A strong radical-scavenging activity against a stable radical compound, 1, 1-dipheny1-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) was found in the hot water extract of Japanese rice bran. When the extract was treated with ethanol, a dominant radicalscavenging activity was observed in the ethanol-soluble (ES) fraction in a dose-dependent manner, but a weak radical-scavenging activity was detected in the ethanol-precipitable (EP) fraction. Their activities were proportional to the amounts of phenolic substances in each fraction. The phenolic substances in the ES fraction were efficiently separated by Amberlite XAD column chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography using an ODS column. The four major phenolic acids (ferulic, para-coumaric, para-hydroxybenzoic and vanillic acids) and four minor phenolic acids (caffeic, gentisic, protocatechuic and syringic acids) were detected in the HPLC system. Among these phenolic acids, protocatechuic, caffeic, ferulic and gentisic acids showed relatively strong radical scavenging activities (EC₅₀: 8, 9, 29 and 75μM, respectively) compared with the control antioxidants such as ascorbic acid and alpha-tocopherol (EC₅₀: 93 and 134μM). Para-coumaric, syringic and vanillic acids exhibited weak but significant radical-scavenging activities (EC₅₀: 780, 2640 and 3250μM). However, para-hydroxybenzoic acid did not show any significant effects even at 5mM. Furthermore, a simulated mixture combined with these phenolic acids in comparable amounts in the ES fraction showed slightly weak radical-scavenging activity compared with that of rice bran extract. However, all the phenolic acids detected in the ES fraction did not show significant antioxidant activities against hydroperoxide generation in lipid peroxidation compared with that of a typical antioxidant such as ascorbic acid, which was estimated by the alminum chloride method. These results suggest that Japanese rice bran has a potent radicalscavenging activity against DPPH radical and this activity is associated with some phenolic acids in the ES fraction. The significance of this finding is discussed from the viewpoint of the protective role of rice bran against oxygen radical-induced chronic diseases.

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For the purpose of the investigation of characteristics of VOCs found indoors in recently constructed residential buildings, we measured the behavior of VOCs which were sampled at one-month intervals over a period of one year from the initial occupancy date in both a detached house and an apartment in a multiple dwelling. At the first passive sampling from the wooden detached residential building, n-hexane, n-undecane, toluene, ethylacetate, methylethylketone, α-pinene and (+)-limonene were present in relatively high concentrations of 10 ppb or higher in the living room. Then these VOCs showed a declining trend with time. p-Dichlorobenzene showed an extremely high concentration (approx. 320 ppb) in June, which subsequently declined with each passing month. There is a high possibility that the cause was the use of a pesticide containing p-dichlorobenzene during the period of changeover from winter to summer clothes in June. On the other hand, from the multiple dwelling, four VOCs showed values of 10 ppb or more (toluene, 1, 2, 4-trimethylbenzene, methylethylketone and α-pinene). Of these VOCs, methylethylketone concentration was in excess of 100 ppb, and then also showed a declining trend with time. Even for new residential buildings completed during the same time frame, it was shown that the types of VOC contaminants and their concentrations varied significantly.

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In this study, the nature of safety climates at construction work sites and workers' safety attitudes was ascertained, and the effect of safety climates on workers' safety attitudes and work site safety was examined. A self-rating questionnaire prepared for this study was delivered to 300 employees who were working at construction sites and 300 foremen of affiliated companies. Eight factors were extracted for the safety climate of work sites. Similarly, by factor analysis, eight factors were obtained from workers' safety attitudes, including four factors representing positive aspects of safety attitudes and four negative safety attitudes. The scores of negative safety attitudes in companies with fewer labor accidents were smaller than those in companies with more accidents. Negative safety attitudes were affected by safety climate more than positive ones, and this tendency was more remarkable for foremen than employees. These results suggest the importance of promoting safety climates for raising workers' safety attitudes and work site safety by diminishing negative safety attitudes.

