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Introduction In Japan, midwives have difficulty communicating non-Japanese speaking women. The study aims to explore the midwives’ experience in communicating with them during the perinatal period. Methods The semi-structured interviews were conducted for five midwives who have had experienced perinatal care for non-Japanese women.Results Four categories were emerged during the pregnancy of the women: «Midwives desire to provide accurate information when giving medical and health related explanations», «Means and methods of health guidance depend on the contents», «It is much easier to interact with clients if verbal communication means are available during the prenatal check-ups» and «It is difficult to communicate by telephone about signs of onset of labor without having verbal communication means». Five categories have emerged in the intrapartum period including «Appropriate means and continuous involvement make communication smoother during delivery», «Non-verbal communication measures are useful in providing intrapartum care and «In case of an emergency of mother and fetus, ability of mother’s understanding and selection of appropriate means of communication are critical». Four categories have emerged in the postpartum period including «Midwives can communicate with non-verbal means for the health guidance» and «Midwives feel helpless when they cannot communicate verbally during the postpartum follow-ups». One thematic category «Midwives genuinely desire to provide quality communication despite the differences in language and culture»has emerged from over all period.Conclusions It is important to prepare linguistic communication measures which help midwives to accurately communicate with their clients during the perinatal periods.
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Objectives: Exposure misclassification is a major obstacle to obtain accurate dose-response relationships. In order to solve this problem, the impact of hair treatment on total mercury in hair was assessed in Japanese women. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 327 women at age 24-49 years to determine hair mercury levels and estimate daily mercury intakes from seafood by using a food frequency questionnaire. Results: Hair mercury levels in the women and daily mercury intake ranged from 0.11 to 6.86 (median 1.63) μg/g and from 0.77 to 144.9 (median 15.0) μg/day, respectively. The hair mercury was positively correlated with the daily mercury intake (p<0.001). When the women were divided into two subgroups based on artificial hair-waving, hair coloring/dyeing, residence (non-fishing and fishing areas), and working status, a significant difference in the hair mercury level was observed between the women with and without artificial hair-waving only (p<0.001). The multiple regression analysis showed that the log-transformed hair mercury level was significantly related to the log-transformed daily mercury intake (standardized regression coefficient βs=0.307) and artificial hair-waving (βs=−0.276); but not to hair coloring/dyeing, residence, working status or age. Permanent hair treatment was estimated to reduce total mercury in hair by approximately 30%, after adjusting for daily mercury intake and other possible factors. Conclusions: These findings suggest that hair mercury is not the best biomarker of methylmercury exposure when a study population includes women with artificial hair-waving.
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Cabello , MercurioRESUMEN
<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>Exposure misclassification is a major obstacle to obtain accurate dose-response relationships. In order to solve this problem, the impact of hair treatment on total mercury in hair was assessed in Japanese women.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A cross-sectional study was carried out among 327 women at age 24-49 years to determine hair mercury levels and estimate daily mercury intakes from seafood by using a food frequency questionnaire.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Hair mercury levels in the women and daily mercury intake ranged from 0.11 to 6.86 (median 1.63) μg/g and from 0.77 to 144.9 (median 15.0) μg/day, respectively. The hair mercury was positively correlated with the daily mercury intake (p<0.001). When the women were divided into two subgroups based on artificial hair-waving, hair coloring/dyeing, residence (non-fishing and fishing areas), and working status, a significant difference in the hair mercury level was observed between the women with and without artificial hair-waving only (p<0.001). The multiple regression analysis showed that the log-transformed hair mercury level was significantly related to the log-transformed daily mercury intake (standardized regression coefficient βs=0.307) and artificial hair-waving (βs=-0.276); but not to hair coloring/dyeing, residence, working status or age. Permanent hair treatment was estimated to reduce total mercury in hair by approximately 30%, after adjusting for daily mercury intake and other possible factors.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>These findings suggest that hair mercury is not the best biomarker of methylmercury exposure when a study population includes women with artificial hair-waving.</p>
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The present study performed a cross-sectional survey to investigate sleep habits and sleep health in Japanese women aged 40 to 69 years with and without a habit of exercise. A standardized questionnaire evaluating sleep was administered to two subject groups. One was the “exercise group” who habitually performed aerobic exercise at mild to moderate intensity with a frequency of ≥2 times/week and duration of ≥30 minutes/one session (n=207) . The other was the age-matched “non-exercise group” who had no exercise habit (n=567) . Two-way ANOVA was employed for com paring the two subject groups and examining the effects of exercise on aging. Regarding sleep habits, as bed time significantly advanced with advancing age, sleep habits (bed time, waking time and sleep duration) were significantly more regular in the exercise group than in the non-exercise group. Concerning independent sleep health risk factors consisting of sleep initiation, sleep maintenance, sleep apnea, parasomnia, and waking-up, the factor score for sleep maintenance significantly deteriorated with advancing age; and was significantly better in the exercise group than in the non-exercise group. These results suggest that an exercise habit may improve sleep health in middle-aged and older Japanese women among which a higher prevalence of sleep problems has been reported.