Sexual and reproductive health/rights are intrinsic human rights encompassing privacy, sexual diversity, choice of sexual behavior, and the decision to have children. Achieving sexual and reproductive health necessitates respecting individual rights and emphasizing the importance of reproductive rights. This review aims to discuss the current state of the abortion services in Japan, highlight challenges in providing abortion care, and explore the potential for the nursing profession to expand its expertise in this area. In 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) updated its recommendations for safe abortion, marking the first revision in a decade, and revised its abortion care guidelines. Additionally, in 2023, Japan approved oral medication for abortion, thus providing an increased number of options for abortion. However, this development also poses challenges for nursing professionals who may encounter unfamiliar care situations. Establishing specialized abortion care can considerably benefit women undergoing abortion, thereby ensuring they receive high quality care tailored to their needs.

Background and research objective: Hemiparesis is one of the most common types of damage resulting from stroke. Stroke affects the daily life of patients and reduces their ability to walk. In Taiwan, patients with stroke are mainly presented with two choices of ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs): hinged posterior AFOs (hinged P-AFOs) and anterior AFOs (A-AFOs). In this study, we designed a modified AFO (M-AFO) that enables flexible motion in the metatarsophalangeal joints. We conducted a gait analysis and a 6-minute walking test (6MWT) to determine how the A-AFO and M-AFO improve gait. Method: A total of 14 patients with hemiparesis were included and randomly assigned into two groups. The first group wore the A-AFO for 1 month first and then visited our laboratory for gait analysis and 6MWT. They then wore the M-AFO for 1 month and visited our laboratory for further tests. The second group wore the aforementioned orthoses but in reversed order. The data analyzed included the stride width, step length, stride length, velocity, cadence, and 6MWT outcomes. Results: Significant differences were observed in stride width, step length, stride length, velocity, and 6MWT outcomes (P < 0.05). The 6MWT results indicated that patients wearing the M-AFO walked longer than those wearing the A-AFO (P < 0.01). Conclusion: According to the analyzed data of the M-AFO and A-AFO obtained using a gait analysis and 6MWT, patients with stroke are advised to use our proposed M-AFO for rehabilitation, particularly for the adjustment of gait. Clinical significance: Our results may serve as a reference for patients with stroke seeking to use lower-limb orthoses for training purposes.

In our past cohort study, we carried out nationwide web-based surveys to assess mental health deterioration among non-permanent workers over a 1-year period during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. The association between non-permanent employment and adverse mental health conditions was found to be the basic characteristic of the original sample. However, high non-response rates and selective drop-out occurred, suggesting that the samples in the follow-up surveys might have been biased. The aim of the present study was to describe changes in sample characteristics among our three surveys and factors associated with non-response in the third survey using data at baseline and the second survey. Our web-based survey of the working-age population in Japan included three waves: March 26 to April 6, 2020; June 26 to July 2, 2020; and October 26 to November 5, 2021. From the original cohort of 3001 Japanese workers, 2351 and 1568 respondents participated in the second and third surveys, respectively. The proportions among respondents of young, single, and non-permanent workers decreased across the three surveys, as did Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and sense of coherence (SOC) scores; however, EuroQol 5-dimension 5-level (EQ-5D-5L) scores increased across surveys. No differences were found in CES-D, SOC, and EQ-5D-5L scores between non-permanent and permanent workers among respondents in the third survey before and after propensity score matching. The risk factors associated with non-response in the third survey were female sex, younger age at baseline and lower EQ-5D-5L scores in the second survey. The basic characteristics of the sample changed owing to non-response bias, resulting in underestimation of mental health deterioration among non-permanent workers in our cohort study. There is a need for additional cross-sectional studies to complement the assessment of adverse mental health symptoms among workers in Japan at a given time point during the COVID-19 pandemic.