This paper examines the data obtained by our latest time use survey, which was conducted in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, in 1995, and discusses the present state of social/cultural activities time in light of the structure of total time use considering gender differences.
Gender differences in paid work time, housework time, and total working time have been found to affect social/cultural activities time. The full-time employed wives have very many other factors of time use that affect their free time, and each of those factors is strong in the intensity of effect. The full-time employed wives and their husbands, on the other hand, show a new tendency to spend a high percentage of time on “activities with family members and related to the creation of family culture” including relaxing with family members. As to the question of choice between income and time, there are many, not only among the full-time employed wives households but also on the whole, who favor reducing work time even at the sacrifice of income rather than securing free time through the use of external housework and other services that are offered on a commercial basis.

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Authors employed factor analysis to clarify the different dimensions of fathers' roles as perceived by young children in relation to father-child interactions. Based on operationalism, authors endeavored to establish relationship between the different dimensions of fathers' roles and the father-child interactions as perceived by children. Children's self-esteem was also analyzed in terms of father-child interactions. Five hundred and seventy-five university and college students contributed to research, and the data provided by them were studied by factor analysis. Author obtained six different dimensions of fathers' roles, of which compassionate, leader-breadwinner and acceptance-teaching roles were associated with closer father-child interactions, have an influence on children's self-esteem. Authors speculate that the fathers' roles as well as father figure do exist in children's minds in spite of the frequent reference by mass media to the Japanese families functioning without father.

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The minimum effective dose and dose response of depolymerized sodium alginate (DSA, average molecular weight of 5×10⁴) on the acceleration of sterol excretion into feces after the oral administration of ³H-cholesterol were investigated with rats. The radioactivity levels of the neutral sterol fraction and acidic sterol fraction were separately determined to elucidate the mechanism for this accelerated sterol excretion.
After administering 100mg of DSA/kg of body weight, the isotope level in the neutral and/or acidic sterol fraction increased on the 1st day after the DSA dose. With a dose of 300mg/kg, the isotope level in the fecal neutral sterol fraction increased, and the absorption of cholesterol was dose-dependently suppressed. The ratio of fecal acidic sterols to absorbed cholesterol during 4 days was also significantly greater in the 300 mg group than in the control group.
These results indicate that the minimum effective dose of DSA to accelerate cholesterol excretion into the feces was 100 mg of DSA/kg of body weight, a dose-response effect being apparent in the cholesterol excretion. DSA had an accelerating effect on the excretion of neutral sterols, and possibly an indirect effect on the metabolism of acidic sterols.

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The effect of concomitantly feeding depolymerized sodium alginate (DSA, average molecular weight of 5×10⁴) and cholesterol on the serum and liver cholesterol levels in rats was investigated for 14days. The dietary concentrations of DSA were 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0%. The hypercholesterolemia induced by dietary cholesterol and cholate was significantly suppressed by the addition of more than 1.0 of DSA to the diet, no dose dependency being observed between the 1.0 and 4.0 % DSA levels. The increment of liver cholesterol content was suppressed by the addition of 4.0% of DSA to the diet.DSA is assumed to have had a suppressive effect on the serum and liver cholesterol contents.

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The effects were studied of a long-term administration of rice pretreated with digestive enzymes on the growth of rats. We found that rice predigested with pancreatin or diastase was more rapidly and effectively absorbed than non-treated rice. In the groups of rats given rice pretreated with digestive enzymes, the serum glucose levels were elevated concomitantly with the increase of such lipids as triglyceride and cholesterol ester, this being indicative of more highly efficient lipid synthesis. Rice treated with the enzymes did not disturb the liver function or growth. Futhermore, rice treated with diastase resulted in a reduced large intestinal length. This might have resulted from the more effective absorption of carbohydrate from the small intestine of the rats.
These results suggest that rice treated with digestive enzymes may be an appropriate food for aged persons, sportsmen, and patients with alimentary tract disorders, exhaustive diseases, infectious diseases, metabolic diseases such as diabetes, or food allergies.

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The occurrence of the carbon-phosphorus compound 2-aminoethylphosphonic acid (2-AEP) in sixteen species of edible shellfish is demonstrated.
Edible shellfish have previously been found to contain 2-AEP, and the present study adds a number of new species to the positive list. 2-AEP was found in the chloroform-methanol-soluble (lipid) and TCA-insoluble fractions of the samples. About 21, 9, 5 and 2 mg of 2-AEP were isolated from the lipid of freeze-dried material from Tengunishi Hemifusus ternatanus (134g), Uchiwaebi Ibacus ciliatus (55g), Gazami Portunus trituberculatus (16g) and Uni Hygrosoma hoplacantha (32g), respectively. The compound was purified by a combination of ion-exchange column chromatography with Dowex 50-X4 and Dowex 1-X8 resins. The infrared spectrum of the isolated compound showed an absorption band at 1, 180 cm^-1 due to a C-P bond, and was essentially identical with that of authentic 2-AEP. Hydrolysis of the compound by a strong acid resulted in neither an change in the chromatographic behavior of this compound nor in the liberation of inorganic phosphate. The stability of the compound to acid hydrolysis suggests the presence of a C-P bond. Comparison with a synthetic compound indicated that the aqueous hydrolysis product behaved like 2-aminoethylphosphonic acid on a thin-layer chromatogram. The sixteen species of edible shellfish selected here each had a relatively high concentration of 2-AEP.

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Native ovalbumin (NOA) and heat-denatured ovalbumin (HDOA) were digested with pepsin, trypsin or chymotrypsin. The resulting digests were characterized by their degree of hydrolysis, using tricine sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (tricine SDS-PAGE), and by their degree of antigenicity, namely their binding activity to the anti-NOA rabbit IgG antibody, using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). When NOA was digested with pepsin, the degree of hydrolysis increased with the time of incubation (0, 10 and 30 min, and 1, 2, 3, 10 and 24 h); that is, large peptides of MW 45, 000-18, 000 were decreased and small peptides of MW 15, 000-2, 500 were increased. The antigenicity of the NOA digest after 24 h of incubation with pepsin was reduced to 70.9 % of that of intact NOA; however, NOA was barely hydrolyzed with trypsin or chymotrypsin, the antigenicity of the digest remaining almost unchanged. The antigenicity of HDOA, which was obtained by heating a 0.2% NOA solution at pH 7.2 for 10 min at 98 °C, decreased to 81.8 % of that of NOA. The hydrolysis of HDOA was considerably increased and the antigenicity was decreased (i.e., 8.4%, 82.0% and 21.3% in the 24-h digest with pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin, respectively). These results indicate that the antigenic structure of ovalbumin is relatively stable.

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