Amounts served and consumed of school lunch differed by gender in Japanese elementary schools

School lunches serve to improve nutritional status and to promote the health of children. The purpose of this study was to investigate the portion sizes of school lunches served and consumed in Japanese elementary schools. In addition, gender difference in servings and consumption were also studied. A cross-sectional study was undertaken between October 2007 and February 2008 in schools located in Tokyo and Okayama, Japan. A total of 192 fifth-grade children attending four elementary schools participated in this study. Weighed plate waste methods and observation were used to collect dietary data for two non-consecutive days. The proportion of children who chose staple foods along with main dishes and/or side dishes for at least one day was higher in boys than in girls (respectively, for staple food: 42.1% vs. 9.3%, for main dish and/or side dish: 68.4% vs. 44.3%, P < 0.001). The ratio of initial amount served to amount offered was 0.88 ± 0.11 for boys and 0.84 ± 0.10 for girls (P < 0.05). The ratio of amount consumed to amount offered was 1.04 ± 0.19 for boys and 0.88 ± 0.12 for girls (P < 0.001). Weight was related to amount consumed both in boys (r = 0.222, P < 0.05) and in girls (r = 0.201, P < 0.05). These findings suggest that the nutritional standards of school lunch programs should take into account gender differences. Clearly, boys were more likely to consume more than the initial amounts served due to their higher propensity to take second helpings. Boys feel few reservations about taking second helpings to adjust their total intake. However, school lunch plans should take into consideration girls' reluctance to do so, by serving appropriate initial portion sizes

22. Greening the cities with biodiversity indicators; Experience and challenges from Japanese cities with CBI

For scientists, and other stakeholders to the biodiversity monitoring systems (including AP-BON), capturing and understanding the status and trends of biodiversity and ecosystem services are a main focus. In the policy/science interface, communicating the complex results in comprehensible ways has been one of the key challenges. Development of indicators, maps and other visualization tools are instrumental for identification, understanding, and to support the relevant policy decisions and processes. In recent years, different cities have explored the development of such indicators in the urban context through negotiation. Development of indicators for urban ecosystems and biodiversity is illustrated. The potential challenge of application and use of such indicator in Japanese urban contexts are reviewed based on interviews and existing data. This article discusses and reviews the advantages and limitations of urban biodiversity indicators. The review focused on applying the newly developed City Biodiversity Index (CBI). It is modifying Singapore city biodiversity index adjusted as Japanese local municipalities can easily and practically use it. The data is based on research project implemented by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan (MLIT). The existing literature points out that the policy makers tend to emphasize ecosystem services for justification of their policies, while scientists tend to focus on biodiversity. Such twists are not a major problem if the status of biodiversity correlates with ecosystem services. This is true at a global or at a regional scale, but may be different at the local level. For example, the results of studies by the city of Nagoya indicate that ecosystem services correlate with the size of green or open spaces and not with the status of biodiversity. As such, applying biodiversity indicators at different scales can be a contentious issue. In addition, the integration of biodiversity relevant elements to ecological footprint maps is often discussed from the perspectives of local governments.[Book Chapter]: 22. Greening the cities with biodiversity indicators; Experience and challenges from Japanese cities with CBI, Part V. Ecosystem Service and Socioeconomic Aspects with Special Reference to Biodiversity, Integrative Observations and Assessments (Ecological Research Monographs / Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Observation Network), edited by Shin-ichi Nakano(中野 伸一), Tetsukazu Yahara(矢原 徹一), Tohru Nakashizuka(浅野 透), DOI:10.1007/978-4-431-54783-

Patient safety education at Japanese nursing schools: results of a nationwide survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Patient safety education is becoming of worldwide interest and concern in the field of healthcare, particularly in the field of nursing. However, as elsewhere, little is known about the extent to which nursing schools have adopted patient safety education into their curricula. We conducted a nationwide survey to characterize patient safety education at nursing schools in Japan.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Response rate was 43% overall. Ninety percent of nursing schools have integrated the topic of patient safety education into their curricula. However, 30% reported devoting less than five hours to the topic. All schools use lecture based teaching methods while few used others, such as role playing. Topics related to medical error theory are widely taught, e.g. human factors and theories & models (Swiss Cheese Model, Heinrich's Law) while relatively few schools cover practical topics related to error analysis such as root cause analysis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Most nursing schools in Japan cover the topic of patient safety, but the number of hours devoted is modest and teaching methods are suboptimal. Even so, national inclusion of patient safety education is a worthy, achievable goal.</p