Inter-rater reliability of streetscape audits using online observations: Microscale Audit of Pedestrian Streetscapes (MAPS) global in Japan

This study aimed to evaluate the inter-rater reliability of streetscape audits among online observations using the Microscale Audit of Pedestrian Streetscapes-Global version (MAPS-Global) in Japan. MAPS-Global observations were conducted on routes with distances ranging from 400 to 725 m from a residence toward a non-residential destination. Google Street View audits were independently conducted by two trained raters on each route. A tiered scoring system was applied to summarize the items at multiple levels of aggregation. Positive and negative valence scores were created based on the expected association with physical activity. Inter-rater reliability analyses were performed using kappa statistics or intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Of the 32 older adults participating in an intervention study in the community-wide physical activity promotion project in Fujisawa City, 19 addresses were used, excluding those with nearby addresses. Results demonstrated “excellent” agreement for most of the summary scores analyzed (kappa or ICC values of 0.75 or higher [80.4 %]), while 6.5 % of items exhibited “good” agreement (ICC = 0.60–0.74). By contrast, only 13.0 % of the scales had ICC values lower than 0.60 (“fair” or “poor” reliability). The results illustrated high reliability for the grand summary scores and composite subscale measures. However, caution should be exercised when interpreting subscale scores for less frequently observed negative attributes and aesthetic/social characteristics. The results presented in this study support the application of online observations using MAPS-Global in urban areas of Japan, which could be implemented to inform decisions related not only to physical activity but also to traffic safety

A systematic review of nonrandomized controlled trials on the curative effects of aquatic exercise

Hiroharu Kamioka1, Kiichiro Tsutani2, Yoshiteru Mutoh3, Hiroyasu Okuizum4, Miho Ohta5, Shuichi Handa4, Shinpei Okada6, Jun Kitayuguchi7, Masamitsu Kamada7, Nobuyoshi Shiozawa8, Sang-Jun Park4, Takuya Honda4, Shoko Moriyama41Faculty of Regional Environment Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan; 2Department of Drug Policy and Management, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 3Department of Physical and Health Education, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; 4Mimaki Onsen (Spa) Clinic, Tomi City, Japan; 5Laboratory of Aqua, Health, and Sports Medicine, 6Physical Education and Medicine Research Foundation, Nagano, Japan; 7Physical Education and Medicine Research Center Unnan, Unnan City, Japan; 8Department of Longevity and Social Medicine, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, JapanBackground: The objectives of this review were to integrate the evidence of curative effects through aquatic exercise and assess the quality of studies based on a review of nonrandomized controlled trials (nRCTs).Methods: Study design was a systematic review of nonrandomized controlled trials. Trials were eligible if they were nonrandomized clinical trials. Studies included one treatment group in which aquatic exercise was applied. We searched the following databases from 2000 up to July 20, 2009: MEDLINE via PubMed, CINAHL, and Ichushi-Web.Results: Twenty-one trials met all inclusion criteria. Languages included were English (N = 9), Japanese (N = 11), and Korean (N = 1). Target diseases were knee and/or hip osteoarthritis, poliomyelitis, chronic kidney disease, discomforts of pregnancy, cardiovascular diseases, and rotator cuff tears. Many studies on nonspecific disease (healthy participants) were included. All studies reported significant effectiveness in at least one or more outcomes. However results of evaluations with the TREND and CLEAR-NPT checklists generally showed a remarkable lack of description in the studies. Furthermore, there was the problem of heterogeneity, and we were therefore not able to perform a meta-analysis.Conclusion: Because there was insufficient evidence on aquatic exercise due to poor methodological and reporting quality and heterogeneity of nRCTs, we were unable to offer any conclusions about the effects of this intervention. However, we were able to identify problems with current nRCTs of aquatic exercise, and propose a strategy of strengthening study quality, stressing the importance of study feasibility as a future research agenda objective.Keywords: aquatic exercise, systematic review, nonrandomized controlled trials&nbsp

Increased amygdala reactivity following early life stress : a potential resilience enhancer role

