This study was intended to clarify factors that contribute to swimming performance, and to determine the extent to which these factors change with respect to junior swimmers' development. Participants were 114 boys and 130 girls, 8-18 years old, who belonged to swimming clubs. They were classified into four groups : 8-10 years, 11-12 years, 13-14 years, and 15-18 years. We selected four factors - body size, muscle strength, flexibility, and stroke efficiency - which are putatively related to swimming performance. Swimming performance was identified as standardized 50 m records. We applied simultaneous analysis of multiple groups to multiple regression models and thereby examined the relationship between those four factors and swimming performance with respect to age and sex.Stroke efficiency was the salient explanatory factor for swimming performance of swimmers of both sexes under 14 years. For the over-15 age group, muscle strength was the most effective parameter in boys, whereas body size was the most influential factor of swimming performance in girls. The influence of swimming career was small. These results suggest that stroke efficiency contributes strongly to the swimming performance in subjects who are less than 14-years-old, but that body size and muscle strength do not. For swimmers over 15-years-old, stroke efficiency was less important, but muscle strength was an important explanatory factor of swimming performance.

Quantitative specification of color of the tongue was performed by chroma meter (Minolta CR-100) according to the Commission Internationale de l'Eclarirage 1976 (L*a*b*) Space, the color was analyzed with digital expressions as L* (value), a* (hue of red-green), b* (hue of yellow-blue) and c* (chroma) values.
The difference of the color of the tongue of the patients before and after administration of herbal medicine extracts for 12 weeks was detected by the chroma meter with statistical significance. The change of the color of the tongue of a diabetic female was also able to record on the course of the cerebrovascular accident.
To analyze the correlation between these quantified values and the findings of the tongue by inspection, 116 patients were devided into four groups (whitish, red, dark and violet) according to the color of the tongue by inspection. Most patients in the violet tongue group showed small b* value. As a group the violet group showed significantly smaller b* value than those of the whitish, red and dark groups. In the L*a*b* space as the b* value becomes small the hue becomes blue.
Analyzing the relationship between the diabetic retinopathy and the b* value, color of the tongue of 21 diabetics was examined by the chroma meter. As the result eight patients with diabetic retinopathy indicated significantly smaller b* value than those of 13 patients without retinopathy.
These obsevations suggest that the color of the tongue would be able to specificate quantitatively by chroma meter, the value measured would be correlated to the finding by inspection of the tongue, and that diabetic retinopathy would related with the hue of blue of the tongue detected by this specification system.

1) A program entitled Doc MMC was broadcast on FM Mie, a local FM radio station.“The Doc MMC Declaration”was performed on this program by residents.
2) The declarations were classified into six groups: “Affection, ”“Contribution to Community Medicine, ”“Knowledge and Skill, ”“Special Training Course Selection or Self-Activation, ”and “Others.”
3) This kind of broadcasting may enhance the motivation of residents and facilitate the understanding of medical issues by the community.