Objectives : The present study investigates the effects of body iron stores upon indices of biosynthesis and destruction of red blood cells (RBC) induced by a single session of cycling exercise.
Design : Eight sedentary female students were divided into groups depending on their body iron stores : normal (C group, n=5) and iron deficient (D group, n=3) . Blood samples were collected at five time points of before (pre), immediately after (0 hours), then 1, 3 and 6 hours after exercise (248±31 kcal, 70% V0₂ peak level) . Osmotic fragility and serum haptoglobin (hp) concentration served as of for degradation, and δ-aminolevulinate dehydratase (ALAD) activity, erythropoietin concentration and number of reticulocytes served as indices of RBC biosynthesis.
Results : A single session of cycling exercise did not affect the level of RBC, hemoglobin, hematocrit, serum iron, ferritin, transferrin saturation, hp and osmotic fragility in either groups. The δ-ALAD activity increased at 3 (p<0.05) and 6 hours (p<0.01) after exercise compared with that at 0 hours in the C group. In contrast, δ -ALAD activity in the D group was significantly lower at 3 hours after exercise than that of C group (p<0.001) . Reticulocytes and erythropoietin concentration increased gradually in the C group after exercise, but not in the D group.
Conclusions : A single session of cycling exercise under our experimental conditions enhanced RBC biosynthesis indicated by δ -ALAD activity, whereas exercise-induced hemolysis was not evident. Body iron stores affect the δ -ALAD activity induced by a single bout of cycling exercise.

Objective: In this study, we evaluated the change in degree of recognition and understanding of palliative care as pharmacy students’ years advanced.
Methods: A questionnaire survey consisting of 11 items about recognition of narcotics and 27 items about understanding of palliative care was conducted with first- to fifth-year pharmacy students.  We divided the questions about the image of narcotics into groups and classified the questions about their knowledge of palliative care into the categories based on some reports.
Results: Among the three groups of questions about the image of narcotics, the degree of “right recognition of narcotics” increased, and those of “wrong recognition of narcotics” and “sense of resistance to narcotics” decreased as pharmacy students’ years advanced.  Additionally, questions about their knowledge of palliative care were categorized into three: “basic guidelines for cancer pain relief and methods of narcotic use,” “role of pharmacists in palliative care and support for patients,” and “pharmacologic characteristics of narcotics.”  Their degree of understanding of each category increased with an increase in years.  Both the recognition of narcotics and understanding of palliative care changed in the fourth- and fifth-grade year students compared to the first-, second-, and third-year ones.
Conclusion: These results suggest that the recognition and understanding of palliative care changed along the same trends as pharmacy students’ years advanced.  Therefore, it is important that pharmacy students acquire appropriate knowledge to play an active role in palliative care.