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Examined the relationship between self-esteem and smoking behavior among Japanese elementary and junior high school students. Surveys of students indicated that those who had never smoked had higher cognitive, family, and global self-esteem but lower physical self-esteem than did smokers. Grade and gender were significantly related to self-esteem, with lower self-esteem found among girls and older students. (SM)

A total of 27 well gas samples collected from SW Japan were subjected to precise analysis of He, Ne and Ar isotopic compositions. The sampling area covers localities where mantle-derived helium emanates in the fore-arc of the Kii Peninsula, and is known as the ‘Kinki spot’ [e.g., Sano and Wakita, J. Geophys. Res. 90 (1985) 8728–8741]. The Kinki spot apparently is located within the fore-arc with no obvious magmatic activity, which contrasts to the occurrence of similarly high 3He/4He ratios along the volcanic front of NE Japan. Our high density sampling revealed more clearly that the high 3He/4He ratio wells are distributed in the Kii Peninsula above the area where the young and hot Philippine Sea Plate is subducting with a relatively steeper dip than in the adjacent area; this situation favors the near-trench side of the subducting slab entering eclogite facies conditions involving slab dehydration, without inducing melting of the mantle wedge. The aqueous fluids derived from the slab acquire mantle He during their passage through the mantle wedge. Thus, the observed association of mantle He and the fore-arc dehydration of the Philippine Sea Plate indicates that fluid derived from the subducting slab is contributing to the occurrence of mantle He in well gases of the Kii Peninsula. The high 3He/4He region of Kii Peninsula also coincides with the occurrence of long-period tremors. These are caused by the movement of fluids derived from the subducting slab. Localized stresses cause significant uplift in the area, interpreted as indicating that intra-crustal fractures provide pathways through the crust for the fluids derived from depth. Thus, magma is not necessarily required as the carrier of mantle-derived helium to the surface of the fore-arc region of Kii Peninsula. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Zinc--porphyrin--oligothiophene--fullerene triad, where diethynylthieno[3,4-d]imidazolium is incorporated as a central unit of oligothiophene, has been synthesized. A dramatic enhancement of fluorescence from the zinc-porphyrin unit was observed on displacing counter anion from I- to F- in the imidazolium salt, indicating that photoinduced intramolecular electron transfer is controllable by the electronic perturbation to this unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antipodal (-)-versicolamide B and notoamides L-N were isolated from a marine-derived Aspergillus sp. The possible biosynthetic pathway of enantiomeric pairs of notoamide B and versicolamide B are proposed. Notoamide L is the first metabolite containing 25 carbons in the related prenylated indole alkaloids. Notoamide M is potentially a precursor to the proposed azadiene species involved in the putative intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction in the biogenesis of the bicyclo[2.2.2]diazaoctane ring system.

Objective: We performed the follow-up tests for three years for junior high school students by the quasi-experimental design to investigate the medium-term effect of smoking prevention education in the elementary school., Methods: The intervention group consisted of 106 school students of three elementary schools and received a smoking prevention program in the elementary school. Moreover, the follow-up tests were conducted at each grade of junior high school, and the booster program was mailed. The comparison group consisted of 193 school students of another three elementary schools without the program., Results: The intervention effects were recognized on knowledge up to the second grade of junior high school for boys and up to the third grade for girls, on awareness of the importance of not smoking at the second grade, and on the intention of smoking at the age of 20 for girls up to the first grade. On the other hand, the intervention effects were not recognized on smoking experience for boys and girls. However, increase of the rate of smoking experience was not significant in the intervention group, while it was significant in the comparison group., Conclusion: The effect of the program for three years was judged to be moderate.

Object: The purpose of this study was to clarify factors related to eating breakfast among elementary school children., Method: The subjects were 196 fifth-grade pupils from two elementary schools in Osaka Prefecture. The main survey items were as follows: Number of eating breakfast days in the last week, appetite for breakfast, sleeping habits, knowledge on food, attitude related to eating breakfast, self-esteem, social skills, and eating behavior of family members. The Rosenberg Scale was used to measure global self-esteem and the Pope Scale for estimation of family-related self-esteem. Social skills were assessed using the scale developed by Shimada et al., which consists of subscales for pro-social skills, withdrawal behavior, and aggressive behavior., Results: The main results were as follows: (1) The percentages of children who ate breakfast everyday in the last week were 78.3% for boys and 70.2% for girls, who no significant difference between the sexes. (2) The children who ate breakfast everyday in the last week (everyday-eating group) had more appetite for breakfast and went to bed earlier than the children who one or more days without eating (lack-of-eating group). (3) Compared with the lack-of-eating group, the everyday-eating group showed higher scores in family-related self-esteem and pro-social skills, and lower scores for aggressive behavior. (4) Regarding knowledge on food except influence of sugar for health, there were no differences between the everyday-eating and lack-of-eating groups. However, the former included more children who thought that eating every breakfast was very important, compared with the latter. (5) Children who expressed the following answers were more abundant in the everyday-eating group than in the lack-of-eating group: (1) Family members prepare breakfast every day; (2) They ate breakfast with family members everyday in the last week; (3) They often talk with family members during meals and snacks., Conclusions: From the above results, the following are suggested in relation to the development of eating breakfast for elementary school children: (1) Only providing knowledge on nutrition is insufficient; (2) Development of a positive attitude toward the significance of breakfast is necessary; (3) Development of a daily living rhythm, including sleeping behavior, is important; (4) Encouraging the development of family-related self-esteem and the social skills is important. Therefore, especially in the elementary school stage, not only conducting eating behavior education at school, but also intervention to affect family members' behavior and attitudes has an important role.