The psychological revolution that follows the onset of independent locomotion in the latter half of the infant's first year provides one of the best illustrations of the intimate connection between action and psychological processes. In this paper, we document some of the dramatic changes in perception-action coupling, spatial cognition, memory, and social and emotional development that follow the acquisition of independent locomotion. We highlight the range of converging research operations that have been used to examine the relation between locomotor experience and psychological development, and we describe recent attempts to uncover the processes that underlie this relation. Finally, we address three important questions about the relation that have received scant attention in the research literature. These questions include: (1) What changes in the brain occur when infants acquire experience with locomotion? (2) What role does locomotion play in the maintenance of psychological function? (3) What implications do motor disabilities have for psychological development? Seeking the answers to these questions can provide rich insights into the relation between action and psychological processes and the general processes that underlie human development.

Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is characterized by somatic distress upon exposure to odors. Patients with MCS process odors differently from controls. This odor-processing may be associated with activation in the prefrontal area connecting to the anterior cingulate cortex, which has been suggested as an area of odorant-related activation in MCS patients. In this study, activation was defined as a significant increase in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) because of odorant stimulation. Using the well-designed card-type olfactory test kit, changes in rCBF in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) were investigated after olfactory stimulation with several different odorants. Near-infrared spectroscopic (NIRS) imaging was performed in 12 MCS patients and 11 controls. The olfactory stimulation test was continuously repeated 10 times. The study also included subjective assessment of physical and psychological status and the perception of irritating and hedonic odors. Significant changes in rCBF were observed in the PFC of MCS patients on both the right and left sides, as distinct from the center of the PFC, compared with controls. MCS patients adequately distinguished the non-odorant in 10 odor repetitions during the early stage of the olfactory stimulation test, but not in the late stage. In comparison to controls, autonomic perception and negative affectivity were poorer in MCS patients. These results suggest that prefrontal information processing associated with odor-processing neuronal circuits and memory and cognition processes from past experience of chemical exposure play significant roles in the pathology of this disorder.

Effects of SO 2 on Respiratory System of Adult Miyakejima Resident 2 Years afterThe study subjects showed no deterioration in lung function. Prevalence of cough and phlegm among all participants were significantly higher in 2006 than in 2004, and age-, sex-and smoking-adjusted odds ratios of cough and phlegm were 1.75 (95%CI 1.33-2.30) and 1.44 (1.12-1.87). Prevalence of chronic bronchitis-like symptoms among normosusceptive subjects in 2006 was 4.1% which was significantly higher than that of 2.1% in 2004 (p=0.035). Compared to area L, the frequencies of phlegm and irritation of the nose were significantly increased in areas H-2 and H-3. Conclusion: SO 2 exposure-related respiratory symptoms were observed in adult Miyakejima residents after returning to the island. (J Occup Health 2009; 51: 38-47)

Two studies investigated the role of locomotor experience on visual proprioception in 8-month-old infants. Visual proprioception refers to the sense of self-motion induced in a static person by patterns of optic flow. A moving room apparatus permitted displacement of an entire enclosure (except for the floor) or the side walls and ceiling. In Study 1, creeping infants and prelocomotor/walker infants showed significantly greater postural compensation and emotional responses to side wall movement than did same-age prelocomotor infants. Study 2 used true random assignment of prelocomotor infants to locomotor-training (via a powered-mobility-device) and no-training conditions. Experimental infants showed powerful effects of locomotor training. These results imply that locomotor experience is playing a causal role in the ontogeny of visual proprioception.

Autistic disorder is associated with deficits in social function. The disorder may be related to dysfunction in the brain regions that are involved in the process of recognising facial expressions of other persons. Using fMRI, we investigated whether autistic patients with relatively high IQ would have different brain activation on the tasks of recognition of facial expressions (i.e. faces expressing disgust, fear, and happiness) compared with normal control subjects. In disgust and fear recognition tasks, there were different patterns of brain activation in the cortico-limbic neural circuits qbetween autistic and normal groups. Patients with autistic disorder may have difficulty in grasping facially expressed qemotions in others, and thereby cannot manipulate the interpersonally derived information.

Human infants with little or no crawling experience surprisingly show no wariness of heights. Subsequently, such wariness becomes exceptionally strong over the life-span. Neither depth perception nor falling experiences explain this extraordinary developmental shift; something about locomotor experience does. The crucial component of locomotor experience in this emotional change is developments in visual proprioception – the optically-based perception of self-movement. Pre-crawling infants randomly assigned to drive a powered-mobility-device (PMD), showed significantly greater visual proprioception, and significantly greater wariness of heights, than controls. More importantly, visual proprioception scores mediated the relation between wariness of heights and locomotor experience. In a separate study, visual proprioception predicted whether crawling infants would descend onto the deep side of a visual cliff, confirming the importance of visual proprioception in the development of wariness of heights.

Population-based cross-sectional study was performed to estimate the prevalence of chemical intolerance and to examine the characteristics of the sample. A Web-based survey was conducted that included 7,245 adults in Japan. The criteria for chemical intolerance proposed by Skovbjerg yielded a prevalence of 7.5% that was approximately consistent with that reported from a Danish population-based survey. Female gender, older age, and renovation in the house during the past 7 years were positively associated with chemical intolerance. Improvements in the condition were observed with daily ventilation habits. Medical history of atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, food allergy, multiple chemical sensitivity, and depression were associated with chemical intolerance. Fatigue, depressed mood, and somatic symptoms were also positively correlated with chemical intolerance. Better elucidation of the causes, comorbidities, concomitants, and consequences of chemical intolerance has the potential to provide effective solutions for its prevention and treatment.

We considered that a daily maximum temperature between Tmax80 and Tmax85 is the best climate index for estimating OT in Japan.