Tokyo University of Social Welfare

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. For example, a key point that needs to be emphasized is thatthere is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process versus those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the completeprocess including the amount and rate of cargo sequestered and degraded). In particular, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation must be differentiated from stimuli that increase autophagic activity, defined as increasedautophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (inmost higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in manycases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. It is worth emphasizing here that lysosomal digestion is a stage of autophagy and evaluating its competence is a crucial part of the evaluation of autophagic flux, or complete autophagy. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as forreviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multipleassays to monitor autophagy. Along these lines, because of the potential for pleiotropic effects due to blocking autophagy through genetic manipulation, it is imperative to target by gene knockout or RNA interference more than one autophagyrelated protein. In addition, some individual Atg proteins, or groups of proteins, are involved in other cellular pathways implying that not all Atg proteins can be used as a specific marker for an autophagic process. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field.

Subcortical structures, which include the basal ganglia and parts of the limbic system, have key roles in learning, motor control and emotion, but also contribute to higher-order executive functions. Prior studies have reported volumetric alterations in subcortical regions in schizophrenia. Reported results have sometimes been heterogeneous, and few large-scale investigations have been conducted. Moreover, few large-scale studies have assessed asymmetries of subcortical volumes in schizophrenia. Here, as a work completely independent of a study performed by the ENIGMA consortium, we conducted a large-scale multisite study of subcortical volumetric differences between patients with schizophrenia and controls. We also explored the laterality of subcortical regions to identify characteristic similarities and differences between them. T1-weighted images from 1680 healthy individuals and 884 patients with schizophrenia, obtained with 15 imaging protocols at 11 sites, were processed with FreeSurfer. Group differences were calculated for each protocol and meta-analyzed. Compared with controls, patients with schizophrenia demonstrated smaller bilateral hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus and accumbens volumes as well as intracranial volume, but larger bilateral caudate, putamen, pallidum and lateral ventricle volumes. We replicated the rank order of effect sizes for subcortical volumetric changes in schizophrenia reported by the ENIGMA consortium. Further, we revealed leftward asymmetry for thalamus, lateral ventricle, caudate and putamen volumes, and rightward asymmetry for amygdala and hippocampal volumes in both controls and patients with schizophrenia. Also, we demonstrated a schizophrenia-specific leftward asymmetry for pallidum volume. These findings suggest the possibility of aberrant laterality in neural pathways and connectivity patterns related to the pallidum in schizophrenia.

Breastfeeding is the most advantageous feeding option for infants, and epidemiological studies provide evidence for its promotion. The objective of this review was to comprehensively delineate the barriers and facilitators of exclusive breastfeeding of infants aged 0-6 months old by mothers in developing countries. A search of CINAHL, MEDLINE and PsycINFO was carried out to retrieve studies from January 2001 to January 2014. Using our inclusion criteria, we selected studies that described barriers and facilitators of exclusive breastfeeding. Qualitative and quantitative studies were considered. Twenty-five studies involving 11 025 participants from 19 countries were included. Barriers and facilitators of exclusive/full breastfeeding were identified, analysed tabulated and summarised in this review. Maternal employment was the most frequently cited barrier to exclusive breastfeeding. Maternal perceptions of insufficient breast milk supply was pervasive among studies while medical barriers related to illness of mothers and/or infants as well as breast problems, rather than health care providers. Socio-cultural factors such as maternal and significant other's beliefs about infant nutrition also often constitute strong barriers to exclusive breastfeeding. Despite these barriers, mothers in developing countries often possess certain personal characteristics and develop strategic plans to enhance their success at breastfeeding. Health care providers should be informed about the determinants of exclusive breastfeeding and provide practical anticipatory guidance targeted at overcoming these barriers. In so doing, health care providers in developing countries can contribute to improving maternal and child health outcomes.

Traditionally, gender equity in the academy is evaluated in terms of women’s professional success as compared to men’s. This study examines gender equity not only in terms of professional outcomes but also in terms of familial outcomes, such as childbirth, marriage, and divorce. Using data from the Survey of Doctorate Recipients as well as data from a 2002 to 2003 survey of the work and family issues facing ladder-rank faculty in the nine campuses of the University of California system, the authors followed more than thirty thousand Ph.D.s in all disciplines across their life course and surveyed more than eighty-five hundred active University of California faculty. Results indicate that gender equity in terms of familial gains is as elusive as gender equity in terms of professional employment, raising the fundamental issue of what gender equity means in a university setting or in any fast-track employment setting.