Background: Amygdala hyper-reactivity is sometimes assumed to be a vulnerability factor that predates depression; however, in healthy people, who experience early life stress but do not become depressed, it may represent a resilience mechanism. We aimed to test these hypothesis examining whether increased amygdala activity in association with a history of early life stress (ELS) was negatively or positively associated with depressive symptoms and impact of negative life event stress in never-depressed adults. Methods: Twenty-four healthy participants completed an individually tailored negative mood induction task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) assessment along with evaluation of ELS. Results: Mood change and amygdala reactivity were increased in never-depressed participants who reported ELS compared to participants who reported no ELS. Yet, increased amygdala reactivity lowered effects of ELS on depressive symptoms and negative life events stress. Amygdala reactivity also had positive functional connectivity with the bilateral DLPFC, motor cortex and striatum in people with ELS during sad memory recall. Conclusions: Increased amygdala activity in those with ELS was associated with decreased symptoms and increased neural features, consistent with emotion regulation, suggesting that preservation of robust amygdala reactions may reflect a stress buffering or resilience enhancing factor against depression and negative stressful events

コウレイシャ ノ テントウ ヨボウ ノタメノ ウンドウ バランス クンレン トシテノ ウンドウ アソビ

In Japan， a fams a third biggest cause which elderly persons become bedridden． Prevention of a fams veryimportant for elderly population to keep good health and QOL（quali吐y of li fe）・1nternal and external risk factors offalhng down in elderly population have been reported． Furthermore， the epidemiological study have demonstratedthat many interna置and externai factors cause elderly population falhng down． Many of these factors are difficultfor elderly population to prevent from falling down by themselves， f6r example， patients with certain disease suchas Parkinson syndrome have a tendency toward falhng down easily． On the other hand， elderly population are able｛o avoid some of risk factors with their efforts． One of吐hemis to have more active li fe style or to preserve and increase the capability of movement having Proper amount of亀exercise． This capability dearly decreases as peoP且e grow old， however， it will go down dramatically withoutexerclse． Recently， hospital staffs and researchers have developed classes to teach Iocal elderly populations how toprevent from falling down in many countries・ln Japan・the lirst class lbr prevention of fal］has been operated atTokyo Koseinenkin Hospita且since DecemberJ 997 and good resu且ts have been obtained． The proper exercise is acornerstone to prevent from famng down」t should be sa t’e and efficlenしhowever， it is dit’ficult to keep properexercise量felderly peoPle could not enjoy iし In this study， we introduce a new concept of recreation and a concrete method to improve the sense ofbalance abihty on the basis ofevidences and prac吐ical ins｛ructions of exercise・論説(Article

Efficacy and Safety of Intravitreal Aflibercept Treat-and-Extend Regimens in Exudative Age-Related Macular Degeneration: 52- and 96-Week Findings from ALTAIR : A Randomized Controlled Trial.

PURPOSE:To evaluate efficacy and safety of intravitreal injections of aflibercept (IVT-AFL) treat-and-extend (T&E) dosing regimens in treatment-naïve patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD).METHODS:Adults aged at least 50 years old with exudative AMD and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of 73-25 Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) letters were included. Patients received three monthly doses of IVT-AFL 2 mg. At week 16, patients were randomized 1:1 to IVT-AFL T&E with either 2- or 4-week adjustments. The primary endpoint was mean change in BCVA from baseline to week 52. Outcomes were assessed at weeks 52 and 96.RESULTS:Baseline characteristics were comparable between the groups (n = 123 each). Over 52 weeks, mean number of injections was 7.2 and 6.9 and mean last injection interval was 10.7 and 11.8 weeks, for the 2- and 4-week groups, respectively. From baseline, mean change in BCVA was + 9.0 and + 8.4 letters (week 52) and + 7.6 and + 6.1 letters (week 96); mean change in central retinal thickness was - 134.4 µm and - 126.1 µm (week 52) and - 130.5 µm and - 125.3 µm (week 96). Last injection interval before week 52 was at least 12 weeks in 42.3% and 49.6% of patients and 56.9% and 60.2% before week 96. Over 96 weeks, mean number of injections was 10.4 (both groups). The safety profile of IVT-AFL was consistent with previous reports.CONCLUSIONS:IVT-AFL administered using two different T&E regimens for treatment-naïve exudative AMD improved functional and anatomic outcomes at week 52 and outcomes were maintained to week 96. Outcomes were similar between the 2- and 4-week groups.TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov identifier, NCT02305238

The Effect of Negative and Positive Emotionality on Associative Memory: An fMRI Study

