Clothing Contents in the Home Economics Teacher Training Curriculum at Hiroshima University

This study explored the composition of clothing contents for home economics science classes in the home economics teacher training curriculum at Hiroshima University, which was based on the results of attempts to cross-link the curriculum subjects with their contents. Thus, we aimed to obtain suggestions for constructing a home economics teacher training program model. In the new curriculum guidelines, the subject of home economics is described as teaching students a new “perspective and way of thinking about lifestyle activities.” Therefore, a comprehensive perspective on the home economics curriculum, material composition, and lessons is necessary to take advantage of this “lifestyle.” The curriculum to date includes clothing-related framework contents, such as clothing materials, production, composition, and management. Courses were named using keywords that refl ect four perspectives and lifestyles, such as “environment” and “design”; e.g., the core subject of the “Introduction to Clothing” lesson was clothing. Students were given the information necessary to solve the problems experienced during the performance of practical training exercises. The results were used to conceive a lesson plan for students to acquire the ability to consider their lifestyle from the four perspectives of “cooperation and collaboration,” “health, comfort, and safety,” “successful creation of living culture,” and “building a sustainable society.

The Effects of Glycine on Subjective Daytime Performance in Partially Sleep-Restricted Healthy Volunteers

Approximately 30% of the general population suffers from insomnia. Given that insomnia causes many problems, amelioration of the symptoms is crucial. Recently, we found that a non-essential amino acid, glycine subjectively and objectively improves sleep quality in humans who have difficulty sleeping. We evaluated the effects of glycine on daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and performances in sleep-restricted healthy subjects. Sleep was restricted to 25% less than the usual sleep time for three consecutive nights. Before bedtime, 3 g of glycine or placebo were ingested, sleepiness, and fatigue were evaluated using the visual analog scale (VAS) and a questionnaire, and performance were estimated by personal computer (PC) performance test program on the following day. In subjects given glycine, the VAS data showed a significant reduction in fatigue and a tendency toward reduced sleepiness. These observations were also found via the questionnaire, indicating that glycine improves daytime sleepiness and fatigue induced by acute sleep restriction. PC performance test revealed significant improvement in psychomotor vigilance test. We also measured plasma melatonin and the expression of circadian-modulated genes expression in the rat suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) to evaluate the effects of glycine on circadian rhythms. Glycine did not show significant effects on plasma melatonin concentrations during either the dark or light period. Moreover, the expression levels of clock genes such as Bmal1 and Per2 remained unchanged. However, we observed a glycine-induced increase in the neuropeptides arginine vasopressin and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide in the light period. Although no alterations in the circadian clock itself were observed, our results indicate that glycine modulated SCN function. Thus, glycine modulates certain neuropeptides in the SCN and this phenomenon may indirectly contribute to improving the occasional sleepiness and fatigue induced by sleep restriction

Views of Students Undergoing Home Economics Teacher Training : Reconstructing the Human Life Sciences Curriculum of Hiroshima University

We reconsidered the core subject of the human life sciences education curriculum at Hiroshima University to examine the views of students undergoing home economics teacher training. Although it is possible to understand the task of living conceptually and abstractly, an issue that students were taught in the previous year, our study revealed that students did not understand their role as prosumers. In addition, we found that understanding of Home Economics as a background science did not help. We confirmed the effect of Problem Based Learning (PBL) in advance, by testing students who took the same subjects in a previous year. Moreover, we examined product and performance issues including cooking practice, and proposed a learning process to address the issue proactively and cooperatively. This proposed process involves the recognition of conscious living by deeply examining important issues, to enhance students’ awareness of their role as prosumers, and highlighting the significance of Home Economics as a background science

Cross-cultural validity of a dietary questionnaire for studies of dental caries risk in Japanese

Background: Diet is a major modifiable contributing factor in the etiology of dental caries. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reliability and cross-cultural validity of the Japanese version of the Food Frequency Questionnaire to assess dietary intake in relation to dental caries risk in Japanese. Methods: The 38-item Food Frequency Questionnaire, in which Japanese food items were added to increase content validity, was translated into Japanese, and administered to two samples. The first sample comprised 355 pregnant women with mean age of 29.2 +/- 4.2 years for the internal consistency and criterion validity analyses. Factor analysis (principal components with Varimax rotation) was used to determine dimensionality. The dietary cariogenicity score was calculated from the Food Frequency Questionnaire and used for the analyses. Salivary mutans streptococci level was used as a semi-quantitative assessment of dental caries risk and measured by Dentocult SM. Dentocult SM scores were compared with the dietary cariogenicity score computed from the Food Frequency Questionnaire to examine criterion validity, and assessed by Spearman's correlation coefficient (r(s)) and Kruskal-Wallis test. Test-retest reliability of the Food Frequency Questionnaire was assessed with a second sample of 25 adults with mean age of 34.0 +/- 3.0 years by using the intraclass correlation coefficient analysis. Results: The Japanese language version of the Food Frequency Questionnaire showed high test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.70) and good criterion validity assessed by relationship with salivary mutans streptococci levels (r(s) = 0.22; p < 0.001). Factor analysis revealed four subscales that construct the questionnaire (solid sugars, solid and starchy sugars, liquid and semisolid sugars, sticky and slowly dissolving sugars). Internal consistency were low to acceptable (Cronbach's alpha = 0.67 for the total scale, 0.46-0.61 for each subscale). Mean dietary cariogenicity scores were 50.8 +/- 19.5 in the first sample, 47.4 +/- 14.1, and 40.6 +/- 11.3 for the first and second administrations in the second sample. The distribution of Dentocult SM score was 6.8% (score = 0), 34.4% (score = 1), 39.4% (score = 2), and 19.4% (score = 3). Participants with higher scores were more likely to have higher dietary cariogenicity scores (p < 0.001; Kruskal-Wallis test). Conclusions: These results provide the preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the Japanese language Food Frequency Questionnaire

Release of soluble yellow components with substances having an absorption peak at 286 nm during the water-soaking process before cooking dried Hijiki.

