Strategies of community health activities to improve the quality of inhabitants' life

ヘルスプロモーションの理念にそって，住民組織，行政，研究グループが協働して，住民の生活の質の向上をめざした地域保健活動の展開を計画した。まず，休眠状態にあった岡山県M町の健康づくり推進協議会（以下M町協議会と略す）を活性化するため，協議会の委員18人を対象に聴き取り調査を行い，次に，M町協議会でのディスカッションを深めた。1．M町協議会構成団体のうち住民組織は9組織で，このうち6組織は居住地域内の住民の推薦や輪番で代表を選出しており，他の3組織は任意であった。8組織の事務局は行政機関内にあり，活動経費の公費補助率は70％以上であった。2．委員の描く理想の町のイメージとして，福祉の充実した町で老後も安心できるという内容を含んだ回答が多かった。それを実現する為に，住民一人一人が自己管理意識を持つと同時に，協議会が支援的な活動を身近なところで展開することの必要性が挙げられた。3．M町協議会活動への委員の期待は大きく，協議会内での委員間の意思疎通も次第に深められた。事前に聴き取り調査を行ったこと等が効果的に影響したと考えられた。Along with the idea of health promotion, we planned the community health activities to improve the quality of inhabitants' life in cooperation with inhabitants, community organizations, local government and health professionals. In order to revitalize an inactive committee for health promotion of M town hearing surveys were conducted on the members of the committee. 1. Leaders of community organizations occupied 9 of 19 members of the committee. Leaders of 6 organizations out of 9 ones were decided by recommendation or rotation. Eight secretariats of those organizations were located in the governmental office. Seventy percent or more of activity costs of these organizations depends on assistance of local government. 2. Members of the committee imaged the town, which was healthy and filled with mind of welfare as an ideal town. They pointed out that it was required for the committee to perform support activities to realize an ideal town as well as for every inhabitant to have the consciousness of self-management. 3. Activities of the committee were much expected by members of the committee. Communications between members deepened gradually by repeating the meetings. Hearing survey on members also seemed to be much effective for those progress

Enhanced activations in syntax-related regions for multilinguals while acquiring a new language

AbstractThe neuroscientific foundation of multilingualism, a unique cognitive capacity, necessitates further elucidation. We conducted an fMRI experiment to evaluate the acquisition of syntactic features in a new language (Kazakh) for multilinguals and bilinguals. Results showed that the multilinguals who were more proficient in their second/third languages needed fewer task trials to acquire Kazakh phonology. Regarding group differences, the reduction in response times during the initial exposure to Kazakh were significantly larger for the multilinguals than the bilinguals. For the multilinguals, activations in the bilateral frontal/temporal regions were maintained at a higher level than the initial level during subsequent new grammar conditions. For the bilinguals, activations in the basal ganglia/thalamus and cerebellum decreased to the initial level each time. Direct group comparisons showed significantly enhanced activations for the multilinguals in the left ventral inferior frontal gyrus. These results indicate that both syntax-related and domain-general brain networks were more enhanced for the multilinguals. We also unexpectedly observed significant activations in the visual areas for the multilinguals, implying the use of visual representation even when listening to speech sounds alone. Because the multilinguals were able to successfully utilize acquired knowledge in an accumulated manner, the results support the cumulative-enhancement model of language acquisition.</jats:p