Cervical cancer is common among women. Screening for cervical cancer is useful for detecting and treating the disease at an early stage. Cancer screening has advantages as well as disadvantages. In particular, we need to consider both advantages and disadvantages of population-based cancer screening and try to minimize disadvantages to ensure cancer control. Disadvantages include false-positive and false-negative results and over-diagnosis. Due to trade-off characteristic of population-based cancer screening, typically we obtain more false-positive results in consequence of lessened false-negative results. It has been reported that even if the result is false-positive, patients experience adverse effects, such as physical, psychological, and economical burdens and decreased quality of life owing to the additional examinations until the accurate results are obtained. Hence, we need to determine concrete measures to avoid these adverse effects. This article discusses the importance and limitations of cancer screening, especially the adverse effects in patients with false-positive screening results.

It had been considered Cancer as a deadly disease. Due to advancement of cancer treatment, Cancer is positioned as a chronic disease and the number of cancer survivors is increasing. Our society needs to consider cancer survivorship. Cancer care enters in the next stage. Cancer survivorship have to be considered by what stage the patient is and what aspect the patient needs to be supported. Four aspects would be divided into physical, psychology, social and spiritual. Four stages are acute stage of survival, extended stage of survival, permanent stage of survival and final stage of survival. As a team, we have to pay more attention for quality of life of patients and their family, even after their cancer treatments.

Obesity-associated cancers, including colorectal cancer, are increasing in Japan with Westernized lifestyles as exemplified by reduced physical activity and increased high-fat diet. An excessive accumulation of visceral adipose tissue causes insulin resistance, oxidative stress and adipocytokine imbalance, and these factors are suggested to be involved in colorectal tumorigenesis. In this review article, we focus on the relationships between each of the individual associated conditions, especially obesity and exercise, and colorectal tumor development with targeting molecules revealed by in vivo and in vitro studies. Furthermore, the potential for colorectal cancer prevention by targeting these molecules is discussed.

Colorectal cancer patients account for the largest proportion of total cancer patients in Japan. With an increase in its surgical cases and relatively higher five-year survival rate, the number of cancer survivors is expected to be increasing. Therefore, primary prevention, surgical therapy and recurrence prevention for colorectal cancer are public health priorities in Japan. General and abdominal obesity (Not only abdominal but also general obesity) are risk factors for colorectal cancer. In addition, accumulated abdominal fat can extend time spent in surgery by hindering operative procedures and surgical field expansion. These factors raise the risk of postoperative complications such as bleeding and surgical site infection, which eventually leads to increased medical expenses. Physical activity is one of protective factors for colorectal cancer. Recent studies showed that exercise intervention in cancer survivors reduces the cancer recurrence risk. Furthermore, it has been suggested that exercise interventions are effective in reducing fatigue, improving immune function, and maintaining physical function. However, the effectiveness of preoperative exercise intervention aimed at reducing weight in colorectal cancer patients remains unknown. In this review article, we discuss necessity for peri-operative weight loss among obese colorectal cancer patients.

From the start, World Health Organization has proposed that palliative medicine is applicable early in the course of illness. However, regrettably, palliative care has been usually provided to patients in the advanced cancer stage, as a terminal care. Recently, palliative medicine begins at the time-point when patients are diagnosed with cancer. In response to change in clinical settings of palliative medicine, cancer pain management has also changed. Considering long-term cancer treatment periods and increasing numbers of cancer survivors, cancer pain management should be recommended based on not only non-opioid pharmacotherapy but also the exercise/rehabilitation medicine and the cognitive-behavioral therapy. Especially, the exercise/rehabilitation medicine can provide beneficial effects on both pain management and cancer treatment itself: Sarcopenia is closely associated with poor prognosis of cancer and debilitating complications of chemotherapy. Further, non-sarcopenia patients can maintain their quality of life higher and show less fatigue during cancer treatment periods. To accomplish such favorable effects for cancer patients and cancer survivors, cancer pain should be managed adequately.

The incidence of breast cancer is rising in Japan year by year; and seems to peak at a younger age range compared to Western countries. About one half of breast cancer patients in Japan are diagnosed in their 30s to 50s. Among the cancers that frequently occur during the most productive years of life, breast cancer is considered the most serious one for survivors. Breast cancer treatments consist of surgery, hormone therapy, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. However, since all of these treatments have potential side effects, patients often stop taking therapy due to the side effects. To prevent and minimize such side effects, exercise plays a very important role. Furthermore, gaining excess weight for survivors has a negative impact on their prognosis. Thus, it is important that appropriate exercise and weight control interventions are developed.