OBJECTIVES: Although workers with poor sleep quality are reported to have problems with work performance, few studies have assessed the association between dietary factors and sleep quality using validated indexes. Here, we examined this association using information acquired from validated questionnaires. METHODS: A total of 3,129 female workers aged 34 to 65 years were analyzed. Dietary intake was assessed using a self-administered diet history questionnaire (DHQ), and subjective sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The relationship between the intake of several food groups and nutrients and sleep quality was examined using multivariable logistic regression models. The effect of eating habits on sleep quality was also examined. RESULTS: Poor sleep quality was associated with low intake of vegetables (p for trend 0.002) and fish (p for trend 0.04) and high intake of confectionary (p for trend 0.004) and noodles (p for trend 0.03) after adjustment for potential confounding factors (age, body mass index, physical activity, depression score, employment status, alcohol intake and smoking status). Poor sleep quality was also significantly and positively associated with consumption of energy drinks and sugar-sweetened beverages, skipping breakfast, and eating irregularly. In addition, poor sleep quality was significantly associated with high carbohydrate intake (p for trend 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: A low intake of vegetables and fish, high intake of confectionary and noodles and unhealthy eating habits were independently associated with poor sleep quality. Poor sleep quality was also associated with high carbohydrate intake in free-living Japanese middle-aged female workers.

Although large international studies have found consistent patterns of sex differences in personality traits among adults (i.e., women scoring higher on most facets), less is known about cross-cultural sex differences in adolescent personality and the role of culture and age in shaping them. The present study examines the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (McCrae, Costa, & Martin, 2005) informant ratings of adolescents from 23 cultures (N = 4,850), and investigates culture and age as sources of variability in sex differences of adolescents' personality. The effect for Neuroticism (with females scoring higher than males) begins to take on its adult form around age 14. Girls score higher on Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness at all ages between 12 and 17 years. A more complex pattern emerges for Extraversion and Agreeableness, although by age 17, sex differences for these traits are highly similar to those observed in adulthood. Cross-sectional data suggest that (a) with advancing age, sex differences found in adolescents increasingly converge toward adult patterns with respect to both direction and magnitude; (b) girls display sex-typed personality traits at an earlier age than boys; and (c) the emergence of sex differences was similar across cultures. Practical implications of the present findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Numerous studies have documented subtle but consistent sex differences in self-reports and observer-ratings of five-factor personality traits, and such effects were found to show well-defined developmental trajectories and remarkable similarity across nations. In contrast, very little is known about perceived gender differences in five-factor traits in spite of their potential implications for gender biases at the interpersonal and societal level. In particular, it is not clear how perceived gender differences in five-factor personality vary across age groups and national contexts and to what extent they accurately reflect assessed sex differences in personality. To address these questions, we analyzed responses from 3,323 individuals across 26 nations (mean age = 22.3 years, 31% male) who were asked to rate the five-factor personality traits of typical men or women in three age groups (adolescent, adult, and older adult) in their respective nations. Raters perceived women as slightly higher in openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness as well as some aspects of extraversion and neuroticism. Perceived gender differences were fairly consistent across nations and target age groups and mapped closely onto assessed sex differences in self- and observer-rated personality. Associations between the average size of perceived gender differences and national variations in sociodemographic characteristics, value systems, or gender equality did not reach statistical significance. Findings contribute to our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of gender stereotypes of personality and suggest that perceptions of actual sex differences may play a more important role than culturally based gender roles and socialization processes.

Topological states of matter in non-Hermitian systems have attracted a lot of attention due to their intriguing dynamical and transport properties. In this paper, we propose a periodically driven non-Hermitian lattice model in one dimension, which features rich Floquet topological phases. The topological phase diagram of the model is derived analytically. Each of its non-Hermitian Floquet topological phases is characterized by a pair of integer winding numbers, counting the number of real zero- and $\ensuremath{\pi}$-quasienergy edge states at the boundaries of the lattice. Non-Hermiticity-induced Floquet topological phases with unlimited winding numbers are found, which allow arbitrarily many real zero- and $\ensuremath{\pi}$-quasienergy edge states to appear in the complex quasienergy bulk gaps in a well-controlled manner. We further suggest probing the topological winding numbers of the system by dynamically imaging the stroboscopic spin textures of its bulk states.

BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal symptoms such as neck and shoulder pain/stiffness and low back pain are common health problems in the working population. They are the leading causes of presenteeism (employees being physically present at work but unable to be fully engaged). Recently, digital interventions have begun to be used to manage health but their effectiveness has not yet been fully verified, and adherence to such programs is always a problem. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the improvements in musculoskeletal symptoms in workers with neck/shoulder stiffness/pain and low back pain after the use of an exercise-based artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted interactive health promotion system that operates through a mobile messaging app (the AI-assisted health program). We expected that this program would support participants' adherence to exercises. METHODS: We conducted a two-armed, randomized, controlled, and unblinded trial in workers with either neck/shoulder stiffness/pain or low back pain or both. We recruited participants with these symptoms through email notifications. The intervention group received the AI-assisted health program, in which the chatbot sent messages to users with the exercise instructions at a fixed time every day through the smartphone's chatting app (LINE) for 12 weeks. The program was fully automated. The control group continued with their usual care routines. We assessed the subjective severity of the neck and shoulder pain/stiffness and low back pain of the participants by using a scoring scale of 1 to 5 for both the intervention group and the control group at baseline and after 12 weeks of intervention by using a web-based form. We used a logistic regression model to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) of the intervention group to achieve to reduce pain scores with those of the control group, and the ORs of the subjective assessment of the improvement of the symptoms compared to the intervention and control groups, which were performed using Stata software (version 16, StataCorp LLC). RESULTS: We analyzed 48 participants in the intervention group and 46 participants in the control group. The adherence rate was 92% (44/48) during the intervention. The participants in the intervention group showed significant improvements in the severity of the neck/shoulder pain/stiffness and low back pain compared to those in the control group (OR 6.36, 95% CI 2.57-15.73; P<.001). Based on the subjective assessment of the improvement of the pain/stiffness at 12 weeks, 36 (75%) out of 48 participants in the intervention group and 3 (7%) out of 46 participants in the control group showed improvements (improved, slightly improved) (OR 43.00, 95% CI 11.25-164.28; P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the short exercises provided by the AI-assisted health program improved both neck/shoulder pain/stiffness and low back pain in 12 weeks. Further studies are needed to identify the elements contributing to the successful outcome of the AI-assisted health program. TRIAL REGISTRATION: University hospital Medical Information Network-Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN-CTR) 000033894; https://upload.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr_e/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000038307.

Chromatin remodeling may play a role in the neurobiology of schizophrenia and the process, therefore, may be considered as a therapeutic target. The SMARCA2 gene encodes BRM in the SWI/SNF chromatin-remodeling complex, and associations of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to schizophrenia were found in two linkage disequilibrium blocks in the SMARCA2 gene after screening of 11 883 SNPs (rs2296212; overall allelic P = 5.8 x 10(-5)) and subsequent screening of 22 genes involved in chromatin remodeling (rs3793490; overall allelic P = 2.0 x 10(-6)) in a Japanese population. A risk allele of a missense polymorphism (rs2296212) induced a lower nuclear localization efficiency of BRM, and risk alleles of intronic polymorphisms (rs3763627 and rs3793490) were associated with low SMARCA2 expression levels in the postmortem prefrontal cortex. A significant correlation in the fold changes of gene expression from schizophrenic prefrontal cortex (from the Stanley Medical Research Institute online genomics database) was seen with suppression of SMARCA2 in transfected human cells by specific siRNA, and of orthologous genes in the prefrontal cortex of Smarca2 knockout mice. Smarca2 knockout mice showed impaired social interaction and prepulse inhibition. Psychotogenic drugs lowered Smarca2 expression while antipsychotic drugs increased it in the mouse brain. These findings support the existence of a role for BRM in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.

