This study aimed to prepare a draft of “dementia care rating” for the elderly with dementia whose whole lives must be carefully observed and to examine the rating’s reliability. As the first step, we conducted interview and field surveys of 79 nurses and 72 care workers to prepare a draft of dementia care rating. In these surveys, 3 areas, 27 items, and 135 questions in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health were investigated, and 81 questions were extracted. Since the results obtained from the nurses differed from those obtained from the care workers, a draft of the “dementia care raring: nurse edition (nurse edition)” and that of the “dementia care raring: care worker edition (care worker edition)” were prepared. As the second step, these drafts’ reliability was statistically verified by involving 85 nurses and 87 care workers. Cronbach’s α scores of all low-ranking items were 0.800 or higher, thereby projecting stable values. Therefore, internal consistency of the rating was evident. The questions in the nurse edition partially differed from those in the care worker edition; namely, the nurse edition was characteristically respecting a medical viewpoint and the care worker edition emphasized skills to support dementia patients’ daily lives.

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　The decline in physical strength among Japanese youth has been long pointed out, but a trend toward recovery is reported in recent years. However, a decline in physical strength in people involved in national defense weakens the nation’s ability to defend itself, and is a very serious problem. The physical performance of people involved in national defense is predicted to differ from regular adults, and separate investigations are needed. The National Defense Academy serves as the core of national defense, and while there are reports of physical strength at the National Defense Academy, the process of improvement has not been shown. In this study we measured physical strength (50 m sprint, standing long jump, softball throw, pull-ups, 1500m run) of first to fourth year male students of the National Defense Academy in 2004 and 2011, and applied third-order polynomials in an investigation of the composition of change with progression through the school years. The results showed a rising trend in physical strength with progression through the school years in both 2004 and 2011. Third-order polynomials were applied in an analysis of the change trends to verify the change composition. In both years, a clear, progressive increasing trend until the fourth year was seen in the 50 m sprint, standing long jump, softball throw, pull-ups, and 1500m run with third-order polynomials. Next, we looked at the movement of the velocity curve, which is a differential, using a change composition that is basically shown with second-order polynomials. In a comparison of 2004 and 2011 the standing long jump showed a similar change composition. A fairly similar change composition was also shown for the softball throw. In the 50 m sprint, 1500m run and pull-ups, the velocity curve had reversed concavity and convexity for the two years. However, with the exception of the softball throw, it was shown that in both years first year students had a high degree of improvement, and fourth year students had a low degree of improvement. In 2011 the degree of improvement in the softball throw increased with each school year, showing that the physical education program in 2011 was effective. The above findings showing that the physical strength of National Defense Academy students improved with the physical education program at the National Defense Academy may be valuable at least for national defense measures in Japan.

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　It is important to adequately evaluate children’s obesity to detect and prevent obesity in infants at an early stage. By using 474 preschool children as subjects, this study examined the reliability and objectivity of physique indexes that claim to easily judge obesity on the basis of physique characteristics. The physique indexes consisted of 11 items including two photographs. Reliability was examined by two evaluations of one tester (test－retest method), and objectivity was examined by evaluating two testers. The agreement degree of the evaluations was examined by the kappa (κ) coefficient. Five items (two apple－shaped items, a large upper arm, large thigh, and double chin) and the two photographs had high κ coefficients. The physique indexes were found to have high reliability and objectivity because their coefficients were high. In conclusion, it was found that the above physique indexes are effective in easily judging obesity in children.

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　Estimation of the circumferences of various sites on women’s bodies from physical composition components would be very useful in evaluations of women’s physiques. In this study, we investigated the validity of such estimations using multiple regression analysis with body mass index (BMI) and body fat percentage as independent variables and circumferences of various parts of the body as dependent variables, based on the relationship between the two variables of BMI and body fat percentage as physical components and the circumferences of various parts of the body. The subjects were 395 female Japanese university students. The measures were height, weight, body fat percentage, lower chest circumference, abdominal circumference, hip circumference, upper arm circumference, forearm circumference, wrist circumference, thigh circumference, calf circumference, and minimum calf circumference. The multiple correlation between the various measured circumferences and BMI and body fat percentage was obtained, and an estimation formula for each circumference was prepared. There was a significant multiple correlation (p<0.01) between the total circumference of all the body sites used in this study and BMI and body fat percentage. For the estimated values of the circumferences of each body site obtained in this study, the residual was within a range of ±0.02 and the standard deviation was about 3-7% with respect to the mean value. Thus, it is thought to be possible to accurately estimate the size (circumference) of various body sites using BMI and body fat percentage. However, significant systematic error was seen, meaning that error due to the method of measurement exists between the estimated and actual measurement values for circumference. However, a very high correlation was seen between the estimated and actual measurement values and the validity of estimating circumferences of various body sites from BMI and body fat percentage is thought to be shown.

