These findings show that the lifestyle behaviors of children are significantly associated with psychosomatic symptoms and suggest that poor lifestyle behaviors are likely to increase physical and psychological health risks.

A trial investigation of subjects gathered for annual health checkups was performed to detect domains of quality of life in the healthy public, and to explore the changes of their demographic characteristics for the possibility of engaging them in health service activities in the community. The eligible 1,096 subjects aged 30-79 years were investigated. The period of this survey was from September to December, 1997. The subjects were questioned using ten quality of life domains which were preliminarily prepared and had been assumed to be most important in the subjects' lives in relation to the order of priority, importance, and satisfaction levels. The first most important domain in both the male and female subjects' lives was personal health, followed by relationships with family, though the mean importance scores for their personal health and relationships with family were almost equivalent. The mean scores for work abruptly decreased in males over 60 years of age. Also, the first large and the second relatively small principal components were extracted through principal components analysis. The proposed ten domains of quality of life are most likely valid and reliable in terms of the results analyzed and the comparison with a referred study. Relationships with family is an effective cue for health service activities in the community, and the significance of work on quality of life in the healthy public will have to be taken into account separately, especially in males.

Objectives: To examine the relationship between lifestyles and psychosomatic symptoms in children, we conducted a self-administered questionnaire survey of elementary school students and junior high school students in Japan.Methods: We designed an original questionnaire to investigate the lifestyles and psychosomatic symptoms of children. In 1997, responses to the questionnaires were elicited from public elementary school fourth grade students (then aged 9-10) and public junior high school seventh grade students (then aged 12-13). The survey was repeated annually for three years as the students advanced through school.Results: For both boys and girls, each cross-sectional analysis revealed a strong relationship between lifestyle behaviors and psychosomatic symptoms. Psychosomatic symptoms scores varied according to daily hours of sleep, eating of breakfast, having strong likes and dislikes of food, bowel habits, and daily hours of television watching. Both boys and girls with "good" lifestyle behaviors evaluated by the HPI (Health Practice Index) showed lower scores for psychosomatic symptoms.Conclusions: These findings show that the lifestyle behaviors of children are significantly associated with psychosomatic symptoms and suggest that poor lifestyle behaviors are likely to increase physical and psychological health risks.

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Objectives: To use the evaluation of a specific brain function obtained by optical topography. This system uses a non invasive method to measure brain function, unlike other major systems.Methods: Twelve optical fibers were attached to the subject's head. Hemodynamic changes in the motor cortex were measured during finger tapping before and after alcohol intake for each ALDH2 genotype.Results: Different hemodynamic changes in the motor cortex were observed among the ALDH2 genotypes.Conclusions: Optical topography is a useful tool for evaluating specific brain functions. Further research is needed on the relations between various environmental factors and brain functions by optical topography.