Exposure to 1-minute sound may prevent motion sickness: Japan team
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 study comes as the risk of suffering from motion sickness is on the rise with the development of self-driving vehicle technology, as it is passengers rather than drivers that tend to develop symptoms, according to the team, which includes researchers from Nagoya University.
In the experiment, around 80 volunteers were exposed to the special sound at a certain volume for one minute shortly before riding on a swing, a driving simulator and an actual car, while a similar group took part without exposure to the sound.
The study showed 70 to 80 percent of those who were exposed to the sound found symptoms such as lightheadedness and nausea were alleviated, according to the findings published last month in medical journal Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine.
The improvement in such symptoms is believed to have been caused by the sound stimulating the otolithic organs in the inner ear, thus activating the vestibular system, the team said.
"We'd like to put (the study) into practice at an early date after carefully confirming its safety. We hope that this will be an option for people suffering from motion sickness," said Masashi Kato, a Nagoya University professor who participated in the research.
Related coverage:
Japan hospital uses insulin-producing iPS cells for type 1 diabetes
Innovation over tradition sending Dassai sake to the Moon
Japanese people more susceptible to authoritarian messages: research
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asahi Shimbun
3 hours ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Nagasaki hospital scans 50,000 A-bomb patient records
Workers scan patient documents at Nagasaki Genbaku Hospital in Nagasaki on May 21. (Takashi Ogawa) NAGASAKI--A hospital here has digitized the medical records of more than 50,000 people who survived the atomic bombing of the city in 1945. The Japanese Red Cross Nagasaki Genbaku Hospital has scanned the paper records of outpatients who used the hospital from 1958-2008, most of them hibakusha. It is currently doing the same for inpatient records. 'These documents and materials on the atomic bomb survivors are so precious,' said Tadaomi Aikawa, a doctor involved in the digitization project. 'They are a piece of world heritage. ... We have to pass them on to posterity.' Nagasaki Genbaku Hospital and other bodies are considering using the archive for big-data analysis, including correlating the records with those of another database in the city. Located in the city's Morimachi district, Genbaku Hospital is named for the atomic bomb ('genbaku' in Japanese). It opened in 1958, providing consultations, treatment and other services. In 2020, the hospital moved to a new location. Preparations for the move prompted officials to do something about the piles of paper records stashed in the building's basement. They decided to digitize outpatient charts and other documents prior to 2009, the year when the hospital went over to electronic records. The records would have stretched for 3.2 kilometers if placed in a line. 'Successive generations of doctors have carefully preserved these patient charts out of enthusiasm for the health care of atomic bomb survivors,' said Aikawa, 82. 10 YEARS OF WORK Hospital officials asked the health ministry for help in preserving the records. Digitization and database work began in fiscal 2017 under commission from the ministry. It was expected to take 10 years with an annual budget of 10 million yen ($67,000). Workers opened paper charts bound in hard covers and removed documents from patient folders for imaging. They also digitized tissue data such as biopsy records. The scanned data is held within the hospital's centralized management system. The digitization of outpatient records was completed in June last year. Work on inpatient records is still ongoing but may wrap up toward the end of 2027, officials said. Inpatient records include observations about patients held in wards overnight. POTENTIAL FOR RESEARCH The records include not only a great many hibakusha but also some patients who were not present in the city at the time of the bombing. This offers great potential for research, hospital officials said. It could be used, for example, to compare health trends in people who lived among the radioactive fallout and those who didn't. Currently, comparative studies of this sort can use data only from 2000 through 2024. The newly digitized records would allow researchers to look at other correlations, such as disease prevalence according to distance from ground zero and age at the time of exposure. 'In the future, the records could help reveal, for example, differences in the late conditions of atomic bombing survivors that are not limited to cancer alone,' said Hideki Taniguchi, the director of Genbaku Hospital. 'The availability of clinical data on atomic bombing survivors is extremely helpful for uncovering new insights.' Elsewhere, Nagasaki University's Atomic Bomb Disease Institute has created an Atomic Bomb Survivor Database, which covers data on atomic bombing survivors from 1970 onward. The ABDI worked with parties including the prefectural and city authorities of Nagasaki to obtain information on about 160,000 people in Nagasaki Prefecture who possess an Atomic Bomb Survivor's Certificate issued by the central government. The count includes those who have since died. The ABDI also contains the results of regular health checkups for hibakusha and information based on the prefectural government's cancer registration system. Officials from the hospital and Nagasaki University have been discussing how the newly digitized data might be used. The ABDI records could be correlated with Genbaku Hospital's patient information. Combining the two databases could help identify associations between noncancerous diseases and exposure to the atomic bomb, a university official said.
