Showing papers by "Shosuke Suzuki published in 1993"

Sleep induction effects of steady 60 dB (A) pink noise.

Abstract: The effects of 60 dB (A) steady pink noise on sleep induction were studied Two experiments were conducted First, 10 night-sleep polygrams of a young male subject were recorded consecutively as controls Five night polygrams of the same subject were then recorded with exposure to steady 60 dB (A) pink noise Second, polygrams of four students were recorded using the same noise exposure as in the first experiment Polygrams for the control night were also recorded Noise exposure tended to shorten sleep latency, ie, the values were 42 and 95 min in the first and second experiment, respectively The steady 60 dB (A) noise made sleep induction easier

[Changes in the hypnograms of subjects exposed to repeated truck-passing sounds of 45, 50 and 55 dB (A)].

Abstract: The effects of traffic noise on sleep were evaluated in an experimental room using recorded truck-passing sounds. Peak sound levels were 45, 50, 55 dB (A) at a frequency of one per hour. The background noise of the exposure night was Leq 32.4 dB (A). The subjects were five male students 22 to 23 years old. The sleep stage of each epoch with a 20-second duration was judged visually based on the criteria of a standardized sleep EEG atlas. Data for 10 noise-exposed nights and the same number of control nights were analyzed excluding the first-night data. The sleep parameters used were total sleep time (TST), each sleep stage in minutes, % of sleep stage against TST, sleep efficiency, sleep latency, REM latency, REM cycle, REM duration, waking from sleep, number of stage shifts and subjective sleep as judged by the OSA sleep inventory. The Mann-Whitney test was used for statistical analysis. TST, each sleep stage in minutes, % of sleep stage against TST, sleep efficiency, sleep latency, REM latency, REM cycle, REM duration, waking from sleep and the number of stage shifts of the exposure night did not significantly change compared to those of the control night. However, the sleep latency of the noise-exposed night increased significantly. Subjective sleep measured by five-factor scores and 8 items out of 29 constructing the five-factor scores of the OSA sleep inventory were decreased significantly by noise exposure, indicating deterioration of sleep quality.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Changes in urinary cadmium excretion among pigment workers with improvement of the work environment.

Abstract: Urinary Cadmium (Cd) levels were measured twice a year from 1986 to 1992 in five workers exposed to cadmium pigment dust. At the end of 1987, the work environment was improved, and urinary Cd was monitored in association with atmospheric Cd. The five subjects were exposed to cadmium dust at maximum concentrations of 0.857 mg/m3 and 0.045 mg/m3, before and after the improvement, respectively. By arbitrarily setting the urinary Cd level of each worker before improvement at 100, the values after improvement ranged from 41.7 to 94.6, yielding no significant difference. Although the environmental level of Cd was decreased by ten-fold or more, no significant decrease in urinary Cd could be detected.

[Adequacy of translating health survey questionnaires for cross-cultural surveys--the case of the Todai Health Index]

Abstract: The adequacy of the language translation of self-administered questionnaire items was examined in a comparative study of adolescent mental health between Japan and the United States. As a screening instrument to be used in both countries, the Todai Health Index (THI) questionnaire had been translated from original Japanese into English. The original version was administered to 570 Japanese adolescents and the translated version was given to 295 middle school students in the United States (aged 12 to 15). The equivalence of the two versions was re-examined based on the results of the surveys by a team of researchers from both countries including a bilingual investigator. For the items which produced a statistically significant different response pattern between the two samples, the investigators attempted to determine whether the observed difference could be attributed to an inadequate translation or to a real cultural difference. For those items judged to suffer from inadequate translation, modifications were made to improve cross-cultural equivalence. The above methodological procedure, though not perfect, proved to be relatively simple but very useful in resolving many practical issues in cross-cultural studies and produced interesting findings. For example, the phrase "worry about" was found to not adequately capture the Japanese meaning of "ki-ni-naru" and instead the phrase "concern about" or "care" was suggested as a more appropriate substitute. Very little is known and insufficient attention has been given to the effect of translation in cross-cultural surveys. These investigations suggest the benefit of more extensive studies and focused discussions of reliability of the translated survey instruments by public health researchers involved in international comparisons.

High zinc content of scalp hair in rural West Java: A rice‐eating community

Abstract: Zinc concentrations in scalp hair were determined in 50 Sundanese villagers in West Java, Indonesia. Hair zinc levels increased with age until about 20 years of age and then became constant. The mean level and S.D. of the zinc concentration in adults aged 20 years or more was 199.8 ± 26.7 μg/g (n = 36), which was higher than the reported values in several countries. Our previous study revealed that the dietary zinc intake amounted to 24.9 mg/day for adults and the high consumption of rice, their staple food, contributed 60% of the total daily zinc intake. Although there are some problems in the Sundanese diet such as a shortage of animal products, a diet depending much on rice seems to have an advantage as concerns the nutritional status of zinc.

Validity of Health and Character Assessment by a Self-Administered Questionnaire, Todai Health Index (THI), Related to Self-Assessment and Assessment by Teachers

Abstract: Self-administered health questionnaire, the Todai Health Index (THI), was filled out by 41 girl students of a public nurse school; age ranged from 21 to 27 with an average of 22.4. The result of THI of a girl student including 12 scale scores and 2 discriminant function values was shown to the girl with explanation. She was asked to write her comments as to whether the results of her THI were true, false or intermediate for her. Scores for "Respiratory Organ", "Nervousness" and "Digestive Organ", were nearest grades of self-perception, but "Aggressiveness" and "Lie Scale or Social Desirability Scale" differed most from grades for self-perception. The results of THI were matched with character assessment by three teachers. The correlation coefficient was highest (significant) for "Aggressiveness" by THI and "Extrovert" by the teachers. The "Lie Scale or Social Desirability", "Mental Instability", "Depression" and "Nervousness" of THI had lower coefficient of correlation, which was thought due to the least sensitive character of these scales not for THI but for the teachers or the other persons.