The design of a career transition psychological support program for retired Olympic athletes in Japan

The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of an intervention program focused on career transition psychological support for retired Olympic athletes in Japan. It was expected that the intervention program would significantly enhance knowledge about career transition support for athletes and also enhance attitudes towards seeking career transition support. 24 retired Japanese female athletes who had competed in the Olympics between 1996 and 2016 participated in the study. The content of the support program was delivered in a three-part workshop, focusing on career transitions in sport, post-retriement psychological adjustment difficulties, and coping strategies. Pre-workshop and post-workshop assessment were conducted. Career transition support knowledge for athletes and attitudes about seeking career transition support significantly increased. The current results suggest that increasing knowledge helps retired and retiring athletes seek professional help. Practical applications and future research recommendations are provided

Pathways from transformational leadership to team resilience through motivational climate:findings from elite high school rugby teams in Japan

Team resilience is a critical capacity in sports, enabling teams to adapt to adversity and sustain performance under pressure. Although transformational leadership (TFL) has been identified as a key correlate of resilience, the distinct contributions of head coaches, captains, and athlete leaders through motivational climate remain unclear. This study examined associations between TFL and team resilience among elite high school male rugby players, focusing on motivational climate as a pathway. A total of 370 athletes (aged 16–18) from eight nationally competitive teams completed validated self-report questionnaires. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that captains’ TFL was associated with stronger task-involving climate and greater resilience, while athlete leaders’ TFL was associated with both more task-involving and less ego-involving climate, which was related to higher resilience and fewer vulnerabilities under pressure. Head coaches’ TFL was also associated with a more task-involving and less ego-involving climate, indirectly supporting resilience outcomes. Importantly, no direct effects of head coaches’ or athlete leaders’ TFL on resilience were observed, underscoring the central role of climate-related pathways. These findings highlight motivational climate as a key mechanism connecting leadership roles to resilience and suggest that empowering both captains and athlete leaders alongside coaches may be critical for enhancing adaptability in elite Japanese youth sports

学校で実施するメンタルヘルスリテラシー教育プログラムの開発に関する研究

学位の種別: 課程博士審査委員会委員 : （主査）東京大学教授 佐々木 司, 東京大学准教授 東郷 史治, 東京大学准教授 森田 賢治, 東京大学教授 遠藤 利彦, 東京大学教授 上別府 圭子University of Tokyo(東京大学

新しいBridge Weigh-in-Motionの開発と道路構造物の維持管理支援に関する研究

名古屋大学Nagoya University博士(工学)Fatigue damages have been actualized in highway structures in Japan. Truck load contributes to fatigue damage of bridges or pavements. Thus, control or traffic load is essential to sustainable maintenance on highway structures. Weigh-in Motion (WIM) are used for control and monitoring of the weight of trucks on highway. However, the number of WIM in Japan is not sufficient to control overloaded trucks. Bridge Weigh-in-Motion, which uses bridge members as a scale for truck load, is the alternative methods to WIM. Traditional BWIM methods required influence line of the bridge member, sensor for detecting of axle arriving time. Therefore, measurement and analysis procedure were more complicated than WIM. The objectives of this study are to establish new BWIM methods, to analyze the effect of truck load on fatigue damage of highway structures, and to show the availability of BWIM on maintenance of highway structures by case studies. Two BWIM methods, Influence area method and Reaction force method, were developed and tested on highway bridges. Influence area method can calculate gross vehicle weight by influence area, which is calculated from the integration of response wave at bridge members. Feasibility studies for the method were carried out on a Warren truss bridge and steel plate girder bridges. The Reaction force method detects axle loads from difference of strain wave at the end vertical stiffeners of simple supported plate girder bridges. These new methods have advantages of simple measurement, calibration and calculation. Truck load survey was carried out in steel plate girder bridges by BWIM. Fatigue damages were calculated for the each truck using Rain-Flow Counting Method and Miner and Miner’s rule. The factors of truck type and load condition in fatigue damages were investigated and discussed. Surveys of overloaded trucks, which could cause maximum stress on bridge girders, were carried out in two bridges. The stresses at the lower flange of main girders and truck loads by Influence area method were measured simultaneously. Truck cranes were observed when the maximum stress was recorded. Traffic load monitoring and vibration monitoring were carried out simultaneously in a viaduct. The single truck load conditions where only one truck existed on the viaduct were extracted from truck load records obtained by Reaction force method. The acceleration responses of bridge and ground to the single truck load were discussed. The effects of the truck type, load, and vehicle speed in vibration level and peak-acceleration value were described. A truck traffic survey on a national road was carried out by Reaction force method. BWIM was used as an alternative method of traffic survey. The results showed that many trucks used the national road as a by-pass route for expressway at night.名古屋大学博士学位論文 学位の種類:博士(工学) (論文) 学位授与年月日:平成18年3月27日doctoral thesi

Diurnal variation of spatial structure of katabatic wind over the coastal region of the Antarctic ice-sheet

第6回極域科学シンポジウム[OM] 極域気水圏11月16日（月）　国立極地研究所１階交流アトリウ

Effect of the lateral growth rate on wood properties in fast-growing hardwood species

