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Biomedical subjects

A Gunji

Publications and source records attributed to A Gunji.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Psychological effects of bed rest in young healthy subjects.

In order to evaluate the effect of immobilization during bed rest on mental health, we performed psychosomatic investigations of 6 young males and 3 young females before, during and after 20 days bed rest. The psychological state was repeatedly assessed by measuring the following indices: 1) Zung's self-rating depression scale, 2) Cornell medical index, and 3) the General Health Questionnaire. Zung's self-rating depression scale is a measure of the state of depression, while Cornell medical index and the General Health Questionnaire are utilized for detection of neurosis. Although no influence of bedrest on Cornell medical index was seen, Zung's self-rating depression scale and the General Health Questionnaire displayed a tendency to development of depression and neuroses, respectively. This tendency had disappeared 2 months after the bed rest study. Both Zung's self-rating depression scale and the General Health Questionnaire may be appropriate indices to evaluate the effects of relatively short-term psychological stress due to bed rest. The urinary excretion of 17-hydroxycorticosteroid was used as an indicator of endocrine stress factors, but no significant variation due to bed rest was seen. We concluded that there is a need for further studies combining physiological research with psychosomatic investigations.

17-Hydroxycorticosteroids↗
PubMed1994

[Working hours of maternal and child health service personnel by type of occupation and municipality].

The working hours of maternal and child health service personnel were surveyed to describe the characteristics of maternal and child health activities by municipality in 1989. Questionnaires were sent to 24 health centers and the 122 municipalities they represent, and responses from 19 health centers and 103 municipalities were received. The results were as follows: 1) Of all health service personnel, the working hours for public health nurses per 100 births per year was the highest, followed by maternal and child health volunteers, office workers, nurses and physicians. 2) Total working hours increased with number of births per year. 3) No significant correlation was found in total working hours of personnel in health centers with those in the municipalities they represent. Total working hours of personnel of health centers and the municipalities they represent decreased as population size increased. 4) The number of types of occupation involved in maternal and child health service increased as the size of population of the municipality increased. 5) Of the total working hours for all types of occupations, the proportion of working hours for public health nurses averaged about 40% to 50%. 6) The proportion of working hours for infant health examinations increased with increasing population size of the municipality. However, the proportion of the hours for planning and evaluation decreased with increasing population size of the municipality. From this survey, it appears that maternal and child health activities by municipalities differed according to the population size of the municipality.

Child↗
PubMed1993

[A study on the primary prevention of essential hypertension (1). Evaluation of blood pressure response during exercise and effect of habitual exercise].

Hypertension is one of the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, which are widely prevalent maladies that result in burdensome medical expenditures. Therefore, it is important to explore primary preventive measures for hypertension. Until recently, it was thought that exercise was a risk factor for hypertension, but recent reports have suggested that low-intensity physical training actually lowers blood pressure. However, habitual physical exercise has still not been clearly proven to prevent the development of hypertension. To clarify this point, one must first establish a method for predicting hypertension and second examine the possibility of preventing the development of hypertension by changing the subject's environment. In this study we have investigated a method for predicting hypertension by classifying blood pressure responses to increasing exercise intensity and the effect of habitual exercise on blood pressure response. This study was composed of three experiments. Experiment one involved female students (n = 42) and experiment two, male students (n = 38), in whom blood pressure response rates during exercise were recorded. In experiment three, the same group of female students (n = 23) was subjected to training in order to chart its effects on blood pressure response, both while exercising and while at rest. The exercises were performed with a bicycle ergometer in an upright position. There were four different degrees of work intensity. Blood pressure was measured using the auscultation method, with Riva-Rocci mercury measured by the same investigator. High blood pressure responses at rest were noted among some normotensive female and male students. The systolic blood pressure responses during the peddling exercise showed significant individual differences at the lowest work load; the distribution of the increment of the systolic blood pressure ratio at the lowest work load against the increment while resting showed two peaks. This result suggests that this increment ratio is an important variable related to the prediction of hypertension. The increment ratio showed no significant change in female students after three months of aerobic exercise. The high-response group showed high readings of the TPR indicator (MBP/VO2). Aerobic training was shown to be effective in significantly lowering the TPR indicator both at rest and during exercise. This result suggests that habitual exercise may contribute to preventing the development of hypertension.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

[Relationships among physical activity, physical fitness and coronary risk factors in adult women--comparison between premenopausal and postmenopausal women].

