Use of Dietary Supplements among Japanese Female Nursing Professionals.

The use of dietary supplements has become a common way to maintain good health. This study evaluated the status of supplement use and supplement user characteristics among participants from the Japan Nurses' Health Study, which comprised a cohort of Japanese female nursing professionals. A questionnaire survey covering the use of vitamins and supplements was conducted.

Two scene navigation systems dissociated by deliberate versus automatic processing.

Successfully navigating the world requires avoiding boundaries and obstacles in one's immediately-visible environment, as well as finding one's way to distant places in the broader environment. Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that these two navigational processes involve distinct cortical scene processing systems, with the occipital place area (OPA) supporting navigation through the local visual environment, and the retrosplenial complex (RSC) supporting navigation through the broader spatial environment. Here we hypothesized that these systems are distinguished not only by the scene information they represent (i.

Distinct regions of the striatum underlying effort, movement initiation and effort discounting.

The ventral striatum is believed to encode the subjective value of cost-benefit options; however, this effect has notably been absent during choices that involve physical effort. Previous work in freely moving animals has revealed opposing striatal signals, with greater response to increasing effort demands and reduced responses to rewards requiring effort. Yet, the relationship between these conflicting signals remains unknown.

Regulation of Craving and Negative Emotion in Alcohol Use Disorder.

Background: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic, relapsing condition with poor treatment outcomes. Both alcohol craving and negative affect increase alcohol drinking, and-in healthy adults-can be attenuated using cognitive strategies, which rely on the prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, AUD is associated with cognitive impairments and PFC disruptions.

A proper reference metabolic equivalent value to assess physical activity intensity in Japanese female nurses.

Background: Various questionnaires have been developed to assess physical activity, but only a few simple questionnaires are suitable for self-administration in large groups of midlife working women. This study examined the usefulness of the Japan Nurses' Health Study (JNHS) questionnaire for self-administered physical activity surveys.

Methods: The JNHS physical activity questionnaire consisted of items covering seven degrees of intensity.

Training in cognitive strategies reduces eating and improves food choice.

Obesity rates continue to rise alarmingly, with dire health implications. One contributing factor is that individuals frequently forgo healthy foods in favor of inexpensive, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. One important mechanism underlying these choices is food craving: Craving increases with exposure to unhealthy foods (and food cues, such as advertisements) and prospectively predicts eating and weight.

Uterine leiomyomata: a retrospective study of correlations with hypertension and diabetes mellitus from the Japan Nurses' Health Study.

We performed a scrutiny survey of self-reported uterine leiomyomata (UL) to investigate the associations of parental history with hypertension and personal history of hypertension in the UL cases in Japanese women. Questionnaires that included items on the sites of UL determined by imaging techniques and surgical procedure were mailed to 2015 women with a self-reported UL at a baseline survey of the Japan Nurses' Health Study (n = 15,019). We found that women with a past history and a maternal history of hypertension had an increase in their risk of UL.

Agricultural workers in a cohort of middle-aged Japanese women showed better health status than did women with other occupations.

This study investigated the relationship between occupations and health status to obtain an overall understanding of a cohort of Japanese middle-aged women, including unemployed women, who comprised approximately 30% of the sample. Participants of this study were 4,454 women aged 40-69 years, classified into the following five groups based on their occupation: unemployed, 1,432; agriculture, 439; self-employed, 1,596; white collared, 793; and blue collared, 194. Participants' perceived health was assessed using a symptoms checklist called the Todai Health Index (THI, later renamed as the Total Health Index) in a baseline survey conducted in 1993.

Gastroduodenal Ulcers and ABO Blood Group: the Japan Nurses' Health Study (JNHS).

Background: Although several studies have shown that blood type O is associated with increased risk of peptic ulcer, few studies have investigated these associations in Japan. We sought to investigate the association between the ABO blood group and risk of gastroduodenal ulcers (GDU) using combined analysis of both retrospective and prospective data from a large cohort study of Japanese women, the Japan Nurses' Health Study (JNHS; n = 15,019).

Methods: The impact of the ABO blood group on GDU risk was examined using Cox regression analysis to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), with adjustment for potential confounders.

Blood pressure-lowering effect of Shinrin-yoku (Forest bathing): a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Shinrin-yoku (experiencing the forest atmosphere or forest bathing) has received increasing attention from the perspective of preventive medicine in recent years. Some studies have reported that the forest environment decreases blood pressure. However, little is known about the possibility of anti-hypertensive applications of Shinrin-yoku.

[Exhausting Physicians Employed in Hospitals in Japan Assessed by a Health Questionnaire].

