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The United Nations has announced the Inclusive Wealth Index as a new measure of prosperity with the aim of looking beyond GDP. Using this index, it is possible to visualize the value of natural and human capitals (such as health), which contribute to raising the well-being of people but cannot be measured by GDP. The degradation of natural capital has emerged as a significant global challenge, which has prompted an accelerated movement toward nature positivity. Corporations are increasingly expected to disclose information regarding their environmental, social, and governance practices, which highlights the undeniable importance of addressing environmental degradation and human rights issues. Natural capital is the foundation not only for economic activities but also for sustaining life. The degradation of this capital poses significant risks both to human society as a whole and to businesses. Halting the degradation of natural capital including the food system, which serves as the foundation for survival and aiming for nature positivity will be extremely important for maintaining a happy, sustainable society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial pollination is a heavy-duty task in pear production. Our research aims at developing a method to detect flowers to be pollinated from camera images in an application of robot vision. Images are taken of flower clusters from a certain distance for determining their position within the tree and of flowers taken from close up for artificial pollination. All images are analyzed by the Faster R-CNN (Regions with Convolutional Neural Networks) model. Branch area information is extracted by a multi-scale filter fom the distant view images. The Faster R-CNN model trained on the pear flower image data with the branch area information outperformed the model without that information. When the Intersection over Union is 0.5, the average precision was 0.747 for the distant view images and 0.939 for the close-up images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most current evidence on anger expression suggests that expressing anger has negative interpersonal consequences; thus, controlling or regulating anger in a relationship is considered to be the key to maintaining relationships. However, it is assumed that anger expression also serves as a trigger that prompts a greater sense of intimacy because expressing anger can motivate a partner to change their behavior, and anger expression is a type of self-disclosure behavior that reveals personal information. We predicted that participants that frequently experienced and expressed anger at a close partner would report longer-lasting relationships. In a survey, Japanese university students were asked to recall episodes of heartbreak involving a heterosexual partner and report on their assessment of how long the romantic relationship lasted and the intensity and frequency of their anger expression in the presence of their partner during the relationship. Survival analysis revealed that the participants who frequently expressed mild anger at their partners reported longer relationship durations. We discuss the results and possible implications for understanding how relationships are maintained or strengthened by expressing anger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of self-monitoring in stress management education on increasing coping repertoires was investigated. We classified junior high school students (N=520) into 3 groups: a self-monitoring group, relaxation group, and a control group. Four sessions were conducted in which participants were requested to complete questionnaires on coping repertoires, stress responses, and self-efficacy at pre- and post-intervention, and at 1-month follow-up. The results showed an increase in the coping repertoire and a decrease in stress responses in the self-monitoring group. However, the post-intervention coping repertoire had decreased at 1-month follow-up. It is concluded that the effects of stress management education were not sufficiently maintained. Future directions of this research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the course of treatment of an 18-year-old girl with autism spectrum disorder （ASD） who presented with severe hyperacusis. The patient first visited our hospital at 13 years of age for school nonattendance, and was diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. By 18, she had become hypersensitive to almost all sounds in daily life, appearing fearful and easily startled. Earplugs and earmuffs could not control her symptoms; therefore, the patient was re-examined. Examination by the Department of Otolaryngology revealed no abnormal findings following medical tests, brain magnetic resonance imaging, and electroencephalographic examination. As such, she was diagnosed with ASD-associated hyperacusis. Pharmacotherapy was attempted following provision of information regarding her condition with consent to off-label drug use. Dose-dependent remission of hyperacusis was noted with gradual increase of aripiprazole （ARP） dose up to 18mg/day, but administration was suspended due to side effects. Symptom relief was observed with 3 mg ARP/day, but the effect being inadequate, combination treatment was attempted with sound exposure starting 3 months after resumption of ARP. Sound exposure consisted of a task in which the patient used headphones over earplugs to listen to music