Three middle-aged men (55-58 years) trained for 50 weeks. Exercise consisted of twelve minutes walking on the motor driven treadmill at the load of 70% of maximum oxygen intake, three times per week.
Evaluations for maximal and submaximal work were made at 5-week intervals using treadmill walking method. Mean maximum oxygen intake improved 29.5% (26.1-39.7 %) over the 50-week period from 1.93 to 2.50 l/min, Mean maximum oxygen intake per body weight improved 24.5% from 34.9 to 43.5 ml/kg.min.
But through the training session, the maximum values of maximum oxygen intake were obtained over the 25-week to 35-week period on each subject. After that period, maximum oxygen intake were unchanged or slightly dropped neverthless the training was continued.
As the linear relationship was found between the oxygen intake and heart rates during exercise, the regression equations were calculated on each maximal test. The regression line might represent the oxygen pulse on each heart rates level during exercise. The oxygen pulse improved clealy also during submaximal work. The improve-ment of oxygen pulse were distinctive to 25-35 week period and after that no change were occured.
In the submaximal test, there was seen clear improvement of efficiency during 20 minutes walking at the load of 70%, 50%, 30% of maximum oxygen intake respectively, even after the period that the increment of maximum oxygen intake could not be caused by training.

The purpose of this study was to detemine the effect of water intake on themoregulatory response during a round of golf (18 holes) in the heat (30-33°C, 55-70% RH) . Ten middle-aged male subjects participated in two separate golf rounds. During the first round the subjects played without fluid replacement (D), while in the second they received water replacement equal to weight loss in D (R) . With D, body weight loss of 3.8% was accompanied by a 13.3% reduction in calculated plasma volume (PV), while a small loss of body weight (0.5%) with an increase in PV of 4.6% was observed in R. A third round of golf by 5 of the subjects in cooler weather (20.4°C) without fluid replacement two months later resulted in heart rate and rectal temperature changes only slightly lower than during R. Golfing with D significantly elevated rectal temperatures and heart rates as compared to R. The rectal temperatures and heart rates at end of the 4.5-hr rounds were 39.4°C and 145 bpm, and 38.6°C and 116 bpm, in D and R, respectively. The serum enzymes, aspaartate aminotransferase, alamine aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, and creatine kinase were measured at rest and after golfing. All enzyme levels increased signijicantly after golfing in D and to a lesser extent in R. The advantages of frequent fluid replacement during golf in high environmental temperatures was clearly demonstrated.

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of a 6-month unsupervised, flexible and fairly light intensity walking program on endurance fitness, strength, lipids and lipoproteins and bone health in a group of middle-aged sedentary women. Six pre-menopausal and 8 post-menopausal women, aged 54 yr, served as the walk training group (W) and 9 women (2 post-menopausal), aged 49yr, served as controls (C) . W walked an average of 10, 000 steps per day for 6 months, which included an average of 5, 000 steps of brisk walking for 30 min, 4 to 5 days per week. Workloads, heart rates and double-product break point (during incremental maximal ergometer exercise), body weight and %fat, serum lipids, leg strength and bone density (by ultrasound) and induces of bone metabolism were measured at baseline and after 3 and 6 months. Walk training in W resulted in a significant improvement in maximal workload during the exercise test compared with C. Double product break point in W during exercise significantly shifted towards higher workloads and resting heart rate was reduced. Isokinetic muscular strength of leg extensors and abdominal muscular endurance measured by situps were also significantly increased in W. Estimated calcaneal bone density showed a tendency to increase after 6 months of training in W. Indicators of bone resorption and growth remained unchanged. Changes in serum lipids and lipoproteins were also favorable, but not significant. In conclusion, these results show that a flexible and self-regulated walking program is sufficient to elicit improvements in cardiovascular endurance, aerobic capacity measured by DPBP and strength of leg and abdominal muscles. Bone strength and serum lipids were not clearly improved after 6 months with this walking program. If training time were extended to 12 months, significant improvements in these measures can be expected because tendencies toward improvements were observed.

