· Since 1975 the Morishita Worldwide Longevity Regions Research Delegation has conducted in the regions of Caucusus, Hunza and Vilcabamba several times per annum.
· In 1984, we designated Xinjiang Uygur as the world's fourth longevity region.
· In 1987, we named the regions of Caucusus, Middle Asia, on the periphery of Pamir plateau (including Hunza) and the area extends for 8, 000km from east to west in latitude about 40° N “The Silk Road Lon-gevity Region”. And we presented of the results of our research at the 16th Natural Medicine International Symposium.
· In 1991, we have conducted on the spot research of Pama of Guangxi district. In the process, we designated this area as the world's fifth longevity region.
We proved that most longevitists of more than 100 years live along the Silk Road and have a lot in com-mon. That is, they eat unpolished grains as a staple diet and do not live far from the place of their birth. And they also eat crops they cultivate themselves. Life energy, the healthy condition of the earth revealing morpho-logically interdependent life pattern found in their living, has cycled in the uncivilized longevities.

Objective: We previously showed that interstitial lung disease, pneumonia, abnormal liver function, and anaphylactic reactions were frequent adverse events, and we analyzed outcomes, suspected causative drugs, and the onset of adverse events using information derived from the “Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report” (JADER) database.  Here, we aimed to determine the status of actual adverse reactions to carbamazepine (CBZ) and lamotrigine (LTG) using national public databases.
Methods: Data from the “Information on Decision on Payment/non-payment of Adverse Reaction Relief Benefits” (IARRB; April 2012-March 2016) and JADER (April 2012-March 2016) databases were downloaded from the website of the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency.  Information from the national database of the “Health Insurance Claims and Specific Health Checkups of Japan” (NDB) (April 2014-March 2015) was downloaded from the website of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
Results: The numbers of females and males in the IARRB were 169 and 229, respectively, for CBZ and 135 and 56, respectively, for LTG.  Those in JADER were 1,152 and 1,352, respectively, for CBZ and 1,358 and 806, respectively, for LTG.  The respective ratios of males and females prescribed CBZ and LTG in the NDB were 46.2 and 53.8%, and 56.3 and 43.7%, respectively.  Both CBZ and LTG were identified as very high-risk drugs associated with extreme skin reactions such as drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome (DIHS), toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS), erythema multiforme type drug eruption (EM), and disseminated papuloerythematous drug eruption (DPE).  CBZ induced DIHS, EM, and DPE more frequently among elderly men (over 60 years old), whereas LTG induced these reactions in women of reproductive age.
Conclusions: Elderly men prescribed CBZ and women of reproductive age prescribed LTG should be advised about extreme adverse skin reactions.

The.progress in diagnosis and surgical treatment of gastric cancer contributes to the raised diagnosis rate and 5-year survival rate of gastric cancer patients in Japan. According to the clinical data of 273 142 Japanese gastric cancer patients from 1962 to 1991, the proportion of patients with stage I gastric cancer was increased from 22.5% to 58.1%, and the accumulative 5-year survival rate from 37.5% to 68.8%. The improvement of the accumulative 5-year survival rate was remarkable for patients with stage Ⅱ gastric cancer (from 47.7% to 70.3%) and stage Ⅲ gastric cancer (from 26.4% to 45.0%).

Ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms (RAAA) can be lethal unless appropriate diagnosis and immediate repair are made. Since advanced age is a surgical risk, however, octogenarians are considered as poorer candidates for elective surgical intervention before rupture. The aims of this study were to clarify the problems and factors that are associated with mortality from RAAA in elderly patients. A retrospective study of all infrarenal RAAA patients (n=126) who presented at our center between 1985 and 2003 is presented. The patients were classified into 2 groups, Group O included 37 RAAA patients (male:female=22:15) aged 80 years old or over, and Group Y included 89 RAAA patients (male:female=70:19) under 80 years old. We analyzed and compared preoperative, operative, and postoperative states between groups. The percentage of cardiopulmonary arrests (CPA) was significantly higher in Group O (14/37, 38%) than in Group Y (24/89, 27%). The other preoperative factors (time to reach hospital, time in shock, blood pressure, base excess, hemoglobin, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, aneurysmal size) were not significantly different between the groups. The operative factors (operation time, aortic clamp time, the amounts of urine output and bleeding during the operation) were not significantly different between the groups. The rates of postoperative complications did not significantly differ between the groups. In a comparison of all cases, including patients with CPA, the survival rate was significantly lower in Group O (14/37, 37.8%) compared with Group Y (55/89, 61.8%). On the other hand, for the patients who underwent prosthetic graft replacement, the survival rate was equivalent in Group O (14/18, 77.8%) and Group Y (55/75, 73.3%). The mortality rate and percentage of CPA in Group O were significantly higher than in Group Y although the preoperative, operative and postoperative statistics are not significantly different. For patients who undergo prosthetic graft replacement, the survival rate is equivalent. These findings suggest that octogenarian patients cannot withstand the hypovolemic shock that is due to RAAA. We recommend elective operation before rupture in elderly patients with AAA.

