PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to construct a measurement instrument for climacteric symptoms among Korean and Japanese women. METHODS: From Dec. 1st of 2003 to March 30th of 2004, in-depth interviews were made with 26 women (15 in Jinju, Korea and 11 in Nagasaki, Japan) aged from 45 to 59 years who had not taken hormone replacement therapy to relieve the climacteric symptoms. A draft questionnaire with 45 items was constructed on the basis of the interview data and literature review. Three obstetricians, three PhDs in nursing science, and a chief nurse who was exclusively in charge of the climacteric management, examined the draft questionnaire to evaluate content validity. After deletions 39 items remained for a preliminary questionnaire. A survey was conducted by using a convenient sampling method in Jinju of Korea and Nagasaki of Japan during the period from April 1st, 2004 to July 10th, 2005. RESULTS: Factor analysis identified 4 factors, which were "mental and psychological symptoms", "physical symp-toms", "loss of autonomic nervous system symptoms", "sexual symptoms". These four factors explained 46.9% of total variance. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrated that climacteric symptom scale was multidimensional, and the reliability and validity of the scale was supported.
*Climacteric/ethnology ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Female ; Humans ; Japan ; Korea ; Middle Aged ; *Nursing Assessment ; *Questionnaires ; Reproducibility of Results

Japan extended her territory since the end of 19th century, Sahalin island northward, Ryukyu islands southward. Japan annexed Chosen in 1910. The task of Japanase ethnology was how to describe and define the people of many races in Japanese territory. On the other hand Japanese ethnology was a confrontation of Japanese about the sense of superiority of the West. Japanese ethnology was the background of exploitation and discrimination of other Asian countries and their people. In that sense Japan imitated Western countries in an age of imperialism. Japanese ethnologist adopted two theories; one was an anthropology and another was the theory of evolution. They classified races into two categories, evoluted one and primitive one. Japanese government intended to utilize Asian people in respond to the advantages and disadvantages of each race. Kubo, Koganei, Kyono, and Hasebe were those who studied Chosen people. Kubo, a professor of department of Anatomy of Kyungsung Junior Medical College, was the most productive one in anthropology of Chosen people. He describes Chosen people as a primitive one. His prejudice about Chosen people was very closely related with so called "Kubo abusive words case". It was a symbolic happening rather than a personal defect in the perspective of the idea of Japanese ethnology about Chosen people.
Ethnology/*history ; History of Medicine, 19th Cent. ; History of Medicine, 20th Cent. ; Japan ; Korea

In July 2010 Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Niigata University (NU) signed a memorandum of agreement to continue collaboration in joint planning and implementation of education, research and practice services in the field of medicine. Since then several undergraduate and postgraduate students including academic staffs have been visiting NU and UKM as part of their learning experience. This collaboration is also a good opportunity for Doctor of Public Health (DRPH) postgraduate candidates to gain experience on the practice of public health in handling public health issues, planning the healthcare facilities, delivering a quality public health services, enforcing public health policies/regulations and finally learn about the health systems in general at other countries especially from developed country like Japan. The learning experience will help student to evaluate the difference of practice of public health in different countries based on their culture, availability of resources, disease trend and other factors influence the practice of public health.
Delivery of Health Care ; ethnology ; Public Health ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Japan

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to provide basic data for developing education and health promotion programs for the prevention of cancer by identifying the relation between optimistic bias about cancer and cancer preventive behavior in Korean, Chinese, American, and Japanese residents in Korea. METHODS: Using a questionnaire administered by the researcher, data were collected from a convenience sample of 600, 19 to 64-yr-old male and female Korean, Chinese, American, and Japanese residents in Korea. Data was collected between February 6 and 28, 2009. RESULTS: Scores for optimistic bias about cancer by nationality were: Koreans, -1.03; Chinese, -0.43; Americans, -0.23; and Japanese, 0.05. The cancer preventive behavior scores were: Koreans, 43.17; Chinese, 71.84; Americans, 71.71; and Japanese, 73.97. Optimistic bias about cancer and cancer preventive behavior showed a significantly positive correlation in all participants: Koreans (r=.223, p=.006); Chinese (r=.178, p=.029); Americans (r=.225, p=.006); and Japanese (r=.402, p<.001). CONCLUSION: The greater the optimistic bias about cancer is, the lower the cancer preventive behavior. The findings suggest that nursing interventions are needed to reduce optimistic bias about cancer and to form a positive attitude towards cancer prevention because an optimistic bias about cancer adversely affects cancer preventive behavior.
Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; China/ethnology ; Cross-Cultural Comparison ; Female ; *Health Behavior ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Japan/ethnology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasms/ethnology/*prevention & control ; Prejudice ; Questionnaires ; Republic of Korea ; United States/ethnology ; Young Adult