It has been reported that physical fitness of breast cancer patients is relatively lower due to the cancer treatment such as surgery, chemotherapy, or endocrine therapy. Previous studies have revealed that not only cardiorespiratory fitness but also muscle strength is lower among breast cancer patients than no disease women and these symptoms may aggravate the health-related quality of life. However, there is no study which has focused the physical fitness level in Japanese breast cancer survivors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the physical fitness level and the relationship between exercise habituation and physical fitness level in Japanese breast cancer survivors. Fifty breast cancer survivors participated in this study. Participants were assigned to either exercise habituation group (n=25) or non-exercise group (n=25). We evaluated exercise habituation using an original questionnaire and examined various physical fitness level. Body weight, body mass index, and percent body fat were significantly lower in the exercise habituation group than non-exercise group. T-score of cardiorespiratory fitness was significantly higher in the exercise habituation group than average Japanese women. These results suggested that exercise habituation is relative to body weight and cardiorespiratory fitness level in Japanese breast cancer survivors.

We aimed to evaluate the associations of individual-level social capital (SC) and physical activity (PA) among Japanese elderly men and women. Individuals aged 65 or above were selected via population-based random sampling of 3000 adults, aged 20 years or above and living in Fujisawa city, who were asked to complete self-administered questionnaires. The sample consisted of 260 men [median (25-75% tile) age 73 (68-78) yrs] and 274 women [73 (68-78) yrs]. The daily duration of PA, SC [e.g., norms of reciprocity (mutual support in the community), social networks (relationship with community people, exchange with other generations), social participation (participation in community organization activities)], socio-economic status [educational attainment, work with income, perceived household economic status], and demographic characteristics [sex, age, living arrangements, BMI, physical limitations] were assessed. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to calculate odds ratios (OR) for associations of SC with PA, stratified by sex. High level of mutual support in the community, relationship with community people, and exchange with other generations were associated with longer PA time in men after adjusting for potential confounders in the final model (OR = 2.40 (95% CI: 1.24-4.67), 5.28 (1.42-19.66), and 4.24 (1.15-15.67), respectively). In women, relationship with community people and participation in community organization activities were associated with longer PA time (3.10 (1.32-7.26) and 2.50 (1.27-4.91), respectively). The association of individual-level SC and PA differed between men and women. Future studies can investigate whether similar results can be obtained in other areas or attempt to conduct a large-scale survey.

Movement control and muscle function for pelvic movement in the frontal plane (pelvic elevation) are important for various single-leg sports activities. We aimed to clarify mechanical characteristics of pelvic squat (P-Sq: single-leg squat exercise with emphasis on pelvic elevation, developed by our research group) compared with the double-leg squat (D-Sq) and single-leg squat (S-Sq). Twelve male track and field athletes performed D-Sq, S-Sq, and P-Sq exercises at various loads (90%, 75%, and 60% of 1-repetition maximum [1RM]), using maximum effort. Kinematic and kinetic data were calculated using data recorded with a motion capture system and force platforms. We observed the highest values with P-Sq, followed by S-Sq and D-Sq under all load conditions as follows: peak vertical ground reaction force and rate of force development (RFD), range of pelvic elevation, peak pelvic elevation velocity, peak powers associated with hip abduction torque and trunk lateral flexion torque. In P-Sq, RFD at 90% 1RM was smaller than under the other load conditions, whereas peak vertical ground reaction force at 90% 1RM was larger than under the other load conditions. There were no differences among load conditions with regard to hip abduction and trunk lateral flexion torques and powers. Therefore, characteristics of P-Sq compared to those of D-Sq and S-Sq are 1) larger and faster pelvic elevation, using related muscles (hip abductors and trunk lateral flexors) under all load conditions, 2) larger peak ground reaction force with pelvic elevation under large load conditions, and larger RFD in pelvic elevation under low load conditions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in patellar tendon length during passive knee flexion in the menstrual cycle. The right knee joints of 10 adult women with stable menstrual cycles were evaluated. Measurement of patellar tendon length was performed when the knee joint was bent flexibly at six angles (0°, 30°, 60°, 90°, 110°, and 130°), and the long-axis image of the patellar tendon was transversely superimposed at each angle. A photograph was taken with an ultrasonic device. Measurements were performed once during each of the four phases of the menstrual cycle (menstrual, follicular, ovulatory, and luteal phases) classified by the basal body temperature method. There were no significant differences in patellar tendon length at each knee flexion angle in each phase of the menstrual cycle. In the luteal phase, the patellar tendon was stretched significantly at 90° and 130° compared to knee flexion of 0°.