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Aims:The aims of this study were: (i) to clarify the general quality of life (QOL) of patients with intractable neurological disease; (ii) to clarify the general QOL of the caregivers of these patients; and (iii) to explore the association of QOL in patient-caregiver pairs. Results: A total of 418 questionnaires were analyzed. Methods:For the patients, all of the general QOL domains of the SF-36 were significantly lower than the national standard value for all of the diagnoses. Physical function, role physical, and role emotional domains were also low. For caregivers, all of the QOL summary scores of the SF-8 for all diagnoses were significantly lower than the national standard value. Although there were several significant correlations of QOL between patients and caregivers, overall the correlations were low.Conclusions: Support for patients with neurological diseases and their caregivers is needed in order to maintain physical and mental QOL.

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Age-specific incidence rates of breast cancer among Japanese women recently increased in a bimodal distribution pattern with two peaks in the premenopausal and postmenopausal groups. The recent incidence rates among premenopausal women in Japan appear to have exceed those in the United States. Focusing on diet in Japan during 2005 through 2015, changes in the incidence rates of breast cancer, different from those of colon cancer which is originally regarded to be increased by westernized lifestyle factors, negatively correlated with the intake of fruits, vegetables, algae, or fish and shellfish, whereas those positively correlated with the meat intake. The continuing increase in breast cancer incidence among Japanese women was associated with the recent change in food intake from the Japanese diet to the Western-like diet, especially among premenopausal women. From the relevant literature, the changes in food intake among Japanese women are inferred to possibly link with an increase in inflammation and estrogen levels.