Self-esteem in Children with Psychosomatic Symptoms: Examination of Low Self-esteem and Prognosis

Self-esteem is the evaluative feelings one holds for oneself and the sense that one has essential worth. It is evaluated as the difference between the actual self and the ideal self. Healthy self-esteem supports psychological stability and positive social activity and is an essential element in the psychological development of children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate self-esteem in children with psychosomatic symptoms and elucidate a strategy for using such evaluations in therapy. We evaluated self-esteem in 56 patients at the Department of Pediatrics of Okayama University Hospital who were undergoing outpatient therapy for psychosomatic symptoms, using Pope's 5-scale test of self-esteem for children. We examined patient attributes, course of therapy, and social adjustment. Patients with low self-esteem on multiple scales at the first visit were all female, and these patients had a significantly higher frequency of family function problems, such as a family member with a psychiatric disorder, economic hardship, or experience of child abuse. Moreover, the prognosis for these patients was poor regardless of their social adjustment at the first visit

A Study of Psycho-pathology and Treatment of Children with Phagophobia

Phagophobia is a disorder characterized by a conditioned excessive fear of eating and is initiated by an event such as vomiting or choking. During childhood, vomiting often occurs as a result of infection or overeating, and painful experiences bring about maladaptive eating behavior like food refusal. There have been few reports of phagophobia, and patients have sometimes been misdiagnosed with anorexia nervosa (AN). The objective of this study was to elucidate the psycho-pathology and current treatment of patients with phagophobia by analyzing case studies. We describe 6 cases with phagophobia. Patients with strong obsessions were refractory to treatment, indicating that evaluation of premorbid personality is crucial to the prognosis. It is important to classify this disorder according to psycho-pathology into "post-traumatic type" and "gain-from-illness type" to make a treatment plan. A solution focused approach is also effective for patients and their family. Paying close attention to these conditions and to the diagnostic concept referred as "hagophobia" is useful in achieving these aims

Undifferentiated Sarcoma of the Salivary Gland in a Mongolian Gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus)

A subcutaneous mass was found in the lower ventral neck region of a 55-week-old male Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus). Histopathologically, the mass involved salivary glands and featured diffuse proliferation of pleomorphic neoplastic cells with large necrotic foci. The lesion was well demarcated from the surrounding tissue, although invasive growth to fibrous septa was occasionally observed. The neoplastic cells were mainly arranged in irregular sheets with severe cellular atypia, round to oval nuclei and varying amounts of eosinophilic cytoplasm. Mitotic figures and multinucleated giant cells were frequent. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that the neoplastic cells were strongly positive for vimentin and S-100 and negative for NSE, cytokeratin, α-SMA, c-kit, factor VIII, CD34, α-1-antitrypsin, lysozyme and MSR-A. Based on the results, the mass was diagnosed as an undifferentiated sarcoma of the salivary gland. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of such a tumor in Mongolian gerbils

Nationwide surveillance of AIDS-defining illnesses among HIV patients in Japan from 1995 to 2017

Objectives: The accurate prevalence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-defining illnesses (ADIs) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients has not been well investigated. Hence, a longitudinal nationwide surveillance study analyzing the current status and national trend of opportunistic complications in HIV-infected patients in Japan is warranted.Methods: A nationwide surveillance of opportunistic complications in HIV-infected patients from 1995 to 2017 in Japan was conducted. An annual questionnaire was sent to 383 HIV/AIDS referral hospitals across Japan to collect information (CD4+ lymphocyte count, time of onset, outcome, and antiretroviral therapy [ART] status) of patients diagnosed with any of 23 ADIs between 1995 and 2017.Results: The response and case capture rates of the questionnaires in 2017 were 53% and 76%, respectively. The number of reported cases of opportunistic complications peaked in 2011 and subsequently declined. Pneumocystis pneumonia (38.7%), cytomegalovirus infection (13.6%), and candidiasis (12.8%) were associated with the cumulative incidence of ADIs between 1995 and 2017. The mortality rate in HIV-infected patients with opportunistic complications substantially decreased to 3.6% in 2017. The mortality rate was significantly higher in HIV patients who received ART within 14 days of diagnosis of complications than in those who received ART 15 days after diagnosis (13.0% vs. 3.2%, p < 0.01).Conclusions: We have demonstrated a 23-year trend of a newly diagnosed AIDS status in Japan with high accuracy. The current data reveal the importance of Pneumocystis pneumonia as a first-onset illness and that early initiation of ART results in poor outcomes in HIV patients in Japan

A Method for Recognizing Postures and Gestures Using Foot Pressure Sensors

In this paper, we propose a method for recognizing postures and gestures by using foot pressure sensors, and we investigate optimal positions for pressure sensors on soles from the viewpoint of motion recognition accuracy. In experiments, the recognition accuracies of 22 kinds of daily postures and gestures were evaluated from foot-pressure sensor values. Furthermore, the optimum measurement points for high recognition accuracy were examined by evaluating combinations of two foot pressure measurement areas on a round-robin basis. As a result, when selecting the optimum two points for each user, the recognition accuracy was about 94.5% on average. The recognition accuracy of the averaged combinations of the best two combinations for all subjects was classified with an accuracy of about 91.9% on average. As a result of an evaluation to raise versatility, the average recognition accuracy in a three-point evaluation was 98.4%, which was almost the same with the recognition accuracy when using all 105 points. In anticipation of the applicability of this research result, two types of pressure sensing shoes were developed

System for Detecting Learner Stuck in Programming Learning

Getting stuck is an inevitable part of learning programming. Long-term stuck decreases the learner’s motivation and learning efficiency. The current approach to supporting learning in lectures involves teachers finding students who are getting stuck, reviewing their source code, and solving the problems. However, it is difficult for teachers to grasp every learner’s stuck situation and to distinguish stuck or deep thinking only by their source code. Teachers should advise learners only when there is no progress and they are psychologically stuck. This paper proposes a method for detecting when learners get stuck during programming by using multi-modal data, considering both their source code and psychological state measured by a heart rate sensor. The evaluation results of the proposed method show that it can detect more stuck situations than the method that uses only a single indicator. Furthermore, we implemented a system that aggregates the stuck situation detected by the proposed method and presents them to a teacher. In evaluations during the actual programming lecture, participants rated the notification timing of application as suitable and commented that the application was useful. The questionnaire survey showed that the application can detect situations where learners cannot find solutions to exercise problems or express them in programming