The optimal height of the working table for fruits-sorting in apple orchards was studied from the viewpoint of energy metabolism using model experiment, and actual condition of theapple-sorting table was surveyed. Results:
1. Oxygen consumption per minute increased by the apple sorting work were measured about the seven kinds of table height (from 40 cm to 100 cm). Supposing that the height of the working table subtracted by (stature+height of footwear) is “x” and the oxygen consumption per minute increased by the work is “Y”, the relationship between these two values can be expressed as the following quadratic equation:
y=0.226x²-20.91x+677.1
Thus, it was found that the optimal height for apple sorting table was 46% of the stature including footwear height.
2. The height of the fruits-sorting table used in apple orchards was usually 30-40% of the stature including footwear height of the workers, and this was found to be too low. This seems to have been caused by easygoing and perfunctory attitude or practices to the fruits-sorting work, e. g. to use the wooden boxes for apple as the substitutes for the fruits-sorting table.
3. It is necessary to improve the table and to develop and propagate the better apple-sorting table from ergonomical viewpoint in order to reduce and eliminate the lumbago and fatigue among the workers engaging in the apple-sorting work.

From the epidemiological point of view, health disorders of the farmers working in vinyl greenhouse were investigated by means of the simplified Cornell Medical Index.
The results obtained were as follows: 1. The number of affirmative answers to somatic items was larger with farmers working in a vinyl greenhouse than with other farmers.
2. Either male or female following complaints were more frequently found among vinyl greenhouse than among other farmers with significant difference: sensitiveness to cold, anorexia, nausea, arthralgia stomachache, iching of skin, dizziness, easily fatiguable dullness in some regions of the body in a morning, and moreover, strain in the eyes.
3. The pattern of the main symptoms complained by the farmers working in vinyl greenhouse was different from that attributed to the so-called Nodusho.
4. It seems that the differences between the two kinds of farmers were due to the peculiar environmental conditions and the labor under the high temperature and humidity in the venyl greenhause, and also due to frequent going in and out of the operation room the climatic condition of which is quite different.

Fluctuations in fatigue attendan tupon labor of farmers growing vegetables in vinyl greenhouses were studied on farmers working in vinyl greenhouses in Tokushima prefecture in 1966 an 1967.
Following conclusions were obtained: 1. The hours of labor in vinyl greenhouses and amount of work increased during the period of preparation for growing vegetables.
The total hours of agricultural labor was 10.5 hours in males and 8 hours in females, with 3050 Calories consumed in a man and 2650 Calories in a woman per day.
Complaints of the farmers are prominent, though the labor is only of moderate severity.
Such paradox is probably due to the peculiar nature of the labor and the environment in the vinyl greenhouse.
2. The load to the farmer, as seen from the viewpoint of various physiological and metabolic functions and blood findings was great at the time of transition from the outdoor work to the work inside the vinyl greenhouse and in the so-called spring farming season.
The former is definitely at variance with the previous reports on the fatigue in agricultural labor.
3. In the preparatory period for the growth of vegetable in the vinyl greenhouse and the period of plantation the physiological load was greater in man, while it was greater in woman during the controlling period.

Adaptation phenomena in human body subjected to several hours of labor a day under an artificial environment of high temperature and humidity in a vinyl greenhouse were studied in the same subjects as reported previously, by the comperative observation of specific gravity of blood, differential leucocyte count, serum potassium, and serum cholin-esterase activity.
Results obtained were as follows: 1. When a farmers changed his work from outside to inside of the vinyl greenhouse, neutrophils and ChE activity suddenly decreased in comparison with the controls, while lymphocytes suddenly increased.
Serum potassium at this stage was low.
These values and dynamic changes are similar to those in parasympathicotonia usually seen in summer.
2. A sudden change of the body reaction to that of the summer type has probably took placo in order to adapt it to the summer-like climate in the vinyl greenhouse.
Since such change is unusual with adaptation to natural climate, this might be called an insufficiency in adaptation to climate.
3. Since such changes take place in cold and warming-up seasons, cold and bronchitis are often found.
4. As a result of periodic examination, decrease in specific gravity of blood was noted along with the change in the body condition to summer type of farmers working in vinyl greenhouse.

The concentration of pesticide that was inspired by speed sprayer (SS) operatorsin spraying a low toxic organophosphorus pesticide (800-fold to 1000-fold dilutions of wettable agent) were measured by the impinger-one respirator-per man measuring system. The mean ± standard error was 0.01116 ± 0.00191 mg/m³.
The operators were made to perform the spraying task every day, and the organophosphorus pesticide concentration in the serum was gas-chromatographically measured before and after the task on each day. The maximum concentration after daily task was 0.032μg/2ml in an operator, and 0.061μg/2ml in anassistant. The concentration was already trace or undetectable in many of them the following morning. No apparent tendency for the pesticide to be accumulated was observed even in the operators after spraying the pesticide for 2 consecutivedays.
The 24-hour urine was collected from each subject to measure the outputof PNMC (p-nitro-m-crezol). The output tended to be greater in the assistants than in the operators. This finding may be attributed to the fact that the assistants are trasiently exposed to high concentrations of the pesticide in powder form.