During the water-soaking process before cooking dried Hijiki, materials having a UV-absorptionpeak at 286±1 nm, were eluted, together with yellow colored materials having broad band between 400 and 520 nm.The former having a sharp absorption peak showed an inflection point at 23 ℃ against the reciprocals of absolute temperatures, and the latter did not show any inflection point. Probable major tissue localization of these materials in Hijiki plants was discussed in relation with their elution patterns

Integrin α5 regulates motility of human monocyte-derived Langerhans cells during immune response

Guo Z., Murakami M., Saito K., et al. Integrin α5 regulates motility of human monocyte-derived Langerhans cells during immune response. Experimental Dermatology 33, e15021 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1111/exd.15021.Langerhans cells (LCs) are mainly present in the epidermis and mucosa, and have important roles during skin infection. Migration of LCs to lymph nodes is essential for antigen presentation. However, due to the difficulties in isolating and culturing human LCs, it is not fully understood how LCs move and interact with the extracellular matrix (ECM) through their adhesion molecules such as integrin, during the immune responses. In this study, we aimed to investigate LC motility, cell shape and the role of integrin under inflammatory conditions using monocyte-derived Langerhans cells (moLCs) as a model. As a result, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation increased adhesion on fibronectin coated substrate and integrin α5 expression in moLCs. Time-lapse imaging of moLCs revealed that stimulation with LPS elongated cell shape, whilst decreasing their motility. Additionally, this decrease in motility was not observed when pre-treated with a neutralising antibody targeting integrin α5. Together, our data suggested that activation of LCs decreases their motility by promoting integrin α5 expression to enhance their affinity to the fibronectin, which may contribute to their migration during inflammation

Framework for a cooperative program curriculum among elementary, junior, and senior high schools to develop students' qualities and competence in home economics: Proposal for implementing a cooperative program curriculum for encouraging students to develop an understanding of food cultures and deepen their learning

The purpose of this study is to use surveys to clarify students' awareness at the elementary, junior, and senior high school levels of food cultures and their related issues, and to formulate and implement a class program for junior and senior high schools based on the clarified results. The program will develop students' understanding of food cultures and seeks to combine and systematize home economics education among the three levels of schooling. The study found transformations among elementary and junior high school students, in terms of their understanding of the ideas of food cultures and related issues. In addition, class programs were formulated for Grade 9 students, to broaden their views on a range of topics, and for Grade 10 students, to broaden their view of changes over time, both of which ended with successful results

Reconstructing the Curriculum for Home Economics Teacher Training in Human Life Sciences at Hiroshima University: Lesson Plans to Nurture Students’ Perspectives

The core subject of the human life sciences education curriculum at Hiroshima University was reconsidered in examining the perspectives of students undergoing home economics teacher training. The outcomes and problems of the 2016 and 2017 classes were reported and reconstructed for the 2018 class. The 2016 class’s problem was that the recognition of knowledge obtained from practical tasks were not linked effectively to the performance subjects. Therefore, five concepts, i.e., health, collaboration, wealth, culture, and home economics were set as concepts for product planning in the 2017 class, and a panel discussion with seven faculty members as panelists was held at the beginning of the course. The results clearly show that the class discussion during in the panel discussion was effective in deepening the students’ awareness of the issues of life. However, a problem emerged in that the recognition of life problems was not fully utilized for task execution by the students. In 2018, we therefore focused on performance issues and conceived a lesson plan that prioritizes deepening the students’ awareness about contemporary life issues

Voxel‐based specific regional analysis system for Alzheimer’s disease utility as a screening tool for unrecognized cognitive dysfunction of elderly patients in diabetes outpatient clinics: Multicenter retrospective exploratory study

AIMS/INTRODUCTION: An efficient screening strategy for identification of cognitive dysfunction remains a clinical issue in the management of elderly adults with diabetes. A magnetic resonance imaging voxel-based specific regional analysis system for Alzheimer's disease (VSRAD) has been developed as an automated brain morphometry system that includes the hippocampus. We carried out a multicenter retrospective study to evaluate the utility of VSRAD for screening cognitive dysfunction in diabetes outpatient clinics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We enrolled patients with diabetes aged >65 years who underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging scans for the purpose of a medical checkup between November 2018 and May 2019. Patients who were already suspected or diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment and/or dementia as well as those with a history of cerebrovascular disease were excluded. RESULTS: A total of 67 patients were enrolled. Five patients were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or dementia (clinical cognitive dysfunction). Patients with clinical cognitive dysfunction showed a significantly higher z-score in VSRAD analysis (2.57 ± 0.47 vs 1.15 ± 0.55, P < 0.01). The sensitivities and specificities for diagnosis of clinical cognitive dysfunction were 80 and 48% for the Mini-Mental State Examination, 100 and 89% for the z-score, and 100 and 90% for the combination of the Mini-Mental State Examination score and z-score, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: VSRAD analysis can distinguish patients with clinical cognitive dysfunction in the elderly with diabetes, and also shows reasonable sensitivity and specificity compared with the Mini-Mental State Examination alone. Thus, VSRAD analysis can be useful for early identification of clinical cognitive dysfunction in the elderly with diabetes