Objectives: This study examined whether cancer patients who received home care lived in the places they and their families preferred, and whether their preferences changed while receiving home care.Methods: We conducted a medical record survey of 111 cancer patients who received home care provided by a clinic in Japan, and examined the patients' and their families' preferred places to live in the case of their condition deteriorate (the patients and their families were asked when they began to receive home care, and whenever their and their families' conditions changed), and the actual places where the patients lived out their lives.Results: Among those who preferred home at the beginning of receiving home care, 95.6% of patients and 96.8% of families preferred home in the last survey period. Of those who did not prefer home at the beginning, 87.9% of patients and 84.8% of families preferred home by the last survey period. For 97.4% of patients and 97.2% of families, the actual places where the patients lived out their lives were consistent with their preferred places.Conclusion: We found that cancer patients receiving home care provided by the clinic and their families who preferred home from the beginning often still preferred home until the end of their lives, and that those who did not prefer home at the beginning often preferred home by the last survey period. Thus, most of the patients lived out their lives in the places they and their families preferred.

In athletes, repeated intensive exercise is considered to depress the immune system. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of yogurt fermented with Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris FC (L. cremoris FC) on salivary secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) in long-distance runners (high school students) during a 5 day intensive training program. Fourteen subjects were divided into 2 groups: a yogurt fermented with L. cremoris FC intake group and a milk intake group (control group). Each subject consumed yogurt or milk for 5 days during the intensive training. Salivary samples were obtained on days 1 and 5, and SIgA secretion and cortisol levels were measured. In addition, the mood of each subject was evaluated using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire. Our study suggested that L. cremoris FC intake increases SIgA secretion. In addition, there might be a significant suppression in the increase of salivary cortisol levels caused by exercise mainly, but there was no effect on mood. These results suggest that L. cremoris FC intake may have health benefits by enhancing oral immune function mediated by SIgA.