In general, emotion is known to enhance memory processes. However, the effect of emotion on associative memory and the underling neural mechanisms remains largely unexplored. In this study, we explored brain activation during an associative memory task that involved the encoding and retrieval of word and face pairs. The word and face pairs consisted of either negative or positive words with neutral faces. Significant hippocampal activation was observed during both encoding and retrieval, regardless of whether the word was negative or positive. Negative and positive emotionality differentially affected the hemodynamic responses to encoding and retrieval in the amygdala, with increased responses during encoding negative word and face pairs. Furthermore, activation of the amygdala during encoding of negative word and neutral face pairs was inversely correlated with subsequent memory retrieval. These findings suggest that activation of the amygdala induced by negative emotion during encoding may disrupt associative memory performance

Exercise of a Mountain Farming Village Inhabitant : Centered on Kita-mimaki Mura Village. Nagano Prefecture

This research was carried out to investigate the characteristics of people using a swimming pool at the complex facilities of medical care, welfare and public health and to examine the significance of such facility in the future society. The questionnaire (98 items) was distributed to 598 village inhabitants. 407 respondents (68.1%) were analyzed. The following results were found : 1. There were 10 factors which showed significant differences between people who used the swimming pool and those who didn\u27t. 2. Demographic factors, exercise factors and physical factors were significantly influential in using the swimming pool, by factor analysis and discriminant analysis. 3. People using the swimming pool with bad physical shape comprised 16.8% of the total number of people. while 24.7% couldn\u27t swim well. 4. The swimming pool contributed to giving several village inhabitants the occasion of regular exercise for their health improvement. It is strongly suggested that such complex facilities had a considerable significance in the future aged society

カソ コウレイカ ノ ススム ノウソンチョウソン ニ オケル チイキシンダン ト イリョウヒカンレンシヒョウ ノ ケントウ

本研究は,総務省が平成17年(2005)年に分類した小規模自治体を対象として,次のことを明らかにすることを目的とした。1)保健医療福祉の関連指標について,類似する自治体間で比較を行うこと,つまり地域診断を実施すること,2)介護及び医療費に関連する因子を明らかにすることである。対象となる類似自治体は,総務省類型分類(人口及び産業構造から分類)で,平成17(2005)年度に山梨県小菅村が該当した「町村I-1(人口5,000人未満で,第二,三次産業従事者が80%以上,第三次産業従事者55%未満),54自治体」であった。本研究開始時の平成20(2008)年8月時点において,54町村すべての合併状況を確認した結果,独立して存続している町村は11であった。用いた指標は,老人医療費,入院費,介護費,人口,高齢化率,核家族世帯数,第一次・二次・三次の各産業従事者割合,要介護認定率,平均寿命などあった。11町村の中で,特徴的だった例を4つ列挙する。1)長野県天竜村は平均寿命が長く,医療費と介護費も低い傾向にあった(医療費・介護費併用型)。2)小菅村と山梨県鳴沢村は,医療費や介護費,介護認定率が低かった(医療費・介護費安価型)。3)東京都御蔵島村と群馬県上野村は,医療費は低いが介護費が高かった(介護費依存型)。4)沖縄県北大東村は,寿命は長いが,介護費が高かった(その他型)。重回帰分析の結果,医療費と有意な相関があったのは,入院費であった。介護費と有意な相関があったのは,65歳以上の親族のいる核家族世帯数であった。小規模自治体において,介護保険依存と医療費依存の方向性を有する自治体があり,保健医療福祉の評価には,両者を合わせて検討する必要性が示唆された。サンプルサイズが小さいということや,検討に用いることができたデータの内容について限界はあるが,核家族と入院が介護費用と医療費に影響を及ぼしている可能性があることが示された。The objectives of this study were to compare medical expenses of similar local governments, and to clarify the factors related to expenses for care and medicine. The subjects of our investigation were local governments with a national classification in fiscal 2005 that was similar to Kosuge village in Yamanashi based on population and industrial structure : the population was smaller than 5000, the total percentage of secondary and tertiary industry was more than 80%, and the percentage of tertiary industry was less than 55%. These criteria were met by 54 local governments. When we started this investigation in August 2008, 11 governments remained unconsolidated. The indices consisted of medical expenses for the aged, hospital expenses, nursing-care expenses, population size, aging population, the number of nuclear families, the industrial structure, the percentage of advanced nursing care, and life expectancy. The outstanding points were as follows : 1) Tenryu village in Nagano showed long life expectancy and low medical and nursing-care expenses (combination type by medical and nursing-care expenses) ; 2) Kosuge and Narusawa village in Yamanashi showed low medical and nursing-care expenses and a low percentage of advanced nursing-care (low-cost type of medical and nursing-care expenses) ; 3) Mikurajima village in Tokyo and Ueno village in Gunma showed low medical expenses and high nursing-care expenses (dependent type by nursing-care expense) ; and 4) Kitadaito village in Okinawa showed long life expectancy and high nursing-care expenses (other type). In multiple regression analysis, only hospital expense was found to explain medical expenses, and the number of nuclear families consisting of the elderly was found to explain nursing-care expenses. These results imply that there are two types of local governments that must be considered in health care analyses : one depends on nursing-care, and the other depends on medicine. In spite of the small sample size as statistical data discussion for interpretation, results from this study suggest that nuclear families and hospitalization affect nursing-care and medical expenses

