Along with changes in the child-rearing environment, the role that fathers are expected to play in child care has come to be regarded as more important today than ever. At our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), we have a childcare course for fathers with the aim of bringing out paternal love in them and encourage them into doing kangaroo care. In actuality, however, many fathers, who are pressed with business, find it difficult to participate in the childcare program. This study was conducted to clarify the effects of the relationships between fathers and newborn babies in hospital and the paternal involvement in child care upon the development of fatherhood. For this purpose, the changes in fathers' feelings toward their babies during hospitalization were graded by the use of “emotion scores” developed by Hanazawa. The results showed that the score for “closeness” went up in all the subjects. The largest number of subjects were found to have feelings that they really became fathers especially when they took their child into their arms. This form of contact was though to be an important factor contributing to the awakening of fatherhood. As the day babies are scheduled to be discharged from the hospital was drawing near, it was found, not a small number of fathers were beginning to feel “uncertain” or “uneasy”. This feelings could be taken for granted especially when their babies were born with low birth weight. We thought it necessary to develop a program tailored for fathers individually and prepare an environment where fathers and their babies feel comfortable.
Fatherhood ; Infant, Newborn ; child care service ; Fostering ; Hospitals

The reflex mechanisms of the responses in heart rate elicited by acupuncture stimulation in anesthetized rats were examined. An acupuncture needle measuring 160μmin diameter was inserted into skin and the underlying muscles to the hindlimb to a depth of about 5mm and was twisted once every second for 1min. A decrease in the heart rate was observed in 55% of 22 trials and in 70% of 20 trials when muscles separated from the overlying skin were stimulated. The response was abolished completely by cutting the femoral and sciatic nerves. The response was not influenced by transecting of the bilateral vagi but was totally abolished by transecting of the cardiac sympathetic nerves. Therefore, we conclude that the decrease in heart rate elicited by acupuncture stimulation of a hindlimb is based on a somato-autonomic reflex, in which the afferent pathway is composed of hindlimb muscle afferents and the efferent pathway is composed of cardiac sympathetic nerves.

The effect of moxibustion on duodenal motility was examined. Duodenal motility was measured by the balloon method in anesthetized, artificially ventilated rats. The stimulation temperature and duration of moxibustion varied. Treatments were applied to the hind paw and abdomen.
The duodenal motility exhibited an excited response by pinch stimulation of hind paw, and inhibitory response by abdominal pinch stimulation. Duodenal motility did not show any response to indirect moxibustion stimulation of the hind paw and abdomen. Duodenal motility exhibited an excited response by direct application of moxibustion to the hind paw and an inhibitory response by direct application of moxibustion to the abdomen.

We successfully performed one-stage definitive repair for 3 infants weighing 4.2, 6.1 and 5.2kg with complex coarctation without homologous blood transfusion. The priming volume of the bypass circuits was 195ml, and their lower hematocrit values during cardiopulmonary bypass were 15, 16 and 13%, respectively. In order to diminish the aortic cross clamp time, the aortic arch was repaired with the heart beating, using isolated cerebral and myocardial perfusion methods. The base excess in each patient decreased to -9.4, -8.0 and -4.9mEq/l during the rewarming phase, however, their postoperative hemodynamic and respiratory conditions were satisfactory. They have grown without any sequelae for at least 2 months.

The purpose of this study was to assess the status of nutrients intake in male Japanese collegiate athletes. Each 20 of baseball (B), soccer (S), volley ball (V), and long distance (L) athletes participated in this study. The B, S, and V athletes lived by themselves, whereas the L athletes lived in an athletes dormitory with provided meal. The nutritional status was assessed for 2 days. Mean energy intakes in the B, S, V, and L groups were 43.6, 53.7, 47.0, and 55.0 kcal/kg body weight, respectively. Mean protein intakes were 1.2, 1.6, 1.3 and 2.4 g/kg, respectively. In B athletes, skipping of breakfast was recognized frequently. Most of micronutrients intakes in the B, S, and V groups were less than the recommended dietary allowances for athletes. We suggest that a provided meal system is a better system for collegiate athletes and more nutritional education is necessary for Japanese male collegiate athletes, in particular, those living by themselves.

