1) Although maternity leave can facilitate the professional success of female students.The extent to which maternity leave is implemented remains unknown.A cross-sectional questionnaire survey of all Japanese medical schools and postgraduate schools in medicine (N=81) was performed.Responses were received from 55 medical schools and postgraduate medical schools (response rate=67.9%).The results showed that no school had formally established a maternity leave policy for students.
2) We found that medical educators had reorganized clinical clerkship programs to accommodate the pregnancies of students but expressed confusion about how to manage such situations.
3) We also found that many female postgraduate students drop out because of pregnancy or child-care responsibilities. Medical schools and postgraduate schools should recognize the importance of maternity leave and should not close their doors to pregnant students who are contending with both motherhood and academic achievement.

To increase the safety and effectiveness of clinical clerkships, we have developed a 4-week preclinical training program, “Problem-Based Clinical Training, ” based on the concept of problem-based learning with the aim of encouraging life-long self-directed learning. The first week is a preparation period for clinical practice in which students are trained in problem-solving skills, basic-practice skills, and clinical reasoning. The second and third weeks are a practical training period in which students learn how be in charge of a patient's care. The fourth week was a problem-solving period without practical training in which students learned to solve problems. The students were encouraged to record daily “problem notes” describing problems and “problem solving notes” summarizing problems solved. To emphasize lessons learned, the students also presented and discussed problems. Evidence-based medicine was used as a tool for problem solving. Furthermore, medical record training based on the problem-oriented system using evaluations by other students encouraged self-development to improve clinical practice and the medical record. This curriculum should be effective for mastering the skills of self-directed learning and for motivating for advancement due to consideration of contributable proposals for the patients.

During and after the “Toshi” which is the acupuncture of the carotid sinus, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured in the basal pharanx of finger arteries by means of indirect sphygmomanometer called the “volume compensation method”. After 15 minutes resting, 2 minutes acupuncture on both sides of the carotid sinus was carried out in 16 hypertensive subjects. Finger arterial pressure showed a significant decrease by about 14mmHg (mean) in systolic pressure and by 9mmHg (mean) in diastolic pressure during and after the acupuncture (p<0.05). The decrease in blood pressure showed a maximum at 15-20 minutes after the withdrawal of needles. Pulse pressure and heart rate did not show a significant change. These results were almost similar to those obtained in normotensive subjects. These data suggests that hypertensive subjects are also responsible to “Toshi” and that this effect may not be caused by the cardiac inhibition refrex but the change in vascular tonus.

Introduction
Recently, the increasing prevalence of chronic and lifestyle-related diseases has become the most crucial global health issue, even in low- and middle-income countries. However, current health systems are often unable to address the large burden of such diseases because of their poor capacity. In Sri Lanka, a country facing such issues, we implemented a school initiative project, the effect of which expanded beyond the school to the student's family as well as the local community. The project was aimed at prevention of chronic and lifestyle-related diseases among adults through school children's activities.
Activities
Major interventions such as workshops and regular publication of newsletters including the results of the workshops were implemented at four selected primary and secondary schools in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. The newsletters the children brought home facilitated their communication with the parents regarding health issues. All the schools conducted health camps, which children planned and managed themselves, and incentive funds were offered to support the children's activities.
Results
Through discussion and learning at the workshops, children's self-confidence and self-reliance might be enhanced, particularly in regard to developing their health literacy. The health camps and incentive funds helped promote children's autonomy and capability. The attendance rate of the students at the four schools has increased since the inception of the project, while a questionnaire survey showed that the proportion of parents who smoked has decreased.
Conclusion
The trial suggested that school children have the potential not only to improve their own health but also to help their parents and the broader community adopt a healthier lifestyle. Application of the child-to-child strategy may be useful to deal with chronic and lifestyle-related diseases of adulthood as it expands to the child-to-parents and the child-to-community approach.

This study examined peculiarities in both muscle strength and cross-sectional area (CSA) among soccer players in comparison with those of archers as contrasting athletes. Subjects were 15 male soccer players and 9 male archers at N University. Measurement items were height, body weight (BW), isokinetic muscle strength (knee extension, knee flexion, hip extension, hip flexion) and CSA (psoas muscles). Isokinetic muscle strength (30, 120, 240°/sec.) was measured by Cybex6000 (Lumex Co.), and the psoas muscle CSA was determined using magnetic resonance imaging (Hitachi, Japan). Results were as follows : 1. There was no significant difference in isokinetic knee extension and flexion strength/BW at all angular velocities between soccer players and archers. 2. On isokinetic hip flexion strength/BW, the average values of soccer players were significantly higher at all angular velocities than those of archers. However, there was no significant difference in the average values of isokinetic hip extension strength at all angular velocities between the two groups. 3. The average value for the psoas muscle CSA in soccer players was significantly higher than that of archers. In this study, the biggest difference in muscle strength between soccer players and archers was hip flexion strength, and the CSA of the psoas muscle in soccer players, which is the main component of hip flexion, was significantly larger than that of archers. These findings showed the peculiarity of soccer players due to the constant demands of movements involved in ball kicking and running during practice and competition.

To determine the effect of material factors on Ca-P biomaterial-induced osteogenesis, six kinds of biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) ceramics with different HA to TCP ratio (HA/TCP 2-8, 7-3) and different porous structure (micro-, macro- and micro/macro- porous structures) were implanted intramuscularly in rabbits. Different tissue response was detected histologically and microradiographically after the ceramic samples were implanted in the dorsal muscles of rabbits for 3 and 6 months. Obvious bone formation was found in two kinds of ceramics with the same micro/macro-porous structure at both 3 and 6 months. In contrast, no bone formation or host tissue invasion was detected in two other kinds of ceramics with only micro-porous structure, even after 6 months implantation. Some bone formation was found occasionally in two kinds of ceramics with only macro-porous structure at 6 months. Bone tissue was usually formed in direct contact with the pore surface and was only located in non-dissolved porous regions. Osteocyte lacunae were seen and no pathological calcifications were observed. These results indicate that micro- and macro-porous structure play an important role in the osteoinduction with Ca-P ceramics. Furthermore, the results showed that the osteoinductive capacity of BCP ceramics was influenced by the different dissolution rate through changing HA/TCP ratio.

We report a 77-year-old woman who underwent mitral valve repair using leaflet folding plasty for mitral regurgitation due to bilatelal commissural prolapse. A Carpentier prosthetic ring was applied to remodel the annulus and to reinforce repair. Postoperative echocardiography revealed no regurgitation and good mitral valve opening. Leaflet folding plasty is considered to be a simple and effective technique to accomplish mitral valve repair for mitral regurgitation due to commissural prolapse.

DNA from five isolates of Entamoeba histolytica were examined for their pathogenicity by polymerase chain reaction. Three isolates SH-3,SH-6,SH-8 were isolated from patients with acute amoebic dysentery, whereas SH-5 and SH-7 were isolated from asymptomatic cyst passers. Gel electrophoresis of PCR products showed that primers P11 , P12 for pathogenic strains could amplify genomic DNA extracted from SH-8 , and primers P13, P14 for non-pathogenic strains could amplify genomic DNA extracted from SH-3, SH-5, SH-6 and SH-7. Furthermore, zymodeme analysis and the reactivity of McAb 4G6, which recognizes the 30 kDa antigen of pathogenic E. histolytica indicated that only SH-8 was pathogenic, while the others were nonpathogenic. The results of the genotypic analysis by PCR were in accord with the phenotypic properties.It is suggested that there are differences in genomic DNA between pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains. PCR is a highly sensitive and specific method for genomic DNA analysis of E. histolytica.