Kazuko Hirai's research while affiliated with Osaka City University and other places

... 2,15 In addition to age, gender and mental status (depression), 12 modifiable lifestyle factors such as smoking habits, alcoholic consumption, body mass index (BMI), physical activity, and skipping meals have been associated with constipation. 10,13,[16][17][18]25 Moreover, constipation has also been reported to be associated with the consumption of some foods. 18,19,21 However, comprehensive studies on such associations in young Japanese women are sparse. ...

... The reported prevalence of constipation ranges from 2 to 30% in Western countries, depending on the definition applied (Garrigues et al., 2004;Higgins and Johanson, 2004). In Japan, the prevalence of constipation, defined as p3 bowel movements weekly, also seems to be relatively high (6-25%) (Hirai and Takezoe, 1997;Hirai et al., 2001). As a result of its high prevalence, chronic nature and effect on quality of life (Talley, 2004), modifiable lifestyle factors associated with constipation need to be identified. ...

... An increasing trend in TC and TG with age has also been observed in male population in southeastern Nepal. 12 Mean LDL level was found increased with age in one of the previous study from the same region. 11 Mean lipid levels in this survey is slightly higher in comparison with one report 18 from eastern part of Nepal. ...

... In addition, some participants found it difficult to prepare Washoku, which they believed to be good for their health and breast milk, due to a lack of cooking skills. In Japan, Washoku is generally perceived as a healthy diet but is difficult to prepare [43,44]. For women who consider themselves to not be good at cooking, it may be necessary to introduce services that reduce the burden of cooking or provide easy-to-prepare recipes and to tell them that they do not have to restrict themselves to Washoku or homemade dishes. ...

... Previous literature reported conflicting results for ω-6 PUFAs as well. Our results corroborate studies from Australia and Japan that found a higher concentration of total ω-6 PUFAs and AA in patients with cognitive impairment and dementia than in controls [61][62][63]. Others found no such differences [26,64]. ...

... Although the requirements of vitamin B1 and B6 was met by typical diets of other wealth groups, these nutrients were deficient in the typical food basket of the Very poor. Consumption of food varied between regions in Nepal (Ohno et al. 2004;Ohno et al. 2007). However, researchers have shown that diets among households in the plain were predominantly cereal based where cereals provided bulk of the energy, and consumption of animal foods was very low (Hirai et al. 1994;Ohno et al. 2007;Sudo et al. 2006). ...

... .&: -4' N It is also known that an increase in serum Pi has a relationship with diabetic nephropathy [27]. The decrease in the Pi in diabetic curcumin group suggest that curcumin is ameliorating the renal abnonnalities. ...

... Intestinal parasites particularly STH are known to cause malnutrition and its associated manifestations. Previous studies from Nepal have established that STH cause anemia, vitamin A deficiency, and other micronutrient deficiency among Nepalese [40,41]. This might have contributed in the decreasing proportion of malnourished children during recent years [5]. ...

... In the present study, dietary cholesterol levels significantly affect the plasma Ca level (r 0·743, P,0·01), and serum cholesterol is positively related to serum Ca levels (r 0·627, P, 0·01). Similar results have been reported in fish (64) , rats (65) and chickens (66) . These results indicate that one of the hypercholesterolaemic actions of dietary cholesterol is to induce an increase in plasma Ca concentrations (63,65) , which may be related to (1) the alteration of the membrane fluidity, (2) the increase in surface area resulting from the insertion of cholesterol into the membrane and (3) the interaction between cholesterol and the proteins of the Ca 2þ channel and of the Ca 2þ pump (63) . ...

... In the current study, the 90°C processed SO had the lowest TOC concentration with 147 mg/kg oil followed by 180°C, 45°C, and fresh oil with 595, 821, and 870 mg/kg respectively. This data is similar to Miyagawa et al. (1991) who evaluated a blend of SO and rapeseed oil and with Lindblom et al. (2018a) and Overholt et al. (2018a) using SO who reported that thermally processing these oils would result in a degradation of tocopherols. ...