This research investigates the fragmented memories of wives bereaved after caring for husbands with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, which means they cannot consolidate their memories and, as a result, forget or recover the memories in unstable, sensuous, emotional and unconscious manners. We used semi-structured interviews with seven bereaved wives and analyzed the data in a qualitative and descriptive way. As a result, five categories were extracted such as "repeated expression of confusing events", "events difficult to erase because of memories instilled in them", "time axis of deteriorated memories", "sensory expression recorded in memory" and "expression of settlement of unfinished work". The bereaved wives repeatedly spoke about the embarrassing events realistically and recollected specific memories with regret. However, they could not recall some memories at all. It was believed that the creation of a clinical history and the collection of notes by CD-ROM triggered them to rearrange the stories and consolidate their memories. Caregivers are required to encourage them to express their feelings and to listen to them attentively.

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We have carried out a questionnaire survey regarding reproductive medicine with young female students of the nursing school and the dental hygienist school. The questionnaire asked students their attitudes toward studying prenatal diagnosis. And it also asked their opinions regarding whether they want to hear details about prenatal diagnosis or preimplantation diagnosis in their own future. Students of nursing school are highly interested in studying about prenatal diagnosis. The third-grade students of nursing school have even realized ethical issue on prenatal diagnosis. Students of dental hygienist school have poor knowledge in comparison with nursing school students, but 3/4 of students of each nursing and hygienist groups also want to have information on prenatal and preimplantation diagnoses specifically when they would like to have a baby in the future. Reproductive medicine including technology like prenatal and preimplantation diagnoses involves difficult judgments concerning ethics and needs scientifically precise explanations with psychological support. So genetic counseling is imperative before and after treatment. This questionnaire study from around 20 year-old female students provides a basis on which genetic counselors cope with problems of this field.

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A thorough review of the pertinent literature on smoking trends among women during pregnancy and the postpartum period was conducted to elucidate the trends and current status of smoking of woman during pregnancy and the postpartum period in Japan. A total of 93 studies from the literature were reviewed. These reports were classified into three themes as follows: 1.There were 60 on the influence of smoking. 2.There were 29 regarding the smoking status of women. 3. There were 29 dealing with how to help female smokers quit smoking. The smoking rate before pregnancy ranged from about 20% to 40%, while during pregnancy the rate decreased from about 5% to about 12%. However, it rose again to about 13% at five months after birth, and to then about 18% at 1 year and six months after birth. These findings showed that there are a lot of women who begin smoking at an early time after birth. The factors related to the ability to quit smoking are feelings of self-efficacy and the number of cigarettes that women smoked before pregnancy. The reasons for quitting smoking after birth were found to be related to the smoking of either friends or partners. The reasons for quitting smoking among women were found to be as follows: the physiologic changes that are experienced during pregnancy, advice from friends and family, and child care stress. There have so far only been a few studies regarding support programs to help pregnant woman stop smoking; however, there tend to be many more studies published about postpartum woman than about pregnant woman. In the future, it will be necessary to support of smoking cessation programs for pregnant or postpartum women, their family and their friend. It should also be further examined in studies regarding intervention programs to help such individuals quit smoking.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of joint traction of upper limb on soleus H-reflex. Sixteen healthy male subjects who had no orthopedic or neurological disease participated in this study. In supine position, the subjects were passively kept at upper limb neutral position and the combined position that was 30°extended, 20°abducted, 70°internal rotated position of the shoulder respectively, and their upper limb was pulled distally by a pulley. Traction force was set to four kinds of loads (no-load, 3kg, 6kg and 9kg). The combined position was used as one of the starting positions of motion patterns in proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) approach. H-reflex was measured from left soleus muscle, while left tibial nerve was stimulated by electrical stimulation. Stimulus intensity was set to 1.12 fold of H-reflex threshold. Single-square wave, 1 msec pulses, 1 Hz were delivered by a stimulator. Averaging of 32 pulses was measured as H-reflex amplitudes (peak to peak) at each testing position. A two-factor(two upper limb positions×four kinds of traction force)with repeated measure ANOVA was used to identify significant effects. All data analyses were performed using SPSS for windows 13.0, and Level of statistical significance was set at the 0.05 alpha level. The result showed that the traction of upper limb significantly increased the amplitude of the soleus H-reflex. There were no significant differences between the two positions, and no interaction between positions and traction forces. Multiple comparisons showed that traction of 6kg and 9kg significantly increased H-reflex amplitudes compared with no-load. This finding suggests that the traction of upper limb might influence the excitability of soleus motoneuron, and that the more traction force is increased, the more the excitability enhanced.

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The influence of bandage-like compression on architectural changes in gastrocnemius medialis (GM) muscle and its aponeurosis motion was assessed under conditions of rest and isometric muscle contraction in 21 male college students. B-mode ultrasonic images of GM muscle were made underwater using a 9.6 MHz probe. Motion at the contact point between muscle fiber and the superficial aponeurosis (PMS) and between muscle fiber and the deep aponeurosis (PMD), as well as aponeuroses thickness and pennation angle of GM muscle, were measured in vivo and analyzed. Manchette compression was applied at 0, 50, 100 and 150 mmHg with a sphygmomanometer. Increasing compression deformed GM muscle at rest, and PMS and PMD shifted horizontally in the same direction, with PMS showing significantly greater movement than PMD (p<0.01). The results indicate that regulated bandage-like compression can generate architectural changes in GM muscle at rest. During isometric muscle contraction, greater compression was observed to produce smaller displacement of PMS and PMD. This Displacement was significantly small only at 150 mmHg compression.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of motor function and pain on the self-efficacy of women in their activities of daily living(ADL) (degree of confidence that one "can perform" the intended activity). The subjects were 114 women aged 60-78 years who were independent in their ADL. The self-efficacy in their ADL, presence or absence of pain, and sites of pain were examined. For the evaluation of motor functions, the upper extremity muscle strength, balancing ability in the standing position, gait ability, and compound operation ability were measured. The results of logistic regression analysis with the confidence in ADL as the dependent variable and the motor functions, presence or absence of pain, and sites of pain as independent variables revealed gait ability, compound operation ability, presence or absence of pain, and knee joint pain as significant independent factors affecting self-efficacy of older women in their ADL.

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