The 'best friend effect': a promising tool to encourage HPV vaccination in Japan.

Background: In Japan, HPV vaccination rates has dramaticaly declined since 2013. Since mothers are the ones making the decision to vaccinate their daughters against HPV, we probed the mothers' intention to receive vaccinations for themselves and to vaccinate their daughters against HPV, and their reasoning.

Methods: An internet survey was conducted in March of 2021.

Construct Validity of a New Health Assessment Questionnaire for the National Screening Program of Older Adults in Japan: The SONIC Study.

The Japanese government has implemented a new screening program to promote measures to avoid worsening lifestyle-related diseases and frailty among the older population. In this effort, the government formulated a new health assessment questionnaire for the screening program of old-old adults aged ≥75 years. The questionnaire comprises 15 items, of which 12 address frailty, two address general health status, and one addresses smoking habits.

Hybrid Exercise Program for Sarcopenia in Older Adults: The Effectiveness of Explainable Artificial Intelligence-Based Clinical Assistance in Assessing Skeletal Muscle Area.

Background: Sarcopenia is a geriatric syndrome characterized by decreased skeletal muscle mass and function with age. It is well-established that resistance exercise and Yi Jin Jing improve the skeletal muscle mass of older adults with sarcopenia. Accordingly, we designed an exercise program incorporating resistance exercise and Yi Jin Jing to increase skeletal muscle mass and reverse sarcopenia in older adults.

The Effect of Foot Deformity and First Metatarsophalangeal Joint Plantar Pain on Performance in DanceSport Athletes.

Background: Adolescent DanceSport athletes who regularly dance in high heels have a higher possibility of developing hallux valgus deformity and foot pain. We believe that the occurrence of foot disorders may change the loading on their feet, which thus affects the athletic performance of those adolescents.

Methods: A total of 63 adolescent DanceSport athletes (16 boys, 47 girls) were included.

Cosmetic makeup enhances facial attractiveness and affective neural responses.

Although it is well established that cosmetic makeup enhances perceived facial attractiveness, few studies have examined whether facial makeup modulates neural responses to face images. This study investigated behavioral and attractiveness-related brain responses to self-applied makeup, focusing on the N170, early posterior negativity, P300, and late positive potential components of event-related brain potentials. A total of 77 Japanese women participated in two experiments (N = 34 and 43 for Experiments 1 and 2, respectively).

Patient involvement in priority-setting for medical research: A mini review of initiatives in the rare disease field.

Patient involvement (PI) in determining medical research priorities is an important way to ensure that limited research funds are allocated to best serve patients. As a disease area for which research funds are limited, we see a particular utility for PI in priority-setting for medical research on rare diseases. In this review, we argue that PI initiatives are an important form of evidence for policymaking.

The Impact of Enhancing Phone Activeness on the Negative Effect Induced by the Presence of a Cell Phone.

In the information-driven workplace, cell phones have gradually become irreplaceable. Although the use of work-related cell phones can bring convenience, recent research has demonstrated that the presence of a cell phone can impair cognitive task performance by reducing available attentional resources and suggested that the effect of the phone's presence can be influenced by phone-related factors. This study focused on the relationship between this effect and phone activeness and conducted two experiments to investigate whether increasing phone activeness is associated with a stronger effect from the phone's presence by using a dual-task paradigm (primary: letter recognition task, secondary: luminance-change detection task).

Change of HPV vaccination rates in Japan: the effect of individual notifications implemented by local governments.

Background: In Japan, in June 2013, The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) decided to temporarily suspend its official recommendation for the participation of girls in the national immunization program. The HPV vaccination rate in Japan soon declined to below 1%. In October 2020, the MHLW notified that the municipalities could and should begin to individually notify girls and their parents targeted for routine vaccination.

Frequency- and phase-dependent effects of auditory entrainment on attentional blink.

Attentional blink (AB) is the impaired detection of a second target (T2) after a first target has been identified. In this paper, we investigated the functional roles of alpha and theta oscillations on AB by determining how much preceding rhythmic auditory stimulation affected the performance of AB. Healthy young adults participated in the experiment online.

The effect of distraction versus post-event processing on cortisol recovery in individuals with elevated social anxiety.

There are preliminary findings that repetitive thinking on social situations (post-event processing; PEP) is associated with impaired cortisol recovery after experiencing social evaluative stressors. However, no studies have examined the effect of experimental manipulation of PEP on cortisol recovery among socially anxious individuals. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of distraction on cortisol recovery following a social-evaluative stressor in individuals with subclinical social anxiety symptoms.

Effects of cortisol on retrieval of extinction memory in individuals with social anxiety.

While exposure-based treatment for social anxiety disorder (SAD) has been shown to be effective, the high relapse rate remains a problem. Although relapse has been understood as the inability to retrieve extinction memory, the factors that influence the extent of retrieval of extinction memory have not been determined. This study aimed to examine whether the cortisol response to acute stressors in socially anxious individuals inhibits the retrieval of extinction memory, focusing on the cortisol response to acute stressors as a factor.

A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study on Food Intake Patterns Identified from Very Short FFQ and Metabolic Factors Including Liver Function in Healthy Japanese Adults.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is a growing health problem, and rapid diet assessment is required for personal nutrition education. This pilot study aimed to clarify associations between current food intake patterns identified from the short food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and metabolic parameters, including liver function. We conducted a cross-sectional study on Japanese non-alcoholic residents of Tokyo and surrounding districts, 20 to 49 years of age.

Effectiveness of a Hybrid Exercise Program on the Physical Abilities of Frail Elderly and Explainable Artificial-Intelligence-Based Clinical Assistance.

