Disuse muscle atrophy occurs due to immobility or lack of use during impaired consciousness or prolonged bed rest. This study aimed to identify and evaluate factors associated with disuse muscle atrophy. The thicknesses of the rectus femoris and vastus intermedius were measured twice with an ultrasonic diagnostic device in 103 patients, who were in the recovery phase of an initial stroke (within 1 week of admission to our hospital and 2 weeks later). Patients with atrophy of ≥ 10% in two measurements were assigned to the atrophy group, while others were assigned to the non-atrophy group. The variables were compared between two groups by multiple logistic regression analysis (atrophy: 1, non- atrophy: 0). In addition, the cutoff values to assess atrophy occurrence were calculated with ROC analysis. The multiple logistic regression analysis selected BRS and ABMS-II with odds ratios of 0.66 and 0.90 as factors of disuse muscle atrophy. The cut-off values were V for BRS and 17.0 points for ABMS-II.

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 Objectives
 This study investigated the effects of a visual search task on the standing balance of chron- ic stroke patients while changing the background in a virtual reality (VR) space. The objec- tives are to clarify whether the VR task with moving background improve chronic stroke pa- tients’balance ability.
 Methods
 Fourteen patients (10 right and 4 left hemiparetic patients) with chronic stroke hemiplegia and whose stroke onsets were more than six months ago were included. The participants were randomly divided into bias task (biased background) and control task (not biased back- ground) groups. We evaluated their standing balance before and after each task and their re- action time for the visual search task.
 Results
 Regarding standing balance and the weight-shift to the paretic side, the rate of change of the mean position on the X-axis in the biased task significantly deflected to the paretic side compared to the control task (p‹0.05). Regarding the visual search task, the rate of change significantly trended downward toward the near paretic side in the biased task compared with the control task (p‹0.1).
 Conclusions
 The visual search task in the VR space with a biased background may improve weight shifting to the paretic side and shorten the reaction time to the near-space of the deviated side.

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 Excessive stress is known to cause a lack of motivation for learning and mental health prob- lems. Because of the difficult curriculum in medical education, the daily life of medical stu- dents is considered physically and mentally stressful.
 To confirm whether practical examination causes stress for medical trainees and whether stress reactions are related to learning methods and practical examination scores, this study investigated the following: 1) changes in stress responses before and after a practical exami- nation, 2) effects of prior learning methods on stress response and practical examination scores, and 3) the relationship between psychological stress response before examination and the test score. Salivary amylase activity (SAA) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), which reflect sympathetic activity and the anxiety state, respectively, were measured.
 The participants were 23 physiotherapy training students, which were randomly divided into text- and video-learning groups. After 15 minutes of learning with text or video, they per- formed a practical examination, consisting of measuring the hip range for a simulation pa- tient. Examiners scored the students’attitude and skill. In addition, the students answered the STAI before the examination, and their SAA was measured just before, just after, and 15 minutes after the examination.
 The SAA gradually increased just before, just after, and after 15 minutes. The values were significantly higher just after and 15 minutes after the exam compared to the steady state. The attitudinal score was correlated with trait anxiety, so the participants with high trait anxi- ety had a high attitudinal score. In addition, the attitudinal score in the text-learning group was significantly higher than that in the video-learning group. These results indicate that the trait anxiety score and prior learning method are related to the attitudinal score, which may provide useful information for teaching and responding to students in practical examinations.

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 In the field of employment support for individuals with mental disorders, there is a demand for individualized career support and assistance aimed at self-actualization. To meet this demand, it is crucial to focus on the subjective evaluation of the individuals themselves. However, current practices rely heavily on the experience and intuition of support providers, and the subjectivity of the clients has not been clarified in employment support. In this study, we conducted a quantitative text analysis by extracting narratives and subjective elements from literature to explore the subjective perspectives held by individuals with mental disorders who are employed in companies. The results revealed 11 categories, with "Commitment and Purpose in Work" and "Awareness of Life Changes" identified as core categories. These findings have the potential to serve as focal points for future efforts in promoting sustainable employment for individuals with mental disorders.

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