This study aimed to investigate the influence of short-term weight reduction by ingestion of low energy nutrition food on body composition, physical strength, and blood characteristic. Subjects were 6 women aged 50 to 56 years, who were obese or had symptoms of obesity (average BMI 28.5). In addition to usual food as a lunch, low energy and high nourishing food product, which was a lacto protein processed food (145 kcal per one meal), was given as breakfast and supper for 7 days. Intake energy per day was less than 1,200 calories. As a result, body weight and lean body mass significantly decreased by 2.1 kg and 1.4 kg, respectively. The thickness values of subcutaneous fat at abdomen, thigh anterior and posterior were also significantly reduced. However, there was no site where significant change was found in muscle thickness. In blood characteristics, hemoglobin (Hb) and MCH were significantly increased, and neutral fat reduced. On the other hand, all of the results of the physical fitness test did not show significant reduction. Thus, the present results indicate that short-term weight reduction by ingestion of low energy nutrition food product is useful for improving the physical condition in middle aged women.

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We developed an electrogastrogram (EGG) analysis system and evaluated the effect of meal contents on the dynamic nature of gastric activity. The EGG analysis system consists of hardware and software. Three electrodes were attached on the surface of the abdomen and the electric activity was amplified and digitized at a sampling rate of 250 Hz (Data Acquisition Unit: CM2301, Cerx Co.). The data were temporarily stored on hard disk and sent to a personal computer. Using software specially developed and designed in Microsoft Visual Basic, we analyzed the EGG data of 6 healthy female subjects with a mean age of 21.7 +/- 0.5. To evaluate the dynamic nature of gastric activity, we used 2 parameters: Gastric Motility Index (GMI) and Gastric Ampliludc Index (GAI). These indices were derived from the amplitude and period estimated by the Ixast Squares Cosine Spectrum Method. An intake of 2 rice balls after a meal increased GMI (P<0.05). EGG may provide a useful quantitative and non-invasive technique for evaluation of the dynamic nature of gastric activity in relation to fixwt intnVp.

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The present study was conducted to investigate the interactions in a pair for sleep health and sleep habits. A questionnaire was administered to daytime workers and their partners in a Tokyo metropolitan area, and healthy 249 pairs (20-59 years) were accepted for the analysis to find out risks in sleep health. Both wives and husbands whose partners showed higher risk scores in sleep health were in poor sleep health status. It was showed that sleep habits of husband affected sleep health of wife, but no effects of wife. The influences of husband's sleep were suggested to be predominant.

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This paper describes the drift of human rosponso and the experiment impression of the multi-modal sensory stimulus. In this research, six types of stimulus pair to the subjects consist of several auditory and visual stimuli. The sensory stimuli can be mainly divided into two cases, predictable and non-predictable one. In the predictable case, the subject can easily estimate the instruction time to tap the pad. The result from human response in the predictable case, shows the better precision as comparing with that, in the non-predictable case. The human response accuracy is not. influenced on the visual stimulus in the predictable case although the results of an impression differ. And also, it was found that these types of sensory stimuli have no effect on the human impression.

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Electrogastrography (EGG) was performed in 15 healthy female subjects with a mean age of 22.0 ±4.1 for an 8-hour period under supine position. To evaluate the dynamic nature of gastric activity, we extracted the following parameters every 1 minute interval: 1) EGG period, 2) EGG amplitude, which was estimated by the least-squares-cosine spectrum method; and 3) the ratio of periodic gastric activity during monitoring. In 15 subjects, the mean value of the EGG period was 20.4 ± 0.6 sec. In 15 subjects, the mean value of the ratio of periodic gastric activity was 79 ± 10%. In 11 (73%) subjects, 90-minute rhythm was observed in time-sequential array of gastric amplitude. Significant decrease of EGG amplitude was observed between 13:00-14:00. EGG might be a useful quantitative and non-invasive method for evaluating the ultradian rhythm of gastric activity.

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