People suffering from motion sickness may be able to prevent their symptoms from developing just by listening to a minute of special sound, a Japanese research team said. The research found a sound at 100 hertz stimulates the inner ear and helps to reduce motion sickness by improving balance, the team said, while current preventive measures are largely limited to taking medicines.
The National Federation of Health Insurance Societies, or Kenporen, said Wednesday that the average premium rate at corporate health insurance societies in Japan is expected to hit a record high of 9.34 pct in fiscal 2025. The rate is projected to rise 0.03 percentage point from the previous year ended in March, affected by higher contributions to the medical care services for the elderly, according to the group of health insurance societies for employees of large corporations and their families.
The number of new cases of acute respiratory infection, or ARI, reported at some 3,000 designated medical institutions across Japan was 181,270 in the week through April 13, a national institute said Tuesday. According to the Japan Institute for Health Security, the number of ARI patients per medical institution in the reporting week stood at 49.39. By prefecture, Tochigi logged the highest figure, at 94.13, and Kochi posted the lowest figure, at 27.37. The number of ARI patients will be released every Tuesday, and the overview of the ARI situation in Japan will be updated every Friday.
Japan’s health ministry has started monitoring acute respiratory infections, including cold symptoms, under the infectious diseases control law to detect unknown illnesses promptly. The measure, based on the lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic, allows the ministry to keep an eye on a wide range of infectious diseases to spot unknown illnesses.
As many as 49.2 pct of needy households with infants have experienced an inability to buy disposable diapers due to economic reasons, according to a survey by international nongovernmental organization Save the Children Japan.
An inability to buy baby formula has been experienced by 39.6 pct.
According to the survey, conducted online between June and August last year, 74.6 pct of respondents said they changed diapers less often when they couldn’t buy diapers, while an inability to buy powdered milk led 41.1 pct to feed babies with diluted formula and 27.9 pct to use less of it.
Exposure to secondhand smoke during pregnancy increases by about 2.3 times the risk of placental abruption, a condition in which part of the placenta separates from the uterine wall before childbirth, according to a study conducted by a team from Japan’s Tohoku University. It found that pregnant women exposed to secondhand smoke for four to seven days a week and at least an hour a day had 2.34 times the risk of suffering placental abruption compared with those who were not. The risk was 2.21 times higher among pregnant women who smoked at least 11 cigarettes per day compared with nonsmokers.
Shareholders of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co. on Friday approved the company’s proposed slate of 10 board nominees, including executive officer Norikazu Toyoda, who is set to become new president and CEO of the scandal-tainted Japanese company.
A preview ceremony was held Sunday for the “Osaka Healthcare Pavilion” to be run by the prefecture and city of Osaka at the 2025 World Exposition, which begins next month in the western Japan city. Inside the pavilion, a myocardial cell sheet using induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cell technology and an experience-based area where avatars are generated based on visitors’ health data were shown to the press.
By March 17th, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare had thoroughly informed local governments that it is prohibited for disability welfare service facilities and businesses to pay money or goods to referral companies in return for introducing users to them, as this is a violation of the operating standards. It was originally prohibited to pay referral fees to consultation support specialists who create service usage plans and other disability welfare businesses, but the treatment of the general public and referral companies was unclear, so this was clarified.
School doctors in Japan still have to take the risk of facing complaints from parents about their children’s body parts being exposed during regular health checkups although the education ministry took measures to soothe such parental anxiety over a year ago. According to a survey conducted in June by online medical information provider m3.com, more than 80 pct of the 1,970 responding practitioners and physicians did not want to become school doctors chiefly out of concern that parents “more than necessary” tend not to allow their children’s bodies to be shown to the doctors.
Barrier Free Japan