Objective: To investigate the impression of outpatients with cancer on Complementary/Alternative Medicine (CAM) and determine the subjective effect of CAM on their psychosomatic state Method: A survey was performed with 90 outpatients with cancer using an anonymous, self-completed questionnaire created by the investigators. The questionnaire contained (1) 15 items about the impression of the respondent of CAM and (2) 14 items about the subjective effect of CAM on the current psychosomatic state of the respondent. To ethically justify the survey, potential candidates of the survey were fully informed of the survey and the questionnaire given to only those who agreed to participate in it. They completed the questionnaire and individually returned it by mail. Results: Valid responses to the questionnaire were obtained from 62 patients (69%). The primary component analysis of the impression of CAM extracted two components of "expectation" and "hesitation." For the subjective effect of CAM on the current psychosomatic state, a significant difference was noted for the following five items (P<0.01): improvement of disease, improvement of symptoms, mental assurance, relationship with physicians and nurses, and financial burden. Discussion: The outpatients with cancer had two contradictory impressions of CAM. It was found that CAM had influence not only on the improvement of disease and symptoms, but also on the relationship with medical professionals and financial burden.

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The purpose of this study aimed to examine the antecedents of organizational commitment and to investigate the relationship between organizational commitment and intention to leave organization (hospitals) among Japanese clinical nurses. A questionnaire survey was administered to 650 nurses working in 11 hospitals (4 public hospitals and 7 private hospitals) randomly selected from 122 hospitals in one prefecture. As a result, 524 nurses responded (the rate of collection was 80.6%). This statistic was calculated for 318 nurses who were female and under 60 years old, and who had no missing value for any of the variables. Multiple regression analysis revealed organizational characteristics of the hospital (e.g., satisfaction with salary and welfare, supports from supervisors and colleagues, and reputation from colleagues in the ward) were significant predictors of affective, continuous, and normative commitment to organization. In addition, affective and continuous component of commitment to organization were significant predictors of intention to leave organization. These findings emphasize the importance of improvement of working condition and establishment of supervisor and colleague support system in workplace that could enhance organizational commitment, in order to retain experienced nurses and decrease turnover.

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The purpose of this study is to examine what kind of parameter should be observed and analyzed for evaluating gait symmetry in clinical setting. In this study, we particularly investigated step length, single stance duration, and single swing duration in gait symmetry toward people without impairment. Participants in this study were nine females without neuro-motor impairment and/or disorders. They walked on a 10m walkway with a comfortable speed in a laboratory. Three-dimension motion analysis was conducted to collect and analyze step length, single stance duration, and single swing duration of bilateral lower limbs. Statistical analysis for gait symmetry that were used were the paired t-test, Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient and symmetry index in step length, single stance and swing duration. The result of the present study suggested that no significant differences between limbs showed in step length, single stance duration, and single swing duration. In addition, correlations are higher in step length and single stance duration than in single swing duration. The symmetry index was small in the order corresponding to single stance duration, step length, and single swing duration. In conclusion, single stance duration was the closest to symmetry in these parameters and was superior as a gait variable of gait symmetry. We further should examine gait variables to establish observational gait analysis.

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The purpose of this study is to know what kind of supports do the occupational therapists (OTRs) in hospitals do for the psychosocial aspects of the stroke clients, and what kind of problems do the OTRs have when doing the supports. We did a questionnaire by the free mention questions for the OTRs in hospitals. It implemented by the mailing to 434 OTRs randomly extracted and we got answers from 129. The result of the categorization by the KJ method showed that the actual supports have 5 categories, the problems have 5 categories, and the points of teamwork have 4 categories. The categories of actual supports are 'the clinical relationships with the stroke clients', 'personal factors and environmental factors', 'special psychological supports', 'team supports', and 'use activities and groups'. The OTRs regard 'the clinical relationships with the stroke clients' as most important. The categories of the problems are 'the problems on the side of the clients', 'adaptation to the disability', 'the problems on the side of OTRs', 'the problems of the environments and the systems', and 'the problems about the OTR-client relationships'. Conclusively, OTRs in hospitals must advance the skill of using narrative reasoning, the skill of using conceptual models and measures attaching importance to subjective aspects of clients, and the skill of building up a closer teamwork with the other specialists.

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We performed sensory evaluation for 166 stroke patients and we studied the influence that presence of dysesthesia gave to sensory function. And then, the sensory evaluation tried for quantification as much as possible. In addition, we studied focal presence in tractus thalamocorticalis lesions by CT and relations of dysesthesia. As a result, the following were suggested. 1) Stroke patients were easy to produce dysesthesia. 2) Regardless of focal presence in tractus thalamocorticalis lesions, dysesthesia occurs. 3) Sensory function except vibration sense is disordered whether it is not disordered. 4) High degree of difficulty discrimination senses, such as two-point discrimination sense and graphasthesia and stereognosis, it was thought that there were easy to become disorder by dysesthesia.

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We have proposed a speech production substitute which makes up for a function of articulation by using a pointing device and a wearable PC. In our substitute method, parameters for controlling the device were determined by a position and movement of user's finger. The parameters were minimized as much as possible by considering perceptual characteristics of human speech recognition. We made a prototype model using formant synthesis software on a personal computer and using a pen-tablet interface for the pointing device. In the evaluation tests, 5 continuous speech sounds, which were synthesized by tracing the pen-tablet, were used for recognition test. Although random noise sounds producing fricative and plosive consonants did not exist in the sentences, most consonants contained in the continuous speech sounds were recognizable. Furthermore, it was able to produce emotional expression by changing the movement velocity and a touching rhythm. Since how to handle the device is easy, it is anticipated that our speech production method is very effective for people with some articulation difficulties as one of communication tools in their daily life.

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