Holistic features in routine and other medical checkups were efficiently utilized in analyses carried out by our institution in the medical observation of employees at one local corporation between 1970-1973. Since 1974, a Comprehensive-Medical-Check-System (called the“Human-Dock-System”) made available such overall and holistic health checks to outpatients at our clinic.
Within such health testing, broad comprehensive observation is required and must cover factors as physical health, mental health, individual pathological patterns, methods of patients' responses, maladaptation, re-adaptation, life style related diseases, former treatment, prophylaxis, working conditions and, of course, stress and degrees of stress in all these situations. Also, coordination of such observations is important, and physicians, nurses, health counselors, and medical doctors in the personnel sections of companies considered had to cooperate.
Here, it is essential to have—preferably on the stage of the initial diagnosis—broad and objective standards to measure and adjust stress reactions in patients. Such standards afford a basis for effectfully managed stress-adaptation under therapeutical guidance, even with respect to the prevention of cancer and chronic hepatitis. This is indicated by our data. Positive effects may meanwhile arise where patients know such standards, acquaint themselves with their psycho-physical responses, and thereby acquire means to improve their condition.
Nishikaze and Furuya's method is known to utilize 17-KS-S as an indicator of repair-cum-recovery, 17-OHCS as reflecting wear and tear in the body. We consider that in order to observe psychosomatic stress reactions under the aspect of neural and adrenocortical functions, this method affords reliable and comprehensive data. It thereby provides an efficient tool in holistic health checks and for the self-adjustment of patients.

View full abstract

The Erythrocyte sedimentation test is a common method used worldwide to detect acute inflammation. ICSH-WHO reference and standard methods have been routinely used for many years. However, they require much blood and long testing time over 2 hours, and several simple and rapid methods for what have recently been proposed. This paper describes advantages and disadvantages of these methods, plasma factors affecting ESR and clinical utility of which test.

View full abstract

Background Life-style diseases are aging diseases that increase with age and result in vascular impairment. This study is an attempt to know vascular aging.
Methods Waveforms were examined based on a hypothesis that the waveform's change with age in acceleration plethysmography (APG), which is the second derivative of the optical digital plethysomography, is due to a change in elasticity of the artery.“Waveform Indexes”to evaluate waveforms and“Aging Scores”for evaluating the vascular aging status were proposed in this study. This Score Method was examined in how“Aging Scores”relate to the progress of arteriosclerosis expressed as hypertension and sclerotic changes in the eye bottom (Fundus Oculi) . 1, 784 people were chosen (1, 055 men and 729 women: ages were from 20 to 84) for the subjects.
Results Both“Waveform Index [1] & [2] ”showed a clear decrease with age. Both“Aging score [1] & [2] ”were significantly correlated to arteriosclerosis. Among subjects aged 40-59, either men or women, the risk of hypertension or arteriosclerosis in the high aging score [1] group (score [1] >= 60) became around 2-4 times. Even for over 60 year-old people, high scored women's risk of hypertension was 3.8 times. The contribution of“Aging Score [2] ”was less. The risk for hypertension or sclerotic changes in eye bottom in the high score [2] group (score [2] >= 60) was about 2-4 times and seen only in men ages 40-49.
Conclusion The proposed“Aging Score”in this study would have the validity of evaluating vascular aging. It is expected that APG gives a major advantage to health care by delivering“Vascular Aging Scores”that indicates how our vessels age for our chronological age.

