Some Design Proposals to Support Independent Life of the Elderlies with Mild Cognitive Impairments who Live Alone.

In Japan, the elderly persons will exceed 30% of population and the dementia will be more than 7 million in 2025. This means the one of five elderly persons will be dementia. Most of them will live in own house with his/her suppose or aged children, or alone. The dementia is progressive disease, so patients lose their abilities gradually in approximately ten years. Mostly there are two types of countermeasure action for the dementia; one is care and the other is prevention such as brain training or cognition plus exercise. Even though they will do many things by themselves independently in the early stage of dementia or in the state of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), they forced to quit daily activities such as cooking or outing by his/her relatives for reason of safety. This inhibition affects as the disuse syndrome, then he/she will lose own abilities faster. As the main symptoms of the dementia is memory loss, the authors focused on prompting behavior by using IoT technology. The sensors in the house are watching the environment and send data to control center in the house. The control center tells the situation by the synthesized voice such as “the stove still burning”, or “the door of freezing chamber is open”, then store the data with time stamp. The resident with memory loss may think about the meaning then make decision and finally do or not do something. The results are stored in the server, so the relatives can monitor the situation of the resident from anywhere

Validation of the everyday technology use questionnaire in a Japanese context.

Background/Objective The Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire (ETUQ), which evaluates the perceived relevance of and the perceived ability in everyday technology (ET) use, has demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties in Swedish studies of older adults. The aim of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the ETUQ in a Japanese context in older Japanese adults. Methods A sample of older Japanese adults (n = 164) including persons with (n = 32) and without (n = 132) cognitive impairment was interviewed with the ETUQ, including original items (ETs) and added Japanese context-specific items. Data were analyzed using a Rasch measurement model. Results The analysis demonstrated acceptable functioning of the rating scale, internal scale validity, person response validity, and person-separation reliability of the Japanese ETUQ according to the Rasch model. However, evidence supporting unidimensionality in the Japanese ETUQ was not consistent in this sample. The added Japanese items did not significantly change the estimated individual person measures of perceived ability to use ET. Conclusion The Japanese ETUQ seems to be a sensitive tool to evaluate perceived ability in ET use among elderly people in Japan with and without cognitive impairment. Therefore, it could be used in research and clinical practice. Keywords activities of daily living; everyday technology; Instrumental Activities of Daily Living scale; older adults; Rasch measurement modelThe Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE)The Strategic Research Programme in Care Sciences at the Karolinska InstitutetSwedish Brain PowerThe regional agreement on medical training and clinical research (ALF) between the Stockholm County Council and the Karolinska InstitutetThe research was mainly funded by Health and Labour Sciences Research Grant (Japan)Publishe

Autopsy Findings Involving Murderous Intent: Comparison between Positive and Negative Murderous Intent Cases in Japan

The presence or absence of murderous intent is an important fact during criminal trials. To verify autopsy findings that were considered as evidence of murderous intent, we compared autopsy findings in homicide cases committed with and without murderous intent (n = 12 and n = 11, respectively). Although the number of wounds may only be limited to one or two, stab wounds on the trunk of the body from a sharp instrument can be a significant evidence of murderous intent. Bruise or petechial haemorrhage at the back or limbs caused by blunt instruments or without any weapons do not indicate the presence of murderous intent. Although results in this study should be carefully interpreted in other jurisdictions, statistical analysis comparing cases with and without murderous intents might be a valuable methodology to understand autopsy findings involving murderous intent in Japan

Hydro-bio-geomechanical properties of hydrate-bearing sediments from Nankai Trough

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Marine and Petroleum Geology 66 (2015): 434-450, doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2015.02.033.Natural hydrate-bearing sediments from the Nankai Trough, offshore Japan, were studied using the Pressure Core Characterization Tools (PCCTs) to obtain geomechanical, hydrological, electrical, and biological properties under in situ pressure, temperature, and restored effective stress conditions. Measurement results, combined with index-property data and analytical physics-based models, provide unique insight into hydrate-bearing sediments in situ. Tested cores contain some silty-sands, but are predominantly sandy- and clayey-silts. Hydrate saturations Sh range from 0.15 to 0.74, with significant concentrations in the silty-sands. Wave velocity and flexible-wall permeameter measurements on never-depressurized pressure-core sediments suggest hydrates in the coarser-grained zones, the silty-sands where Sh exceeds 0.4, contribute to soil-skeletal stability and are load-bearing. In the sandy- and clayey-silts, where Sh < 0.4, the state of effective stress and stress history are significant factors determining sediment stiffness. Controlled depressurization tests show that hydrate dissociation occurs too quickly to maintain thermodynamic equilibrium, and pressure–temperature conditions track the hydrate stability boundary in pure-water, rather than that in seawater, in spite of both the in situ pore water and the water used to maintain specimen pore pressure prior to dissociation being saline. Hydrate dissociation accompanied with fines migration caused up to 2.4% vertical strain contraction. The first-ever direct shear measurements on never-depressurized pressure-core specimens show hydrate-bearing sediments have higher sediment strength and peak friction angle than post-dissociation sediments, but the residual friction angle remains the same in both cases. Permeability measurements made before and after hydrate dissociation demonstrate that water permeability increases after dissociation, but the gain is limited by the transition from hydrate saturation before dissociation to gas saturation after dissociation. In a proof-of-concept study, sediment microbial communities were successfully extracted and stored under high-pressure, anoxic conditions. Depressurized samples of these extractions were incubated in air, where microbes exhibited temperature-dependent growth rates.PCCTs were developed with funding to Georgia Tech from the DOE/Chevron Joint Industry Project (JIP), with additional funds from the Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. The JIP also funded the Georgia Tech participation in Sapporo. USGS participation in Sapporo was funded through a technical assistance agreement with Chevron (TAA-12-2135/CW928359). Some USGS developments on the IPTC were funded under Interagency Agreement DE-FE0002911 with the U.S. Department of Energy, with additional support from the U.S. Geological Survey. Core acquisition and Japanese participation in this study was supported by the Research Consortium for Methane Hydrate Resources in Japan (MH21 Research Consortium) to carry out Japan's Methane Hydrate R&D Program conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)

