The purpose of this study was to evaluate the application structure of patient's clinical pass and methods of nursing support. From January to July 2003, semi-structured interview was performed with 13 patients who were after operation in general anesthesia, recovered in short time and were able to live in the same conditions as before. Interview content was recorded word for word, and analyzed qualitatively as well as functionally. The results were as follows. The application of patient's pass had four systematic steps: 1. Recognize patient's clinical pass as a material useful for understanding therapeutic plan. 2. Implement it into daily living planning. 3. Use it as a tool for self-management of living during medical treatment. 4. Use it as a tool for self-management of living after leaving hospital. Its progress was generally assessed to be a good hospital medical attitude, a tool useful for standardizing daily living planning, recognition of medical treatment progress and establishing a relationship of trust, and furthermore, for check the efficacy and increasing satisfaction. In conclusion, the application of patient's pass had four steps, and was assessed to improve the progress. Recognizing the step of each patient, and subsequent application in concrete daily living situations should effectively support patients' self-management.

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[in Japanese]

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The purpose of this study was to examine how the motives of participation in volunteer activities are related to the perceived benefits and acquired satisfaction for local citizens. Data were acquired by mail from a questionnaire of 320 persons engaged in volunteer activities. The results of the application of structural equation modeling showed that a modified model was almost adequate to our data (χ^2=160.34, df=86, χ^2/df=1.86, CFI=0.91, RMSEA=0.08). Persons with the higher degree of motives for participation showed higher perceived benefits and satisfaction. However, the motives for participation in volunteer activities did not have a significantly direct influence on the sense of satisfaction. The findings imply the necessity to promote the participation in volunteer activities and coordinate the motives and benefits for volunteer activists as well.

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A possibility that homologous proteins in bone and nacre have the common function to form skeletons of vertebrate and mollusc has been suggested in recent years. In this study, acidic proteins, which are characteristically rich in aspartic acid and glycine residues, were efficiently extracted and isolated from shells by decalcification using acetic acid. To search for new proteins in bone, we applied to bovine femoral cortical bone the same methods as those for shells, such as acetic acid decalcification and ion-exchange chromatography under the acidic condition. Amino acid composition of acetate-soluble protein was almost similar to that of collagen, a major component of bone matrix. Amino acid sequencing analysis of fractions adsorbed on an ion-exchange column demonstrated that a trace of acidic proteins rich in glutamic acid residue might emerge from an excess amount of collagen. It is expected that such new proteins with high affinity for collagen are involved in the process of tissue calcification of bone.

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Z-Leu-Leu-Leu-H (Z-LLL-H) is an exogenous neurite outgrowth factor. We have identified brain-type creatine kinase (BB-CK) as a target protein of Z-LLL-H. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Z-LLL-H and its derivatives on creatine kinase isozymes. BB-CK activity was strongly inhibited by addition of Z-LLL-H and was similarly inhibited by addition of the derivatives (Z-LLL-OMe, Z-LLL-OEt) esterified on the C-terminal. On the other hand, skeletal muscle-type creatine kinase (MM-CK) and cardiac muscle-type (MB-CK) were activated by Z-LLL-H. These results suggest that the inhibition of BB-CK activity may be correlated with the promotion of neurite outgrowth.

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Seasonal variation was observed in monthly mortality rate (1995-2000 in Tokyo) with peaks in January and troughs in June-September. Almost identical variations were seen in deaths of three groups: heart disease, cerebral vascular disease and others. The variation in malignant neoplasm was much smaller than those in other three groups. Two major components were extracted by principal component analysis. The first component explained 75.6 % of the variation in the monthly deaths and well represented the seasonal variation pattern. The second component was mainly related to the malignant neoplasm and seen as a gradually increasing factor. The first component takes peak values at every January with considerable variations in height. The peak heights of the first component were well correlated with the deaths of influenza in the winters.

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