Background: An acceleration plethysmography (APG) has five element waves of the a-, the b-, the c-, the d-and the e-wave. The Taa is the time to the apex of the next a-wave from the apex of the a-wave, and Tae is the time to the apex of the e-wave from the apex of the a-wave. Tae is equal to the left ventricular ejection time (LVET) of the heart. The [Taa-Tae] is expressed as Tea, and this is the diastolic time which contains the pre-ejection period of heart. Purposes: To consider whether the predicted “crossed pulse rate” that is the pulse rate at which Tae and Tea of APG become equal. can become the new index of the physical work capacity. Subjects: The 1, 461 men and 724 women of ages of 20-69 (total: 2, 185) . Methods: 1) The parameter of APG was compared between men and women, and among the generation. 2) We estimated a recurrence-type of Tae toward pulse rate in each group. 3) We predicted “the crossed pulse rate” that is the pulse rate which becomes Tae=Tea in each group. 4) We examined relations between the predicted “crossed pulse rate” and the existent physical exercise strength or the percentage of the heart rate reserve. Results: 1) Although LVET in the same pulse rate become long along with aging, the proportion of LVET in the cardiac cycle decreases in the age of 60 years old and over. 2) The predicted “crossed pulse rate” is equivalent to 70% of the physical exercise strength in each generation, and it is equivalent to about 52% of the percentage of the heart rate reserve in each generation. 3) The predicted “crossed pulse rate” decreases along with aging. Conclusion: The predicted “crossed pulse rate” can become the index of the individual target heart rate of the exercise or the index of the physical work capacity.

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We calculated sex-age dependent reference intervals for 15 items on the basis of health examination data of 156, 565 persons in Shizuoka prefecture. Data were obtained from three laboratories, and intervals were calculated by the revised Hoffman's method. We compared these reference intervals with two reference ranges with reference ranges widely accepted in studies of the Japanese population: the Fukuoka medical association reference ranges as well as the sex-and age-dependent reference ranges of Ohgushi et al., which were obtained by a nonlinear optimization method at Tokai University.
In particular, specific comparisons were made between the data we obtained and the sex-and age-specific data obtained by Ohgushi et al. from about 750, 000 persons assessed at 14 laboratories. Slight disparity was observed in some factors, but sex-and age-dependent trends in glucose, uric acid, total cholesterol concentration and alkaline phosphatase activities coincided closely between the two data sets. The factors showing disparity require further examination; the calculation procedure should be considered as well as any particular characteristic of reference groups in Shizuoka prefecture.
Our finding indicated that if compatibility between laboratories could be guaranteed by means of an external quality control investigation, reference intervals should be determined in large-scale co-operative studies and that collaborative use of these reference intervals by multiple laboratories would be possible.

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To obtain serum LDL-cholesterol concentrations, an indirect method in which the value is derived by calculation using Friedewald formula (LDL-cholesterol=Total cholesterol-HDL-cholesterol-1/5 of triacylglycerol values) has been accepted because direct measurement of LDL-cholesterol needs relatively complicated procedure. Although it contains a potential error in individual with high triacylglycerol, many health care institutions still use the indirect method. As a relatively simple direct method has been developed recently, we examined the deviation of the value obtained by the indirect method even in individuals with normal triacylglycerol levels to encourage the institutions to use the direct method. The influence of a meal taken in the previous night was also evaluated, since serum lipids levels change by energy of previous meal. In healthy 35 volunteers three kinds of experimental meals of previous night were tested. The three meals contained high-energy (1, 011 kcal), standard-energy (658 kcal, control), and noenergy, respectively and the study was performed with one-week interval. Blood samples were taken in the next morning at fasted state and serum lipids and glucose levels were measured. There were no significant changes in triacylglycerol, total-cholesterol, and HDL-cholesterol concentrations among three meals. However, LDL-cholesterol concentrations measured with the direct method significantly increased after the no-energy meal. Glucose levels were decreased after the no-energy one. On the contrary LDL-cholesterol levels calculated with the indirect method were not changed after the no-energy one and decreased after the high-energy one. These results suggest that health care institutions should adopt the direct method to measure LDL-cholesterol concentrations and emphasize the importance of a standard-energy meal in the previous night.

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The survival of Japanese women is prolonged and the mean life span is approximately 85-year-old. Early management of disorders related to daily life style, including obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes mellitus, contributes to prevention of ischemic heart diseases and stroke in older women. In a total of 2, 443 healthy women who had the first brain check-up, we studied age-related changes of cardiovascular risk factors, brain magnetic resonance imaging and angiography. Subjects were divided to four groups: the pre-menopausal group (age≤44 years), the climacteric group (age 45-54 years), the pre-senile group (age 55-64 years) and the senile group (age≥65 years) . In age-adjusted logistic regression analysis, an increase of body mass index, blood pressure, fasting blood sugar levels, serum total cholesterol levels, serum LDL-cholesterol levels or serum triglyceride levels, and a decrease of serum HDL-cholesterol levels were significantly correlated with prevalence of asymptomatic lacunar infarction and progression of cerebral aherosclerosis. Thus, such cardiovascular risk profile should be monitored from an early period of climacteric. Appropriate treatment with those risk factors could prevent event of ischemic stroke in elderly women.

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Mental health conditions of the workers of an IT company were examined by JMI health questionnaire system composed of 400 questions September 2004. The scores of scales for cardiac complaints, psychogenic physical symptoms, fatigues, unhealthiness, life habits, depressive states, eccentricities, compulsions, anxieties, explosions, insecurities, obstinacies, punctualities, good starts, self-complacencies, inquiring minds, uncertainties, inferiority complexes, low intensions, outgoingness, promptitude, adaptability for works, relations to superiors, relations to fellow workers, senses of belonging, no senses of responsibility to works, eagerness to works, accuracy for works, gratifications for evaluations, wishes for future, no social responsibility, acceptation of family, lie scale, instability scale, and ideal scale were estimated by the answers. Some scores were graded reverse directions so that healthy or natural conditions would have high scores. Since scores were given subjectively, it was impossible to subject average scores of groups to statistic examination. But average scores of each scale were different in each working group. The differences of scores would be expected to help us to find out the way to improve work conditions.
Average scores to each scale were found to change uni-directionally upon aging. Those of physical scales were found to change to healthy states, and most of those of psychogenic scales changed to stable states too. But those of depressive states were found to become worse. Only the average scores of scales of relations to superiors, of gratifications for evaluations and of lie scale were decreased, but those of other scales were changed to better conditions. Workers were classified by their positions into senior managers including directors, junior managers, and regular staffs. Senior managers and staffs were found to be generally healthy and stable, but junior managers were worse in most of the scales. Work conditions of these people should be improved. The average scores were found to be different depending on divisions. Generally, divisions which had much inside workers were found to be better in physical and psychogenic scales than those which had much outside workers. But outside workers seemed to be more active for their works than inside workers.

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