The purpose of this study was to elucidate the physical effects produced by facial care (FC ； using cosmetics and emulsifiers) performed continuously by elder women, based on the tissue oxygen level in the prefrontal cortex and autonomic nerve response.
　Eighteen healthy elder women aged 65 years or older (mean age 68±4 years) performed FC continuously for 3 weeks. On the first and final days, brain tissue oxygen level in the prefrontal cortex was measured with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and autonomic nerve activity was measured using cutaneous blood flow, heart rate variability, and skin conductance. On the first day, the change in deoxyHb in the prefrontal cortex rose during FC compared with a resting state, but there was no change in blood flow. However, on the final day blood flow decreased after the start of FC compared with the resting state. On both the first and final days, heart rate variability was seen to increase during FC compared with a resting state, indicating enhanced parasympathetic nerve activity. These results suggest that FC performed by healthy elder women themselves suppresses prefrontal cortex activity and enhances parasympathetic nerve activity.

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　The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of hot pack and massage for pain in face-down posture, which is the assumed posture following vitrectomy.
　This experiment was conducted on twenty-two healthy volunteers （21.5±1.8 years old） with three conditions ： only face-down posture, face-down posture plus hot pack, and face-down posture plus massage. The volunteers maintained a face-down posture for 120 minutes. A hot pack with a temperature of about 42 degrees was applied for 30 minutes beginning 45 minutes after the start of the posture. The massage was performed from shoulders to the back for 10 minutes beginning 45 minutes after the posture started. A profile of mood states, subjective pain, heart rate, autonomic nerve activity index, and skin temperature, etc. were used for evaluation.　Hot pack for shoulder and Massage for neck and back significantly suppressed the volunteers’ mental fatigue in maintenance of face-down posture. Furthermore, Hot pack significantly reduced temporary subjective neck and shoulder pain, and Massage significantly reduced temporary subjective neck, shoulder and back pain in maintenance of face-down posture. However, hot pack and massage did not have an effect on heart rate increase and sympathetic nervous activity in maintenance of face-down posture. Additionally, hot pack significantly raised the temperature of the shoulder region, which was observed to decrease in maintenance of face-down posture. Furthermore, massage did not show an effect similar to the hot pack.

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　We investigated the differences in the responses of the circulatory system between the sitting and supine positions for defecation in the setting of effective intrathoracic （IT） pressure. Ten healthy volunteers （age 34.1±11.2 years） consented to participate in this study. They raised their IT pressures to 10, 20 and 30 mmHg in the supine and sitting positions for 15 sec each. From the beginning to the end of the experiment, the heart rate （HR）, blood pressure （BP）, stroke volume （SV） assessed by chest impedance, IT pressure and intra-rectal （IR） pressure were sampled. In addition, the BP, HR, SV corresponding to the IT pressure with an IR pressure of 10 mmHg or higher, defined by us as sufficient for defecation, were measured again every second by using the spline function.
　The IT pressure in the sitting position was significantly higher as compared to that in the supine position （P ＝0.036）.
　After rising at the beginning starting of the IT pressure rise, the BP fell, to rise once again 9 seconds later ； it increased after falling just after the release of the breath. The HR increased and remained high from the beginning of the IT pressure overload to the end of the experiment. The rate of change of the SV decreased during the IT pressure strain as compared with that at rest, and increased again after the strain was released. No significant differences of any of the parameters depending on the posture were observed. For the same IR pressure for defecation, there were no significant differences in the circulatory indices between the two different postures. These findings suggest that defecation in the seated position might be indicated even from an early stage if the patient can maintain the sitting posture.

