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Background and Objectives: Health-related expectations regarding aging is a gerontological construct that is potentially predictive of morbidity and mortality in later life. The Expectations Regarding Ageing scale (ERA-12) is a widely used measure of health-related expectations, although it has not previously been administered in Japanese. The present research aimed to elucidate the psychometric properties of the first Japanese translation of the ERA-12 and evaluate health-related expectations among middle-aged and older Japanese., Research Design and Methods: Repeated online surveys were conducted with representative quota samples of middle-aged and older adults in Tokyo during 2021 ( N = 1600). Primary outcome measures included total and subscale scores on a Japanese translation of the ERA-12 (ERA-12-J) addressing perceptions of physical, mental, and cognitive health. Standard measures were also used to gather information regarding respondent demographic details, general health, and health-related behavior., Results: The ERA-12-J and associated subscales showed acceptable test-retest reliability ( t (1598) = 0.60, p = 0.63), internal consistency (α > 0.80), inter-item correlation ( r = 0.21-0.78) and item-total correlation ( r = 0.53-0.73). Confirmatory Factor Analysis verified the hypothesized three-factor structure and construct validity on four common indices of fit (GFI = 0.968; CFI = 0.978; AGFI = 0.950; RMSEA = 0.059). ERA-12-J scores among Japanese respondents revealed prevailing negative sentiments concerning physical and cognitive health, with less negative sentiment regarding mental health. Significant and independent differences emerged concerning gender and age cohort, with middle-aged adults and females holding more negative expectations about their future health., Discussion and Implications: The ERA-12-J provides a sound basis for the elucidation of health-related expectations about aging in Japan and a useful tool for international comparative studies. Education and workplace intervention may be required in Japan to address age and gender disparities in health-related expectations.

Nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) is an air pollutant discharged from combustion of human activities. Nitrous acid (HONO), measured as NO 2 , is thought to impact respiratory function more than NO 2 . HONO and NO 2 have an equilibrium relationship, and their reaction is affected by climate conditions. This study was conducted to discuss the extent of HONO contained in NO 2 , depending on the level of urbanization. Whether climate conditions that promote HONO production enhanced the level of NO 2 measured was investigated using time series analysis. Climate and outdoor air pollution data measured in April 2009-March 2017 in urban (Tokyo, Osaka, and Aichi) and rural (Yamanashi) areas in Japan were used for the analysis. Air temperature had a trend of negative associations with NO 2 , which might indicate the decomposition of HONO in the equilibrium between HONO and NO 2 . The associations of relative humidity with NO 2 did not have consistent trends by prefecture: humidity only in Yamanashi was positively associated with NO 2 . In high relative humidity conditions, the equilibrium goes towards HONO production, which was observed in Yamanashi, suggesting the proportion of HONO in NO 2 might be low/high in urban/rural areas.

Health benefits of physical activity are well known, yet available physical activity data is limited from children living in African and Asian countries. The purpose of the cross-sectional study was to evaluate and compare physical activity and sedentary behavior patterns, particularly hourly variations, among children in Kenya and Japan. Participants included 298 primary school students (122 Kenyan, 176 Japanese) aged 9-12 years. Physical activity and sedentary behavior were measured with accelerometers. Domain-specific physical activity, screen time, and proportion of children using active transport to school were measured by questionnaire. A two-way ANOVA (countries × time) was used to examine the differences in the activity patterns between Kenyan and Japanese children. The results from the present study demonstrated that Kenyan children spent more time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity compared to Japanese children ( p < 0.05) with the greatest differences found for weekday evenings (for boys and girls) and weekend afternoons (for girls). This suggests that these were 'critical periods' to differentiate the physical activity levels between Kenyan and Japanese children. However, a higher proportion of the children from Japan used active transport to school and spent less time in television viewing and computer gaming. The results suggest that both countries have successes and challenges that can aid in developing effective and country-specific intervention strategies for promoting physical activity., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of height-adjustable standing desks on time-series variation in sedentary behavior (SB) among primary school children. Thirty-eight children aged 11-12 years (22 boys and 16 girls) from two classes at a primary school in Nagano, Japan, participated in this study. One class was allocated as the intervention group and provided with individual standing desks for 6 months, and the other was allocated as the control group. Time spent in SB, light-intensity physical activity (LPA), and moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) was measured using accelerometers (ActiGraph) at baseline and follow-up. Time spent in SB was significantly lower by 18.3 min/day on average in the intervention class at follow-up (interaction effects: F (1, 36) = 4.95, p = 0.035, η 2 = 0.082). This was accompanied by a significant increase in time spent in MVPA (+19.9 min/day on average). Our time-series analysis showed significant decreases in SB during school time, while no change in SB was found during non-school time. This result indicates that the use of standing desks promotes an overall reduction in SB with no compensatory increase during non-school time.

We report experimental tests of whether non-rigid, π -conjugated luminophores in the photoexcited ( S ₁) and ground ( S ₀) states dissolved in achiral liquids are mirror symmetrical by means of circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. Herein, we chose ten oligofluorenes, eleven linear/cyclic oligo- p -arylenes, three binaphthyls and five fused aromatics, substituted with alkyl, alkoxy, phenyl and phenylethynyl groups and also with no substituents. Without exception, all these non-rigid luminophores showed negative-sign CPL signals in the UV-visible region, suggesting temporal generation of energetically non-equivalent non-mirror image structures as far-from equilibrium open-flow systems at the S₁ state. For comparison, unsubstituted naphthalene, anthracene, tetracene and pyrene, which are achiral, rigid, planar luminophores, did not obviously show CPL/CD signals. However, camphor, which is a rigid chiral luminophore, showed mirror-image CPL/CD signals. The dissymmetry ratio of CPL ( g lum ) for the oligofluorenes increased discontinuously, ranging from ≈ -(0.2 to 2.0) × 10 -3 , when the viscosity of the liquids increased. When the fluorene ring number increased, the g lum value extrapolated at [ η ] = 0 reached -0.8 × 10 -3 at 420 nm, leading to (⁻)-CPL signals predicted in the vacuum state. Our comprehensive CPL and CD study should provide a possible answer to the molecular parity violation hypothesis arising due to the weak neutral current mediated by the Z ⁰-boson.

Amorphous-selenium (a-Se) based photodetectors are promising candidates for imaging devices, due to their high spatial resolution and response speed, as well as extremely high sensitivity enhanced by an internal carrier multiplication. In addition, a-Se is reported to show sensitivity against wide variety of wavelengths, including visible, UV and X-ray, where a-Se based flat-panel X-ray detector was proposed. In order to develop an ultra high-sensitivity photodetector with a wide detectable wavelength range, a photodetector was fabricated using a-Se photoconductor and a nitrogen-doped diamond cold cathode. In the study, a prototype photodetector has been developed, and its response to visible and ultraviolet light are characterized.