Objectives: Eating attitudes represent a significant health risk for young women. According to Japan’s 2019 National Health and Nutrition Survey, 20.7% of women in their 20s have a Body mass index (BMI) below 18.5 kg/m². In this study we aimed to examine the psychological mechanisms underlying body image distortion, weight loss desire, and high Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) scores, with a focus on personality traits and self-efficacy, in young women without suspected eating disorders.

Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted in December 2020 on 167 female university students in Okayama, Japan. Participants with EAT-26 scores of 20 or higher were excluded, and the final analysis was conducted on young women without suspected eating disorders. The survey assessed personality traits using the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), self-efficacy using the Trait Self-Efficacy Scale, and eating attitudes using EAT-26. Data were analyzed using multiple regression and path analysis.

Results: Factor analysis revealed five subscales of self-efficacy: “Patience”, “Coping Skills”, “Execution Ability”, “Sociability”, and “Challenge”. Multiple regression analysis showed that both “Patience” and “Coping Skills” were negatively associated with body image distortion and weight loss desire. The NEO-FFI subscale “Extraversion” was positively associated with both weight loss desire and EAT-26 scores, whereas “Neuroticism” was positively associated with EAT-26 scores. These subscales may serve as predictive psychological factors. Furthermore, path analysis confirmed a sequential model of a process in which body image distortion leads to weight loss desire, which in turn contributes to higher EAT-26 scores.

Conclusions: In this study we developed a sequential model of a process in which body image distortion leads to weight loss desire, which subsequently results in higher EAT-26 scores. This process was found to be associated with the self-efficacy subscales “Patience” and “Coping Skills” and the personality trait subscales “Neuroticism” and “Extraversion”.

Objectives: In this study, we aimed to identify work environmental factors related to work engagement among nurses in a medium-sized hospital, based on levels of sense of coherence (SOC).

Methods: An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire was administered to 102 nurses working at a medium-sized hospital. The participants were divided into two groups based on the mean SOC scores, and multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the work environmental factors related to work engagement.

Results: In the low SOC-score group, positive factors included “My workplace provides opportunities to learn necessary knowledge” and “Facilities such as a nap room and daycare center are provided.” Positive factors in the high SOC-score group included “I have opportunities to demonstrate my abilities including my qualifications and experience.” However, “Ward meetings and committee activities held during working hours” was a negative factor.

Conclusions: To create a workplace that enhances work engagement, it is important to support the acquisition of necessary knowledge in a series of steps. When SOC is low, it is important to provide nap rooms and childcare facilities. When SOC is high, it is vital to provide support so that they can focus on patient care during working hours and attend meetings without difficulty.

We received Dr. Takaoka’s responses. The nine major points described in these responses were reviewed from the basic perspectives of epidemiology, toxicology and neuroscience. The responses indicate important failures in our views: exposure and health hazards are misconsidered from the toxicological perspective, mass biases in epidemiological surveys, and ignorance from the pathological viewpoint. We are looking forward to scientific discussion.

In response to the review of my book “Minamata Disease and the Responsibility of Medicine” by Makoto Futatsuka, Komyo Eto, and Makoto Uchino, I submitted a “Reply” pointing out that the review contained many medical errors, logical inconsistencies, and ethical problems. In the “Forum” that the three authors subsequently contributed, they presented six more points of negative findings on exposure and health problems related to Minamata disease in a fragmented manner, without responding to the various issues that I had pointed out in the “Reply.” In the case of environmental pollution causing diseases such as Minamata disease, the tasks of researchers in the field of medicine and public health are to (1) investigate the temporal and spatial spread of health problems, (2) investigate the pathophysiological factors for the health problems caused by environmental pollution, and (3) establish diagnostic criteria based on toxicological and epidemiological information. However, the three authors’ opinions and logic clearly indicate that they lacked a standard academic or practical approach to methylmercury poisoning to pursue these three points, and that their understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease was inadequate and the premise for pursuing a diagnosis was flawed. Through discussions in this forum, the inaction of experts in the fields of public health, neurology, and pathology with regard to Minamata disease, as insisted in my book, was considered to be further confirmed.