The relationships among daily physical activity, physical fitness and the risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) were studied comparing 477 premenopausal women (36.1 +/- 7.6 yr) and 178 naturally postmenopausal women (56.7 +/- 5.8 yr). The results were as follows. 1) No relationship between physical fitness and daily activity level was found in either groups. 2) In premenopausal women, daily activity was associated with blood pressure, triglycerides (TG) and blood sugar only in the low-fitness group. But there was no relation between risk factors and the level of daily activity in the high-fitness group. 3) In postmenopausal women, the low-fitness group showed increasing TC/HDLC and decreasing HDLC associated with the low daily activity. TC, LDLC and TC/HDLC were lower in the high-fitness-with-high-daily-activity group than in the high-fitness-with-low-daily-activity group. 4) In both groups, the levels of TG and TC/HDLC were lower in the high-fitness group than in the low-fitness group. This suggests that serum lipids have a closer relation to fitness than to daily activity. These results indicate that the relationships among daily activity, physical fitness and CHD risk factors are different in menopausal status, and that daily activity is one of the most important factors to reduce CHD risk factors, especially in unfit or postmenopausal women.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1993

20 days bed-rest on insulin action in relation with body fat in young subjects.

It is well known that a daily positive physical activity is able to control body fat and to improve insulin action for intaking glucose in the muscles, especially under administration of nutrition in human. Conversely, when exposed prolonged inactive condition such as bed-rest in spite of control of nutrition, the insulin action may be declined due to less glucose intake in the muscles and thus the insulin secretion may be increased to maintain blood glucose level. If it is so, the increased insulin should accelerate intake of neutral fat and to lower fatty acid in the fat tissues. Further, if the prolonged inactivity would decrease plasma epinephrine and norepinephrine secretion, the breakdown of the stored fat should be declined due to declining hormone susceptible lipase secretion, resulting in increase in body fat, which may reflect the changes in lipo-proteins and apoproteins. In the present study, the hypothesis mentioned above were investigated in young persons exposed to prolonged horizontal bed-rest of 20 days.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1993

Cardiovascular responses to cold pressor and LBNP tests before and after 20-day-bedrest.

The orthostatic hypotension after weightlessness has been suggested mainly because of the blood volume reduction, and decrease in stroke volume and cardiac output as its consequence. However, since bedrest is characterized as removal of orthostasis and exercise, which are major physiological stressors to the autonomic nervous system in normal daily life of humans, thus it may be possible that general autonomic activity itself would be deconditioned in the central nervous system after bedrest. Thus, we hypothesized that 20-day bedrest may modify the cardiovascular responses to cold pressor test, which has been used to evaluate the autonomic response and which might be independent of blood volume changes. And also it was hypothesized that if there were any changes in the response to the cold pressor test, they may be related to the changes of responses to lower body negative pressure (LBNP) test.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

[A survey of goals and the utilization of numerical goals in the health planning of 47 prefectures].

Health plans of 47 prefectural governments based on the Medical Law of 1985, were evaluated regarding four health planning factors: final goal, implementation plan, development of resources, and evaluation planning. Results of the evaluation showed that 8.5% of the 47 prefectures had defined future level of health based on numerical goals. On the other hand, all of the prefectures had developed numerical goals specifying the number of hospital beds in each medical district. A major component of health planning is improvement in the accomplishment of the implementation plan. There were 14 prefectures which had numerical goals for the upgrading of facilities and for manpower development to meet future health care activities. The following factors are required in the health planning to meet the needs for improving the health status of the population. 1) Including in the future health goals, in addition to the number of medical bed in regional areas, objective levels of health that should be attained. 2) Development of practical plans for evaluation of effectiveness of health planning.

Health Planning↗
PubMed1993

[Health personnel staffing requirements for health examination for three year old children in municipalities in Japan].

Based on the Maternal and Child Health Law, municipalities offer health education, health counseling, health examination, and home visitation service for three year old children and for their mothers. In order to determine personnel staffing requirements for the health examination of three year old children for municipalities in Japan for 1989, data from a questionnaire survey in 1990 conducted by the Ministry of Health, was analyzed. Questionnaires were sent to all municipalities and there were 3,198 responses for a response rate of 97.9%. Results showed that in 1989, only 7% of the 3,198 municipalities were able to perform health examinations for three year old children independently. However 83% of the cities which had populations 500,000 or more were able to perform the health examinations independently. In both the large cities designated by the Government and those cities which have Health Centers, the health personnel system adequately supported these health examinations. Due to the lack of health personnel, rural towns and villages with small populations required public health nurses to be assisted by other staff, most often public health nurses from prefectural Health Centers. For example, in those areas with populations less than 3,000, 43% of the total volume of the work required to be performed by public health nurses during the health examinations had to be covered by assistance for prefectural public health nurses.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1993

[Effects of 12wk-exercise walking on serum lipids, lipoproteins and apolipoproteins in middle aged women--does menopause status influence training effects?].

