The supply center of the Atsumi Hospital handles medicines, medical supplies, slips, stationery, daily necessities, resterilized things, laundries, linen and washing beds among many others. The center is striving to raise the efficiency of the flow of materials within the hospital and undertakes logistics management single-handed. In January 2003, one copier and one lithographic unit out of the total four duplicating and printing machines in the hospital were removed to the suppy center. Since then, the center has been responsible for handling these machines for individual users. How effective this office meanagement system was in saving time, cutting down on costs and increasing the degree of satisfaction felt by employees was examined as part of TQM activities.Between June 2003, when the advance booking system was adopted for the use of the two machines, and January 2004, it was found that the monthly reservation ratio averaged out 38.3%. A questionnaire survey also found that many menbers of the staff were satisfied as they could make good use of time. As regards cost reduction, the monthly rental for the copying machine was curtailed to ¥57,000. This was made possible as members of the supply center made proper use of the copier and lithography.
Copying Processes ; Economic supply ; Agent ; Central ; Hospitals

This study was carried out to investigate the relationships among the agriculturalworking days, nutrients intake and complications of hypertension in 266 male subjects in a ruralarea. The main findings are as follows.
1. Salt and carbohydrate intake and cereal energy level were higher in the farming group, who engaged in agricultural work for 300 days or over in a year, than in the non-faming group.
2. The hypertensive group with abnormal ECG or fundscopic findings showed a lower protein energy ratio, fat energy ratio and animal protein ratio than the non-hypertensive group with normal ECG and fundscopic findings.
3. The serum total cholesterol level of the farming group was lower than that of the non-farming group. The hypertensive group with abnormal ECG or fundscopic findings showed lower serum total cholesterol level than non-hypertensive group with normal ECG and fundscopic findings.
These results suggest that the complications of hypertension, such as abnormal ECG or funds-copic findings, are aggravated by the dietary habits of the farming group.

OBJECTIVES: As the population ages, the number of lumbar spinal surgeries performed on sarcopenic patients will increase. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of sarcopenia and evaluated its impact on the results of lumbar spinal surgery. METHODS: This study included 2 groups: One group consisted of patients who underwent whole-body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanning before the option of undergoing surgery for lumbar spinal disease (LSD group) and a second group consisted of patients underwent DXA scanning for osteoporosis screening under hospital watch at the geriatric medicine department (control group). In order to evaluate the impact of sarcopenia on the clinical outcome of lumbar spinal surgery, the Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score, the recovery rate based on the JOA score, and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores for lower back pain, lower extremity pain, and lower extremity numbness were compared within the LSD group. RESULTS: The prevalence of sarcopenia showed no statistical difference between groups (control group, 50.7%; LSD group, 46.5%). In the LSD group, while the changes in VAS scores showed no statistical difference between the nonsarcopenia subgroup and sarcopenia subgroup, the sarcopenia subgroup demonstrated inferior JOA scores and recovery rates at the final follow-up when compared with the nonsarcopenia subgroup (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated a high prevalence of sarcopenia among the elderly populations in Japan and a negative impact of sarcopenia on clinical outcomes after lumbar spinal surgery.
Absorptiometry, Photon ; Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hypesthesia ; Japan ; Low Back Pain ; Lower Extremity ; Lysergic Acid Diethylamide ; Mass Screening ; Orthopedics ; Osteoporosis ; Prevalence ; Sarcopenia ; Spinal Diseases

Background/Aims: Several studies have assessed the effect of cool temperature on colonic peristalsis. Transient receptor potential melastatin 8 (TRPM8) is a temperature-sensitive ion channel activated by mild cooling expressed in the colon. We examined the antispasmodic effect of cool temperature on colonic peristalsis in a prospective, randomized, single-blind trial and based on the video imaging and intraluminal pressure of the proximal colon in rats and TRPM8-deficient mice. Methods: In the clinical trial, we randomly assigned a total of 94 patients scheduled to undergo colonoscopy to 2 groups: the mildly cool water (n = 47) and control (n = 47) groups. We used 20 mL of 15°C water for the mildly cool water. The primary outcome was the proportion of subjects with improved peristalsis after treatment. In the rodent proximal colon, we evaluated the intraluminal pressure and performed video imaging of the rodent proximal colon with cool water administration into the colonic lumen. Clinical trial registry website (Trial No. UMIN-CTR; UMIN000030725). Results: In the randomized controlled trial, after treatment, the proportion of subjects with no peristalsis with cool water was significantly higher than that in the placebo group (44.7% vs 23.4%; P < 0.05). In the rodent colon model, cool temperature water was associated with a significant decrease in colonic peristalsis through its suppression of the ratio of peak frequency (P < 0.05). Cool temperaturetreated TRPM8-deficient mice did not show a reduction in colonic peristalsis compared with wild-type mice. Conclusion For the first time, this study demonstrates that cool temperature-dependent suppression of colonic peristalsis may be associated with TRPM8 activation.