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The purpose of this study was to investigate the developmental change in performance of groups of children instructed to behave carefully and quickly in a tray-carrying task. The subjects were 69 nonhandicapped children from a kindergarten, ages 3-4 to 6 years, and 20 adult students who volunteered. Subjects were instructed to carry as fast as they could a tray with a glass of water for 3 m without a spill. The amounts of water spilled and the times taken were measured. The amounts of water spilled were hardly different within groups of children of the same ages or between age groups. But the times were different among groups: the younger ones took longer, and the difference in time between tray-carrying and normal walking was greatest for the youngest group. Children could carry the tray as carefully as adults but could not do so quickly. The nature of the representation of the instruction in relation to the behavior of children and the difference in strategy to guarantee carefulness between children and the adults are discussed.

The article presents a research study which evaluates the toxicity of sediments from Tama and Ayase River through in vitro enzyme inhibition. The study calculates the equivalent concentration of sediments from extracts from dry sediments, and measures alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity. Results indicate that the inhibition of enzymes was dependent on the dosage of extracts.

Objectives Increasing vegetable consumption is one of the health objectives of "Healthy Japan 21" (2nd phase). To ensure this goal is met, the various factors related to vegetable consumption must first be clarified. Thus, this study considered vegetable consumption, dietary behaviors, attitudes, knowledge, and social support among middle-aged Japanese subjects.Method Data (2 days of maintaining a food diary and a questionnaire) of 384 respondents aged 30-59 years from the 2011 Saitama Prefectural Health and Nutrition Survey (men: 165, women: 219) were used. Their average volume of vegetable consumption was 250.2 g/day (standard deviation: 119.8), which was significantly lower than the 350 g/day goal of "Healthy Japan 21" (2nd phase); therefore, the threshold for this study was set at 300 g/day. For logistic regression analysis, vegetable consumption greater or lower than 300 g/day were defined as dependent variables; social support, attitudes, knowledge, and dietary behaviors as independent variables; and age, household composition, and household income were adjusted.Results The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) was significantly higher for those whose vegetable consumption was over 300 g/day. Dietary behaviors including an average of 2 or more meals per day including grain, vegetable, fish, and meat dishes and the analysis of subjects' food records revealed an AOR of 2.52 and a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.18-5.39 for men who had 2 or more meals per day. For women, the AOR was 4.06, and the 95% CI was 2.18-7.53. Significant relationships were observed among the following items in male respondents: attitude category: "self-efficacy in consuming 5 or more vegetable dishes per day" (AOR was 2.74, 95% CI was 1.30-5.79); knowledge category: "obesity prevention effectiveness" (AOR was 3.48, 95% CI was 1.24-9.78); and social support category: "support for good health and dietary life from family and surroundings" (AOR was 4.46, 95% CI was 1.47-13.54). Significant relationships were observed among the following items in female respondents: dietary behaviors category: "frequency of cooking meals" (AOR was 2.83, 95% CI was 1.02-7.87); and knowledge category: "being able to grasp the appropriate volumes and balance of foods when preparing meals for self" (AOR was 2.44, 95% CI was 1.30-4.56).Conclusions These results suggest that to increase middle-aged people's vegetable consumption, promoting adequately healthy meals is more important than both the dissemination of knowledge regarding the target vegetable quantity and enhancing of only vegetable consumption.

Objectives Aiming at improvement of the Japan Health Insurance Association's Specific Health Guidance initiatives and human resource development, we conducted a qualitative study to clarify the features necessary for and the challenges hindering the achievement of good performance of the initiatives.Methods From November 2014 to January 2015, we conducted 10 focus group interviews, each 90 minutes long, with 64 public health nurses from 10 Japan Health Insurance Association branches. In addition, self-administered questionnaires were administered to obtain the participants' basic characteristics. After we excluded one group for failing to meet our performance targets, we divided the remaining nine focus groups according to two patterns: Maintenance and Progress. The four focus groups fitting the Maintenance pattern had a well-established track record, and the five focus groups fitting the Progress pattern had a track record of good growth. Using open coding of the interview transcripts, we extracted efforts or needs in two domains, individual and branch, Then, we placed codes in eight main categories: [quality], [general practice], [dietary guidance practice], [success factor], [branch system], [training and skill development], [approach to the member office], and [past efforts]. We further extracted important subcategories based on their rates of appearance within branches.Results Data from 56 female public health nurses working at nine branches were included in the analysis. With respect to the individual domain, subcategories such as "building rapport," "creating the physical environment," and "taking the initiative in evaluating one's own lifestyle" in the 〈high emphasis〉 segment of the [general practice] category were common to both patterns. In addition, "increasing opportunities for training" and "enhancement of training program content" were found for both patterns in relation to the 〈demand〉 segment of the [training and skill development] category. However, most participants chose "yes" in response to whether there was ample training opportunity.Conclusion This study showed some common efforts and practices among public health nurses in both patterns, which indicates good performance of the Specific Health Guidance initiatives. However, there is a need to further enhance the training program to strengthen the entire organization. Future studies should focus on understanding the characteristics of and factors involved in low-performing branches.