The present study examined the effects of 12wk-exercise walking on serum lipids in pre- and post-menopausal women, to elucidate the influence of menopausal status on the training effects. Twenty one premenopausal women (42.2 +/- 5.6 yr) and seventeen postmenopausal women (56.7 +/- 6.9 yr) participated in a 12 wk-walking program. Self-monitored exercise walking was performed 3 or 4 times per week in sessions of 45 minutes. Average intensity of the exercise was 57% HRmax in the premenopausal group (Pre-M) and 65.5% HRmax in the postmenopausal group (Post-M), respectively. After adjustment for age, baseline value of apolipoprotein AI (Apo AI) was significantly lower and total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC) were higher in Post-M than in Pre-M. After 12 weeks, percent body fat decreased significantly in both groups and BMI decreased in Pre-M. Physical fitness tended to increase only in Pre-M. The increase of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) and the decrease of Apo AI, Apo B, TC/HDLC were significant in both groups. The decrease of TC, LDLC, Apo B and TG and the increase of HDLC were common changes in both groups, even after adjusting for baseline values, change in body composition, exercise intensity and total exercise time. Change volume of TG tended to be larger in Pre-M than in Post-M. Results of multiple regression analysis showed that the change in serum lipids, especially cholesterol, correlated to initial values, change in body composition and change in fitness, in Post-M but not in Pre-M.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1993

[Functional capacity of the elderly: measurement by the TMIG Index of Competence].

The functional capacity of the elderly was assessed in a national representative sample of elderly community residents. A stratified multistage random sampling yielded, 2,240 eligible persons, and 80.8% of them (n = 1,810) were successfully interviewed. The respondents ranged in age from 65 to 96 years, and the average age was 72.5 years; 43.2% of them were men, and the remaining 56.8% were women. The TMIG Index of Competence, a standardized multidimensional 13-item index of competence, was used for measuring the functional capacity. The total score of the index (maximum 13 points) showed a negatively skewed leptokurtic distribution: 69.6% of the respondents scored 11 points or greater while the mean was 10.8 points. A multiple classification analysis of the total score utilizing age, gender, educational attainment, and size of community as independent variables showed significant effects of age and educational attainment; the score significantly decreased with age, and the highly educated elderly showed higher score than those with lower educational attainment. The results of this study show that the majority of the elderly living in the community are well in functional capacity though the capacity tends to decline with age. The distribution of total scores observed in this study can be considered as a national standard of distribution of functional capacity measured by the TMIG Index Competence.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1992

Effects of voluntary exercise on bone growth and calcium metabolism in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

The effects of voluntary exercise on bone length and calcium metabolism were investigated in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar rats. They were classified into voluntary exercise or sedentary group. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), bone length, urinary calcium excretion, plasma calcium and parathyroid hormone levels (PTH) were measured for analysis. SBP of the trained SHR (T-SHR) was significantly lower than that of the nontrained SHR (NT-SHR) at 10 and 11 weeks of age, but the trained Wistar rats (T-WR) and the nontrained Wistar rats (NT-WR) had similar SBP throughout the experimental period. The T-SHR had significantly longer bones in the extremities and the trunk than the NT-SHR, whereas the T-WR had similar or shorter bones than the NT-WR. The PTH level at 12 weeks of age was significantly lower in the T-SHR than in the NT-SHR. The urinary calcium excretion of the T-SHR was greater than that of the NT-SHR, but the food intake (calcium intake) of the T-SHR was also greater. The urinary calcium excretion and food intake of the T-WR and NT-WR were similar. No noticeable differences were observed in the plasma calcium level between the T-SHR and NT-SHR, the T-WR and NT-WR. From these results it is suggested that the abnormal calcium metabolism in the SHR is improved in some degree by voluntary exercise.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

[Relationship between health services for maternal and child health and working hours of public health nurses].

Based on the "Maternal and Child Health Service Act", public health centers and municipalities offer health education, health counseling, health examination, and home visits for district children and for their mothers. The relationship between the number of the MCH services offered and the working hours of public health nurses at the public health centers and the municipalities was analyzed. Data were taken by a survey in 1989, which was used for evaluating services provided to the children and their mothers in 1988. Questionnaires were sent to 23 health centers and their districts and 100 responses from 8 wards, 20 cities, 47 towns, and 25 villages were analyzed. When total working hours of the public health nurse for MCH are allocated to the four parts-planning, implementation, evaluation and training-86.7% of working hours are for implementation itself. The correlation coefficient between the total working hours of the public health nurse for MCH and the population, and the number of births per year, were significantly positive. A total of 107 hours were supplied for the infant child health examination per 100 births per year, for which 64% was for implementation itself. In the case of the health examination for three-year-old children, total working hours were 143 hours, for with 79% was for implementation itself. The number of mother-child handbooks issued, the number of health education classes and health counselings conducted, various health examinations performed, and home visits made were correlated significantly with the working hours of the public health nurse.

