Pregnant women's awareness of sensitivity to cold (hiesho) and body temperature observational study: A comparison of Japanese and Brazilian women

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sensitivity to cold (<it>hiesho</it>) is a serious health problem in Japan, yet it is minimally understood within Western cultures. The purpose of this study was to clarify the divergence between pregnant Japanese woman living in Japan and pregnant Brazilian women living in Brazil in awareness of <it>hiesho </it>and differences between core body and peripheral temperatures.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The subjects of this study were 230 pregnant Japanese women living in Japan and 200 pregnant Brazilian women living in Brazil. Data was collected in June/July and November 2005 in Japan and from October 2007 to February 2008 in Brazil. The survey methods consisted of measurement of deep body temperatures and questionnaires.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>67.0% of Japanese women and 57.0% of Brazilian women were aware of <it>hiesho</it>, which showed a significant difference between the Japanese and Brazilian women (p = 0.034). The difference between forehead and sole temperatures was 2.0°C among Japanese and 2.8°C among Brazilians in June-July (p = 0.01). But in November the difference between those temperatures was 5.2°C among Japanese and 2.8°C among Brazilians (p < 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>There are differences between Japanese and Brazilians both in awareness of <it>hiesho </it>and in body temperatures.</p

地域の防災力を引き出す保健師の役割

我々は、A市B地区の防災力を高める取り組みとして、地域住民の防災に対するニーズ調査や災害対策委員や町内代表者との意見交換をもとに、防災講習会を共同で企画・実施した。上記の取り組みのうちニーズ調査結果と防災講習会の評価結果をもとに地域の防災力を引き出す保健師の役割について分析した。その結果、保健師の役割は、①日頃の地域保健活動を通して地域の特性や自主防災力を把握し、地域力として活かす活動を行う、②住民の自助・共助をさらに高める働きかけを行う、③個人・家族の実践力や町内全体の防災力を高める活動を支援することであるといえた

Trajectory of body mass index before the development of type 2 diabetes in Japanese men: Toranomon Hospital Health Management Center Study 15

Aims/Introduction: We aimed to investigate the long-term trajectory of general adiposity assessed by the body mass index (BMI) before the onset of type 2 diabetes in Japanese individuals. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively examined data on 1, 553 Japanese men without diabetes. Mean BMI and incident cases of diabetes (diabetes indicated by fasting glucose concentrations ≥7.0 mmol/L, a self-reported history of clinician-diagnosed diabetes, or glycated hemoglobin ≥6.5% (≥48 mmol/mol) were assessed on an annual basis over a 10-year period after the baseline examination. Results: Mean (standard deviation) BMI at the time of diagnosis was 24.4 kg/m2 (3.1 kg/m2) among cases of diabetes (n = 191). An increasingly high BMI was associated with the early stage of the disease development, such as an 8- to 10-year prediagnosis period; individuals who developed diabetes experienced a prolonged and stable elevated BMI of ≥24.4 kg/m2 over the 8 years before the diagnosis of diabetes. The mean BMI among the non-cases of diabetes did not exceed 23.2 kg/m2 throughout the period. Conclusions: These results suggested that Japanese men who eventually developed diabetes during the 10-year observation period were not characterized as obese, but had stable high-normal BMIs before the onset of diabetes. Previous evidence showed that values for glycemic markers rapidly increased before the development of diabetes; however, the present study showed a slight gain in BMI in the earlier stage of the natural history of diabetes followed by a prolonged period of overweight