We investigated the feasibility of using several fast- growing tropical or subtropical hardwood species for timber production by measuring key wood qualities in relationship to the high rates of lateral growth. The trees tested were sampled from even-aged plantations of Acacia mangium, A. auriculiformis, hybrid Acacia(A.mangium × A. auriculiformis), Eucalyptus grandis, E. globulus, and Paraserianthes falcataria (Solomon and Java origin) that had already reached commercial harvesting age. The released strain of the surface growth stress (RS), xylem density (XD), microfibril angle (MFA), and fiber length (FL) were measured at the outermost part of the xylem at breast height in each tree. Results were then compared to the lateral growth rate (radius/age) at breast height, which provides a relative indicator of the amount of tree growth per year. Our findings indicated that RS was constant, regardless of lateral growth rate in each species. Similar results were observed for XD, MFA, and FL, with a few exceptions, suggesting that high growth rates do not intrinsically affect the wood properties of fast-growing tropical or subtropical species that have reached harvesting age. However, special attention must be paid to patterns of xylem maturation when developing plantations of such species

MRI Discriminates Thrombus Composition and ST Resolution after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Patients with ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Histological composition of material obtained by thrombus aspiration during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI) is highly variable. We aimed to characterize this material using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to correlate MRI findings with the success of PCI in terms of ST-segment resolution. Thrombus aspiration during primary or rescue PCI was attempted in 100 consecutive STEMI patients, of whom enough material for MRI was obtained in 59. MR images were obtained at 9.4T and T1 and T2 values were measured. Patients with (n = 31) and without (n = 28) adequate ST resolution 120 min after PCI (≥70% of pre-PCI value) had similar baseline characteristics except for a higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus in the latter (10 vs. 43%, p = 0.003). T1 values were similar in both groups (1248±112 vs. 1307±85 ms, respectively, p = 0.7). T2 values averaged 31.2±10.3 and 36.6±12.2 ms; in thrombus from patients with and without adequate ST resolution (p = 0.09). After adjusting for diabetes and other baseline characteristics, lower T2 values were significantly associated with inadequate ST resolution (odds ratio for 1 ms increase 1.08, CI 95% 1.01–1.16, p = 0.027). Histology classified thrombus in 3 groups: coagulated blood (n = 38), fibrin rich (n = 9) and lipid-rich (n = 3). Thrombi composed mostly of coagulated blood were characterized as being of short (n = 10), intermediate (n = 15) or long evolution (n = 13), T2 values being 34.0±13.2, 31.9±8.3 and 31.5±7.9 ms respectively (p = NS). In this subgroup, T2 was significantly higher in specimens from patients with inadequate perfusion (35.9±10.3 versus 28.6±6.7 ms, p = 0.02). This can be of clinical interest as it provides information on the probability of adequate ST resolution, a surrogate for effective myocardial reperfusion

Assessment of cardiac ischaemia and viability: role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance

Over the past years, cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has proven its efficacy in large clinical trials, and consequently, the assessment of function, viability, and ischaemia by CMR is now an integrated part of the diagnostic armamentarium in cardiology. By combining these CMR applications, coronary artery disease (CAD) can be detected in its early stages and this allows for interventions with the goal to reduce complications of CAD such as infarcts and subsequently chronic heart failure (CHF). As the CMR examinations are robust and reproducible and do not expose patients to radiation, they are ideally suited for repetitive studies without harm to the patients. Since CAD is a chronic disease, the option to monitor CAD regularly by CMR over many decades is highly valuable. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance also progressed recently in the setting of acute coronary syndromes. In this situation, CMR allows for important differential diagnoses. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance also delineates precisely the different tissue components in acute myocardial infarction such as necrosis, microvascular obstruction (MVO), haemorrhage, and oedema, i.e. area at risk. With these features, CMR might also become the preferred tool to investigate novel treatment strategies in clinical research. Finally, in CHF patients, the versatility of CMR to assess function, flow, perfusion, and viability and to characterize tissue is helpful to narrow the differential diagnosis and to monitor treatment

Adolescents at risk of self-harm in Ghana: a qualitative interview study exploring the views and experiences of key adult informants

Background In Ghana, rates of self-harm in young people are as high as they are in high income countries. Self-reported interpersonal, familial and societal stressors form the most important background, and self-harm is seen by young people as a way of responding to that stress. In the present study, we obtained the views of key adult informants about self-harm among adolescents in Ghana – what they thought as possible reasons for self-harm in young people and what actions might be needed at an individual or population level to respond to the problem. Methods We interviewed face-to-face 11 adults, using a semi-structured interview guide. We used an experiential thematic analysis technique to analyse the transcribed interviews. Results The analysis identified five themes: “underestimating the prevalence of self-harm in adolescents”, “life on the streets makes self-harm less likely”, “self-harm in adolescents is socially and psychologically understandable”, “ambivalence about responding to adolescent self-harm”, and “few immediate opportunities for self-harm prevention in Ghana”. Adolescent self-harm was acknowledged but its scale was underestimated. The participants offered explanations for adolescent self-harm in social and psychological terms that are recognisable from accounts in high income countries. Low rates among street-connected young people were explained by their overarching orientation for survival. Participants agreed that identification was important, but they expressed a sense of inadequacy in identifying and supporting adolescents at risk of self-harm. Again, the participants agreed that self-harm in adolescents should be prevented, but they recognised that relevant policies were not in place or if there were policies they were not implemented – mental health and self-harm were not high on public or political priorities. Conclusions The adults we interviewed about young people who self-harm see themselves as having a role in identifying adolescents at risk of self-harm and see the organisations in which they work as having a role in responding to individual young people in need. These are encouraging findings that point to at least one strand of a policy in Ghana for addressing the problem of self-harm in young people