Child↗
PubMed1991

[Effects of high- and low-intensity training on cardiorespiratory system and serum lipids].

The differences between the effects of high- and low-intensity exercise training on cardiorespiratory system and serum lipid levels were examined under conditions in which the total work load was same. Twenty-two healthy, untrained female students, aged 18 to 24 years, participated in the 8-week training experiment. Two training groups exercised on bicycle ergometers 4-5d/wk for 8 wk with high-intensity (H: 70% VO2 max 13 min/session; N = 8) or in low-intensity (L: 36% VO2 max 33 min/session; N = 8). The control group (C: N = 6) continued its sedentary life style. Data of 6 students (H: N = 2, L: N = 2, C: N = 2) were excluded from the analysis, because they did not carry out their duties. The results of this study were as follows; 1) Aerobic capacity increased in both training groups. 2) After training, both heart rates and oxygen uptake during submaximal work loads significantly decreased in group H, but only heart rates significantly decreased in group L. 3) Heart rates with a same oxygen-uptake load during submaximal work seemed to increase in group H, but significantly decreased in group L. 4) The mechanical efficiency during the submaximal work load significantly increased in group H, but not in group L. 5) DBP and MBP during the submaximal work load in group L significantly decreased compared with those before the training. SBP with a same oxygen-uptake load during submaximal work increased in group H, but decreased in group L. 6) Rate pressure products both at rest and during submaximal exercise decreased significantly in group L. 7) Serum lipid levels remained in all groups. These results suggested that when the amount of exercise is the same, low-intensity exercise training with 35% VO2 max was more effective to increase endurance capacity and was safer than high-intensity exercise training.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

[Evaluation of methods for measuring daily physical activity in terms of energy expenditure].

Various methods exist for measuring daily physical activity and daily energy expenditure and daily pedometer readings are most commonly used for the amount of physical activity. In this study, three methods for measuring energy expenditure-24-hr heart rate method (HR), time study method, and caloric expenditure accumulator (CC)-, and the feasibility of a pedometer for the assessment of energy expenditure were examined under laboratory conditions and during normal daily life. Daily physical activity was measured by four methods (HR, Time study, CC, Pedometer) in a field study of 14 young, healthy and sedentary women, and compared. Laboratory validation of the three methods with measurement of oxygen uptake was performed with 5 young men and 1 woman walking and running at different speeds and grades on a treadmill. In addition validation tests of whether pedometer readings reflect differences in energy expenditure due to speed and grade and whether pedometer counts steps exactly were also conducted. The 24-hr energy expenditure derived from CC was significantly lower than that derived from HR and Time study, due to lower estimation of energy expenditure from activities compared to other methods. In the laboratory study, the energy expenditure measured at 5% grade was low by CC and differences in energy expenditure for changes in grade could not be differentiated. Time study revealed a significant relationship between CC and HR in field study. These results suggest that CC tends to underestimate the 24-hr energy expenditure from activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1988

A prospective, randomized controlled study on the treatment of stage C and stage D prostatic cancer with estracyt in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents.

The present study was designed to investigate the efficacy of various combinations of chemotherapeutic agents in the treatment of prostatic cancer in a group refractory to antiandrogenic therapy (Group 1) and in a previous untreated group (Group 2). Therapeutic combinations of Estracyt (E) + Peplomycin (P) + Doxorubicin (Do) and P + Do + 5 FU (F) in Group 1 and E + P, Honvan (Ds) + P and E in Group 2 were carried out. The main objectives of this study were estimations of the efficacy of E and P in relation to the refractory cases of Group 1 and the efficacy of the combination E + P, in Group 2. This is the first such prospective, randomized, controlled study to be carried out in Japan in relation to prostatic cancer. The results obtained in the present study indicated that chemotherapeutic regimens including E provide some enhanced efficacy, but that the efficacy with regard to refractory cases is poor (23.1-27.3%), as has been reported of studies conducted in the USA and Europe. With regard to previously untreated cases, the E + P regimen achieved a relatively higher response rate than the other treatments (72.7 vs 44.5 or 50.0%). In the comparison of survival times and survival curves, there were no statistically significant differences among the various treatment subgroups. A comparison of survival curves revealed the interesting finding that the PAP-related response showed a clear correlation to the survival curves of Group 2 patients.

Aged↗