A Survey Study of Residential Awareness on Utilization Function of Agricultural Water and Its Maintenance --A case study in Niwase and Natsukawa of Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture

The agricultural water has manifold functions for farming at community level. However, along with the difficulties to maintain the agriculture water path that are caused by the decreasing of farmers and the aging of the society, the agricultural water is losing its functions even that as water resource for local community. This paper presents a survey of the residential awareness on regional water utilization to find the possibility for the maintenance of agricultural water path. Economic evaluation is tried for the regional warter utilization function. This study is carried out at a regional level that covers both farming households and non farmers. Following three points can be confirmed based on the results of questionnaire survey. Firstly, local citizens admit that the agricultural water does have some values (3,037 Yen per household per year). Secondly, the higher the environmental awareness is, and the longer the citizen has lived there, the higher evaluation to function of the agricultural water can be observed. Thirdly, even within those who is holding high evaluation to the agricultural water, it is thought to be quite difficult to maintain the agricultural water path due to the aging of the society and uneven distribution of the participants

Gambling symptoms, behaviors, and cognitive distortions in Japanese university students

Background: This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between symptoms of gambling problems, gambling behaviours, and cognitive distortions among a university student population in Japan ages 20 to 29 years. We aimed to address the gap in knowledge of gambling disorders and treatment for this population. Methods: Data were obtained from 1471 Japanese undergraduate students from 19 universities in Japan. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical multivariate regression analysis were used to investigate whether the factors of gambling cognitive distortions would have predictive effects on gambling disorder symptoms. Results: Results indicated that 5.1% of the participants are classifiable as probable disordered gamblers. The bias of the gambling type to pachinko and pachislot was unique to gamblers in Japan. Of the students sampled, 342 self-reported gambling symptoms via the South Oaks Gambling Screen. Hierarchical multivariate regression analysis indicated that one domain of gambling cognitive distortions was associated significantly with gambling symptoms among the 342 symptomatic participants: gambling expectancy (β = 0.19, p < .05). The multivariate model explained 47% of the variance in the gambling symptoms. Conclusion: This study successfully contributed to the sparse research on university student gambling in Japan. Specifically, our results indicated a statistically significant relationship between gambling cognitive distortions and gambling disorder symptoms. These results can inform the development of preventive education and treatment for university students with gambling disorder in Japan. The report also describes needs for future research of university students with gambling disorder

The Effect of Cysteine Peptide Ingestion on Skin Brightness, a Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Parallel-Group Human Clinical Trial

Glutathione (GSH) is present in almost all human cells and has a beneficial effect on human skin brightness. Cysteinylglycine (Cys-Gly) and γ-glutamylcysteine (γ-Glu-Cys) are GSH synthesis components. In this study, we defined glutathione (GSH), cysteinylglycine (Cys-Gly), and γ-glutamylcysteine (γ-Glu-Cys) as cysteine peptide and performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to investigate the effects of orally administered cysteine peptide on human skin brightness using a CM-26d portable spectrophotometer in healthy males and females aged between 20 and 65 years old. Eligible participants were randomly allocated into three groups (cysteine peptide 45 mg: n = 16, 90 mg: n = 15, and placebo: n = 16). Each subject ingested six tablets every day for 12 weeks, and skin brightness was measured at 0, 4, 8, and 12 weeks. As a result, the 45 mg group exhibited arm brightening in a time-dependent manner, and a significant difference was observed compared to the placebo at week 12 (p = 0.028). Moreover, no serious adverse events and changes related to 270 mg study food were observed in the safety trial. Here, we suggest that cysteine peptide is a promising and safe compound for human skin brightness

Performance evaluation of in vitro diagnostic kits for hepatitis B virus infection using the regional reference panel of Japan

Abstract Background Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a global public health concern. Precise and sensitive detection of viral markers, including HBV DNA and HBs antigen (Ag), is essential to determine HBV infection. Methods The sensitivities and specificities of 5 HBV DNA and 14 HBsAg kits were evaluated using World Health Organization International Standards (WHO IS) and the Regional Reference Panel (RRP) consisting of 64 HBsAg-negative and 80 HBsAg-positive specimens. Results All 5 HBV DNA kits detected HBV DNA in the WHO IS at a concentration of 10 IU/mL. The sensitivity and specificity to the RRP were 98.8–100% and 96.9–100%, respectively. HBV DNA titers were well correlated among the 5 kits regardless of HBV genotype. However, discordance of the HBV DNA titer was found in 5 specimens measured by CAP/CTM HBV v2.0. Among 12 automated HBsAg kits, the minimum detectable concentrations in the WHO IS varied from 0.01 to 0.1 IU/mL. Two lateral flow assays were positive for WHO IS concentrations greater than or equal to 1.0 and 0.1 IU/mL, respectively. When analyzed by the RRP, 12 automated kits exhibited a sensitivity of 98.8–100%, and 2 lateral flow assays showed sensitivities of 93.8% and 100%. The specificities of HBsAg kits were 100%. In the quantification of HBsAg, some kits showed a poor correlation of measurements with each other and showed up to a 1.7-fold difference in the regression coefficient of HBsAg titers. There were variations in the correlations of measurements among HBsAg kits when analyzed by genotype. Conclusions Five HBV DNA kits showed sufficient sensitivity and specificity to determine HBV infection. HBV DNA titers were compatible with each other irrespective of HBV genotypes. HBsAg kits had enough sensitivity and specificity to screen for HBV infection. One of the lateral flow assays had a nearly equivalent sensitivity to that of the automated HBsAg kit. HBsAg titers quantified by the evaluated kits were not compatible across the kits. Genotype-dependent amino acid variations might affect the quantification of HBsAg titers