View full abstract

Objective: Even if health examinees visiting our health evaluation and promotion have hepatomegaly, many of them have no obvious abnormality in serologic test for liver function, lipids or diabetic mellitus.
Therefore, we examined the relationship between liver depth (Ld) and risk factors of arteriosclerosis or fatty liver.
Subjects and Methods: One thousand health examinees of our health evaluation and promotion (men 662, women 338) were examined. Relationship between Ld and body height and weight, body mass index (BMI), %FAT, blood pressure, serum total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, ALT, AST, γ-GTP, fasting plasma glucose and platelet were evaluated. Ld was compared among normal liver, mild fatty liver and moderate to severe fatty liver. More over, Ld was compared between with or without the presence of the liver dullness.
Results: There was a pretty good relationship between Ld and weight, %FAT or BMI (γ=0.46-0.59, p0.001) . Even in the healthy men found no abnormality, Ld was correlated with BMI (γ=0.59, p>0.001) . Ld was increased depend on the grade of fatty liver (man: normal liver 5.9±0.9 cm, mild fatty liver 6.5±0 .9, moderate to severe fatty liver 7.3±0.9, women: normal liver 5.1±0.9, mild fatty liver 5.8±1.0, moderate to severe fatty liver 6.2±0.6) . Ld was greater in the health examinees with liver dullness than those without the liver dullness (man: 6.7±1.4 cm vs. 6.2±1.0) .
Conclusion: Ld was correlated in the with body weight, %FAT or BMI. Ld seems to be affected by body size and increased in fatty liver.

View full abstract

It is necessary to regard change of test data as the other sign in the morbid state, before the symptom comes out. As a result of conducting a questionnaire survey to each medical center doctor of synthetic judgments about the range of fluctuation interpreted as having changed the inspection value, the individual difference of the permission range of the doctor is large, and there are some facilities that seem to not effectively utilize the test data. For lifestyle-related illness prevention, they decrease the permission range of the doctor, set the range at itemization and individuality, and must perform the motivation of the primary prevention positively.

View full abstract

For those individuals who underwent the 1998 multiphasic health screening conducted by the Tokyo Health Service Association, a cellophane thick smear test was used to check for fecal Metagonimus yokogawai ova and test positivities, fresh water fish consumed, symptoms, occult blood, changes in clinical test results, and therapeutic modalities were evaluated.
For the 2, 235 individuals, the positivity was 8.4%, a 2.3 times increase over 3.6% for 1993. The ovum count per microscopic field ranged from 1 to 3 in 12.3% (maximum, 110) .
Among those examined, 21.2% were overseas travelers, pointing to domestic sources for the infection. The fresh water fish most frequently consumed by the patients was sweetfish (70.3%) and whitebait (43.8%) .
In 50 each of those with positive and negative reactions, the symptoms seen (though infrequently) were : constipation (4 cases), diarrhea (3), anorexia and low grade fever (1 each) for the former; and diarrhea (6) and upper abdominal pain (1) for the latter.
The t-test was used forthe comparison, the significance level being set atp<0.05. The A/G ratio was high in the positive group. The neutral lipid level and eosinophil ratio were higher and the platelet count, lower in the positive group (with no significance) . The two groups showed little difference in GPT, γGTP, LDH, UA, HbAlc, Amy, Cr, CRP, TP, Alb, RBC, WBC, and Hb.
The occult blood was positive in 4 (8.0%) from the aforementioned 50 who reacted positively and 1 (2.0%) from the other 50. Positive reactions to occult blood were rare in both groups.
The 109 patients were treated with Biltricide (Praziquantel, 20 mg/kg, once/day), which resulted in a 97.2% negative response at a fecal examination 7 days later.

View full abstract

We studied the relationships between the physical characteristics and the living environment in female students with cold constitution (cold group) by a questionnaire method.
More than a half of the students investigated felt chillness in toes, legs, fingers, arms, waist and etc., and they suffered from the paralysis of arms and legs, chilblains, as well as sleeplessness induced by cold. Among physical parameters studied, mean body weight and mean body mass index (BMI) were significantly lower in the cold group than in normal students (control group), suggesting a positive relation between their slender figures and the cold constitution. Anemia was also significantly higher in the cold group, who tended to having relatives (within the third degree of relationship by blood) with the cold constitution. Furthermore, there were many students in the cold group who have symptoms responsible for dysfunction of autonomic nerve system.
Taken together, it is revealed that the cold constitution may be mainly related to heredity, and that young women with the cold constitution have a tendency of slender figure.