    Clinical research is essential for the practice of evidence-based medicine. This study reports on our current practice of clinical research support in Mito Kyodo General Hospital and discusses future challenges. In April 2013, the University of Tsukuba hired a clinical research assistant to provide clinical research support in Mito Kyodo General Hospital. The clinical research assistant worked full-time in the hospital in collaboration with 3 university faculty members. The target population for this study comprised 450 medical personnel including doctors, nurses, and other medical staff. From April 2014, 1 of the 3 faculty members visited the hospital once a month to offer clinical research consultations and deliver a lecture on nursing research. We analyzed past records of clinical research support and conducted a questionnaire survey to explore the level of satisfaction of the medical personnel. Four-hundred and ninety records of 91 research topics proposed by 68 medical personnel were identified. Of these, 93.4% were proposed by doctors or nurses. Most studies employed an observational study design (64.8%) and were conducted in order to make a presentation at an academic conference (51.1%). The consultation sessions were held 1–5 times, for 40–405 min, and lasted from 1–84 days per research topic. Consultations mostly pertained to research design and protocol planning (57.1%). Forty-seven clients were invited to participate in the questionnaire survey, 30 of whom provided valid responses. The results showed that 96.6% of the clients were satisfied with the consultations. The number of clients who participated in the consultations comprised only 15.1% of the target population. These practice biases need to be addressed in future. However, nearly all respondents were satisfied with the consultations. These findings suggest that our clinical research support was beneficial to medical personnel.

This study aimed to examine the effect of linear polarized near-infrared light (PL) irradiation on the recovery of isokinetic muscle exertion and subjective fatigue sensation in muscles after strenuous exercise. Eighteen healthy college students participated in the experiment for all conditions of meridian point irradiation (MPI), femurs muscles irradiation (FMI), and no irradiation (NI) . They all took isokinetic knee extension and flexion tests (IK test) before and after strenuous exercise up to exhaustion. Each subject was irradiated at the meridian point or in femurs muscles after the second IK test. The third IK test was carried out after ten-minutes rest.
The effects of PL irradiation were confirmed on the recovery rate of muscle fatigue in knee extension motion with high load intensity (PT 60 d/s and TW 60 d/s : MPI, FMI> NI, p<0.05 16.2%, 13.4%>8.5%, and 16.1%, 14.1%>8.3%, respectively) . Also, in flexion motion, significant differences in the recovery-degree for each condition were found, and the effect of PL irradiation was suggested. There was no difference between the effect of MPI and FMI. In addition, subjective fatigue sensation in muscles after rest decreased significantly in MPI as compared with NI (MPI: 52.1%>NI : 36.6%, p<0.05) . From the above, it was suggested that PL irradiation is effective on recovery in muscle fatigue after strenuous exercise regardless of irradiation conditions, MPI or FMI.

In concequence of the rapid extension of the average life expectancy of the Japanese after World War II, this country has realized a society of longevity. Although longevity is in itself something to be celebrated, many people have misgivings about health in their old age. Advances in medical technology, one of the factors which promoted the society of longevity, continued overcoming various diseases while bringing about many patients troubled with after effects. Also the number of old people suffered from chronic diseases has been increasing gradually.Today, people wish healthy long life from the heart, not simply longevity. Nagano Prefecture has come to be known as the area eminent for long healthy life expectancy in recent years. Behined this, there are various activities aimed at healthier life by citizens. In this paper, we report one of the activities carried out at “Yachiho village” (as a result of the affiliation with Saku machi in 2005 renamed Sakuho machi) located in the eastern part of Nagano Prefecture.The health care program for all villagers, which the government of Yachiho village started in 1959 with cooperation of Saku Central Hospital, produced fruit while breeding many voluntary activities by citizens. We explored the practices of the group worked on the improvement of nutrition, and studied about the essential conditions which have enabled the formation of health promotion activities by citizens.
Longevity ; Health Promotion ; Activities ; Life Expectancy ; Today

