Publications by authors named "M Nakamuro"
Article Synopsis
- Silent eating, a practice in Japan to limit COVID-19 spread by eliminating talking during meals, was enforced in schools from May 2020 to November 2022, but raised concerns about its effects on children's well-being.
- Despite its implementation, no studies previously confirmed its effectiveness in lowering COVID-19 outbreak risks, leading this research to investigate the association.
- The study found no evidence that silent eating reduced the likelihood of class closures due to COVID-19 cases, suggesting policymakers should reconsider using this measure to manage future infectious disease outbreaks.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic affects early childhood development, noting that while many studies have highlighted impacts on academic performance, less focus has been on younger children.
- Conducted in Japan, the research involved a cohort of children tracked from ages 1 to 5 years, comparing those exposed to the pandemic with those who were not.
- Results showed that children exposed to the pandemic were significantly behind in developmental milestones by age 5, whereas no differences were observed at age 3, highlighting increased variance in development during the pandemic timeframe.
This study presents the first quantitative evaluation of the quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Japan to make a significant contribution to the body of knowledge accumulated on ECEC in countries where research has been limited. We observed 30 classes comprising 3-year-olds, 28 classes comprising 5-year-olds, and 30 classes comprising mixed-ages from publicly provided nursery centers under the jurisdiction of the Kanto metropolitan area, Japan. An internationally-recognized quality rating scale for ECEC called the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, 3rd edition, which consists of six subscales, was used for this study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study conducted randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effectiveness of an environmental education class and the impacts of nudges and boosts implemented in this program on high school students' basic knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding environmental issues in Japan. This environmental education class consisted of a lecture on reducing the use of plastic products for energy conservation in daily life, a board game for learning how to reduce plastic waste, and a worksheet for reflection. Four types of worksheets were randomly distributed: nudges, in which students were asked to set a goal regarding their level of effort in not throwing away plastic products such as plastic bags, wet wipes, and plastic bottles; boosts, in which participants were asked to write an essay to help increase their empathy for the parties impacted by environmental issues; both nudges and boosts; and none (neither nudges nor boosts).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe experienced a case of early gastric cancer. A 69-year-old woman with a thick gastric wall, thickened folds, and undifferentiated cancer cells in biopsy was diagnosed with scirrhous gastric cancer. The patient underwent total gastrectomy for scirrhous gastric cancer and was found to have only an early gastric cancer lesion located on the upper gastric wall.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF