The effect for Japanese workers of a self-help computerized cognitive behaviour therapy program with a supplement soft drink.

Background: Computerized cognitive behaviour therapy (CCBT) programs can provide a useful self-help approach to the treatment of psychological problems. Previous studies have shown that CCBT has moderate effects on depression, insomnia, and anxiety. The present study investigated whether a supplement drink that includes L-carnosine enhances the effect of CCBT on psychological well-being.

Eating attitudes and body dissatisfaction in adolescents: Cross-cultural study.

Aims: Sociocultural factors are thought to be important in the pathogenesis of eating disorders. However, there have been few studies comparing eating behavior among various cultural populations. The aim of the present study is to compare attitudes towards bodyweight and shape, and desire for thinness in Japanese male and female subjects with those in people from other countries and of different ethnic origin.

Effect of dried-bonito broth on mental fatigue and mental task performance in subjects with a high fatigue score.

Dried-bonito broth is commonly employed as a soup and sauce base in Japanese cuisine and is considered to be a nutritional supplement that promotes recovery from fatigue. Previous human trials suggest that the ingestion of dried-bonito broth improves several mood states; however, its effect on fatigue has not yet been clarified. The aim of this study was to clarify the effects of daily ingestion of dried-bonito broth on fatigue and cognitive parameters by a placebo-controlled double blind crossover trial.

A real-time assessment of the effect of exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) report substantial symptom worsening after exercise. However, the time course over which this develops has not been explored. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the influence of exercise on subjective symptoms and on cognitive function in CFS patients in natural settings using a computerized ecological momentary assessment method, which allowed us to track the effects of exercise within and across days.

Tendency toward deliberate food restriction, fear of fatness and somatic attribution in cross-cultural samples.

Objective: To compare Omani and western teenagers attending schools in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman and Filipino teenagers residing in Manila, Philippines on indices of deliberate food restriction and dieting behavior.

Methods: The sample consisted of 444 students who were assessed using the cross-culturally valid measure, Eating Attitude Test-26, a subscale of Eating Disorder Inventory to gauge the presence of the drive for thinness or 'fat phobia' and the Bradford Somatic Inventory to elicit the presence of somatization.

Result: Significant differences in attitudes to eating, body image and somatization between the western and non-western teenagers were found.

Milnacipran, a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, induces appetite-suppressing effects without inducing hypothalamic stress responses in mice.

Milnacipran, a selective serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine (NE) reuptake inhibitor, increases extracellular 5-HT and NA levels equally in the central nervous system. Here, we report that systemic administration of milnacipran (20-60 mg/kg) significantly suppressed food intake after fasting in C57BL6J mice. The appetite-suppressing effects of milnacipran were sustained for 5 h.

Changes in heart rate with refeeding in anorexia nervosa: a pilot study.

Objective: To find differences in heart rate before and after refeeding and to identify which parameters of autonomic activity and endocrine function are associated with these differences.

Methods: Before and after the start of refeeding, body weight, RR interval (RRI), heart rate variability, endocrine function, and energy expenditure were measured in nine female anorexia nervosa patients.

Results: After short-term refeeding, mean daytime heart rate rose from 54.

Fluvoxamine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, and 5-HT2C receptor inactivation induce appetite-suppressing effects in mice via 5-HT1B receptors.

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) 2C receptors and the downstream melanocortin pathway are suggested to mediate the appetite-suppressing effects of 5-HT drugs such as m-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP) and fenfluramine. Here, we report that fluvoxamine (3-30 mg/kg), a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), in the presence of SB 242084 (1-2 mg/kg), a selective 5-HT2C receptor antagonist, exerts appetite-suppressing effects while fluvoxamine or SB 242084 alone has no effect. The appetite-suppressing effects were attenuated in the presence of SB 224289 (5 mg/kg), a selective 5-HT1B receptor antagonist.

Changes in cerebral glucose utilization in patients with panic disorder treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Several neuroanatomical hypotheses of panic disorder have been proposed focusing on the significant role of the amygdala and PAG-related "panic neurocircuitry." Although cognitive-behavioral therapy is effective in patients with panic disorder, its therapeutic mechanism of action in the brain remains unclear. The present study was performed to investigate regional brain glucose metabolic changes associated with successful completion of cognitive-behavioral therapy in panic disorder patients.

Yearlong physical activity and depressive symptoms in older Japanese adults: cross-sectional data from the Nakanojo study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate associations between accelerometer measurements of physical activity and psychosocial variables in older people.

Methods: Subjects were 184 Japanese aged 65-85 years. An accelerometer provided step count and physical activity intensity data throughout each 24-hour period for 1 year.

Prospective study on influence of psychosocial factors on glycemic control in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes.

The authors prospectively assessed the causal relationship between psychosocial factors and glycemic control in 256 Japanese outpatients with Type 2 diabetes. Using structural-equation modeling, they first developed a causal model in which glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA(1c)) at 6 months after assessment was influenced by the baseline psychosocial factors. Then, the reliability of the causal model was investigated with measurement of HbA(1c) at 12 months after baseline.

Bulimia nervosa and abnormal cardiac repolarization.

Objective: Eating disorders (ED) are thought to be risk factors for sudden death, and arrhythmias are one of the major causes of sudden death in ED patients. Late potentials (LPs) are a predictor of arrhythmias and can be measured using signal-averaged electrocardiography (SAECG). We examined arryhthmogenicity by LPs in ED patients.

Does the Aging Males' Symptoms scale assess major depressive disorder?: A pilot study.

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to find the prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) in male climacteric outpatients in Japan, and to determine whether symptoms on the Aging Males' Symptoms (AMS) scale scores differed between patients with and without MDD, with the aim of increasing the specificity of future symptoms scales for partial androgen deficiency of the aging male (PADAM).

