Although there are a number of reported cases of increased cerebral blood flow during exercise, there are no reports on the relation between changes of blood flow during exercise and attentional function. The purpose of this study is to clarify the relation between changes of blood flow during exercise with AT intensity and attentional function, using near-infrared spectral analysis. The subjects were 10 healthy males. The research protocol was to conduct steady load exercise. We randomly conducted two invention trials: 1) an exercise/task trial in which a trail making test (TMT) was performed as an attentional assignment during steady load exercise, and 2) a rest/task trial in which TMT was performed during rest as a control. As a result, we observed the following: increase of oxy-Hb in the prefrontal cortex during AT exercise, the significant shortening of TMT during exercise from 69.1±10.2 seconds to63.2±7.2seconds, and, with further control, that the more oxy-Hb rises, the more TMT time is shortened. From these results, it is suggested that 10 minutes of exercise would improve attentional function, and furthermore, there is a possibility that increased cerebral blood flow may be involved with the improvement of attentional function.

The aim of the present study was to examine whether amount of oral cortisol, immunoglobulin A (IgA), chromogranin A (CgA) and inflammatory cytokines, might be affected by prolonged strenuous exercise. Ten young male volunteers either exercised on recumbent ergometer at 75 % VO₂ max for 60 min (exercise session) or sat quietly (resting session). Saliva samples were obtained at 60 min intervals during sessions for measurements of salivary stress markers (cortisol, IgA and CgA), salivary inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and osmolality. Saliva flow rate was decreased and saliva osmolality was increased during the 60-min exercise. Saliva cortisol and CgA concentrations and secretion rates were increased during and after the exercise, whereas saliva IgA concentration and secretion rates were decreased after the exercise. Salivary inflammatory cytokines was increased during and after the exercise. The present findings suggested a single bout of prolonged strenuous exercise caused a transient increase in the salivary cortisol, CgA and inflammatory cytokines levels, whereas salivary IgA concentration and secretion rates were decreased after the exercise. Further studies, however, are needed to delineate whether or not salivary stress markers and inflammatory cytokines may be used as biological markers to determine the host responses to acute prolonged strenuous exercise.

We treated six patients with torsade de pointes (TdP) initiated by the prolonged QT interval in our hospital over the past five years. All the patients were on antiarrhythmic therapy ; one received procainamide, one received aprindine, one received pirmenol and the remaining three patients received disopyramide. In three of the six patients, the serum drug levels were within or below the therapeutic range. Three patients had hypokalemia as another precipitating factor. Two patients developed TdP after a long-term administration of the drugs. Great care must be exercised just in case TdP showed be developed by a conbination of precipitating factors even after the long-term administration of these antiarrhythmic drugs.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of aquatic exercise training on the trunk muscles function and activities of daily living in abdominal obese women. Nineteen abdominal obese (abdominal circumference: 90 cm or more) and fifteen age-matched non-obese women were recruited as participants in this study. The aquatic exercise training (60 min/day, three days/week for 8 weeks) based on abdominal twists for activating the trunk muscle function. Physical parameters, biochemical characteristics, arteriosclerotic parameters and activities of daily living scores were assessed before and after the training period. In both groups showed abdominal circumference, percent of body fat, blood pressure and lower extremity muscle strength increased significantly after aquatic exercising training. In particular, endurance capacity of abdominal and back muscles increased significantly and activities of daily living scores were significantly improved in the obese group. Moreover, the improvement in the strength of lower extremities and improvement in the activities of daily living scores, such as climbing and descending stairs, in the obese group tended to be higher than non-obese women. Additionally, in abdominal obese group, the amount of the reduction of abdominal circumference was significantly associated with that of the increase in the strength of lower extremities. Taken together, these findings suggest the possibilities that the present aquatic exercise training based on trunk muscle exercise improving the function of trunk and lower extremity muscles with reduction in the abdominal obesity, contributing to improve activities of daily living in abdominal obese women.

Objectives：This study investigated the perceptions of regenerative medicine among individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).Methods：Between October 2019 and February 2020, we interviewed individuals with SCI who had a history of inpatient or outpatient visits to our hospital using a structured questionnaire on regenerative medicine.Results：Ninety-nine participants completed the questionnaires. The mean age was 52.8±14.8 years, with 9.1％ of them being females. The majority of cases included cervical SCI (54.5％), AIS A lesion (63.6％), and traumatic causes (90.9％), and 93.9％ of the individuals had some interest in regenerative medicine for SCI, which is well known to individuals with SCI in the following order：induced pluripotent stem cells (n＝89), bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (n＝25), and autologous olfactory mucosal transplantation (n＝16). Individuals with SCI chose motor function (65.7％), bladder and bowel function (24.3％), and sensory function (9.0％）when asked to choose only one symptom that required improvement. Individuals with cervical SCI had more interest in regenerative medicine than those with SCI (46.3％ vs. 26.7％). In contrast, the majority of respondents with SCI were concerned about the effectiveness (n＝59) and cost (n＝53) of the treatment. Most participants obtained information about regenerative medicine on television (n＝73), followed by the Internet and/or social networking services (n＝54).Conclusion：Approximately half of individuals with SCI hope that regenerative medicine will restore their ability to walk.