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BackgroundIt has been suggested that a short nap in the afternoon may improve sleepiness, alertness, and task performance. The present study evaluated the effects of a 30-min rest with a new nap chair on task performance, sleepiness, and neurophysiological measures.MethodsA randomized controlled crossover trial with a 1-week interval was carried out at the BOOCS Clinic Fukuoka in Japan. The subjects were male workers aged 20 to 64 years with suspected brain fatigue, which was defined by the Profile of Mood Status 2. The intervention was a 30-min rest with an office chair or a nap chair. The primary outcome was the performance in the Uchida-Kraepelin test. The secondary outcomes included the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale and 15-min heart rate variability (HRV). The changes after the nap-chair rest and office-chair rest were compared. Repeated measures analysis of variance with nesting was used in the statistical analysis.ResultsTwenty participants were eligible and entered the crossover trial. The overall 15-min score in the Uchida-Kraepelin test improved after the nap-chair rest and after the office-chair rest to almost the same extent (5.9 vs. 5.5 points, P = 0.68). The Karolinska Sleepiness score significantly decreased after the nap-chair rest, and the between-treatment difference in the decrease was highly significant (P = 0.0004). The average duration of sleep during rest was prominently longer in the nap-chair rest than in the office-chair rest (19.0 vs. 7.6 min, P = 0.002). No participants experienced REM sleep during the rest. LF and HF powers of the HRV were greater during the nap-chair rest than during the office-chair rest, the difference in the HF power being substantial.ConclusionA 30-min rest with the nap chair did not appreciably improve the performance in the Uchida-Kraepelin test as compared with the office-chair rest. The nap-chair rest induced a substantially longer sleep accompanied with a parasympathetic activation, thereby resulting in a material improvement in sleepiness after the rest.

Background: Plasmalogens have been shown to improve neurodegenerative pathology and cognitive function. We hypothesized that plasmalogens work in small amounts as a kind of hormone interacting with a G protein-coupled receptor, and then explored the effects of scallop-derived purified plasmalogens on psychobehavioral conditions in a randomized placebo-controlled trial of college athletes in Japan.Methods and materials: Eligible participants were male students aged 18–22 years who belonged to university athletic clubs. They were randomly allocated to either plasmalogen (2 mg per day) or placebo treatment of 4 weeks’ duration. The primary outcome was the T-score of the Profile of Mood States (POMS) 2–Adult Short, and the secondary outcomes included the seven individual scales of the POMS 2, other psychobehavioral measures, physical performance, and laboratory measurements. The trial was registered at the Japan Registry of Clinical Trials (jRCTs071190028).Results: Forty participants (20 in the plasmalogen group and 20 in the placebo group) completed the 4-week treatment. The Total Mood Disturbance (TMD) score of the plasmalogen group showed a greater decrease at 4 weeks than that of the placebo group while the between-group difference was marginally significant (p = 0.07). The anger-hostility and fatigue-inertia scores of the POMS 2 decreased significantly in the plasmalogen group, but not in the placebo group, at 4 weeks. Between-group differences in those scores were highly significant (p = 0.003 for anger-hostility and p = 0.005 for fatigue-inertia). The plasmalogen group showed a slight decrease in the Athens Insomnia Scale at 2 weeks, and the between-group difference was near-significant (p = 0.07). The elapsed time in minute patterns on the Uchida-Kraepelin test, which is a marker of mental concentration, revealed significantly greater performance in the plasmalogen group than in the placebo group. There were no between-group differences in physical and laboratory measurements.Conclusion: It is suggested that orally administered plasmalogens alleviate negative mood states and sleep problems, and also enhance mental concentration.

A 71-year-old woman, previously treated for malignant lymphoma, was admitted to our hospital with a tumor in the right breast. The tumor size was 2.0 cm in diameter, and the borderline was unclear. The core needle biopsy material revealed an invasive adenocarcinoma with metaplastic change. Right mastectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy was performed. Histologically, the tumor was composed of mucus-secreting, epidermoid, and intermediate cells. These findings confirmed the diagnosis as mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) of the breast. MEC is more frequently observed in the salivary glands and occurs rarely in the breast, with an incidence of approximately 0.3% of all breast cancers. Because of the rarity of the disease, the clinicopathological features and clinical outcome have not been fully investigated. The relationship between MEC of the breast and lymphoma are unclear. Here we report a rare case of MEC of the breast.