Health Literacy (HL) is defined as individual’s skill in finding and applying the health information. Little is known about health literacy among Japanese-Brazilian. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between HL and language environment among elderly Japanese-Brazilian in South Brazil. The study design was a cross-sectional study, and language environment, life environment and HL were investigated by the questionnaires. Among 52 subjects, 28 were female. Age and HL scores were opposite correlation (p<0.05). It suggests that older Japanese-Brazilian were inadequate HL. The HL of Portuguese speakers was more adequate than that of only Japanese speakers. Therefore, it is necessary to give appropriate information according to HL level in elderly Japanese-Brazilian.

A self-rating questionnaire survey was administered to 632 married female nurses working in 46 hospitals with 200 beds or more in the Kanto district, aiming to identify the satisfaction levels in work life balance (WLB) and the factors influencing the levels of satisfaction. We used chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests to analyze the data.

The analyses showed that following factors influence the WLB satisfaction levels : “work assignment categories”, “length of overwork”, “exercise habits”, “communication in the family”, “participation in workshops”, “role models”, “goals”, “ability to pursue career plans”, “motivation to remain in nursing”, “institutional arrangements”, and with subscales for “job satisfaction” (professional position, payment, the nurse management, relationship with physicians and nurses, mutual relations among nurses, professional autonomy and the nursing assignments), “subjective feelings of happiness”, “social support of the workplace” of the Job Stress Questionnaire and subscales for these (support from superiors, support from colleagues, and overall social support at the workplace), and “degree of mental health”.

It was identified that the WLB satisfaction levels can be determined from the question, “Are you Satisfied with WLB?” and its answers, “Satisfied” or “Not Satisfied”. The findings suggest that having exercise habits, communication in the family, role models, ability to pursue career plans, and accessing social resources are important for satisfaction with WLB. It is also important for nurse managers to make efforts to improve the social support at the workplaces as well as the job satisfaction as the findings suggest that these two strongly influence the WLB satisfaction level.

Effect of heat-cooking on nutritional availability of iron and selenium contained in beef was examined. Three kinds of diets (casein diet, raw beef diet and roast beef diet) containing protein of 16%, iron of 20μg/g and selenium of 110ng/g were prepared. In the casein diet, sources of protein and iron were casein and ferric citrate, respectively and sources of selenium were casein (15ng/g) and selenite (95ng/g). In the raw or roast beef diet, sources of protein, iron and selenium were the raw or roast beef powder. Eighteen male four-week Wistar rats were divided into three groups and fed the casein, raw beef or roast beef diet for four weeks. Hemoglobin, serum transferrin saturation and iron contents in liver and kidney were significantly lower in the rats fed the beef diets than those fed the casein diets. Among the rats fed the beef diets, lower values tend to be observed in the rats fed the roast beef diet than in those fed the raw beef diet. In serum and hepatic selenium contents, the rats fed the raw beef diet showed significantly lower values than the other rats. Selenium contents of the rats fed the roast beef diet were similar to those of the rats fed the casein diet in serum and liver, but was significantly higher in kidney. Glutathione peroxidase activities of the rats fed the beef diets tended to be lower than those of the rats fed the casein diet in liver and kidney, and in particular, a significant difference was observed between the casein and roast beef groups. In a ratio of glutathione peroxidase to selenium content, the roast beef group showed significantly lower values than the other two groups in the liver and kidney. These results leads a possibility that heat-cooking reduces a nutritional availability of iron and selenium contained in beef.

Nutrition counseling by a dietitian is associated with a frequency-dependent reduction in the level of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), and this effect is influenced by increased self-efficacy and eating behavior stage. Although DM duration decreases the effects of nutrition counseling by a dietitian, the high frequency counseling counteracts DM duration influence. Additionally, for the purpose of leading a more effective nutrition counseling method based on the transreational model (TTM) for patients with type 2 DM, a structural model of the interaction between variables connected to its HbA1c-reducing effect, such as counseling frequency, DM duration, eating behavior stage, was elicited using path analysis. From the result of the path analysis leading to the improvement of HbA1c, it was shown that DM duration and HbA1c level and age at the start of counseling negatively affected the reduction in HbA1c level, directly or indirectly. In contrast, high frequency of TTM-based nutrition counseling yielded greater patient self-efficacy and elicited improved eating behavior, and an HbA1c-reducing effect was confirmed. It was also elucidated that it is more effective for patients to simultaneously acquire DM-related knowledge and practice exercise behavior, in addition to eating behavior change in order to increase self-efficacy.