The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the practical health promotion program at Tokyo Metropolitan Health Promotion Center (TMHPC) and to determine a recommended exercise prescription that would increase fitness level and reduce coronary risk factors in elderly Japanese. Health evaluations were conducted on 243 apparently healthy Japanese, 86 males and 157 females, aged 60 to 80 years old, before and after the 13 week program at TMHPC. Peak oxygen uptake (peakVO2) was measured by symptom-limited maximal exercise testing on a cycle ergometer using gas analyzer. Exercise habit (EH) was defined as regularly participating in ≧30 minutes of ≧5 METs aerobic exercise more than once a week. According to a questionnaire completed before and after the program, subjects were categorized into three groups: (A) developed EH after the program (18.8% of males and 25.2% of females), (B) had EH before and after the program (63.8% of males and 48.9% of females), (C) did not have EH before or after the program (17.4% of males and 25.9% of females). Before the program, there were no significant differences among the three groups in mean age or peakVO2. In males of group A, body weight, resting diastolic blood pressure (r-DBP) and very low density lipoprotein levels were significantly decreased (p<0.05) after the program. In females of group A, resting systolic blood pressure (r-SBP) and serum total cholesterol levels were significantly decreased (p<0.01) and peakVO2 was significantly increased (p<0.05) after the program. In males and females of group B, body weight, body mass index, r-SBP and r-DBP were significantly decreased (p<0.01) and peakVO2 was significantly increased (p<0.01) after the program. In group C, there were no significant changes in these variables. In summary, significant improvements in serum lipids and fitness level were observed after the program in the subjects who developed or maintained EH, but were not observed in the subjects who did not develop EH. Mean exercise frequency (times/week) of groups A and B were 2.3 and 3.7 for males respectively and 2.0 and 2.8 for females respectively after the program. From these findings, we conclude that developing an EH (≧30 minutes of ≧5 METs aerobic exercise more than twice a week) similar to the program at TMHPC is beneficial in increasing fitness level and reducing coronary risk factors in elderly Japanese.
The characteristics of multiple primary carcinomas associated with thyroid carcinoma were studied in 35 patients (35/362; 9.7%) who met the clinicopathological criteria of Warren and Gate. The frequency of the association was similar in papillary and follicular thyroid carcinomas. The average patient age at the time of initial carcinoma detection was 60.3 years for males and 51.5 years for females. The most frequent sites of the associated cancers were breast, uterine cervix and uterine body in females, and stomach and larynx in males. Patients should be followed closely for recurrence and second cancer detection in the early stage.
Abstract ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.
We present a case of ischiopagus conjoined twins with a dividing membrane and two yolk sacs at 9 weeks and 1 day of gestation.Two-dimensional sonography clearly showed ischiopagus conjoined twins with a dividing membrane.Color Doppler revealed vascular communication between the conjoined twins in the pubic area and one umbilical cord.HDlive Silhouette clearly depicted ischiopagus conjoined twins with two yolk sacs.To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of ischiopagus conjoined twins with a dividing membrane and two yolk sacs described early in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Abstract ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.
Abstract Aim Peritoneal endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease particularly associated with macrophages. Of note, adipose tissues with fibrotic changes in the context of peritoneal endometriotic lesions are often observed during surgery. However, the characteristics of fibrotic adipose tissues in endometriosis are still unknown. In this study, we investigated the inflammatory status of retroperitoneal adipose tissues adjacent to pelvic endometriotic lesions. Methods Thirty‐two patients who underwent surgical treatment were assigned to either the endometriosis ( n = 16) or the control ( n = 16) groups. Retroperitoneal adipose tissues around the uterus were collected from patients in both groups. Fibrosis was evaluated via Masson's trichrome staining. Macrophage infiltration, the expression of fatty acid‐binding protein 4 (FABP4), and angiogenesis in the retroperitoneal adipose tissues were evaluated via immunohistochemistry. The mRNA expression levels of cytokines was also evaluated in the adipose tissues using real‐time PCR. Results There was more fibrosis and angiogenesis in the adipose tissues adjacent to the endometriotic lesions with a significantly higher level of infiltration of macrophages and a predominance of the M1 type in the endometriosis group compared to the control group. In addition, FABP4 positivity in the adipose tissues of the peritoneum was significantly higher in the endometriosis group versus the control group. Moreover, the mRNA expression levels of FABP4 , VEGF , and proinflammatory cytokines were also significantly higher in the endometriosis group. Conclusion Altogether, our results showed that the adipose tissue adjacent to endometriotic lesions are inflamed with fibrosis and angiogenesis.
Previous studies have demonstrated that immune responses in males are depressed, whereas they are maintained in females following trauma-hemorrhage, sepsis, and physiological stress. The clinical studies have also observed a better outcome of trauma and sepsis in female than in male. The aim of this study was to determine whether gender differences are observed in circulating cytokine levels after major surgery. In addition, the clinical course of male and female after major surgery were compared. A total of 50 patients (male; n=39, female; n=11) with esophageal cancer who underwent major thoraco-abdominal surgery was enrolled in this study. Plasma samples were obtained on preoperative day, postoperative day (POD) 1, 3, 5, and 7. IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured. Postoperative complication was observed in 6 patients (15%) of male group, and in 1 patient (9%) of female group. The levels of CRP in male group significantly increased compared with female group. The IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α levels in male group were significantly higher than those in female group. IL-10 levels significantly increase on POD1-7 in both groups, but no difference was found between both groups. In conclusion, these results collectively suggested that the gender-associated different patterns of cytokine production might play a role in the development of postoperative complications following major surgery.Figure
