Short-term intake of a Japanese-style healthy lunch menu contributes to prevention and/or improvement in metabolic syndrome among middle-aged men: a non-randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Metabolic syndrome is now widely appreciated as a cluster of metabolic abnormalities such as visceral obesity, hypertension, hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia. To date, incidence of metabolic syndrome is continuously increasing worldwide. In addition, low vegetable consumption has recently become a serious issue in Japan. Furthermore, Japan is facing a shortfall in places offering food that can help prevent metabolic syndrome in the first place. Our study is designed to influence these developments. We conducted a non-randomized controlled trial by offering a Japanese-style healthy lunch menu to middle-aged men in a workplace cafeteria. This menu was designed to prevent and reduce metabolic syndrome. METHODS: This intervention study took the form of a non-randomized controlled trial. Participants chose the control or intervention group. The control group consumed their habitual lunches without restriction and only nutrient contents were assessed. The intervention group received a Japanese-style healthy lunch at a workplace cafeteria for 3 months. The participants worked in offices at a city hall and mostly had low levels of physical activity. Data of 35 males (control group: 7 males, intervention group: 28 males, mean age: 47.2 ± 7.9 years) were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: We obtained an effective outcome by demonstrating that ongoing intake of a Japanese-style healthy lunch decreased blood pressure and serum lipids and increased plasma ghrelin levels. The results grew more pronounced as intake of Japanese-style healthy lunches increased in frequency. CONCLUSIONS: This study presents new empirical data as a result of an original intervention program undertaken in Japan. A Japanese-style healthy lunch menu containing many vegetables consumed can help prevent and/or improve metabolic syndrome

An interlaboratory investigation of intrinsic dissolution rate determination using surface dissolution

The pur­pose of this study was to con­duct an in­ter­lab­o­ra­tory ring-study, with six part­ners (aca­d­e­mic and in­dus­trial), in­ves­ti­gat­ing the mea­sure­ment of in­trin­sic dis­so­lu­tion rate (IDR) us­ing sur­face dis­so­lu­tion imag­ing (SDI) equip­ment. Mea­sure­ment of IDR is im­por­tant in phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal re­search as it pro­vides char­ac­ter­is­ing in­for­ma­tion on drugs and their for­mu­la­tions. This work al­lowed us to as­sess the SDI’s in­ter­lab­o­ra­tory per­for­mance for mea­sur­ing IDR us­ing a de­fined stan­dard op­er­at­ing pro­ce­dure (see sup­port­ing in­for­ma­tion) and six drugs as­signed as low (tadalafil, bromocrip­tine me­sy­late), medium (carvedilol, in­domethacin) and high (ibupro­fen, val­sar­tan) sol­u­bil­ity com­pounds. Fasted State Sim­u­lated In­testi­nal Fluid (FaS­SIF) and blank FaS­SIF (with­out sodium tau­ro­cholate and lecithin) (pH 6.5) were used as me­dia. Us­ing the stan­dard­ised pro­to­col an IDR value was ob­tained for all com­pounds and the re­sults show that the over­all IDR rank or­der matched the sol­u­bil­ity rank or­der. In­ter­lab­o­ra­tory vari­abil­ity was also ex­am­ined and it was ob­served that the vari­abil­ity for lower sol­u­bil­ity com­pounds was higher, co­ef­fi­cient of vari­a­tion >50%, than for in­ter­me­di­ate and high sol­u­bil­ity com­pounds, with the ex­cep­tion of in­domethacin in FaS­SIF medium. In­ter lab­o­ra­tory vari­abil­ity is a use­ful de­scrip­tor for un­der­stand­ing the ro­bust­ness of the pro­to­col and the sys­tem vari­abil­ity. On com­par­i­son to an­other pub­lished small-scale IDR study the rank or­der­ing with re­spect to dis­so­lu­tion rate is iden­ti­cal ex­cept for the high sol­u­bil­ity com­pounds. This re­sults in­di­cates that the SDI ro­bustly mea­sures IDR how­ever, no rec­om­men­da­tion on the use of one small scale method over the other is made

リハビリテーション総合研究所の活動について

本学の学生に対するスポーツ傷害の予防及び改善と、またリハビリテーション学部学生の実地研修の場として、2004年4月学園町敷地内にリハビリテーション総合研究所(以下、リハ総研)が開設された。開設以降、250件を超えるコンディショニング指導を実施し、また研究所内に限らず、校内でのクラブ活動現場や大会に帯同してのサポートも行ってきた。我が国のスポーツ活動を行う学生のコンディショニングを支援する人材、施設は不足しているのが現状であり、リハ総研のようなシステムは他に例が少ない。今後は、当研究所の活動の場や人材を増やし、さらに展開させていきたいと考える。In April of 2004, the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Research Institute (In Japanese, it is called Rehabilitation Sogo Kenkyujyo, and also Reha-So-Ken. as an abbreviation.) was established in our college. The purpose of establishing this institute is the prevention and the remedy for sports injuries of our college students, and providing a practical training place for students who major in Rehabilitation. We have given the conditioning guidance programs which exceed 250 cases since the establishment. In addition, the fields of our activities are not limited inside the institute; for example, we tied up with the club activities on campus and the competitions, and obtained an experience by supporting them. In fact, students who are also sports players are not commonly supported by any trainers or facilities in over country. Therefore, such a system as Reha-So-Ken rarely can be seen in other colleges. Towards the future, we would like to gather talented staffs, to expand the field of our activities with hoping further more development

Exploring the Origin of Biological Homochirality via Study of Amino Acid Phase Behaviour

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

What I Want to Be When I Grow Up: A Qualitative Study of American and Japanese Children\u27s Occupational Aspirations

The purpose of this study was to compare cultural differences in Japanese and American first graders\u27 occupational aspirations. The data came from the written essays of children from both nations. The data analysis revealed that, when choosing careers, these children selected universal categories of occupations that included arts, professions, manual and related jobs, specialties, sports, and teaching. However, their cultures clearly influenced their career choices; specifically, American children chose vocations for self-related reasons, while their Japanese age-mates\u27 choices were for reasons related both to self and to others