis of all the publicly available viral genome sequences yielded a surprising result: humans give more viruses — about twice as many — to animals than they give to us.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 27, 2024
Humans give more viruses to animals than they give us, study finds
Researchers looked at nearly 12 million virus genomes and detected almost 3,000 instances of viruses jumping from one species to another.
A colorized scanning electron micrograph of group A streptococcus bacteria
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 24, 2024
Tokyo issues warning as rare but deadly STSS bacterial infections rise
Concerns are growing over the spread of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS), often dubbed the “flesh-eating disease.”
A Filipino care worker talks to an elderly resident at a hospital in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 23, 2024
Japan to allow foreign nationals to engage in home care services
Currently, foreign technical intern trainees and foreign workers with so-called specified skills are banned from engaging in the services.
According to one of the researchers, Sune Lehmann, the algorithm can be used predict health outcomes such as fertility or obesity, who will or will not get cancer, and even whether one is going to make a lot of money.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 22, 2024
How long you got? Danish AI algorithm aims to predict life, and death
It analyses variables such as birth, education, social benefits or even work schedules to predict a wide range of health or social "life events."
While cases of human-to-human transmission of SFTS, which is transmitted by ticks, have been previously documented in China and South Korea, this marks the first such instance in Japan.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 20, 2024
Japan confirms first human-to-human transmission of tick-borne SFTS virus
A doctor became infected with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) after attending to a patient who had been diagnosed with it.
A recent $1 billion donation to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine will make the school tuition-free indefinitely, but greater systemic changes would better serve students and society.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2024
Free tuition is no panacea for medical schools
An historic $1 billion donation paves the way for debt-free medical education.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2024
Princess Yuriko shows symptoms of heart failure
The 100-year-old princess is also showing a recurrence of a symptom of cerebral infarction, having difficulty moving her right arm and leg.
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, shelter in a tent camp in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip this month.
WORLD
Mar 19, 2024
Displaced Palestinians in Gaza face compounding health risks
While the U.N. warns of famine, humanitarian officials say fast-deteriorating sanitation conditions are making people even more vulnerable.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past