In an attempt to clarify the function of the suboccipital muscles, we performed morphological observation of the suboccipital muscles for variations in the muscle belly and compared the morphology of their muscle fibers in terms of cross-sectional area by immunostaining with anti-myosin heavy chain antibodies. The cadavers of 25 Japanese individuals were used: 22 for morphological examinations and three for histological examinations. Among samples of the rectus capitis posterior major muscle (RCPma) and rectus capitis posterior minor muscle (RCPmi), 86.4% had a typical muscle appearance with a single belly, and 13.6% had an anomalous morphology. None of the samples of the obliquus capitis superior (OCS) or obliquus capitis inferior (OCI) muscles had an anomalous appearance. Measurement of cross-sectional area revealed that fast-twitch muscle fibers in the RCPma and OCI had a significantly greater cross-sectional area than those of the RCPmi and OCS. The cross-sectional area of intermediate muscle fibers was also significantly greater in the OCS than in the RCPma, RCPmi, and OCI. The cross-sectional area of slow-twitch muscle fibers was significantly greater in the OCS than in the RCPma, RCPmi, and OCI, and the RCPmi showed a significantly greater cross-sectional area for slow-twitch muscle fibers than did the RCPma, and OCI. Our findings indicate that the RCPmi and OCS exert a greater force than the RCPma and OCI, and act as anti-gravity agonist muscles of the head. Prolonged head extension in individuals with anomalous suboccipital muscle groups could result in dysfunction due to undue stress.
Antibodies ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cadaver ; Classification* ; Head ; Headache ; Humans ; Muscle Fibers, Fast-Twitch ; Muscle Fibers, Slow-Twitch ; Muscles

Objective: In drug treatment for pregnant and lactating women, pharmacists need to contribute to adequate drug treatment by collecting much information from various sources.  However, it takes much time to collect information using plural sources.  In this study, we tried to develop a database system which enables expeditiously collecting the domestic and foreign drug use criteria information in order to streamline collecting information for pregnant and lactating women.  In addition, we assessed the utility of the database by comparing the time to collect information using the database to that using each information source and the usability by questionnaires.
Methods: We developed a database system that integrates drug information from the FDA Pregnancy Category, Australian categories for prescribing medicines in pregnancy, “Drugs in Pregnancy & Lactation,” and Japanese package inserts.  For assessment of the usability of the database, we assessed the time required to collect information and subjective evaluation using the five-method questionnaires.
Results: The database significantly reduced the time needed for collecting criteria information and made it possible to compile the information simultaneously from various sources.  The questionnaire survey showed that over 80% of pharmacists and students were satisfied with the database.
Conclusion: It is suggested that our database system is useful to efficiently collect drug use criteria information for pregnant and lactating women.

The authors carried out neurometry and CMI investigation on 512 subjects in June and July '87. The subjects were devided into four groups according to the CMI criteria by Fukamachi: CMI. I Diagnosed to be normal, II Provisionally to be normal, III Provisionally diagnosed to be neurotic, IV Diagnosed to be neurotic. Comparison was done not only among these groups, but also among age groups and between male and female.
Although there were no great differences among the group I, II and III, each current through F2, F4, F5 and F6 significantly decreased from the group I to IV (p<0.01). A similar tendency was seen in F2 and F6 of the male subjects in each age group, but no tendency in the female subjects.

Authors evaluated which factor among age, sex and season influences each Ryodoraku, and to what extent, using socalled healthy children.
METHOD
Ryodorakumeasurement was conducted on the same subjects in two different seasons. Comparison was done between groups divided according to their sex andage. The measured value of skin electro-resistance at the Ryodoraku representative measuring points and excitation-inhibition frequency were analyzed using single- and multi-variate data analysis.
RESULT
1) Each group showed slightly different Ryodoraku characteristics.
2) The differences among each group were greatest between the two seasons and rather big between years, however, small between male and female.
3) These tendencies werejobserved in both analyses using the measured values and using frequency.

The authors conducted neurometory of 78 so-called healthy adults throughout the year. Electrical skin resistance (amperage) was measured at the representative measurement points of the ryodoraku. In order to clarify how this resistance changes with months and which ryodoraku is related to the comparison of month groups, the results were analized using discriminatory analysis which is one technique of multivariate data analysis. The primary discriminant function explained the fluctuation of 63.7%, and is related to the ratio of H4 and H6 to F4. The secondary discriminant function explained the fluctuation of 20.2%, and is related to the ratioI of F2 and F4 to H2. In the second-dimensional distribution, the cold season group (April, November, December, January) was against the warmIseason group (June, July, September), and intermediate season group (May, October). However, April wasjrather specific, that is, apart from the other cold seasons. Further observations must be done with regard to seasonal fluctuation.

According to the Ryodoraku autonomic nervous system therapy the average of the measurement values on Ryodo points (acupuncture point) which belong to the Ryodoraku (meridian) can be obtained from the measurement value on the representative point of the Ryodoraku.
They are judged relative excitement which corresponds to “excitement and suppression” (fullness and emptiness) in proportion as to the relative position on Ryodoraku chart.
We got the result that the knee joint pain relates to the excitement of H₂, the suppression of F₁, and the suppression of F₄.