Killifish were kept in distilled water or in river water, containing 10^-5 M-CdSO₄. The LT₅₀ of the fish in the distilled water containing cadmium (Cd) was 31 hrs, whereas that in the river water containing Cd was 327 hrs. The Cd contents of the fish increased with the increase of keeping day, and the contents and the uptake rate of Cd in the river water was lower than those in the distilled water. From the observations it seems that river water had a mitigative effect against Cd toxicity. The contents of zinc, iron, calcium and copper in the fish exposed to Cd were examined, and a significant decrease of zinc was observed both in the distilled water and in the river water. The high rate of decrease of calcium and iron in the dead fish and the relatively low rate of those in the alive were observed in the distilled water. The decrease of calcium in the alive kept in the river water was also significant, however, that of iron was not. The contents of copper of the fish was not changed significantly in both experiments. Hence, it is supposed that the toxicity of Cd in the fish is caused by the increase of Cd and by the decrease of zinc, calcium and iron incident to uptake of Cd.

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The purposes of this study are making clear factors that influence health status of nations, and highlighting the importance of education role and distribution in health services that is believed just as important as income growth on improving health status . Data from World Bank and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Human Development Report of 125 countries available were untilized in the analysis . To observe the relationship, the indices of the world data were plotted with Y-axis of infant mortality rates (IMR) and life expectancy, against X-axis of gross national produce (GNP) per capita, total illiteracy rate, government expenditure on health and education per capita, household's consumption on medical care and education, and population with access to health services. The indices were analyzed by factor analysis, which found that there were two underlying factors that influence nation's health status: economic factor (GNP, government expenditure, and household expenditure), and social factor (total illiteracy rate and accessibility to health care). In visualizing the link between variables, dendogram using Ward's method of hierarchical cluster anlaysis (excluding high-income economy countries) was applied, with values standardized. It was concluded that countries which had parallel development betweeneconomic growth and social growth had better health status . Thus, the problem faced by nations is how to combine economic growth in such a way which is parallel with the growth in education and distribution of health services .

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In several developing Asian countries, industrialization is advancing primarily in the capital cities and urban areas, while the more traditional life is being maintained in the rural areas. Consequently, the coexistence of a dual structure of two ?gincoherent" parts of society is evident in these rapidly developing countries. Such a dual structure exists not only in the economic area, but also in the field of health, particularly nutrition. Nutritional problems in the third world countries used to be focused on under-nourishment and malnutrition. Although these problems remain in the rural sector and poor communities, the opposite problem of overnutrition has been emerging especially in urban areas. Chong (1975) reported that obesity-related chronic degenerative diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and fatty liver, have increased in recent years in rapidly developing countries. Malaysia is one such Asian country which is experiencing the dual problem of under and over-nutrition. Malaysia has undergone industrialization and urbanization after independence in 1957 with paralleling rapid economic development changes in the dietary habits and health problems of Malaysians. Khor and Gan (1992) found that the main causes of death in 1970 were certain conditions originating in the perinatal period, diseases of the circulatory system, symptoms of ill-defined and unknown causes according to the "Statistics on Causes of Death in Malaysia." In 1989, however, causes such as diseases of the circulatory system, accidents, neoplasm, and diseases of the respiratory system became the leading causes of death. In addition, in the case of deaths caused by diseases of the circulatory system, the mortality rate per 100, 000 population doubled from 1970 to 1989. Hanaki and Ozeki (1990) differentiated obesity into two types, namely simple obesity attributed to environmental factors and symptomatic obesity stemming from fundamental diseases. The more common type was simple obesity, and the intrinsic cause was due to energy intake exceeding energy expenditure. Murata (1990) suggested that obesity was related to an urbanized dietary style. In Japan, since the 1970s, the prevalence of childhood obesity has risen following the increase of adulthood obesity, along with economic growth which brought a great change in the dietary habit and other lifestyles among the Japanese. Although the prevalence of childhood obesity has reached a plateau in recent years, it has become one of the major health concerns, since childhood obesity predisposes a person to adulthood obesity and obesity-related diseases. Abraham and Nordsieck (1960) observed that overweight children tended to become overweight adults more often than children of average weight, and Charney et al. (1976) reported that infant weight correlated strongly with adult weight independently of other factors considered. Moreover, from the result of their cohort study, Stark et al. (1981) suggested that overweight children were more likely to remain overweight than their contemporaries of normal weight were to become overweight. The Japanese experience predicts that childhood obesity will emerge as one of the serious health problems in Asian countries which are undergoing rapid economic growth. This paper is an exploratory study into the previously unexamined area of overnutrition of children in Malaysia. The aim of the study is to compare the body mass index (BMI) distributions of urban preschool children of two groups in Malaysia, with that of preschool children in Japan as a reference. Special attention is given to thedifferences and similarities of their life activities and consumption of commercial foods. In Malaysia, suburban areas are currently experiencing rapid urbanization as part of the ongoing economic development. The lifestyle of the urban people, including that of children, is strongly affected by the pace of urbanization, and also by the west

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In order to gain predictive information for prevention of osteoporosis and fracture in healthy adults, Calcaneal BMD (Bone Mineral Density) levels were measured by using an osteoanalyzer, model SXA 2000 system produced by Dove Medical Co. in USA, by means of single energy X-ray absorptometry . The subjects, all healthy, consisted of 153 bank clarks and 51 employees of an airline company in Okinawa. A gradual decreasing tendency of mean BMD observed from twenty years of age in both males and females and the 50-59 years of age group, showed significantly lower levels than the 40-49 years of age group in females . Female levels were lower than male levels in every 10 year group from 20 to 50 years of age . In the airline company, the average BMD level of air hostesses was the lowest compared to manager groups and business staffs . According to statistical analysis, pvalues were not significant in the student t test, because subject size was too small. In comparison with standard levels of BMD in healthy adults between Okinawa and Fukushima for females and between Okinawa and Tottori for males, the following tendencies were observed: Okinawa levels were higher than both Fukushima and Tottori for females over 40 years of age and for males over 50 years of age .

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The possible effects of background music on the Uchida-Kraepelin Test, or a continuous adding performance test, were investigated. Subjects were 56 femalecollege students who were devided into 3 groups. Each group performed the Uchida-Kraepelin Test under different conditions; stimulative music and control (Stimulative Group), sedative music and control (Sedative Group), white noise and control (White Noise Group). Major findings are summarized as follows, 1. There was no discernable difference in the effects the 3 types of back ground sounds had on the quantity aspect of additioning performance. 2. In stimulative group and white noise group, the error was lower in the control (no sound) comparing with sedative group; probably due to learning effects. 3. Sedative music might have a decreasing effect on errors.

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