Background : A system for measuring electrical resistance along meridian routes, using a built-in, standardized electrode mechanism with fixed-load, 10 mA (JIS allowance value) current generating IC circuit was newly devised, and the route impedance of 12 meridians (Rm kΩ) were obtained at each source acupoint in situ. These values were clinically investigated in 259 ambulant patients with a background of eastern sho (symptoms), and statistical analysis.Measurement and Result:Rm ranged from 156 to 1520 kΩ in 6 6males (age : 3 ∼ 48 years) and 99 females (age : 10 ∼ 87 years).1) Rm over 300 kΩ, denoted as qi deficiency, was recognized in the LR, GB, ST, SP, HT, BL and KI meridians of the males, and additionally in the SI meridians of the females older than 50 years, and only in the GB meridians of those younger than 50 years.2) A positive correlation with age was only recognized in the Lu, L1and S1meridian flow of those younger than 50 years in the male patient group, while in females younger than 50 years, this correlation was recognized in ST, SP, HT and BL meridians, while in those over 50 years, it was only recognized in ST meridians.3) Among the 54 cases of qi deficiency, a positive correlation between age and Rm was recognized only in 10 meridians of the females and in 52 “blood-emptiness” cases, 4 meridians of the males, and 2 meridians of the females and in 51 cases of “blood stasis” group, 8 meridians of the males and 2 meridians of the females.Conclusion : The Rm values found with the newly-devised meridian route impedance measurement system were significant in an eastern medicine way with qi rather, than “Blood” in sho pathogenesis.
Measurement ; Age, NOS ; Lower case kay ; Electrodes ; Devices

The purpose of this study was to determine the timing and sequence of emergence of the first 28 permanent teeth in a cross-section of Malay children in the district of Kota Bharu, in northeastern Peninsula Malaysia. The sample consists of 478 boys and 908 girls of Malay descent aged between 5-19 years. The criterion for tooth emergence was the appearance of the tooth through the gingivae. Descriptive statistics were calculated and probit regression analysis performed to determine the mean age of emergence of the permanent dentition. The mean age at emergence was found to conform to general trends, with emergence seen earlier in girls than in boys. Comparisons were made with the Chinese (Hong Kong) and the Punjabi (Chandigarh) profiles, which showed earlier emergence timings in those ethnic groups. The emergence timing in Malays, however, was earlier than in Thais (Central Thailand). The sequence of emergence was determined by referring to the mean age of tooth emergence of individual teeth and conforms to the general trend seen in other studies.
Tooth ; Malaysia ; Age, NOS ; trends ; Central brand of multivitamin with minerals

Mortality from acute diarrhoea in developed countries is low, but the morbidity and financial cost remains significant. A one-year prospective, descriptive, non-interventional, hospital-based study of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) was conducted in the year 2002 in the paediatric unit of University of Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, an urban hospital in Malaysia, to determine its morbidity and management. During the study period, 393 children with AGE were admitted, utilizing 0.50% of total patient-bed-day of the hospital. The median duration of symptoms before admission was two days. Seventy-seven percent of patients had consulted family physicians before admission. Antidiarrhoeal drugs (57%) and anti-emetics (48%) were commonly prescribed, but oral rehydrating solution (36%) was rarely advised. Upon admission, severe vomiting (24%) and severe diarrhea (24%) were not common, while 17% had moderate or severe dehydration. Rotavirus (22%) was the commonest pathogen identified. Electrolyte derangement, secondary septicaemia and chronic diarrhoea were all rare. Eighty-nine percent of patients received intravenous fluid therapy whilst in the hospital. No death was noted. The morbidity and mortality of children with AGE requiring hospital care in this study was low. However, preadmission management and fluid therapy after admission was not ideal. Efforts to encourage better adherence to established management protocol of AGE among family physicians and hospital clinicians should be instituted.
Hospitals ; Acute ; Age, NOS ; morbidity aspects ; Malaysia

