To estimate the preventive potential of Japanese traditional cereals against oxygen radical-related chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, antioxidant and radical-scavenging activities in the extracts of five Japanese traditional cereal grains were analyzed by using an assay system of lipid peroxidation and a radical compound, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). DPPH radical-scavenging activities in the extracts of Japanese cereal grains were divided into two groups. One group including Japanese sorghum, black rice and red rice showed strong radical-scavenging activities, but the other group including Japanese barnyard millet and foxtail millet did not exhibit significant radical-scavenging activities. The DPPH radical-scavenging activities of these extracts were closely correlated to the contents of phenolic compound in the extracts, but not to the sugar or protein content in the extracts. In contrast, all the methanol and water extracts of the cereal grains caused significant antioxidant activities against hydroperoxide generation in the peroxidation of linoleic acid, in which the water extracts of these cereal grains caused much higher antioxidant activities than the methanol extracts of the same cereals. These results suggest that Japanese traditional cereals contain qualitatively different principles associated with antioxidant and radical-scavenging activities, and possible principles responsible for the antioxidant and radical-scavenging activities in the cereal grains are discussed.

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Twelve patients with cortical reflex myoclonus were electrophysiologically investigated. From the results of the recording of the C reflex during voluntary contraction, cortical reflex myoclonus was classified into three subtypes: type Ⅰ; C reflex with recurrent C reflex (C'), type Ⅱ; double C reflexes (C1, C2) and type Ⅲ; C reflex with evident inhibition. The jerk-locked motor evoked potential (MEP) showed different mechanisms in the C'and C2 reflexes. The findings of cortical delay, facilitatory effect of peripheral stimulation on MEP and jerk-locked MEP indicate that both cortical reflex myoclonus and the silent period after the C reflex in patients with type Ⅲ cortical reflex myoclonus might originate from a change of cortical excitability of the motor cortex.

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We conducted neuropsychological tests of patients with higher brain dysfunction to examine the characteristics of barriers to employment. Subjects and Methods: We tested 92 patients with higher brain dysfunction (average age of 36.3±13.8 years old, ranging between 16 and 63 years old, with an average post-injury period of 35.6±67.8 months) who were hospitalized at the university hospital between February 2002 and June 2007 for further neuropsychological evaluation, conducting the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R), Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R), the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (RBMT), Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) and Behavioral Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS). The outcomes after discharge were classified between competitive employment, sheltered employment and non-employment, and the three groups were compared using one-way analysis of variance and the Scheffe test. The WAIS-R subtests were mutually compared based on the standard values of significant differences described in the WAIS-R manual. Verbal performance and full scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of WAIS-R were 87.7±15.6 (mean ± standard deviation), 78.5±18.1 and 81.0±17.2, respectively, and verbal memory, visual memory, general memory, attention/concentration and delayed recall were 74.6±20.0, 76.6±21.4, 72.0±20.4, 89.0±16.5 and 65.2±20.8, respectively. The competitive employment group showed significantly higher scores in performance IQ and full IQ on the WAIS-R and verbal memory, visual memory, general memory and delayed recall on the WMS-R and RBMT than the non-employment group. The sheltered employment group showed a significantly higher score in delayed recall than the non-employment group. No difference was observed in the FAB or BADS between the three groups. In the subtests of the WAIS-R, the score for Digit Symbol-Coding was significantly lower than almost all the other subtests. For patients with higher brain dysfunction, IQ (full scale IQ>53.2) and memory (general memory>74.1) are important indicators in returning to work under the conditions of competitive employment.

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Spinal intramedullary glioblastoma has rarely been reported. Among reported cases, the most characteristic features are rapid progression of the disease and very poor prognosis. The mean survival period is 12 months. We report a patient having cervical intramedullary glioblastoma with long-term survival (26 months after the onset). A 21-year-old man presented with weakness in bilateral hands, and the symptoms progressed rapidly. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed cervical intramedullary tumor. He underwent surgery of debulking of the cervical tumor, fractionated stereotactic irradiation, and repeated chemotherapy using nimustine hydrochloride (ACNU). Although dissemination of the tumor in the intracranial space deteriorated the patient, he survived for 26 months after the initial onset. It has been reported that no treatment is effective for this disease. However, it is also true that some patients respond well to the intensive treatment. It can be emphasized that scheduled intensive treatment for the disease under earlier histological confirmation should be performed.

