Previous research suggested a dental treatment causes physical burden as well as mental burden such as uneasiness to the patient, because such treatment entails strong pain, such as vibration. Since such a burden causes stress to the body, it is believed that a dental treatment act is a kind of stressor. We studied the level of stress on a patient caused by a dental treatment act, by measuring amylase activity both before and after dental anesthesia, ultrasonic scaling, drilling topical fluoride application and nitrous oxide gas application. We noticed that the amount of change in saliva amylase activity varies among individuals, but the results suggest that a dental treatment act is really a stressor, and the level of such stress depends on the type of treatment, and on whether the patient is an adult or a child.

View full abstract

The students not living at home have a lot of problems in their dietary habits, which are closely related to the maintenance and promotion of their healthy minds and bodies. To realize the real condition of their dietary habits, we examined the real condition of their daily diets and their expenses for drink and food. Our research made it clear that there are correlations of dietary energy and expenses for drink with the expenses for food. It was also shown that they had not the slightest idea how much energy they should take. So it was concluded that they can improve their dietary habits by saving expenses for drink and increasing expenses for food.

View full abstract

In this research an industrial hygiene control system was introduced in a small-scale factory with less than 100 employees that had had no such system, and the seven ensuing years' industrial health activities were evaluated. With an occupational health nurse being stationed, the factory in which only medical examination had been carried out developed an industrial hygiene control system with emphasis on prevention, and conducted industrial health activities based on five kinds of industrial hygiene control. The evaluation was made by use of improvement in 3 items-BMI body mass index (p<0.001), and systolic blood pressure (p<0.001), fasting blood sugar level (p<0.001), and there were significant difference observed in all of them. And also, the 1966 thousand fold values of the absence number due to illness divided by the month-end number of full-time workers and the absence number due to illness divided by all workers' total working hours were 9.2 and 0.07 each, but in 2003 those were both 0.00. These results showed that the 7-year industrial health activities in the factory were effective considering the 7-year aging of the employees.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine, by Profile of Mood States (POMS), Total Mood Disturbance (TMD) and Effective Recreation Activity Points (ERAP), how different levels of leadership ability affect people's emotional states in a Janken-pon activity. The sample population, four males and twenty-five females (mean age 39.8± 2.5,) was voluntarily recruited. In an experimental setting, a beginner instructor and an advanced instructor separately took a lead in the same Janken-pon activity. In the post-activity phase, the POMS scores for "vigor" significantly increased while five negative factors decreased. Similarly, the TMD points significantly decreased in the post-activity period. In the ERAP, participants in the beginner instructor's group scored remarkably high in the following areas: "enjoyment", "comfortable", "satisfaction", "sense of achievement", "recovered from mental fatigue", "sleeping", and "diet meal". ERAP results for participants in the advanced instructor's group were identical to those of the beginner's group. The post-activity results in the beginner's group show a negative correlation between each score in the five negative factors in POMS and each score in ERAP. In the post-activity phase, the results show that the scores on TDM and ERAP are negatively interrelated, and more importantly, the results of the advanced instructor's group show very similar tendency. In conclusion, the results of this experimental study evidently show that regardless of different levels of leadership ability, the Janken-pon activity decreases negative moods and enhance positive moods in participants.

View full abstract