Continuing medical education for the general practitioners has been activery performed. The former committee for continuing medical education of the Japan Society for Medical Education reported the objectives of continuing medical education for general practitioners. The present committee proposed learning strategies for continuing medical education for general practitioners in accordance with specific behavioral objectives of the curriculum.
It was postulated that appropriate learning strategies are necessary for physicians to provide holistic medical care in their communities, in addition to improving their medical knowledge and skills.
Learning strategies in the curriculum were also coordinated with the continuing medical education system of the Japan Medical Association.

The aim of this study is to clarify the definition and recognition on continuing medical education for administrators (or leaders for residents) of 80 university hospitals and 266 clinical training hospitals as designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, using the questionaire consited of 5 main questions, as following:
1) On the curriculum (program) of continuing medical education in their hospitals.
2) On the continuing medical education system of Japan Medical Association.
3) On the continuing medical education activity of the specified academic societies.
4) On guide of continuing medical education for the residents.
5) On definition of continuing medical education.
Answers to a questionaire were returned from 227 institutions (65.6%)
Analyzing the results, present situation of program curricula for continuing medical education in hospitals, participation to continuing medical education system of Japan Medical Association and Academic Societies, and consideration on continuing medical education as a hospital leader were comprehensible.

The committee of continuing medical education in Japan Society for Medical Education discussed on PRA of American Medical Association [AMA]. We have first analyzed the brochure of PRA for the members of AMA, and then prepared the questionnaire for AMA. We were able to obtained the answers to the questionnaire which were sent to AMA through courtesy of Japanese Medical Association (JMA). It was realized that AMA emphasizes an importance of PRA for medical practice to the patients; nevertheless acquisition rate of PRA is actually low, and so AMA proceeds with efforts towards completion of PRA.

Purpose: We examined the safety and efficacy of cataract surgery and postoperative management in our hospital and at the homes of the patients who live on medically underserved remote.
Patients and methods: A total of 27 patients (54 eyes), who were followed in our hospital or at their homes were enrolled in this study. Cataract surgery was performed on them between January 2009 and January 2010 and we could follow up six months postoperatively. We divided these patients into two groups:group I (GI) consisted of 13 patients who could come to our hospital regularly during both preoperative and postoperative periods, and group II (GII) consisted of 14 patients who could not come to our hospital regularly during either preoperative or postoperative periods. Cataract surgeries were performed on all the patients in GI and GII in our hospital. The patients in GI were hospitalized for three days and those in GII were for seven days. After cataract surgery, the patients in GI had their eyes checked regularly in our hospital and those in GII were in their homes where the doctor visited. Postoperative ophthalmic clinical tests were conducted to examine visual acuity, intraocular pressure and fundus.
Results: GI comprised three males and 10 females. Their age averaged 79.3. GII comprised four males and 10 females. Their age averaged 82.6. Preoperative ophthalmic examinations found that preoperative average visual acuity (LogMAR and decimal visual acuity in parentheses) and spherical equivalent in GI and GII were 0.69 (0.41), 0.80 (0.33) and -0.43 dioptors, -0.42 dioptors respectively, showing no significant differences between the two groups. Postoperative ophthalmic examinations found that, best corrected visual acuity (LogMAR) was significantly increased to 0.36 (0.66) and 0.44 (0.53) in GI and GII respectively, showing no significant differences either.
Conclusions: We concluded that we could get safe and efficient cataract surgery and postoperative management combined with prolonged hospitalization and house calls on the patients who live in the isolated islands.

OBJECTIVE: Accumulated evidence collected via functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has been reported with regard to mental disorders. A previous finding revealed that emotional words evoke left frontal cortex activity in patients with depression. The primary aim of the current study was to replicate this finding using an independent dataset and evaluate the brain region associated with the severity of depression using an emotional Stroop task. METHODS: Oxygenized and deoxygenized hemoglobin recording in the brain by fNIRS on 14 MDD patients and 20 normal controls. RESULTS: Hyperactivated oxygenized hemoglobin was observed in the left frontal cortex on exposure to unfavorable stimuli, but no significant difference was found among patients with depression compared with healthy controls on exposure to favorable stimuli. This result is consistent with previous findings. Moreover, an evoked wave associated with the left upper frontal cortex on favorable stimuli was inversely correlated with the severity of depression. CONCLUSION: Our current work using fNIRS provides a potential clue regarding the location of depression symptom severity in the left upper frontal cortex. Future studies should verify our findings and expand them into a precise etiology of depression.
Brain ; Dataset ; Depression ; Frontal Lobe ; Humans ; Mental Disorders ; Oxygen ; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared