Daily energy expenditure has been measured by the physical activity recording and/or the questionnaire method. Recently, the accelerometer or pedometer is used to measure daily energy expenditure. The purpose of this study was to examine validity of the pedometer with accelerometer and to compare the daily physical activity between young and older Japanese. To examine validity of the pedometer, 10 young subjects worn the pedometer (Lifecorder) on the waist and then performed the walking test. Energy expenditure was measured by the expired gas analysis during the test. Fourtythree young and 54 older subjects worn the Lifecorder on the waist during free-living condition for 14 days. The intensity of Lifecorder had a high correlation with the physical activity intensity (METs) (r=0.958, P<0.001) . In the free-living condition, daily energy expenditure was 2171±305 kcal in young and 1617±196kcal in older (P<0.001) . Total step in young was significantly higher than older (young: 9490±2359 steps ; older: 6071±2804 steps, P<0.001) . There was no significant difference in the duration of physical activities at the Lifecorder intensity 1 such as desk working, watching TV sitting on a sofa and driving a car. However, the duration more than the intensity 2 corresponding to 2.2 METs in young subjects was longer than that in older (P<0.001) . We concluded that in older subjects, not only amounts of daily energy expenditure but also intensities of daily living were lower compared to the young subjects.

Treadmill exercise tolerance test(Modified Bruce Method) was performed with and without warm water bathing (WWB, 41°C, 10min) in 14 healthy aged men and women over 65y. o. (68.6±6.0y.o).
Increase in HR, BP and PRP during exercise was reduced after WWB. Duration of exercise and ST depression and occurrence of arrythmia during treadmill exerecise were significantly improved after WWB. Fatigability of the legs and Borg's index were also decreased aftr WWB. These results indicated the improvement of exercise tolerance after WWB was probably due to the increase in cardiac functions and collagenous viscosity (extensivility) of the musculoskeletal system.

The effects of the bathing on renal function were studied in 12 healthy men (32.3±7.7y. o.). The subjects took 41°C, 10min bathing and kept warm by a blanket for 30min, and then a mixture of 10% para-aminohippurate (PAH, 0.3ml/kg) and 10% sodium thiosulfate (NTS, 80ml) was infused intravenously. Clearance of PAH and NTS was calculated as the index of renal plasma flow (RPF) and glomerular filtration rate (GFR). PAH and NTS clearance test was also done at rest without bathing in another day. Blood Pressure (BP), Heart rate (HR), cardiac output (CO), sublingual temperature by electric thermista as deep body temperature were measured during the experiment. 30min after bathing, sublingual temperature was significantly increased by 0.9°C, and CO by +40%. After bathing, renal plasma flow (PAH clearance) significantly increased from 388.5±158.9ml/min to 572±170.7ml/min. Glomerular filtration rate (NTS clearance) was, however, unchanged from 115.6±37.3ml/min to 119.3±51.3ml/min. Filtration fraction (GFR/RPF) was significantly decreased. These results indicated that GFR was not improved by bathing although CO and RPF was increased by thermal vasodilation effect. The mechanism of unchanged GFR, despite of increased RPF, is probably that glomerular filtration pressure unchanged by thermal vasodilation of glomerular efferent and afferent arterioles.

Objective: Warm water immeresion (WWI) has been customary in Japan as useful thermal therapy. However, a comprehensive investigation of the effects of WWI on internal organs has never been undertaken. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of single WWI on indocyanine green (ICG) excretion in healthy humans. Subjects: 23 healthy males. (32.6±1.9 [mean±SEM] years) Methods: 1CG was administered intravenously (0.5mg/kg) to calculate excretion rate (ER). ICG injection was given before and after WWI (10min at 41°C). Sublingual temperature (ST), blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and cardiac output (CO) were simultaneously measured by noninvasive methods. Results: Significant changes were observed after WWI. These included an increase in ST, HR, and CO and a decrease in systolic BP (p<0.01). ER significantly decreased from 0.210±0.015 to 0.168±0.009 (p<0.01). Front-back ratio of ICG-ER which was calculated in order to evaluate the effect of aging increased significantly with age (R=0.582, p<0.0001). Conclusion: These results indicate that although CO increased due to the vasodilating effects of WWI, hepatic blood flow decreased after WWI and its response reduced with age even in before middle age.

