Response to exercise in normal subjects and in patients with various type of ventilatory disturbances was evaluated by the increasing work rate test using an ergometer.
Expiratory gas was colleted in a Tissot gasometer, analysed by Medspect and recorded. The arterial blood gas was sampled and analysed by I-L meter before and at the maximum of exercise.
The response to exercise was shown by the increase in the heart rate, tidal volume, minute volume, V_O2 and V_CO2 during tests at every 20-watt increase per two minutes.
Exercise tolerance was mainly limited by decreased ventilatory capacity and not by a cardiac factor in patients with ventilatory disturbances. The pattern of ventilatory disturbances did not correlate with the exercise limitation.
Most of the patients reached the limits of tolerance when the ratio of tidal volume during exercise to vital capacity at rest (V_T/VC ratio) approached 50 per cent, on the other hand some patients tolerated the exercise even when the ratio of tidal volume during exercise to forced expiratory volume in one second at rest (V_T/FEV_1.0 ratio) exceeded the 50 per cent. Therefore, the V_T/VC ratio was thought to be the main limiting factor in excercise for these patients. Hypoxia or hypercapnia did not seem to be responsible.

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Prostaglandins are synthesized by a multienzyme complex referred to loosely as PG synthetase. This enzyme complex appears to be present in every mammalian tissue and organ including the lung.
The present investigation was conducted to study the effect of various drugs on the biosynthesis of prostaglandin-like substances (PGLS) from arachidonic acid (A.A) through isolated perfused guinea pig lung lobes.
Male guinea pigs, weighing 250-300g, were used. Heart and lungs were removed and the lower half of the heart was cut away. The lungs were then suspended in a bioassay glass chamber and perfused through the pulmonary vein with Krebs-Henseleit solution containing 25% fluosol-43 at 37°C saturated with oxygen and carbon dioxide (95:5, v/v). The rate of perfusion was constant at 10ml/min. For the detection of PGLS the effluent from the lungs was superfused over assay tissues; these were rat colons (R.C.).
Contraction of rat colons was detected by an isotonic transducer and displayed on a polyrecorder. Arachidonic acid was infused into the pulmonary vein and PGLS activity synthesized from A.A was assayed.
1) Per cent conversion from A.A. to PGLS was decreased by increasing the dose of A.A.
2) Per cent inhibition of PGLS synthesis from A.A. with indomethacin and aspirin increased dose-dependently, and per cent inhibition with indomethacin was greater than with aspirin.
3) Per cent conversion from A.A to PGLS increased markedly by combination with histamine, serotonin, bradykinin and adrenaline, and per cent conversion increased dose-dependently.
4) Above results suggest that these chemical mediators may correlate with inflammatory and allergic responses not only by direct action but also by indirect action resulting from acceleration of PGLS synthesis.

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Twenty-two cases with diffuse interstitial pneumonitis of unknown origin have been observed during the past seven years in our hospital. The correlation among the clinical features of the lungs, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities including the isoenzyme pattern and IgA levels of sera from these cases was studies.
Serum LDH activities had a good correlation with the clinical features of the lungs and the characteristic isoenzyme pattern showed the highest value in LDH₂. There was a reciprocal correlation between the value of serum LDH (y′) and the Pa_O2 (x); e.g., the correlation coefficient was -0.87 and the regression line of y′ on x was -2.95x+488.6 in long-term observation case. Therefore, the value of serum LDH could be used as an indicator for the deterioration or improvement of the lung lesion.
High levels of serum IgA were observed in a significantly large number of sera from these cases compared with the number of those having high levels of other Ig. No corrleation between serum LDH activities and IgA levels was recognized, but cases with high values for both serum LDH and IgA showed a tendency to indicate the progress of the lung lesion.

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The acoustic meaning of the analogue information from the sound spectrogram of crackles, discontinuous adventitious lung sounds called “moist rales” in Japanese traditional usage, was evaluated. Crackles analysed by sound spectrograph, using the narrow band (45Hz), were compared to the time-expanded wave-from (2700mm/sec) and the corresponding power spectrum by FFT (smpling rate, 200μsec/point; time widnow, 51.2 msec).
Striped patterns appeared in the sound spectrogram figure of individal crackling sounds.
These striped patterns were classified into two types: One was the coarse striped pattern with large frequency intervals (F=300-1000Hz). The other was the fine striped pattern with small regular frequency-intervals (f=50-100Hz), which was more frequently seen in the fine crakles than in the coarse crackles.
The coarse striped pattern corresponded well with the power spectrum by FFT. It was suggested that the stripes represent the wave forms: Shape, width and number of waves.
The fine striped pattern with regular frequency interval appeared in the latter of the two crackles at short time intervals, theoretically within 22msec under the narrow band of 45Hz. The following formula held: f≈T (f: frequency interval of the stripes, T: time interval between two crackles.)

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A 22-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with a history of cough and malaise. Her chest radiography showed an abnormal shadow in the right lower field, and chest tomography revealed two cavity-like shadows. One of them had a regular wall, and the other had an irregular wall. Because of the symptoms of acute respiratory infection, identification of the cavity by bronchography could not be performed. No causal agent was identified in sputum, and the serum titer of the complement fixation test to Mycoplasma pneumoniae was 1:1024. After administration of erythromycine the abnormal roentgenological findings and her symptoms disappeared.

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