View full abstract

We examined changes of the critical factors of life-style related diseases in the past decade. The subjects of the investigation are people (age : 20's to 50's) who took medical checkups in the past decade (in 1991 and 2001) .
The following are the results. 1. The degree of obesity is higher among male subjects of all ages while it is lower among female subjects over the age of 30's. The rate of adiposis is higher among male subjects of all ages. 2. Blood pressure is higher among male subjects of all ages and among female subjects in 20's and 30's. The rate of hypertension has not changed. 3. Total cholesterol is higher among the subjects of all ages and sexes. The rate of hypercholestelemia is higher among male and female sbjects over the age of 40's. 4. Uric acid is higher among the subjects of all ages and sexes. All the male subjects have higher uric acid while no significant change regarding uric acid can be seen among the famale subjects. 5. The male and female subjects in the age of 20's have higher fasting blood suger while no change can be seen among the male and female subjects over the age of 30's.

View full abstract

Comparing the examination of the upper gastrointestinal tract by slimmer panendoscope (transnasal insertion type) with that by ordinary endoscope in term of suffering from the examination, we performed questionaire of the degree of suffering to each group, 60 examinees and 61 examinees, respectively.
The distribution of quintile of the degree of suffering significantly showed more easiness in the transnasal endoscope than the ordinary endoscope.
The transnasal endoscope don't have so good image resolution as the ordinary endoscope due to its slimmer diameter.
Fortunately at the early time of the study, we could find a case of early gastric cancer (II a type) of which invasive depth is m. So we had recommended the transnasal endoscope for seven years to the definite subjects, who could not receive anitispasmsmodics due to old age, who had the equivocal result of X-ray examination of the upper GI tract, who was followed due to benign lesions such as ulcer, submucosal tumor and polyp, or who visited our clinic for the gastrointestinal symptoms after the X-ray examination.
Total examinees by the transnasal endoscope were 670 patients. The mean age of patients was 59 years old. We found out 5 cases of gastric cancer, including 3 cases of early cancer all of which invasive depth were m, and 2 cases of esophageal cancer of which invasive depth was m and sm. The incidence of upper gastrointesinal cancer was 1.04%, and the incidence of superficial cancer was 0.75%. Within 5 cases of superficial cancer found out by the transnasal endoscope, there were 3 false negative cases on X-ray examination and 3 cases to be treated with endoscopic mucosal resection.
Conclusively, it is suggestive that we can use the slimmer transnasal endoscope for the purpose of ameliorating the pharyngeal reflex or avoiding X-ray radiation.

View full abstract

In this study, we examined the possibility of infectious diagnosis ofHelicobacter pylori (H. pylon) using double-contrast radiology for the medical check-up in our hospital. The diagnostic factors were the width of gastric fold, area gastricae of the fundic mucosa and type of fundic pyloric mucosal border. We defined the diagnostic standard. Regarding the width of gastric fold on greater curvature of the corpus, more than 4 mm was regarded asH. pylori-positive, and under 4 mm asH. pylon-negative. Regarding the area gastricae, F, type was regarded asH. pylon-positive, and Fo type asH. pylori-negative. Regarding the fundic pyloric mucosal border, C₁-O₂type was regarded asH. pylori-positive. Sensitivity and specificity were 93.3% and 62.5%, 92.7% and 90.9%, and 94.5% and 68.0% respectively. Then we studied the synthetic accuracy ofH. pyloriinfection using the only reliable features in that article. The sensitivity was 97.4% and the specificity was 74.1%. It was concluded that the diagnostic results ofH. pyloninfection were good, so the diagnosis using radiographic findings could be applied not only to screening care for medical check-up but also to clinical cases.

