Anxiety disorders are the primary cause of psychiatric disorders in any age group and impose a high socioeconomic burden on modern society. Exposure to severe stress often induces chronic anxiety, which is accompanied by hyperactivation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, a key regulator for stress response. Currently, no effective therapeutic strategies are able to fully restore neurological function. This is partly due to the complexity of neural circuits associated with anxiety-related behaviors, making it difficult to elucidate the precise pathogenesis of anxiety disorders. Neural dysfunction within the amygdala is associated with anxiety-induced changes in other brain regions, which could have been facilitated by modulation resulting from actin cytoskeletal regulators such as myristoylated alanine-rich C-kinase substrate like 1 (MARCKSL1). Previous reports have indicated that MARCKSL1 transgenic mice, or those exposed to brain injury, exhibited anxiety-like behaviors due to upregulation of MARCKSL1. Moreover, research suggests that attenuation of MARCKSL1 ameliorates anxiety-related behaviors. This review article discusses the amygdala's key role in the mechanism underlying anxiety disorders, with specific focus on MARCKSL1 function.

Stiff shoulders, which ranks first in women and second in men, lead to chronic pain, producing further symptoms. One of the causes is the straight neck caused using smartphones. Generation Z has a high usage rate, as it is called the smartphone generation. The purpose of this study was to clarify changes in stiff shoulders and stress caused by performing self-hand massage incorporating acupuncture point stimulation in Generation Z. As a result, it was clarified that the stiff shoulders were alleviated, the hardness of the upper trapezius muscles decreased, and the skin temperature of the upper shoulders of the left and right nuchals decreased. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the blood pressure and pulse values decreased, and the POMS subscales “Anger-Hostility”, “Fatigue-Inertia”, “Tension-Anxiety” and “Vigor-Activity” decreased, which helped to relieve stress. In addition, it was suggested that self-hand massage did not improve stiff shoulders in those who used smartphones for a long time per day, and that the effect of hand massage appeared in those who had a higher skin surface temperature on the left side before massage.

Understanding the structure of the human body is important for all healthcare professionals. Observation practice is useful for paramedic students in learning about the human body structure, but paramedic students' opportunities for observation are generally limited; therefore, more effective observational methods are required. In this study, we performed a questionnaire survey and evaluated anatomical structures of the human body that were of interest to students in nursing, acupuncture massage, pharmacist, physical therapist/occupational therapist, nutritionist, and emergency medical technician training courses. This study enrolled 878 paramedic students who participated in observation practice at Chiba University between July 2013 and March 2016. Data showed that 1) the organ systems that the students were particularly interested in were the nervous (all specialized fields), digestive (nurses, pharmacists, nutritionists, and emergency medical technician training courses), circulatory (nurses, acupuncturists, pharmacists, nutritionists, and emergency medical technician training courses), and musculoskeletal systems (acupuncturists and physical/occupational therapists training courses); 2) the component of interest in each organ system differed among the specialized fields; 3) among the first- and second-grade students in vocational schools of nursing, the nervous and circulatory systems were the common organ systems of considerable interest; and 4) the components of interest in these organ systems are different between the students in their first and second grades in vocational schools of nursing, but the brain was the component of the nervous system that was commonly of particular interest in both grade levels. The fact that the responses showed bias toward each specialized field must be important information when considering an appropriate instruction customized for each specialized field and in thoroughly providing guidance in future training instructions.