The present study examined attitudes toward diversity as a moderator of outcomes of diversity in workgroups. Two studies were conducted that focused on the development of the Attitudes Toward Diverse Workgroups Scale (ADWS) and on the impact of diversity attitudes on task performance and psychological reactions in actual face-to-face diverse brainstorming groups. The first study supported the internal consistency and stability of the ADWS and revealed that it was related, in the predicted way, to the Big Five and general prejudice. The second study revealed that high scores on the productive and affective dimensions of the ADWS enhanced brainstorming performance (quality of ideas) in actual diverse groups and positive psychological reactions to the group experiences, respectively.

Abstract The aim of the study is to survey the prevalence of pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) in juvenile cases encountered in the family courts of Japan by examining the characteristics of juvenile cases with PDD. We investigated family court juvenile cases (N = 428) in terms of sex, age (14–19 years), type of crime, background, and environmental factors such as adverse childhood experiences (ACE). Cases encountered in four family courts in Japan between April 2006 and March 2007 were studied. Of the total number of investigations or randomized trials, 1.3% to 6.7% were encountered at three family courts. In addition, 18.2% of the cases came from the section dealing with unique crimes. Juvenile delinquents with PDD had more severe environmental factors than general population in Japan. In the PDD group, the rate of sex-related crimes was significantly higher than in the general population referred to family courts. Keywords: child maltreatmentsex offendercriminal behaviorforensic psychiatry and psychologypervasive developmental disorder Acknowledgments The author would like to thank Ms Setsuru Umeshita of the Kobe family court Amagasaki office, Mr Naoki Aso of the Sapporo family Court, Ms. Noriko Miyata of the Tokyo Family Court's Hachioji Office, and Mr Toshiki Aoki, Mr. Makoto Yokoi, Ms Kazumi Kinno at the Tokyo Family Court for their assistance in data collection.

The purpose of the present study was to identify the effects of an acute injection of a dual dopamine (DA)/noradrenaline (NA) reuptake inhibitor (bupropion) on exercise performance, thermoregulation and neurotransmitters in the preoptic area and anterior hypothalamus (PO/AH) of the rat during exercise in the heat. Body core temperature (T(core)), brain temperature (T(brain)) and tail skin temperature (T(tail)) were measured. A microdialysis probe was inserted in the PO/AH, and samples for measurement of extracellular DA, NA and serotonin (5-HT) levels were collected. Rats received either bupropion (17 mg kg(-1); hot-BUP) or saline (1 ml kg(-1); hot) 20 min before the start of exercise and ran at a speed of 26 m min(-1) until exhaustion in a warm environment (30 degrees C). Rats also ran until exhaustion in a cool environment (18 degrees C; cool). Running time to exhaustion was significantly influenced by the ambient temperature, and it was increased by bupropion in the heat (cool, 143.6 +/- 21 min; hot, 65.8 +/- 13 min; hot-BUP, 86.3 +/- 7.2 min). T(core) and T(brain) at exhaustion were significantly higher in the bupropion group compared to the cool and hot groups, respectively. T(tail) measured at exhaustion was not significantly different between the two hot conditions. Extracellular concentrations of DA and NA in the PO/AH increased during exercise, and was significantly higher in the bupropion than in cool and hot groups (P < 0.05). No differences were observed between groups for 5-HT levels. These results suggest that DA and NA in the PO/AH might be responsible for the increase in exercise performance and T(core) and T(brain) in the bupropion group in hyperthermia. Moreover, these results support previous findings in humans that acute bupropion ingestion increases T(core) during exercise in the heat, indicating the possibility of an important role for DA and NA in thermoregulation.

Infants universally elicit in adults a set of solicitous behaviors that are evolutionarily important for the survival of the species. However, exposure, experience, and prejudice appear to govern adults' social choice and ingroup attitudes towards other adults. In the current study, physiological arousal and behavioral judgments were assessed while adults processed unfamiliar infant and adult faces of ingroup vs. outgroup members in two contrasting cultures, Japan and Italy. Physiological arousal was investigated using the novel technique of infrared thermography and behavioral judgments using ratings. We uncovered a dissociation between physiological and behavioral responses. At the physiological level, both Japanese and Italian adults showed significant activation (increase of facial temperature) for both ingroup and outgroup infant faces. At the behavioral level, both Japanese and Italian adults showed significant preferences for ingroup adults. Arousal responses to infants appear to be mediated by the autonomic nervous system and are not dependent on direct caregiving exposure, but behavioral responses appear to be mediated by higher-order cognitive processing based on social acceptance and cultural exposure.

