Articles

The effect of the kindergarten barefoot policy on preschool children’s toes

This study compared the effects of barefoot policy, a policy instructing preschool children to go without shoes, on untouched-toes, which do not touch the ground while standing normally, of preschool children ...

Authors: Shigeki Matsuda, Kosho Kasuga, Tadayuki Hanai, Tomohiro Demura and Keisuke Komura

Anatomical cross-sectional area of the quadriceps femoris and sit-to-stand test score in middle-aged and elderly population: development of a predictive equation

Although the sit-to-stand (STS) test score has been shown to relate to the strength and size of the quadriceps femoris (QF) for elderly population, it is unknown whether this relationship is influenced by a po...

Authors: Akira Saito, Ryoichi Ema, Takayuki Inami, Sumiaki Maeo, Shun Otsuka, Mitsuru Higuchi, Shigenobu Shibata and Yasuo Kawakami

Relationship between performances of 10-time-repeated sit-to-stand and maximal walking tests in non-disabled older women

Sit-to-stand (STS) test is extensively used to assess the functionality of the lower body in elderly people. This study aimed to examine how the score of STS can be associated with that of maximal walking (MW)...

Authors: Naoko Yanagawa, Teruichi Shimomitsu, Masashi Kawanishi, Tetsuo Fukunaga and Hiroaki Kanehisa

Microbiome and mental health in the modern environment

A revolution in the understanding of the pathophysiology of mental illness combined with new knowledge about host/microbiome interactions and psychoneuroimmunology has opened an entirely new field of study, th...

Authors: Emily Deans

Mitochondrial DNA 5178 C/A polymorphism modulates the effects of coffee consumption on elevated levels of serum liver enzymes in male Japanese health check-up examinees: an exploratory cross-sectional study

Longevity-associated mitochondrial DNA 5178 cytosine/adenine (Mt5178 C/A) polymorphism modulates the effects of coffee consumption on the risk of hypertension, dyslipidemia, and abnormal glucose tolerance. The...

Authors: Akatsuki Kokaze, Masao Yoshida, Mamoru Ishikawa, Naomi Matsunaga, Kanae Karita, Hirotaka Ochiai, Takako Shirasawa, Hinako Nanri, Kiyomi Mitsui, Hiromi Hoshimo and Yutaka Takashima

Effect and immediate after-effect of lightly gripping the cane on postural sway

This study investigated the effect and after-effect of lightly touching a real cane on postural sway and ankle muscle activity.

Authors: Kazushige Oshita and Sumio Yano

Cold-induced vasodilation comparison between Bangladeshi and Japanese natives

The human thermoregulation system responds to changes in environmental temperature, so humans can self-adapt to a wide range of climates. People from tropical and temperate areas have different cold tolerance....

Authors: Aklima Khatun, Sakura Ashikaga, Hisaho Nagano, Md Abdul Hasib and Akihiro Taimura

Relationship between mitochondrial haplogroup and physiological responses to hypobaric hypoxia

We aimed to investigate the relationship between mtDNA polymorphism and physiological responses to hypobaric hypoxia. The study included 28 healthy male students, consisting of 18 students in haplogroup D and ...

Authors: Midori Motoi, Takayuki Nishimura, Yuka Egashira, Fumi Kishida and Shigeki Watanuki

Erratum to: ‘Characteristics of body composition and cardiometabolic risk of Japanese male heavyweight Judo athletes’

Authors: Hiroko Murata, Satomi Oshima, Suguru Torii, Motoko Taguchi and Mitsuru Higuchi

Characteristics of body composition and cardiometabolic risk of Japanese male heavyweight Judo athletes

The purpose of this study was to clarify the characteristics of body composition and cardiometabolic risk of Japanese male heavyweight Judo athletes compared with heavyweight athletes of other sports.

Authors: Hiroko Murata, Satomi Oshima, Suguru Torii, Motoko Taguchi and Mitsuru Higuchi

Light-sensitive brain pathways and aging

Notwithstanding its effects on the classical visual system allowing image formation, light acts upon several non-image-forming (NIF) functions including body temperature, hormonal secretions, sleep-wake cycle,...

Authors: V. Daneault, M. Dumont, É. Massé, G. Vandewalle and J. Carrier

Neural substrates of sexual arousal in heterosexual males: event-related fMRI investigation

Sexual behavior is an important role for the survival of species. The advancement of brain imaging methods has enabled the understanding of the brain mechanism related to sexual arousal. The previous studies o...

