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Purpose Elders' ICT usage is one of the central subjects of ISG. The cabinet office of Japan has conducted "The International Comparative Survey on the Daily Life and Attitudes of the Elderly" every five years, covering individual men and women aged 60 and over (excluding institutionalized residents) in Japan and three foreign countries. The survey provides information on matters related to home life, health and welfare, economic life, employment, housing and living environment, and social relations and purpose in life of the elderly in the countries. The latest 2021 survey has been done in Japan, Germany, Sweden, and the US (https://www.e-stat.go.jp/statsearch/files?page=1&layout=dataset&toukei=00100106&metadata=1&data=1). In Japan and Sweden, 2,500 participants each country were invited by mail. In Germany and the US, 1,000 participants per country were asked by phone. All participants were chosen by random sampling. The survey period was from Dec. 2020 to Jan. 2021. The result of the survey was open for further analysis and research. Survey data was counted and provided as simple tables or cross tables. In this paper, we chose Q.34, Usage of ICT devices, and Q.35, Reason for not-to-use of such devices. The latter question was asked to participants who responded that they are not using any ICT devices. We have analyzed survey data with Correspondence Analysis to reveal four countries of elders' ICT usage features. Method Two question branches are analyzed in this research. Q34 has nine activity categories. All appropriate activities should be answered (multiple answers): 1. Fax to family members and friends, 2. PC e-mail to family and friends, 3. Mobile phone calls (including mail) to family and friends, 4. Net search for information and/or net shopping, 5. Using SNS, 6. Home Page making or Blogging, 7. Netbanking / Net trading, 8. E-government (tax etc.), 9. No ICT usage. Q35: 1. No needs regarded, 2. ICT devices are hard to understand, 3. Have interest, but no clues for purchase/shop, 4. Have no one to instruct device usage, 5. The problem of price/money, 6. The display is unreadable, 7. other reasons. Correspondence analysis was computed with the FactoMineR package (http://factominer.free.fr/), developed by statisticians at d'Agrocampus Rennes. Analysis was done on statistical computing environment R 4.1.2. Results and Discussion Figures 1 and 2 show the ICT device usage. Japanese favor Mobile phone talk and mail. In Japan, Fax and No ICT usage has larger than in other countries. SNS, HP/blogging, E-government, and Netbanking are relatively minor. US participants favor SNS, PC mail, and HP/blogging. Swedish more favors SNS, Netbanking, and E-government. Germans favor Net searching and shopping and are close to the countries average. Figures 3 and 4 show the reasons for not-to-use ICT devices. Germans with negative ICT device attitude tend to think they do not need to use them. A negative attitude in the US is slightly close to having no instructor. Japanese negative attitude is close to readability problem and understanding device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the 73rd Annual Congress of the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, young doctors from Japan and South Korea made presentations on the present condition of risk‐reducing surgery for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (RRSO) in their respective country. RRSO was insured in Japan in April 2020, whereas in South Korea, it was insured 7 years earlier in 2013. In Japan, certification criteria have been set for facilities that perform RRSO, and the number of facilities is increasing, but regional disparities still exist in its distribution. The number of gBRCA1/2 testing facilities is larger, and the cost is more affordable in South Korea than in Japan. Additionally, South Korea provides genetic counseling to a wider range of relatives compared to Japan. In the future, as the indications for the gBRCA1/2 test have expanded as a companion diagnostic for the use of PARP inhibitors, it is expected that the number of candidates for the gBRCA1/2 mutation test and RRSO will increase in Japan. It is important to increase the number of BRCA tests while maintaining the quality of genetic counseling in order to provide adequate information on BRCA mutations and RRSO for patients to support their decision. For the development of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) medical care, it is necessary to publish a nationwide database in Japan and continue to analyze and discuss the data based on the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose With the rapid aging of the population, the increase in the number and severity of the elderly with dementia has become a major issue for elderly care in Japan. In particular, the progression of dementia among the elderly has strained on the staff, making communication with them difficult. How can we strengthen the relationship between the elderly with dementia and care staff in day care? As one possibility, previous studies have shown that communication robots have a positive effect on enriching emotions and expressions in the elderly with dementia (Matsuyama & Obayashi 2020, Ninomiya 2020). Our research purpose is to clarify human-robot interaction between communication robot and the elderly with dementia. What kinds of character can we find in the interaction? What kind of benefits does the interaction bring to the elderly with dementia? And what kinds of benefits does it bring to care staff? Or does human-robot interaction give any disadvantage? Method [ROBOT] PALRO is a 40 cm long communication robot developed in 2010 by the ICT company FUJISOFT, Inc. and has been improved over the years (figure1). It possesses advanced conversational, voice recognition, facial recognition and memory abilities, and is capable of smooth communication with elderly people with dementia. [Subjects] The subjects were two elderly people with dementia who use a daycare service in Kobe, Japan (2 females, 83 and 69 years old). Their Nursing Care Level is 1 on a 5-point scale, and both have early Alzheimer's disease. [Procedure] We analyzed the communication of the two participants in detail by participant observation on a day when PALRO was placed and on a day not (figure2). The PALRO was then placed in the daycare service on a daily basis for three months, and the interaction with the users was observed. [Assessment] (1) Mini-Mental State Examination score for dementia. (2) participant observation of the participants. (3) focus groups for the staff. This research was approved by the Research Ethics Board of Department of Sociology of Human Sciences at Osaka University. Results and Discussion The study revealed that (1) the two subjects recognized PALRO sometimes as a robot and sometimes as an object of assistance, and conveniently communicate with each other, (2) communication spread to other users and staff through PALRO, and (3) PALRO's presence had a positive impact on staff by providing topics of conversation and temporarily dealing with the elderly, indicating the potential of communication robots in dementia care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]