In general, aging is considered to be inevitable, progressive, irreversible and biologically universal. However, it is also true that aging is a highly individualized process, resulting in large inter-and intra-individual differences in health and function. These differences mean the possibility does exist that part of aging may be reversible. It is hypothesized that maintenance of high physical fitness, associated with regular involvement in exercise or physical activity, may delay the acceleration of aging(particularly the decrease in physical vitality). Physical fitness is a set of attributes that relate to one〓s ability to perform exercise or physical activity, consisting of cardiorespiratory(aerobic)fitness, muscular strength, flexibility, balance, and qualitative body composition(lean-to-fat ratio), etc. However, there is no consensus on the gold standard for direct measurement of the individual physical fitness elements. In this special issue, the following important components will be addressed by experts in the area of aging and physical activity : muscular fitness and its increase by training in older adults, assessment of balancing ability in older adults, biomechanical analysis of walking in older adults, assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness in older adults, the relation between functional capacity and physical fitness in older adults, and the association of lifestyle with physical fitness in older adults.

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Muscular function in older people has been investigated in various fields, such as kinesiology, physiology, biochemistry, etc. This paper summarizes previous reports, examining the following points of muscular functional characteristics : functional decrease with aging, cause of muscular decrease, trainability of older people, and the importance of resistance training. Both the morphological and functional characteristics of muscular function in older people decrease with aging. However, it has been confirmed that muscular function can be improved by resistance training in older people. Although further research determining more use ful training procedures is necessary, weight training, which can delay functional decrease with aging, is considered to be important.

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The purpose of this study was to obtain information regarding the influence of aging and exercise training on maximal oxygen uptake(V^^・O_<2max>)for older female adults. V^^・O_<2max>was measured during an incremental cycle ergometer test in 49 healthy older females(73.8±7.3 years)and 20 older female patients with ischemic heart disease. Of the 20 patients, 17 patients(60.6±4.7 years)have continuously participated in our supervised aerobic and strength training program, and were re-evaluated after a follow-up period of 1 to 9 years. Analyses of the data indicated that V^^・O_<2max> of the patients(24.2±3.6 ml/kg/min)showed significant improvement compared with the pre-exercise value(18.3±3.8 ml/kg/min). Furthermore, post-exercise V^^・O_<2max> of the patients was significantly higher than V^^・O_<2max>(20.4±4.7 ml/kg/min)of the non-exercising healthy older females(P<0.05). These results suggest that the rate of decline in V^^・O_<2max> that typically occurs as an individual ages may be reduced by exercise training for older adults.

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Evaluation of the balancing ability(equilibrium)in the elderly is considered to be significant primarily in exploration for preventive measures against falling in relation to fitness. This article intends to provide basic data considered to be necessary for this exploration by giving an overview of methods for the measurement of static and dynamic balance and by reviewing cross-sectional and longitudinal studies with regard to topics such as the characteristics of age-associated changes in the balancing ability in the elderly measured by these methods, the relationship of the balancing ability with the history of falling, its relationship with other aspects of fitness, and effects of exercise and sports on it.

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In this article, the characteristics of walking ability in elderly people were described from a biomechanical point of view. Regarding the relationship between muscle strength of a lower limb and walking speed, a critical point of strength was observed that indicates decreases in walking speed. In a longitudinal study, there were some elderly subjects whose walking speed did not decrease with age, even if special training had not been carried out. In the movement, vertical excursion of the center of mass and foot angle was greater in elderly men than young men, whereas step width was narrower in elderly women than in young women. In the energy change of center of mass, the elderly subjects whose walking speed was slow did not walk pendulum-like motion and did not walk efficiently.

