It was well known that the roles of bone in body are both guard of the fragile organs and support of the physical structures. But the more important role of the bone compared with guard and support becomes obvious recently to hold calcium, whose concentration in body fluid is always constant. As the all cells composed of body are initiated to work by infusion of soluble calcium into individual cell from the body fluid, so the calcium is called to be a flame to burn the life. With advancement of aging, storage of bony calcium shows a tendency to decrease, reducing the bony strength. The state easily to break bone is osteoporosis. In a sence of health of the bone, as well as to increase the bone mineral density, protection of fall and absorption of traumatic force to bone are important to avoid the various fractures in the elderly.

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In Japan, although mortality of the stroke, one of the major cerebrovascular disorders, is rapidly decreasing in recent years, elderly patients suffering from aftereffects of the stroke are still increasing. There, however, are few studies focused on the daily life of the patients in relation to their quality of life (QOL), while the most studies were focused on the physical dysfunction accompanied by the stroke, the mortality rate, and prognostication in activities of daily living (ADL). In this study, follow-up survey was conducted to examine the factors affecting QOL of the elderly-stroke patients (≩60 years old) after discharge from the hospital Using questionnaire, we assessed their QOL from two aspects: 1) social or person's subjective well-being and 2) the aftereffect specific or non-specific physical health. The findings were following: 1) physical disability was not a simple indicator to assess the level of QOL in the stroke patients. 2) For elderly patients, hearing and visual impairment affected their QOL, and incontinence and dependency in ADL, negatively, which put burden on caregivers, especially affected their QOL. 3) Several factors on caregivers, e. g. their health condition, jobs and fatigues, particularly affected QOL in the stroke patients. 4) Demands of caregiving and the severity of the paralysis affected their QOL negatively on physical health but positively on social or subjective well-being. It was suggested that, further structural analysis disease specific QOL-scale need to be developed in order to assist the elderly-stroke patients to attain their higher level of QOL.

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Objective - Buddhist monks in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, were evaluated to determine their KAP (knowledge, attitude and practice) and influence regarding cigarette smoking. Design - An expanded 30-cluster survey, including core questions from World Health Organization guidelines, was employed to conduct in-person interviews with randomly-selected Cambodian Buddhist monks in Phnom Penh for a total of 318 interviews. Results and Discussion - 62% (n=197/318) of monks interviewed have (ever) smoked; but through the use of controls, it was determined that 44% (n=140/318)currently smoke. Of current smokers, 84% (n=118/140) want to quit. 60% (n=71/118) of those who want to quit gave 'health' as the main reason. Even though there is a general understanding that tobacco use is bad for one's health, the majority is unaware of the specific dangers of smoking. 71% (n=226/318) of all respondents said there should be a Buddhist law against smoking. 94% (n=299/318) agreed the government should require warning messages on all tobacco advertising; while an even higher percentage, 96% (n=305/318), thought the government should ban tobacco advertising. 95% (n=133/140)) of smokers stated they would attend a smoking cessation program if one were available. 86% (n=273/318) of all respondents expressed a willingness to teach people about the effects of smoking. Conclusion - Even though smoking prevalence is high among Cambodian Buddhist monks, most smokers want to quit. Figures also show that monks would be supportive of increased tobacco control measures including health education, government regulation and cessation programs for monks - measures needed to bring about desired behavior changes.

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The purpose of this study was to ascertain the effects of problem behaviors in preschool children on their mothers' parenting strain. The subjects were 168 only children (age : 17-77 months) who were attending 14 public nursery schools in M city, Saitama Prefecture in Japan and their mothers (mean age: 31.02 years). Children's problem behaviors that were estimated by their homeroom teachers were composed of 3 areas : "Irritability" (3 items), "Hyperactivity" (4 items) and "Lethargy" (3 items). In order to assess mothers′ parenting strain, Parenting Strain Index or PSI consisted of "appraisal to limitation on social activities" and "appraisal of negative emotions" was used and its assessment was conducted by mothers themselves. A t test indicated that PSI scores for mothers whose children had some problem behaviors were higher than those for mothers with children having no such behaviors. But this association was limited to "appraisal of negative emotions" scores. As for the kinds of problem behaviors, results suggested that "externalizing" behaviors of children were remarkably associated with their mothers' "appraisal of negative emotions."

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We reported previously that the replacement of Ile-Asn-Leu by Gly-Leu-Ala at the positions 1 to 3 of mastoparan T increased the original catecholamine releasing activity from chromaffin cells. In this study, we further substituted the N-terminal three residues with other amino acid residues at these positions of mastoparan and mastoparan T. The hemolytic and catecholamine releasing activities, and the circular dichroism measurements of newly synthesized peptides were examined. These activities were increased with the increase of the hydrophobicity in N-terminal region of mastoparan and mastoparan T, but no difference of α-helix content was observed. The most potent analog, [γ-methylvaleryl^1, Leu^2] mastoparan showed a 50 times enhanced potency over the original activity of mastoparan in hemolysis and an 11 times enhanced potency in catecholamine release. The observation based on the prolonged stimulation of mastoparan on chromaffin cells suggests a mode of action different from that of acetylcholine. Highly active mastoparan analogs synthesized in this study can be a useful probe to study the mechanism for the action of mastoparan in hemolysis and exocytosis, and may be applied for the treatment of related disorders.

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Tripeptidylaldehyde (Z-Leu-Leu-Leu-H) is one of the neurite outgrowth factors. Using the affinity chromatography, in which Z-Leu-Leu-Leu-OH is immobilized on the C-terminus, we have arrived at S-100β as a target protein for this drug. In this study, we will report the reactivity of S-100β with Z-Leu-Leu-Leu-H and the analysis on the modification site, relating with a mechanism of neurite outgrowth. S-100β was coupled with Z-Leu-Leu-Leu-H in a neutral buffer containing Ca^<2+>. The modified protein was purified by HPLC, which was eluted at a position different from that of S-100β. MALDI-TOFMS analysis showed that its molecular weight was larger than native S-100β. After treatment with a reducing agent, it was degraded with proteolytic enzymes. Amino acid sequencing of the peptides showed that the ε-amino group of Lys-55 on S-100β was modified with the aldehyde group of Z-Leu-Leu-Leu-H in a possible manner of Schiff base.

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[in Japanese]

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Few occupational therapists works for children with learning disorder in special classes in Japan. The sensory integration model which is one of the practical models of occupational therapy was applied to the physical education class to learn its effects. The author has been cooperating for 10 year with the physical education class teachers for special class in an elementary schools. As an occupational therapist the auther evaluated the posture reaction and the motor planning of the students, advised teachers on the program for the classes, the use of play tools, environmental setting and supporting. As a result, the teachers understood the importance of the senses in exercising. In collaboration with the teachers, the occupational therapist could offer a new training method to focus on developing the posture reaction and the motor planning of students, instead of the regular repeated trainings.

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[in Japanese]

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