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　This unsigned questionnaire study was conducted to clarify the presence of lower back pain in nurses associated with nursing tasks in order to devise prevention methods. The subjects were 320 nurses employed at A University Hospital during October of 2012.
　There were 32 items in the questionnaire study, including questions on the conditions of the lower back pain, physically painful nursing tasks, and helping patients move to wheelchairs. Categorized by the presence of lower back pain, the Fisher’s exact test was used to compare the results of the questions on helping patients move from beds to wheelchairs, changes in body positions, and the methods employed when moving patients on a bed.
　The results showed that 144 subjects （53.4%） replied that they had lower back pain. Compared with the no pain group, many of the subjects in the group with lower back pain felt the nursing tasks were physically painful, and the ratio of subjects who replied that they conducted tasks involving to help patients move by oneself was high, showing significantly high results （P ＝0.012） for tasks helping patients move. Furthermore, the ratio of subjects who replied that they used assistive devices during their tasks was low in both groups. These results suggest the need to avoid conducting patient movement tasks alone as well as the need to employ assistive devices during those tasks as measures to prevent their lower back pain.

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　Healing Touch is one of the most non-invasive complementary and alternative therapies. This study was aimed to compare the differences in mood on a group of 20 healthy adults （10 persons in the intervention group, 10 persons in the control group） participating in the double-blinded, quasi-randomized controlled trial. The participants were assessed before and after the intervention. The assessment included ： （1） Profile of Mood States-Brief Form Japanese Version, and （2） Visual Analogue Scale （0-100） to determine （a） how would you rate your physical state and （b） how would you rate your mental state and （3） vital signs as a measure of relaxation. The result showed at pre-test/post-test there were no significant differences between the two groups. The suggested reasons for this result are subjects of healthy adult persons, the effects of rest and supine position and placebo effects on the double-blinded trial. The pre-test/post-test comparison for the intervention group indicated significant differences （P ＜0.05） in the POMS ： Depression-Dejection, Anger-Hostility and in the Vital Signs ： Pulse Rate. For the control group, there were significant pre and post-test differences （P ＜0.05） for Vigor.　In addition the intervention group was reported to have obtained senses like feeling of light physical state, reduced stress and relaxed mood recovery. This present study highlights the further importance of Healing Touch as a nursing care in future.

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　The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of short-term application of a hot towel to the skin during bed bathing on skin surface temperature, stratum corneum water content, adenosine triphosphate （ATP） levels and subjective evaluations. The subjects comprised 45 healthy student volunteers. The subjects were 9 males （20.0%） and 36 females （80.0%）, with an average age of 21.6±1.1 years old. A crossover design was used in which 21 subjects were assigned to groups based on the amount of time that hot towels were applied to the skin （0, 3, 5 or 7 seconds） before bed bathing. In the remaining 24 subjects, no hot towel was applied during bed bathing. Skin surface temperatures, stratum corneum water content, and ATP levels were then compared between groups, and subjective evaluations were recorded. The highest mean skin surface temperature and rate of stratum corneum water content was detected in the group in which the hot towel was applied for 7 seconds. Furthermore, subjective evaluations from this group revealed that application of the hot towel also provided feelings of warmth and comfort. A decrease in ATP levels was evident in all groups after bed bathing；however, none of these decreases were significantly different between any of the groups. Based on these findings, we recommend applying a hot towel to the skin for 7 seconds during bed bathing to effectively increase both skin surface temperature and stratum corneum water content, and to provide patients with feelings of warmth and comfort.

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　Sleep scan, a mattress-type sleep monitor developed a few years ago, is a device that is placed under bedclothes to detect body movements of the user to measure the user’s sleep state. As the measured data is to be transmitted via the Internet, the user does not need to operate the device. Data is measured non-invasively without restraining the user in a certain position, which allows long-term continuous measurements of data. We focused on these specific properties of this device and installed 20 sleep monitors in a special nursing home in A prefecture. In this report, we discuss technical problems associated with the installation of this device and the resulting burden imposed on the facility and target users and introduced measures to deal with these issues. The device failed to record data in 61 cases of a total of 481 cases ； it was possible to collect data on the user’s sleep state in over 87% of all cases. The most common causes of record error were as follows ： disconnection of the power cable and communication error in data transmission. No issues such as burden with regard to the installation of the device and/or the measurement have arisen thus far. Therefore, it was confirmed that it is possible to measure the sleep state of elderly people living in nursing homes with this device on a long-term basis.

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