Mental health represents a critical indicator of human development, serving as a key determinant of well-being, quality of life, and hope. As such, mental health has an impact on a range of development outcomes. There is growing recognition within the international community that mental health is one of the most neglected yet essential development issues. The adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006 by the United Nations General Assembly provided momentum to highlight the importance of the nexus between disabilities and mental health in the context of human rights, peace and security, humanitarian activities and in development work including response to AIDS. In addition, the Ministerial Declaration on Implementing the Internationally Agreed Goals and Commitments in Regard to Global Public Health, in the high-level segment of the substantive session of the Economic and Social Council in July 2009, highlighted the importance of integrating mental health into the implementation of the MDGs and other internationally agreed development goals and commitments, in order to achieve development outcomes. Based on these new developments, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) of the Untied Nations and the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued the “United Nations-WHO Policy Analysis: Mental Health and Development: Integrating Mental Health into All Development Efforts including MDGs” in 2010. This document serves as a foundation for further mainstreaming of mental health into the development agenda including response to AIDS in the United Nations system and the broader international community. In the area of HIV, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) integrated mental health into one of three goals and an outcome of its Strategic Plan: Universal access to reproductive health and comprehensive HIV prevention for improved quality of life. Based on this, UNFPA started to integrate mental health into its fund-wide policies and guidelines, and programmes at regional and country levels. In addition, the United Nations Children‟s Fund held a round table on adolescent mental health with partners in April 2011, and placed an emphasis on mental health and AIDS among adolescents. Poor mental health is both a cause and a consequence of ill-health including issues related to HIV, poverty, compromised education, gender inequality, violence and other global challenges. It impedes the individual's capacity to realize their potential and make a contribution to their community. On the other hand, positive mental health is linked to a range of development outcomes. Dialogue and consultations on a post-MDGs framework will present critical opportunities to ensure the explicit inclusion of mental health in any emerging development framework for 2015 and beyond. In addition, utilizing best practices from UNFPA and others, it is also important to continue efforts to integrate mental health into strategic plans and other policies and programmes of the United Nations implementing entities. Now is the time to include mental health as an integral part of development through increased recognition of the link between development and mental/emotional well-being, as well as the inclusion of persons with mental and intellectual disabilities, to achieve development for all.

Objectives: The reliability of surveys on smoking habits based on questionnaires was investigated, using the urinary cotinine content as an objective index. Methods: The subjects tested were 2,849 office workers of middle age, who responded to questions concerning their smoking status, and also their urinary cotinine was measured by the HPLC method. Results: The boundary value between smokers and non-smokers, determined by the histogram independent of the questionnaire, was 63.1 and 79.4 ng/mg of creatinine for males and females, respectively. The rate of misclassification of the non-smokers and former smokers as smokers was 1.3% for males and 1.8% for females, whereas that of current smokers as non-smokers was 6.3% and 2.1%. We also assessed the effect of smoke inhalation on the urinary cotinine value, and found a significant difference for males in the cotinine value by the presence of inhalation and also its depth. Conclusions: The rate of misclassification in this study was considered to be comparatively low. Several studies have also assessed the reliability of the questionnaire on smoking habits, and found different misclassification rates, indicating the dependence on the race and number of subjects tested. To our knowledge, there were only a few surveys on smoking among large groups, particularly in Japan, such as this one, therefore the results obtained in this study are meaningful.
Smoking ; Cotinine ; Indexes ; seconds ; Urine

OBJECTIVESThe reliability of surveys on smoking habits based on questionnaires was investigated, using the urinary cotinine content as an objective index.

METHODSThe subjects tested were 2,849 office workers of middle age, who responded to questions concerning their smoking status, and also their urinary cotinine was measured by the HPLC method.

RESULTSThe boundary value between smokers and non-smokers, determined by the histogram independent of the questionnaire, was 63.1 and 79.4 ng/mg of creatinine for males and females, respectively. The rate of misclassification of the non-smokers and former smokers as smokers was 1.3% for males and 1.8% for females, whereas that of current smokers as non-smokers was 6.3% and 2.1%. We also assessed the effect of smoke inhalation on the urinary cotinine value, and found a significant difference for males in the cotinine value by the presence of inhalation and also its depth.

CONCLUSIONSThe rate of misclassification in this study was considered to be comparatively low. Several studies have also assessed the reliability of the questionnaire on smoking habits, and found different misclassification rates, indicating the dependence on the race and number of subjects tested. To our knowledge, there were only a few surveys on smoking among large groups, particularly in Japan, such as this one, therefore the results obtained in this study are meaningful.

Introduction: The diagnosis of cancer-related neuropathic pain is often difficult for non-pain medicine specialists. We examined whether a Japanese version of a neuropathic pain screening questionnaire (Japan-Q), which was developed for chronic pain, is appropriate for screening cancer-related neuropathic pain. Methods: Our palliative care team screened 104 patients from May 2014 to December 2015 and compared total points of the Japan-Q with diagnosis of the type of cancer pain by specialized pain clinicians. Validity was evaluated using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results: The area under the ROC curve in terms of the total score, sensitivity, and specificity for the Japan Q was 0.82, which indicated a moderate level of diagnostic accuracy. A cut-off value of 3 points was shown to be best (sensitivity: 79%, specificity: 82%). When a cut-off value of 9 points was used as the diagnostic criterion for neuropathic pain, there was greatly reduced sensitivity (sensitivity: 40%, specificity: 97%). Conclusion: Although the Japan-Q shows moderate diagnostic accuracy related to cancer pain, the cut-off value for this tool is lower than that for chronic pain. Cancer-related neuropathic pain should be suspected with a total score of 3 or more in the Japan-Q.