OBJECTIVE

To verify whether reducing the energy ratio of carbohydrates and increasing the ratio of fats contributes to suppressing blood glucose elevation not only under normal conditions but also under the effects of glucocorticoids.

Three test enteral nutrition (EN) solutions, differing in energy ratios and used in actual clinical settings, were given to rats: HINEX E-Gel (ST) with 20% fat and 64% carbohydrate content; HINEX E-Gel LC (LC) with 34% fat and 50% carbohydrate content; and HINEX Renute (RN) with 50% fat and 26% carbohydrate content. The time-course data of plasma glucose, triglyceride, and insulin levels after a single oral administration of the test EN solution were obtained in normal rats (Experiment 1) and in hyperglycemia model rats treated with dexamethasone (Experiment 2).

In both normal and dexamethasone-induced hyperglycemic rats, plasma glucose levels were lower in the groups given RN than in the groups given ST. The differences in EN solutions did not significantly affect plasma triglyceride and insulin levels in either rat model.

The study suggests that an EN solution high in fat and low in carbohydrate suppresses the post-administration increase of blood glucose levels, even in a state of steroid-induced hyperglycemia with insulin resistance.

No abstract available.
Arthritis, Psoriatic* ; Macrophages* ; Scleroderma, Systemic*

1) In problem-based learning (PBL) tutorials during the2nd year, general symptoms (fatigue, weight change, bleeding, fever, pain, and edema) were chosen as subjects.Changes in the students'way of thinking about how to learn were evaluated before and after PBL tutorials.
2) After tutorials students were significantly more likely to believe that their participation in tutorials was a more effective way of learning. The students'views after tutorials on listening to lectures differed between2006and2007.
3) We conclude that PBL tutorials affect medical students'views about learning.

Recently, there have been signs of a rise in the number of farm workers with lumbago. The authors have surveyed and researched farm workers' complaints about lumbago and the relations among lumbago, farm work and daily life. The findings revealed that:
1) Complaints about lumbago are evidenthly greater among farm workers than other people.
2) People with complaints about lumbago increase with age. Men and women in their 40s reach a peak.
3) In terms of farm work, the rate of complaints about lumbago is great for forward-bending and half-sitting postures and for the carrying of heavy objects and the bending and stretching of the waist. In terms of the work environment, cold weather produces a great impact on the incidence and degeneration of lumbago.
4) In checkups of people with lumbago, there are many cases with muscular and myofasiogenic lumbago.
5) Complaints have something to do with an elapse of time. Daily calithenics is believed to the alleviation of complaints about lumbago.