An attack of Raynaud's Phenomenon (RP) is characterized by blanching of the fingers in response to cold or emotional stimuli.
We analyzed the effect of ninjinyouei-to on RP in patients with MCTD. Subjects in this study comprised 19 patients, two males and 17 females, with a mean age of 38 years, and a mean duration of disease of 57.6 months. The study was performed at a time when RP occurred frequently in our country, that is in the period from November 1992 to March 1993.
We administered 9.0g of ninjinyouei-to to each case for four weeks and measured the surface skin temperature of the hands before and after medication with a thermograph using a Thermoviewer-JTG 3300.
There was a significantly higher temperature on the left first finger-tip after medication. Our thermographic findings in this study demonstrate a quantitative efficacy of ninjinyouei-to on RP in MCTD.

A study was conducted to establish a method for quantitative evaluation of both the rate and degree of muscle oxygenation during ramp exercise using Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), and to determine the relationship of the indices to body composition and physical fitness. The subjects were 13 healthy men. After a warm-up period of 3 min at 20-W, the ramp exercise test was conducted. The exercise consisted of an increasing work rate at a slope of 20 W/min on a cycle ergometer performed until volitional fatigue. The NIRS probe used in the cycling exercise was placed on the vastus lateralis muscle. After 30 min of exercise, calibration was performed by cuff occlusion for 10 min with a pressure of 260 mmHg for quantitative determination of the NIRS curve. The oxygenation curve measured by NIRS during the exercise initially exhibited a linear decrease as the work rate increased. This rate of decrease in oxygenation was indicated by the NIRS slope (%/W) obtained from the calibration curve. In later stages of the exercise, the NIRS curve became flattened with increased work rate. The breaking point between the sloping phase and the flat phase was named the “NIRS Threshold 2, NT 2”. In addition, the rate of decrease in oxygenation at the end of exercise per maximal NIRS decrease obtained from the calibration curve was indicated as the %NIRS fall. The mean NIRS slope and %NIRS fall were 0.3±0.1%/W (range, 0.13 to 0.50%/W) and 29.9±11.8% (range, 12.0 to 50.0%), respectively. NT 2 was observed in 8 of the 13 subjects. The subjects were divided into two groups (NT 2 (+) and NT 2 (-) ) based on the appearance of NT 2. Both the NIRS slope and %NIRS fall in the NT 2 (+) group were significantly higher than those in the NT 2 (-) group. The NIRS slope was significantly correlated with VO₂/wt at VT (r=0.73, p<0.05) and wattage at VT (r=0.86, p<0.0001) . The %NIRS fall was significantly correlated with VO₂/wt at peak (r=0.80, P<0.001) . The NIRS slope and %NIRS fall were not significantly correlated with body mass index, %fat or thigh circumference.
These findings suggest that the NIRS slope indicates the efficiency of oxygen exchange in muscles activated during incremental exercise, and that the %NIRS fall indicates the ability to utilize Oxy-Hb+Mb against maximal oxygenation capacity in muscles. The NIRS slope and %NIRS fall can therefore be used as indices of muscular limitation during exercise, and as indices of muscular adaptation during exercise.

Electromyographic muscle activities of the shoulder muscles during shoulder external rotation with reference to load magnitude were studied in 8 healthy male subjects without history of shoulder injuries. In addition, we discussed the relationship between rotator cuff muscles and superficial muscles. The subjects performed shoulder external rotation from 60°internal rotation to 45° external rotation at 20° of shoulder abduction and 20° of flexion. A Cybex dynamometer used to prescribe angle and velocity of the shoulder movement. At the same time, intramuscular wire electrodes were inserted into the supraspinous, infraspinous and teres minor muscles, and then surface electrodes were placed over the posterior deltoid and middle trapezius muscles. The load magnitude ranged 2-18 Nm and the angle velocity was set at 15 deg/sec. The rotator cuff muscles became significantly to be activated from 2 Nm (the supraspinous and infraspinous m.) and from 4-5 Nm (the teres minor m.) compared with the muscle activity during non-load. The superficial muscles became significantly to be activated from 4-7 Nm (the posterior deltoid m.) and from 3-6 Nm (the middle trapezius m.) compared with the muscle activity during non-load. Within the load range (18 Nm 46.8% MVC), %iEMG of the rotator cuff muscles was always larger than that of the superficial muscles. Therefore, we concluded that the contribution of the rotator cuff muscles was larger than that of the superficial muscles up to 3-4 Nm, and activities of the superficial muscles increased gradually from 3-4 Nm during shoulder external rotation.