The authors have investigated the cause of outbreak of organic mercury poisoning in districts along the Agano River. This research finding concerning detection of methyl mercury compound in the moss from drainage of acetaldehyde synthetic industry is presented and discussed in this paper. Their chemical identity has been established in this by the gaschromatographic procedures.
The result of the investigation appears to be one of the most promising leads yet traced to the origin of the causative agent, which has issues and been contaminated from the Showadenko Kanose (acetaldehyde) industry.

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The moss extracted from drainage of the Showadenko Kanose (acetaldehyde synthetic) industry was examined for methylmercuric chloride by the thin-layer chromatographic method. The chromatogram showed prominent spot for methylmercuric chloride at Rf 0.47, apart from phenylmercuric acetate (Rf 0.41). The value obtained here was in fair agreement with the result of the gaschromatographic procedure, and was sufficient evidence to clinch the origin of the causative agent-which was issued and had been contaminated from the Showadenko Kanose industry.

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Although numerons researchers have reported results of the polyphasic physiological responses in noise environments, experimental criteria on the some from the standpoint of physiological responses is scarce.
From the results of our studies on the physiological responses in a noise environment we can conclude that the main location of physiological damage by noise may be in the higher centres.
Next central metabolic changes in a noise environment were investigated. Significant results were that the ammonia content in the brain was increased remarkably during noise exposure but not so during other stress exposures.
In the present study the increase of the ammonia content of the brain was investigated as an indicator to exposure. Adult male rats were exposed to 70-110 phon white noise for 2 hours. Immediately after the animals were killed by decapitation. The brain was rapidly removed and hemogenized in ice cold 10% trichloroacetic acid with glass homogenizers. Determination of the amount of ammonia was made by Conway's method using the Seligson-Hirahata's apparatus.
The following results were obtained:
When the intensity of exposed noise was above 80 phon the ammonia content of the brain increaed significantly.

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1 The inhibition of post-heparin lipolytic activity was investigated by rate measurement of liberated free fatty acids with zero order kinetics in the medium added with lipemic plasma obtained after fat load. Platelet-poor fasting, platelet-rich lipemic as well as platelet-poor lipemic plasma obtained from students revealed the inhibitory action on lipolytic activity of post-heparin plasma in vitro, but the most remarkable inhibition was noted when platelet-poor lipemic plasma was added.
2 Three hours after the oral administration of olive oil in rats, a striking increase was noticed in hepatic and plasma triglyceride compared with those of glucose-treated rats.
3 The lipemic plasma obtained from oil-treated rats showed the stronger inhibitory activity on the post-heparin lipolytic activity in vitro in comparison with the normal plasma from glucose-treated rats.

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The effects of physical environmental factors on thiamine metabolism have been investigated by some workers, but definite results were not obtained. The objective of this study was to investigate thiamine metabolism in rat brain and liver under certain physical conditions.
Adult male rats were exposed to 4 experimental physical conditions: noise, cold, horizontal rotation and vertical vibration. For the noise condition, two types of noise were used at 100 to 110 phon: one was characterized by wide octave band spectrum and the other was a loud bell. The temperature in the cold condition was -10±2°C. The centrifugal force of holizontal rotation was 2.8 rcf. For the vertical vibration, two types of vibration in frequency (420cpm and 690cpm) were used, and the amplitude of earch was 10mm. The durations of exposure to cold, rotation and vibration were 3 hours. In noise conditions, one was formed by ON-fraction of 15 minutes. OFF-frction of 15 minutes and ON-fraction of 15 minutes, and the other was made by a continuous exposure of 30 minutes.
The results were as follows:
Unedr noise, cold and rotation, significant changes in thiamine contents of brain and liver could not be observed.
Under a 690cpm vibration, the contents of total and ester thiamine in the brain and free thiamine in the liver decreased significatly, but no definite influence was detected under 420cpm vibration.
Therefore, investigating histochemicaly the adrenal cortex by Zinsser's stain method in the vibration group, the fucsinophyle granules of zona fasciculata were increased. The hypertrophy of the same layer was observed only under 420cpm vibration, but not seen under 690cpm vibration.

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According to the histopathological changes of autopsy, certain kinds of catarrhal changes could frequently be found at restricted areas in lung tissues of conventional guinea pigs. When the essential changes caused by inhalation of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) gas were considered, it was usually difficult to distinguish them from unknown conventionally-occured changes. However, when the experiments were done using germfree guinea pigs, all data obtained from the experiments were quite free from such a disturbance.
Sulfur dioxide gas of relatively low concentration was found to act on the lungs of germfree guinea pigs as follows: In the early stage, marked congestion and hemorrhage occurred in the lung tissues. In the later stage, diffuse or nodular thickening of the alveolar septa appeared markedly. Nodular changes were due to the proliferation of argentaffin fibers.

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Studies on the process of growth were made on about 38 male subjects living in Osaka City following their height and weight for 12 years that is from 6 to 17 years of age. The following results were obtained:
1) High correlation (r=0.85) was found between the height of 1st year of primary school (6 years old) and that of final year of high school (17 years old). Relative high correlation (r=0.56) was found between the height in the final year of high school and the maximum growth quantity in the 1st growth (L).
2) Maximum value in the rate of annual growth of height was recognized in 12 years old and minimum value in 10 years old.
3) It seems that the rate of annual growth of height at 12 years of age is higher in a relatively high group compared with a relatively low group in the final year of high school.
4) A linear relationship is found between the growth of height and logarithm of weight for 12 years. This slope (B) seems to relate to Rohrer's index.

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Twenty three examinees were orally given 10mg/kg of α-phenyl-α-ethyl-glutarimide (glutethimide), which has a narcotic effect to the cerebral cortex and the brain stem reticular formation. Before and one hour following the intake of glutethimide, they were tested with the TAF test and cold pressure test (CPT) with brain-wave recording in the state of eye-closing and during the TAF test. Investigations were made on the relation between the lowering of activity-level of the cerebral cortex and the TAF, and resulted in the following conclusion.
1) As to the alpha wave in the state of eye-closing, there was no difference between before and after the intake of glutethimide.
2) The TAF-L lowered significantly after the intake of glutethimide. In group A (excellent in TAF), the TAF-L tended to lowering after the intake but with no significant difference, while in group B (fair in TAF) showed significant lowering after the intake.
3) The blocking of alpha wave during the TAF test increased clearly after the intake. In group A, the grade of alpha-blocking was small after the intake, while it was significantly large in group B.
4) CPT-swing degree became small after the intake, and the basal maximum blood pressure decreased significantly after the intake though it was maintained in physiological range.
These studies indicated that the TAF lowered in correspondence with the lowering of activity-level of the cerebral cortex, and in the inferior subjects in TAF the proportion occupied with control of the will is bigger than that in the excellent in TAF. It also suggested that the superiority or inferiority of TAF is connected not only with the activity-level of the cerebral cortex but also with the individually characteristic disposition including cooperative ability between the cerebral cortex and subcortex.

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