A study was designed to examine the effects of exercise intensity on renal clearance parameters. Five healthy male subjects underwent exercise tests on an bicycle ergometer at 4 different work loads for 15 min. The indicators of exercise intensity employed were the percentage of maximal oxygen uptake (%VO₂max), heart rate (HR) and blood lactate level (La) . As parameters of renal clearance, para-aminohippurate clearance (CPAH), thiosulfate clearance (C_thio) and creatinine clearance (C_cr) were measured by the continuous infusion technique during the exercise.
1) The renal clearance parameters during exercise decreased linearly as the exercise intensity increased. The percentage of maximal oxygen uptake at the onset of the decreases in %C_PAH, %C_chiu and %C_cr were 36, 45 and 47%VO₂max, respectively.
2) Among the indicators of exercise intensity, the decrease in La showed the closest correlation with renal clearance during the exercise.
3) The renal plasma flow, which was measured as C_PAH, began to decrease linearly at a significantly lower exercise intensity than the glomerular filtration rate, which was measured as both C_thio and C_cr.
The above results suggest that renal clearance parameters begin to decrease at the threshold as exercise intensity increases.

To promote habitual participation in physical activity, a 3-month program for lifestyle physical activity intervention (L group) and structured exercise intervention (E group) was carried out in a community in Okayama Prefecture. One year later, we compared the two intervention groups in terms of cost-effectiveness and behavioral change in habitual physical activity. A total of 250 subjects voluntarily participated in the lifestyle physical activity intervention ; and a total of 42 subjects participated in the structured exercise intervention. The number of participants decreased to 115 (46%) and 21 (50%), respectively, one year later. However, the proportion of subjects who practice endurance exercise increased significantly in both L and E groups ; and an additional 35 subjects (30%) started to practice endurance exercise in L group and 5 (24%) in E group after the interventions. The cost-effectiveness for a person newly starting the endurance exercise practice in the L group intervention was 29,206 yen ; and the E group intervention was 124,731 yen, a ratio of 1/4.3. The study suggests that the cost-effectiveness for the lifestyle physical activity intervention was 4 times better than the structured exercise intervention.

Surveys on the snail intermediate hosts were undertaken in the paddy fields in Yatomi-cho, Aichi Prefecture, once a year over a 5-year period (1983-1987).
And the cercariae of two different avian schistosomes were detected from snails in paddy fields.
The cercariae from Polyplis haemisphaerula were identified as species beloning to the genus Gigantobilharzia and the cercariae from austropeplea ollula as species belonging to the genus Trichobilharzia.
It was concluded that the paddy field dermatitis occurring in Yatomi-cho was proved to be caused by the invasion of these cercariae.

INTRODUCTIONPulse oximetry (SpO2) measures oxygen saturation but not alveolar ventilation. Its failure to detect alveolar hypoventilation during sedated endoscopy under oxygen supplementation has been reported. The aim of this study was to measure the masking effect of oxygen supplementation in SpO2 when alveolar hypoventilation develops during sedated endoscopy.

METHODSA total of 70 patients undergoing sedated diagnostic colonoscopy were randomly divided into two groups - oxygen supplementation group (n = 35) and room air breathing group (n = 35). SpO2 and end-tidal carbon dioxide (etCO2) were measured by non-intubated capnography during the procedure for all the patients.

RESULTSThe rise of etCO2 caused by alveolar hypoventilation was comparable in the two groups after sedation. SpO2 was significantly higher in the oxygen supplementation group than in the room air breathing group (98.6% ± 1.4% vs. 93.1% ± 2.9%; p < 0.001) at peak etCO2, and oxygen supplementation caused SpO2 to be overestimated by greater than 5% when compared with room air. SpO2 at peak etCO2 was reduced from the baseline before sedation for the oxygen supplementation and room air breathing groups by 0.5% ± 1.1% and 4.1% ± 3.1%, respectively (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONSpO2 alone is not adequate for monitoring alveolar ventilation during sedated endoscopy under oxygen supplementation due to possible delays in detecting alveolar hypoventilation in patients. Even if SpO2 decreases by only 1% during the procedure and its level remains near 100%, physicians should consider the onset of severe alveolar hypoventilation, which requires immediate intervention.

Adult ; Aged ; Carbon Dioxide ; analysis ; Colonoscopy ; Conscious Sedation ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Humans ; Hypoventilation ; diagnosis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Monitoring, Intraoperative ; methods ; Oximetry ; methods ; Oxygen ; administration & dosage ; Respiration, Artificial