An Interactive Smartphone App, Nenne Navi, for Improving Children's Sleep: Pilot Usability Study.

Background: Healthy sleep is important not only for physical health but also for brain development in children. Several reports have revealed that Japanese adults and children have later bedtimes and shorter sleep durations compared with those in other countries, possibly because of Japanese culture and lifestyles. Therefore, an intervention tool that is suitable to the Japanese sociocultural environment is urgently needed to improve children's sleep problems in their early years.

Inadequate sleep as a contributor to impaired glucose tolerance: A cross-sectional study in children, adolescents, and young adults with circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorder.

Background: Sleep deprivation and circadian disruption are associated with decreased insulin sensitivity and hyperglycemia. It is uncertain whether circadian sleep-wake disorder (CRSWD), which relates to both the homeostatic sleep system and the circadian timing system, affects glycemic regulation and insulin secretion. We aimed to examine the associations among sleep duration, sleep architecture or circadian rhythm of the sleep-wake cycle, and glucose metabolism in children, adolescents, and young adults with CRSWD.

Japanese Sleep Questionnaire for Elementary Schoolers (JSQ-ES): validation and population-based score distribution.

Objective: The Japanese Sleep Questionnaire for Elementary Schoolers (JSQ-ES) was developed to measure the sleep habits and disturbances of Japanese children. The current study aimed to present psychometric properties and describe the score distribution of the JSQ-ES. In addition, it examined correlations between the sleep and daytime behavior of school-aged children.

Variations in early gross motor milestones and in the age of walking in Japanese children.

Background: Gross motor development is usually assessed in terms of age of achievement of motor milestones. Although there is generally an impression of faster development if the milestones are achieved at younger ages, no longitudinal studies have been done on the associations between the milestones, especially in Japan. As a part of the Japan Children's Study, the purpose of the present study was to determine whether the achievement of gross motor milestones in infancy is related with the age of walking.

[Laterality of upper extremity movements in infancy: observations at 4 and 9 months of age].

This study investigated the process involved in the lateralization of movements during infancy by observing upper extremity movements in a laboratory setting. Reaching for flying rings, balls, mini toy cars, and small round cookies were observed and recorded by videotape at 4 and 9 months of age. The subjects were 202 infants who participated in Japan Children's Study, a cohort study on the development of sociability.

Head growth evaluation in early childhood, from the Japan Children's Study.

Background: Head circumference (HC) trajectories are held to reflect neurological development and the acquirement of intelligence. It is important to assess HC growth accurately because atypical HC growth is an indicator of various developmental disorders. HC growth is determined by both familial and physical factors but, hitherto, no one has considered both factors together.

High incidence of meropenem resistance among alpha-hemolytic streptococci in children with cancer.

Background: Infections caused by antibiotics-resistant Gram-positive bacteria have been reported from many pediatric hematology-oncology centers.

Methods: The susceptibility profiles to meropenem, piperacillin, and vancomycin among oral flora isolates of alpha-hemolytic streptococci (AHS) obtained from six children with cancer who received several empirical therapies (ET) against febrile neutropenia, were investigated.

Results: Meropenem minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of AHS isolated from ET patients was 2.

Increase in incidence of elderly-onset patients with myasthenia gravis in Nagano Prefecture, Japan.

Objectives: In European countries and the United States the incidence of elderly-onset myasthenia gravis (MG) has recently been increasing. To investigate whether the incidence of the elderly-onset MG has increased in Nagano Prefecture of Japan, we divided the patients into young and elderly groups, and retrospectively examined their incidence.

Patients And Methods: On the basis of two-step questionnaires sent to hospitals and the patient list of the intractable disease registration system in Nagano Prefecture we studied 213 MG patients diagnosed between 1982 and 2001.

STI571 inhibits growth and adhesion of human mast cells in culture.

Stem cell factor (SCF)/c-kit system is critical for human mast cell development. We thus examined the effects of STI571, an inhibitor of the c-kit tyrosine kinase receptor, on the proliferation and function of human mast cells. STI571 at concentrations of 10(-6) M or higher almost completely abolished the SCF-dependent progeny generation from cord blood-derived cultured mast cells through an inhibition of the tyrosine phosphorylation of c-kit.

IL-9 enhances the growth of human mast cell progenitors under stimulation with stem cell factor.

We examined the effects of IL-9 on human mast cell development from CD34(+) cord blood (CB) and peripheral blood cells in serum-deprived cultures. IL-9 apparently enhanced cell production under stimulation with stem cell factor (SCF) from CD34(+) CB cells. A great majority of the cultured cells grown with SCF + IL-9 became positive for tryptase at 4 wk.