Methods: Eighty-three patients aged 40-70 who visited the male-climacteric services as outpatients were assessed using three items: a self-administered questionnaire corresponding to diagnosis for MDD, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the AMS scale.

Results: Almost half the patients had MDD.

Hikikomori, is it a culture-reactive or culture-bound syndrome? Nidotherapy and a clinical vignette from Oman.

Hikikomori, a form of acute social withdrawal, is becoming a silent epidemic in Japan. As it has not been reported from other parts of the world, hikikomori fulfills the criteria for "a culture-bound syndrome." We report a case from Oman, in the southern part of Arabia, with all the essential features of hikikomori.

Harmony seeking and the risk of prostate cancer: a prebioptic study.

Objective: This semiprospective case-control study was performed to investigate the relationship between harmony-seeking personality and the occurrence of prostate cancer.

Methods: Out of 217 consecutive participants admitted to hospital for biopsy, 86 and 81 were classified into the case and control groups, respectively, based on their initial diagnosis and eligibility criteria. The participants answered several questionnaires after admission.

A placebo-controlled, randomized withdrawal study of sertraline for panic disorder in Japan.

The objective of this double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized withdrawal study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of sertraline for 8 weeks in treating Japanese patients with DSM-IV panic disorder. Patients (n=394) were initially treated with 8 weeks of open-label sertraline followed by 8 weeks of double-blind treatment with either sertraline (50-100 mg/day) or placebo. Responders during the open-label phase were eligible to be entered into the double-blind phase.

Cerebral glucose metabolism associated with a fear network in panic disorder.

The present study was performed to assess cerebral glucose metabolism in patients with panic disorder using positron emission tomography. F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography with voxel-based analysis was used to compare regional brain glucose utilization in 12 nonmedicated panic disorder patients, without their experiencing panic attacks during positron emission tomography acquisition, with that in 22 healthy controls. Panic disorder patients showed appreciably high state anxiety before scanning, and exhibited significantly higher levels of glucose uptake in the bilateral amygdala, hippocampus, and thalamus, and in the midbrain, caudal pons, medulla, and cerebellum than controls.

Possible interactive effects of demographic factors and stress coping mechanisms on depression and anxiety in maintenance hemodialysis patients.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the possible interactive effects of age, sex, duration of hemodialysis (HD), educational and income levels, and stress coping mechanisms on depression and anxiety in patients on maintenance HD.

Methods: Uremic patients (N=416), regularly undergoing HD for more than 1 year, who did not have apparent cerebrovascular disease or serious intellectual impairment, were investigated. The interactive effects of age, sex, duration of HD, and educational and income levels, in relation to stress coping mechanisms, on depression or anxiety were assessed by hierarchical multiple regression analyses.

Explicit knowledge and intention to learn in sequence learning: an event-related potential study.

The present study was performed to examine how intention to learn and explicit knowledge in sequence learning are reflected in event-related potentials. Participants responded to numerals presented in a repeating order, which were replaced infrequently by deviant numerals. The participants were given incidental or intentional learning instructions.

Symptom profile of multiple chemical sensitivity in actual life.

Objective: This study was conducted to confirm the definition of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) in actual life: that multiple symptoms are provoked in multiple organs by exposure to, and ameliorated by avoidance of, multiple chemicals at low levels. We used the Ecological Momentary Assessment to monitor everyday symptoms and the active sampling and passive sampling methods to measure environmental chemical exposure.

Methods: Eighteen patients with MCS, diagnosed according to the 1999 consensus criteria, and 12 healthy controls participated in this study.

Effects of value and reward magnitude on feedback negativity and P300.

Feedback negativity is a negative component of the event-related brain potential observed 250-300 ms after feedback stimuli. The present study investigated the effects of value (correct or incorrect) and reward magnitude (no, small or large) on feedback negativity and P300. Feedback negativity was larger after incorrect feedback than after correct feedback, irrespective of reward magnitude.

Error-related negativity reflects detection of negative reward prediction error.

Error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential elicited in error trials. To examine the function of ERN, we performed an experiment in which two within-participants factors were manipulated: outcome uncertainty and content of feedback. The ERN was largest when participants expected correct feedback but received error feedback.

QT interval and QT dispersion in eating disorders.

Background: Eating disorders are thought to be risk factors for cardiac sudden death secondary to arrhythmia. Results in previous studies on QT interval and QT dispersion, markers of fatal arrhythmia, have been inconsistent.

Methods: We prospectively examined 179 female eating disorder patients, being over 18 years old and diagnosed according to the DSM-IV criteria between January 1995 and December 2002, and 52 healthy women.

Interactions among a stressor, self-efficacy, coping with stress, depression, and anxiety in maintenance hemodialysis patients.

The authors' purpose in this study was to assess the interactive effects of stressors, coping with stress, and self-efficacy on depression and anxiety in maintenance hemodialysis (HD) patients. Patients (n = 453) undergoing HD for more than 1 year in Japan were investigated. The regression lines illustrating significant (p < .

Comorbidity of irritable bowel syndrome, panic disorder, and agoraphobia in a Japanese representative sample.

Objectives: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is considered to be a transcultural functional bowel disorder with high comorbidity and psychiatric disorders; but well-designed epidemiologic studies have never been performed in Japan. The purpose of this study was to establish the prevalence of IBS, together with the comorbidity rates of panic disorder (PD) and agoraphobia, employing a large-scale survey based on stratified random sampling.

Methods: A total of 4,000 subjects aged 20-69 years completed a questionnaire and the results were weighted to ensure representativeness of the Japanese general population.