Rural Diversification and Social Capital in Rural Japan

This study investigates the effect of community factors on the development and diversification of rural Japan. Diversification is a matter of concern in rural communities as a means of revitalizing regional socio-economies. To establish new diversified activities, cooperation between rural residents is essential. Social capital (SC) is an important community factor that facilitates collective community action. The area analyzed in this study is the Awa area, where various kinds of agro-related activities have emerged, including rural-urban exchanges and agro-tourism. Traditional customs are also preserved in the area. We conducted both community and household-level surveys to collect data and investigate the general characteristics of the study area. Various agribusiness activities have been established in the study area. Diversification of rural economy provides opportunities for a variety of rural residents to participate in agribusiness activities and contribute to the sustainable development of both household and rural economies. Our results indicate that various group activities at the local level support the process of rural diversification. Continuity of group activities has led to the accumulation of structural SC. SC provides the potential for activating community activities such as new agribusiness and has contributed indirectly to diversified rural development in the study area. High levels of the accumulation of cognitive SC are also observed, but we are unable to accurately evaluate the impact of cognitive SC on rural diversification in the study area.Community/Rural/Urban Development, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, M2, O18, Q13, Q26, R0,

Social Capital and Farmer Welfare in Malaysia

Effects of social capital (SC hereinafter) on household welfare (rice yield, income, health) were examined in rice granary area of south peninsula Malaysia. SC is categorized into eight types by its form (structural and cognitive) and function (birding, linking, and bracing). OLS is used for estimation on randomly selected 60 household data. As for self-rated health status, those attending more community activity (bonding structural SC) appear less healthy, seemingly that old farmers normally have more time to spend on community activities and they are more loyal to their organization. Those who highly evaluate bureaucratic organization (linking cognitive SC) are relatively healthier. Frequency of attending community activities (bonding structural SC) and duration of involvement in organization (birding structural SC)) contribute to higher rice yield. Farmers who have wider and longer relationships with organizations seem to perform better farming. Wile official status in formal organization (linking structural SC) and involvement in bureaucratic organization (bracing structural SC) cause a decline in ric e productivity. The finding of bonding/bridging structural social capital has positive effect on productivity suggests that to further improve farming performance, more spontaneous and horizontal farmer-to-farmer connections became increasingly important. At the same time, to alleviate poverty, bracing structural social capital which strengthens both vertical and horizontal human network appears important. The efficacy of networking is also reflected by the positive sign of cognitive linking social capital for income and health.Institutional and Behavioral Economics, I3, O13, Q12, Z13,

Malignant Ovarian Tumors with Induced Expression of Carbonyl Reductase Show Spontaneous Regression

Full open access to this and thousands of other papers a

先天性表皮水疱症に対する理学療法-症例報告-

先天性表皮水疱症は厚生省による特定疾患治療研究対象疾患で，いわゆる「難病」指定疾患である．表皮水疱症では，日常生活で外力が加わる部位に反復する水疱を臨床症状の主体とし，軽微な外力による水疱発生が基本であるが，病変活発な時期では特に誘因なく発生する場合もあるという．著者らは，7年間にわたって表皮水疱症接合部型の男児に理学療法を実施してきた．体表面が外界と接触するということは乳幼児の感覚一運動学習過程において必要不可欠な体験であるにもかかわらず，水疱発生によってそのことが阻害され結果的に運動発達の遅れを呈した．今回，問題を残しながらも普通小学校への就学ゴールに達したので，これまでの理学療法経過と若干の考察を加えて報告する．The purpose of this paper is to report on the course and physical therapy for epidermolysis bullosa. Epidermolysis bullosa is designated as a specific rare disease by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The clinical feature is repeated blister formation that occurs following mechanical stimulation in daily living. The blisters may occur without cause especially at an active time of morbid change, although these are actually caused by slight stimulations. It is absolutely indispensable for sensori-motor learning in the baby that the body surface make contact with the environment. Motor learning is based on having experiences with the interaction between perception and motor. However, it is guessed that no comfort was experienced by the patient via sensory information from the skin. It is probable that he experienced of continuous pain and pruritus, felt as itching of the entire body. Therefore, it is inferred that biased perceptions would be generated and learned. In addition, blisters, erosions, and markedly fragile skin were actually aggravated by sensory inputs made to facilitate developmental intervention. Therapeutic exercise for the patient has been going on since four months from birth, but the patient has been continuing to exhibit retarded motor development. However, the patient was able to enter school normally in spite of having a few problems at present

