Background：The ease of sit-to-stand（STS）leads to reduction of burden on muscle activity. In the previous study, it is reported that the the height and tilting angle of a seating face（HAS）can influence the STS. It is, however, unclear how the HAS affects the STS. The aim of the present study is to examine the combination of HAS to ease the STS. Methods：Subjects were 12 healthy men. Evaluation of muscle activity was performed on the surface electromyography（SE）. SE adhered to Vastus lateralis（VL）, Rectus femoris（RF）, Vastus medialis and Tibialis anterior. Each HAS prepared 3 patterns. Therefore, the STS experiment was conducted with 9 patterns in total（3×3 patterns combined）. HAS was analyzed in a two-way analysis of variance（two-way ANOVA）. Results：In VL, there was a significant difference due to HAS difference（p=0.027）. There was a significant difference in the height of each muscle group（p=0.000）, Angle was only RF significant（p=0.009）. Conclusion：Combination of HAS was effective in VL. it was found that high chair has small muscle activity and low chair has large muscle activity. RF muscle activity is alleviated by anteversion angle.

We examined the relationship between the thickness of the mammary glands in late pregnancy and the amount of breast milk produced 3-5 days after giving birth. Fourteen pregnant women in this study were at 34-35 weeks of gestation. We measured the thickness of their mammary glands during each checkup from the 34th or 35th week of their pregnancy to the final checkup before delivery, using portable ultrasonic diagnostic equipment（Vscan Dual Probe）. We divided the subjects into two groups on the basis of the thickness of the mammary glands before delivery using 29.0mm. We used the linear mixed model to analyze this study, by grouping the subjects and postpartum days, defining the interaction as fixed effect, and the subjects as random effect. We showed that the amount of breast milk produced by women was significantly related with groups and postpartum days（p=.030, .001）. The amount of breast milk produced by women with a mammary gland thickness of 29.0mm or more was significantly greater than that of women with a mammary gland thickness of less than 29.0mm. These findings suggest a relationship between the thickness of the mammary glands at the final checkup before delivery and the amount of breast milk produced after giving birth.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity of two methods of bladder volume estimation with respect to the voided volume and a small voided volume using hand-held ultrasound（HHU）devices. HHU devices were used in a random sequence prior to urination, followed by the estimation of voided volume. Estimated volume was then calculated using either diameter method or area method. Three devices（HHU-A, HHU-B, and HHU-C）used manual measurements of three bladder diameters（diameter method）. Two devices（HHU-D and HHU-E）used automatic measurements of bladder area（area method）. Regression coefficient was calculated using voided volume as the true value. In total, 36 data-points were obtained and the regression coefficient was closest to one in the order of HHU-A（β=0.95）, HHU-B（β=0.87）, HHU-D（β=1.17）, HHU-C（β=1.20）, and HHU-E（β=0.67）. In total, 23 data-points of less than 150 ml were obtained and the regression coefficient was closest to one in HHU-A（β=0.95）, HHU-B（β=0.87）, HHU-D（β=1.17）, HHU-C（β=1.20）, and HHU-E（β=0.67）. HHU devices using the manual diameter method had higher validity than those using the area method.

In this study, we examined whether the detection of inflammatory cytokines in the skin of newborns by skin blotting can serve as an objective measure of skin problems. We compared the detection strengths of albumin and inflammatory cytokines（interleukin（IL）-1α, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor（TNF）-α）obtained using transepidermal water loss values or skin blotting of rash-presenting and non-rash-presenting neonatal skin, and found that the detection strengths of IL-6 and TNF-α inflammatory cytokines were significantly higher（p<0.05）in skin with rashes than in that without. Furthermore, the cut-off values for the detection of skin problems were 2.77μg and 8.15μg for IL-6 and TNF-α, respectively. Both of these cut-off values had a sensitivity of 0.86, a specificity of 1.00, and an area under the curve of 0.92. These findings suggest that the detection of IL-6 and TNF-α by skin blotting may serve as an objective measure of skin problems in newborns.