This paper investigates the relationship between exercise purpose and attentional focus and cognitive strategy during aerobic exercise. We compare the attentional focus and cognitive strategy used in five exercise purpose groups: improvement of athletic performance and physical strength; maintenance and improvement of health; maintenance of style and weight; losing weight, and stress relief and distraction. Attentional focus and cognitive strategy are based on Brick et al.6): internal sensory monitoring, active self-regulation, outward monitoring, active distraction, and involuntary distraction. We have found that conscious or often used attentional focus and cognitive strategy differ among groups. This suggests that attentional focus and cognitive strategy are influenced by the purpose of exercise, and that the effects of attentional focus and cognitive strategy may change with the purpose of exercise. Future studies should consider the influence of exercise purpose to clarify the effects of attentional focus and cognitive strategy.

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The purpose of this study was to clarify the factor structure of non-cognitive ability in young children, and to examine sex and age differences. The participants were 1,280 (644 boys and 636 girls) enrolled in kindergarten. Non-cognitive ability was measured using a 16-item questionnaire consisting of seven factors (self-awareness, motivation, perseverance, self-control, prosocial aptitude, resilience and coping ability, and creativity). Factor analysis (orthogonal rotated varimax method) was applied to examine the factor structure of non-cognitive ability in early childhood. A two-factor analysis of variance (sex×different ages) was applied to investigate sex and age differences. Based on our analysis, we obtained the following results: We extracted four factors of non-cognitive ability in early childhood: ability to persevere, coping ability, ingenuity, and sense of competence. There were sex differences in early childhood non-cognitive ability, with girls having higher non-cognitive ability than boys. In addition, the participant’s birth month affected their non-cognitive ability in early childhood, with children born in the months of January, February and March having particularly low non-cognitive ability. Our results indicate that non-cognitive ability in early childhood consists of four factors: ability to persevere, coping ability, ingenuity, and sense of competence and that there are sex and age differences in non-cognitive ability. The results suggest that the non-cognitive abilities of young children develop with age, but that young children born early in the year (between January and March) show significantly delayed development, suggesting that it is important for caregivers to intentionally nurture the growth of these children’s non-cognitive ability.

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This study aimed to investigate the differences in the effects of hand bathing and steamed hand towels as warm compresses and their applicability as nursing care using thermal and psychological evaluation.College students were included in this study. The skin surface temperature of the upper arm, deep subcutaneous temperature of the upper arm, skin surface temperature of the thigh, deep subcutaneous temperature of the thigh, and deep subcutaneous temperature of the chest were measured after hand bathing and warm, steamed hand towel compress. A psychological evaluation was performed using the Profile of Mood States(POMS). The results showed that the skin surface temperature of the upper arm in the hand bath group rose immediately after the end of the treatment and remained unchanged until 30 min after the treatment. No remarkable increase was observed in the deep subcutaneous temperature of the upper arm, skin surface temperature of the thigh, deep subcutaneous temperature of the thigh, and deep subcutaneous temperature of the chest in the hand bath group, and no remarkable increase was observed 10 min after the test in the steamed towel warm pack group, but they gradually increased. Based on this, warming the hands with hand bathing or warm, steamed hand towel compress can keep the whole body warm, and both methods yielded the same results. Therefore, it is possible to obtain the same effect as a full-body bath without burdening the patient. This is a simple method that can be achieved.

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Backgrounds: Structured physical education lessons in the preschool years plays an important role because it provides and promotes opportunities for physical activity. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between motor ability and heart rate and physical activity during physical education lessons in preschool-aged children. Methods: 67 preschoolers were recruited from one preschool in Shiga, Japan (35 girls and 32 boys). We measured the subjects’ motor ability while performing 6 activities. The performance in each activity was rated on a 5-point scale (1-5), as outlined in a previous Japanese study. Physical education lessons for preschool children consisted of 9 exercises for 45 minutes. Heart rate was recorded on a heart rate monitor using a heart rate recorder (Polar). Physical activity was measured using an ActiGraph wGT3X-BT (USA), a triaxial accelerometer with a belt attached to the right hip to analyze exercise intensity and step counts. Result & discussion: The percentage of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity during physical education lessons showed 31.8±7.8 %. The relationship between exercise intensity and standing long jump records during physical education lessons was positively correlated (r=0.393, p‹0.05). The sum of all exercise intensities during physical education lessons was positively correlated with the 25-m run, the standing long jump, the ball throw, and the total fitness scores (r=-0.477 to 0.522, p‹0.05, 0.01). These findings suggested that exercise intensity during physical education lessons in preschool children was related to their motor ability.

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Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the TOKYO2020 Olympic Games on an interest and participation in sports or exercises in Japanese university students. Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey on 954 university and master course students about an interest in exercises and current situation about participation in exercises before and after the Olympic Games. Results: Of the 504 students that responded (52.8%), 245 (48.6%) students have been participation in exercises,146 (29.0%) students have been an interest in exercises and without participation in exercises, and 113 (22.4%) students have not been an interest in exercises and participation in exercises before the Olympic Games. Total 127 (25.2%) students changed their interest in exercises and participation in exercises positively, however 376 (74.6%) students did not change after the Olympic Games. There were no students who changed them negatively. Actually, 64 out of 113 (56.6%) students without an interest in exercises before the Olympic Games got an interest in exercises (It has changed positively, however it has not reached to get participation in exercises). These 64 students with having positive changes were more than 49 students without changes. Twenty-eight (10.8%) students who had not exercised just started exercising after the Olympic Games. Screen and inactivity time after the Olympic Games were significantly the shortest in students with participation in exercises twice a week before the Olympic Games (screen: 5.1±2.1h/day, inactivity: 5.1±2.7h/day). These times extended in the order of students with participation in exercises once a week (5.5±2.4h/day, 5.5±2.6h/day), with an interest in exercises (6.1± 2.4h/day, 6.5±3.4h/day) and without an interest in exercises (6.1±2.4h/day, 7.0±3.4h/day). Conclusion: The Olympic Games might be contributed to encourage having an interest in exercises for 56.6% of students without an interest in exercises and to participate in exercises for 10.8% of students without participation in exercises.

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Few studies have reported the impact that oral presentations delivered by medical students during academic meetings have on their learning process. In this report, four medical students engaged in clinical clerkships at the Department of Pediatrics conducted oral presentations at academic meetings. Following these presentations, two articles were published in academic medical journals, and one was featured as a clinical image in English. The experience of delivering these oral presentations equipped the medical students with new skills in literature search and case approach enhancing their overall preparedness for the medical profession. The engagement of medical students in oral presentations at academic meetings is a useful method for promoting active learning.

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