This study determined the relationship between health and physical fitness, and the contribution of each element in physical fitness to health for middle-aged and elderly women. A total of 1, 220 females aged 35 to 64 years participated in physical fitness tests and medical check ups. According to health status, the subjects were divided into two groups ; the healthy group (HG) and the unhealthy group (UG) . Multiple discriminant analysis was applied to the multivariate data. Correct discriminant probabilities of multiple discriminant functions to discriminate the HG and UG ranged from 63.9 to 83.3% among 6 age groups. These results suggested that there was a relatively strong relationship between health status and the level of physical fitness for middle-aged and elderly women. The change in correct discriminant probabilities indicated that degree of relationship would decrease stepwise with age. The contribution of each element of physical fitness to health status was also evaluated by Pearson's correlation coefficient. Age-related changes in the correlation coefficients between the discriminant score representing health status and performance on each physical fitness test demonstrated four different patterns. Therefore, special consideration should be given to the degree of contribution of each physical fitness element at each age level when developing exercise programs to promote health among middle-aged and elderly women.

A 72-year-old man presented with back pain and 3 days after admission, chest and abdominal CT scanning revealed the existence of infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm with Stanford type B acute aortic dissection and hemorrhage in the retroperitoneal space. The maximum diameter of the abdominal aortic aneurysm was 60mm. After treating with anti-hypertensive therapy under restrictive observation because of the patient's stable general condition, surgery was performed 45 days after admission. The dissection extended into the abdominal aortic aneurysm and all visceral arteries branched from the true lumen. The presence of thrombus in the preperitoneal space suggested a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. Abdominal aortic aneurysm was replaced with a Y shaped graft and proximal anastomoses was performed with fenestration to prevent rupture of the proximal dissecting aorta. We report a rare case of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm following Stanford type B acute aortic dissection, which was operated on in the chronic stage. The patient is doing well.

We report the successful surgical treatment of severe Ebstein's anomaly in a female neonate with pulmonary atresia. Soon after birth, a heart murmur was audible and the baby became cyanotic. Echocardiography showed Ebstein's anomaly with pulmonary atresia. We started a LipoPGE 1 infusion for the open ductus arteriosus, but her uncontrollable heart failure necessitated surgery. Thus, when she was 8 days old, she was placed on cardiopulmonary bypass and we performed a triuspid valve orifice closure with right atrium plication and enlargement of the interatrial communication. She received a modified Blalock-Taussig shunt at the age of 60 days, but a prolonged mirulinone infusion was needed for her persistent heart failure. When she was 10 months old, we inserted a bidirectional Glenn shunt and she was discharged. Finally, when she was 30 months old, she had a total cavopulmonary connection. The patient is now asymptomatic, 18 months after her last operation.

This study was carried out to determine the relationship between health status and physical fitness, and the contribution of each element of physical fitness to the health status of middle-aged and elderly men and women. The subjects were 889 males and females aged 30 to 69 years. Physical fitness tests and medical check ups were performed. According to health status, the subjects were divided into two groups ; the healthy group (HG, n=348) and the unhealthy group (UG, n=207) . Multiple discriminant analysis was applied to the multivariate data. Correct discriminant probabilities of multiple discriminant functions to discriminate the HG and UG were 70.2% and 68.2% for men and women, respectively. These results suggested that there was a relatively strong relationship between health status and the level of physical fitness in both men and women. The contribution of each element of physical fitness to health status was evaluated by correlation coefficients between the discriminant score representing health status, and performance on each element of the physical fitness test and age. Age and muscle endurance contributed significantly to health status in both men and women. In addition, close relationship was seen between health status and elements of cardiorespiratory endurance, balance, and muscle strength in men, while change in physique correlated with health status in women. From these findings, it was concluded that exercise programs for health promotion in middle-aged and elderly people should be provided separately with consideration of the degree to which these specific elements contribute to health status.

To test the hypothesis that neutrophils play a role in lung injury during cardiopulmonary bypass, granulocyte elastase and myeloperoxidase release from pulmonary circulation were measured, as well as the respiratory index, before and after cardiopulmonary bypass. The production of granulocyte elastase and myeloperoxidase in the pulmonary circulation, and the respiratory index also elevated significantly after cardiopulmonary bypass. Furthermore, the level of granulocyte elastase and myeloperoxidase released from pulmonary circulation correlated with the changes of the respiratory index and preoperative pulmonary artery pressure. These data indicate that neutrophils play a major role in pulmonary dysfunction occurring after cardiopulmonary bypass, which is accentuated in patients with pulmonary hypertension.