Yomiuri Shimbun
17 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japanese Govt to Enhance Cooperation for African Countries to Help Them Introduce Japanese School Education System
The government plans to enhance cooperation with African countries to help them introduce the Japanese educational system so that they can improve school education, especially in science fields such as the natural sciences and mathematics. The government aims for African countries to adopt Japanese-style school practices such as classroom discussions, cleaning school buildings and the 'nitchoku' rotation of students who perform class duties. In preparation for the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) to be held in Yokohama from Wednesday to Friday, the government has already signed a memorandum with Ghana and plans to do so with Egypt. Japan's school education system is characterized by factors such as having students learn discipline and cooperative attitudes through special activities in school events, in addition to normal classes. In Egypt, the Japanese system has been partially introduced and the Japanese government aims to proliferate it further. The memorandum documents with the two countries include cooperation measures such as vocational education and training in agricultural and engineering fields, assistance for entrepreneurship using digital technologies and special support education for disabled students. The government plans to hold exchange gatherings and lecture meetings for schoolteachers of the countries. The government also plans for collaboration among science and technology universities of Japan and African countries so that exchanges of human resources engaging in high-level studies will be further promoted. While China and Russia are increasing their presence in Africa, the Japanese government aims to contribute to fostering human resources who will lead the economic growth of African countries through this cooperation in the field of education. By doing so, the Japanese government aims to deepen ties with emerging and developing countries that are collectively dubbed the Global South.
2 days ago
Shiokara: Japan's Salty, Fermented Seafood
Building Blocks: The Basic Ingredients Behind Japan's Flavors The rich umami flavor of shiokara (most commonly salted, fermented squid) is an acquired taste, but devotees say that it goes perfectly with either rice or an alcoholic beverage. The Wisdom of Preserving Food Through Fermentation Shiokara is a fermented food, made by salting raw seafood and then letting it ferment naturally through the action of enzymes and microorganisms. While some say this way of preserving seafood was introduced into Japan from China during the Nara period (710–94), it is also possible it was developed independently. A surreal story included in the Konjaku monogatari, a collection of tales from the late Heian period (794–1185), tells of a man who, wanting to scare away tax collectors, feeds them especially salty shiokara and when they become thirsty, he serves them spoiled sake, which gives them diarrhea. From this, it would appear that preserving food through salting and fermenting was already a widespread method by this time. If it's Shiokara, it Must Be Squid! Shiokara, in its broadest sense, is the 'salted, fermented flesh and viscera of fish and seafood', but as squid is the most popular type of seafood preserved using this method, it tends to be what people think of first. Akazukuri ('red' shiokara) is the most common and is made by salting and fermenting the body and liver of the squid together. The rich flavor of the liver gives it a tantalizing taste. (© Pixta) When the liver is omitted and only the body of the squid salted and fermented, it is called shirozukuri ('white' shiokara), and has a refreshingly refined taste. (© Pixta) One more type of squid shiokara is kurozukuri ('black' shiokara), a local delicacy of Toyama Prefecture, in which squid ink is added to create a striking pitch-black appearance. Squid ink is full of umami compounds, giving it both a rich appearance and flavor. (© Pixta) Some people who love alcohol say that if they have good quality shiokara they can drink to their heart's content, but it is delicious served on freshly cooked rice too. Others use it in the same way as anchovies, another salted, fermented seafood, by adding it to pasta and stir-fries. A standard dish at Hokkaidō izakaya is shiokara jagabatā, a rather unusual combination of shiokara with buttered, steamed potatoes. The salty shiokara and creamy butter go well with the hot, fluffy potato. (© Pixta) (Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: Squid shiokara on freshly cooked rice. © Pixta.)
