The short-term effect of a smoking prevention program for the upper graders of elementary schools--the results of intervention study for two years with quasi-experimental design

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the short-term effect of a smoking prevention program for Japanese elementary school-children in the fifth and sixth grades. The program was developed with concepts found in the Know Your Body Program and the conclusions of a National Cancer Institute-convened Expert Advisory Panel, and focused on teaching about the short-term effects of smoking and on resistance to social pressures to smoke. The study was conducted with a quasi-experimental design. An intervention group (52 boys and 54 girls) received three sessions for both the fifth grade in 1992 and the sixth grade in 1993. Moreover, the intervention group received a pre-test before the first session and a post-test after the third session in each grade. A comparison group (102 boys and 91 girls) received the same tests at the same time as the intervention group, but did not receive any program on smoking prevention. The short-term effect of the program were evaluated using the results of the pre-test in the fifth grade and of the post-test in the sixth grade in both groups. The results were as follows: 1) Remarkable short-term effects of the intervention were seen in respect to awareness of the importance of not smoking in girls, and also in the knowledge of the short-term effects of smoking in both sexes. 2) The intervention was not effective with respect to intention to smoke at the age of 20 and self-efficacy of refusing to smoke in both sexes. 3) The short-term effects were not clear in the smoking behavior in both sexes because the rates of ever smokers and of monthly smokers were almost the same for two years between the intervention group and the comparison group. 4) The smoking behaviors of children, their parents and their best friends had little influence on the results of the post-test in the sixth grade.     

Online-Religion in Japan: Websites and Religious Counseling from a Comparative Cross-Cultural Perspective

This article considers the nature of online religion by examining the websites and religious counseling activities conducted by new Japanese religions. Beginning with an overview of the widespread use of the Internet in Japan and its use in religion, the article examines the cultural and social factors that keep the religious use of the Internet from becoming as pervasive in Japan as it is in the U.S. The article then describes a website with elements of online religion and the Internet-based religious counseling services being provided by ministers of the new Shintō-derived religions of Konkōkyō and Tenrikyō. These activities have successfully given some people who need religious assistance access to religious teaching. In concluding, the article examines the reasons for the success of these efforts, as well as the reasons why they have not expanded in scope, in light of the cultural and organizational advantages and disadvantages that affect Internet use.     

Production of IL-6 by T cells from the femoral head of patients with rapidly destructive coxopathy (RDC)

We developed a method to improve the quantitative precision of FDG-PET scans in cancer patients. The total-lesion evaluation method generates a correlation coefficient (r) constrained Patlak parametric image of the lesion together with three calculated glucose metabolic indices: (a) the total-lesion metabolic index ("KT-tle", ml/min/lesion); (b) the total-lesion voxel index ("VT-tle", voxels/lesion); and (c) the global average metabolic index ("KV-tle", ml/min/voxel). METHODS: The glucose metabolic indices obtained from conventional region of interest (ROI) and multiplane evaluation were used as standards to evaluate the accuracy of the total-lesion evaluation method. Computer simulations and four patients with metastatic melanoma before and after chemotherapy were studied. RESULTS: Computer simulations showed that the total-lesion evaluation method has improved precision (% s.d. < 0.6%) and accuracy (approximately 10% error) compared with the conventional ROI method (% s.d. approximately 5%; approximately 25% error). The KT-tle and VT-tle indices from human FDG-PET studies using the total-lesion evaluation method showed excellent correlations with the corresponding values obtained from the conventional ROI methods and multiplane evaluation (r approximately 1.0) and CT lesion volume measurements. CONCLUSION: This method is a simple but reliable way to quantitatively monitor tumor FDG uptake. The method has several advantages over the conventional ROI method: (a) less sensitive to the ROI definition, (b) no need for image registration of serial scan data and (c) includes tumor volume changes in the global tumor metabolism.     

Occurrence of multiple ethyl 4-chloro-3-oxobutanoate-reducing enzymes in Candida magnoliae

Multiple ethyl 4-chloro-3-oxobutanoate (COBE)-reducing enzymes were isolated from a cell-free extract of Candida magnoliae. A NADPH-dependent COBE-reducing enzyme, distinct from the carbonyl reductase and aldehyde reductase previously reported, was purified to homogeneity using five steps, including polyethylene glycol treatment. The relative molecular mass of the enzyme was estimated to be 86,000 on high performance gel-permeation chromatography and 29,000 on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme catalyzed the reduction of COBE to the corresponding (S)-alcohol with a 51% enantiomeric excess. The substrate specificity of the enzyme was different from those of the other COBE-reducing enzymes of the same strain. The partial amino acid sequences of the enzyme showed that it belongs to the short chain alcohol dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) family. This is the first report of multiple COBE-reducing enzymes with various stereoselectivities occurring in the same strain but belonging to different (super)families.     

