【Background】Today, food education is recommended and, support is thus required to improve the expertise of school nutrition staff. 【Objective】The purpose of this report was to examine a support seminar led by an occupational therapists, and obtain a starting point to improve its content. 【Methods】The seminar was targeted at 24 students, and was followed up by an anonymous self-administered questionnaire covering basic questions such as usefulness of each lecture topic and its degree of difficulty, appropriateness of time allocated to daily lectures, and seminar length. 【Results】Regarding usefulness, more than 95.8% students responded that all lecture topics were "useful" or "fairly useful". As for theirs degree of difficulty, 87.0-100% answered "I could understand" or "I could understand it more or less", for all topics; for the brain function topic, 13.0% answered "I could not understand it very well". 【Conclusion】The questionnaire showed that the lectures were useful, but it emerged that there was a need to modify lecture contents such as brain function and sensory nervous system to make them more understandable.

We conducted a survey on the working conditions of speech-language-hearing therapists (ST) in special needs education schools. The numbers of full-time and part-time workers and the actual working hours of ST were all low, to a significantly greater degree in elementary sections and schools for hearing impairment, and to a lesser degree in schools for visual impairment and health impairment. It is estimated that the actual working hours of ST are concentrated in the specific sections and schools. It is necessary to promote understanding of ST's specialty and to improve the profession's recognition to promote cooperation and participation in the field of special needs education.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the magnitude of the stretch reflex response and the threshold at which it appears by changing the mass of the reflex hammer and the velocity of the tendon tap. Tendon taps were applied to the tendon of the quadriceps femoris of 20 healthy volunteers using four levels of reflex hammer mass and five levels of velocity for each mass. We found that the magnitude of the reflex response, as measured by integrated electromyography, increased with an increase in velocity and with an increase in the mass of the reflex hammer. However, there was a threshold of tendon tap velocity to elicit the reflex response, below which no reflex appeared. The findings of this study indicate that the velocity of the tendon tap required to elicit a response was 1-2 m/s.

[Objective] This observational study examined the usefulness of the grade-point average for required subjects (GPA-RS) to predict withdrawal from the Faculty of Physical Therapy. [Subjects and Methods] A total of 179 students, who had enrolled in the Faculty of Physical Therapy within a 4-year period, were classified into 2 groups: 145 who had graduated (graduated group); and 34 who had withdrawn (withdrawal group), to compare their GPAs-RS during each semester. Based on the ROC curve, a cutoff was adopted to calculate reliability. [Results] The GPAs-RS of the graduated and withdrawal groups during each semester were as follows (median, interquartile range): S1: 2.17（1.92-2.42）and 1.75（1.50-2.25）; S2: 2.36（2.10-2.55）and 1.82（1.63-2.10）; S3: 2.14（1.86-2.50）and 1.07（0.21-1.50; S4: 2.22（1.91-2.61）and 0.91（0.57-1.78; S5: 2.54（2.31-2.77）and 1.77（1.35-2.23）; and S6: 2.50（2.25-2.75）and 1.63（1.10-2.27）, respectively; the former showed significantly higher values. Similarly, the cutoff and reliability during each semester were as follows: S1: 2.10 and 76.7%; S2: 1.95 and 85.7%; S3: 1.45 and 90.2%; S4: 1.68 and 91.0%; S5: 2.28 and 80.0%; and S6: 2.20 and 75.8%, respectively. [Conclusion] The GPA-RS may be useful to predict withdrawal from the Faculty of Physical Therapy, with a reliability of 75.8 to 91.0%.

Students in physical therapy courses usually enter college directly after graduating from senior high school and are in their adolescence. It is known that self-esteem, narcissism, and anthropophobia are correlated with one another in the formation of adolescent self-image. These factors affect the clinical training of physical therapy students. Correlations between the results of training assessment and self-esteem, narcissism, and anthropophobia were examined in students (N=89). Results indicated that students with an affirmative self-image had better training results. Moreover, students with a high-level of narcissism had better results in the final training whereas a high level of anthropophobia had a negative effect on training results. It is important for students in physical therapy courses to become sociable when participating in clinical training. Furthermore, instructors should help students develop an affirmative self-image. Key words: self-esteem, narcissism, anthropophobia

[Purpose] This case study is to investigate effective intervention methods for children with cerebral palsy in rural areas in Malawi. [Subject and Method] 5yr old male with Cerebral Palsy diagnosed as Diplegia with the GMFCS level Ⅲ. We used the GMFM-88 for assessing his motor function and made a treatment plan which was centered on standing and walking tasks. The treatment was conducted by his mother and community volunteers. [Result] Regarding the GMFM-88, only the score in the standing domain increased by 8% at the end of treatment and then by 26% two months after the treatment, therefore in total 34%. The CBR matrix was also improved. [Conclusion] The combination of intensive physiotherapy and coaching by caregivers led to improvement in the motor function of the child. In addition, the collaboration between the caregivers and the community volunteers created the ideal intervention for the CBR.

Marijuana has been used for therapeutic purpose for many centuries. Cannabinoids are the constituents in marijuana (Cannabis sativa). Among the many cannabinoids, Δ−9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is psychoactive. Cannabidiol (CBD), however, devoid of psychoactive effects and is the most abundant cannabinoid. Recently, considerable interest has been directed to the therapeutic effects of CBD. CBD may exert their effects by binding to the variety of receptors. CB1 and CB2 are well characterized cannabinoid receptors which are G protein-coupled receptors. CB1 receptor is primarily expressed in the nerve terminals, and regulates neuro-transmitter release in the central nerve system. CB2 receptor is mainly expressed in non-neuronal cells outside the central nerve system such as lymphocytes and macrophages. In addition to these receptors, CBD has been reported to produce the effects via GPR55, TRP, 5-HT, and PPAR receptors. This review will focus on the therapeutic potential of CBD and its underlying mechanisms.

Aromatherapy has both psychological and physiological effects on a person's mind and/or body. The psychological effect is produced by alteration of brain activity through the olfactory stimulation from sense of smell. The physiological response is produced by the pharmacological effect of chemical substances in the essential oil. This review introduces profiles of essential oils and discuss their possible application to rehabilitation.

Currently, aspiration pneumonia is a major social problem in Japan with several subjects being elderly individuals. In treatment of swallowing disorder, it is necessary to start swallowing rehabilitation promptly. Various international methodologies and choices are available in this regard. However, a standard methodology has been established yet. A variety of approaches have been carried out by introducing medical devices and improving conventional methods. Research is warranted to establish standard techniques and intervention methods in the treatment of swallowing disorders, including the establishment of more effective rehabilitation strategies. Adequate oral ingestion has a strong impact on the quality of life of individuals suffering from this disorder. A widely-available effective strategy for is warranted.

The verbal fluency task is a relatively simple task used for screening of dementia in several medical and healthcare settings. Recent advancements in neural function imaging have facilitated comprehensive investigation of the correlation between the brain activity part in task and cognitive functions.In the study of verbal fluency task, there have been numerous researches associated with the number of words recollected, but recently not only the number of words remembered but also the search strategy have been studied.This study aims to outline the characteristics of the verbal fluency task and the performance of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD); it also aims to elucidate the efficacy and prospects of the verbal fluency task in the diagnosis of dementia.