Background: Due to the low physical fitness of the frail elderly, current exercise program strategies have a limited impact. Eight-form Tai Chi has a low intensity, but high effectiveness in the elderly. Inspired by it, we designed an exercise program that incorporates eight-form Tai Chi, strength, and endurance exercises, to improve physical fitness and reverse frailty in the elderly.

Older adults' preferences for and actual situations of artificial hydration and nutrition in end-of-life care: An 11-year follow-up study in a care home.

Aim: To clarify older adults' preferences for and actual situations of artificial hydration and nutrition (AHN) in end-of-life care in a care home.

Methods: Participants were residents of a care home who had completed advance directives regarding preferred methods of AHN from 2009 to 2018. Advance directives alone were available from April 2009 to June 2016 (Wave 1), and advance care planning for AHN including advance directives was introduced in July 2016 (Wave 2).

Effects of the presence of a cell phone and exposure to natural environments on remote associates task performance.

In today's advanced information society, creativity in work is highly valued, and there is growing interest in the kinds of work environments that produce more creative outcomes. Recent researchers have demonstrated that when environmental factors change a worker's attentional state to a diffused state, the worker has access to more information than usual, which can contribute to creativity. Here, we examined whether manipulating environmental factors (the presence of a cell phone and exposure to natural environment) that could affect such attention states would improve performance on the Remote Associates Task, a measure of creativity.

Third-party punishment by preverbal infants.

Third-party punishment of antisocial others is unique to humans and seems to be universal across cultures. However, its emergence in ontogeny remains unknown. We developed a participatory cognitive paradigm using gaze-contingency techniques, in which infants can use their gaze to affect agents displayed on a monitor.

Rats learn to prefer the late-consumed flavor over the early-consumed flavor in a multi-flavored meal paired with oral glucose and corn oil.

Conditioned flavor preference (CFP) is established by association: where a neutral flavor (conditioned stimulus, CS) is paired with orosensory and post-ingestive components of nutrients, including sugar and fat (unconditioned stimulus, US). A previous study reported that rats can learn to prefer flavors that they consumed earlier and later in a multi-flavored solution paired with an intragastric infusion of glucose, but they expressed only a preference for a late-consumed flavor when they were tested after feeding (Myers and Whitney, 2011). This paradigm can be a suitable rodent model to explain how humans acquire a selective preference for routinely late-served "dessert" foods and why these foods remain attractive even in the absence of hunger.

Disinfection behavior for COVID-19 in individuals with Down syndrome and caregivers' distress in Japan: a cross-sectional retrospective study.

The COVID-19 outbreak affected the daily lives of individuals with Down syndrome, who were considered to have a higher risk of severe infection. While several studies have reported mental health issues in children and/or parents in the general population, no study has focused on people with Down syndrome and their caregivers. This study investigated the disinfection behaviors of individuals with Down syndrome and their caregivers' stress.

Impact of the Threat of COVID-19 Infections on the Perceived Risk to HPV Vaccination.

Vaccination rates for human papillomavirus (HPV) in Japan are significantly lower than other countries, and Japanese people are reluctant to be vaccinated. Repeated daily reports of COVID-19 infections and restrictions have made people more health conscious and aware of the danger of infectious diseases. In this study, we used the health belief model (HBM) to examine perceived threats of cancer and infectious diseases and to ascertain whether the new COVID-19 vaccination in addition to these perceived threats would increase vaccination intention against cervical cancer.

Factors Related to Preventive Behaviors against a Decline in Physical Fitness among Community-Dwelling Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study.

Older adults face the concern of developing frailty and sarcopenia due to an inactive lifestyle during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aimed to reveal the preventive behaviors taken by older adults who perceived a decline in physical fitness during COVID-19 and analyze the background factors which promoted such behaviors using a qualitative study design in 2020. The participants were recruited through the cohort study of Japanese older adults who were aged 79-81 and had not been diagnosed with sarcopenia previously in 2019 and perceived their physical fitness to have declined during the pandemic.

Cognitive behavioral therapy for an individual suffering from chronic pain with overactivity and sleep disturbance: A case report.

Patients suffering from chronic pain (CP) with overactivity frequently experience sleep disturbance. We presented a 35-year-old woman suffering from CP. To improve the sleep disturbance of individuals suffering from CP with overactivity, it is important to combine cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and activity pacing.

Dohsa-hou for unexplained regression in Down syndrome in a 19-year-old man: A case report.

Unexplained regression in Down syndrome (URDS) has become a significant issue in clinical practice and research. This report illustrates the case of a patient with URDS treated with psychological treatment using Dohsa-hou, in addition to medication. Although psychological treatment may be helpful, monitoring potential risks of acute aggression is necessary.

Evaluating standards for 'serious' disease for preimplantation genetic testing: a multi-case study on regulatory frameworks in Japan, the UK, and Western Australia.

Background: A number of countries are leading the way in creating regulatory frameworks for preimplantation genetic testing (PGT). Among these countries, a point of consensus is that PGT may be used to avoid the birth of a child with a serious genetic disease. However, standards for evaluating disease severity in this context are not always clear.

Children's social evaluation toward prestige-based and dominance-based powerholders.

Objective: Social scientists have suggested two typical ways of acquiring social power: dominance approach (gaining social power by applying violence, coercion, threat, and punishment) and prestige approach (gaining admiration and liking by demonstrating competence and sharing experience and knowledge). However, little is known about how people recognize and evaluate the differentiated process of the approaches, and even less about the early development of these processes. In the current study, 5-6-year old children heard stories about pairs comprising a dominance-based and a prestige-based powerholder, chose one of the powerholders as their friend and leader, and predicted which powerholder will gain the contested resources.