The main purpose of this paper is to describe the research background, purpose, framework, contents, and methods of the School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) developed in the United States of America. SHPPS was the study of school health in the USA carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1994 (SHPPS1994) and 2000 (SHPPS2000). The components of SHPPS 1994 were five elements: school health education, physical education, health services, food services, and health policies prohibiting the use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, and violence. In SHPPS2000, there were eight components: school health education, physical education and activity, health services, mental health and social services, food services, school policy and environment, faculty and staff health promotion, and family and community involvement. SHPPS1994 and SHPPS2000 assessed the nationwide status of policies and programs for school health in the USA. Specifically, SHPPS 1994 was the first study to examine multiple components of the school health program at the state, district, and school levels from comprehensive and multidimensional standpoints. Today's American youth have faced many public health, educational, and social problems not experienced by previous generations of young people. These problems have included violence, drug abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancy, school dropout, low literacy, and disrupted family and home situations. The primary cause of these phenomena appears to be unconformity of their health and education systems. However, it may be more appropriate to recognize this as a problem of all segments of society. By understanding the development of SHPPS, it should be possible to promote school health and health education research. Furthermore, SHPPS should stimulate research into how to foster the adoption and maintenance of school health programs that can have a positive impact on the health status of young people in the USA. SHPPS should also provide some important points for the development of evidence-based school health policies and programs or health education in Japan.

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The hypothesis that menarche is delayed in female athletes has not been verified, despite many studies widely eported in the US and a few investigations conducted in Japan. The purpose of the present study was to examine statistically whether regular sports training for female athletes in childhood delays the age at menarche. Health examination records and history of exercise were investigated for 144 female high school senior athletes in the Tokai area, who had participated in competitions at the national level. The investigations covered the period from the first grade of elementary school until the final year of high school (from 1985-1987 to 1996-1998). The sports played by the subjects included track and field (n=21), basketball (n=15), volleyball (n=21), softball (n=7), tennis (n=16), soft tennis (n=25), hockey (n=8), judo (n=19), table tennis (n=6), handball (n=3) and swimming (n=3). Longitudinal data for height and weight were obtained from health examination records. Age at menarche was obtained by questionnaire (from recollection). The control group comprised 78 female non-athletes investigated in a similar manner to the athlete group. Delay in menarche was judged from the interval between menarche and physical maturation level. Ages at maximum peak velocity (MPV) of height in the athletes and control groups were derived using the wavelet interpolation method (WIM) as the criterion for maturation level. The interval between age at menarche and age at MPV of height was then derived for each group. The difference in the derived age interval between the two groups was tested for significance (t test) to compare the athletes and the controls. In addition, age at menarche and age at MPV of height were compared between the groups. The results were then used to determine whether menarche in female athletes was delayed. It was found that the age at menarche was significantly later in athletes (12.82 ± 1.15 years) than in the control group (12.11 ± 0.90 years), with the exception of table tennis players (P<0.01). However, age at MPV of height did not differ significantly between the groups, except for tennis players. A significant difference in the age interval between MPV of height and menarche was observed between the control group (1.08 ± 0.74 years) and the athlete groups (1.75 ± 1.23 years), with the exception of tennis and table tennis players (P<0.01). It may be concluded from these results that regular sports training for female athletes in childhood delays the age at menarche.

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A study was conducted to examine the effect of the color stereoscopic phenomenon on the motor performance of novice long jumpers. Experiment 1 examined, by the paired comparison method, how differently the distance from the start point of approach (18 meters from the front edge of the board) to the take-off board was recognized according to changes in the colors of the take-off board and board markers. The results indicated that the most advancing color of the take-off board and board markers was yellow, followed in order by white, red, blue, gray, green and black. In Experiment 2, the effect of the color stereoscopic phenomenon on long jump motor performance was examined. Thirty male university students were randomly assigned to perform under one of two conditions: the take-off board and board markers in chromatic colors (yellow, blue or green) or with those in achromatic colors (white, gray or black). The results indicated that the color stereoscopic phenomenon had no significant effect on motor performance under either the achromatic color condition or the chromatic color condition. In Experiment 3, we examined the effect of the color stereoscopic phenomenon on long jump motor performance immediately after changing the color of the take-off board and board markers. 1) Under achromatic color conditions, the color stereoscopic phenomenon had no significant effect on long jump motor performance. 2) Under chromatic color conditions, for the jumps immediately after the color of the take-off board and board markers had been changed, some influence of the colors on motor performance was recognized. For the jumps immediately after colors of the take-off board and board markers had been changed from advancing (yellow) to receding (green), the steps of the approach and effective jump distance were longer than those for the jumps immedi-ately after colors of the take-off board and board markers had been changed from receding to advancing. These findings suggest that colors have some influence on distance (depth) perception in a long jump situation under limited conditions.