The electrical conductivity and ion/electron transference numbers in Al 3 O 3 were determined in a sample configuration designed to eliminate influences of surface and gas‐phase conduction on the bulk behavior. With decreasing O 2 partial pressure over single‐crystal Al 2 O 3 at 1000° to 1650°C, the conductivity decreased, then remained constant, and finally increased when strongly reducing atmospheres were attained. The intermediate flat region became dominant at the lower temperatures. The emf measurements showed predominantly ionic conduction in the flat region; the electronic conduction state is exhibited in the branches of both ends. In pure O 2 (1 atm) the conductivity above 1400°C was σ≃3×10 3 exp (–80 kcal/ RT ) Ω −1 cm −1 , which corresponds to electronic conductivity. Below 1400°C, the activation energy was &lt;57 kcal, corresponding to an extrinsic ionic condition. Polycrystalline samples of both undoped hot‐pressed Al 2 O 3 and MgO‐doped Al 2 O 3 showed significantly higher conductivity because of additional electronic conduction in the grain boundaries. The gas‐phase conduction above 1200°C increased drastically with decreasing O 2 partial pressure (below 10 −10 atm).

Clinical diagnosis and severity of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are determined by trained clinicians based on clinical evaluations of observed behaviors. As such, this approach is inevitably dependent on the expertise and subjective assessment of those administering the clinical evaluations. There is a need to identify objective biological markers associated with diagnosis or clinical severity of the disorder. To identify novel candidate metabolites as potential biomarkers for ASD, the current study applied capillary electrophoresis time-of-flight mass spectroscopy (CE-TOFMS) for high-throughput profiling of metabolite levels in the plasma of 25 psychotropic-naïve adult males with high-functioning ASD and 28 age-matched typically-developed control subjects. Ten ASD participants and ten age-matched controls were assigned in the first exploration set, while 15 ASD participants and 18 controls were included in the second replication set. By CE-TOFMS analysis, a total of 143 metabolites were detected in the plasma of the first set. Of these, 17 metabolites showed significantly different relative areas between the ASD participants and the controls (p<0.05). Of the 17 metabolites, we consistently found that the ASD participants had significantly high plasma levels of arginine (p = 0.024) and taurine (p = 0.018), and significantly low levels of 5-oxoproline (p<0.001) and lactic acid (p = 0.031) compared with the controls in the second sample set. Further confirmatory analysis using quantification of absolute metabolite concentrations supported the robustness of high arginine (p = 0.001) and low lactic acid (p = 0.003) in the combined sample (n = 53). The present study identified deviated plasma metabolite levels associated with oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction in individuals with ASD.

AIMS: Public stigma alters attitudes towards people with mental illness, and is a particular concern for young people since most mental health problems occur in adolescence and young adulthood. However, little is known about the long-term effects of repeated filmed social contact (FSC) on reducing mental health-related stigma among young adults in the general population, compared with self-instructional Internet search (INS) and control interventions. METHODS: This study is a parallel-group randomised controlled trial over 12 months conducted in Tokyo, Japan. A total of 259 university students (male n = 150, mean age = 20.0 years, s.d. = 1.2) were recruited from 20 colleges and universities between November 2013 and July 2014, without being provided information about the mental health-related survey or trial. Participants were assigned to one of three groups before completion of the baseline survey (FSC/INS/control = 89/83/87). The FSC group received a computer-based 30-min social contact film with general mental health education and five follow-up web-based FSCs at 2-month intervals. The INS group undertook a 30-min search for mental health-related information with five follow-up web-based reminders for self-instructional searches at 2-month intervals. The control group played PC games and had no follow-up intervention. The main outcome measures were the future (intended behaviour) domain of the Reported and Intended Behaviour Scale at 12 months after the intervention. Analysis was conducted in September 2015. RESULTS: At the 12-month follow-up, 218 participants completed the survey (84.1%, 75:70:73). The FSC group showed the greatest change at the 12-month follow-up (FSC: mean change 2.11 [95% CI 1.49, 2.73], INS: 1.04 [0.29, 1.80], control: 0.71 [0.09, 1.33]; FSC v. INS p = 0.037, FSC v. controls p = 0.004). No adverse events were reported during the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: FSC was more successful in reducing stigma at 12 months after intervention than INS or control interventions. FSC could be used to reduce stigma in educational lectures and anti-stigma campaigns targeted at young people. STUDY REGISTRATION: This study is registered at UMIN-CTR (No. UMIN000012239).

