Dr. Nishi was born in Tokyo on January 6, 1885, and attended Daiichi High School and Tokyo Imperial University School of Medicine. After graduation, he studied under the anatomy professor Gakutaro Osawa.

In 1911, he studied myology under Professors M. Fürbringer and H. Braus at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, and introduced the comparative anatomy of Professor C. Gegenbauer of German Heidelberg School to Japan. He conduented research on systemation of Muscles of back proper and research on the trunk muscles in general. Furthermore, he proposed typological anatomy that typifies the differentiation of each organ. Moreover, he worked to popularize Esperanto, an artificial language invented and maintined by Ludoviko L. Zamenhof, and translated and published many of his anatomy papers, Japanese Novels, and Buddhist scriptures into Esperanto. Unfortunately, he passed away from heart failure on August 17, 1978. His body was donated and is currently preserved as a skeletal specimen at the University of Tokyo Medical Museum.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between subjective and objective sleep status and physical activity in patients with ischemic heart disease. The subjects were 45 patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). After PCI, patients were evaluated with the Japanese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Questionnaire (PSQI) as a subjective sleep index, actigraphy as an objective sleep index, and a physical activity meter as a measurement of physical activity. The results of the study showed that sleep efficiency was significantly positively correlated with exercise and an activity intensity of 3.0∼3.9 METs and was significantly negatively correlated with arousal during sleep wake after sleep onset and an activity intensity of 4.0∼4.9 METs. These findings suggest that moderate-intensity physical activity leads to better sleep quality in patients with ischemic heart disease. In contrast, no significant correlation was found between subjective sleep and physical activity. Elderly patients may have relatively better subjective sleep quality because their sleep quality gradually changes with age, and they adapt. Therefore, in terms of preventing the progression and recurrence of ischemic heart disease, our results suggest that it is important to evaluate sleep using not only a self-reported subjective sleep index but also an objective index and to intervene to help patients maintain a better quality of sleep.

Human umbilical cord vessels are essential components of fetal-placental circulation. To understand the relationship between blood vessel architecture and vascular contraction, arteries and veins from normally delivered human new-born baby umbilical cords were clarified morphologically.

For light microscopy, paraffin sections were stained with hematoxylin eosin or aldehyde-fuchsin/light green. Scanning electron microscopy using NaOH macerated tissue blocks was performed to determine vessel architecture, and transmission electron microscopy established elastic fiber distribution. Compared with umbilical veins, umbilical arteries had a thicker inner media with stronger elastic fiber staining. The luminal space of umbilical arteries was closed, while that of umbilical veins remained open. In the arterial inner media, an extensive elastic fiber network surrounded longitudinally oriented smooth muscle cells. By contrast, umbilical veins had an internal elastic lamina and a thin inner media. In both arteries and veins, the outer media consisted of smooth muscle cells primarily with a circular orientation. However, a significant number of cells in this location were oblique and cross orientated.

It is suggested that the unique ultrastructural architecture of smooth muscle cells and elastic fibers in umbilical cord vessels may play a crucial role in flexibility of contraction and extension of vascular walls during gestation, especially in umbilical arteries, by arresting bleeding from new-born babies immediately following labor.

A device for measuring the direction and strength of the human shoulder force at the kinematic intermediate position of the shoulder joint (i.e., flexion-extension, abduction-adduction and 360° combination for upper arm axis) was developed. Two strain gauges (SG-1 and SG-2) fastened to the aluminum cylinder (φ150 mm) were fitted with a steel holder. The cylinder was pulled using a wire from 12 directions (30° step) with a load (0.5–16.0 kg), and voltage data from SG-1 (V₁) and SG-2 (V₂) were recorded. Based on the data, several formulae were created. The formulae were input into the computer so that the direction and strength of force could be displayed on the monitor display. The device's objective was to measure the force in a healthy human kept in a sitting position with the shoulder joint kept in a kinematic intermediate position and internal rotation/external rotation intermediate position. Consequently, it was observed that the person could exhibit about 5.0 kgf force of the shoulder flexion (90° direction), extension (270° direction), abduction (0° direction), adduction (180° direction), and 360°combination for upper arm axis with reference to the display.

The aim of this study was to investigate the survival of bifidobacteria in fermented milk that had passed through Fasted State Simulated Gastric Fluid (FaSSGF), an artificial gastric fluid, and Fasted State Simulated Intestinal Fluid (FaSSIF), an artificial intestinal fluid (Biorelevant), in the fasting state. The purpose of the study was to examine the number of viable bifidobacteria in fermented milk. Fermented milk containing bifidobacteria from four companies was exposed to artificial gastric fluid for 3 h at 37℃, followed by 22 h at 37℃ in artificial intestinal fluid. The pH of the artificial gastric juice was 1.73±0.01 and that of the artificial intestinal juice was 6.46±0.01. The pH of the fermented milk ranged from 4.26±0.09 to 4.39±0.09, the mixture with the artificial gastric juice from 3.63±0.12 to 3.66±0.08 and the mixture with the artificial intestinal juice from 3.98±0.14 to 4.38±0.05. Fermented milk, mixtures with artificial gastric juice, and mixtures with artificial intestinal juice were subjected to aerobic and anaerobic incubation for colony measurement and Gram staining. The number of viable bifidobacteria in aerobic culture averaged 1.5×10⁹±0.5×10⁹ CFU/ml and tended to decrease to 4.6×10⁸±1.1×10⁸ CFU/ml after passage of artificial gastric juice and 2.4×10⁷±4.8×10⁷ CFU/ml after passage of artificial intestinal juice. The number of viable Bifidobacteria that formed large colonies in anaerobic culture tended to decrease on average to 4.0×10⁹±8.0×10⁹ CFU/ml, to 1.0×10⁸±0.5×10⁸ CFU/ml after passage of artificial gastric juice, and to 8.0×10⁶±4.0×10⁶ CFU/ml after passage of artificial intestinal juice. These results confirm the survival of bifidobacteria when the fermented milk from the four companies was passed through the artificial gastric juice and intestinal juice. It was suggested that the artificial gastric and intestinal solutions may be useful for increasing the number of bifidobacteria reaching the large intestine or for investigating methods of ingesting fermented milk that would increase bifidobacteria in the large intestine.