After the disaster, hospitals located within the evacuation zone of a 30-km radius of the nuclear power plant were isolated. Maintenance of the health care system in such an event becomes difficult.

This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of intervention (specifically, intervention by telephone and mails, known as 'tele-care') relative to self-help as a weight-loss method. The question of whether there is a correlation between changes in two preference parameters--time discounting (i.e. impatience) and risk aversion--and the level of commitment was examined. The study, spanning a period of 24 weeks in 2006-2007, comprised 118 participants, each of whom was randomly assigned to either the tele-care or the self-help group. A public-health nurse provided support through telephone and mail communications to the tele-care group, aiming to reduce their calorie intake and increase exercise via this intervention. There was a significant decrease in the body weight of the participants of the tele-care group from the baseline; however, there were no significant differences in the weight loss, median time discounting or risk aversion between the two groups. The subsequent analysis for weight loss with changes in time and risk parameters revealed a significant difference in the weight loss in the time-discounting-loss and risk-aversion-gain groups. From the results of the multiple regression analysis, the time discounting was noted to be associated with age, initial BMI and marital status among men, and risk aversion was associated with age and job status among women. There is a possibility that a decrease in time discounting and increase in risk aversion might correlate with the weight loss or effectiveness of commitment in this trial. This study suggests that time discounting and risk aversion may be useful in anti-obesity efforts, since they are accurate criteria of behavioural patterns associated with weight problems.

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Human cognitive functions are associated with health conditions and lifestyles in daily living. However, little is known about how cognitive functions in healthy elderly people are correlated with their health conditions and daily lifestyles. This study investigated this issue. The study involved 85 healthy older adults, who were examined for memory and frontal-lobe functions. Additionally, their subjective health-related QOL (HQOL) and lifestyles were assessed, including the physical, intellectual, and social activities in daily lives. This study yielded three main findings. First, HQOL scores were positively correlated with scores for memory and frontal-lobe tasks. Second, older adults whose daily lives included moderate physical activity showed better memory functions than those with high and low levels of physical activity. Third, participants who engaged in a higher frequency of intellectual and social activities had better memory and frontal-lobe functions. Individual differences in subjective health condition and lifestyles could predict cognitive abilities in elderly.

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This paper reports the development of a short scale (ten items) entitled 'Social Relationships to Prevent Obesity' (SRPO), which examines how social relationships support the continuous and conscious endeavour to lose weight. The construct and criterion validity of this scale were ascertained in this study. Factor structure and reliability were examined using data from a randomized controlled trial. A confirmatory factor analysis of the SRPO revealed three relevant factors. The results suggest that the SRPO has both validity and clinical utility and can thus be used as a screening tool in weight-loss interventions and to assess the degree of, and trends in, self-control for weight loss in individuals. The scale can also be used to examine the environmental and self-control problems faced by obese people--factors that should be considered when conducting weight-loss interventions.

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