Boi-ogi-to is frequently prescribed to relieve pain for osteoarthritis in the therapy of Kampo formulation. However, it has been pointed out that the evaluation of this formulation differs among the patients. It is often showed lower effectiveness and/or non-effectiveness in the patients with advanced roentgenographic deformity, obesity, and suffering from more severe pain.
We thought that it was resulted from ingoring the abdominal-sho (symptom). Therefore, in this study, we defined the abdominal-sho of Boi-ogi-to as “frog abdominal-sho”, and administered Boi-ogi-to to 17 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee who had frog abdominal sho. As a result, in the patients with frog abdominal-sho, the formulation was moderately or even better effective in relieving pain in 77% of these patients. It was acknowledged that the effect was independent of the severity of pain, the degree of obesity, and whether the roentgenographic deformity was slight or moderate.

Fall-related factors (FRFs) are classified into intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors. Intervention programs, which focused on modifiable factors (MFs) among FRFs have been designed to prevent falls. The purpose of this study was to identify easily-measurable intrinsic MFs for falls and recurrent falls. Cross-sectional analysis was carried out on the data from 483 community-dwelling older adults, aged 65-92 years (73.7 ± 5.9 yr, 138 men, 345 women). We measured history of falls in the past year and 7 domains of FRFs. Of these, 20 items were selected as MFs. Analyses of FRFs and MFs were conducted by comparing (separated by sex) those who did not report a fall with those who reported any number of falls, and those who reported no falls or one fall with those who reported recurrent falls. Using the significant items as independent variables, multiple logistic regression analysis with forward selection method was performed. The prevalence of falls and recurrent falls was: in men, 24.6% and 14.5%; in women, 26.7% and 12.5%. There were no significant differences in prevalence of falls or recurrent falls between genders. The following items were selected as the MFs most strongly associated with falls: climbing 10 steps with difficulty and tandem walk; and associated with recurrent falls: climbing 10 steps with difficulty, sit and reach, and tandem walk. These results are useful in determining the focus of fall prevention programs to be used in future community-based interventions.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether hand-grip strength (HGS) can be a significant discrimination factor of mobility limitation (ML) among older adults. Cross-sectional analysis was conducted on data from 939 community-dwelling older adults, aged 65-96 years (74.4 ± 6.4 yr, 266 men, 673 women). ML was defined as self-reported difficulty in walking 400 m, climbing 10 steps, and rising from a chair. Trained testers assessed standardized measurements of HGS and lower extremity performance score (LEPS) calculated by four tests (i.e., tandem stance, 5-chair sit-to-stand, alternate step, and timed up & go). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was conducted to identify discrimination power of HGS and LEPS for ML. The areas under the ROC curves (AUCs) of HGS and LEPS for ML were 0.82 and 0.87 in men; 0.70 and 0.85 in women, respectively. No significant difference was detected between the AUCs of HGS and LEPS (P = 0.12) in men, whereas in women, the AUC was significantly lower in HGS than LEPS (P < 0.001). The optimal HGS cut-off values for ML were 31.0 kg (sensitivity 75%, specificity 81%) for men and 19.6 kg (sensitivity 73%, specificity 57%) for women. In men, the HGS test could be as useful as LEPS for identifying ML. In women, discrimination power for ML by HGS alone was considered acceptable; however, a combination of HGS and lower extremity performance tests could be more useful for monitoring the hierarchical levels of physical frailty.

BACKGROUND: A variety of dietary supplements are commercially available. However, the efficacy and safety of dietary supplement use in children are not well established. Understanding dietary supplement use is important for developing public health policy regarding dietary supplements. This study aimed to investigate the types of dietary supplements used and characteristics of dietary supplement users among Japanese elementary school children. METHOD: We conducted a cross-sectional web-based questionnaire study. Dietary supplement use, socio-demographics, and health-related behaviors were assessed through mother-reported questionnaire. Types of dietary supplements were identified based on ingredient using product barcodes and brand names. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate the socio-demographics and health-related behaviors associated with supplement use. RESULTS: Among 4933 children, 333 (6.8%) were identified as dietary supplement users. The most common supplement was amino acids or protein (1.4%), followed by n-3 fatty acids or fish oil (1.0%), probiotics (1.0%), multivitamins (0.9%), multivitamin-minerals (0.8%), and botanicals (0.8%). Overall, any dietary supplement use was significantly associated with the highest frequency of sports participation (odds ratio [OR], 2.58; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.65-4.02), highest household income (OR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.13-3.10), highest maternal educational level (OR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.31-2.52), and male sex (OR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.09-1.75). The highest frequency of sports participation was significantly associated with higher odds of use of amino acids or protein (OR, 6.06; 95% CI, 1.78-20.6) and multivitamins (OR, 3.56; 95% CI, 1.11-11.5), compared to the lowest frequency of sports participation. CONCLUSION This study showed that Japanese children primarily use non-vitamin, non-mineral supplements. Non-vitamin, non-mineral supplements should thus be included in future studies aimed at monitoring dietary supplement use. We also found that dietary supplement use in children was associated with sports participation. Guidelines for dietary supplement use for children, in particular sport participants, are needed.