Japanese food is popular worldwide and has been registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. There is a scoring system named “the 12-component modified Japanese Diet Index (mJDI12),” which focuses on the intake of the Japanese diet pattern. It includes 12 foods and food groups: rice, miso soup, pickles, soy products, green and yellow vegetables, fruits, seafood, mushrooms, seaweed, green tea, coffee, and beef and pork. Scores range from 0 to 12, with higher scores indicating a diet that conforms to the Japanese food pattern.

A research group led by Dr. Hideki Fujii M.D. and Associate Professor Yoshinari Matsumoto at the Osaka Metropolitan University analyzed the relationship between meals rated by mJDI12, muscle mass, and liver fibrosis progression in 136 patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) attending the Osaka Metropolitan University Hospital.

The connections between the structure of the brain and its function are a key focus of neuroscience. A new Medical University of Vienna study involving a team of international partners has been looking at evolution and its relationship with the capabilities of human and animal brain architecture. The findings showed that the shape of the brain has developed in parallel with the organ’s function throughout the course of evolution. The results of the study were published in the renowned journal Nature Communications.

In the study, 3D surface models of the brains of 90 species of Euarchontoglires (supraprimates), such as humans, macaques, marmosets, mice, rats, squirrels and hamsters, were examined. Computer-based modelling of common ancestors and analysis of the shapes of neuronal structures was used to create a common representation of the brains. For the first time, this made it possible to analyse the diversity of brain forms and their relationship to function, behaviour and ecology, i.e. the relationship between living beings and their environment.