Hydrogen concentration on mirror surfaces of neutron bottles

Concentrations and depth distributions of the surface hydrogen and the surface deuterium in vacuum evaporated nickel layers and beryllium plates have been investigated by the ERDA method. It is shown that if the evaporation vacuum pressure is kept better than 10⁻⁶ Torr, the hydrogen adsorption from the residual gas during the evaporation is negligible and the hydrogen from residual or atmospheric gases after the evaporation is the main source of the surface hydrogen. Commercial beryllium plates are found to have surface hydrogen of about 10¹⁶ atoms cm². Deuterium treated samples, either in D₂ gas or heavy water, do not show more than possibly a partial replacement of hydrogen. The influence of substrates is small if the thickness of the evaporated nickel layer is more than 2000 Å. The measurements are in good agreement with previously published results.     

Novel α-glucosidase inhibitors from Macaranga tanarius leaves

One of the hyperglycaemic remedies is glucose absorption reduction by suppressing carbohydrate digestion due to utilisation of α-glucosidase inhibitors (AGIs). Determination of prospecting herbs done in vitro by using enzyme assay resulted in the finding of Macaranga tanarius, which showed a potent inhibitory activity. An EtOAc-soluble extract of M. tanarius leaves was chromatographed by a Diaion HP-20 column and the active fractions were further purified with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to isolate active principles against α-glucosidase. Five ellagitannins were successfully isolated and identified. Structure determination revealed that these isolated compounds were mallotinic acid (IC₅₀ > 5.00 mM), corilagin (IC₅₀ = 2.63 mM), chebulagic acid (IC₅₀ = 1.00 mM), and two novel compounds named macatannins A (IC₅₀ = 0.80 mM) and B (IC₅₀ = 0.55 mM). AGIs play an important role for the treatment of diabetes, therefore this research results may suggest novel alternatives for diabetes treatment management.     

Non‐Enzymatic Geometry‐Selective Acylation of Tri‐ and Tetrasubstituted α,α′‐Alkenediols

A highly geometry‐selective organocatalytic acylation of tri‐ and tetra‐substituted 2‐alkylidene‐1,3‐propanediols has been developed. The highly E‐selective acylation of various tetrasubstituted 2‐alkylidene‐1,3‐propanediols was achieved in 96 to >99% selectivity for the first time by a non‐enzymatic protocol.     

Analysis of specific IgE antibodies to staphylococcal enterotoxins,total serum IgE and hemogramme in carriers of Staphylococcus aureus

In order to evaluate the relationship between nasal carriers of S. aureus and their history of allergic diseases, the total serum IgE titer, the hemogramme pattern, and the titers of specific IgE antibody to Staphylococcal enterotoxins A and B (SEA and SEB) and of specific IgG antibody to SEB were investigated in 98 trade school students. Fifteen (15.3%) of the 98 students were sensitized to SEA and/or SEB (40.0% to SEA and 93.3% to SEB). In this group, 11 subjects were S. aureus carriers (73.0%) and 12 had a history of allergic diseases (80.0%). Low levels of specific IgG antibody to SEB were identified from both S. aureus carriers and non-carriers. The S. aureus carriers had significantly higher levels of total IgE titer than the non-carriers and the individuals with a history of allergic diseases had significantly higher total IgE titer levels than those having no history of allergic diseases (p < 0.01). In the hemogramme patterns of S. aureus carriers, a significant positive correlation was observed between the total IgE antibodies and the eosinophil rate (p < 0.05), and a negative correlation (p < 0.001) was recognized between the neutrophil and the lymphocyte rates.     

The relationship between ductility and grain-boundary precipitates in an Al-6.0% Zn-2.6% Mg alloy

The relationship between ductility and material parameters such as grain-boundary (GB) precipitate size and dimple size in an Al-6.0% Zn-2.6% Mg alloy has been studied. Under the condition of a given GB precipitate size, the ductility increases with decreasing number of GB precipitates and dimples per unit area. The critical GB precipitate sizes acting as the nuclei for void formation are deduced.