The author founded the “Society of the New Elderly” in 2000 and launched a campaign to redefine old age. It was some 50 years back that the elderly were defined as those people over the age of 65 in industrially advanced countries.However, with the average life expectancy of Japanese at birth topping 82, the author suggested five years ago that the elderly should refer to those people 70 and over. The Society adopted the following four slogans:(1) to love, (2) to initiate, (3) to endure, and (4) to promote world peace by letting school children learn how peace could be realized through the stories of the horrors of war told by the aged who experienced them during World War II.It was emphasized that good models of the elderly should be shown to the young generation through hearty communication at their homes or at public places.The author recently visited Dr. Schweitzer's hospital at Lambarene in Gabon and learned how the Alsatian medical missionary had dedicated himself to the people there to let them know how precious the life of humans and all other living things, because they were created by God.Finally, the author mentioned the latest research we had been conducting with the participation of volunteers among the memebers of the Society. Through the cohort study, it is to investigate how their genus are influenced by their lifestyle.The author has been trying to persuade health professionals in different disciplines into working together more closely in order to improve the quality of health care.
Elderly ; seconds ; Societies <1> ; Age, NOS ; peace

During the period of two years from 2001 to 2003, we treated nine cases of takotsubo-type myocardiopathy. In this paper, the clinical characteristics and patients' conditions are described, and the mechanisms leading to dyskinesia of the muscular walls of the heart are discussed. All the cases were female. The mean age was 73 years. Physiological as well as psychological stress was implicated as a major cause of the disease, with onset occurring when some members of their family were suddenly taken ill or when they started quarreling with others. Echocardiograms revealed sigmoid septa in almost half of the nine patients. The prognosis was good. Only one patient had cardiac insufficiency as a sequela, but her condition improved. No one died.Eight patients got over dyskinesia of the left ventricular walls in two weeks. From our experience and studies of literature, we ruled out the possibility of the involvement of circulatory disorder and myocarditis in the onset of the disease. Women of advanced age are apt to have sigmoid septa and left ventricular walls thinning. When the old patient in this condition suffer psychosomatic stress, catecholamines will be released, causing the hypercontraction of the left ventricle, the pressure difference in the chamber, and the collapse of the apical of the heart. We concluded that these physiopathological states may be responsible for the abnormal movements of the muscular walls of the heart peculiar to the disease taken up in this study.
Heart ; Patients ; Dyskinetic syndrome ; Age, NOS ; Heart insufficiency

The purpose of this study was to discuss the procedures for establishing indices for physical senility from simple physical fitness tests through linear regression analysis. The fluctuation of residuals obtained from the various regression analyses and the statistical procedures for dealing with the variables when the assumptions concerning the residuals were contradicted, were discussed. In this study, 168 females (mean age 37.7, SD 11.3, range 20 to 65years) who were registered with one occupational insurance organization were examined. They each underwent tests to establish readings for seven variables, including five physical fitness tests: standing trunk flexion (FLEX), sit-ups in 30seconds (SIT-UP), vertical jump (VERT), repetitious side step in 20seconds (SIDE), and step test (STEP-ME). Two blood pressure readings while at rest were also taken (SBP, DBP). The results can be summarized as follows. In the forward stepwise regression analysis, the order of entered variables was VERT (R=0.637), SIT-UP (R=0.673), DBP (R=0.696), FLEX (R=0.704), and SIDE (R=0.717). The equation is y=61.38-0.569×(VERT)-0.513×(SITUP)+0.183×(DBP)+0.283×(FLEX)-0.328×(SIDE). Minimum AIC estimates (MAICE) were achieved for this equation. The correlation coefficient between residuals and predicted value was 0.345 (p<0.05). To satisfy the assumptions of the standard regression model, the researchers worked with transformed variables instead of working with original variables. The transformations of the raw data into logarithms and into reciprocals is described. According to the rules of variable elimination using ridge regression analysis, SBP and STEP-ME were eliminated from the set of seven variables. However, an examination of the residuals indicated that there were no advantages with using these transformations compared to the general linear model using raw data. The ratio of the predicted age for each client obtained from the predictive equation and chronological age is regarded as a marker of aging. Therefore, it is necessary for researchers to examine what kind of life styles result in such individual differences.
Upper case are ; Age, NOS ; Physical Fitness ; predictive ; Diastolic blood pressure