Authors: Ji-Woo Seok, Jin-Hun Sohn and Chaejoon Cheong

Associations of anthropometric measures on breast cancer risk in pre- and postmenopausal women—a case-control study

The type of silhouette and quantity of fat tissue are correlated with hormonal imbalance which plays a substantial role in breast carcinogenesis. The goal of the study was to investigate the association betwee...

Authors: Renata Pacholczak, Wiesława Klimek-Piotrowska and Piotr Kuszmiersz

Event-related brain potential and postural muscle activity during standing on an oscillating table while the knee, hip, and trunk are fixed

In this study, a cast brace was used to immobilize the knee, hip, and trunk, and relations between the event-related brain potential (ERP) and postural muscle activity were investigated while standing on an os...

Authors: Katsuo Fujiwara, Mariko Irei, Naoe Kiyota, Chie Yaguchi and Kaoru Maeda

Reviewer acknowledgement 2015

The editors of Journal of Physiological Anthropology would like to thank all our reviewers who have contributed to the journal in Volume 34 (2015).

Authors: Akira Yasukouchi

Hemoglobin as a possible biochemical index of hypertension-induced vascular damage

We previously reported on the positive association of hemoglobin with hypertension and atherosclerosis. On the other hand, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) has been evaluated as a possible biochemical index of h...

Authors: Yuji Shimizu, Koichiro Kadota, Mio Nakazato, Yuko Noguchi, Jun Koyamatsu, Hirotomo Yamanashi, Mako Nagayoshi, Shuichi Nagata, Kazuhiko Arima and Takahiro Maeda

Relationship between lateral differences in the cross-sectional area of the psoas muscle and curve running time

The aim of this study was to investigate whether lateral differences in the cross-sectional areas of the hip and thigh muscles were related to curve sprinting time.

Authors: Nobuaki Tottori, Toshiyuki Kurihara, Mitsuo Otsuka and Tadao Isaka

Association between circulating CD34-positive cells and serum alkaline phosphatase in relation to body mass index for elderly Japanese men

Recent studies have confirmed an association between bone metabolism and vascular homeostasis. However, no study has examined the relationship between serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (a marker of bone metabol...

Authors: Yuji Shimizu, Shimpei Sato, Jun Koyamatsu, Hirotomo Yamanashi, Mako Nagayoshi, Koichiro Kadota, Kazuto Tsuruda, Naomi Hayashida, Norio Abiru, Hironori Yamasaki, Noboru Takamura and Takahiro Maeda

Natural environments, nature relatedness and the ecological theater: connecting satellites and sequencing to shinrin-yoku

Recent advances in research concerning the public health value of natural environments have been remarkable. The growing interest in this topic (often housed under terms such as green and/or blue space) has be...

Authors: Jeffrey M. Craig, Alan C. Logan and Susan L. Prescott

Physiological effect of olfactory stimulation by Hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) leaf oil

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the physiological effects of nature-derived stimulation. The physiological relaxation effects caused by forest-derived olfactory stimuli have been demonst...

Authors: Harumi Ikei, Chorong Song and Yoshifumi Miyazaki

Degree of exercise intensity during continuous chest compression in upper-body-trained individuals

Although chest-compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CCO-CPR) is recommended for lay bystanders, fatigue is easily produced during CCO-CPR. If CCO-CPR can be performed at a lower intensity of exercis...

Authors: Hisayoshi Ogata, Ikuyo Fujimaru and Takaharu Kondo

Eye movements and brain oscillations to symbolic safety signs with different comprehensibility

The aim of this study was to investigate eye movements and brain oscillations to symbolic safety signs with different comprehensibility.

Authors: Yohana Siswandari and Shuping Xiong

Height and skeletal morphology in relation to modern life style

Height and skeletal morphology strongly relate to life style. Parallel to the decrease in physical activity and locomotion, modern people are slimmer in skeletal proportions. In German children and adolescents...

Authors: Michael Hermanussen, Christiane Scheffler, Detlef Groth and Christian Aßmann

Sex difference in age-related changes in knee extensor strength and power production during a 10-times-repeated sit-to-stand task in Japanese elderly

For middle-aged and elderly women, age-related decline in an index representing power production during STS task (STS-PI), calculated by using an equation reported previously, has been shown to be greater than...

Authors: Naoko Yanagawa, Teruichi Shimomitsu, Masashi Kawanishi, Tetsuo Fukunaga and Hiroaki Kanehisa

Impacts of gender, weather, and workplace differences in farm worker’s gear

The farmers cannot help working in outdoor conditions which have high humidity and solar radiation during the harvest period. Wearable items including clothing are the nearest environment of human body, and to...

