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Aim: Complementary and alternative medicine is increasingly being used by primary care physicians in Japan, although this usage has not been studied in detail, and the barriers in the way of its use by physicians have not been explored. The aim of this study was therefore to clarify the factors that interfere with the use of complementary and alternative medicine, from the perspective of the primary care physicians. Methods: We conducted interviews with primary care physicians who use complementary and alternative medicine in their practice. Transcripts of interviews were analyzed qualitatively using the Steps for Coding and Theorization method. Results: Four categories and 15 concepts were extracted. The categories generated were 'Awareness of health‐care providers', 'Characteristics of complementary and alternative medicine', 'Medical system and organization' and 'Regional factors'. Conclusion: Various factors interfere in the use of complementary and alternative medicine by primary care physicians. Approaches to overcome lack of education and insufficient collaboration among regional health professionals need to be developed. Future studies are needed to generalize the present findings in order to enhance integrative medicine and the utilization of complementary and alternative medicine in primary care settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building sector accounts for a large percentage of the total national energy consumption in most of the countries, thus it is critical to formulate and implement appropriate energy saving policies in the building sector. This paper focuses on energy saving policies in the building sector by conducting a comparative study between Japan and China. The exiting Building Energy Saving (BES) policies, actual effectiveness of policy implementation and obstacles to the effective policy implementation are compared in sequence. Related policies are categorized into four groups: control and regulatory instruments; economic/market-based instruments; fiscal instruments and information and voluntary actions. Policy effect analysis identifies that BES policies have promoted building energy saving in both Japan and China. Obstacles comparison reveals that Japan and China shared many obstacles including high transaction costs and lack of applicable methodology. Compared with Japan, China is suffering more obstacles such as inefficient enforcement, insufficient levels of information and awareness and immature financial regulation system. Based on the previous findings, common suggestions for overcoming these obstacles of BES policies in Japan and China are presented, such as the accurate methods of baseline identification and emission accountings, innovative incentives, and more capacity building activities. Distinct suggestions for Japan and China are also added by considering their own situations so that both countries can further improve their BES policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previously, gait had been considered an automatic and rhythmical movement that uses minimal attentional resources. The relationship between attention and gait has been revealed in recent research. However, in young adults in particular, the influence of using a cell phone - which is used frequently in daily life and considered to require high attentional demands - on gait has not been demonstrated. In this study, we examined the influence of mobile phone use on gait. Thirty healthy college students (15 males, 15 females) walked through a normal straight course with or without an obstacle under two different walking conditions while either using the email function of the cell phone or walking without a cell phone. The participants walked at a normal speed on a 10-m walkway. In walking conditions with an obstacle, an obstacle (17 cm in height) was set at the mid-point of the walkway. The following gait parameters were calculated: velocity, stride length, stride width (cm), and stance phase of one foot (just before an obstacle, one and two steps before the obstacle). Velocity and stride width decreased and the stance phase increased during walking while operating a cell phone. The stance phase just before an obstacle and stride length increased while operating a cell phone with an obstacle in the way. Gaze fixations and the high attention required to use the email function of the device may result in greatly disturbed gait. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To clarify the obstacles preventing the implementation of the treat-to-target (T2T) strategy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in clinical practice., Methods: A total of 301 rheumatologists in Japan completed a questionnaire. In the first section, participants were indirectly questioned on the implementation of basic components of T2T, and in the second section, participants were directly questioned on their level of agreement and application., Results: Although nearly all participants set treatment targets for the majority of RA patients with moderate to high disease activity, the proportion who set clinical remission as their target was 59%, with only 45% of these using composite measures. The proportion of participants who monitored X-rays and Health Assessment Questionnaires for all their patients was 44% and 14%, respectively. The proportion of participants who did not discuss treatment strategies was 44%, with approximately half of these reasoning that this was due to a proportion of patients having a lack of understanding of the treatment strategy or inability to make decisions. When participants were directly questioned, there was a high level of agreement with the T2T recommendations., Conclusion: Although there was a high level of agreement with the T2T recommendations, major obstacles preventing its full implementation still remain.