The objective of this study is to elucidate the nutritional status of in-home elderly people and attempt to clarify the factors involved in falling into low nutritional status along with aging. As our methods, we investigated the nutritional status of in-home elderly people based on their serum albumin levels and conducted interviews with family caregivers and home healthcare professionals, then conducted an analysis using the content analysis technique. As a result, a little over 10% of elderly people were found to be of low nutritional status and a tendency to fall into low nutritional status was observed as they get older. The following factors were revealed to contribute to this finding: sufficient nutrition was not provided at home due to economic reasons and problems related to care giving; visiting education on nutritional diet was not widespread; it was difficult for home healthcare professionals to build such teams specialized in nutrition support as in hospitals. Among home healthcare professionals, nurses as a result of the interviews, only the issue regarding whether or not oral ingestion is possible was raised mainly by physicians without any guidance for improving their nutritional status. However, nurses received questions from family caregivers, such as palatability, ease of eating, and nutritional value, and were required to consider their enjoyment of eating to maintain their quality of life. Going forward, among all professions involved in the nutritional status of elderly people, it was suggested that the role of nurses would become greater.

　 Males and Females show differences both physically and behaviorally. Though genetic sex is determined solely by the presence or absence of a Y chromosome, it cannot explain all differences between genders. Biological factors, like hormones, develop physical characteristics. They also induce sexual dimorphism in brain areas, like cerebral hemispheres, amygdala, and hippocampus. The differences in the brain cause behavioral differences. However, the sex differences in behavior correspond to patterns of ability rather than overall intelligence. In addition, social, cognitive and emotional factors affect sex differences. In sum, sexual dimorphisms in human brains and behaviors exist only as averages, with overlapping variabilities.

　 Pregnant women are highly susceptible to malaria infection because of their low immunity, and are at increased risk of maternal illness or death, in addition to spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, premature delivery and low birth weight. Pregnancy-associated hormones are involved in physiological changes, such as immune tolerance and metabolic adaptations, during pregnancy. It is considered that metabolic adaptations are also associated with the susceptibility to malaria parasites during pregnancy.
　 Placental malaria is characterized by the accumulation of infected erythrocytes and inflammatory cells in the placenta. Placental malaria has been reported to be correlated with adverse pregnancy outcomes such as fetal growth restriction, still birth, premature delivery and, possibly, preeclampsia. Recently, we suggested that IFNGR1 signaling plays a pivotal role in placental pathology and subsequent adverse pregnancy outcomes during severe malaria. However, the details of pathophysiology and pathogenesis of malaria parasites during pregnancy are poorly understood. Therefore, it is difficult to detect malaria parasites early during pregnancy and precaution against severe malaria. This review summarizes the evidence from human and rodent studies of pregnancy-associated malaria.