View full abstract

Background: The reference interval on a viewpoint of preventive medicine is neccessary for the health testing. The reference interval of HbAlc has been documented in the report of the committee on an interlaboratory standardization of HbAlc determination, Japan Diabetes Society, 1994, and in the preservation law of elderly's health from the Labor Ministry, 1996, individually, and they were different. We sent a questionnaire on the reference interval of HbAlc on April, 2001, to the representative centers of the health testing in Kansai district, which are recognized by japan Society of Multiphasic Testing and Services. The upper value of their reference interval for HbAlc ranged from 5.5 to 6.0%, except for a center which was under consideration about the value.
This study aimed to find the reference interval for HbAlc based on a viewpoint of preventive medicine.
Subjects and Methods: In the annual health checkup for the employees of Shimadzu Corporation working in Kyoto prefecture, those revealing FPG more than 110 mg/dl or postgrandial glycosuria without FPG measurement have undergone 75 gOGTT for more than 10 years in combination with HbAlc measurement since 1999. Based on the OGTT performed once a year as a rule, subjects were classified into normal type, high normal type, borderline type, diabetes type, and diabetes; those below the degree in which the drug administration is necessary for control of glucose metabolism. Patients with the latter type was arbitrarily defined as those with FPG less than 140 mg/dl and/or 2 hPG less than 240 mg/dl. These types were subdivided by those with or without transfer to the other types for 4 years and HbAlc of each subgroup was calculated for its distribution, average, and standard deviation. HbAlc was measured by immunoassay. After the double elimination out of the range of the average±3 SD, CV values of the measurement of two samples of HbAlc; 5.0% and 10.0-11.0% levels in 1999, 2000, and 2001 were 3.7, 3.3, and 2.8% for the former level and 4.7, 6.6, and 3.3% for the latter level, respectively.
Results: 946 man-types and 1460 samples of HbAlc were enrolled. The averages of HbAlc of normal type, high normal type, borderline type, diabetes type, and diabetes were 4.7±0.3, 4.8±0.3, 4.9±0.4, and 5.4±0.4%, respectively. HbAlcs of the other types were significantly higher than those of normal type (p, 0.0005) . The averages of normal type in the successive two OGTTs including the initial one and the other types in the successive 4 OGTTs [A type (-) ] were compared with those of types transferring to the other types [A type (B type) ] . Normal type (borderline type) and normal type (diabetes type) were significantly higher in HbAlc than normal type (-) . High normal type (borderline type, diabetes type, and diabetes) were significantly higher in HbAlc than high normal type (-) and high normal type (normal type) . Borderline type (diabetes type and diabetes) were significantly higher in HbA lc than borderline type (-) and borderline type (normal type and high normal type) . The averages of HbAlc of normal type (-), high normal type (-), borderline type (-), and diabetes (-) were 4.6±0.3, 4.8±0.3, 5.1±0.3, 5.5±0.4%, respectively. HbAlc of the other types (-) were significantly higher than those of normal type (-) (p, 0.0005) .
Conclusions: Patients with impaired glycemia below diabetes stage are vulnerable to change the pathophysiology. In such a situation, the level of HbAlc is usuful for prediction of transferring type. The reference interval of HbAlc percentage calculated from HbAlc results of healthy subjects showing the successive normal OGTT was from 4.0% to 5.2%.

View full abstract

Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) has been attracting attention as a monocyte/macrophage-derived pro-inflammatory cytokine. We developed the SEK-5001 system as a novel diagnostic immune function test, which measures TNF-α production within a few hours after stimulation with a low dose of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) . Preliminary investigation of the SEK-5001 system confirmed its usefulness.
In this study, we investigated the effect of exercise on the TNF-α level, and compared the level with the values of other blood components to investigate an in vivo factor that might affect the low-dose LPS-induced TNF-α production. There was no temporal effect on the TNF-α production induced by a low-dose LPS for one month, but the level was affected by age and light exercise. This system detected light exercise-induced changes in the TNF-α level more sensitively than changes induced by a high-dose LPS.
We are planning to measure the TNF-α level using the SEK-5001 system in patients with various disorders to establish a novel practical immune function test for clinical use.

View full abstract

The health professionals have guided individual Health. However it is supported by his/her individual efforts and health must have been maintained by his/her own effort under the rule of good life style or habit. Health is composed of the body, the mind and the spirit. The spirit is essential component of feeling or being healthy individuals. Good health is gained by daily effort of the individual person.

View full abstract