The impact of human leukocyte antigen mismatch on recipient outcomes in living‐donor liver transplantation

Donor–recipient human leukocyte antigen (HLA) compatibility has not been considered to significantly affect liver transplantation (LT) outcomes; however, its significance in living-donor LT (LDLT), which is mostly performed between blood relatives, remains unclear. This retrospective cohort study included 1954 LDLTs at our institution (1990–2020). The primary and secondary endpoints were recipient survival and the incidence of T cell–mediated rejection (TCMR) after LDLT, respectively, according to the number of HLA mismatches at all five loci: HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C, HLA-DR, and HLA-DQ. Subgroup analyses were also performed in between-siblings that characteristically have widely distributed 0–10 HLA mismatches. A total of 1304 cases of primary LDLTs were finally enrolled, including 631 adults (recipient age at LT ≥18 years) and 673 children (<18 years). In adult-to-adult LDLT, the more HLA mismatches at each locus, the significantly worse the recipient survival was (p = 0.03, 0.01, 0.03, 0.001, and <0.001 for HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C, HLA-DR, and HLA-DQ, respectively). This trend was more pronounced when multiple loci were combined (all p < 0.001 for A + B + DR, A + B + C, DR + DQ, and A + B + C + DR + DQ). Notably, a total of three or more HLA-B + DR mismatches was an independent risk factor for both TCMR (hazard ratio [HR] 2.66, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.21–5.87; p = 0.02) and recipient survival (HR 2.44, 95% CI 1.11–5.35; p = 0.03) in between-siblings. By contrast, HLA mismatch did not affect pediatric LDLT outcomes at any locus or in any combinations; however, it should be noted that all donor–recipient relationships are parent-to-child that characteristically possesses one or less HLA mismatch at each locus and maximally five or less mismatches in total. In conclusion, HLA mismatch significantly affects not only TCMR development but also recipient survival in adult LDLT, but not in children

認知力低下に配慮した継続使用が可能な家電製品のデザイン方法に関する研究

少子高齢化が進行している我が国において、認知症者の増加は予想をはるかに上回り、2012年時点で高齢者人口の15%にあたる約462万人が認知症を発症していると発表された（朝田隆、厚生労働省研究班、2013）。一方、2010年現在、高齢者のいる世帯は全体の4割を占め、独居高齢者は男性140万人、女性346万人と推計されている（平成24年版高齢者白書、内閣府）。加齢に伴う生活不安の一つは自身あるいは家族が認知症になることであり、認知症が進行すれば在宅生活をあきらめざるを得ない。アルツハイマーに代表される認知症は進行性の疾患であり、数年間に及ぶ初期症状の段階を経て要介護状態となる。この初期段階における日常生活上の困難や混乱によって生じる「問題行動」は生活行為を縮小させ、認知機能の廃用を引き起こし、認知症の進行を早める危険性がある。著者らは、生活環境とりわけ日常生活で使用する家庭電化製品等（以下家電等と略記）が認知機能の低下に配慮していないことに起因していると仮定し、独居もしくは日中独居の高齢者がどのような家電等を継続使用しているのか、使用を中断したものはないか、といった調査を行い、その結果から認知力が低下しても継続使用が可能な家電等のデザイン方法について7つの知見を得た。In 2013, a research unit of Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced that more than 4.62 million are dementia and around 4 million are MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment), extremely exceeding expectation. On the other hand, households which have elderly counted 42% in 2010 in Japan. The cabinet estimated 1.3 million men and 3.5 million women of over 65 live alone.One of the fears of aging people is to be a dementia. People must move to institute when the stage of dementia goes deep. The dementia like an Alzheimer’s disease become worth in several years, after intermediate stage so called MCI. In this intermediate stage, if some kind of problems happens, family member tend to take his/her independent activities. This makes dementia worth.The authors interviewed 91 elderly who live alone to find what kind of everyday technology are still used or quite using. Finally we found seven items of knowledge to design those elderly friendly

Change in the Stable Crystal Phase of Tetra‑<i>n</i>‑butylammonium Bromide (TBAB) Hydrates Enclosing Xenon

This article reports the inversion of the stable phase of tetra-<i>n</i>-butyl ammonium bromide (TBAB) hydrates in the xenon (Xe)–TBAB–water system. In the TBAB solution (mass fraction of TBAB in the water solution, <i>w</i> = 0.40) under atmospheric pressure, the TBAB–water system preferentially forms the TBAB·26H₂O hydrate. Through in situ Raman spectral analysis, the stable crystal phase of the TBAB hydrate enclosing Xe changed from TBAB·26H₂O to TBAB·38H₂O during temperature ramping from 283.6 to 287.4 K at 0.3 MPa. No lattice vibration shift was observed for the TBAB·26H₂O hydrate enclosing Xe, whereas the lattice vibration of the TBAB·38H₂O hydrate enclosing Xe shifted to a lower wavenumber. When conducting temperature ramping in a pressure vessel, it was observed that phase transformation of the TBAB hydrates enclosing Xe occurred at a pressure and temperature higher than 0.2 MPa and 287 K, respectively