2.The Electrical and Massage Stimulation of the Abdominal Region Altered the Body Weight of Experimental Dietary Obese Rats
Takaaki KOJIMA ; Hajime OGAWA ; Takemasa SHIRAISHI
Journal of the Japan Society of Acupuncture and Moxibustion 2005;55(2):123-132
[Object and Subjects] We studied the effects of both electrical and massage (frictional) stimulation on the dorsal region (e.g. BL 13, BL21 and BL23) in experimental dietary obese rats for three weeks as a simple obesity model.
[Results] The electrical and massage (frictional) groups showed reduced (p<0.01) body weight compared with non-treated obese rats, the control group. The electrical stimulation group decreased in body weight more than the massage (frictional) stimulation group. Food intake per 100 g of body weight did not differ between the three groups. There was no significant difference in leptin concentration in the blood pre-and poststimulus, but a tendency for it to decrease was seen in the stimulus groups (p=0.074). This might be diagnosed as normalized hyper-leptinemia and /or leptin-resistance.
These results suggest the existence of action mechanisms for weight decrease originating in electrical and mas-sage (frictional) stimulation, which obviously is different from the case of “the auricular acupuncture stimulus”.
[Conclusion] In conclusion, the possibility of a new application of the “ANMA·massage·SHIATSU” treatment was apparent from this result.
4.Community-Oriented Primary Care (COPC) for Japanese in Pittsburgh, U. S. A.
Nobutaka Hirooka ; Hajime Kojima ; Keiichiro Narumoto ; Kohhei Nakagawa ; Toshiaki Wakai ; Hiromichi Miyashita ; Jiyoung Huh ; Tsuneari Hayashi ; Tomoko Sairenji ; Teiichi Takedai
An Official Journal of the Japan Primary Care Association 2011;34(4):317-322
Living overseas affects heath significantly. This needs to be addressed adequately for Japanese who live in the U. S. based on the existing evidence of negative impacts on health such as increased coronary heart disease mortality and stress. In addition to care at individual level as primary care providers, community-oriented primary care (COPC) provides primary care physicians with great potential to use as a tool of community medicine to improve their health at the community level. In this article, we report our case of COPC activity ; defining the community, choosing the health issue, implementing an intervention and its initial evaluation as well as the process of involving the community targeting Japanese in Pittsburgh, USA. The present article also includes a hypothesis-driven research question, measurement, analysis and the results followed by discussion with the lessons learned through our COPC activities. This article will not only inform readers of the COPC case but also provide practical and applicable insight to community medicine in readers' settings.