BACKGROUND: Body temperature is usually regulated by opposing controls of heat production and heat loss. However, systemic administration of capsaicin, the pungent ingredient of hot peppers, facilitated heat production and heat loss simultaneously in rats. We recently found that the capsaicin-induced heat loss and heat production occur simultaneously and that the biphasic change in body temperature is a sum of transient heat loss and long-lasting heat production. Moreover, suppression of the heat loss response did not affect capsaicin-induced heat production and suppression of heat production did not affect capsaicin-induced heat loss. These observations suggest the independent peripheral mechanisms of capsaicin-induced thermal responses. Thus, the capsaicin-induced thermal responses apparently lack an integrated control. METHODS: Male Wistar rats were maintained at an ambient temperature of 24 1 degrees C on a 12 h on-off lighting schedule at least for two weeks before the experiments. They were anesthetized with urethane (1.5 g/kg, i.p.) and placed on a heating pad, which was kept between 29 and 30 degrees C. Skin temperature(Ts) was measured with a small thermistor, which was taped to the dorsal surface of the rat's tail, to assess vasoactive changes indirectly. Colonic temperature(Tc) was measured with another thermistor inserted about 60 mm into the anus. O2 consumption was measured by the open-circuit method, and values were corrected for metabolic body size (kg0.75). Capsaicin (Sigma) was dissolved in a solution comprising 80+ACU- saline, 10+ACU- Tween 80, and 10+ACU- ethanol, and injected subcutaneously at a dose of 5 mg/kg. Each rat received a single injection of capsaicin because repeated administration of capsaicin renders an animal insensitive to the subsequent administration of capsaicin. Laminectomy was performed at the level of the first and second cervical vertebrae to expose the cervical spinal cord for sectioning. The brain was transected at 4-mm rostral from the interaural line with an L-shaped knife. RESULTS: After administration of capsaicin, O2 consumption increased from 13.5 0.4 mL/min/kg0.75 at 0 min to a peak of 15.9 0.4 mL/min/kg0.75 at 71 min and gradually declined but remained higher than the basal value until the end of the 4-h observation period. Ts also immediately increased from 27.7 0.2 degrees C to 31.9 0.3 degrees C at 39 min, and it returned to the baseline level within 90 min after the capsaicin administration. Tc initially decreased from 37.1 0.1 degrees C to 36.8 0.2 degrees C at 43 min and then gradually increased over the baseline level and remained at 37.6 0.2 degrees C until the end of the experiment. In spinalized rats, the capsaicin-induced increases in O2 consumption was largely attenuated, while the basal O2 consumption was similar to that of control rats. The basal Ts of spinalized rats was 32.4 0.3 degrees C, which was higher than that of control rats. Capsaicin increased Ts by less than 1 degree C, and Tc did not change after the capsaicin administration. O2 consumption of decerebrated rats was statistically higher than that of control rats after the injection of capsaicin. However, capsaicin did not increase Ts, showing a lack of a vasodilatory response. Decerebration between the hypothalamus and midbrain prevented the capsaicin-induced heat loss but not the heat production response. CONCLUSION: These results show that the capsaicin-induced heat production and heat loss are controlled separately by the brainstem and by the forebrain, respectively, and suggest that the body temperature regulation is performed without an integrative center.
Animal ; Body Temperature Regulation/drug effects+ACo- ; Brain/physiology ; Brain/drug effects ; Capsaicin/pharmacology+ACo- ; Decerebrate State ; Male ; Oxygen Consumption/drug effects ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

Methods: We reviewed 125 patients (79 men and 46 women) who had lumbar spinous process splitting laminectomy (LSPSL) for LSS. We assessed the following clinical information: Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score; numerical rating scale (NRS) for low back pain (LBP), leg pain, and leg numbness; Zurich Claudication Questionnaire; JOA Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire; Roland- Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ); and Short Form 8 (SF-8) as HRQOL. We compared the HRQOLs of men and women pre- and postoperatively. Results: Although the preoperative NRS results for LBP were significantly higher in women (p <0.05), there were no significant differences in clinical outcomes between men and women postoperatively. For HRQOL, the RMDQ scores were significantly worse in women preoperatively (p <0.05), but no significant differences were found postoperatively between men and women. Similarly, the SF-8 mental health score was also significantly lower in women preoperatively (p <0.05), but no significant differences were noted between the two groups postoperatively. Conclusions LSPSL greatly reduced LBP, leg pain, and leg numbness in both genders. There were limited differences in pain and several HRQOL questionnaire responses between men and women after surgery. We found that women had greater sensitivity to and/or lower tolerance for pain than men, which led to lower HRQOL mental health scores preoperatively.