Determining the relationship between the entire brain structure and individual differences is important in extending healthy life expectancy, which can be affected by brain atrophy. The entire brain structure has been gradually known to be correlated not only with age but also with individual differences, such as quality of life, general intelligence, and lifestyle. However, little attention has been paid to the relationship between the entire brain structure and personal traits. We herein focused on one personal trait, namely spiritual growth, (...) and examined its relationship with the entire brain structure using two neuroimaging-derived measures, namely the gray matter Brain Healthcare Quotient, a measure of GM volume, and the fractional anisotropy Brain Healthcare Quotient, a measure of white matter integrity, in 229 healthy participants. The results indicated no significant relationship between the GM-BHQ and spiritual growth, but there was a significant positive correlation between the FA-BHQ and spiritual growth after controlling for age, sex, and body mass index with partial correlation analysis. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between the FA-BHQ and spiritual growth after controlling for physical characteristics, such as age, sex, and BMI, as well as other variables related to lifestyle that were collected using the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile. These results support the idea that there is a relationship between the entire WM brain structure and spiritual growth. Further studies are required to clarify the causal relationship between the entire WM brain structure and spiritual growth with some interventions to improve spiritual growth. Such studies will help extend healthy life expectancy from a new perspective of personal trait. (shrink)

Prostaglandin (PG) D2 and PGE2 are positional isomers; however, they sometimes exhibit opposite physiological functions, such as in cancer development. Because DP receptors are considered to be a duplicated copy of EP2 receptors, PGD2 and PGE2 cross‐react with both receptors. These prostanoids may act as biased agonists for each receptor. In reviewing this field, a hypothesis was proposed to explain the opposed effects of these prostanoids from the viewpoints of the evolution of, mutations in, and biased activities of their receptors. (...) Previous findings showing more mutations/variations in DP receptors than EP2 receptors among individuals worldwide indicate that DP receptors are still in a rapid evolutionary stage. The opposing effects of these prostanoids on cancer development may be attributed to the biased activity of PGE2 for DP receptors, which may incidentally develop during the process of the old ligand, PGE2 gaining selectivity to newly diverged DP receptors. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate what Descartes’ purpose of philosophy is by raising questions concerning the style of Descartes’ writing. In particular, I shall focus on investigating the characteristic style of Descartes’ Discourse on the Method. It is often considered that Descartes is not only the founder of modernphilosophy but also the father of foundationalism in epistemology. In fact, Descartes’ most celebrated argument of cogito is sometimes understood only in the context of epistemological foundationalism. However, Descartes’ epistemology (...) is quite different from the one that is often understood as the theory of knowledge in the contemporary scene of philosophy. Paying attention to Descartes’ style of writing, we realize that it is necessary for us to see his epistemology in a different framework from the contemporary philosophers’. I shall show that the purpose of philosophy for Descartes is not to present disputations for propounding anddefending his own theory in philosophy, but to let the readers of his writing engaged with philosophy. (shrink)

BackgroundA brief measure of dispositional mindfulness is important for applied research on mindfulness. Although short forms of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, which measures the five aspects of mindfulness, have been developed worldwide, the validity and reliability of the Japanese version has not been examined. This study aims to examine the validity and reliability of the 24-item and 15-item versions of the FFMQ in Japan, which are the most widely used versions worldwide.MethodsOnline surveys were conducted for 889 adults in Japan (...) through an online survey company using self-reported questionnaires including the FFMQ to confirm the factor structure and validity. To examine construct validity, we examined the relationship between the short form of FFMQ and mind wandering, interoceptive awareness, experiential avoidance, cognitive fusion, openness, neuroticism, self-compassion, depression, and anxiety, which have been theoretically or empirically shown to be related to mindfulness. In addition, 137 adults responded to the FFMQ again, after four weeks, for the test-retest reliability.ResultsThe correlated five-factor and four-factor models and the higher-order factor hierarchical model did not show sufficient goodness of fit, while the 24-item version showed acceptable fit when uncorrelated method factors loaded on by the positive and negative items were added. However, the 15-item version did not show acceptable fits for any of the models. Regarding reliability, the 24-item version showed acceptable values. In terms of the relationship between the original and the shortened version of the FFMQ, the 24-item version shared approximately 80% of the variance with the original one. In addition, although the wording effects of positive and negative items seemed to affect the correlations between the FFMQ and the other scales, the associations with related concepts were as predicted generally, supporting the construct validity of the short form of the FFMQ.ConclusionIn Japan, the 24-item version of FFMQ showed acceptable validity and reliability similar to the original version, and we recommend that the 24-item version be used. (shrink)