Developmental stuttering is a speech disorder in fluency characterized by repetitions, prolongations, and silent blocks, especially in the initial parts of utterances. Although their symptoms are motor related, people who stutter show abnormal patterns of cerebral hemispheric dominance in both anterior and posterior language areas. It is unknown whether the abnormal functional lateralization in the posterior language area starts during childhood or emerges as a consequence of many years of stuttering. In order to address this issue, we measured the lateralization of hemodynamic responses in the auditory cortex during auditory speech processing in adults and children who stutter, including preschoolers, with near-infrared spectroscopy. We used the analysis-resynthesis technique to prepare two types of stimuli: (i) a phonemic contrast embedded in Japanese spoken words (/itta/ vs. /itte/) and (ii) a prosodic contrast (/itta/ vs. /itta?/). In the baseline blocks, only /itta/ tokens were presented. In phonemic contrast blocks, /itta/ and /itte/ tokens were presented pseudo-randomly, and /itta/ and /itta?/ tokens in prosodic contrast blocks. In adults and children who do not stutter, there was a clear left-hemispheric advantage for the phonemic contrast compared to the prosodic contrast. Adults and children who stutter, however, showed no significant difference between the two stimulus conditions. A subject-by-subject analysis revealed that not a single subject who stutters showed a left advantage in the phonemic contrast over the prosodic contrast condition. These results indicate that the functional lateralization for auditory speech processing is in disarray among those who stutter, even at preschool age. These results shed light on the neural pathophysiology of developmental stuttering.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a relatively new technique that can measure hemoglobin changes in brain tissues, and its use in psychiatry has been progressing rapidly. Although it has several disadvantages (e.g., relatively low spatial resolution and the possibility of shallow coverage in the depth of brain regions) compared with other functional neuroimaging techniques (e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography), fNIRS may be a candidate instrument for clinical use in psychiatry, as it can measure brain activity in naturalistic position easily and non-invasively. fNIRS instruments are also small and work silently, and can be moved almost everywhere including schools and care units. Previous fNIRS studies have shown that patients with schizophrenia have impaired activity and characteristic waveform patterns in the prefrontal cortex during the letter version of the verbal fluency task, and part of these results have been approved as one of the Advanced Medical Technologies as an aid for the differential diagnosis of depressive symptoms by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan in 2009, which was the first such approval in the field of psychiatry. Moreover, previous studies suggest that the activity in the frontopolar prefrontal cortex is associated with their functions in chronic schizophrenia and is its next candidate biomarker. Future studies aimed at exploring fNIRS differences in various clinical stages, longitudinal changes, drug effects, and variations during different task paradigms will be needed to develop more accurate biomarkers that can be used to aid differential diagnosis, the comprehension of the present condition, the prediction of outcome, and the decision regarding treatment options in schizophrenia. Future fNIRS researches will require standardized measurement procedures, probe settings, analytical methods and tools, manuscript description, and database systems in an fNIRS community.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to examine the following hypothesis: (i) Self-esteem and aggressiveness, adverse childhood experiences (ACE), and a depressive tendency interact with each other. (ii) The subjects show a strong depressive tendency, and each of the other factors exerts a main effect on, and interacts with, the depressive tendency. METHOD: The subjects were 91 juveniles (all female) admitted to a female juvenile correctional facility between November 2005 and December 2006. They were aged 15-19 years, with a mean age of 17.0 (SD = 1.18) years. Self-esteem scale, aggression scale, ACE questionnaire, and depression scale were conducted. RESULTS: Significant main effects (R(2) = 0.50, P < 0.001) on the depression score were observed in self-esteem (beta = -0.41, P < 0.001) and aggression (beta = 0.21, P < 0.05). Self-esteem, aggression, ACE, and depression were found to be interrelated. CONCLUSION: Low self-esteem was also shown to exert marked effects on various factors. About half of the inmates of the facility were depressed, and the main effects of self-esteem, aggression, and the ACE score were shown to influence the depression score.