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In the medical fields, the use of radiation is indispensable in diagnosis, radiotherapy, nuclear medicine and various other areas. On the other hand, great anxiety is often felt due to the misunderstanding of radiation, and this anxiety is seen in not only patients but also nurses. In this study, a questionnaire survey about knowledge of radiation and the level of anxiety was carried out in student nurses for three years from 2005 to 2007. The questionnaire included the level of anxiety about radiation and 12 basic question items concerning radiation. The results showed that the student with poor knowledge about radiation showed high anxiety. After a series of lectures concerning radiation, the acquisition of knowledge and a decrease in anxiety were observed in the students. However, it was still shown that people with scarce knowledge concerning radiation still had high anxiety at the end of the lectures. In conclusion, it was shown that education about radiation is necessary to decrease anxiety about radiation among nurses in medical care.

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Hypotension and shock can be classified as hypotension caused by reduced or maintained left ventricular (LV) ejection. Reduced left ventricular ejection can result from intrinsic left ventricular, aortic valve or mitral valve failure, which includes dilated or ischemic cardiomyopathy, left main trunk disease, acute myocarditis, etc. Acute and subacute severe aortic regurgitation can also cause shock. Echocardiography allows noninvasive diagnosis of infective endocarditis and Takayasu's arteritis to cause severe arotic regurgitation and can also be used to diagnose obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract. Reduced left ventricular preload can be caused by pericardial effusion and right ventricular ejection failure, and can result from pulmonary embolism, tricuspid regurgitation, right ventricular infarction, tension pneumothorax, hypovolemia and others characterized by a small left ventricle with good ejection fraction. Normal left ventricular ejection may be associated with hypotension. Sepsis, anaphylactic shock and neural disorder are associated with hypotension and normal cardiac output. Pseudohypotension may result from aortic dissection, Takayasu's arteritis, arteriosclerosis obliterans and aortic coarctation. A right parastemal approach enables better visualization of the ascending aorta. Fundamental echochocardiographic scanning allows approximate yet useful diagnosis of hypotension and shock.

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In Japan, the Industrial Safety and Health Law requires an employer to implement medical interviews for employees working long hours. The law stipulates the criteria of the targeted workers as those whose working time exceeds the legal limit of working hours, those with accumulated fatigue, and those who desire to receive an interview from a physician. Therefore, the employers should make an appropriate system to identify the workers who require a medical interview among employees working long hours with increasing health risks. In this study, we used "The Action Checklist for health risk management of employees working long hours (ACL)" and evaluated its efficacy. We conducted two studies: a seminar study, using ACL as an educational material in the seminar targeting occupational health professionals, and an interventional study, distributing materials with ACL in one group of small-scale enterprises and not in another group. In the seminar study, we observed a greater number of practical answers to the problems hypothetically set in the seminar among the occupational health professionals who used ACL. The results of a questionnaire given after the seminar revealed ACL was favorably accepted among 80% of all the participants in the seminar as "I have fully understood the usage of ACL" and "ACL seems to be useful in my workplace". In the interventional study, we could not see positive results from the distribution of ACL, possibly because of the low response rate, short interventional term or distribution without individual explanation. Further investigation and efforts should be considered to widely diffuse ACL with individual explanations, to prevent health disorders caused or aggravated by working long hours.

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Now a days, society has increasing expectations for the practice of evidence based medicine. The Internet has been advanced as one of the effective countermeasures. In this study, a survey was analyzed for the usefulness of health consultation via the Internet. There were no significant differences between the Internet and Non-Internet groups about two questions: 1) How useful is it for improving health care? 2) Do you want to have the same health consultation again? At the current moment, it is difficult to draw a conclusion about the effectiveness of health consultation via the Internet in the field of occupational health for factory workers.

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We describe here a tool for risk assessment and management of infectious diseases in a workplace. This was constructed as a primary precaution for the prevention of infectious diseases in a workplace, not to be used as a countermeasure of diseases in the time of or after an occurrence. The tool grades risk levels of each of the factors influencing infectious diseases in the workplace and an assessment based on the total point are given. Ordinary workplaces should be chosen, such as factories and office buildings, not places where medical experts or hygienists work, such as hospitals, schools and concessionaries, etc. Three risk factors for infection are pathogens, route and human host. The factor of a pathogen is divided into two groups, spreadable (from human to human) and nonspreadable. The risk of spreadable pathogens is assessed by the ages of workers, CO₂ concentration and air volume, and the combination of the existence of common places and collaborative work. The risk of non spreadable pathogens is evaluated by the ages of workers, air current and air volume, and existence of equipment generating aerosol. In cases where the total point is over 7, the risk is assessed as high level (group A) and daily measures must be taken, such as ensuring proper operation of the infection control committee, education, management of working conditions and management of working environments. In cases where the score is 5 or 6, the risk is assessed as intermediate level (group B) and daily measures are recommended, such as ensuring proper operation of the infection control committee and education. In the case of a score less than 4, the risk is assessed as low level (group C) and these daily measures are not necessary. Instead, an infection control committee should be organized and concrete measures should be taken upon an outbreak of an infectious disease.

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