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The functional capacity of older people is crucial factor in determining whether they can maintain their independence in daily living in the community. Functional capacity ranges from 'physically dependent' to 'physically elite' as described by a hierarchical model developed by Spirduso(1995), and has been assessed through self-, or proxy-reports. However, self-or proxy-reports are less useful for identifying higher-functioning older people. Recently, several researchers conducting aging studies have developed direct methods of physical fitness tests to complement the indirect methods of questionnaires. Physical fitness tests can be used assess a wide-range of older people living in the community, including higher-functioning older people. Therefore, physical fitness tests are useful for characterizing the functional capacity of older adults living in the community.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the association of the level of functional fitness to lifestyle. The subjects were 105 Korean men, aged 65 to 83 years, and they were divided into two groups(higher functional fitness group;n=55, lower functional fitness group;n=50)by the first principal component score. Eighteen performance items related to functional fitness and 38 questionnaires(20 diet habit, 11 lifestyle, and 7 exercise activities)were measured. Higher fitness group was found to show significantly higher exercise habit and attended to group exercise(gateball). Lower fitness group was showed lower exercise activity level and engaged to individual exercise(walking). These results suggest that the level of functional fitness was significantly associated with the habitual exercise activities in older Korean men.

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To determine the possible associations of medical status, physical exercise and lifestyle factors with periodontal disease, a cross-sectional study was conducted. The subjects were 1,513 Japanese male factory workers aged 20 to 59 years who participated in a multiphasic health test in 1996. Their periodontal status was assessed by maximun of the CPITN scoring system. To assess the strength of associations between the examined factors and the score, odds ratios were computed using ordinal logistic models. Conventional risk factors such as aging and smoking habits increased the risk of periodontal disease. The CPITN scores were also greater in high-consumption and long-duration smokers, compared to non-smoking and short-duration smokers in male factory workers. Higher serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was related to a lower risk. Snack between meals was associated with a higher CPITN score. These associations were independent of the conventional risk factors. Although these new potential risk factors should be further investigated for their causal relationship, our findings suggested a close relationship of oral health to medical status and lifestyle factors.

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Children's performance in a go/no-go task was surveyed in 1969, 1979 and 1998 in Japan, and in 1984 in China. From the data collected, the subjects were classified into five types as regards the cerebral activity(melancholic, choleric, inhibitory, phlegmatic, and sanguine types)in accordance with the model proposed by Pavlov, Miyata and Masaki. The distribution of the five types in 1998 in Japan was found to be similar to that in 1979 in Japan, but different from those in 1964 in Japan and in 1984 in China. This difference is speculated to be caused by the change in the nature of children's play in which the amount of communication necessary to develop meaningful human relationships with other people has decreased.

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β carotene was administered to and exercise was prescribed for healthy Japanese men and women(n=7)for one month ; and their effects on blood pressure, hemodynamics, cardiopulmonary functions, and the results of hematological tests were comparatively examined. The results were : 1)β carotene administration reduced the following with statistical significance : systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, myocardial load index, heart rate, skin temperature at the dorsum of the hand, serum lipid peroxide level, mean corpuscular volume, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration. On the other hand, respiratory quotient and serum total cholesterol level increased with statistical significance. 2)Exercise loading resulted in an increase with statistical significance in the following : maximum ventilation, oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide production, skin temperature at the dorsum of the hand, METS, work load, and serum free fatty acid content. On the other hand, alveolar carbon dioxide partial pressure at maximum oxygen uptake and serum LDH, ChE, alpha HBD, and Mg levels were reduced.

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A case control study was conducted on the relationship between the serum Magnesium content(related to Magnesium that is relatively readily obtained from the body)and life-style related diseases(e.g., hypertension, heart diseases, diabetes mellitus, and liver diseases)among individuals who were employed at a large plant. The serum Magnesium content was significantly low in the group with a systolic pressure of 180 mmHg. No statistically significant difference was noted between the groups with a diastolic pressure below and above 95 mmHg. A comparison of the serum Magnesium contents between patients with is chemic heart diseases, diabetes mellitus, or hepatic diseases and the control indicated no statistically significant difference. Actually the serum Magnesium content of the control tended to be higher.

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