カソ コウレイカ ノ ススム ノウソンチョウソン ニ オケル チイキシンダン ト イリョウヒカンレンシヒョウ ノ ケントウ

本研究は,総務省が平成17年(2005)年に分類した小規模自治体を対象として,次のことを明らかにすることを目的とした。1)保健医療福祉の関連指標について,類似する自治体間で比較を行うこと,つまり地域診断を実施すること,2)介護及び医療費に関連する因子を明らかにすることである。対象となる類似自治体は,総務省類型分類(人口及び産業構造から分類)で,平成17(2005)年度に山梨県小菅村が該当した「町村I-1(人口5,000人未満で,第二,三次産業従事者が80%以上,第三次産業従事者55%未満),54自治体」であった。本研究開始時の平成20(2008)年8月時点において,54町村すべての合併状況を確認した結果,独立して存続している町村は11であった。用いた指標は,老人医療費,入院費,介護費,人口,高齢化率,核家族世帯数,第一次・二次・三次の各産業従事者割合,要介護認定率,平均寿命などあった。11町村の中で,特徴的だった例を4つ列挙する。1)長野県天竜村は平均寿命が長く,医療費と介護費も低い傾向にあった(医療費・介護費併用型)。2)小菅村と山梨県鳴沢村は,医療費や介護費,介護認定率が低かった(医療費・介護費安価型)。3)東京都御蔵島村と群馬県上野村は,医療費は低いが介護費が高かった(介護費依存型)。4)沖縄県北大東村は,寿命は長いが,介護費が高かった(その他型)。重回帰分析の結果,医療費と有意な相関があったのは,入院費であった。介護費と有意な相関があったのは,65歳以上の親族のいる核家族世帯数であった。小規模自治体において,介護保険依存と医療費依存の方向性を有する自治体があり,保健医療福祉の評価には,両者を合わせて検討する必要性が示唆された。サンプルサイズが小さいということや,検討に用いることができたデータの内容について限界はあるが,核家族と入院が介護費用と医療費に影響を及ぼしている可能性があることが示された。The objectives of this study were to compare medical expenses of similar local governments, and to clarify the factors related to expenses for care and medicine. The subjects of our investigation were local governments with a national classification in fiscal 2005 that was similar to Kosuge village in Yamanashi based on population and industrial structure : the population was smaller than 5000, the total percentage of secondary and tertiary industry was more than 80%, and the percentage of tertiary industry was less than 55%. These criteria were met by 54 local governments. When we started this investigation in August 2008, 11 governments remained unconsolidated. The indices consisted of medical expenses for the aged, hospital expenses, nursing-care expenses, population size, aging population, the number of nuclear families, the industrial structure, the percentage of advanced nursing care, and life expectancy. The outstanding points were as follows : 1) Tenryu village in Nagano showed long life expectancy and low medical and nursing-care expenses (combination type by medical and nursing-care expenses) ; 2) Kosuge and Narusawa village in Yamanashi showed low medical and nursing-care expenses and a low percentage of advanced nursing-care (low-cost type of medical and nursing-care expenses) ; 3) Mikurajima village in Tokyo and Ueno village in Gunma showed low medical expenses and high nursing-care expenses (dependent type by nursing-care expense) ; and 4) Kitadaito village in Okinawa showed long life expectancy and high nursing-care expenses (other type). In multiple regression analysis, only hospital expense was found to explain medical expenses, and the number of nuclear families consisting of the elderly was found to explain nursing-care expenses. These results imply that there are two types of local governments that must be considered in health care analyses : one depends on nursing-care, and the other depends on medicine. In spite of the small sample size as statistical data discussion for interpretation, results from this study suggest that nuclear families and hospitalization affect nursing-care and medical expenses