Effect Of Isometric Exercises Using an Active Therapeutic Movement Device for Patients with Acute Low Back Pain

Background: This study aimed to investigate the effects of isometric exercise using ATM®2 for acute low back pain (LBP) patients as a flexion or extension type. Methods: The subjects were twenty individuals (age 39.7±8.0ys, 12 males / 8 females) with acute LBP of less than four weeks duration who volunteered to participate in the study. The participants were allocated into four groups. First, the participants were classified by the direction of the movement causing pain in flexion and extension types. Secondly, both types were allocated randomly into two groups which were given exercises using the ATM®2 group and the usual care group. Finally, both groups were treated three times weekly for two weeks, totaling six sessions. Results: In terms of the extension type of LBP, the effect of the extension pain in the ATM®2-group significantly decreased pain (p=0.04) immediately. And in both groups significantly decreased (p=0.01, 0.001) for two weeks of intervention. Furthermore, in the flexion type of LBP, the effect of the flexion pain in the ATM®2-group and usual care group significantly decreased (p=0.001, p=0.03) during the two weeks intervention. However, neither group had an immediate effect. Conclusion: Isometric exercise using ATM®2 may have an immediate and short-term effect on acute LBP, which is greater in patients with an extension-type pattern. The ATM®2 exercise may reduce the pain of the acute LBP. Furthermore, it will be a problem in the future to analyze if the influence of pain is reduced in the immediate natural period that gives to chronic LBP

言語指示が着地動作時の股・膝関節キネマティクスにおよぼす影響

研究報告Original Articles　本研究では，口頭による言語指示が，着地動作における股および膝関節の角度に影響をおよぼすか調査した。対象は，高校女子バスケットボール部員7名とし，関節角度は三次元動作解析装置により測定した。課題は，高さ30cmの台から両脚にて，まず任意により自由に着地し，次に「つま先と膝の方向をまっすぐするように着地してください」と指示し，再び着地した。その結果，股関節は，接地時と最大垂直床反力時に指示後が指示前より有意に外転した（p<0.05）。膝関節は，いずれの関節角度とも，言語指示による影響は認められなかった。膝関節の内外反角度を変化させるには1回の単純な言語指示では困難であることが示唆された。The aim of this study is to investigate whether athletes can alter their knee kinematics during a drop landing task by following simple verbal instructions. This study included 7 high school female basketball players. The subjects performed a leg drop landing task using both legs, from a box situated at a height of 30 cm. Five sets of infrared video cameras attached to a 3-D analyzer system were used to capture the hip and knee angles during the landing tasks. First, the subjects landed naturally, with no verbal instructions (natural-landing). They were then instructed to land with their lower extremities in a neutral position in the sagittal plane; after receiving these instructions, they performed the landing task a second time (verbal-landing). At initial contact and at a peak vertical ground reaction force, the hip abduction angle during verbal-landing was significantly greater than that during natural-landing. The knee angles were not significantly different between the 2 types of landing. This study suggested that a single intervention with verbal instructions did not significantly decrease the knee valgus during leg landing using both legs

Gray matter alterations in early and late relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis evaluated with synthetic quantitative magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract: Extensive gray matter (GM) involvement has been demonstrated in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. This study was aimed to identify GM alterations in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients using synthetic quantitative MRI (qMRI). We assessed myelin volume fraction (MVF) in each voxel on the basis of R1 and R2 relaxation rates and proton density in 14 early and 28 late (disease duration 5 years, respectively) RRMS patients, and 15 healthy controls (HCs). The MVF and myelin volumes of GM (GM-MyVol) were compared between groups using GM-based spatial statistics (GBSS) and the Kruskal-Wallis test, respectively. Correlations between MVF or GM-MyVol and disease duration or expanded disability status scale were also evaluated. RRMS patients showed a lower MVF than HCs, predominantly in the limbic and para-limbic areas, with more extensive areas noted in late RRMS patients. Late-RRMS patients had the smallest GM-MyVol (20.44 mL; early RRMS, 22.77 mL; HCs, 23.36 mL). Furthermore, the GM-MyVol in the RRMS group was inversely correlated with disease duration (r = -0.43, p = 0.005). In conclusion, the MVF and MyVol obtained by synthetic qMRI can be used to evaluate GM differences in RRMS patients