Authors: JuYoun Kwon, Hee Sok Park, Sun-Hwa Kim and Kyung-Suk Lee

Decline in objective physical activity over a 10-year period in a Japanese elementary school

The purpose of this study was to examine the change in accelerometer-derived daily physical activity (PA) and activity record-derived daily activities over a 10-year period in urban elementary schoolchildren i...

Authors: Aya Itoi, Yosuke Yamada, Satoshi Nakae and Misaka Kimura

Ipsi- and contralateral frontal cortex oxygenation during handgrip task does not follow decrease on maximal force output

The effect of fatiguing exercise on the ipsi- and contralateral frontal cortex has not been fully clarified. The purpose of this study was to investigate by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) the frontal cortex...

Authors: Naomi Kuboyama and Kenichi Shibuya

Mechanical compression during repeated sustained isometric muscle contractions and hyperemic recovery in healthy young males

An elevated intramuscular pressure during a single forearm isometric muscle contraction may restrict muscle hyperemia. However, during repeated isometric exercise, it is unclear to what extent mechanical compr...

Authors: Takuya Osada, Stefan P. Mortensen and Göran Rådegran

Relationship between some indicators of reproductive history, body fatness and the menopausal transition in Hungarian women

This paper analyzed the relationship between some indicators of reproductive history and body fatness in relation to the timing of the menopause transition in Hungarian women using survival analysis after cont...

Authors: Annamaria Zsakai, Nicholas Mascie-Taylor and Eva B Bodzsar

Weight-height relationships and central obesity in 7-year-old to 10-year-old Polish urban children: a comparison of different BMI and WHtR standards

An increase in overweight and obesity rates among children is a major social problem; however, interpretation and comparability of estimations may be affected by the reference values and cut-off points used. T...

Authors: Paweł Tomaszewski, Piotr Żmijewski, Katarzyna Milde and Edyta Sienkiewicz-Dianzenza

Seasonality in physical activity and walking of healthy older adults

An increasing number of older adults require improvements in their quality of life. Physical activities, particularly walking ability, are of primary importance for older adults. The influence of season on phy...

Authors: Tasuku Kimura, Hiromitsu Kobayashi, Eijun Nakayama and Wataru Kakihana

Inter-daily variability in body composition among young men

The present study analyses changes in body composition over the course of a working week. The purpose of the study is to identify the size of the changes in the observed parameters by means of typical error of...

Authors: Petr Kutáč

Association between walking ability and trunk and lower-limb muscle atrophy in institutionalized elderly women: a longitudinal pilot study

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between walking ability and muscle atrophy in the trunk and lower limbs.

Authors: Tome Ikezoe, Masatoshi Nakamura, Hiroto Shima, Yasuyoshi Asakawa and Noriaki Ichihashi

Distribution characteristics of salivary cortisol measurements in a healthy young male population

Salivary cortisol has been used in various fields of science as a non-invasive biomarker of stress levels. This study offers the normative reference values of cortisol measurement for healthy young males.

Authors: Hiromitsu Kobayashi and Yoshifumi Miyazaki

Dermatoglyphics in hypertension: a review

Hypertension is a major contributor to the global burden of disease and mortality. A major medical advancement would be a better means to ascertain which persons are at higher risk for becoming hypertensive be...

Authors: Buddhika TB Wijerathne, Robert J Meier, Thilini C Agampodi and Suneth B Agampodi

Near-infrared photons: a non-invasive probe for studying bone blood flow regulation in humans

The study of bone blood flow regulation in humans has always represented a difficult task for the clinician and the researcher. Classical measurement techniques imply the presence of ionizing radiation or cont...

Authors: Tiziano Binzoni and Lorenzo Spinelli

Effects of day-time exposure to different light intensities on light-induced melatonin suppression at night

Bright nocturnal light has been known to suppress melatonin secretion. However, bright light exposure during the day-time might reduce light-induced melatonin suppression (LIMS) at night. The effective proport...

Authors: Tomoaki Kozaki, Ayaka Kubokawa, Ryunosuke Taketomi and Keisuke Hatae

Salt intake and mental distress among rural community-dwelling Japanese men

Activated mineralocorticoid receptors influence the association between daily salt intake and blood pressure. A relatively low mineralocorticoid receptor function is reported to be a risk for mental distress s...