Objective: In this study, we aimed to examine the relationship between the Eating Assessment Tool-10 (EAT10) score, a screening index for dysphagia, and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) score, which evaluates daytime sleepiness in Japanese workers.

Method: A cross-sectional study of 496 workers (454 men and 42 women) at two business locations in Japan was conducted from November 2021 to June 2022. Dysphagia was assessed using the score of EAT10, a self-administered questionnaire. Daytime sleepiness was evaluated by calculating the score of ESS, a self-administered questionnaire. To examine the correlation between the degree of dysphagia (EAT10 score) and the degree of daytime sleepiness (ESS score), Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was calculated. Logistic regression analysis was performed with the presence or absence of daytime sleepiness as the dependent variable and the presence or absence of dysphagia and basic attributes as the independent variables, and the effect of dysphagia on daytime sleepiness was evaluated using odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals.

Results: EAT10 scores of 3 or higher accounted for 5.6% of the total number of participants. High ESS scores (3 or higher) were significantly more frequent in the high-EAT10score group (odds ratio, 3.92: 95% confidence interval, 1.54–10.1) when adjusting for the effects of gender, age, body mass index, alcohol consumption, and smoking.

Conclusion: This study suggests that dysphagia may be associated with daytime sleepiness in Japanese workers. Even a method using only a simple self-administered questionnaire may enable early detection and treatment of dysphagia and excessive daytime sleepiness.

Objectives: Using the Total Health Index (THI) health check questionnaire, we aim to clarify the subjective health associated with working using visual display terminals (VDTs).

Methods: Focusing on male manufacturing workers, we analyzed data from responses to 130 THI questions in the four annual surveys from 2010 for three groups: those who worked with VDTs for four hours or more per day (4 h<), less than four hours per day (4 h>), and those who did not use VDTs (0 h). We examined the state of subjective health by assigning scores to the three-choice responses to each question (yes=3, sometimes=2, no=0 point). We then calculated the cumulative scale score for each of the 16 scales to determine the three groups’ characteristics.

Results: The 4 h<, 4 h>, and 0 h groups consisted of 480, 440, and 80 employees, respectively. The 4 h< group had significantly more complaints of eye fatigue, lack of energy, and others than the 4 h> group. The mean percentile of the scale score was significantly higher for the two scales of “eyes/skin” and “depression” in the 4 h< group than the 4 h> group. We compared the changes in scale scores between those who increased and those who decreased their VDT work time with those in the previous year. The group increased with VDT work time showed higher scores in the questions “lack of energy recently” and others. Regular exercise reduced the severity of complaints about depression.

Conclusions: THI confirmed that prolonged VDT work has negative impacts on health. To reduce these negative impacts, surveys using THI are useful for determining preventive measures.

Hygiene is a field of study that aims to “protect health” and “protect lifestyle” of people from external factors such as bacteria, poor nutrition, and toxic chemicals, as well as internal factors such as lifestyle and stress. In the early days of hygiene science in Japan, the results of nutritional epidemiology research by Dr. Kanehiro Takaki, a naval doctor who studied medicine in Kagoshima, on the prevention of beriberi, a national disease at the time, were highly regarded internationally. Since then, hygiene research on food ingredients has been vigorously pursued to expand from basic research to applied research, as exemplified by the development of the allithiamine. The symposium “Food Ingredients and Hygiene: Exploring the Functions of Food Ingredients from Hygiene” was organized by the Young Researchers Association at the 94th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Hygiene (Kagoshima) to introduce recent research and examples of industry-academia collaboration. Young researchers involved in hygiene research on foods and food materials presented their recent work ranging from basic research, such as the functional evaluation of foods by animal experiments and the evaluation of the effects of polyphenols and yogurt on health, which have long been studied, to applied research leading to the commercialization of foods with useful physiological effects. This mini-review is a summary of the symposium. As the Young Researchers Association, we hope that this symposium/mini-review will encourage young researchers to become interested in various functions of food ingredients, conduct related research, and consider how to contribute their research results to society.