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An attempt was made to clarify Plato's view of soma by considering the fundamental characteristics of soma in Plato's philosophy. The concept of soma had extensive ramifications in classical Greek, denoting not only the human body but also the elemental bodies (fire, water, air, earth), the corpse, the cosmic body, the celestial body, the animal body and so on, and Plato's view of the human body also included many background factors. According to Laws, one of Plato's later works, soma had three common characteristics: spaciality, movability and sensibility, and it took on an aspect different from the present-day concept of the body. Firstly, the spaciality of soma is the likeness of Form, which is copied into chora (the place of plenum), and it is a solid, which is geometrically formed by following Form. Secondly, the movability of soma is originally motion by others or disorderly and dotted linear motion, which is necessarily caused by accidental collision between particles; however, in connection with Soul and Reason, it becomes autonomical and orderly circular motion. Thirdly, the sensibility of soma is pathema (accidental affection), which is based on multiplicity in the geometrical structures of particles. Pathema injures Soul and soma when it is left to Chance and Ignorance, but in the control of Reason it contributes to the realization of good and the restoration of order. Since soma, which has close connections to Soul, Reason and Form, is represented as such a subordinate and necessarily conditional existence in Plato's philosophy, the human body, which is also called soma, should be considered on the basis of the above-mentioned fundamental characteristics.

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A study was conducted to investigate the influence of anaerobic work capacity of the upper limbs on the decrease in running speed during 400 m running. Ten track and field athletes were used to obtain data on change during 400 m running and anaerobic work capacity of the upper and lower limbs. Maximal power, mean power and power decreasing ratio during thirty seconds cranking and pedaling were measured. Lactate concentrations after running, cranking and pedaling were also measured. There was a significant relationship between 400 m running time and the value obtained by dividing lactate concentration after cranking by that after 400 m running (r=-0.761, p<0.01). Running speed over a distance of 400 m began to decrease after 80 m, and kept on decreasing until the finish. The change in running speed after 80 m was expressed as a linear regression equation, and the regression gradient was interpreted to be an index of the decrease in running speed. Subjects who showed a smaller decrease of running speed tended to record a shorter time for the 400m run. No variables related to anaerobic power had a significant relationship with the index. However, significant relationships were shown between the power decreasing ratio of cranking and pedaling, and the decrease in speed from the 320-360 m to the 360-400 m portion, respectively (r=0.766, p<0.01; r=0.709, p<0.05). These results suggest that the anaerobic work capacity of the upper limbs influences 400 m running performance indirectly.

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An attempt was made to examine the smiles of children during outdoor recreational play from the viewpoint of "mind and body theories". Methods used were as follows: 1) Conditions under which children smiled were categorized by observing their outdoor recreational play. 2) Hypotheses were set up by examining the above categories through additional observations including those under experimental settings. 3) Hypotheses were reinforced by antecedent studies, reports, and articles on smiling. 4) The hypotheses were finally examined by "mind and body theories". The following conclusions were obtained: 1) Children's smiles during outdoor recreational play are an expression of children's feelings of "security, peace of mind, and reliance" on friends and instructors in the "intersubjective world" which is formed by children as subjects at play, their friends, and nature as the object and background of the world of play. 2) Children's smiles are the sign of "surplus energy of life" or "latitude" of the body in the depth of "ground" of their mind and body. 3) Children's smiles are "natural expressions of joy, pleasure and enjoyment from the bottom core of their mind and body" in their "subconscious emotions, feelings and moods". 4) Children's smiles are, in some cases, an expression of a "feeling of attainment", in which they find a "new world" and "new bodily identity". 5) Children's smiles themselves are "mind and body communications of sympathy" with others, especially friends.

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Psychosocial factors related to the career patterns of exercise behavior in the middle-aged were assessed by qualitative research design and a semi-structured interview method. First, as a screening survey, 166 females and males completed a questionnaire that included scales about their career patterns of exercise behavior after school education, and their psychosocial factors were categorized into one of the following career patterns: maintenance, sedentary, adoption, dropout, resumption, or occasional. Secondly, of the initial sample, eighteen interviewees were selected for further in-depth interview research, in order to investigate typical exercise career patterns. Psychosocial factors af fecting career patterns of exercise in the middle-aged revealed in this study were as follows: (1) factors of perceived unhealthy states, social support, and life events influenced the adoption of, or dropout from, exercise; (2) cognitive factors affecting subjective evaluation of meaningful experiences, perceived contingency, and motivational autonomy influenced the dropout from, and maintenance of, exercise. These results suggest that life-style and perceived well-being in middle age to later life are relevant for diversification of career patterns of exercise behavior as sedentary, sedentary to adoption, adoption to maintenance, or maintenance to dropout.

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Studies of use-dependent plastic changes have recently focused on the primary motor cortex (Ml) in humans. In the present study, firstly, we investigated the use-dependent plasticity of the first dorsal interosseous (FBI) muscle after repetitive index finger abduction movements. Secondly, we investigated whether practice of different muscle contraction modes-isometric task and isoton ic task-was effective. The data obtained showed excitability changes of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in the FBI muscle during motor imagery. The rapid plastic changes induced by the practice tasks in Ml were dependent on the effects of both forms of muscle contraction and their motor imagery. In particular, the finding that isometric and isotonic tasks had different degrees of effectiveness, i.e. the isotonic task was effective and the isometric task less effective, provided a foundation for understanding the processes involved in motor adaptation learning. Furthermore, the clarification of two different learning stages suggested that practice of the simple motor task induced excitability changes in Ml even within brief practice sessions, and revealed the existence of early and slow stages in motor learning. These results confirm the notion that distinct motor cortical regions could be associated with different stages of motor learning and performance. The neurophysiological mechanisms involved are discussed in more details.

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