Efficient health information management systems using wireless communications technology to aid disaster victims.

Japan is an earthquake-prone country, and disasters have a devastating effect on the lives of residents in stricken areas. Shelters can be constructed in order to secure the physical safety of residents, but there are no such provisions for the shock of experiencing a disaster, losing property and friends, and transitioning to an unfamiliar life in a shelter, all of which can lead to mental disorders. Caretakers such as medical doctors and nurses who are dispatched to disaster sites also face difficulties in the disruption of communications and transportation, thus a system able to secure efficient health management in those facilities is also required. This paper proposes a health information management system that utilizes mobile phone cameras and mark-sensing cards to improve recovery conditions in disaster-stricken areas.

Changes in regional cerebral blood volume in frontal cortex during mental work with and without caffeine intake: functional monitoring using near-infrared spectroscopy.

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to measure frontal regional cerebral blood volume (rCBV) in a person whose brain was under the influence of pharmacological agents while the person was performing a complex task. Fourteen healthy participants were administered Uchida-Kraepelin psychodiagnostic (UKP) tests before and after caffeine intake, and the concentration of caffeine in the urine was measured. The average number of answers and the average number of correct answers given by the participants improved significantly following caffeine intake. During the UKP testing, changes in the rCBV in the inferior frontal cortex were continuously measured using NIRS. The volume during the rest periods decreased as a result of caffeine-induced constriction of the cerebral arteriola. The volume increased during the mental work, but the degree of the increase was the same before and after caffeine intake. Although the performance of the mental work improved following caffeine intake, the improvement was not reflected in the rCBV in the inferior frontal cerebral cortex. These results suggest that caffeine helps to protect the brain from excessive hyperemia in addition to activating the neurons in the prefrontal cortex.