Renal plasma flow (RPF) and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) are decreased in patients with heat stroke. Heat stroke after prolonged exercise under high temperatures is usually associated with hypotension and dehydration, leading to decreased RPF. However, whether renal blood flow (RBF), RPF, and GFR are increased or decreased during immersion in mild warm water remains unknown.
Para-aminohippurate clearance (C_PAH), sodium thiosulfate clearance (C_thio), and creatinine clearance (C_cr) were determined in 14 healthy men aged 19 to 27 years old (mean±SD, 22±2), 161 to 181cm (171.5±6.3) tall, and weighing 52 to 78kg (64.2±7.4) without immersion at about 25°C (room temperature) and during immersion in water at 41±0.5°C.
C_PAH, C_thio, and RBF significantly increased during immersion compared with those without immersion (P<0.0001, P<0.03, P<0.0001, respectively). C_cr did not change (P=0.108). The filtration fraction (FF) was significantly decreased (P<0.001). Levels of plasma atrial natriuretic peptide, aldosterone, anti-diuretic hormone and renin did not significantly differ between these two conditions.
This investigation suggests that daily immersion at 41°C is beneficial for renal function.

Purpose : This study was undertaken to examine the relationship between pedometer counts and food intake in Japanese elderly people.Methods : One-hundred-eighty healthy, community-dwelling elderly people were divided into three groups according to age. The number of steps taken by each subject was recorded with a pedometer over a 30-day period in August. The dietary and nutritional intakes were estimated using a food frequency questionnaire.Results : There was no significant difference in the pedometer counts between men and women. The number of steps significantly decreased with age (p<0.01). The intake of energy, protein and carbohydrate were significantly higher in men than in women (p<0.05), and they were nearly the same among the three aged groups. The calcium and vitamin C intakes after adjusting for sex and age increased with the number of daily steps, except for the intakes of energy, protein and carbohydrates.Conclusion : A higher number of daily steps was found to be associated with the calcium and vitamin C intakes.

To clarify nursing practices in pain management of community-dwelling older adults with dementia by visiting nurses, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 visiting nurses and analyzed their responses qualitatively and inductively. As a result, 24 subcategories and 8 categories were identified. Visiting nurses were found to conduct pain assessment and assessment based on behavioral changes in usual daily life because of characteristics of health assessment in home care, in which the goal is to comprehensively support clients as living people, in addition to standard pain management of older people with dementia. The results suggest that the viewpoint to integrate information from other professionals and family members and assess daily life comprehensively is important, and some mechanism to facilitate multidisciplinary information sharing is required. When visiting nurses were unsure of whether a patient is in pain, they evaluated the patient’s pain on the basis of behavioral changes in his or her normal daily life after medication or nondrug treatment. A nationwide survey is necessary for further clarification.