In application of organophosphorus pesticides (800-fold dilution of Sumithion and 1500-fold dilution of Diazinon) for the control of disease and insect damages to apples, the amount of exposure to the pesticides, blood levels of the pesticides, and liver function tests of the workers engaging in the application work were observed. Its summary was as follows;
1. The concentration of pesticides inhaled by each worker engaging in the fixed piping joint control was calculated as 0.030±0.042mg/m³ (mean±S. E.).
2 Analysis of the correlation between the inhaled amounts of pesticides and the air velocity disclosed that was a statistically significant positive correlation between the two parameters. Therefore, it will be necessary for the workers engaging in the application of pesticides to amply consider the factor of wind in actual application.
3. Both the serum levels of organophosphorus pesticides and the urinary excretion of p-nitro-m-crezol measured were low.
4. In view of the above-mentioned current amounts of exposure to pesticides, no acute effects of the pesticides were manifest on the liver function tests.
5. However, because the fixed piping joint control system employs the lance application (hand application), the applicator is more liable to be exosed to large amounts of pesticides, the exposure amount being 2.7 times that of speed sprayer (SS) operator.
6. It is not rare that women and the aged engage in the fixed piping joint control; therefore, it is necessary to educate ample care in the protection of workers from exposure to pesticides.

The subjective symptoms, various blood components, radioallergosorbent test (RAST) and others were examined for the patients who developed nasal allergy each year during the time of artificial apple pollination (before artificial pollination, during the peak of pollination and one month after pollination) compared with those for a control group, and the following results were obtained.
1) The symptoms, the time of their appearance and the kind of symptoms were the same as those of the apple pollinosis.
2) The change in the pattern of the eosinophile count was the same as that of the subjective symptoms.
3) However, only 2 of the 11 patients had a RAST score of suspicious positive, and no difference was detected between these patients and the control group.
From these findings, the many cases of suspected apple pollen allergy were cosidered to have been sensitized by other pollen which have common antigenicity to apple pollen in addition to true apple pollinosis, or to be mistaken diagnosis of other pollen allerg.

The purpose of this study was the evaluation of the relationship between the degree of obesity (relative body weight ratio) and values of various components in blood. The degree of lean and obesity was defined as the ratio of actual body weight to standard body weight calculated by the method of katsura. Mean ± standard error and percent frequency of abnormal values of blood components were studied in 880 women with degree of lean and obesity from 80 to 170 % among the women in agricultural villages. The class mean in subjects with relative body weight ratio between 100 and 109 % was used as the standard class value for comparison with these values. The following results were obtained.
1, Red blood count, hemoglobin and hematocrit values were significantly increased as the degree of obesity reached 130-140 %, compared to the standard class value, along with a significant fall of % frequency.
2. Behavior of serum components with reference to the degree of obesity showed a marked component to component variation. The mean level of SGOT, SGPT, γ-GTP, TRIG, CHOL and UA rose along with the increase of the degree of obesity from the lean range via the standard body weight range to the obesity range. ALP, however, was high in the obese and lean ranges, and low in the standard body weight range. BUN showed a tendency in reverse. Electrolyte and creatinine values were not remarkably different between lean and obese persons.
3. Marked changes of the mean levels were seen along with obesity in SGOT, SGPT, γ-GTP, cholesterol and triglyceride. Many of these showed significant increase of the mean in subjects with degree of obesity between 120 and 129 % compared to the standard class value. In subjects with degree of obesity of 140-149 %, frequency of abnormal values were significantly elevated. These results would suggest on an epidemiological basis that detailed examinations of the functional abnormalities of organs and environment in vivo thorugh blood testing is necessary for health control in subjects with degree of obesity of more than 140 % by Katsura method.

Utility of heart rate (HR)-oxygen consumption (VO₂) method to estimate energy expenditure (EE) was studied for 5 main apple working days based on 24 hour HR recording and EE by this method partially was compared with RMR (relative metabolic rate) method currently used in Japan. Results were as follows:
1. Heart rate during the apple cultivating work were 90-110 beats per minute, that were ranked with moderate work classified by Rodahl.
2. The values of EE estimated by HR-VO₂ method in every apple working days were almost suited for that of previous reports by RMR method.
3. Comparing EE by HR-VO₂ and RMR method for an example in harvesting work, 2, 654 kcal in former was 376 kcal (16.5%) higher than latter. Correlation coefficient was 0.987 (p<0.001) between both method with EE estimated in every working contents.
4. The intense of activity in a working day from view point of daily activity index (1-EE/basal metabolism) followed the order of harvesting putting sack on≅pluking flower>thinning apple> pruning.
Consequently, estimation of EE by HR-VO₂ method was precisely reflected metabolic state in human by comparison in spite of some defects. After this it was expected to use the HR-VO₂ method instead of RMR method.

At institutions in 9 areas of all over Japan, epidemiological and clinical surveys and investigations have been performed on the relationship between alcohol drinking and health for inhabitants in agricultural and fishing villages. The ethanol cutaneous patch test showed about 40% ALDH2 defficiency in these subjects. There were remarkable defferences in the drinking behavior between these positive and negative 2 groups. Various factors affecting the drinking behavior of subjects are there congenital diathesis, sexual difference, natural and social differences as well as age and occupation. By drinking, various abnomalities have been observed in various indexes such as medical examinations namely, hepatic functions (γ-GTP, GOT, GTP, etc), lipids (HDL-C, TG, etc), circulating functions (blood pressure, pulse, etc), metabolisms (uric acid, blood sugar, etc), and pancreatic functions. Most of them are risk factors in adult diseases. Accordingly, through collective education for drinking, its effect can be observed earlier and it will be very important to educate individuals for health control.