Muscle architecture of the medial gastrocnemius during growth.

Background: Muscle architecture is closely related to muscle function. Increased knowledge of growth changes in muscle architecture will provide insights into the development of human movements and sports performance during the growth period. However, it is unclear how the muscle architecture of the medial gastrocnemius (MG) grows.

Time course of effective connectivity associated with perspective taking in utterance comprehension.

This study discusses the effective connectivity in the brain and its time course in realizing perspective taking in verbal communication through electroencephalogram (EEG) associated with the understanding of Japanese utterances. We manipulated perspective taking in a sentence with the Japanese subsidiary verbs and , which mean "to give". We measured the EEG during the auditory presentation of the sentences with a multichannel electroencephalograph, and the partial directed coherence and its temporal variations were analyzed using the source localization method to examine causal interactions between nineteen regions of interest in the brain.

Habitual isomaltulose intake reduces arterial stiffness associated with postprandial hyperglycemia in middle-aged and elderly people: a randomized controlled trial.

Endothelin-1 (ET-1), produced by vascular endothelial cells, plays a pivotal role in the regulation of vascular tone. Isomaltulose, a naturally occurring sweetener and structural isomer of sucrose, reduces postprandial hyperglycemia, but its effect on arteriosclerosis due to hyperglycemia is unknown. The effects of 12 weeks of isomaltulose administration on ET-1 levels, a peptide that regulates arterial stiffness, blood pressure, and vascular tone, were tested before and after an oral glucose tolerance test.

Productive arts engagement at the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum and its health effects on the older Japanese population: results of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: This randomized controlled trial aims to compare changes in mental and physical health in older Japanese community-dwellers who participated in a productive art-based activity at the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum (intervention group) and in their counterparts, who did not participate in the intervention (control group).

Methods: A total of 73 older community-dwellers living in Tokyo participated in a single-blind RCT in two parallel groups (intervention group versus control group). The intervention was 2 h of productive art-based activities per week.

Concordance of International Regulation of Pediatric Health Research.

Objective: To assess the comparability of international ethics principles and practices used in regulating pediatric research as a first step in determining whether reciprocal deference for international ethics review is feasible. Prior studies by the authors focused on other aspects of international health research, such as biobanks and direct-to-participant genomic research. The unique nature of pediatric research and its distinctive regulation by many countries warranted a separate study.

Effects of growth on muscle architecture of knee extensors.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of growth on the muscle architecture of knee extensors. The present study included 123 male children and adolescents. The muscle thicknesses of the rectus femoris (RF) and vastus intermedius (VI), and pennation angles and fascicle lengths of RF were measured in three regions using ultrasonography technique at rest.

Improving the mental and physical health of older community-dwellers with a museum participatory art-based activity: results of a multicentre randomized controlled trial.

Background: The aim of this randomized controlled trial (RCT) was to examine the mental and physical effects of a participatory art-based activity carried out at museums in older community-dwellers.

Methods: Based on a bicentre (the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), Montreal, Quebec, Canada; the Fuji Museum, Tokyo, Japan) single-blind RCT in two parallel groups (intervention group versus control group), 228 community-dwelling older adults (mean age 71.1 ± 5.

Health benefits of "Thursdays at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts": Results of a randomized clinical trial.

Objective: . This study aims to examine and compare changes in frailty status, well-being and quality of life in community-dwelling older adults living in Montreal (Quebec, Canada) participating in a 3-month session of weekly "Thursdays at the Museum" and in their control counterparts who did not participate in art-based activities.

Methods: .

An EEG Analysis of Honorification in Japanese: Human Hierarchical Relationships Coded in Language.

This study examines the neural substrate of the understanding of human relationships in verbal communication with Japanese honorific sentences as experimental materials. We manipulated two types of Japanese verbs specifically used to represent respect for others, i.e.

The effects of growth on structural properties of the Achilles and Patellar tendons: A cross-sectional study.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the structural properties (length and cross-sectional area) of both the Patellar and Achilles tendons at around adolescent growth spurt. One hundred-twenty children and adolescents participated in this study. Based on estimated age at peak height velocity, the participants were separated into three groups (before takeoff of adolescent growth spurt group, from takeoff of adolescent growth spurt until peak height velocity group and after peak height velocity group).

Effects of "Thursdays at the Museum" at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts on the mental and physical health of older community dwellers: the art-health randomized clinical trial protocol.

Background: Recently, we demonstrated that the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts' (MMFA) participatory art-based activity, known as "Thursdays at the Museum," improved the well-being, quality of life, and physical health (i.e., frailty) of older community dwellers by using a pre-post intervention, single arm, prospective and longitudinal experimental design.

Participatory art-based activity, community-dwelling older adults and changes in health condition: Results from a pre-post intervention, single-arm, prospective and longitudinal study.

Background: Participatory art-based activities enhance the well-being and quality of life of patients. Few studies have examined the effects of these activities in community-dwelling older adults. This study aims to examine changes in well-being, quality of life and frailty associated with a weekly art-based activity, known as "Thursday at the Museum", performed at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) in community-dwelling older adults.

Functional Linking Between Negative and Positive ERPs for Syntactic Processing in Japanese: Mutual Enhancement, Syntactic Prediction, and Working Memory Constraints.

This study attempts to detect the differences in event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with two syntactic processes: the syntactic integration of discontinuous dependency and the detection of a violation of the syntactic island constraint. We recorded the electroencephalogram elicited by complex sentences in Japanese that included a dependency between a quantifier and its head noun, in which we changed the word order of the two words to manipulate the presence and absence of a syntactic integration and a syntactic island violation while keeping the lexical items and construction unchanged. We found significant negative and positive deflections for the syntactic integration only when a quantifier preceded its head noun.

Perspective-Taking in Sentence Comprehension: Time and Empathy.

This study examines the neural substrate of perspective-taking by analyzing the electroencephalographic (EEG) activity elicited by the auditory comprehension of sentences for which the comprehender had to adopt the perspective of the person described in them. Recent studies suggest that the ability of perspective-taking can be an integrative function of temporal and spatial information processing. We thus examined the independence and possible interaction of human perspective shifts and temporal perspective-taking by utilizing Japanese subsidiary verbs for giving, namely and .

A cross-sectional study on the mechanical properties of the Achilles tendon with growth.

Purpose: This study aimed to elucidate growth pattern of mechanical properties of the Achilles tendon and to examine if imbalance between growth of bone and muscle-tendon unit occurs during adolescence.

Methods: Fourteen elementary school boys, 30 junior high school boys, 20 high school boys and 15 male adults participated in this study. Based on estimated age at peak height velocity (PHV), junior high school boys were separated into two groups (before or after PHV).

Estimating the Upper Limit of Lifetime Probability Distribution, Based on Data of Japanese Centenarians.

In modern biology, theories of aging fall mainly into two groups: damage theories and programed theories. If programed theories are true, the probability that human beings live beyond a specific age will be zero. In contrast, if damage theories are true, such an age does not exist, and a longevity record will be eventually destroyed.

Paleopathological evidence and detection of Mycobacterium leprae DNA from archaeological skeletal remains of Nabe-kaburi (head-covered with iron pots) burials in Japan.

The Nabe-kaburi is a unique burial method, the purpose of which is shrouded in mystery. The burials were performed during the 15(th) to 18(th) centuries in eastern Japan, and involved covering the heads of the deceased with iron pots or mortars. The identification of leprosy-specific osteological lesions among some of the excavated remains has led to the suggestion that Nabe-kaburi burials were a reflection of the social stigma against certain infectious diseases, such as leprosy, tuberculosis or syphilis.