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A smoking habit is maintained by psychological and physical nicotine dependence. We thought up a new concept, "social nicotine dependence", which is a part of psychological dependence, and developed a new questionnaire, "The Kano Test for Social Nicotine Dependence (KTSND)" version 2. The KTSND has ten questions with a total score of 30. In order to investigate the validity of the KTSND, we applied it to the employees of 10 pharmaceutical companies and collected 344 respondents. The total KTSND scores of 18.4±5.2 (mean±SD, n＝105) for smokers were significantly higher than those of 14.2±6.1 (n＝88) for ex-smokers, and 12.1±5.6 (n＝151) for non-smokers. Each question produced significantly different scores among these groups. Smokers were subclassified by factors of physical nicotine dependence, namely, "number of cigarettes smoked per day" and "time until the first cigarette of the day". The total scores did not reflect these physical factors. On the other hand, the total KTSND scores reflected one of the psychological nicotine dependence factors, namely, "the stages for quitting smoking". The KTSND scores were significantly different among 4 groups: 22.4±6.3 for immotives, 19.0±3.9 for precontemplators, 16.1±3.8 for contemplators and 14.5±5.9 for preparers. These results showed that the KTSND reflected the smoking status and the stages for quitting smoking. We consider that the KTSND is a useful method to evaluate psychological aspects of smoking.

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Three patients on long-term hemodialysis therapy presented with sudden-onset isolated abducent nerve palsy. Two patients had ipsilateral eye pain. Computed tomographic scan or magnetic resonance imaging of the head did not reveal intracranial lesions responsible for the palsy. During the follow-up, the abducent nerve palsy of all three patients was resolved. Based on these findings, the three patients were diagnosed as having ischemic ocular motor nerve palsy. Although patients with end-stage renal disease often possess risk factors for ischemic ocular motor nerve palsy (hypertension, diabetes and atherosclerosis), the occurrence of ischemic ocular motor nerve palsy in the course of end-stage renal disease is rare.

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Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) is a complex neurogenetic disorder with considerable clinical variability, and is considered to be mainly the result of a hypothalamic defect. PWS is characterized by hyperphagia, obesity, mental retardation and hypogonadism from a young age. Hyperphagia is one of the most serious problems, which is organic in origin, inducing morbid obesity and leading to respiratory failure. Most studies attempting to control obesity in children with PWS by dietary management reported limited success due to difficulty in controlling foraging and food stealing. Here we report 16-and 20-year-old female patients with PWS who showed marked weight loss and improvement of respiratory failure by behavior modification and improvement of the environment.

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The number of lung cancer-related deaths has increased since the 1960 and has become the leading cause of cancer-related death in Japan. It is anticipated that the number will double in the next 20 years. Chemotherapy is a hopeful systemic therapy because of distant metastases due to lung cancer. Platinum based doublets remain the standard of care for the first-line treatment of metastatic NSCLC. As salvage chemotherapy for patients, the effectiveness of docetaxel has been confirmed. The standard chemotherapy for extensive SCLC is the combination of cisplatin and irinotecan or etoposide. Recently, randomized trials have shown that platinum-based chemotherapy has the potential to improve survival among patients with completely resected NSCLC. Recent advances in molecular biology and genetics have created new molecular targeted therapies for lung cancer. New anti-cancer agents, including gefitinib, erlotinib, bevacizumab, pemetrexed and amrubicin, are being developed currently.

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We investigated the ethical opinions concerning the information on legal regular health examinations with a questionnaire for 757 workers in enterprises that contracted a part-time occupational physician as there were no full-time occupational health professionals. Thirty to 50% of the workers answered that the information on their health examination was known to their superiors and their colleagues. Also, 20 to 40% of the workers answered that the information was made known to other people without obtaining their agreement. This tendency among the group of sick workers was stronger than in the group of healthy workers. On the other hand, the workers who suspected that the information on their health examination might be made available to other people exceeded the majority. In these enterprises, there seemed to be ethical problems from the point of the protection of privacy. It was also shown that the consideration of ethics concerning the protection of the privacy of the information on worker's health examinations was not high. However, it was suggested that the ethical opinion concerning worker's informed consent was high, as there were 85% or more workers who answered that agreement of the workers themselves was necessary for disclosing the information on their medical examination.

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