Osaka Shoin Women's University

In October 2021, to elucidate the issues that should be resolved before the transition, a questionnaire survey regarding the transitional care of childhood-onset viral liver disease was administered to 204 councilors of the Japan Society of Hepatology. Of the 86 councilors (42.2%) who responded, 31 (36%) received referrals from pediatric departments for patients with viral hepatitis in the preceding 5 years. Considering the difficulties encountered in accepting the patients and the information that would be needed, the most common opinion was that a transition system acceptable to patients and caregivers should be created. Therefore, according to the results of this survey, we aimed to develop a manual for transitioning pediatric patients with viral hepatitis into adult care.

Pachydermoperiostosis (PDP) is a rare hereditary disease characterized by digital clubbing, pachydermia, and periostosis. We describe a Japanese male patient with PDP who was differentially diagnosed with acromegaly by identification of compound heterozygous variants in SLCO2A1. Recent studies have reported various clinical manifestations, as well as skeletal and dermal features, in patients with PDP. Genetic testing provided not only PDP diagnosis and differentiation from acromegaly, but also information about possible complications and comorbidities throughout life.

Since the time of Darwin, theories have been proposed on the origin and functions of music; however, the subject remains enigmatic. The literature shows that music is closely related to important human behaviours and abilities, namely, cognition, emotion, reward and sociality (co-operation, entrainment, empathy and altruism). Notably, studies have deduced that these behaviours are closely related to testosterone (T) and oxytocin (OXT). The association of music with important human behaviours and neurochemicals is closely related to the understanding of reproductive and social behaviours being unclear. In this paper, we describe the endocrinological functions of human social and musical behaviour and demonstrate its relationship to T and OXT. We then hypothesised that the emergence of music is associated with behavioural adaptations and emerged as humans socialised to ensure survival. Moreover, the proximal factor in the emergence of music is behavioural control (social tolerance) through the regulation of T and OXT, and the ultimate factor is group survival through co-operation. The "survival value" of music has rarely been approached from the perspective of musical behavioural endocrinology. This paper provides a new perspective on the origin and functions of music.

Gastrectomy causes vitamin B-12 deficiency since vitamin B-12 requires gastric acid and intrinsic factor for its absorption. Vitamin B-12 deficiency is considered to develop years after gastrectomy because of large hepatic storage. However, most gastric cancer develops after long-standing atrophic gastritis with vitamin B-12 malabsorption. We have investigated vita-min B-12 status in 22 patients before gastrectomy and 53 patients after gastrectomy due to gastric cancer, also with consideration on post-gastrectomy anemia. Blood vitamin B-12, folic acid, homocysteine concentrations, parameters of anemia, and dietary intake were evaluated. Percentage of patients with severe vitamin B-12 deficiency (serum vitamin B-12 < 150 pmol/L), vitamin B-12 deficiency (150 pmol/L to < 258 pmol/L) was 19.0 %, and 52.4 % respectively in patients gastrectomized within three years. Before gastrectomy, three and seven patients exhibited severe deficiency and deficiency, respectively. In gastrectomized patients, plasma homocysteine concentration was inversely associated with serum vitamin B-12 concentration, and vitamin B-12 deficiency- and iron deficiency- anemia coexisted with their mean corpuscular volume within the reference range. Vitamin B-12 deficiency is prevalent in patients early after and before gastrectomy. Coexistence of vitamin B-12 and iron deficiency obscures the diagnosis of post-gastrectomy anemia, and necessitates the blood vitamin B-12 measurement.

In Japan, telework is attracting renewed attention due to the government-led "work style reform". The advent of COVID-19 in 2020 has led to the rapid spread of telework, and the current state of widespread use may be attributed to transient factors as a counter to the spread of COVID-19 infection. A current problem is that dealing with the emergence of risks has been postponed or overlooked because telework was hastily promoted and introduced even though sufficient preparations had not been made. In this work, we conducted a risk assessment from the viewpoints of both companies and employees to identify 28 risk factors and proposed countermeasures for these factors in order to make teleworking permanently safe and secure in the new normal era. The results revealed that the introduction of Mobile Device Management (MDM) to teleworking terminals is effective as the main countermeasure on the corporate side. The study also clarified that the establishment of various systems related to the telework environment and the use of cloud computing are effective as measures for both companies and employees. We also evaluated the effectiveness of the proposed risk measures in terms of risk values and found that these could be reduced by approximately 61%. Our findings will contribute to the safe and secure use of telework in the new normal era.

現在，難聴や聞き取り困難のある子どもや若年者は特別支援学校の在籍だけでなく，難聴学級や通常の学校に在籍するなど，取り巻く環境は非常に多様になっている。難聴や聞き取り困難の程度やタイプ，使用する主な言語やコミュニケーション手段もさまざまであり，学校生活や日常生活で直面する問題やその支援のあり方も，個別の子どもや若年者に合わせて検討していかなければならないといえる。本シンポジウムでは，未成年の子ども，若年者の難聴や聞き取り困難への言語的支援，聴覚的支援，心理的支援，教育実践，養育に豊富な経験をお持ちの先生方に，子どもや若年者の難聴や聞き取り困難における現状と課題について話題提供をいただく。難聴の研究者，難聴の当事者という異なる立場から指定討論をおこなう。多様な立場にある登壇者の議論から，専門家が子どもや若者の難聴・聞き取り困難の特徴や支援について知っておくべきこと，専門家だけではなく一般市民に対しても難聴・聞き取り困難の理解，当事者支援のために共有するべきことがらについて議論する。