Objectives: To examine the validity and reproducibility of a self-administered foodfrequency questionnaire (FFQ) used for two cohort studies in Japan. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Two rural towns in the Miyagi Prefecture, in north-eastern Japan. Subjects: Fifty-five men and 58 women. Results: A 40-item FFQ was administered twice, 1 year apart. In the mean time, four 3-day diet records (DRs) were collected in four seasons within the year. We calculated daily consumption of total energy and 15 nutrients, 40 food items and nine food groups from the FFQs and the DRs. We computed Spearman correlation coefficients between the FFQs and the DRs. With adjustment for age, total energy and deattenuation for measurement error with the DRs, the correlation coefficients for nutrient intakes ranged from 0.25 to 0.58 in men and from 0.30 to 0.69 in women, with median of 0.43 and 0.43, respectively. Median (range) of the correlation coefficients was 0.35 (2 0.30 to 0.72) in men and 0.34 (2 0.06 to 0.75) in women for food items and 0.60 (20.10 to 0.76) and 0.51 (0.28 -0.70) for food groups, respectively. Median (range) of the correlation coefficients for the two FFQs administered 1 year apart was 0.49 (0.31-0.71) in men and 0.50 (0.40-0.64) in women for nutrients, 0.43 (0.14 -0.76) and 0.45 (0.06-0.74) respectively for food items, and 0.50 (0.30 -0.70) and 0.57 (0.39-0.66) respectively for food groups. Relatively higher agreement percentages for intakes of nutrients and food groups with high validity were obtained together with lower complete disagreement percentages. Conclusions: The FFQ has a high reproducibility and a reasonably good validity, and is useful in assessing the usual intakes of nutrients, foods and food groups among a rural Japanese population.

Objectives: To determine the relative contribution of intra-and inter-individual variation in the consumption of foods and nutrients. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Two rural towns in the Miyagi Prefecture, a northeastern part of Japan. Subjects: Fifty-nine men and sixty women. Methods: Four 3-d food records were collected in four seasons within a year. The total variance in the consumption of 15 nutrient variables and 16 food groups was partitioned by analysis of variance into its interand intra-individual components, separately for men and women. Results: The ratio of the intra-to inter-individual variance was larger than unity in 87% (13a15) of the nutrients in men and 100% (15a15) in women. The ratio was largest for retinol (52.9 in men and I in women) and smallest for carbohydrates (0.8 in men and 1.5 in women). The ratio was larger than unity in 88% (14a16) of the food groups in men and 94% (15a16) in women, which was smallest for cereals (0.6 in men and 0.9 in women). Conclusions:The results were consistent with previous western studies in that intra-individual variation was generally larger than inter-individual variation for the consumption of both foods and nutrients.

We determined the sources of nutrient intake of 59 men and 60 women in two rural towns in the Miyagi Prefecture, a northeastern part of Japan. Four 3-day food records were collected in four seasons within a year. The total dishes and recipes were classified into 197 items. Their percent contributions to the total population consumption of energy and 14 nutrients were calculated as the sum of the nutrient intake contributed by a given dish or recipe divided by the total nutrient intake from all the items.Rice was the largest contributor for energy (29.8%), protein (13.0%) and carbohydrates (45.3%). Miso soup, as a dish, was a leading contributor (7.1 %) for fat. The largest contributor for sodium, calcium, carotene, vitamin C were miso soup (17.1 %), milk (16.6%), spinach (23.6%), green tea (13.6%), respectively.The result suggests that the examination of nutrient sources based on dishes and recipes, rather than on food materials, may be useful in characterizing the dietary patterns of populations.

We assessed the accuracy of a 141-item food frequency questionnaire as a screening test to detect high or low consumption of nutrients associated with cancer. Fifty-five men and 58 women participating in two population-based cohort studies in Miyagi, Japan, provided four three-day diet records over a one-year period and subsequently completed the questionnaire twice with a one-year interval. Pearson correlation coefficients between 17 nutrients measured by the diet records and the first questionnaire ranged from 0.24 to 0.85 (median 0.43), and those between the two questionnaires ranged from 0.47 to 0.91 (median 0.68). The sensitivity and specificity of the questionnaire for detecting high-alcohol, high-fat, low-calcium, and low-ascorbic acid consumers were 86.7% and 96.7%, 50.0% and 85.7%, 48.8% and 76.4%, and 61.9% and 70.0%, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic curves indicated comparable performance of the questionnaire and a three-day diet record, regarded as another screening test. The questionnaire performed poorly for other nutrients. The results indicate that our questionnaire is reasonably reproducible, comparable with the diet records, and useful as a screening test to detect high or low consumers of several nutrients associated with cancer for subsequent enrollment in dietary intervention trials or dietary counseling.

Nephroblastoma (also known as Wilms’ tumor) mainly occurs in the kidneys of children. Nephroblastoma outside the kidneys may be observed in three situations: primary disease, metastatic disease and nephroblastoma arising in teratoma. Teratoma with nephroblastoma (TWN) of the adult ovary is a rare tumor and only one case has been reported. We report an unusual adult case of ovarian TWN presented to us with acute abdomen due to the spontaneous rupture of the ovary. The rupture occurred at the site of TWN, while contralateral ovary with only mature cystic teratoma component had no rupture. After one and a half months of the ovary sparing surgery, the tumor disseminated to the splenic hilum and the omentum. A complete staging with maximum cytoreduction followed by adjuvant chemotherapy were performed. She remains disease free until present.

Although a rare disease, the diagnosis of FS should be considered in the case of primary amenorrhea with nephropathy. Prophylatic gonadectomy is recommended due to the high risk of gonadoblastoma in the dysgenetic gonad.

This is the first report of APAM treated by laparoscopic resection. The method may be a useful alternative when hysteroscopic surgery is inappropriate.

The present study examined the effect of the spatial configuration of local signals on motion integration across space. The perceived coherency was measured in different configurations of apertures and combinations of motion directions. The results showed the following. (1) Motion integration across separate apertures is affected by the spatial configuration of the apertures. The perceived coherency was highest when the apertures were arranged symmetrically with respect to the coherent direction. (2) Though the spatial configuration of apertures are the same, the assignment of each local motion to each apertures has an effect, and converging local motions are integrated more than diverging local motions. (3) There is a limit to the direction difference of local motions. These results suggest that the spatial structure of global motion behind apertures has a considerable effect on the integration of local motions in apertures.