The effects of stretching, sport massage, light exercise (80% of the subjects' anaerobic threshold), and hot pack on the recoveries of work capacity and blood lactate (La) after strenuous exercise were compared with the resting recovery conditions. In each experiment for the four recovery strategies, twelve male physical education students participated as subjects. The subjects performed 5-s maximal effort cycle ergometer exercise bouts, repeated 8 times with 20-s rests (W 1) . A 33-min rest period was given after W 1, and then the same exercise as W 1 was performed again (W 2) . During the rest period (from 9 to 19min after W 1), one of the recovery strategies was practiced for 10min. The subjects also participated in a control experiment (rest recovery) on another day. Blood samples were taken from the earlobe to determine La. The rate of work capacity recovery was significantly higher than the control when stretching was performed, but no significant difference was observed in the recovery rate of La. The same tendency was also observed in the case of sport massage. In the case of light exercise, on the other hand, the recovery rate of La was significantly higher than the control, whereas the recovery rate of work capacity was not significantly different. Many of the subjects complained that the intensity of light exercise was too hard. No significant differences were found in the recovery rates of both work capacity and La by application of a hot pack. These results suggest that stretching and sport massage are effective for accelerating recovery of work capacity. Light exercise was not effective in this study. However, considering previous investigations which showed light exercise to be effective, it might be effective if an abequate work intensity is given. A hot pack is suggested not to be effective. No significant correlation was observed between the recovery rate of La and that of work capacity. Thus it seems that the recovery of work capacity is regulated by factors other than La.

  When subacute elderly patients are transferred from an acute hospital to a rehabilitation facility, the likelihood is that the environmental change will decrease the patients' ability to perform the basic activities of daily living (ADLs). In this study, we assessed the effects of the ambient changes on ADLs by the use of the Barthel Index, the reliability as well as validity of which is rated high for assessing the patient's fundamental ability. Our subjects consisted of the patients with hemiplegia who had undergone medical treatment of stroke and those who had been operated on for femoral neck fracture (FNF) in Toride Kyodo General Hospital. They were transferred to the convalescent rehabilitation ward (CRW) of Aida Memorial Rehabilitation Hospital, affiliated with our hospital. We compared the BI scores given to the patients by physical, occupational and speech therapists, when discharged from our hospital, and those scores given by nurses within one week after the patients moved to the CRW. Differences between BI scores given at Toride Hospital and those at the rehabilitation hospital averaged -5.9±16.0 points for stroke patients and -7.3±14.1 points for FNF patients. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient of BI scores in the acute hospital and in the CRW for stroke patients was 0.91 (p<0.001) and 0.69 (p<0.001) for FNF. There was no significant difference in changes in BI scores between stroke and FNF. However, there was a tendency for the patients' functional ability in daily living to be assessed lower in the FNF patients than in the stroke patients. This was probably because the former were older than the latter on the average. The average age of the FNF patients was 81.4 years and that of the stroke patients was 68.5 years.

It is described that climate is changeable by inadvertent effect of atmospheric pollution. Particularly effects of increasing CO₂ and particulate matters in the atmosphere on climate are discussed.

The different kind and operational modes of lasers irradiation have been compared to determine their effectiveness in inhibiting the formation of an in vitro incipient caries-like lesion.
It is clearly indicated from these experiments that the acousto-optically Q-switched Nd: YAG laser might prove to be the most effective for clinical application.
Laser irradiation was found not only to prevent but also cure incipient enamel caries without cutting lesions and restoring. This irradiation could also prevent the secondary caries at restoration margins with closing the space by fusion between the cavity margins and resinous restorations.
The Nd: YAG laser was effective for treating sensitive root surfaces by closure of dentinal tubule apertures, and also for endodontic treatment by promating additional secondary dentin formation on pulp chamber walls.

