This paper covers our recent study of the effect of acupuncture and moxibustion treatments on the exocrine function of the pancreas. The study consisted of pancereatic function diagnos-tant (PFD) tests on healthy adults. Stimulations with acupun-cture and moxibustion have been deeply concerned with “hi-no-zo, ” which is called the pancreas in current terminology, so they were applied to the meridian points in the dermatome referring to the pancreas. Measurements were made before giving a stimulus. after 6 consecutive stimuli were givem, after 12 consecutive stimuli were given, and 7 days atfer ceasing stimulation. No significant change in urinary output was obserued after the treatment. The p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) excretion rate in urine showed conflicting results between acupuncture and moxibustion. Acupuneture increased the excretion rate while moxibustion suppressed it after single stimulus of each was applied. The excretion rate increased after either type of stimuli was applied repeatedly.
Based on these results, we believe that the effect of stimuli to the meridian points which effect “hi-no-zo” in Oriental medicine on the exocrine function has been confirmed, although some fluctuations of vital reactions which depended on the number of stimuli were observed.

This study determined the relationship between health and physical fitness, and the contribution of each element in physical fitness to health for middle-aged and elderly women. A total of 1, 220 females aged 35 to 64 years participated in physical fitness tests and medical check ups. According to health status, the subjects were divided into two groups ; the healthy group (HG) and the unhealthy group (UG) . Multiple discriminant analysis was applied to the multivariate data. Correct discriminant probabilities of multiple discriminant functions to discriminate the HG and UG ranged from 63.9 to 83.3% among 6 age groups. These results suggested that there was a relatively strong relationship between health status and the level of physical fitness for middle-aged and elderly women. The change in correct discriminant probabilities indicated that degree of relationship would decrease stepwise with age. The contribution of each element of physical fitness to health status was also evaluated by Pearson's correlation coefficient. Age-related changes in the correlation coefficients between the discriminant score representing health status and performance on each physical fitness test demonstrated four different patterns. Therefore, special consideration should be given to the degree of contribution of each physical fitness element at each age level when developing exercise programs to promote health among middle-aged and elderly women.

This Study was performed to evaluate the effect of acupuncture stimulations on meridian points on gastric function.
Gastric juice of healthy volunteers was examined, and the effect of acupuncture stimulations at the trunk and remote positions on the gastric acid output was observed.
The followiag results were obtained:
1) Gastric juice secretion and acid output were suppressed in basal secretion but facilitated in maximal secretion.
2) The variation of gastric function was closely related to the location of stimulation; the effect of stimulation was more conspicuous at remote positions than trunk positions.
3) The variations of effect depending on the number of stimulations were conspicuous in remote positions, where a larger effect was obtained, and there was a significant difference in effect between single and consecutive stimulations.

This study was carried out to determine the relationship between health status and physical fitness, and the contribution of each element of physical fitness to the health status of middle-aged and elderly men and women. The subjects were 889 males and females aged 30 to 69 years. Physical fitness tests and medical check ups were performed. According to health status, the subjects were divided into two groups ; the healthy group (HG, n=348) and the unhealthy group (UG, n=207) . Multiple discriminant analysis was applied to the multivariate data. Correct discriminant probabilities of multiple discriminant functions to discriminate the HG and UG were 70.2% and 68.2% for men and women, respectively. These results suggested that there was a relatively strong relationship between health status and the level of physical fitness in both men and women. The contribution of each element of physical fitness to health status was evaluated by correlation coefficients between the discriminant score representing health status, and performance on each element of the physical fitness test and age. Age and muscle endurance contributed significantly to health status in both men and women. In addition, close relationship was seen between health status and elements of cardiorespiratory endurance, balance, and muscle strength in men, while change in physique correlated with health status in women. From these findings, it was concluded that exercise programs for health promotion in middle-aged and elderly people should be provided separately with consideration of the degree to which these specific elements contribute to health status.

A 68-year-old woman complained of hemoptic shock and recovered with conservative treatment. Ruptured descending aorta into the left lung was diagnosed. Graft replacement of the descending aorta was successfully performed. We speculated that spontaneous rupture of the descending aorta into the left lung might have occurred due to high blood pressure affecting the weak aortic wall with sclerotic change, causing hemoptysis. The ruptured descending aorta was successfully replaced without dissection between the ruptured aorta and the left lung. The postoperative course was uneventful with neither pulmonary nor infectious complications.

A 45-year-old woman who was a Jehovah's Witness was admitted to our hospital with a complaint of palpitation and sort on-effort. A ruptured aneurysm of the sinus of Valsalva (RASV) associated with stenosis of the right ventricular outflow was diagnosed. Operative findings revealed a RASV with a double chambered right ventricle (DCRV) and a ventricular septal defect (VSD). RASV, DCRV and VSD were successfully repaired with extracorporeal circulation without use of homologous blood. We reported this case because congenital combination of RASV, DCRV and VSD is very rare.

A 69-year-old man complained of abdominal pain with inflammatory reaction. Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) with a left main trunk lesion was diagnosed and he successfully underwent Y-graft replacement of the abdominal aorta and coronary artery bypass grafting. Finally AAA was classified as “inflammatory” by histopathological findings. We present this case of “inflammatory AAA” associated with coronary artery disease, and discuss it with a review of literatures.

As of 2011, about 12.8 million people in Japan had osteoporosis, which is a social issue in that it increases the number of patients who are bedridden or require residential care and its poor prognosis increases the mortality rate. We delivered a presentation on osteoporosis prevention to residents;the presentation consisted of ultrasound bone densitometry readings followed by a slide show, based on the readings. This report summarizes the presentation and considers whether it was effective in enhancing awareness of osteoporosis. The presentation was given to 39 residents, who were asked to complete a questionnaire before and after it. Of the 31 female respondents, 16.1 percent had bone density in the “low or caution” range;for all eight male respondents, it was “sufficient” or “average.” After the presentation, over 90 percent of respondents selected “agree” or “slightly agree” in response to the statements “I want to have regular exercise and participate in sports,” “I want to eat nutritionally sound meals,” and “understanding one’s bone density is useful for the prevention of osteoporosis.” In addition, 97.4 percent of the residents responded that the lecture was “useful” or “somewhat useful,” and 94.9 percent indicated satisfaction with it. The presentation was considered to be useful in enhancing residents’ awareness of osteoporosis.