Psychosomatic problems and countermeasures in Japanese children and adolescents.

In Japan there are a number of children and adolescents with emotion-related disorders including psychosomatic diseases (orthostatic dysregulation, anorexia nervosa, recurrent pains), behavior problems and school absenteeism. According to our previous report, the Japanese children had significantly higher score of physical symptoms and psychiatric complaints than did the Swedish children, and these were more strongly influenced by school-related stress than by home-related stress. To enforce countermeasures for psychosomatic problems in children, the Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Pediatrics (established in 1982) have started several new projects including multi-center psychosomatic researches and society-based activities.

Effect of diabetes on cooling-induced detrusor muscle contraction: mediation via Rho-kinase activation.

Objectives: To investigate the possible involvement of Rho-kinase in cooling-induced contraction of the detrusor muscle. The etiology of diabetic cystopathy is not clear. It may be due to various changes in bladder innervation and/or detrusor muscle dysfunction.

Variant autonomic regulation during active standing in Swedish and Japanese junior high school children.

The present investigation is about cardiovascular responses and relevant autonomic function in Swedish and Japanese pubertal children on active standing using non-invasive continuous beat-to-beat finger arterial pressure (FAP) monitoring and power spectral analysis. Examined were 54 Swedish and 57 Japanese children (13-15 years). FAP and heart rate (HR) was continuously recorded in the supine position and during standing.

Hyperthermia-induced vasoconstriction of the carotid artery and the role of potassium channels.

Clinical experience and experimental studies have shown that hyperthermia can cause cerebral ischaemia and brain damage. By in vitro experiments with heating, we previously were able to induce carotid artery constriction. The objective of the present study was to clarify the mechanism of this thermal response.

Thermal reactions of blood vessels in vascular stroke and heatstroke.

Research on the pathophysiology and treatment of brain damage with special focus on thermal vascular responses is the subject of this minireview. Interruption of cerebral blood supply by vascular obstruction, temporary cardiac arrest or hyperthermia causes a sudden attack of vascular stroke or heatstroke with serious consequences. It may not induce immediate cell death, but can precipitate a complex biochemical cascade leading to a delayed neuronal loss.

Human exposures to acrylamide are below the threshold for carcinogenesis.

Dose-response calculations for a threshold of carcinogenesis in animal studies do not support the notion that acrylamide (ACR) with the present status of consumption in food is carcinogenic for humans. This is in agreement with the recent reassuring epidemiological studies which have shown a lack of correlation between exposure to ACR in food and the incidence of cancer.

Evidence of decreased sympathetic function in children with psychosomatic symptoms.

We investigated cardiovascular autonomic function using power spectral analysis of heart rate variation and beat-to-beat finger arterial pressure at rest and while standing and correlated these findings with self-reported psychosomatic and psychosocial symptoms in 122 schoolchildren. Children with three or more psychosomatic and psychosocial symptoms (somatizers) were found to have significantly lower blood pressure than children without symptoms. Somatizers had the more decreased spectral power of the low frequency (LF) band of arterial pressure and RR intervals in the supine position.

Cooling-induced carotid artery dilatation: an experimental study in isolated vessels.

Background And Purpose: Clinical and experimental studies seem to indicate that hypothermia may improve outcome in stroke victims and reduce experimental brain injury. The current interpretation is that cooling has a neuroprotective effect by reducing brain metabolism. The objective of our study was to test the hypothesis that hypothermia induces arterial vasodilatation and thereby increases cerebral blood flow.