of her own selection at a tolerable volume once each day for 15 min with gradual increments in volume. As a result, habituation and generalization to acoustic stimuli occurred, resulting in significant reduction of hearing hypersensitivity. Five months after ARP resumption, ARP treatment was terminated due to side effects, while sound exposure alone was continued for 3 months, during which symptomatic improvement continued. The course of treatment of this patient suggested efficacy of low dose ARP combined with sound exposure as a treatment modality for treating ASD-associated hyperacusis. Recent findings, including auditory characteristics of ASD and side effects of ARP in ASD treatment, the treatment of hyperacusis, and future prospects were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cognitive Behavior Therapy （CBT） is recommended for anxiety symptoms in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder （ASD） as a first line of intervention. However, considering the large number of ASD children with anxiety symptoms, an ideal approach would be that allowing for early intervention in the education setting. Objective: A group CBT program was developed to address anxiety symptoms in children with ASD, which was implemented to: 1） investigate the feasibility of implementation in ASD children（ Study 1）, and 2） the feasibility of teacher delivery of the program in an educational setting （Study 2）. Method: In Study 1, the 10-session program was conducted by a clinical psychologist in a clinical setting on 3 boys with ASD （age 8-11 years）. Study 2 was delivered by a trained teacher in a special resources classroom for children with relatively mild impairments within the regular school system. The three boys （grade 5）, parents, and regular homeroom teachers were requested to complete separate questionnaires addressing understanding by the children, and social validity of the program by the adults. Results: Findings from Study 1 indicated feasibility and promise of conducting the program in ASD children through attendance rate and parent comments regarding favorable change in the children’s behavior. Study 2 indicated feasibility of teacher-delivered program implementation in an education setting. Some of the children showed indications of lasting improvement. On the other hand, it was noted that long school hours and teaching responsibilities made the burden of preparation for program implementation too heavy to be borne by a teacher alone. Conclusion: The findings suggested feasibility of implementing the teacher-delivered program as group intervention for anxiety symptoms in children with ASD, given prior training, and provision of help and support from school staff and outside experts. Further study is required to examine efficacy and validity of the program for alleviating anxiety in ASD children, enlisting larger groups of subjects and study designs allowing for randomized comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traumatic optic neuropathy is produced by a traumatic external force to the lateral part of the eyebrow that fractures or distorts the optic nerve canal. In a car collision, a 10-year-old girl suffered a bruise on the left frontal head. Her left eye visual acuity was counting fingers at the time of her injury, but it quickly deteriorated rapidly to blindness. Computed tomography (CT) showed left optic canal fracture but the anterior skull base was displaced. Because of progressive vision degeneration, she had emergency optic canal decompression and craniofacial reduction. Visual acuity of her left eye improved to light perception from the 3rd day and reached (0.15) at 3 months after surgery. CT reconstruction images are very helpful in comprehending the pathogenesis of traumatic neuropathy. Furthermore, even if the preoperative visual acuity is less than light perception, surgical intervention should be explored in juvenile instances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video laryngoscopes are getting popular to learn/teach skills for tracheal intubation. Realtime monitoring and recording/playback of video is very useful especially for teaching hospitals. We have been developing homemade video laryngoscope system by using thin analog video cameras for the last 10 years. Our latest systems consisted of small-bore (6mm) composite analog video camera, the power supply for video camera and portable video recorders. While the outer diameter of this camera was thin 6mm, it hinders direct laryngoscope view to some extent. Recently we found the family-use thin pencil shaped camera system for ear wax removal is available on the internet at reasonable price, less than $100. The diameter of distal camera tip was 3.9 mm, and the camera cable was connected to smartphone-like body unit which provides 4.5 inches color LCD display and power for camera. The digital camera of 720P high resolution is connected to amplifier in 6mm aluminum pipe according to X-ray photography. We bent this aluminum pipe with vise into the curvature of laryngoscope blade and filed the lateral side of pipe to sit on the wall of laryngoscope blade. Camera was fixed with stainless wire pinch (clothes pins) by using double-sided adhesive tape (KPG-12, 3M). New thin 3.9mm video camera could provide better view, handling and visual quality. With small modification, the ear wax removal camera could be converted to inexpensive video laryngoscope system [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]