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　This study examined the relationship between physique, physical fitness, physical activity status, exercise habits, and serum lipid concentration of 265 Korean male students who lived in Seoul. The subjects were classified into the exercise group (EG：n = 199) and the non-exercise group (NEG : n = 66). The latter group did not perform moderate-intensity exercise. Body composition, physical fitness tests, and serum concentrations of lipids（high-density lipoprotein cholesterol : HDL-C, triglyceride : TG, and total cholesterol : TC) were measured. The daily life style, including TV viewing, PC use, study time, was assessed by an original questionnaire. The physical fitness in EG was superior to that in NEG. Serum HDL-C concentration in EG was significantly higher than that in NEG. Furthermore, serum TG concentration and body fat percentage in EG were markedly lower than those in NEG. EG had significantly higher frequencies of exercise and study per week than NEG. In NEG, the most common reason of non-exercise habit was “I don’t want to move my body,” and the secondary reason was “I don’t have the time.” In conclusion, male students who exercise regularly have high physical fitness levels and a lower percentage of body fat and TG. In addition, it is suggested that the exercise group should not only continue to maintain their exercise time but should also increase their time devoted to studying.

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　The aim of this study was to examine whether there is the relationship between menstrual cycle and eating attitude in female high school students. The subjects were 121 female Japanese high school students. Their menstrual cycles (regular, irregular or amenorrhea, experience of amenorrhea: EA) were assessed and two different eating attitude tests (EAT, which is used to measure symptoms of anorexia nervosa (EAT), and Bulimic Inventory Test, Edinburgh（BITE, which is used to measure symptoms of bulimia nervosa) were performed. 62.8% of subjects had regular menstrual cycles, 27.3% had irregular cycles or amenorrhea, and 9.9% were EA. Significant differences were not observed in total score for EAT among menstrual cycle groups. In contrast, total score of BITE was significantly higher in EA subjects than in the other two groups. The scores for bulimia and food preoccupation, which are subscales of EAT, were significantly higher in EA than other groups. The score for the symptom scale, which is a subscale of BITE, was also significantly higher in EA than other groups. Hence, the results of the present study suggest that bulimia contributes to amenorrhea in high school students. In conclusion, it is likely that malnutrition due to abnormal eating attitudes is a cause of amenorrhea. For further study, psychological and biological approach will be needed in the examination of abnormal eating attitudes.

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This study investigated motor ability development in preschool children. A least squares approximation polynomial was applied to mean motor ability development distance, and the validity of the motor ability development evaluation of preschool children was investigated. The subjects were 1,819 boys aged 3-6 years who took motor ability test consisting of six items：25-m run, standing long jump, ball throw, two-leg consecutive jump, body support time, and ball catching. A least squares approximation polynomial was applied to the mean motor ability growth distance values of the boys and the changes with age were investigated. A least squares approximation polynomial was also applied to the standard deviation for each age group, a regression polynomial evaluation chart was constructed, and its evaluation validity investigated. The following results were obtained. First, significant development was seen with age in all six items on the motor ability test：25-m run, standing long jump, ball throw, two-leg consecutive jump, ball catching, and body support time. Up to this time evaluation charts have been made for each age group and motor ability in each item scored. In this method of evaluating the total score, comparisons with evaluations in other age groups could not be done. With the evaluation chart constructed in this study, however, it is possible to make evaluations even while simultaneously comparing between different ages in the preschool years. Therefore, it is suggested that the changes with age in motor development can be more objectively identified by constructing evaluations that consider age change composition in early childhood motor ability development with the use of least squares approximation polynomials. This may provide greater objectivity than with conventional evaluation methods in evaluating motor ability development in children.

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