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[Display omitted] • Temperatures in 1,553 Japanese houses were measured in several rooms and heights. • Average vertical temperature difference of 3.1 °C was observed in the living room. • Houses in Hokkaido had the largest vertical difference of 5.1 °C in the living room. • Vertical temperature difference linked to coldness, not horizontal/temporal. • Older adults, who are vulnerable to cold temperature, were less sensitive to cold. Residents themselves are responsible for controlling their living environment, and their perception of coldness is important to protect their health. Although previous studies examined the association between perceived coldness and indoor temperature, they did not consider the spatial–temporal differences in indoor temperatures. This study, conducted in Japan, measured indoor temperatures in 1,553 houses across several rooms (living room, changing room, and bedroom) and heights (at 1 m above the floor and near the floor) over two weeks and obtained the perceived coldness from 2,793 participants during winter. Results showed substantial temperature differences between rooms (horizontal differences): 3.8 °C between living and changing rooms, and 4.1 °C between living rooms and bedrooms. The average vertical and diel (evening-morning) temperature differences in the living room were 3.1 °C and 3.0 °C, respectively. Regional analysis revealed that the Tohoku region experienced larger horizontal and diel indoor temperature differences, primarily due to its practice of intermittent and partial heating in living rooms only, in contrast to Hokkaido's approach of heating the entire house continuously. Despite Hokkaido's comprehensive heating system, it exhibited the largest vertical temperature difference of 5.1 °C in living rooms, highlighting the insufficiency of heating alone and the necessity for enhanced thermal insulation. The multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that average temperatures and vertical temperature differences were associated with perceived coldness, while horizontal and diel differences did not show a significant association, further emphasizing the importance of improved thermal insulation. Moreover, factors like individual attributes (age and gender), and lifestyle choices (meal quantity, exercise habits, alcohol consumption, and clothing amount) were significantly associated with coldness perception. Notably, older adults were less likely to perceive coldness but more vulnerable to the health impacts of low temperatures, underscoring the necessity of not solely relying on human perception for indoor temperature management to protect cold-related health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the relationship between overactive bladder (OAB) and indoor temperatures in the living room and bedroom.Methods: Questionnaire data and indoor temperature measurements were obtained from a baseline survey collected during the winter months from November 2014 to March 2019. We performed multiple logistic regression to assess the relationships between OAB and indoor temperatures in the living room and bedroom.Results: The prevalence of overactive bladder was 16.4% among 4782 participants living in 2453 dwellings. The odds of having OAB were higher for participants whose average living room temperature at bedtime was lower than 12°C than for those whose average bedtime living room temperature was at least 18°C (adjusted odds ratio = 1.44, 95% confidence interval: 1.03-2.00). No association was observed between bedroom temperature and OAB.Conclusion: These results suggest that thermal comfort in the living room-but not in the bedroom-may improve OAB symptoms. Additionally, using sufficient bedding may prevent cold bedrooms from having a negative impact in terms of OAB. Future studies should focus on housing interventions and education regarding lifestyle modification in patients with OAB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Body Condition Score (BCS) for cows indicates their energy reserves, the scoring for which ranges from very thin to overweight. These measurements are especially useful during calving, as well as early lactation. Achieving a correct BCS helps avoid calving difficulties, losses and other health problems. Although BCS can be rated by experts, it is time-consuming and often inconsistent when performed by different experts. Therefore, the aim of our system is to develop a computerized system to reduce inconsistencies and to provide a time-saving solution. In our proposed system, the automatic body condition scoring system is introduced by using a 3D camera, image processing techniques and regression models. The experimental data were collected on a rotary parlor milking station on a large-scale dairy farm in Japan. The system includes an application platform for automatic image selection as a primary step, which was developed for smart monitoring of individual cows on large-scale farms. Moreover, two analytical models are proposed in two regions of interest (ROI) by extracting 3D surface roughness parameters. By applying the extracted parameters in mathematical equations, the BCS is automatically evaluated based on measurements of model accuracy, with one of the two models achieving a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 3.9%, and a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.13. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]