The relationship between consumption of tyrosine and phenylalanine as precursors of catecholamine at breakfast and the circadian typology and mental health in Japanese infants aged 2 to 5 years.

Background: This study aims to examine the relationship between tyrosine and phenylalanine intake at breakfast as precursors of dopamine, and scores on the Torsvall-Åkerstedt Diurnal Type Scale and of mental health in Japanese infants aged 2 to 5 years.

Results: An integrated questionnaire was administered to parents of 1,367 infants attending one of ten nursery schools governed by Kochi City or a kindergarten affiliated with the Faculty of Education at Kochi University (775 answers for analysis: 56.7%) in May and June 2008.

A tryptophan-rich breakfast and exposure to light with low color temperature at night improve sleep and salivary melatonin level in Japanese students.

Background: Epidemiological studies in Japan have documented an association between morning type and a tryptophan-rich breakfast followed by exposure to sunlight in children. The association may be mediated by enhanced melatonin synthesis, which facilitates sleep at night. However, melatonin is inhibited by artificial light levels with high color-temperature common in Japanese homes at night.

Can breakfast tryptophan and vitamin B6 intake and morning exposure to sunlight promote morning-typology in young children aged 2 to 6 years?

This study tried to examine, from epidemiological and physiologic anthropological (Japanese culture on breakfast) points of view, the integrated effects of the amount of tryptophan and vitamin B6 intake and the following exposure to sunlight on the circadian typology and sleep habits in young Japanese children aged 2 to 6 years, using the newly-evaluated calculating system of tryptophan (Tryptophan Index 2009) and vitamin B6 intake (VitaminB6 Index 2009) at breakfast. The positive and significant correlation was shown between the Morningness-Eveningness (M-E) score and the Tryptophan Index and also the Vitamin B6 Index. This positive correlation between M-E score and amount of tryptophan intake was shown only by children who were exposed to sunlight for longer than 10min after breakfast.

Effect of birth season on circadian typology appearing in Japanese young children aged 2 to 12 years disappears in older students aged 18 to 25 years.

Several studies suggest that season of birth differentially affects the physiological characteristics of humans. Those living at relatively high latitude, such as Canada, Spain, and Italy (44°N-45°N), and born in the fall tended to be "morning-type" persons in comparison to those born in other seasons. There are relatively little data on the affect of season of birth on people residing at low latitude.

Rectal granular-cell tumor difficult to distinguish from carcinoid tumor.

A 60-year-old man had a positive fecal occult-blood test on a medical check-up. Colonoscopy revealed a yellowish-white submucosal tumor 8 mm in diameter in the rectum. Endoscopic ultrasonography showed a well-demarcated mass with a homogeneous, low-level, internal echo in the second to third layers of the rectal wall.

An integrated effect of protein intake at breakfast and morning exposure to sunlight on the circadian typology in Japanese infants aged 2-6 years.

Tryptophan (Trp) intake at breakfast promotes morning-typed circadian typology and higher sleep quality in Japanese children aged 0-6 yrs (Harada et al., 2007). This effect may be accelerated by morning exposure to sunlight, which has not yet been tested.

Effects of meal habits and alcohol/cigarette consumption on morningness-eveningness preference and sleep habits by Japanese female students aged 18-29.

The relationship of meal habits and alcohol/cigarette consumption to circadian typology and sleep health in Japanese female students was studied from an epidemiological point of view. Questionnaires on Morningness-Eveningness by Torsvall and Akerstedt (1980), sleep habits, regularity of meal intake and meal amount, and style of alcohol and cigarette consumption were administered to 800 students aged 18-29 years, attending university or training schools for nutrition specialists (Aichi Prefecture, 35 degrees N). Points from ten questions were totaled to provide estimates of sleep habits given as the Unhealthy Sleep Index (UHSI).

Effects of Smads and BMPs induced by Ga-Al-As laser irradiation on calcification ability of human dental pulp cells.

We investigated the effects of Ga-Al-As laser irradiation on the mineralization ability of human dental pulp (HDP) cells and on Smads and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) production as one mechanism for the transmission of laser photochemical energy to cells. HDP cells in vitro were irradiated once with a Ga-Al-As laser at 1.0 W for 500 s, and calcified nodule formation was assessed by Alizarin red S staining.

Correlation between breakfast tryptophan content and morning-evening in Japanese infants and students aged 0-15 yrs.

Tryptophan can be metabolized via 5-hydroxytryptamine=serotonin to melatonin by a series of 4 enzymes in pineal body. Lack of serotonin in body fluid in the brain during daytime can lead to several psychiatric disorders, while shortage of plasma-melatonin at night can be related to sleep disorders. The Morning-Evening (M-E) questionnaire and the original questionnaire including questions on sleep habits, mental symptoms, and contents of meals were administered to 1055 infants aged 0-6 yrs, 751 students attending an elementary school, and 473 students attending junior high school in Kochi City (33 degrees N).

Effects of pH on mineralization ability of human dental pulp cells.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of alkaline pH on calcification in human dental pulp (HDP) cells. HDP cells were cultured in pH 7.8 conditioned medium, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was measured.

Association between moringness-eveningness preference and mental/physical premenstrual symptoms in Japanese females 12 to 31 years of age.

This study investigates the relationship between circadian typology, i.e., morningness-eveningness (M-E) preference, and the occurrence and severity of premenstrual mental and physical symptoms among 154 young Japanese female university students (range, 18 to 31 yrs; mean+/-S.

Morningness-eveningness preference and mood in Japanese junior high school students.

The relationship between morningness-eveningness (M-E) preference and mood in Japanese students aged 12-15 years (690 boys and 649 girls) was investigated. No significant difference in M-E preference was seen between genders. Girls became gloomy more frequently than boys, whereby the girls who experienced melancholy more frequently tended to prefer evening.

Effect of daytime light conditions on sleep habits and morningness-eveningness preference of Japanese students aged 12-15 years.

The effect of daytime light conditions on the sleep habits and morning-evening preference of Japanese junior high school students (415 girls and 411 boys; age range, 12-15 years old) was studied. Students who were outdoors during the short break between classes or their lunch-time break were more morning-type people than those who remained indoors. Students who shut out the light from outside showed longer subjective sleep latency and appealed more shallow sleep rather than those who did not.