Objective: Japanese physicians employed and working in general hospitals have become busier since 2005, as they had to teach and guide the increased number of medical residents graduated from medical schools. Working hours and chronic fatigue of employed physicians were surveyed compared with independent physicians working in their own out-patient clinics and with usual employed men in Japan, and their mental health was assessed.

Methods: (1) 75 employed physicians in hospitals were surveyed of their working hours a week and compared with (2) 48 independent general practitioners (GP) who work in their own out-patient clinics.

The Neurobiology of Giving Versus Receiving Support: The Role of Stress-Related and Social Reward-Related Neural Activity.

Objectives: There is a strong association between supportive ties and health. However, most research has focused on the health benefits that come from the support one receives while largely ignoring the support giver and how giving may contribute to good health. Moreover, few studies have examined the neural mechanisms associated with support giving or how giving support compares to receiving support.

Risk profiles for endometriosis in Japanese women: results from a repeated survey of self-reports.

Background: The prevalence and risk factors for endometriosis may differ according to diagnosis methodologies, such as study populations and diagnostic accuracy. We examined risk profiles in imaging-diagnosed endometriosis with and without surgical confirmation in a large population of Japanese women, as well as the differences in risk profiles of endometriosis based on history of infertility.

Methods: Questionnaires that included items on sites of endometriosis determined by imaging techniques and surgical procedure were mailed to 1025 women who self-reported endometriosis in a baseline survey of the Japan Nurses' Health Study (n = 15 019).

Association between cancer screening behavior and family history among Japanese women.

Objective: To examine lifestyle habits and cancer screening behavior in relation to a family history of cancer among Japanese women.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted based on baseline data from the Japan Nurses' Health Study collected from June 2001 to March 2007. Participants were 47,347 female nurses aged 30-59 years residing in 47 prefectures in Japan.

Factors associated with premature ovarian failure, early menopause and earlier onset of menopause in Japanese women.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to clarify the median age at natural menopause and the proportions of women with premature ovarian failure (POF) and early menopause (EM) by using Kaplan-Meier cumulative estimates and differences in reproductive and lifestyle factors associated with POF, EM and median age at menopause in a large population of Japanese women.

Subjects And Methods: This study is a cross-sectional analysis of the Japan Nurses' Health Study (JNHS). We analyzed data for 24,152 pre- and postmenopausal women who were 40 years or older at the JNHS baseline survey.

Association of endometriosis-related infertility with age at menopause.

Objective: The influence of past history of infertility, which is closely associated with reproductive factors, on menopause has not been clarified. The purpose of this study was to clarify the association of reproductive factors, including past history of infertility, with menopause in Japanese women.

Study Design: This study was a cross-sectional analysis of the Japan Nurses' Health Study (JNHS) baseline survey.

Health status and lifestyle factors as predictors of depression in middle-aged and elderly Japanese adults: a seven-year follow-up of the Komo-Ise cohort study.

Background: Depression is a common mental disorder. Several studies suggest that lifestyle and health status are associated with depression. However, only a few large-scale longitudinal studies have been conducted on this topic.

Physical symptoms and psychological health status by the type of job.

Background: The physical symptoms and mental health status of 3,447 men working in a dairy product company were evaluated by a health questionnaire, the Todai Health Index (THI). The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between job content and subjective health status.

Method: The authors conducted a cross-sectional study.

Predictive validity of the total health index for all-cause mortality assessed in the Komo-Ise cohort.

Background: The Total Health Index (THI), a self-administered questionnaire developed in Japan, is used for symptom assessment and stress management of employees and others; however, it has not been reported whether it can predict mortality risk.

Methods: The THI, with 12 primary and 5 secondary scales, was applied to a cohort consisting of middle-aged residents in Japan. This study, called the Komo-Ise cohort study, was started in 1993.

[Perceived health and its correlation with depression and subjective symptoms of nurses and care workers].

The objective of this study was to identify psychological and physical health characteristics of nurses and care workers employed at a psychiatric hospital and to characterize depressive symptoms by means of correlation analysis. Subjects were 89 nurses and 78 care workers employed at a psychiatric and rehabilitation hospital in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. They responded to a structured questionnaire, the Total Health Index (THI).

[Factors associated with pollinosis in a middle aged population in Gunma, Japan].

Objective: There are several hypotheses for why the prevalence of pollinosis is increasing. The purpose of this study is to assess various factors related to the pollinosis.

Methods: The subjects were 10,898 participants aged between 47 and 77 years old who completed a self-administered questionnaire in 2000, in the second survey of a population-based cohort in Gunma Prefecture, named the Komo-Ise Study.