College athletes often tend to suffer from defective nutrition status due to excessive physical training with inadequate dietary intakes, which resulted in various physical disorders such as anemia. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of nutrition interventions to the anemic state of long distance runners. A nutritional education program was applied and daily single pack of nutritional supplement drink rich in iron, zinc, copper, selenium as well as eleven vitamins were provided for two months. Blood hemoglobin, red blood cells as well as serum ferritin and iron levels after the intervention were significantly higher compared with the basal, pre-intervention level of respective items. Among the subjects, two were found to be anemic (hemoglobin<13g/dl) before the intervention. Both of them, however, were successfully recovered to normal status (hemoglobin≧13g/dl) thereafter. The pre-intervention levels of hemoglobin were negatively correlated to the amount of difference between those of pre- and post-intervention, which appeared to indicate an improvement of nutrient deficiency that caused the hypochromia. On the other hands, the intake of energy and nutrients from meals did not change before and after the intervention. From the results obtained, it seems to be appropriate to emphasize the importance of nutrition education, especially, a possible effectiveness of including multiple nutrient supplementation in nutrition program for college athletes is suggested.

Severe burn injuries often result in significant long-term physical complications with scarring and contractures, but cancers associated with chronic burn scars are relatively rare. We report a case of a 58-year-old man with skin cancer arising from a healed burn scar. He initially suffered from an extensive fire burn on both lower limbs as a child. The burn scars extended from his upper thighs to his toes bilaterally and caused severe contractures which immobilized the ankles in plantar flexion. Two years ago, he noticed a small ulcerated lesion on the right heel and self-treated it with topical ointments. However, the ulcer increased in size and became malodorous. He presented to a clinic with a large, ulcerated, tumorous lesion, and histology proved it to be squamous cell carcinoma. He subsequently underwent a right below-the-knee amputation, and the previous scars presented on the stump. Thus the patient received a total surface bearing prosthesis with an Icelandic roll-on silicone socket system, which is ideal for patients with extensive scarring at the stump because it may reduce prosthesis-induced stump injuries by evenly distributing the patient's weight in the socket. After he left the hospital, he walked so far with the prosthesis every day that small ulcers often developed at the right popliteal fossa. However, he did not take care to treat these lesions properly, so we had to educate him on how to treat them. Patients such as these will often require education for self-management, family involvement and regular follow-up to monitor scar ulceration and watch out for any malignant transformation.

Objective: From September 2009, the Department of Pharmacy of Kitasato University Kitasato Institute Hospital started operation room services, and the pharmacist in charge also responds to the inquiries from the operation room staff (doctors and nurses) concerning pharmaceutical compounds.  In the present study, we collected the inquiries and analyzed their contents in order to understand the information of pharmaceutical compounds required by the operation room staff.
Methods: The inquiries from operation room staff received between October 2009 and March 2012 were collected and the contents were analyzed.
Results: A total of 625 inquiries (mean, 20.8 inquiries per month) were received.  Regarding the contents of inquiry, the most frequent inquiry was on “the presence or absence of the stock” (70.7%), followed by “drug information” (17.0%), “handling of controlled substances” (5.9%), and “handling of non-controlled substances” (4.2%).  For “the presence or absence of the stock,” the most common pharmaceutical compounds inquired were antibacterial agents, anesthetics, and infusion fluids.  For “drug information,” the contents were diverse, ranging from drug efficacy to operation method, whether compounds are included in hospital drug list, in-hospital preparations, and drug selection.  For “handling of non-controlled substances,” the most frequent inquiries were associated with the expiration date after unsealing.
Conclusion: The most frequent inquiry from the operation room staff was on “the presence or absence of the stock,” and the common subject of inquiry was presumably pharmaceutical compounds frequently used at the time of surgery.  The analysis showed that the operation room requires a wide range of information.

In the central part of Shizuoka Prefecture, tea growing is carried out on hillsides. From the posture taken by farmers while they are picking tea-leaves, it is assumed that a heavy load is laid on the cervical region and that they must have complaints in that region frequently.
On this assumption, we have conducted a survey covering a total of 228 persons working in tea plantations, with 42 persons living in plains as a control group.
Of the total, 172 persons filled out a questionnaire and the remaining 56 underwent a physical checkup.
Of those surveyed, 92.8% said that they feel fatigued from work. Complaints in the cervical region were filed by 69.5% of the males and 89.0% of the females.
X-ray pictures revealed abnormal signs in 69.5% of the males and 89.0% of the females. Radiographic observation suggested that 77.0% of the abnormalities have some bearing on their complaints. It was also found that the stiffness in the shoulders accounted for most of the complaints.
From these findings, we have keenly felt it is necessary for us to continue to engourage them into practicing calisthenics designed to prevent the stiffness in the shoulders.