The effects of physical activity (PA) on bone mass gained during growth in Japanese are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to examine whether changes in PA affected bone mass gained by Japanese schoolchildren, as measured by calcaneus quantitative ultrasound (QUS). Three hundred and seven children aged 9–13 years participated in the study and were followed for a 2-year period. The stiffness index (Stiffness) of the calcaneus was measured by QUS, and PA evaluated by a questionnaire. Participants were divided into two groups according to PA: high (≥ 7 hours/week, H) or low (< 7 hours/week, L). Participants were also divided into four groups according to their 2-year change in PA: consistently high (HH), consistently low (LL), changed from high to low (HL), and changed from low to high (LH). Analysis of covariance was used to compare adjusted Stiffness across all four groups. The adjusted 2-year changes in Stiffness ranked in decreasing order among girls: HH (20.8 %), HL (17.6 %), LH (14.3 %), and LL (12.2 %), respectively (trend test, P = 0.027). This trend was not observed among boys. These results suggest that changes in PA significantly affected bone mass gain among peripubertal girls, and that a continuing PA of more than 7 hours a week (approximately ≥ 60 min/day) from a young age is effective in increasing peak bone mass. However, given the limitations of this study, further robust studies which recruit representative samples and consistently employ validated measurement instruments are needed.

Background: New onset fever is a common symptom among hospitalized patients and it may be a manifestation of fatal illnesses such as infection. However, its epidemiology and predictors for mortality have not been fully determined in a Japanese teaching hospital.
Methods: We investigated adult patients with new onset elevated temperature of 37.5 degrees Celsius or greater the 3^rd day after admission during a 4-month study period. Only the first, single episode per patient was analyzed. We determined the causes of fever among these patients with new onset fever. We also analyzed predictors for in-hospital mortality among these patients. These predictors were based on multivariable adjusted logistic regression using demographics, vital signs at the time of fever onset, baseline diseases, and basic laboratory data.
Results: From a total of 2,271 admitted patients, 126 patients (5.6%) developed fever. Among these febrile patients, 98 (78%) had infectious diseases with a prevalence of 4.3% in all admitted patients. The most common cause of infection among those patients was respiratory tract infection, followed by urinary tract infection. Causes for non-infectious fever included neoplastic diseases, inflammatory diseases, and drug fever. In-hospital mortality was associated with lower mean blood pressure <60 mmHg with odds ratio (OR) of 12.7 (95% CI, 1.3–121), tachycardia >90/min with OR 4.1 (95% CI, 1.2–13.5), tachypnea >20/min with OR 10.0 (95% CI, 2.8–35.2), and neoplastic disease with OR 4.1 (95% CI, 1.3–13.1). Infection as a cause of fever was not associated with mortality.
Conclusion: The majority of inpatients with new onset fever had infectious diseases, however fever was also caused by neoplastic diseases, inflammatory diseases and drug fever. Abnormality of vital signs and neoplastic disease were related to in-hospital mortality.

In recent years, physical inactivity among children or adolescents has been a major public health concern. Although a number of studies have examined the effect of physical inactivity on depressive symptoms in adults, only few studies have examined this effect on children. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of physical activity on the development of depressive symptoms in children by using longitudinal data. The study participants were students in grades 4 to 8 in the Koshu City. Their physical activity and depressive symptoms were examined in 2008 by a questionnaire. One year later, their depressive symptoms were examined again. Students who had depressive symptoms at the baseline were excluded. Physical activity at the baseline was categorized into 3 groups as independent variables. The development of depressive symptoms was used as the dependent variable. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the relationship. At the baseline, 1532 students completed the questionnaire. Of them, 1379 students (727 boys and 652 girls) did not have depressive symptoms. One year later, 1319 students (95.6%) completed the questionnaires on depressive symptoms. Of them, 41 (6.0%) boys and 68 (10.6%) girls had developed depressive symptoms during the study period. High physical activity was significantly associated with decreased incidence of depressive symptoms compared to low physical activity only in boys (odds ratio: 0.37, 95% confidence interval: 0.12-0.95). Our results suggest that high physical activity significantly affects the depressive symptoms in boys.

AIMTo analyze the relationship between sperm mitochondrial membrane potential and sperm motility parameters by means of a computer-assisted sperm analyzer (CASA) and in-vitro fertilization rate(%FR).

METHODSSemen samples were obtained from 26 men undergoing in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET). Informed consent was obtained from all men prior to the study. Samples were prepared using wash and swim-up method in HEPES-HTF medium. The sperm motility (%MOT), progressive motility (%PMOT), average path velocity (VAP) microm/s), straight line velocity (VSL) (micro m/s), curvilinear velocity (VCL) (microm/s) and %hyperactivated sperm (%HA), and the %FR were assessed. The samples were incubated in the presence of 2.0 mciromol/L of 5,5',6,6'-tetra-chloro-1,1',3,3'-tetraethylbenzimidazolyl-carbocyanine iodide (JC-1) for 30 min at 37 degrees C in air and washed in PBS before flow cytometry (FACSCalibur: Becton Dickinson) analysis. The mitochondrial probe JC-1 was used to identify the mitochondrial membrane potential. The sperm was divided into three populations according to the fluorescence pattern as follows: the high mitochondrial membrane potential group (n=8), the moderate group (n=5), and the low group (n=13). Statistical analysis was performed using unpaired t-test.

RESULTSSignificant differences were found between the high and the low groups in %MOT (91.1+/-8.5 vs 63.0+/-32.7, mean+/-SD), VAP (73.0+/-14.2 vs 52.1+/-12.5), VCL (127.0+/-28.1 vs 87.0+/-22.6), %HA (27.3+/-23.6 vs 7.2+/-9.0) and %FR [73.2 (48/56) vs 59.0 (69/117)]. No significant differences were found in other CASA parameters.

CONCLUSIONWhen the sperm mitochondrial membrane potential increases, sperm motility parameters and fertility potential will also increase. The JC-1 dye method is useful to predict sperm fertility potential.

Embryo Transfer ; Female ; Fertility ; physiology ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Intracellular Membranes ; physiology ; Male ; Membrane Potentials ; physiology ; Mitochondria ; physiology ; ultrastructure ; Semen ; physiology ; Sperm Motility ; Spermatozoa ; physiology