Boys and girls of elementary school (1 st, 3 rd and 6 th-grades), junior high school (2 nd-grade) and senior high school (2 nd-grade) were tested for 2 days to examine the reliability of grip strength, back strength, arm strength and leg strength.
The following results were obtained:
1. When elementary school boys performed three trials of these four items, over half boys recorded maximal value up to the second trial.
2. The reliability of tests applied to the left and right sides (grip strength, arm strength and leg strength) was not different each other.
3. In boys and girls attending elementary, junior- and senior high schools the reliability of grip strength was highest and the next was back strength.
4. Grip strength had statistically significant relationship to the other three items. Thus grip strength is considered to be the representative of four strength tests for growing boys and girls.

Emphysema with bronchial asthma (BA) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) causes severe respiratory dysfunction and severely limits a patient's daily activities. This paper reports the case of a COPD patient whose respiratory symptoms were successfully improved with acupuncture. In July 1998, a 69-year-old male visited the Department of Respiratory Internal Medicine at Gifu University Hospital, complaining of dyspnea on exercise, and asthma attacks. His general condition had worsened despite strictly controlled medication and home oxygen therapy (HOT). Acupuncture was thus added to these treatments from ******. Before initiating the acupuncture treatment, the severity of dyspnea in the patient was diagnosed as level III (Severe), according to the GOLD classification. Spirometry showed severely disturbed respiratory function (%VC: 90.7%, FEV₁%: 35.1%, %FEV₁: 38.2%, V 25: 0.20 L/S). The basic combination of meridian points used in this case included LU 1 (Zhongfu), LU 5 (Chize), LU 9 (Taiyan), CV 4 (Guanyuan), CV 12 (Zhongwan), CV 22 (Tiantu), ST 40 (Fenglong), BL 13 (Feishu), BL 23 (Shenshu) and KI 3 (Fuliu). The patient received acupuncture treatments once a week for 10 weeks. Respiratory function and symptoms were measured. After 10 weeks of acupuncture treatment, asthma attacks, walking distance, the Borg scale and respiratory functions were significantly improved compared with the baseline. This suggests that acupuncture treatment was effective in treating advanced cases of both asthma and COPD.

In Japan there are many people who are intolerant to alcohol. Known as flushers, they do not genetically have low Km acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (AlDH₂). Flushers are judged easily and accurately by the alcohol patch test. An ethanol patch test carried out on agricultural and fishing populations in Japan showed that approx. 40% were deficient in AlDH₂. A questionnaire survey of the drinking behavior of many people showed significant differences between the normal AlDH₂ and AlDH₂-deficient groups. The normal group drinks positively and actively, while the deficient group drinks negatively and passively. As a result, there were significant differences in subjective and objective symptoms that result from drinking between the two groups: More frequent hangovers, abnormal physical conditions and higher KAST scores were seen in the normal group, and health examination showed higher values in liver function tests, including γ-GTP, and higher levels of blood pressure, HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), etc., in the normal AlDH₂group.
It may be very useful for prevention of alcohol-related health disorders to help Mongoloid peoples, such as the Japanese, recognize whether their AlDH₂ is normal or deficient, which is as determined by the ethanol patch test.

Background: On receiving chemotherapy, extravasation of drugs is a severe problem. The extravasations occur more commonly in patients who are elderly, have a poor performance status, have diabetes mellitus complications or have repeatedly received chemotherapy. Also, cancer patients usually require repeated venous punctures for this treatment. Purpose and methods: For the purpose of evaluating the efficacy and safety of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) for intravenous chemotherapy, we retrospectively reviewed all the cancer patients for whom PICC were inserted for chemotherapy from April 2008 to December 2010. Patients' background, duration of PICC insertion and complications were evaluated in this study. Results: Ten patients (male 4, female 6) were reviewed in this study. The median age was 59 years (17∼69). A total of 13 PICCs were inserted in 10 patients. The most common underlying disease was abdominal rhabdomyosarcoma (n=3, 30%) followed by lung cancer (n=2, 20%) and hematologic tumor (n=2, 20%). The average catheter span was 46 days. Catheter-related infections were seen in 2 cases (15.4%). No phlebitis or thrombosis usually associated with venous route was detected in PICC used for chemotherapy. Conclusions: PICC might reduce patients' discomfort such as repeated venous punctures or complications associated with chemotherapy. We suggest that PICC would be one of the effective tools in chemotherapy. Palliat Care Res 2011; 6(2): 233-236