The incidence and prevalence of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) including ulcerative colitis and Crohn disease are rapidly increasing in Western countries and in developed Asian countries. Although biologic agents targeting the immune system have been effective in patients with IBD, cessation of treatment leads to relapse in the majority of patients, suggesting that intrinsic immune dysregulation is an effect, not a cause, of IBD. Dramatic changes in the environment, resulting in the dysregulated composition of intestinal microbiota or dysbiosis, may be associated with the fundamental causes of IBD. Japan now has upgraded water supply and sewerage systems, as well as dietary habits and antibiotic overuse that are similar to such features found in developed Western countries. The purpose of this review article was to describe the association of diet, particularly Japanese food and microbiota, with IBD.
Animals ; *Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Diet/*ethnology ; Evidence-Based Medicine ; Food Habits/ethnology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases/diagnosis/diet therapy/*ethnology/immunology/*microbiology ; Intestines/immunology/*microbiology ; Japan/epidemiology ; *Microbiota ; Prevalence ; Probiotics/therapeutic use ; Prognosis ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVETo clarify the clinicopathologic significance of the expression of the Bcl-2 protein (pBcl-2) and the Bax protein (pBax), and their clinical implications in Chinese and Japanese patients with human invasive ductal carcinomas (IDCs) of the pancreas.

METHODSThe study included 59 Chinese and 65 Japanese patients with IDCs of the pancreas. pBcl-2 and pBax expression were immuno-stained with streptavidin-biotin (SAB) method.

RESULTSpBcl-2 (+) was seen in 35.6% of Chinese and in 23.1% of Japanese patients. pBax (+) was seen in 49.2% of Chinese and 64.7% of Japanese patients. A comparison between them showed that there were significant differences in the male patients, in the patients with the moderately differentiated cancer, and in the elderly patients (chi squared = 4.447, P = 0.035; chi squared = 4.114, P = 0.043; chi squared = 6.657, P = 0.010 respective). In both Chinese and Japanese patients, those with pBcl-2 positive expression had a significantly higher survival rate than those with negative one (chi squared = 9.99, P = 0.0016; chi squared = 7.63, P = 0.0058). The group with pBax positive expression had a significantly higher survival rate in Japanese patients (chi squared = 9.37, P = 0.0022). Japanese patients whose tumors exhibited pBcl-2 and pBax positive immunostaining survived significantly longer than Chinese patients did (chi squared = 4.48, P = 0.0342; chi squared = 5.23, P = 0.023).

CONCLUSIONSThe expressions of both pBcl-2 and pBax are high found in Chinese and Japanese patients. The pBcl-2 positive expression implies a better prognosis in both Chinese and Japanese patients with IDCs of the pancreas. The effect of pBax expression on prognosis is different between Chinese and Japanese patients.

Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal ; metabolism ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Japan ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; ethnology ; metabolism ; Prognosis ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; biosynthesis ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; biosynthesis

The effective and toxic ranges of anticancer drugs are very narrow and, in some cases, inverted. Thus determination of the most appropriate dosage and schedule of administration is crucial for optimal chemotherapy. In common arm trials conducted in Japan and by Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) that used the same doses and schedules for the administration of carboplatin plus paclitaxel, the frequency of hematological toxicity was significantly higher in the Japanese trials than in the SWOG trial, despite demonstrating similar response rates. The frequency of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in tumors was significantly higher among East Asian populations, and these populations are also reported to demonstrate a higher response rates to epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs). The prevalence of interstitial lung disease induced by treatment with EGFR-TKIs has been shown to be quite high in the Japanese population. Clinical trials of cetuximab against non-small cell lung cancer and of bevacizumab against stomach cancer have shown that these agents are only active in Caucasians. In a trial examining the use of sorafenib after transarterial chemoembolization in Korean and Japanese patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, the compliance and dose intensity of the drug were quite low compared with other trials. Although not only identified pharmacogenomics differences but also differences in social environment, and regional medical care, including pharmacoeconomics strongly influence ethnic differences in treatment response, further identification and understanding of the pharmacogenomics underlying ethnic differences will be essential to timely and reliable global development of new anticancer drugs.
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/adverse effects/*therapeutic use ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/drug therapy/ethnology ; Chemoembolization, Therapeutic ; Clinical Trials as Topic ; Drug Design ; Ethnic Groups ; Humans ; Japan ; Lung Diseases, Interstitial/chemically induced ; Lung Neoplasms/drug therapy/ethnology ; Mutation ; Pharmacogenetics/*methods ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor/genetics ; Republic of Korea