Nutritional Intakes of Obese Elementary School Children Residing in the Shimokita Peninsula of Aomori, Japan

This researchexamined the lifestyles and eating habits of 42 elementary school fifth graders(20 boys and 22 girls) over a 3-day period; these children resided in theShimokita Peninsula, Aomori prefecture, which has the highest childhood obesityrate in Japan. The childrens nutritionalintakes were recorded via questionnaires and self-documented meal recorddiaries overa 3-day period (1 weekday and the weekend). The meal record diaries recorded which meals the children ate (including snacks) during the 3-day period. A regular feature of these childrens lifestyle was theviewing of at least 3 hours of television per day. Compared with the National Health and Nutrition Survey conductedby the Japanese government, the nutritionaland energy intake levels were the same but when we examined food group intakes,the vegetable intake was lower on weekends in comparison to the weekdays whenthe children were provided school lunches. In addition, salt intake exceededthe recommended standard in more than 80% of the study sample. We suggest thatthe pattern of reduced vegetable intake juxtaposed with high salt intake stemsfrom childhood and is repeated and passed down through generations; therefore, theguardians of these children require nutritional guidance and education

DECIGO pathfinder

DECIGO pathfinder (DPF) is a milestone satellite mission for DECIGO (DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory) which is a future space gravitational wave antenna. DECIGO is expected to provide us fruitful insights into the universe, in particular about dark energy, a formation mechanism of supermassive black holes, and the inflation of the universe. Since DECIGO will be an extremely large mission which will formed by three drag-free spacecraft with 1000m separation, it is significant to gain the technical feasibility of DECIGO before its planned launch in 2024. Thus, we are planning to launch two milestone missions: DPF and pre-DECIGO. The conceptual design and current status of the first milestone mission, DPF, are reviewed in this article

The status of DECIGO

DECIGO (DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory) is the planned Japanese space gravitational wave antenna, aiming to detect gravitational waves from astrophysically and cosmologically significant sources mainly between 0.1 Hz and 10 Hz and thus to open a new window for gravitational wave astronomy and for the universe. DECIGO will consists of three drag-free spacecraft arranged in an equilateral triangle with 1000 km arm lengths whose relative displacements are measured by a differential Fabry-Perot interferometer, and four units of triangular Fabry-Perot interferometers are arranged on heliocentric orbit around the sun. DECIGO is vary ambitious mission, we plan to launch DECIGO in era of 2030s after precursor satellite mission, B-DECIGO. B-DECIGO is essentially smaller version of DECIGO: B-DECIGO consists of three spacecraft arranged in an triangle with 100 km arm lengths orbiting 2000 km above the surface of the earth. It is hoped that the launch date will be late 2020s for the present

A plastidial sodium-dependent pyruvate transporter (vol 476, pg 472, 2011)

Furumoto T, Yamaguchi T, Ohshima-Ichie Y, et al. A plastidial sodium-dependent pyruvate transporter (vol 476, pg 472, 2011). Nature. 2011;478(7368):274

Nutritional Intakes of Obese Elementary School Children Residing in the Shimokita Peninsula of Aomori, Japan

This researchexamined the lifestyles and eating habits of 42 elementary school fifth graders(20 boys and 22 girls) over a 3-day period; these children resided in theShimokita Peninsula, Aomori prefecture, which has the highest childhood obesityrate in Japan. The childrens nutritionalintakes were recorded via questionnaires and self-documented meal recorddiaries overa 3-day period (1 weekday and the weekend). The meal record diaries recorded which meals the children ate (including snacks) during the 3-day period. A regular feature of these childrens lifestyle was theviewing of at least 3 hours of television per day. Compared with the National Health and Nutrition Survey conductedby the Japanese government, the nutritionaland energy intake levels were the same but when we examined food group intakes,the vegetable intake was lower on weekends in comparison to the weekdays whenthe children were provided school lunches. In addition, salt intake exceededthe recommended standard in more than 80% of the study sample. We suggest thatthe pattern of reduced vegetable intake juxtaposed with high salt intake stemsfrom childhood and is repeated and passed down through generations; therefore, theguardians of these children require nutritional guidance and education