Most previous studies on RET and p53 proteins have focused on thyroid papillary carcinoma. We investigated the role of RET and p53 protein expressions using immunohistochemistry on 52 cases of thyroid follicular adenomas and studied the follow-up records of these patients. The range of follow-up period was 3 to 14 years. The patients were between 15 and 71 years of age with a median age of 34.5 years. There were 46 females and 6 males. Except for 3 cases, all patients were Malays. The minimum volume of the tumour was 1000 mm3 and the maximum was 512,000 mm3 with a median of 270,000 mm3. Eleven (21.2%) cases showed RET expression. RET expression was not statistically significant when cross-tabulated against sex (p = 0.322), ethnicity (p = 0.518), age (p = 0.466) and symptom duration (p = 0.144). Six (11.5%) of 52 cases showed p53 immunopositivity. p53 expressions were also not significantly correlated to the clinical parameters above. There was no correlation between RET and p53 protein expressions. The only statistically significant finding was the association of tumour volume with duration of symptoms (p = 0.05). All patients are alive at the time of writing. 3 had recurrent goitre, 2 of these were diagnosed as colloid goitre while the third was a follicular lesion. One patient suffered from depression requiring anti-depressant treatment. In conclusion, unlike papillary carcinoma in which the roles of ret and p53 oncogenes are known, their roles in influencing the behaviour of follicular adenoma has not been ascertained.
Oncogene, RET ; lower case pea ; Desiccated thyroid ; Protein p53 ; Age, NOS

New Guinea ; Blood Pressure ; Age, NOS

Skin is the largest organ in human system and plays a vital role as a barrier against environment and pathogens. Skin regeneration is important in tissue engineering especially in cases of chronic wounds. With the tissue engineering technology, these skins equivalent have been use clinically to repair burns and wounds. Consented redundant skin samples were obtained from patients aged 9 to 65 years old. Skin samples were digested with dispase, thus separating the epidermis and the dermis layer. The epidermis layer was trypsinized and cultured in DKSFM in 6-well plate at 37 degrees C and 5% CO2. Once confluent, the culture were trypsinized and the cells were pooled. Cells were counted using haemacytometer. Doubling time and viability were calculated and analysed. From the result, we conclude that doubling time and viability of in vitro keratinocytes cultured in DKSFM media is not age dependant.
Cultural ; Integumentary system ; Human ; Age, NOS ; monolayer

Accelerated atherosclerosis has come to pose a great threat to the lives of hemodialysis patients. In the present study, to determine the characteristics of atherosclerosis in long-term survivors on maintenance hemodialysis (mean age : 57±3 years, mean duration of hemodialysis : 279±11 months), the reference to clinical, biochemical and physiological parameters pertaining to atherosclerosis were examined and the results were compared with those in age-matched short-term hemodialysis patients (mean age : 55±2 years, mean duration of hemodialysis : 23±3 months). Although hypertension is regarded as one of cardiovascular risk factors together with diabetes, smokings and hyperlipidemia, our study found that the incidence of hypertension was significantly lower in long-term survivors on hemodialysis (16.7%) than in short-term hemodialysis patients (83.3%). However, no significant differences in biochemiacal data and carotid artery intima-media thickness were found between the two groups of hemodialysis patients. Levels of pulse wave velocity (PWV) in both short-term hemodialysis patients (1912±165 cm/sec) and long-term survivors on hemodialysis (1627±97 cm/ sec) were significantly higher than those in age-matched healthy subjects (1382±44 cm /sec). The levels of PWV in long-term survivors on hemodialysis tended to be lower than those in short-term hemodialysis patients, although the difference was statistically not significant. These results suggest that atherosclerotic alterations have already advanced in non-dialyzed patients with end-stage renal disease. The relatively lower levels of PWV in long-term survivors on hemodialysis may reflect the higher incidence of cardiovascular-related complications in those patients with highly accelerated atherosclerosis who die or may drop out during hemodialysis treatment.
Hemodialysis ; Atherosclerosis ; Age, NOS ; month ; Cardiovascular