Authors: Yuji Shimizu, Koichiro Kadota, Jun Koyamatsu, Hirotomo Yamanashi, Mako Nagayoshi, Miki Noda, Takayuki Nishimura, Jun Tayama, Yasuhiro Nagata and Takahiro Maeda

Analysis of physiological signals for recognition of boredom, pain, and surprise emotions

The aim of the study was to examine the differences of boredom, pain, and surprise. In addition to that, it was conducted to propose approaches for emotion recognition based on physiological signals.

Authors: Eun-Hye Jang, Byoung-Jun Park, Mi-Sook Park, Sang-Hyeob Kim and Jin-Hun Sohn

Upper arm circumference development in Chinese children and adolescents: a pooled analysis

Upper arm development in children is different in different ethnic groups. There have been few reports on upper arm circumference (UAC) at different stages of development in children and adolescents in China. ...

Authors: Fang Tong and Tong Fu

Dysbiotic drift: mental health, environmental grey space, and microbiota

Advances in research concerning the mental health implications of dietary patterns and select nutrients have been remarkable. At the same time, there have been rapid increases in the understanding of the ways ...

Authors: Alan C Logan

The influence of environmental temperature on appetite-related hormonal responses

Acute exercise in the heat has been shown to reduce appetite. However, the influence of exercise in the cold on appetite regulation remains unclear. The aim of this study was to compare exercise-induced appeti...

Authors: Chihiro Kojima, Hiroto Sasaki, Yoshifumi Tsuchiya and Kazushige Goto

Interaction with indoor plants may reduce psychological and physiological stress by suppressing autonomic nervous system activity in young adults: a randomized crossover study

Developments in information technology cause a great deal of stress to modern people, and controlling this stress now becomes an important issue. The aim of this study was to examine psychological and physiolo...

Authors: Min-sun Lee, Juyoung Lee, Bum-Jin Park and Yoshifumi Miyazaki

Estimation of body size and growth patterns in Korean boys

Anthropometric surveys devised by each country attempt to fulfill the requirements of the manufacturers, designers, and human welfare device production, providing them with data and tools and allowing them to ...

Authors: Youngsuk Lee

Evaluation of TV commercials using neurophysiological responses

In recent years, neuroscientific knowledge has been applied to marketing as a novel and efficient means to comprehend the cognitive and behavioral aspects of consumers. A number of studies have attempted to ev...

Authors: Taeyang Yang, Do-Young Lee, Youngshin Kwak, Jinsook Choi, Chajoong Kim and Sung-Phil Kim

Use of antagonist muscle EMG in the assessment of neuromuscular health of the low back

Non-specific low back pain (LBP) has been one of the most frequently occurring musculoskeletal problems. Impairment in the mechanical stability of the lumbar spine has been known to lower the safety margin of ...

Authors: Nakyung Lee, Hwayeong Kang and Gwanseob Shin

Effects of seat surface inclination on respiration and speech production in children with spastic cerebral palsy

Respiratory and speech problems are commonly observed in children with cerebral palsy (CP). The purpose of this study was to identify if inclination of seat surface could influence respiratory ability and spee...

Authors: Hwa-Kyung Shin, Eun-Jin Byeon and Seok Hun Kim

Association between hemoglobin A1c and carotid atherosclerosis in rural community-dwelling elderly Japanese men

Recent studies have reported an association between both higher and lower levels of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and higher mortality of diabetes patients. Like diabetes, carotid atherosclerosis is a well known life...

Authors: Yuji Shimizu, Mio Nakazato, Shimpei Sato, Jun Koyamatsu, Hirotomo Yamanashi, Mako Nagayoshi, Koichiro Kadota, Naomi Hayashida, Hironori Yamasaki, Yosuke Kusano, Noboru Takamura, Kiyoshi Aoyagi and Takahiro Maeda

Age-related and obstacle height-related differences in movements while stepping over obstacles

This study aims to examine age-related and obstacle height-related differences in movements while stepping over obstacles.

Authors: Sohee Shin, Shinichi Demura, Tsuneo Watanabe, Tamotsu Yabumoto, Jae-Hyun Lee, Naoki Sakakibara and Toshio Matsuoka

Inter-individual relationships in empathic traits and feedback-related fronto-central brain activity: an event-related potential study

Neuroimaging studies continue to indicate the major role the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays in processing empathic responses. Error-related negativity (ERN), an event-related potential (ERP) thought to ...

Authors: Yuki Motomura, Akira Takeshita, Yuka Egashira, Takayuki Nishimura, Yeon-kyu Kim and Shigeki Watanuki