A study was conducted to evaluate the chronic effects of regular physical activity on nonspecific and specific immune responses. Male Fischer rats (SPF) exercised voluntarily on running wheels for 4 months, and were then injected intraperitoneally with sheep red blood cells (SRBC), followed by measurement of the host defense functions at -2 d, 3h, 24h and 4 d of antigen stimulation. The following results were obtained:
1) The ability of circulating neutrophils to produce superoxide measured by the spontaneous NBT test showed an earlier and higher (p<0.05) rise after SRBC injection in the exercise group, suggesting that neutrophils were activated in vivo more promptly against foreign-body invasion. This might reflect a priming response of neutrophils at the early phase of SRBC-induced host defense reactions modulated by the previous regular exercise.
2) The ability of neutrophils to produce superoxide in response to in vitro stimulation with Staphylococcus aureus 209 P was markedly reduced during inflammatory response in the sedentary group, whereas that in the exercise group was maintained at a constant level. The value at 4 d after SRBC injection in the sedentary group was decreased to more than 20% below the baseline (p<0.02) . In addition, a significantly (p<0.02) lower value than that in the exercise group was shown, although phagocytic activity was similar in the two groups. This suggested that neutrophil bactericidal activity was decreased in the sedentary group.
3) Plasma IgG levels in the exercise group were consistently and significantly (p<0.0001) higher by about 30% than those in the sedentary group, regardless of SRBC injection. This suggested an enhanced host defense status by regular exercise.
4) The specific humoral immune response to SRBC injection was assessed in terms of hemagglutination and plasma IgM levels, but no significant differences were shown between the groups.

  In our hospital the palliative care committee has been held once a month since 2000. In 2007, a total of 1,583 cancer patients were admitted to our hospital orreceived medical care at home. The average length of hospital stay was 24 days. Of the total number of patients, 88.4% was informed that they had cancer. In the latter half of the year it increased to 92.6% because the palliative caretakers gave doctors accurate information on patients' psychology and social background. In October 2007 a questionnaire survey was conducted on those who visited our palliative care section on the occasion of the hospital festival. A total of 46 responded to our survey about the knowledge of palliative care, physician's precise explanation about the illness, image of opioids, desirable place of death and so on. Twenty-eight respondents (60.9%) did not know anything about palliative care. Forty-four (95.7%) wanted precise explanation of cancer. Thirty-four (73.9%) said they had had a night image of opioids after reading the panel. Twenty-eight (60.9%) responded they would rather stay at home until death. We should give healthy people more information about palliative care and opioids.