Usual dietary intakes of selected trace elements (Zn, Cu, Mn, I, Se, Cr, and Mo) and biotin revealed by a survey of four-season 7-consecutive day weighed dietary records in middle-aged Japanese dietitians.

We aimed to identify food sources of selected trace elements (Zn, Cu, Mn, I, Se, Cr, Mo) and biotin in the Japanese diet and to assess usual dietary intakes based on the ratios of within-person to between-person variance. Subjects were 98 middle-aged dietitians living in central Japan who participated in a survey of four-season 7 consecutive day weighed diet records. Based on the latest Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan published in 2010, food sources of selected nutrients were located according to a contribution analysis, and computed usual dietary intakes.

Factors relating to doctors' desire to change hospitals in Japan.

Purpose: This study seeks to investigate doctors' desire to change the hospital where they work to sustain higher quality care.

Design/methodology/approach: Self-administered questionnaires were sent to doctors in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Data were analyzed using univariate and logistic regression analysis and recursive partitioning.

[Updates on ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament. Quality of life (QOL) of patients with OPLL].

Among the research conducted under the Health Labour Sciences Research Grant Program by the study group on ossification of spinal ligaments, we reviewed studies on patients with ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) with regard to methods for assessing their QOL as well as the study results. Methods for assessing QOL included the use of a single question, health-related QOL scales such as the SF-36 and SF-8, and the QOL criteria used in the JOA Cervical Myelopathy Evaluation Questionnaire (JOACMEQ) . In patients with OPLL, which is a condition characterized by pain and numbness that primarily affects the patient's lifestyle rather than survival, the degree of pain was strongly related to QOL.

Sex and seasonal variations of plasma retinol, alpha-tocopherol, and carotenoid concentrations in Japanese dietitians.

Aim: To clarify sex and seasonal variations of plasma antioxidant concentrations among middle-aged Japanese.

Subjects And Methods: We investigated sex and seasonal variations of plasma antioxidant concentrations, including retinol, alpha-tocopherol, and carotenoids (alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein and lycopene), in 55 middle-aged dietitians (46 women and 9 men) in Aichi Prefecture, Central Japan, who took no supplements from autumn 1996 to summer 1997. Reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography was used to measure plasma antioxidant concentrations in overnight-fasting blood samples.

[The differences in young and elderly adults on false memory: examination on the effect of retention interval].

False recognition can occur at high levels after participants study lists of associated words and are tested with semantically related lures. The present study attempted to determine the differences of young and elderly adults in retention interval on false recognition and remember-know judgments of critical lure. Young participants' mean age was 21.

Plasma concentrations of (n-3) highly unsaturated fatty acids are good biomarkers of relative dietary fatty acid intakes: a cross-sectional study.

A cross-sectional study was conducted to clarify the associations of lifestyle factors (habitual exercise, alcohol intake and smoking habit) and plasma fatty acid (FA) concentrations as biomarkers of dietary FA intakes. We collected 7-d weighed diet records, lifestyle information and blood samples from 15 male and 79 female Japanese dietitians, and estimated dietary FA intakes and analyzed plasma FA concentrations. Plasma concentrations of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and (n-3) highly unsaturated FA (HUFA) derived from marine foods, but not linoleic and alpha-linolenic acid from plant origins, demonstrated positive correlations with dietary intakes (r = 0.

Seasonal variation in consumption and plasma concentrations of fatty acids in Japanese female dietitians.

Objective: To study seasonal variation in intake and plasma concentrations of fatty acids (FAs) in Japanese female dietitians.

Subjects And Methods: We assessed consumption of FAs based on four season 7 consecutive day weighed diet records from 71 Japanese female dietitians in 1996-1997. Using overnight fasting venous blood, plasma concentrations of FAs were analyzed by gas chromatography.

[Comparison of the literature on medical accidents from a medical database and articles in daily newspapers in Japan].

Purpose: We analyzed the frequency and content of journal reports on medical accidents over the past 15 years, and compared these findings with related articles in daily newspapers as a means of assessing medical professionals' awareness of current public opinion reflected in daily newspaper coverage.

Methods: A search of medical accident reports was conducted using CD-ROM versions of the medical literature database Japana Centra Revuo Medicina (1987-2001), with the key words "medical accident" and "medical error." The numbers of medical accident articles in newspapers and medical lawsuits were taken as indicators of public opinion.

Japanese versus Mediterranean Diets and Cancer.

Morbidity and mortality statistics, including incidences of fat-related cancers (FRCs), and dietary intake and sources of fats and oils were compared for Japanese, Mediterranean and American people. Incidences of FRCs, except for steeply increasing colon cancer, have remained low in Japan. Similarly, Mediterranean people enjoy relatively low risks of FRCs compared with American people.

Pharmacological characteristics of bombesin receptor mediating hypothermia in the central nervous system of rats.

Bombesin (BN) and structurally related peptides, gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) and neuromedin B (NMB), injected into the lateral ventricle produce multiple effects such as hypothermia, anorexia and hormone release. In this study, the pharmacological characteristics of BN receptors mediating hypothermia in the central nervous system (CNS) were investigated using free-moving male Wistar rats. Intracerebroventricular injections of BN, GRP and NMB produced hypothermia in a dose-dependent manner.

Associations between physical strength, cerebral function and mental health in independent-living elderly Japanese women.

Objectives: To evaluate the physical strength, cerebral function, and mental health conditions in elderly persons, and to examine the correlation between these functions.

Methods: The subjects were 151 independent-living elderly Japanese women, mean age 70 +/-5 years (+/-SD; range, 60 to 80 years), with normal abilities in daily life. The health check-up was conducted from April to May 1997.

Daily, weekly, seasonal, within- and between-individual variation in nutrient intake according to four season consecutive 7 day weighed diet records in Japanese female dietitians.

Objective: To study daily, weekly, seasonal, within- and between-individual variance in intake of selected nutrients and minimal days necessary for assessing true intake with a specified degree of error based on four season consecutive 7 day weighed diet records (WDRs).

Subjects And Methods: We evaluated consumption of energy and 30 nutrients based on four season consecutive 7 day WDRs from 80 Japanese female dietitians in 1996-1997. We examined daily, weekly, seasonal, within- and between-individual variation in nutrient intake, relative contributions of their variances to total variance, and minimal days required to estimate a person's nutrient intake within 10% and 20% of their true mean with 95% confidence intervals.

Reproducibility of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire in Japanese female dietitians.

Objective: To examine reproducibility of assessed intake of foods and nutrients according to a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (SQFFQ) in Japanese female dietitians.

Subjects And Methods: An SQFFQ was self-administered to 106 (21 male and 85 female) Japanese dietitians in Aichi prefecture in autumn 1996 and the same questionnaire was repeated in autumn 1997. Reproducibility was evaluated in terms of consumption of 15 foods and energy and 30 macro- and micro-nutrients based on the SQFFQ from 84 Japanese female dietitians.