Objects We have recently developed a new type of acceleration plethysmography (APG) machine and software. This APG system functions to indicate heart rate variability, by using the coefficient of the variation of the a-a intervals (CVaa%) . We tried to evaluate the validity of the APG system to estimate heart rate variability, instead of using ECG.
Methods We simultaneously recorded an ECG and an APG by using a 2-channel APG system. We examined the difference between the a-a intervals (Taa) of an APG and the R-R interval of an ECG. Next, APG waveforms of 121 healthy people and 26 diabetics were recorded, and the mean CVaa% in each age category for healthy people and diabetics were calculated.
Results 1) All differences between the Taa and the R-R interval were within 10 msec., and the multiple correlation coefficient was 0.999175.2) The mean CVaa% was 0.2 to 1.5% bigger than the mean coefficient of the variation of the R-R intervals (CVRR%) in all age categories. 3) The mean CVaa% decreased by age. 4) In ages 40-60, mean CVaa% of diabetics was significantly lower than that of healthy people.
Conclusion The APG system is suitable to estimate heart rate variability. And, when we want to evaluate heart rate variability by CVaa% of an APG in stead of CVRR% of an ECG, a standard value of CVaa% in each age is necessary. The APG system has some possibilities for explanation of a mechanism of autonomic-nerve-related diseases.

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Objective Although Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GTP) is known as an alcohol indicator, it does not parallel alcohol intake, especially in women. In addition, mean corpuscular volume (MCV) is not widely used as an indicator of alcohol intake. The purpose of this article is to determine the efficacy of MCV as an indicator of alcohol intake, and the cutoff value of MCV in the population consuming appropriate amount of alcohol.
Method (1) Total of 6, 989 subjects aged 30 to 69 years were recruited during our health check-up, and MCV and γ-GTP were compared between different Ethanol groups. (2) The cut-off values for MCV and γ-GTP corresponding to the appropriate Ethanol (150 g in men, and 100 g in women) were calculated using receiver operating characteristic curves. Ethanol is alcohol intake per week expressed in gram of ethanol.
Results (1) MCV elevated with the increase of Ethanol in both sex. γ-GTP in men increased parallel to Ethanol, but not in women. (2) The cut-off values for MCV and γ-GTP corre-sponding to the appropriate Ethanol were 92 fL and 40 IU/L in men, and 90 fL and 17 IU/L in women, respectively.
Conclusion (1) MCV is an indicator of alcohol intake in both sex, while γ-GTP is an indicator only in men. (2) MCV is equivalent to γ-GTP in terms of indicating the appropriate alcohol intake. Overall, MCV is equivalent to γ-GTP as an alcohol indicator of appropriate alcohol intake.

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For the assessment of the clinical significance of IMT measurement, we studied the relationship of IMT and several clinical parameters of atherosclerosis, we studied the intima-media thickness (IMT) of the common carotid artery of 896 males and 632 females using a diagnostic ultrasound system with automatic IMT measurement software. The correlation coefficient between the IMT value and age was 0.497 for men and 0.579 for women. Next, we studied the correlation between the IMT values and other examination results. We found significant correlations of IMT with systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, HbA1c and fasting plasma glucose levels in descending order in males. For females IMT correlated with systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglyceride, diastolic blood pressure, HbA1c, body mass index, HDL-cholesterol, uric acid and fasting plasma glucose levels in descending order. Thus, the increases of IMT value in the middle-aged subjects are related to the abnormalities of the most of the life-style related parameters for atherosclerosis. In summary, IMT measurements are useful means to motivate lifestyle improvement and to promote the health evaluation.

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Objectives To investigate the effectiveness of advice to drinkers using“weekly alcohol consumption”during a health checkup for Japanese adult males.
Design A controlled trial.
Setting and Participants A physician advised 335 male drinkers to reduce drinking quantity during a health checkup based on“weekly alcohol consumption”, and we were able to follow 279 subjects a year later.
Measurement and Results We compared a new method using“Weekly Alcohol Consumption”with the conventional method by making the drinking improvement rate an index. We also investigated the change in quantities of 10 variables. The drinking improvement rate by the new method (48.4%; complete improvement rate 16.5%) was significantly higher than that of the conventional method (13.3%; complete improvement rate 5.4%) (p<0.001) . The change quantities of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and triglyceride by the new method were also more improved than those by the conventional one.
Conclusions We consider that the drinking advice using “weekly alcohol consumption” was more useful than the conventional one which is using“2-drinks (50 g ethanol or less) per day” and“establishment of alcohol-free days”.

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Objectives To estimate the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and their interference with daily activities (IDA) in Japan.
Design A cross sectional survey with a self administered questionnaire.
Setting NIA.
Participants Participants in AMHTS at three Japanese health care centers in October and November 2003.
Results Overall prevalence of musculoskeletal pain way 41.2% (Men 40.7%, Women 42.0%) with a significant increasc with age. One person in five described IDA due to the pain (prevalence 8.4%; Men 8.2%, Women 8.7%) .
Conclusions Because of high prevalence and IDA, musculoskeletal conditions should be identified as the major health problem in Japan. Health examinations should expand their scope to musculoskeletal conditions, following internal and mental conditions.

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The performance of coagulation testing including fibrinogen assay is determined by a combination of reagents and instruments. Almost all coagulation tests are automated using commercially-produced reagents and automated analyzer based on the clotting principle, although the diversity of the combination results in high variation of test results.
We analyzed our results of external quality surveillance in past 10 years, high variation of the fibrinogen assay was observed. Thus, we tried to produce a reference material for the assay and studied if the use of the material could help to improve the high variation.
However, the material was not be able to improve the variation. We, therefore, concluded that current high variation of fibrinogen assay was not caused by not only diversity of reagents but also that of coagulation test analyzers.

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Objective The purposes of this study were to measure the muscle strength, muscle power, aerobic ability and muscle endurance of people with hidden obesity for comparison with those of a control group, to clarify the relation between muscle strength, muscle power, aerobic ability and muscle endurance, and to examine the interrelationship of the physical fitness of female college students with hidden obesity.
Methods Subjects were 178 healthy adult women. We measured the height, weight, body fat, body mass index (BMI) and waist/hip ratios of the subjects and classified them into a control group (83 person), hidden obesity group (40 person), obesity group (30 person) and slender group (25 person) . The subjects of the control group and hidden obesity group had grip strength, vertical jump, step test and upper body raising, in order to measure their muscle strength, muscle power, aerobic ability and muscle endurance. Since significant differences were recognized in the weight, body fat and BMI of the control group and the hidden obesity group, based on the preceding study, 15 subjects who do not have differences in weight, body fat and BMI were extracted at random from each group and their physical fitness indicators were compared.
Result and Discussion Significant differences were recognized in items except the decision index for the step test. In the control group, a significant correlation was recognized between items except grip strength and upper body raising. On the other hand, in the hidden obesity group, a significant correlation was not recognized between items. The athletic histories of the hidden obesity group showed low values significantly compared with those of the control group.
Conclusion It was thought that the diminished physical fitness of subjects with hidden obesity was caused by the fact that insufficient physical activities from school age until now suppressed the development of lean body mass, especially muscle mass, and deteriorated muscle functions. Moreover, it was suggested that synthetic physical fitness has not been developed harmoniously in subjects with hidden obesity.

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Objective The purpose of this study was to examine effects of periodic physical exercise on pulse wave velocity (PWV) with 32 healthy female college students.
Methods PWV was measured using VaSera VS-1000 (Fukuda denshi, Co., Ltd, Tokyo, Japan) . PWV was measured at rest in supine position with sensory cuffs wrapped to their both brachials and ankles (brachial-ankle method, baPWV) . baPWV was calculated by dividing the distances (D) from the aorta to the cuff on the left (right) brachial and to that on the left (right) ankle by each pulse transit time (t) . That is, baPWV was calculated as: baPWV=D/t.
Result and Discussion All subjects were studied for analysis of the relations of exercise frequency with left-baPWV (L-PWV), right-baPWV (R-PWV) and the each was found significantly correlated. Then, we compared PWV between subjects doing periodic physical exercise (active group, n=14) and those doing no periodic physical exercise (inactive group, n=18) . Both L-PWV and R-PWV values were lower in the active group than in the inactive group showing their lower arterial stiffness.
Conclusion These results suggested that young people are also able to reduce arterial stiffness and to prevent the lifestyle related diseases by doing periodic physical exercise.

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It is not yet clear whether both high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), reflect the pathology of cardiovascular diseases in the same way. The relation between conventional cardiovascular risk factors accumulation and hs-CRP and HOMA-IR, as well as the correlation between hs-CRP and HOMA-IR was examined in a cross-sectional study with 334 subjects under screening examination.
Risk factors combinations of obesity, hypertension, glucose intolerance, hyperlipidemia, low HDL cholesterol, and smoking were considered with hs-CRP value, and HOMA-IR. Moreover a simple linear regression analysis was performed between hs-CRP and HOMA-IR.
Although HOMA index values increased along the accumulation of risk factors, no such relationship was found with hs-CRP values. Moreover there was no correlation between hs-CRP and HOMA-IR. Therefore this study showed hs-CRP and HOMA-IR to be different factors and independent cardiovascular risk factors.

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Clinical applications for positron emission tomography, PET, continue to increase particularly in the field of oncology. In parallel with this, large numbers of centers that are able to provide a clinical PET service have been opened in Japan. The first center of cancer screening using [¹⁸F] -fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) -PET was started in 1994 and a high detection ratio of cancer screening with FDG-PET, compared with that of conventional cancer screening, is reported.
The new wave has already begun in the cancer screening. Will we ride the wave or simply be on-lookers?

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