Thirteen female swimmers (ranging in age from 15 to 18 years) were selected as subjects and divided into two groups; group A (subjects of experiment) consisted of six subjects in whom low pressure was loaded and group B (subjects of control) consisted of seven in whom low pressure was not given.
During training, circuit weight training was performed in a low pressure environment and it was combined with conventional swimming training. We studied the effect of these types of training on their red-cell 2, 3-diphosphoglycerate, salivary cortisol, and plasma testosterone.
(1) The 2, 3-DPG level showed a greater increase after loading exercise than at the time of resting in both groups A and B. The increase was highly significant in group A. Additionally, 10 days after the removal of the loading, hemoglobin and hematocrit levels were significantly decreased in groups A and B, and a significant increase in 2, 3-DPG was observed in group A.
(2) Only after loading low pressure was the cortisol level higher in group A than in group B. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in the amount of exercise loading when heart rate was used as the index.
(3) Testosterone tended to show a greater increase after exercise loading than on the first day of the experiment. However, neither an effect of exposure to low pressure on testosterone nor a significant difference between the two groups was observed.
According to the results, in swimming, an endurance contest, physical changes during training are almost the same in group A and B, but it is considered that a concurrent severe hypoxic condition as a result of low pressure loading brings about homeostasis in the living body and the homeostasis leads to an attempt to increase oxygen uptake by the tissues, yeilding increased staying power.

Background: In Japan, although many new pharmacy graduates are keen to find work, the number of new job openings for hospital pharmacists is limited. In this survey, we explored the attitudes toward work among hospital pharmacists working in large group hospitals in order to help pharmacy students make informed career decisions.
Methods: A cross-sectional, self-administered survey of 614 hospital pharmacists working in 66 institutions of the Tokushukai Hospital Group across Japan was conducted.
Results: The proportion of usable data from surveyed pharmacists was 71.7%. Approximately 80% of the respondents desired to commit to careers in the healthcare field and were keen to gain opportunities for personal development. Personal development was the key item among reasons given for decisions about workplace and turnover. About 95% of the pharmacists surveyed were satisfied with their jobs. Compared to the job satisfaction level of other workers, that of pharmacists was considerably higher, although only 5.5% of pharmacists saw themselves staying in their current job until retirement. Job satisfaction data demonstrated significant differences among cohorts of age and years employed, although some specific items associated with job satisfaction could not be identified. Future work plans were influenced by age and job satisfaction.
Conclusion: This study suggests that pharmacists working in group hospitals nurture positive expectations for their careers. Management needs to make greater efforts to understand the professional characteristics of hospital pharmacists in order to better utilize their professional abilities and skills for patient care and for the benefit of other healthcare professionals.

In 2011, we reported the usefulness of a database（DB）that was established by the members of a palliative care team（PCT）. Since then, we updated DB depending on the requests of PCT. We revised DB mentioned below. We developed a form for keeping a record of PCT members’care for patients, their family members or others, and a record of recommendation for each problem list. We also updated another form so that the evaluation of Support Team Assessment Schedule of Japan（STAS-J）had been showed sequentially, added an entry form of Palliative Prognostic Index, and extracted data required by Japan Society for Palliative Medicine in order to evaluate the activity of PCT. The database could be used by many hospitals, because it was created by the commercially available software.