The purpose of this study was to measure the effectiveness of RPE on exercise intensity for senior citizens. A maximum workload test was administered with the use of a bicycle ergometer on older male and female subjects. The results of our study can be summarized as follows:
1. Two trials were performed on separate days. A high correlation coefficient for the first trial and the second trial was found. The reliability for the male group was r=0.76 (p<0.01) and that for the female group r=0.90 (p<0.01) .
2. A correlation range of r=0.55-0.79 (p (0.01) was found for RPE and physiological exercise intensity (which includes oxygen intake and heart rate) . A higher result was found when the relative value was used in the analysis of the oxygen intake and the heart rate instead of the absolute value.
3. Significant correlation coefficients of r=0.63-0.64 (p<0.01) were found for RPE and the work load in terms of watt units.
4. The majority of the physiological variables were statistically determined ; however, there were no correlations between RPE and systolic blood pressure.
In conclusion, based on our study, we have found that RPE and HR ; RPE and %Vo₂max: RPE and watts grouped individually had a high correlation for effectiveness. The only exception in our study was the RPE and the blood pressure group because no correlation was found overall. Therefore, the overall effectiveness of RPE was proven to be quite sensitive even for senior citizens, and as a result RPE can be utilized when exercise is prescribed for evaluatory measurement in senior citizens.

We investigated electroclinical features in patients with symptomatic or cryptogenic generalized epilepsies except for West syndrome. They were divided into a tonic group and a myoclonic group. As a result these groups exhibited different features with some overlap between them. They included Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, severe epilepsy with multiple independent spike foci (SE-MISF), Doose syndrome and other unclassifi ed cases. Thus the boundary between these epilepsy syndromes is sometimes blurred. In patients with SE-MISF, main seizure types were minor generalized seizures though the main EEG fi ndings were multifocal spikes. The role of both cortical and subcortical mechanisms in the occurrence of symptomatic generalized epilepsies should be further clarifi ed.

Although maximal oxygen uptake (VO₂max) or oxygen uptake corresponding to lactate threshold (VO₂@LT) is considered the single best determinant of one's cardio-respiratory endurance or aerobic capacity, the direct measurement of these attributes requires elaborate equipment, trained personnel, special knowledge, and/or a maximal effort on the part of the subject who is tested. In addition, the measurement is time consuming. The current investigation was designed to examine the validity of aerobic capacity estimated from submaximal cycling exercise and field performance tests in the elderly. The subjects tested were 18 sedentary men and women aged 63 to 75 years (69.7±3.4) . Indirect VO₂max tests were selected from those proposed by Astrand and Ryhming, Siconolfi et al., and Margaria et al. (step test), and YMCA. The VO₂max values estimated by these methods, with the exception of the Siconolfi method, were found to have large errors when compared to the errors obtained in previous studies for younger subjects. There were no significant correlations between step test scores and VO₂max and VO₂@LT in the elderly. Correlations of 12-min distance walk with VO₂max (r=.711) and VO₂@LT (r=.714) were significant. Our findings suggest that 12min distance walk be a better aerobic capacity test than other indirect VO₂max tests including Astrand and Ryhming test.

Maximal oxygen uptake (Vo₂max) and lactate threshold were measured during an incremental bicycle ergometer test in 40 healthy middle-aged and older runners between 43 and 79 years of age. Although the 10-km run time slowed with increasing age, there were no significant differences in recent training habits or relative amount of body fat between four age groups. However, our cross-sectional data revealed an annual decrement of -0.74 ml/kg/ min/yr, which was significantly greater than that reported in previous studies. Vo₂max values for the runners were greater than those for sedentary men of similar ages by about 50% in each age group. Significant correlations were found between the age at the onset of running training and Vo₂max (r=-0.600, p<0.05) . Vo₂@LT declined significantly but less rapidly with age (r=0.686, p<0.05) than Vo₂max. Both the mean maximal heart rate (HRmax) and HR@LT also declined with age. No significant differences in HRmax were observed between the runners and sedentary men of the respective age groups. Significant correlations were also found between the estimated HRmax and directly measured HRmax (r=0.600) . Neither systolic blood pressure nor diastolic blood pressure during submaximal-maximal exercise were found to increase with age. We suggest that maintenance of a higher lactate threshold in older runners when expressed as a percentage of Vo₂max is attributable to a greater age-dependent decline in Vo₂max with a smaller change in Vo₂@LT.

During the eleven years from January 1978 to December 1988, we experienced 1, 287 cases of gastric cancer, hospitalized in the surgical department of Tsuchiura Kyodo Hospital which is located in the southern agricultural district of Ibaraki Prefecture.
Among these 1, 287 cases, 1, 233 patients were operated on. Gastric resection was performed in 1, 059 cases including 337 cases of total gastrectomy with the resection rate of 85.9 percent (1, 059/1, 233). In 863 cases, resection gave histologically satisfactory results, and our curative resection rate was 70.0 percent (863/1, 233). Direct mortality rate was 2.35% in all operated cases and 1.32% in resected cases.
The five-year survival rate over the period from 1978 to 1983 was 57.7% in all resected cases and 69.3% in curatively resected cases.
Annual follow up observation showed increases in resection rate, curative resection rate, and five-year survival rate. However, there were no remarkable changes in the rate of total gastrectomy, rate of combined resection of other organs, and degree of lymph nodes dissection.
The main factor contributing to the improvement in the results of surgical treatment of gastric cancer was the increase in the detection rate of cancer in relatively early stages, through gastric mass survey or total check-up in the asymptomatic stage.

Utilizing data presented in the article by Miyashita et al., we illustrate the importance of testing data when assessing surveillance data. Accounting for the number of tests (denominator) and positivity (proportion of tests positive for a specific pathogen(s)) improves data interpretation in ways not possible from numerator case data alone.