Geographical distribution of standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for biliary tract cancer (BTC) showed a characteristic clustering pattern; high in the northeastern regions and low in the southwestern regions of Japan. Among the 47 prefectures (corresponding to counties in the U. S.) with high SMRs, Niigata Prefecture has been the highest in both sexes for the last two decades. It was found that the cities, towns and villages in Niigata where the mortalities from BTC were high were correspondent with rice producing areas.
In addition, it was revealed that the sources of tap water in the cities with high SMRs in Niigata were commonly big rivers, whereas in those with low SMRs they were either reservoirs located in the mountains, underground water or small river originating from the mountains. Based on these findings, the contamination of tap water by agricultural chemicals form paddy fields was suspected as a cause of the high mortality from BTC. Among several chemicals examined, diphenylether herbicide, chlornitrofen (CNP) and its derivative (CNP-amino) were detected high in tap water in the cities with higher SMRs and they seem to be related to the occurrence of BTC, particularly of female gallbladder cancer.

  For a female patient with lower back pain and stress urinary incontinence, a trunk stability exercise program was initiated. When the conventional exercise to contract pelvic floor muscles was done, the patient held her breath and tried hard to adduct and extend the hip joint. She could draw in the navel by activating transversus abdominis muscle in a relaxing position during sling exercise therapy. At the initial stage of the trunk stability exercise, the intra-abdominal pressure was adjusted by the contraction of transversus abdominis muscle and pelvic floor muscles, and by the movement of the diaphragma as had been expected. Also in the initial stage ofsling exercise therapy, the unloaded body weight attached with elastic cords supported the pelvis so that she can lift her body with the shape of the lumber region maintained correctly.According to the progressive ladder principle in the sling exercise, elastic cords support gradually reduced, hip joint movement was added, and the sling on the leg changed distally. Thus, the patient suffering from stress urinary incontinence could be managed successfully by the trunk stability treatment with sling exercise therapy.

In Japan, large scale health databases were constructed in a few years, such as National health insurance claim and health checkup database(NDB) and Japanese Sentinel project. But the there are some legal issues for making adequate balance between privacy and public benefit by using such databases. NDB is carried based on the act for elderly person's health care but in this act, nothing is mentioned for using this database for general public benefit. Therefore researchers who use this database are forced to pay much concern about anonimization and information security that may disturb the research work itself. Japanese Sentinel project is a National project to detecting drug adverse reaction using large scale distributed clinical databases of large hospitals. Although patients give the future consent for general such purpose for public good, it is still under discussion using insufficiently anonymized data. Generally speaking, researchers of study for public benefit will not infringe patient's privacy, but vague and complex requirements of legislation about personal data protection may disturb the researches. Medical science does not progress without using clinical information, therefore the adequate legislation that is simple and clear for both researchers and patient is strongly required. In Japan, fortunately, the specific act for balancing privacy and public benefit is planned to lay before Diet, but is still under discussion. The author recommended the researchers including the field of pharmacoepidemiology should pay attention to, participate in the discussion of, and make suggestion to this act. (Jpn J Pharmacoepidemiol 2012; 17(2): 101-107)

With the help of my colleagues, I have been conducting epidemiological studies on biliary tract cancer (BTC), including gallbladder cancer (GBC) and extrahepatic bile duct cancer (BDC), in Japan and Chile for about 19 years. Clustered areas with high mortality rates, especially for female GBC were found to correspond with places or prefectures in Japan that were famous for rice production. The roles of known risk factors, such as gallstones and cholecystitis, were examined, but no single factor was implicated in the high mortality rates for GBC in these areas. A working hypothesis, called the “rice production hypothesis” was formulated; this initial hypothesis was replaced by a new multifactorial causation hypothesis: GBC is more likely to occur in individuals with a genetic susceptibility and a past history of gallstones or cholecystitis who are exposed to geographically specific environmental factors, such as agricultural chemicals. On the basis of various analytical studies, it is concluded that a certain agricultural chemical was responsible for the occurrence of GBC. At the time of writing, no evidence has been obtained to disprove our hypothesis. We have also conducted international collaborative studies in Chile, which has the highest mortality rate for GBC in the world. Bile from Chileans was found to have a higher mutagenic activity than that from Japanese subjects; Chileans with a history of constipation or a habit of consuming red chilli pepper had a high risk of developing GBC, if they also had gallstone(s). The presence of a regional difference in p53 mutagenesis was also observed.
seconds ; Gallstones ; Mortality Vital Statistics ; Cancer of Biliary Tract ; Spatial Distribution